Hey agile (nomadic, mobile, fabulous) working Permies! Tell us about what you do!

There are different words for this phenomenon, but agile work is just being able to work wherever you want to. Sometimes that can mean a different place every day, sometimes it just means you can live out in the country and not have to be at an office. Unlike a cottage industry, where you may be tied to a specific place because of inventory or equipment, agile workers are not tied anywhere (except, perhaps, by internet connections)
Currently more people are allowed to work from home and experiencing just how nice it can be.

Are you an agile working permie? What do you do?

I know I'm not the only one, but since I'm here I may as well say something.
I am a translator in a very specific niche, and I've been mobile for the last 13 years, which has been very helpful in terms of moving from country to country. I used to work in a lot more areas (I am certified to interpret in court, I used to work with other languages, I also used to do voice over work and interpreting) but as time has passed I have gotten more and more specific and only work in my niche (which is pretty common in my field). Every year (except 2020) I usually take a month and go stay with my mother, which is just a question of giving up my extra monitors and fancy office setup to work at her dining room table while I'm there (and maybe cut my schedule a bit so I can hike, kayak, etc).
In the past I worked for other companies, but I formed my own company some years ago, in my market that status is essential (companies can't use freelancers without corporate status as a contractor). It's also seen as separating professionals from the "side gig" crowd: if you go ahead and incorporate you're probably much more committed to doing a decent job (and have better skills and tools) than someone who is doing this just for fun.
With Covid-19 many people are finally understanding what it means to work from home, and I hear fewer jokes about me "playing on the internet" and people assuming that just because I'm home working that means I'm watching TV on the couch all day. My workday is super structured, I use a lot of tools to use my time efficiently, and lately I've been happy to share ideas with people who are interested in continuing to work at home after all this passes. I wouldn't have it any other way.

I have made my living as a freelance writer for decades. The flexibility and portability are gold. I can't imagine being stuck in a cubicle 9-to-5; I would surely break out in hives. I find that genuine productive time in an office is 4-5 hours maximum; the rest is eaten by mind-numbing meetings and endless distractions.

The freedom of freelancing is balanced by the irregular income and inevitable lean years. Financial discipline equals survival; it's not unusual to be unemployed for half a year after finishing a large multi-year project. Freelancers don't last long if they are in the habit of racking up credit card debt.

The real money is in the corporate and government fields, if you can play that game. (The internet swallowed conventional publishing in one gulp by destroying the business model.) Technical writing in particular earns a nice dollar for those with a good grasp of the subject matter and the ability to marry it to adult education principles and clear communication. The field seems to have two streams -- industrial and software, with very different base skill sets.

Contacts and referrals are everthing. I haven't updated my CV or cold called since forever. This may change, because Covid makes it difficult cultivate my list of contacts (beer and wings). That's a concern, but it's also an opportunity to pursue potential side hustles.

Since what I do is a specialty, I can earn my modest base income from one billable day per week. Two days is pretty posh. And I can duck out to water the tomatoes whenever I want to.  

Hi Tereza.  I just got made fun of today by an old man that has to go to work everyday.  As I walked by he said " how do you get to work when ever you want?  Aren't you special?".  I understand he doesn't mean any harm, he is jealous.  I am 45 and work for a company about 3 days a week.  I don't need the money without debt.  I keep up on my engineering skills and am able to foot the medical by working a little bit.  I am spoiled by my wife's teaching job in that I don't even need medical if I choose. The main things I think that hold people back are debt and medical.  I spend the rest of my time working on the homestead.  My wife and I figured I work about 24 hours a week at engineering and around 60 hours a week homesteading.  I like to work so it's ok with me.  Most people I know from church watch about 4 hours of tv a day.  I watch no tv and this gives me 28 extra hours to learn.  For the most part people around me don't understand me.  Some say I am lazy, some say I am crazy, and some say I am not fulfilling my corporate duty.  I get told I need to do things a certain way or I am not a good husband and father.  It would be easy for me to ask them when was the last week they worked over 80 hours and rebuke them, but I have learned to walk away.  I am so lucky to have a wife that understands and participates with me.  Many nights we will eat only what we grew.  My son at the age of 16 has made a good living at selling lots of homestead staples and niches.  I keep teaching him he doesn't need to be rich and no debt keeps you free.  In the cool of evening when I am done I get to look out across the farm and a great thankfulness often overtakes me.  I often think, how does a little person like me get to do such great things like this!

Hi-5 Christopher, I can sympathize with so much of what you say!!!
There is a lot of jealousy out there, isn't there? I also know it's not for everybody (like you say, there's a lot of work out there, and heaven knows I'm doing it! I started at 6am yesterday and went til 7pm, somehow managed to clean out the rabbit cages, make dinner, and exercise during the day too) and many people who try it on a more serious basis find they prefer to have someone doing the managing for them (or other tasks). And that's fine- I prefer to pay to go to the gym, which makes sure I get there. Different strokes.

I do hear you on the not watching TV though. I may as well be a three-headed unicorn among most of the people I know because of that. It is amazing how many hours get added to the day when that's one less thing demanding your time. And I'm also super blessed to have a kid who has picked up not just that preference but also a similar work ethic.

I work as a software engineer in the healthcare sector.  I'm completely remote, and in fact, I've never been to an office or even met my manager or a co-worker in person.  It's going on 2+ years with this remote position.  Right now, I live in an RV with my family as we seek out a place to eventually/hopefully buy land and live a permaculture infused life.  

I am a housewife, but I am able to indulge in a hobby and spread my obsession with it by teaching a foreign? immortal language online.  Although the income from the side-hustle is indeed nice, I really love the way the internet lets me connect my niche interest with wonderful folks all over the world. I've made friends as well as some money, and enjoy being able to teach my way on my schedule. Dream come true, for sure!

Rachel Lindsay wrote:I am a housewife, but I am able to indulge in a hobby and spread my obsession with it by teaching a foreign? immortal language online.  Although the income from the side-hustle is indeed nice, I really love the way the internet lets me connect my niche interest with wonderful folks all over the world. I've made friends as well as some money, and enjoy being able to teach my way on my schedule. Dream come true, for sure!

Do you teach Quenya? Because that would be really really cool.

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My job became a little bit agile when the pandemic hit.

A lot of my classes went on-line, so as long as I have an internet connection I can do about half of my work anywhere.  Of course the reality is that because of the same pandemic I just stay at home... But it does eliminate the driving to work, which opens up several hours a week.

I think it would be fun to get a more work doing distance learning in my field in the future. Right now I have a couple jobs that tie me down here, but they might evaporate at some point.

I appreciate the freedom because I have small kids. I'm enjoying seeing them grow at a stage where a lot of fathers are stuck at work 60 hours a week.

I'm also training myself up to be a spoon carver, so hopefully I can be whittling wherever I go and selling them utensils on-line as I go.

L. Johnson wrote:

Do you teach Quenya? Because that would be really really cool.

Although I had a friend in my youth that wrote me a couple letters in Quenya, I never became proficient myself!

But my hobby language incidentally was very dear to Tolkien--Latin!

I work remotely for a major corporation and government contractor in the area of quality management being responsible for all the program deliverables, including white papers and issue papers, that they follow the template as well as standards, plus that they are logical and grammatically correct. The team I'm on also performs audits making sure that there are processes and the processes are followed. It sounds perhaps really boring but is anything but and the mission is to prevent when possible and find fraud, waste and abuse in healthcare claims. I love that I don't commute and therefore I'm not wasting fossil fuels and wasting so much of my time. I'm generally tied up with work about 50 - 60 hours per week although it's not all billable.

I'm an online psychotherapist.  I had an office until the covid lockdown, but had always had some online clients, because I live in Spain but work with clients in the UK and elsewhere in Spain and Europe.  My small food forest can be tended between clients, and I restrict my working days to give me lots of flexibility.   I could work from elsewhere if I chose to, but it's tricky to go places at the moment because we have dogs and a Sulcata.  I definitely won't be going back to 'in person' work, unless I branch out into nature therapy when the garden is more established.  I'm really grateful for being able to do work I love, whilst also building a sustainable home and garden.

Helen Siddall-Butchers wrote:I could work from elsewhere if I chose to, but it's tricky to go places at the moment because we have dogs and a Sulcata.

I had to look it up, Sulcata - how big is your tortoise?

Your profession and set up seems wonderful.

I work in offensive security (I attack people that hire us). I do work for a large company and am tied to debt culture. It is not ideal but it has brought in more cash flow that I thought I'd ever have. Pretty much anything in offensive security can be learned online anyway.

I have been able to work in many locations including moving in a car, and many state parks/private lands. We did a little bit of RVing with our children. It is nice that if I need to work, it doesn't have to ruin travel plans. Recently went to Appalachia with family and sat in a hot tub looking at the mountains. That was really nice.

I'd rather be putting down roots, growing things, and developing right relationship with land full time, but life deals you a hand and you have to make every next best decision. I think we are moving that direction. We are using our cash flow to engage with good friends with land and we are developing an Intentional Community. The burgeoning community will and is benefiting from our cash flow. I like to take money out of "the economy" and pay our friend to do things.

All-in-all I'm very lucky to have the opportunity I have to work remotely full time, I have an empathetic manager, and our dreams are slowly unfolding. We have everything we need.

I am trying to find some agile work. I have given up on homesteading in America. I did not graduate college and I will never save enough money to afford land and build a house on it, at least not in Florida, and I'm not entirely sure I want to live anywhere else.

So... I might sell my Mac mini for a MacBook Pro and get to traveling. Who knows what I might stumble on while backpacking, one can only hope opportunity.

Not sure how homesteaders would incorporate agile work into their lifestyle? Perhaps if they had a family or partner.

Nomadic permaculture tendencies are interesting, since it's a bit of a dichotomy.

I travel between ranches/homesteads "sitting" for them when they need some time away ( vacation, emergency trips, etc) from their ranch. Usually it's short term (a few days to a couple of weeks), though I'm open to longer term.

I really enjoy it, and I like seeing different homesteads!

I do whatever comes my way thru the small circle of amazing people I've been lucky enuf to encounter around my area.

It wasn't always this way tho, spent a couple decades in the full-time trenches of the general labor realm doing landscaping, concrete, masonry, residential construction, and mechanics in a city/suburb setting. I've since moved rural several years ago.

I have invested most the $ I made into vehicles, equipment, tools and storage to take care of my own place and own stuff, and be able to be hired on for watever help someone might need.

Really a complete jacka** of all trades, king of none but I'm happy to modestley squeak by as it seems the more $ and jobs I get tangled up in, the less happy I become.

Nothing like cooking up old potatoes on the wood burner and just heading out to the woods at my "camp" to do some bush honeysuckle maintenance because I'm low on $ and low on work :) It's bliss but I'm fortunate in many ways with limited bills - although there are drawbacks which are clear as a few people (one my brother) have realized the freelance/permie etc lifestyle is not what they imagined and moved out or moved on after just a few short weeks.

The key for me is having a home on wheels since it's true I often drive 1.5 hrs for work in the more urban areas...I just stay a few days in my box truck typically, and it works out for the dogs and I.