How do people afford to travel for so long? One way is to make money as you travel. 

There are lots of different ways to work and travel. Many of these options involve staying somewhere for a few months such as teaching English or working as a holiday rep. This can put limits on how and where you travel. 

However, there’s also the option of taking up digital work from a laptop, which can prevent you from having to stay in one place for a length of time. In fact, you can pretty much work from any location whether it be a hotel in the Alps or a bar on the beach. This is what it means to become a ‘digital nomad’.

There are lots of different digital nomad jobs that you can take up. A few are included below:

Ways to make money as a digital nomad

• Writing: You can make money writing blog posts, articles, press releases and website copy for online clients. This is perfect for anyone who has a passion for writing.
• Graphic design: It’s possible to design logos, animations and infographics for clients with nothing but a laptop. If you’ve got graphic designs skills, consider whether this is a possible job for you.
• Web design: Know how to design a website? You can also make money building or editing websites for clients using nothing but a laptop.
• Social media marketing: Another job that can be done entirely on a computer is social media marketing. If you have a good knowledge of social media, this could be something to look into.
• Online customer support: There are many companies that hire remote employees to operate as customer support workers. This may involve answering phone call enquiries, answering email enquiries or possibly replying to instant messages via a website live chat feature. If you’ve got experience in customer support, this could be a role to look into.
• Ecommerce: You can also run an online store from anywhere in the world. A growing number of online stores are now relying on dropshipping – this means that you don’t have to own your inventory and can simply ship out products from warehouses around the world while managing the sales aspect online.  

The challenges of becoming a digital nomad

Becoming a digital nomad doesn’t come without its challenges. Overcoming these can help you to enjoy your travels to the max. A few challenges include:

Maintaining steady work

Getting hired by an employer could allow you to maintain steady work. However, to provide more flexibility, most digital nomads work freelance. This means constantly finding work to sustain you as you travel. There are many sites set up for freelancers where you can advertise your services. You can also send targeted emails to potential customers. It may even be worth printing off a few business cards to hand out to potential customers you may meet while travelling – you can make a QR code on the business card leading to your site. Finding work through an agency could be another option and could take a lot of the stress out of marketing yourself. 

Finding a connection

Having a good internet connection is important for working efficiently. Some hotels and hostels may have poor wi-fi or you may have to pay to use the internet. So that you can work productively, it may be worth researching into accommodation before staying somewhere so that you know you will have an internet connection. 

Getting the right work/travel balance

Ideally, you want to be able to make enough money to sustain your travels without spending all of your time working. Getting the balance right can be difficult – be realistic about how much work you can take on and how much money you need to be earning to get by.