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Instead of just working your butt off to fill up your travel fund before a trip, what if you could work a lucrative job that pays real money while wandering the world? Sounds too good to be true, eh? As an experienced “digital nomad”, I’m here to tell you that’s not the case. Here are 6 real ways to make good money while traveling like a freakin’ boss.
Psst. This post contains affiliate links. Read our disclosure.
Lemme just say something real quick: this is not a guide on how to become a millionaire in just a couple weeks. Or how to start up a booming business from your garage.
We’re here to talk about the genuine ways you could make money while on the road. (Aka getting sh*t done with a crazy awesome side hustle!)
Whether you want to work 30-40 hours a week to make a good income that’ll cover all and every (reasonable 😉 ) travel expense or just a few hours here and there to help supplement your already established travel fund, these remote jobs are flexible enough to work with whatever schedule you want to set up!
Cool, right?
After personally doing each of these things to help fund my travels, I can wholeheartedly say they work if you work!
So when you’re sitting on the beach in Bali or doing a one-month road trip in Vietnam, you can grab your computer and chisel out a few hours to make some cheeky dough (aka $$$).
Tip: If you only have a few spare hours a week and just want a bit more spending money, I like to earn a few easy peasy dollars taking surveys! Sign up for Survey Junkie (a personal favorite!), Swagbucks and UserTesting (get paid testing sites and apps — $10 per test!).
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Take Up Transcribing
If you’re good with a computer, have a fast wifi connection, can type like a pro, enjoy doing research, and are a patient person, consider transcribing as a way to earn cash while traveling the world!
Almost anybody can do this type of job and nowadays the demand for home-based transcribers (particularly legal transcribers!) is continuously growing.
Don’t believe me? Read this post about how Megan shifted during the pandemic to work from home as a transcriber! (Hint: she was making $$$ within just a month of learning how to transcribe!)
If you want to learn more about transcribing as a side job, check out these two FREE transcribing courses:
- FREE General Transcription Mini-Course
- FREE Legal Transcription Mini-Course
- Transcribe Anywhere Courses
Run Facebook Ads
Like spending time on social media? Get paid to do it by running Facebook ads for brands and companies!
It’s a super lucrative side hustle, as more and more companies are looking for Facebook advertising experts to help achieve their business goals!
And the best part is that you don’t even have to have a marketing degree or be an expert in all things social media; you just have to be an expert in Facebook specifically!
Take a look at this course on becoming a FB Ads Master on Udemy!
Become a Freelance Writer
Are you a master with words? Great with spelling and grammar? Become a freelance writer!
SO many brands are looking for people to write blog posts, educational articles, website content, and more — and they can pay well, too.
On average, I earn about $200 for every 1,000 word article I write. Not bad, not bad! That’s after 4 years of being a freelancer but at the start of my career, I earned roughly $25-50 for an easy 500 word article.
Personally, I use both LinkedIn and Upwork to find freelance writing opportunities. While Upwork can be a bit difficult to get into nowadays, making valuable connections through LinkedIn is a great place to start!
Additionally, if you want more info on this type of remote work, this course on The Complete Freelance Writing Online Course: Beginner to Pro, which has KILLER reviews!
(Psst, if you’re already a freelancer and want to earn more money than you ever thought possible, ! I’m personally a member of this freelancer-focused academy and it’s SO incredibly awesome. The amount of tips, tricks, and advice these geniuses have on making 6-figures as a freelancer is pure GOLD.)
Dabble in Social Media Marketing
Although I mentioned running Facebook ads up above, setting yourself up as a kick-a** social media marketer / manager is totally different ballgame!
While FB ads are all about successfully running a paid campaign by uncovering target audiences, using the right copy, etc., social media marketing is about helping brands and business create a community of loyal fans and followers through carefully curated content and awesome engagement.
Think you might be a winner at that? If so, you should definitely give it a go!
Personally, I’ve taken an incredible social media marketing course and it was so cool to learn the ins and outs of how to effectively use SMM!
In fact, my first social media marketing client was on a 3-month retainer at $1,000/month for managing and posting to their FB, Instagram, and Twitter accounts 1X per day. Not too shabby!
If you want to check out an awesome course on how to become a wicked social media manager, click here. (I mean, heck, if you enjoy social media, why not get paid to be on it, right?!)
Try Affiliate Marketing
Ever heard of someone making money in their sleep? Well, that’s kinda what affiliate marketing is like!
Not sure what affiliate marketing is?
It means you make money when someone buys a product through a specific link of yours — i.e. when someone links to a product on Amazon through their affiliate program and makes a commission when another buys that product.
While affiliate marketing is pretty demanding at first, as you typically have to put in a lot of time before you get anything out of it, once you get it going it’s damn near nonstop!
No doubt, affiliate marketing is passive income as its finest. (Psst, passive income is when you make dem dollars without being actively involved or working. Heck yes!)
Personally, I use affiliate income on my blog and earn a little bit every month from it. While not much (as I haven’t put a lot of time into it), every penny counts!
If you’re serious about trying out affiliate marketing, I suggest reading this book, taking the course Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing (which has RAVING reviews and I’ve personally taken it!), and checking out this affiliate marketing course from Udemy!
Become a Virtual Assistant
Do you love helping and supporting others? Are super duper organized? Have a slight obsession with keeping things in order?
Become a virtual assistant and get paid to help others keep their life and business in check!
Now I know what you might be thinking… a virtual assistant? You want me to be a glorified secretary? But there’s SO much more to being a VA than that!
Though there’s no cut and dry list of services a virtual assistant will offer, here’s a quick and dirty list of examples:
- Calendar management and travel arrangements
- Content creation for blogs and ghostwriting
- Content research
- Keyword research
- Performing outreach
- Email management
- And so much more!
Want to learn more about how to become a virtual assistant? Read this article! Or check this affordable $19 course on how to jumpstart your virtual assistant career!
BONUS: Start a Blog
Okay, okay, now I know anyone and everyone who has a blog tells people like you to start a blog if you want to make money from home (or traveling).
But in reality, starting a blog not only allows you to create content you genuinely enjoy writing and want to share, it also presents an opportunity to make money from a multitude of different sources.
Take affiliate marketing. A blog is a great platform to promote products you actually use and love — and make money from that promotion!
Additionally, after setting up your blog and automating site traffic, ad revenue can be a easy way to keep funding your travels while on the road!
(I personally love waking up and checking my ad revenue from the day before, knowing I didn’t have to lift a finger to make those dollars!)
And let’s not forget about all the cool ways you could partner up with brands you love! By setting up a booming blog, you could make money from sponsored collaborations, paid promotions, and private affiliate offers. Cool, right?
If this sounds like something you’d be into, I recommend reading this post on the 10 things I got wrong when starting my blog (+ the 3 things I got right!). You’ll love it!
With these lucrative money-making ways in mind, I truly hope you’ve opened yourself up to earning some dollars while traveling the world!
There are SO many more remote working jobs out there but I couldn’t include them all here (plus, I wanted to talk about thing I’ve actually dabbled in!).
Have you ever worked remotely? Or are looking for ways to work and make money while traveling the world? I’d love to hear any thoughts or questions you might have! Stick ’em in the comment section below.
Sophie xx
Not sure what to read next? Check out these posts:
- 10 Things I Got WRONG When Starting a Blog (+3 Things I Got Right!)
- KeySearch Review: Affordable Keyword Analysis Tool or Waste of Money?
- Scoring cheap flights • The top sites I use to book affordable flights
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As mentioned above, this post contains affiliate links. Which means if you make a purchase through the links, this site receives a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps us to continue bringing you wanderful inspiration! Read our full disclosure here.
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