You roll out of bed at 8am, after being woken naturally by the sunlight streaming through your window. You make yourself a coffee and drink it on the balcony while checking your emails and the news of the day. Then, it’s time for your morning jog, so you walk the 100 metres from your villa to the beach. After your workout, you shower then head over to your favourite cafe to have breakfast and get stuck into some work. Your afternoon break consists of a quick dip in the pool back at your villa, before doing a few more hours of work and clocking off at 5pm to meet your friends for dinner and drinks.
It sounds like something out of a dream, but believe it or not it’s the average working day of many young professionals. A growing number of ‘digital nomads’ are leaving traditional 9-5 jobs behind in order to live and work anywhere in the world. What was once considered the exception is quickly becoming the norm, with recent reports estimating that by 2020, 1.55 billion workers will work jobs that don’t confine them to a desk.
Gone are the days where working from a tropical island was solely the domain of the social media influencer or semi-retired entrepreneur. Programs like Roam make it easier than ever for anyone to travel and work remotely, by allowing them to sign a ‘lease’ that allows them to move between their global co-living/co-working spaces as they please. All you need is a laptop, an internet connection and a job that can be done without you physically being in an office. And you’d be surprised how many jobs that applies to (and how much money you can actually make doing them!) Here are 7 of the best jobs that allow you to travel while still making a decent living.
e-commerce business owner
Any small business owner will tell you it’s no walk in the park, especially if you’re doing it solo. However, one of the perks is that if it’s an e-commerce biz (ie. run online, not a brick-and-mortar store) is that you can do it from anywhere in the world — thanks to something called ‘drop-shipping’ that allows the manufacturing and boxing to be done elsewhere. Whether you’re selling a physical product or something like a eBook, it’s a great way to generate residual income (more on that here.)
Virtual Assistant
If you’re someone who’s supremely organised and genuinely enjoys colour-coding spreadsheets, you might make a good virtual assistant. Often utilised by small businesses to make their lives easier, a VA is basically a personal assistant who works — you guessed it — virtually! They handle a large range of tasks, doing anything from scheduling their client’s appointments to managing their Instagram account or even organising their events.
Copywriter
What’s the one thing that every single website in the world has in common (apart from a www address)? Words! But when you’re a business trying to stand out in a endless sea of competition, not just any old words will do. Good copy sells, which is why there’s such a market for talented writers. Whether you set up your own business or look for freelance gigs on websites like Upwork, copywriting is a great remote job that requires nearly zero equipment.
Web Developer or Designer
While copywriters make the words sound good, someone needs to create the website in the first place and make it look good. That’s where web developers and designers come in. Web developers build and maintain the website using code, whereas designers make the website’s interface user friendly and visually pleasing. If you’re tech savvy and creative, it may be worth learning how to do one or both — as it can be lucrative career path that can be done anywhere in the world. General Assembly run some great courses on both web designer and development.
Consultant
If you work in the corporate world (perhaps as a lawyer, or in HR or finance), you may be wondering how your role could ever be done as a digital nomad. For many, the answer is consulting. Basically, a consultant offers advice on their particular area of expertise — whether that’s to individuals or larger companies. Often, this is done through Skype sessions, so you’d want to make sure you have access to a pretty strong internet connection for this one!
Photographer
When you’re traveling to beautiful locations, you’re inevitably going to take a lot of photos. But if you happen to be really good at taking them (and have the right gear), it could actually fund your travel! Whether you sell prints via your own website or supply them to a stock website, photography is a career path that fits perfectly into the digital nomad lifestyle.
Teacher/translator
So, you’ve got to the end of this article and still haven’t found a digital nomad career that’s right for you? Well, considering you’re reading this I know you can read English, so why not think about becoming a virtual teacher? There are heaps of programs that allow you to teach English online and no, you don’t need to speak another language! However, if you do, becoming a virtual translator is another great option for digital nomads.
Need some inspo for amazing places to live when you’re no longer chained to a desk? Check out these 5 stunning destinations you can live in for less than $500 a month.
