You probably know the term `digital nomad`, a person who’s working remotely while traveling. You’ve seen it on Instagram, nothing like getting some sand into your keyboard for the perfect Bali sunrise shot.
Digital nomads require work-from-anywhere, usually combined with high schedule flexibility. This is not the only way of organizing the intersection of location and schedule flexibility - and the clearer you are as an organization as to what you optimize for, the easier it is to attract and retain the right talent.
I tend to joke that my work is location independent, but my kids’ school is very much rooted in a specific location and bound to regular schedules. And, let’s be honest, I love working in a room with 40+ plants around me. I thrive on hosting dinners and having long, meandering conversations in the conversation pit (a.k.a. the sofa).
Turns out, I am a digital settler.
A digital settler is someone deliberately choosing a permanent home base even though their work does not prescribe a specific location.
Lately I have been repeating this term over and over AND OVER again - mostly to desperate biz dev people who end up in my LinkedIn inbox. I don’t need world-wide health insurance (if I did, I’d sign up with Safety Wing), a monthly subscription for coliving access, or support in setting up a new morning routine that aligns with European working hours.
I talked about my reasons for being a remote settler on this very newsletter. If you click through, you’ll see community and connection with my chosen family as the most salient topic. And as I dig deeper into the magic of human relationships, here are a couple of services, ideas, topics that I’d love to see existing in this world - in no particular order:
An app to find dinner companions who like similar food on a similar budget to mine. I don’t want to date, I want to find new restaurants and have good conversations.
Sofa ratings for cafés so I know how many people to meet for coffee.
A way to easily share my planta tasks with another person so they can plant-sit my jungle while I am on vacation.
Biweekly dancing / chess / painting / football classes to sign up my kids for activities the week they are with me (#sharedCustody) - and myself for the weeks they are not with me.
A fresh flower subscription that surprises me once a month. Actually, if Bloom&Wild could expand to Spain, that would be marvelous.
And then make it work for small communities, because not everyone lives in central London, Barcelona or Los Angeles.
