How to Make Money As a Digital Nomad?

A digital nomad is one career option that is becoming quite fascinating for a lot of people. It essentially means living a nomadic life and using digital means to earn a living. A person who wishes to be a digital nomad has wanderlust and loves to travel. They don’t stay put in one place. They travel all over the globe and learn about new cultures and meet new communities. Earning their living in such a way is tough, but with digitalization, they have more means now. A digital nomad is a freelance writer or creator or a blogger or earns through Facebook advertisement, and so on.

It is an appealing job for many. According to a survey, a lot of people are turning towards a nomadic lifestyle. Moreover, the number of people working remotely increasing even for other companies, leading such a lifestyle is not that far a fantasy. Although, essentially digital nomads work for themselves, and sometimes it is hard to make a decent earning. Since moving around so much, and living out of hotels requires good savings.

So, if you are planning to opt for this lifestyle, here are some ways that can help you earn handsomely.

1. Become a blogger

Blogging is a rich source of income for people who wish to travel and lead a nomadic lifestyle. Blogs are pretty easy to start, but they are so hard to sustain and make it successful. If you want to earn good money out of your blogs, you need it to be fresh, relevant, and punchy.

You can have a unique concept, but having a specific niche is crucial. Also, when searching for ideas, keep in mind that you do need sponsorships for better success, and you need to keep it relevant with your digital nomadic lifestyle.

Other things to keep in mind:

• Use original and quality images. As you are traveling worldwide, writing about that, and using original pictures won’t be that hard. Use tools to edit the pictures more appealingly. Canva is one of the best tools for that. Use social media to promote your blog so that more people can connect with it. Also, it will help with more referral traffic.
• SEO is necessary for ranking. So, work on link-building, using the right keywords, and so on.
• Guest posting for other blogs can also help you get better traffic and ranking.

2. Start a YouTube channel

People love watching new places, communities, traditions, and cultures. As a digital nomad, you have the perfect recipe for a great YouTube channel. All you need is the right capturing skills, and you are good to go.

Vlog about the places, the events, and so on. You can even make do-to-lists when you are in a foreign land, and so on. The trick here is marketing the channel right. So, keep these things in mind:

• Use Canva to create customized thumbnails for your video. People need to see what they will find in the video if you want them to click on it.
• Keep the videos interesting, and if that means creating short ones, then that’s okay.
• Describe your videos in the captions. Use subtitles for people who are not native to your language.
• Use good editing software. Learn some editing skills as you want good earnings from it.

3. Publish an eBook

Amazon Kindle features let people publish eBooks. You can write a book about your travels and experience. Also, you can turn it into a print-on-demand thing. There are other platforms too that can help with that.

4. The gig economy

The gig economy is a great way to earn money while traveling. All you need is to find suitable jobs for you like driving, or delivering packages or finding small paying gigs. Even waitressing can help you pay your dues.

5. Copyediting

As long as you have a computer and a Wi-Fi connection, you can do this work from anywhere. Find companies that are looking for remote copy editors or you can find freelancing gigs on-site like Upwork. It pays well, and you can do it even from Paris. Though make sure you are up for the challenge. You would need a good command over grammar, language, punctuation, and spellings.

6. Translation

If you are fluent in English and some other languages like Russian or Hindi, or Chinese or French, this could be a perfect job for you. You can work in agencies or work with hospitals or so on. You need to be fluent in languages for this, but some may ask for a degree. So, research your options well.

Translation jobs are flexible. You can work as a freelancer translating written documents for companies from anywhere. Or you can take up a translating job that requires you to travel for translating.

7. Online courses

If you have a skill, why not use it for your good as well as others. You can use your knowledge to create online courses and then share them with the world via numerous platforms. You can create PDF files or slideshows explaining a topic or even a video, and share it with people for a fee. You can also start a website where you teach people courses, or you can join hands with tools like Udemy. When you work with teaching tools, you only have to worry about creating your course, and explaining it in the best way possible.

Worrying about the marketing and sales side is not your job. It is a great way to make money for your digital nomadic life while sharing your knowledge.

8. Find work with a remote companies

Some companies operate remotely and are looking for employees who can work remotely for them. It is a perfect job, as you can travel anywhere while continuing your work as well.

Make sure you are cautious when looking for remote companies. There are sites like FlexJobs that can help you find great WFH jobs. Companies like Buffer or Toptal are few firms who operate remotely and that too successfully.

9. By renting your house or car

Another way to have a steady income while you travel is by renting your property. If you have an apartment or a house in a great location, you can rent it for the summers or some period or for as long as you are travelling currently.

You can rent your home on Airbnb, and it is your choice whether you want to rent the whole house, a part of it, or you want different people living in separate rooms as room-mates. It is a perfect way to earn decent money for your travels. Also, it ensures that your house is safe and clean all the time.

Similarly, you can rent your car. When you are on your wanderlust tour, people can drive your car, you earn money from it, and it stays up and running.

10. Offer to teach English

It is a more physical job, but if you are in severe cash problems in a foreign land, this could always work out. If you are fluent in English or if it’s your first language, you can contact local schools or tuition centres and offer your services.

It may not pay as much as you would like, but it can help you get out of a tough situation, and pay your dues till you find a better option.

11. By selling physical and digital products

When you travel to various places, you see a lot of culture and tradition. It could provide you with a way to earn money. For instance, you can create postcards which show the culture or tradition of the place you are travelling. Or anything else that shows people the history and the colourful tradition of a place they always wanted to visit.

It works best if you have a blog because you can ask your audience to check out your digital products and buy them. But without that, it can work too if you have a website.

Selling physical products while travelling is a bit challenging and will take time. But if you have the right idea for the product and how to market and ship them while travelling, this could be a great business idea.

12. Social media marketing

When you are travelling to countries where the cost of living is lower than in big countries, this job can help you earn well. Social media is powerful, but in many countries, people are still struggling with it. If you are well-versed in social media and its marketing technique, you can be of invaluable service to them.

Finding clients won’t be as hard, but you cannot do this without proper knowledge. So, if social media marketing is not your cup of tea, choose one of the other jobs we listed above.

Being a digital nomad has its ups and downs. But if you can find a great way to earn and sustain yourself, and you love traveling, it can be a blessing for you. But make sure you are prepared and have a back-up earning plan if what you are doing fails. You don’t want to be stuck in a foreign land with no means to bail you out, right? Happy traveling.