Types Of Digital Nomad – Meet The 12 Kinds Of Nomad

Gregory J. Gaynor

Meet Gregory, a writer and the brains behind Face Dragons. He's the go-to guy for getting things done. Gregory's been living the digital nomad life in Asia for as long as anyone can remember, helping clients smash their goals. He writes on topics like software, personal knowledge management (PKM), and personal development. When he's not writing, you'll catch him at the local MMA gym, nose buried in a book, or just chilling with the family.

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After being location independent for over 15 years and meeting different types of digital nomads and travelers from all over the globe, I can definitively say that no two are alike. Everyone has there own motivation for the nomadic lifestyle, their own income stream and their own idea about which country is next. There are a few categories that digital nomads to fall into.

Table of Contents

1. Travel Blogger – The Ultimate Digital Nomad Lifestyle
2. Slomad – Become Part Of The Nomadic Community
3. Niche Or Affiliate Blogger – Work From Anywhere
4. Entrepreneur – Nomadic Till They Make It
5. The Freelancer – The Best Digital Nomad Jobs For Beginners?
6. Remote Worker – The Best Paying Digital Nomad Jobs?
7. Non Stop Traveler
8. Gap Year – A Real Nomad?
9. English Teacher – Digital Nomad Jobs No Experience Necessary
10. Streamer – Travel And Game
11. YouTuber – Create Videos In Exotic Locations
12. SEO Consultant – More Digital Than Nomad

Travel Blogger – The Ultimate Digital Nomad Lifestyle

First up is the travel blogger. It’s an idea that has occurred to every digital nomad at some point. Your visiting all of these amazing places and have so many awesome photos, creating a travel blog seems like the perfect income stream for a digital nomad. As more people have gone nomadic and more peoples are just traveling in general however, travel blogs have sprung up everywhere.

You may have trouble getting eyes on your blog unless you have something to make you stand out.

It can be done though! Here are a few of my favorite travel bloggers

• Your Travel Flamingo
• The Adventurists
• Hand Luggage Only

Slomad – Become Part Of The Nomadic Community

The digital slomad, or slowmad, is a traveler that moves at a different pace compared to their nomadic counterpart. They look for countries that have longer visas and opt for rental properties instead of hotels.

They take their time, learning about a new place and what the locals enjoy. They learn the language, the culture and usually cut costs by traveling less and eating at home more. There are also other benefits of being a slomad too.

It may be a slomad couple who’s children are fully grown or a young family who homeschool their nomadic kids.

Niche Or Affiliate Blogger – Work From Anywhere

The niche and affiliate blogger is the digital nomad you see in the same cafe every morning when you go for your morning espresso and when you walk back from the beach at sunset, they’re still sat in the same spot, still typing away.

Content is king for the niche blogger and this means writing a lot of it themselves.

Their army of freelance writers can only write as many articles as the niche blogger can research, so this type of digital nomad is never a tab away from a google search.

Entrepreneur – Nomadic Till They Make It

Entrepreneurial digital nomads come in all shapes and sizes but this type of digital nomad usually knows how to sell a product. They may be trading internationally in coffee, selling T-shirts out of their car or making crumpets to sell online (yes, I did that!)

Whatever it is the entrepreneur is into, he needs to be able to convince people to pay for it and that requires confidence and people skills.

Most entrepreneur type digital nomads have a few different businesses going at the same time. They’re hoping that one hits it big.

The Freelancer – The Best Digital Nomad Jobs For Beginners?

The popularity of freelancing websites like fivver and upwork are one of the reasons that becoming a digital nomad is now so much easier. There was a time that the only way to become location independent was to either have a lot of money or be sent by your company.

Now however, anyone can create an account and start getting freelance work immediately and depending where you stay, earning enough to pay your monthly expenses can be quite easy.

Typically, if you want to be a successful freelancer, you need to have some skills to offer. If you’re an experienced writer, designer or artist, you will do much better looking for freelance work online.

If you have no experience, you can still find paying work, you just need to price yourself below the competition until you have a decent sized portfolio.

Remote Worker – The Best Paying Digital Nomad Jobs?

A remote worker is a type of digital nomad that usually works a full time job, but is not required to go into the office. This means they can work from anywhere in the world as long as they are available during office hours.

For many people this is the ultimate digital nomad experience. You get to keep your job, and your salary, but do it from an exotic location. It sounds like a permanent holiday.

Remote workers usually need some time to adjust to their new environment and realize that they’re not on holiday and shouldn’t be drinking margaritas at the bar everyday after work.

Non Stop Traveler

The non stop traveler is usually young, full of energy and eager to see as much of the world as they can as quickly as possible. This type of digital nomad travels from place to place utilizing every mode of transport available.

Usually staying in hostels along the way, you might meet this speedy nomad in the hostel bar or getting a late breakfast the next morning. But don’t look for him again the next day, he’s probably already moved on.

Gap Year – A Real Nomad?

If you’ve ever met a young 19 year old or maybe 22 year old traveling, they might fall into this category of nomadic traveler.

You know the type, they’ve just graduated from school or from the undergraduate degree course and are taking some time to travel and, dare I say it, ‘find themselves.’

This kind of digital nomad usually has plans to go back home to finish their education or get a job once they’re done. But for now they are moving from place to place, having the time of their lives.

I categorize these types as digital nomads because I’ve so many of them that went on their gap year and just never returned home. “I’m supposed to be going back to get my masters after a year traveling but it’s been 5 years now and I’m not sure if I’m gonna make it back.” It’s a story I’ve heard more than a few times.

English Teacher – Digital Nomad Jobs No Experience Necessary

Not strictly a digital nomad but who am I to say. The English teacher is a staple across the world and seen in most countries that don’t speak English as a national language. Teaching jobs are usually contracted to the school year and so these nomads travel slower than most of their counterparts.

The biggest benefit of teaching English over most other forms of digital nomadism is getting a coveted working visa and a regular wage.

The working visa ensure you can stay the full year (at least) in which ever country you land in and not having to worry if you can make enough to cover expenses this month is a luxury not every digital nomad has.

Most English teachers teach about 20 hours a week but office hours usually make up the rest to make a full 40 hour week. If you can stand that and having to deal with kids all day long in a classroom setting, you get the added benefit of school holidays!

Streamer – Travel And Game

I’ll be honest, I don’t know much about twitch streamers, other than that they exist and can make money. In fact, you can stream on a huge number of platforms now, with the biggest being:

• YouTube
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Twitch
• Tiktok
• Instagram

YouTuber – Create Videos In Exotic Locations

The YouTuber digital nomad is probably the easiest to spot of all, waling around talking to their camera and being really enthusiastic about it. Or you might see them making slow panning shots for their B-roll, either way they are never far from their camera, tripods, lenses, filters and a ton of other video gear.

But being a YouTuber isn’t just about filming, to produce high quality video, its the editing process that you need to fall in love with.

You may see a YouTuber digital nomad sat with his macbook and a large coffee while his camera bag is tucked away hidden beneath the table of the cafe.

SEO Consultant – More Digital Than Nomad

Every business, has a website and every website needs SEO, which means that the brand new industry of SEO consulting has almost infinite demand. There simply isn’t enough SEO specialists to go around!

This has given rise to the SEO consultant digital nomad. This kind of digital nomad is so common in certain digital nomad cities that they even hold SEO conferences such as The Chiang Mai SEO Conference.