Recent years have seen a massive paradigm shift with regard to how we view work. The 9-5 grind is no longer seen as the only way to earn a living, as communications technology has empowered people everywhere to take their professional lives into their own hands as digital nomads. It’s certainly an appealing lifestyle – after all who wouldn’t want to combine exciting travel experiences with career success? – but at the same time, there are some challenges involved.
Freedom is the heart of what digital nomadism is, but the reality is that the modern Internet landscape is becoming increasingly restrictive. With privacy and security dangers more prevalent than ever and internet censorship on the rise, it can be difficult to work freely online as a self-employed digital nomad. Fortunately for you, there is a convenient solution at hand in the form of VPNs. Here, we’ll shine some light on what VPNs do and explore how they can help you unlock the potential of digital nomadism.
About VPNs
So, just what is a VPN?
A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a server that exists to broker indirect internet connections. When you use a VPN application to go online, it will divert your connection via a VPN server in another location. In doing so, it will allow you to use the Internet under a different IP address than that of your device. In this way, a VPN allows you to maintain a greater degree of anonymity when you go online.
How a VPN Can Help You Succeed as a Digital Nomad
As a self-employed person who has chosen to live the digital nomad lifestyle, you stand to gain considerably from using a VPN in your daily work. The following are some of the key ways that a VPN can help you to work smarter while you travel:
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Enhanced Cybersecurity
With each passing year, the digital space is becoming more and more fraught with cybersecurity threats. Security breaches pose a serious risk to any user, but the stakes are even higher when you rely on the Internet to earn your living. Moreover, working while you travel often means utilizing unsecured public networks, and this greatly increases the likelihood that you will experience a security breach. A VPN can help you mitigate such risks, however, through the implementation of encryption technologies.
When a VPN reroutes your connection, it also sends it through a secure tunnel and uses encryption protocols to render your data unintelligible to anyone who might manage to access it. This means that you gain added security when you use a VPN, allowing you to safely utilize public networks so that you can continue to work no matter where you go.
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Safe Remote Collaboration
Like many digital nomads out there, you may want to work with different companies as a private contractor. That often means collaborating remotely with individuals or teams from those companies, and you should seek to do so safely to protect your professional reputation. This is also an area where a VPN can be helpful.
Since a VPN encrypts and secures your connection, it helps to protect potentially sensitive information belonging to those with whom you are working. This could include customer details, product and pricing information, financial documents, proprietary assets, and more. By allowing you to handle such important data safely, a VPN will help you to establish yourself as a reputable a reliable collaborator.
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Unrestricted Access to Online Platforms
Living the digital nomad lifestyle is all about traveling light and working smart. That means you’re going to want to utilize cloud-based storage and software services regularly to streamline your daily operations. Unfortunately, however, this is not always as simple as it should be, primarily due to the rise of geo-blocking, which can prevent you from accessing vital services due to your geographical location. Yet again, though, VPNs offer a solution.
Since VPN servers enable you to change your IP address when you go online, you can use your VPN application to avoid having your device IP tracked. As such, it becomes impossible for websites to determine your geographical location to apply geo-blocks. That means that by simply switching to a server in an unrestricted region, you can completely bypass any blocks you encounter. You can still use services such as streaming platforms that are only available in your country, so you don’t have to subscribe to another service. You can even save more money by using discount coupons from VPN.Coupons. This will help you avoid downtime so that you can work as efficiently as possible while moving from place to place.
Wrapping up
As a digital nomad, you get to combine work and travel and enjoy the best of both worlds. However, there are some hurdles you will need to overcome to make the most of your newfound lifestyle, namely geo-blocking and cyber threats. Fortunately, with a VPN on hand, you can overcome such issues with ease.
By adding a VPN to your digital nomad toolkit, you can protect your data, collaborate securely, and bypass blocks to ensure that you maintain peak performance as a freelance entrepreneur, regardless of where your adventures take you.
Featured image provided by samer daboul; Pexels; Thanks!
