Ask GoMad Nomad: How to Make Money as a Digital Nomad
Dear GoMad Nomad,
I am fed up with life back home, sick of working for the man and not earning enough to save up. I want to travel; go out on the open road. My problem is that I don’t have a big enough savings. I know a little about traveling cheaply and volunteering, and even picking up different odd jobs as I travel, but I was hoping to work some kind of digital nomad job: that is, with my laptop. So here comes my question: How to make money as a digital nomad?
Sincerely,
RH from Winnipeg, Manitoba
Hi RH,
I wish I knew your skill set on the computer so I could help guide you better, but I’ll give you a few ideas that might help. It’s tough getting started as a digital nomad, so my advice would be to take several months getting yourself set up for digital nomading success before you hit the road. (Read here to find out: what is a digital nomad.)
It’s good to know what you don’t want. But I will point other readers in the direction of traveling cheaply by volunteering (like wwoofing) of just not spending a whole lot of money, or by teaching English.
Blogging
This is an obvious one that a lot of travelers turn to, probably because it’s something they know about, are passionate about, and plan to do a lot of. You don’t have to be a travel blogger, but blogging about anything that you know a lot about is important. These days, you don’t have to be tech expert either, just use wordpress. One piece of advice, don’t use a free domain and hosting. Buy your website at namecheap.com and get hosting through Bluehost.com.
How to make money as blogger? I could write a whole blog post about that, or rather, dedicate a whole website to it. But in short, bloggers earn money from advertising, affiliate sales (like ours to booking.com) and by selling products.
Freelancing
Freelancing encompasses a lot of different things, only one of which I have any first-hand knowledge. (That’s writing, btw.) But other freelancers are working on web, software & IT, management & finance, translating, teaching English, design, art & multimedia, engineering & architecture, sales & marketing, and legal sectors. Freelancing is a vast industry and certainly a feasible answer to how to make money as a digital nomad. There are many job search sites on the web, for example, you may find freelance Chinese translator jobs on Jooble.
Some helpful freelance sites to connect workers with clients are:
Online Investing
I know this one doesn’t help you much, RH, because you said you don’t have any savings, but it’s worth mentioning for other readers. If you have some capital, why not invest to earn more travel money? Use a site link Binary Uno to invest by buying and selling stocks. You might not know a lot about trading but after dedicating a few days to online research, you may be ready to make some smart investments.
If you need more inspiration, here’s 10 Cool Offices I’ve had as a Digital Nomad.
