NEW YORK–How do you become a digital nomad? If you care to listen to the speakers of Cafe Numerique (Beligan for digital), you’ll find out how the world is getting smaller the way people from all over the world are finding each other, doing business and sharing ideas.
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/cafe-numerique-new-york-s0101-digital-nomads-registration-18376768409
Organized by local teams once or twice month, the teams choose a topic, look for speakers and a place to welcome their community. Last September 23, New York featured Adam Romer as speaker on the subject of being a digital nomad.
Established in October 21, 2009 in Brussels, Belgium, the digital cafe talk emerged in Life, Mons, Namur and Charleroi and beyond Belgium before expanding to 18 cities to date. The concept is simple. The organization thinks of a topic and invites anyone in general to share their thoughts. Cafe Numerique is composed of Aida Kalanderi, Julie Govaert and Luis Mercao.
In last Wednesday’s talk, Romer, a website developer, took us to different places where he has lived for the past year or so. He discussed how you can be digital nomad like himself. He discussed about mail services, travel-and tax-friendly states like Florida, Texas and South Dakota.
“You don’t have to live where you register your business,” he said, adding points about banking and how manage one’s business and personal accounts.
Even better, he added, is geoarbitrage; what he calls “when a dollar isn’t a dollar.” This simply means the affordability of other places and where your dollar goes a long way.
He could not stress enough how important it is to get internet connection at all times and how, having 4G in a remote location, allowed him to work on a mountainhill underneath a starry night. How one can work in such beautiful locations, based on the photos he showed, is beyond us. “Get a unlocked phones and use a Sim card as well as LTE connection.”
Romer addressed the elephant in the room–safety and security, giving the following pointers:
Be aware of your surroundings
Don’t be an easy target
Stay out of places you don’t belong
Get travel insurance
Don’t be conspicuous
Even when you’re off the grid, he said it’s important to create a routine, because the temptation to wander off will be harder to control. “Create a routine. Explain (to people) that you are not on vacation.”