🖋️Feature: "The revolution has already been televised" Nomadism goes mainstream
🖋️Feature: "The revolution has already been televised" Nomadism goes mainstream
The story behind #DigitalNomadStories feature in HBR
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Personally and professionally, this has been an intense, yet rewarding few weeks. After many months of writing and fostering relationships with journalists and media contacts (one interview was completed in August of last year!), all the efforts have started to pay off, here is how #DigitalNomadStories, here on Substack got featured in the top HBR article this week…
In early December 2022, the Harvard Business Review approached myself and my team about a feature on Digital Nomadism. The completed, long form feature went live on the 8th of February, titled “How to become a Digital Nomad” and included multiple references to #DigitalNomadStories stories and links.
In just over a week, that feature has had 20,000 plus views. The feedback and interest has been encouraging. To add to that coverage, a Business Insider interview, about myself and my family’s lifestyle, also went live in recent days.
Image above courtesy of HBR feature, 2023
Combine this with the NY Times feature in August 2022, then most of my personal PR bucket list has been ticked off in a very short time! In another life, yes, I did work on some very successful voluntary projects with extensive PR exposure, one a comedy festival on a remote Irish island called TedFest in 2007 and the second - my brother’s Atlantic Row Campaign and Record Breaking achievement in 2017, but I digress…
Press and media coverage work is an extensive, long process and not always a worthwhile effort, in other words the ROI can be hit or miss. You spend many, many hours for very little in return. But for me, when I believe in something wholeheartedly and have conviction in a message and feel part of a community, my purpose glows and grows deep inside me.
Media coverage and exposure, was the natural next steps for me in a process of consolidating my understanding, content and delivery, answering the question “What is a Nomad and How would I become one?”
Here is how the story evolved, over the last year or so:
The commission of my Linkedin Course on “Becoming a Digital Nomad” - this one was a little bit of a surprise to me, to be honest. A contact at Linkedin in the USA, approached me to discuss a possible recording of a course on a Remote Work topic, during our initial conversation we casually discussed my families extensive travels to SE Asia and the topic of Nomadism came up. Before I knew it, the course contract was being signed, almost a year ago, in March 2022.
Serendipity, luck or fate? A mix of all perhaps ☘️
Timing: the first few months of 2022 were unique, the world was emerging from the Covid pandemic, emerging and a transformation had taken place. Well it certainly had for me. On a personal level my urge, drive and need to travel was deep. Like a yearning. Luckily, my family were game to indulge me! So we started making extensive travel plans and I have to admit, travel planning is one of my very favourite pastimes.
During that course development and recording last year - which took about 2 months of effort - myself and my family had many lightbulb moments about how we live our life, our values and are future aspirations. Never has our nomad mindset and beliefs, been more a topic of discussion and even more so a topic to drive our travel planning and dreams. In short, we reassessed our core family values, identified, described and realigned with our North Star as a family, i.e. Global Mobility and Travel
That course development effort, demanded we create content and a course consolidated and focused on 8th grade students (aged 16 years and up), as this was a fast-track course on Linkedin and therefore the content needed to be accessible to a wide learning audience. The focus was set, the challenge was “Craft content a 16 year old can understand” and furthermore “Ro, stand outside the community and mindset and explain it to a total novice”, working with the fabulous Elisa and Stella from my content team we got down to work!
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Conversations and more conversations with community. In the weeks before the course recording I was in Dubrovnik and I had fantastic discussions and exchanges with nomads like Han, Tanja, Mita and Anna Maria (to be featured soon in #DigitalNomadStories, so stay tuned!), all of which advised my work and the content finally different. But more importantly, all of which fuelled my purpose and gave authentic meaning to the media stories we were weaving.
Finally, playing the media game, and knowing it is a one with many loose and vague rules. If you like to gamble, you will enjoy media work! Submissions can take weeks and months to be published, especially on non-date dependant content. Journalists, cannot guarantee final copy published - that’s an editors job. Due to my previous experience, I tempered my expectations in this regard and had conservative hopes. I think the term “positively realistic” sums it up.
However, here we are, having gained the mainstream media coverage that Digital Nomadism as a lifestyle and a movement deserves. So all the effort has and is worthwhile. Reflecting whilst writing this, it has also been affirming to have this Newsletter and a community of readers.
For that I am also very grateful 🙏
Until the next #DigitalNomadStory,
take care, love n light - 💚 Ro
🔗 Want to hear more #DigitalNomadStories? Meet Juliana, visiting her 56th country!
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