The Wireless Generation – Interview with Christine Gilbert

One upcoming trend in the current global workforce is the rise of independent mobile professionals. People that can work from anywhere using the Internet. Christine Gilbert, author of the fantastic travel blog Almost Fearless, and her husband are digital nomads, combining travel and work.

They are currently starting a new project: the making of a documentary called “The Wireless Generation” which is about this upcoming group of folks who are trading the cubicle in for a life of travel. I had the pleasure of interviewing Christine about the way she works and the documentary.

What are digital nomads?

CG: “A digital nomad is someone who travels around the world but still keeps their job.  It’s become more popular in recent years as wifi has become available even in the most remote corners of the world and the concept of working outside of the office has been more accepted.  If you have a laptop, can live in any country, travel frequently and still make a living — then you’re probably a digital nomad. My husband and I are both digital nomads… he works as a designer for a big company and I’m a writer.  We’ve traveled to 16 countries in the past 2 years.”

How did you get started with Almost Fearless?

CG: “I started like most people do… I wanted to have a place to write about my adventure and share it with family and friends.  I’m not sure really what happened… I think I got lucky and people wanted to hear more about this lifestyle… but since our launch we’ve become one of the most read travel blogs in the world.”

How do you get to do your work remotely?

CG: “First, to work remotely, you need to figure what you’re going to do.  The main options are: work for an employer, become a freelancer, or start an online business.  It’s becoming easier to work remotely for an employer in the US… even the government has started work-from-home programs.  The key is finding someone who offers that.  I would check monster.com for telecommuting jobs first, and even if the job you’re looking for doesn’t offer remote work, if they offer any positions that do, I would apply and request a work-from-home situation.  For freelancing and online businesses, there is a bit of ramp up time, but it’s pretty easy to make these jobs location non-specific.” 

How do you manage your day-to-day work?

CG: “For managing my daily work flow, I travel with my laptop, connect to the internet and begin my workday.  For my husband this means being available via IM during specific hours of the day (he maintains east coast hours wherever we go) and for me that just means responding to requests via email.  Because we both produce digital content, we’re able to upload our work to our clients servers (or our own).  For client calls we use Skype or buy a cheap cell phone in the country we’re in.”

How do you find projects?

CG: “There are a ton of resources for finding freelance work, but for me, I use contacts that I’ve made online.  I think the days of cold-calling businesses have gone away.  The world is a much more connected place and if you can reach out to someone through a shared contact then you’re that much closer to landing work.  My main haunts are LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.”

What is the documentary about?

CG: “The documentary is called The Wireless Generation and it’s about this upcoming group of folks who are trading the cubicle in for a life of travel — all because they can work 100% remotely using wireless internet.  I think this trend has just started, but it makes so much sense, why wouldn’t it continue?  How will employers justify keeping you in the office if 99% of your job is producing work that you can do from your laptop, anywhere?  Do you actually need to be there? 

The answer for a lot of folks has become a resounding no.  We’re traveling around the world interviewing people, who have adopted this alternative lifestyle and showing all the different ways people make it work.  Young people, single people, couples, families with kids, the technology-challenged, the laid back, the high-powered, the meek… really everyone.  We want to show the possibilities, not just for the super-adventurous Richard Branson types, but for everyone.”

How will you produce it?

CG: “It’s community-funded.  We’ve just raised $10,000 for the equipment and software to produce it  — most of which came from private micro-donations through my website.”

For more information, visit AlmostFearless.com.

Image by Mike Baird.