As cited above, being a “nomad” does not mean a person has no income. On the contrary, in many cases it refers to people who have a full-time job or a lucrative freelancing career who do not maintain a home.
Edit: I think that one’s nationality makes a difference in terms of longer term financial considerations. Basically, Americans have to take into account health insurance and medical costs until eligible for Medicare and Social Security (a shell game at this point). I note this because I know UKers and others in their 50s who had modest careers and have retired. This is just not possible for Americans with similarly modest careers.
Hi teresaottesen, I’m also curious about your comment. Sitters who are nomadic still need a source of income. Personally, I still have the same full-time job (that I can do from anywhere) that I had before I sold my house. After spending many years in school to get a PhD, then many more years building a career, a consulting business, and raising a child, I’m now an empty nester and have the freedom and to go wherever I want. I’m currently on a housesit in Germany with two gorgeous cats keeping me company while I work. It’s a great life!
I’m not a nomad, but I’m a f/t telecommuter who’s led large remote teams for nearly a decade. I can vouch that there are nomads with jobs. The ones I’ve managed and otherwise know make healthy incomes — often more than many people who don’t telecommute. Thinking that all nomads don’t have resources is a bad assumption.
Sidenote: I live in the Philadelphia area and my employer is DC-based. I lived in Arlington for many years. Let me know if you’d like to meet up next time I’m there.
Some folks who’d been working remotely because of the pandemic have actually been forced back into offices at least part time by some companies. It’s not that they weren’t earning the same money all along; now, some might not be as mobile.
Personally, I’ve led remote teams for nearly a decade and continue to telecommute f/t. My husband develops software and has worked remotely for even longer. Neither of us has to ever work in an office again, because we’re in demand remotely. Both of us know many permanent telecommuters.
My coworkers and I have lots of autonomy and flexibility. I manage many people and don’t care if they’re nomadic, as long as their work gets done well, we’re able to reach them when needed and they don’t impede business with their travels. My boss and coworkers know that I telecommute from sits.
I have international medical insurance so insurance is not an issue, but I do believe the rising cost of traveling and food might be making it more difficult for some to travel. During the past 12 months I have visited 12 countries, 4 continents, 130 plus cities, and been on over 30 planes. I have just recently started to see a rise in all forms of transportation and food internationally.
Hi @teresaottesen - thanks for the reply though I’m none the wiser TBH. We too have global health insurance, we too have been to 12 countries in the last year, many many cities, on countless planes and so on. All in order to house sit internationally. Yes it’s costly and requires a lot of logistical planning. My question was - why is that more difficult for a nomad than a retiree or a full time worker who sits?
@Ben-ProductManager. Thank you for your reply. Like @Lassie and @Crosswords_and_puzzles, I’m not sure what your static refers to. I obviously can’t draw on your experience across the whole platform but we’re certainly seeing a dramatic shift in the proportions of new and experienced sitters here in Sydney.
So for @Crosswords_and_puzzles, here is a few more stats from our current listing. We have now had more than 70 applicants (not counting the six who reapplied after being declined). 76% of applicants can be categorised as twenty-something travellers looking for accommodation - Eg. “We really want to visit Sydney and your dates fit perfect with our itinerary” But perhaps the most telling statistic is that 52% of applicants have NO reviews.
It’s been a full time job monitoring the App and declining unsuitable applications to keep the listing open. The good news is that we’ve now paused our listing and have video calls lined up with two applicants, and are confident we’ll find a suitable sitter.
Hi @Silverfox Your stats are very interesting and seem to mark a real change in the sitter demographic. I can understand finding a sitter under these circumstances wth the 5 app rule is quite a challenge. I just looked at your linked listing but it is your sitter profile not a host listing. I wanted to favourite you as we’d love to do a nice sit in Sydney one day! We are super experienced and in the ‘mature’ age group! We did a lot of sits over in WA pre-Covid & would love to tour the east coast too!
Glad to see you’ve finally had some success. It seemed you were popping up in my alerts twice a day, so I figured you were still having issues. Hopefully our movements will align one day and we can put our hand up to look after your fur babies and home. We often return home via Sydney and stay a while to regroup before our next journey and certainly fit your requirements for experienced sitters.
When one is new here, most of one’s applications are declined. I made six unsuccessful applications before I was chosen for my first sit. That was a Christmas sit, so not too much competition. Also my age does not work against me here.
Now, with five references, I get most of the sits that I apply for.
So your statistic does not mean that most on THS are new members or that 76 % are young travellers. Those categories just need to send out many more applications.
By No Reviews they might mean also no external references either. When I joined in 2018 it was required to obtain at least 1 external ref (we got two) before the profile would go live but for a while now it has not been mandatory. So in some cases sitters really do have no reviews OR references. I can understand a hosts hesitancy if there are no reviews/refs at all. Its really a good idea to get as many good external refs as possible to get off to a good start! And then a fabulous profile that really sells yourself and ofcourse a winning application!
I would not rely on external references by friends etc. For a home owner, the LinkedIn link etc of a first-time sitter would probably be more important to generate some trust.
I am not really that much more experienced with animal care or with home maintenance than a year ago. The difference is that five other HOs on this site have vouched for me.
I feel the same way regarding your stats. I’m in a very popular location of NYC. I feel I spend all day and night unpausing and declining sitters to keep the application open.
Unfortunately, I’m not seeing qualified people the majority of the time. No reviews or no references mostly (I would even take an Airbnb profile). Yes, I know that everyone needs to start somewhere. I sympathize with that.
However, I have a senior dog. I can’t afford to take chances with her care and comfort in my absence.
I fear that the shift is people mostly looking at my location for a place stay and nothing else. I also get a lot of messages talking about how much they wanted to visit NYC since they were little. They mention nothing about my Pixie or their pet owner experience.
This is why I think I’m going to mostly rely on seeking out qualified sitters instead of waiting for them to come to me.
@Shasta - We have 2 regular sits in NYC, both which we have just recently completed. Would happily add Pixie as our 3rd!
Your don’t have your listing linked, so I am unable to take a closer look. One of our NYC sits was also with a senior dog (14) and prior to that, we had recently cared for a lovely 17 year old pooch.
You can access our Profile by clicking my profile name above and you will see our reviews and experience, quite a number with senior dogs.
I am an experienced single sitter, and I am now fully booked till the end of this year. There are 2 things I’ve noticed.
First of all, I get invitations with very short notice. I love doing sittings, but I have a full time remote job as well, so I have to plan travel days out of my holiday allowance. Then I have to book flights etc. So unless a pet owner contacts me several months in advance, there’s no way for me to plan it. For example, my last one of 2023 will be one month in The Netherlands and this was booked in May. The owners have peace of mind knowing I am coming and I have my travel arrangements sorted to make sure I get a cheap flight.
The second thing is that people are discussing THS online with very little interest in pets or knowledge about how it works. There’s a lot of “I want a cheap holiday” and people pile up with “oh, why don’t you pet sit?”. It really annoys me because those are the people who apply with little knowledge of what it really involves and they block up the 5 opportunities. A few weeks ago, I was in the middle of writing an application for a sitting in Paris, and when I submitted it, it was already full so I couldn’t submit it. A few days later, the owner opened it up again, as clearly she was not happy with the first 5 applicants. I am not sure who the 5 people rule helps. I have not heard anyone praising it yet
Maybe it was an unfortunate choice of words. House-sitting is potentially a service that one can charge for (outside of this site) and that extra income may be useful for sitters who previously did it for free.
