Earning Income on the Road—Location-Independent Careers
Episode #7 of the course How to travel long term/full time by Nora Dunn
Welcome back! After learning about various ways to earn income on the ground while traveling, today is all about having a career you can take anywhere you go.
“Location Independent” means working regardless of where you are in the world, something made increasingly possible with the internet. People with this lifestyle are known as “digital nomads,” and experts predict that in just a few years, 40% of Americans will have careers allowing them to live and work this way.
Below are a few location-independent careers to consider.
Online Tutoring
Got something you can teach? Teach it online! You can engage private students with video calls and email and even teach the world at large (and earn a passive income) by designing courses on platforms like Udemy, Teachable, Skillshare, and Thinkific.
You can help students with their studies, teach musical instruments, tutor languages, provide coaching services, lead yoga classes . . . the list goes on. Your method of online tutoring is dictated by what you teach and your entrepreneurial desires. You can also work for online tutoring companies if you don’t want to drum up business yourself.
Freelance Writing
No matter how obscure your area of expertise is, there’s probably a publication that you can write for! If you’re verbally crafty, you can also look at copywriting, content strategy, and other related forms of freelance writing.
It takes a while to build a writing portfolio that can command a decent income, but if you treat it like a business and have an area of expertise, you’ll get there.
Travel Writing
Travel writing is a form of freelance writing, and although it goes hand in hand with long-term travel, it’s a highly saturated market, so you’ll need an edge to stand out. It’s not all hotel and restaurant reviews for glossy magazines; focus on a niche to differentiate yourself, and with some solid work, you’ll get there.
Blogging
Blogging is another form of writing, but one that also requires you to be a publisher, editor, marketer, web developer, photographer, and more. A blog is a full-on business that you build from the ground up, which takes time, perseverance, and ideally, a niche you’re an expert in to differentiate yourself from the millions of blogs out there.
Location-Independent Business
Many of the above careers are location independent-businesses, but you don’t have to be a writer or web design whiz to have a location-independent business. I know voiceover artists, airport management consultants, wildlife illustrators, database architects, jewelry designers, import/exporters, coaches, and more who all make a living from around the world, with clients in equally far-flung destinations.
Telecommuting
If you don’t want the onus of running a business, work for another company remotely by telecommuting! Maybe you can convince your employer to let you try it out, if your job allows. It saves them money on office space and resources, employees are often happier being able to construct their own workday and style, and with the sophisticated communication tools we have, it’s easy to stay in touch.
Tomorrow, we’ll look at the second component to financially sustainable travel: spending money creatively—with the added benefit of a culturally rewarding experience.
Ciao for now,
Nora
Recommended book
Working on the Road: The Unconventional Guide to Full-Time Freedom by Nora Dunn
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