I recall a time when having a home office and working from the local coffee shops felt more like a life-style statement. I would text a friend ‘Working at J__ join me for coffee or a late breakfast/early lunch’, and they would arrive with a laptop and an eagerness to escape an approaching deadline. Surrounded by an untidy scatter of paper, we would talk for hours.
Today coffee shops seem to be crowded with people tapping away at their keyboards or far too loud conversations with an invisible client.
Fleeing the hen house, living with foxes
Years ago I read a children’s book about a hen who dreamed of the world beyond the high fence surrounding the farmer’s chicken yard. The number of books and movies with a similar theme proves ‘escaping’ is something people think about quite often.
Like chickens who grow plump on regular meals and a warm nest followed by the unavoidable and inevitable transfiguration to a Sunday roast, we long for the romance of a digital nomad (fed on success stories that are probably as heavily curated as a Facebook or LinkedIn page). Scaling the fence is not easy, but the push factors are considerable. On the top of the list: life-work balance.
Most of us head off to Oz on the proverbial yellow brick road with little more than one promising client or an exciting project.
Enthusiasm and naivety are vital for this type of adventure. Detours can be disheartening and expensive, and sometimes downright frightening. Over time, reality kicks in, new skills are acquired, commitment rarely wavers. Dry spells and unanticipated events like the recent pandemic, can set off a bell tower of alarm bells and highlight all the vulnerabilities in your business model. Hard lessons, but nobody talks about going back to corporate life.