It may seem that a life of constant travel may look all glamorous. But digital nomads that have mastered the art of long-term travel also work hard behind the scenes. Traveling is expensive. Funds are needed to sustain this kind of lifestyle. With a steady stream of income, constant travel would be smoother. So how do some digital nomads earn while they travel? Here are some ways people can earn while on the go.
Online Freelance Work
A lot of digital nomads work freelance and online. Most of them have their specialties. If you are good at what you do, you may be lucky and get regular work from online employers. I know writers who have regular online sites they write to. Graphic designers can work on logos and layout requirements remotely. Online entrepreneurs from fashion to merchandise can sell their items online. In my case, I also have online stock photos where I can also get buyers looking for images from a specific destination.
Affiliate Marketing
If you have a website or a blog, it pays to take advantage of Affiliate Marketing partners like Google and similar online ads network. There are also hotel booking sites and online shopping sites that pay you commissions for leads and sales generated from your site. But of course, you have to work hard to increase traffic on your site or blog as the more people who visit your site, the more you earn.
Learn to Invest
For a lot or people, hearing the word “investment” can be intimidating. I know a lot of digital nomads are into “stock investments”. It’s a skill you must learn and eventually able to discern the rise and falls of stocks and which companies to buy or sell.
For a conservative investment there are also mutual funds or bond funds. It’s much like savings time deposit but you earn higher interest in at least four years time once it matures. If you have enough funds that you would like to keep before you do long-term travel, this would be ideal as you have money to fallback into with added considerable amount of earnings.
There are also property investments. People buy properties like condo or apartments to have them rented in sites like AirBnB. Long term travelers may also have their existing houses rented and just assign a property manager to look into it. That way even while traveling, their property is being used and is also getting some income.
These are just some of the examples of how to earn money while travelling. There may be some other ways but the technique here is not to settle with just one. It’s better if you have multiple streams of income coming from different sources. It also pays to be smart on how you spend your money while travelling. Like if you are staying in a destination, it would be better to rent in monthly terms than paying a daily rate for hotels. Shopping for groceries for food rather than eating out every night.
Do you have any other ideas to save money and earn while travelling? Do share below.
Ferdz Decena is an award-winning travel photographer, writer and blogger. His works has found print in publications such as Singapore Airlines’s Silver Kris, Philippine Airlines’ Mabuhay, Cebu Pacific’s Smile and Seair InFlight. He has also lent his expertise to various organizations like the Oceana Philippines, Lopez Group Foundation, Save the Children and World Vision, contributing quality images for their marketing materials.
