10 ways to make money as a digital nomad

As an aspiring digital nomad, you will likely be thinking of how you are going to fund this lifestyle. How are you going to afford this?

Rest assured, there are many opportunities out there to make this lifestyle work for you.

Keep your current job and take it with you.

But what if they say no? Negotiate with your boss to let you take it for a test run. “Give me two weeks or a month to try out this lifestyle. If it doesn’t work, I will come home.”  If they agree, make sure you outline what success looks like for you as a remote worker, to ensure you’re meeting those goals. If they still say no you can always find a new job ????

Sell your skills as a freelancer.

As a freelancer you will have a lot more flexibility on your location and when you work. You can do this as a designer, marketer, or hundreds of other positions to fund your lifestyle.

Sell on Fiverr

Fiverr allows you to sell any number of unique skills to a global audience. You will start slow, but could build yourself a career selling anything from online dating coaching to singing a stranger happy birthday.

Sell your photographs to sites as you travel.

There are a lot of websites that allow you to sell your photos so you just have to pick the one that is right for you.

Start a blog about your travels or whatever topic you are excited about.

Then sell advertising, use affiliate links, start a Patreon, and experiment with a numerous other ways to profit off of a blog.

Create and sell videos as you travel.

Start by offering to make videos for free (that’s right, free) for restaurants, cafes, and hotels as you travel. Eventually you will have a portfolio you can show to future prospects. You can then trade the work for payment, lodging, or a fine dining experience as you grow your business.

Invest your money into a retirement fund through Vanguard.

This is a longer-term approach but it will help you fund your travels while working.

Start a YouTube channel reviewing different travel destinations.

As you travel you will go to a lot of unique places in the process. Sharing your experiences will be very helpful for future travelers. This will open up many different monetization opportunities such as ads, sponsors, or patreon.

Find paid Workaways.

Workaway is usually work in exchange for lodging and food, but there are listings that include a small amount of pay in addition to room and board. It won’t be much, but should be enough to help pay for transportation costs and some things to do. Typically these are going to be at hostels, or surf camps, requiring that you commit to the location for a few months.

Learn to manage social media ads.

Social media isn’t going anywhere and learning to manage ads is going to be a great opportunity for you to work a job or work with clients around the world. This is where I got my start so I’m confident you can figure this out too.

These are just 10 ideas for you to fund your travels, there are probably hundreds if not thousands more.

Written for Lost & Lore by Trevor Carlson