Is it possible to make a living while traveling the world? The answer is a big YES! Hi, my name is Francisco, and I am the owner of Planet Marketing, a digital marketing agency. My company specializes in Facebook Marketing, Google Marketing and Remarketing. Here is the thing; I could stop working today and I will still make more than enough per month to live comfortably! But how did I do it? Sit back and relax as I give you tips on how you too can enjoy the kind of carefree life that I live. In this post, I am going to;
- Give you shocking statistics about the average work in the United States.
- Show you how to make a living while traveling the world.
Why is this issue important?
I used to work a 9 to 5 just like the majority of people in the United States. However, one day, I simply got fed up. To be fair, there is nothing really wrong with working. I am not saying you should quit your job. Far from it! If you are happy, that’s great.
For most people, to work is a burden
You are one of a few people in the country who are happy at their current place of work. Yes, you heard me right! Today, a staggering 60% of people in the United States are not happy with their current jobs.
So, the issue that we are looking at in this article is of extreme importance. If you are a boss, know that a majority of your employees would rather punch you in the face than work for you! Well, I am not trying to scare anyone, but there you have it!
My own story
This article wouldn’t be complete without me giving a summary of my own story. I am not just writing for the purposes of producing an article. As I mentioned earlier, I used to work a normal job like everybody else. However, at some point, I realized that I was going nowhere.
So, I decided to quit. That was the breakthrough moment for me. Today, I earn so much passive income that I don’t need to work anymore. And I am still relatively young (I hope). So, how did I do it? Well, I used a lot of the tips that are given below. As a result, I now earn lots of passive income from my projects.
Tips to Help you Make a Living while Traveling the World
This article is focused on those that love to travel. But really, it applies to everybody. Even if you would rather stay in one place, you can still use the tips that I give here to start earning a comfortable living without having to worry about formal working hours and such.
Please note that I am not saying these tips will work in some miraculous way to give you money. This is not that kind of article. Indeed, you need to work your bottom off to get where I am today. But the rewards are worth it at the end of the day. The following is how to make a living while traveling the world;
1. Build a Travel blog
Most people love to travel. There is nothing that speaks directly to one’s soul better than visiting different countries and meeting different people. I have a friend who has been to 35 countries. Yet she is still not tired of her adventures. She is a single mom and has her own passive income sources, but that is a story for another day.
You build a blog as you travel around the world
One step that you can take if you want to make a living while traveling the world is to build a travel blog. In fact, blogging tends to be at the center of most passive income generating ideas. As noted, you already love traveling. But instead of just enjoying yourself on your own, why not share your experiences with the whole world?
How to build a blog
Building a blog is not that difficult. If you don’t know where to start, feel free to get in touch with me and I will make it happen in your behalf. The only thing that you will need to do afterwards is to post your content. This you can do from anywhere while traveling. I am not going to go into detail on how to start blogging here. But the following pointers should be helpful;
- You need to have a domain name. Think about what you wish your website to be called. Let’s assume that your name is Peter. Let’s also assume that you are have a travelling companion, you dog. What would you call your website then? How about Traveling John and Dog? Your domain would be something like www.travelingjohnanddog.com. In fact, that sounds rather catchy. But you should not obsess too much about the name of your domain. You will find that most intuitive names have already been taken. Don’t dwell too much on it. And don’t buy a domain name for thousands of dollars. What matters at the end of the day is content and not the name.
- Another thing that you need is a web host. Check out my article on the best webhost for small to medium sized businesses You probably won’t need a big web host like Kinsta if you are just getting started. Most web hosting companies also allow you to buy a domain alongside the web hosting package. Some will give you the domain free of charge for the first year.
- Next, you need to create your website. I recommend that you use WordPress for your site. It’s the best CMS that can be found out there. If you are comfortable with other CMSes like Joomla, then go for it. The important thing is that you need to create a site.
- Finally, you need to start posting content to your blog. In this instance, you will be blogging about your travel adventures. So, you should have lots of content. This content can be in many forms, from videos to podcasts and blog posts.
Monetize your content
Once your site is up and running, you should start promoting it. It takes time, but it can be done. With your post attracting visitors, you can start thinking about monetization. This can be in a number of ways, including affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, endorsements and much more.
2. Become an Influencer
Make money by becoming the top dog in your field
Influencer marketing has really taken off over the past few years. Human beings are generally speaking, pack animals. And like all packs, there are leaders and followers. Your task is to become a leader in the world of travel. Build a big enough audience on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, and you will have multitudes of businesses flocking to pay you to stay in their hotels and to visit their countries.
Let’s say you have a million followers on Instagram, as an example. You will be sharing all your travel adventures with these people. With such a following, you can get paid simply to endorse destinations and hotels. So, that’s a very good tip for those looking to make a living while traveling the globe.
The challenge is that you need to have a big enough following. However, getting one is not the task of a single day. You need to do lots of marketing. And you need time. If one is talking about SEO and blogging, as an example, one needs at least a year before beginning to see meaningful results. And you will be competing with others who have been at it for long. So, you need to put in lots of seriously long hours.
3. Do Affiliate Marketing
With affiliate marketing you get others to market your products for a commission
I have talked about affiliate marketing a lot in several articles on this site. Affiliate marketing basically has 3 players; the brand, the affiliate and the affiliate network. The brand comes up with a product. The affiliate markets that product. Finally, the affiliate network serves as a meeting place for the brand and the affiliate.
How affiliate marketing enables you to make a living while traveling the world
Affiliate marketing is often brought up when people talk about passive income. It’s one of the tools that you can use to monetize your blog, YouTube channel or Social media network. You can become an affiliate for various goods and services relating to your line of business.
In this instance, we are talking about the travel industry. There are many travel industry affiliate programs out there. As an example, you can become an Airbnb affiliate. You can then endorse a hotel or some other establishment, and you will get a commission when someone makes a book through your site.
Other affiliate programs for the travel industry include Booking.com, which can get you commissions of up to 40%, and Hotels.com, which operates via Commission Junction.
That is an example of the relationship that we revealed at the beginning of this section. Commission Junction is an affiliate network. This is where companies such as Hotels.com meet appropriate affiliates who then market their programs. The affiliate gets paid per sale, while the affiliate network takes a part of the commission.
4. Sell your travel photos
Sell photos of your travels
Technology has pretty much turned everyone in the world into an expert photographer. Today, most peopleown a Smartphone that has a camera. And if you are a serious traveler, chances are high that you have a real, professional camera.
Photos are how we retain memories of the places where we have been. A visit to a place doesn’t have to end on your return home. You carry the memories with you, seemingly for posterity. Most people download photos from their travels onto their computers. They soon move on to new adventures.
The good news, if you wish to make a living while traveling the world, is that you can sell these photos from your travels. There are sites out there on which you can upload your photos. An example is Shutterstock. You can upload you photos there, and you will be paid a commission when somebody buys one of your photos. So, the more photos you have the better.
5. Become a freelancer
Today, up to 54 million Americans either work full time as freelancers, or they supplement their income through freelancing. Freelancing simply means you do your work away from a formal environment. It doesn’t mean you no longer have deadlines and responsibilities. In fact, your reputation as a freelancer depends on your ability to get work done as per agreement with the cleint.
There are many freelancing platforms out there. Good examples are Freelancer and Upwork. If you go to these platforms, you will be able to find businesses looking for people to do their work. Some of the work will be in the travel industry.
Most will be in other industries. As an example, you can get hired to take photos of the places that you visit. Or you can be hired to write travel related blog posts. Or you can write about any other industry even as you visit various places.
The only issue that I have with freelancing is that you will still be working for other people. Yes, you will have flexibility in that you can work odd hours. But freelancing involves doing lots of work. It’s not passive income.
6. Do Seasonal Work
The travel industry has seriously dented people’s ability to move around the world. Many countries have been affected, including the United States. That is something that you can take advantage of to make a living while traveling. Perhaps you too have been laid off due to the COVID 19 pandemic.
The good news is that there are many parts of the world that are hiring seasonal workers. You can take the opportunity to travel, either to another part of the country, or to another country altogether. Of course, you are going to have to be able to get your hands dirty. Perhaps you will be picking apples in Naples. Or you will be doing some other work.
7. Write a book about your travels
Write a book about your travels
Becoming a published writer has never been as easy as it is today. All that you need is a little bit of inspiration. As a traveler, you have all the inspiration in the world right on the tips of your fingers. You can, as an example, write about your travels. You can also write about the places that you have visited so far.
Make it all into a book and find a publisher. Admittedly, finding a publisher is not as simple as that. However, that needn’t stop you. In fact, one of the wonders of the modern world is the fact that everybody can become a published write. You simply need to make use of platforms such as Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) or Smashwords.
8. Teach English while traveling
Many places around the world are looking for good English language teachers. These places include China and Saudi Arabia. You can either do the teaching online or you can travel to these places to teach. So, that’s a good way of making a living while traveling the world.
To get started, you will need to have a TEFL certification. Once you have gotten the certification, it should be easier for you to get hired. The good thing about teaching online is that you can tailor your hours to suite your travel itinerary. And you don’t have to be stuck in a classroom somewhere.
9. Post videos of your travels on YouTube
If you go to YouTube today, you will notice that there are lots of people who earn money while traveling the world. Many people go to the platform to look for interesting videos in one genre or the other. You can appeal to the travel audience by creating videos of your travels.
It doesn’t have to be purely travel. Your videos can be about anything else. There are people on YouTube who travel while sampling various foods in various countries. They have millions of followers. As a result, they get paid to visit other countries.
The trick lies in finding your own niche and then producing content to fill it. Note that people do not go to YouTube to be serious about life. They go there because they wish to unwind. So, you need to produce videos that can hook people. An example would be to make a “travel fails,” series.
10. Take odd jobs along the way
If you are really determined to let the wind carry you wherever it wants to go, then you can sustain your lifestyle by taking on odd jobs as you go along. Some people prefer that kind of life. They don’t want to be stuck in one place for long.
Of course, you are going to have to consider work visa requirements if you are traveling in other countries. However, when traveling in your own country, you don’t have to worry about these requirements.
Summary
That’s how to make a living while traveling the world. Hope you have found this article useful. In it, I showed you how I managed to build my passive income to such a level that I no longer need to work. I also gave you some tips of what you can do to make a living while traveling the world. These tips include taking on freelancing gigs, selling photos, blogging and posting videos of your travels on YouTube.
