The other day I was chatting with a friend over the phone and he kept asking me questions about how I’ve travel the world, make money online, and play music as I go.
He’d ask were you ever scared for your life? How much money did you need? Where did you find clients? Did you have health insurance?
And I went on and answered them all. After our call, we were both feeling inspired and he said I should write this all down somewhere, so here it is.
How I became a digital nomad musician/marketer/accountant/videographer
Workaway International
When we first decided to leave we went to one of our favorite websites ever, workaway.info
I always suggest people go and browse on here, even if they’re not planning on traveling because once you get in there and see that you could work on a huskie farm in Sweden in exchange for room and board, you’re much more likely to go and actually travel.
There are so many available opportunities on Workaway like to work on a horse ranch in Costa Rica, pick olives in Tuscany, or go Glamping in Portugal (we did all these)
We did Workaways in Europe because it’s more expensive to hang out there, and we only worked on our computers in the inexpensive countries in Asia.
Digital Nomad Life
A lot of people don’t realize that there is an entire community of people working from their laptops in countries all over the world. They’re called digital nomads because they float around to multiple countries while still working to pay for it all.
Thanks to the internet, these things are possible.
We managed Instagram accounts, created videos, did SEO, wrote blogs, ran Facebook ads, created websites. Pretty much anything that was creative, needed in the marketplace and could be done remotely.
The only reason we knew how to do these things was because of a wonderful website called YouTube.com
Here you can learn any skill you need, then prove the results you can deliver and people will hire you. That’s how I’ve learned so much of what I do every day today.
Remember in The Matrix when he just loads up a file into his brain and he suddenly knows how to fly a helicopter? YouTube is like that, by typing the right questions into the search box you will have learned how to do it in less than 5 minutes.
I’ll link all of my favorite websites, tools, and resources for digital nomad jobs below, they just might inspire you.
How To Make Money While Traveling
This is the number one question that everyone asks, and for good reason. There are a million ways to make money and live a nomadic lifestyle but the easiest way is to convince your current job to let you go remote.
The second easiest way is to get a new job that encourages remote work, or has a fully remote workforce.
If you want to see what’s available, you can check out the remote job boards at the bottom of this post, or you can get started teaching English online.
We’ve found this to be one of the easiest ways to make money while you travel. Almost anyone can get signed up and you can do it from anywhere in the world, plus they pay well.
We’ve recently discovered an amazing platform that is helping thousands of people pursue a digital nomad lifestyle, and build experience in an in-demand industry.
Digital Nomad Training & Certifications
When looking for remote marketing work I realized that there’s some certifications that employers really like to see on a resume, so I highly recommend taking time to study and get certified in Hubspot, Salesforce, Instagram, and Google Ads (links below).
Travel Safety
The world is a safe place. You don’t realize it but you’re living in a total bubble in America. You think you know what life is like but you really don’t until you travel.
Fear is a powerful emotion that is berated at you daily but we said it a million times over our journey, people are good.
We always tell everyone don’t party, drink, do drugs, stay out late, hang out with unsavory characters, and you’ll be fine. It’s the same status in America if you hang out with crazys and do crazy things, stuff might happen to you.
If you find the right people, you will be rewarded with amazing friendships. The people we’ve met are truly amazing.
One thing you should look out for is air pollution. This is no joke in certain places and I had an asthmatic effect that I’d never experienced before, we met Americans developing Asthma from being in Ubud, Bali. Be careful and get a purifier, and use a mask.
Travel Music
So I’m a fiddle player by trade and I did bring it with me. I wanted to write songs, produce music, and play in epic locations around the world and that’s what I did. I even started a band while I was out and we played a show in Cambodia. I also played about 10 shows in Australia and a house concert in Canada.
While out I built a kind of mobile studio into a Pelican case which I wrote a post about HERE, and that really helped me get organized. I started producing cover songs on YouTube and wrote a good amount of original music about travel as well.
Digital Nomad Visas
As an American, you can go to just about any country and get a Visa On Arrival, it usually permits you around 3 months so it naturally, keeps you moving.
Visas are never really a problem, especially if you have an American passport. While traveling we realized how much of a luxury American passports are.
Long-Term Travel Insurance
The insurance that most everyone uses is called World Nomads.
This company provides a very good plan for a very good price, they cover too many things to list here, but I suggest you check out their site below.
Digital Nomad Ergonomics
When working while traveling, you end up in some strange positions. You might be sitting in a lounge chair on the beach, crammed between people at a Starbucks, or sending emails from the floor of an airport.
That being said, I highly recommend focusing on your working posture and getting ergonomic computer equipment to make sure you can do this long-term.
I like to think of myself as an athlete. The soul lives forever but the body is only temporary so take care of it. I’ve listed some of my favorite ergonomic office supplies below, and trust me, I’ve tried all the options.
Conclusion
Whenever I talk to a friend about traveling the world I let them know that it is easier than you think, it’s not as scary as you think, and it will open your eyes and breathe depth into your life.
I highly recommend the digital nomad lifestyle and I believe we should take advantage of this opportunity in our lifetimes. The people before us could only dream about living a life like this!
Have fun out there
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Digital Nomad Jobs
- Teach English Online – The easiest way to get paid for remote work – This is a game changer!
- Fiverr – Freelance website where you can sell any digital skills you have.
- Upwork – Freelance website where you can sell any digital skills you have for more money.
- RemoteOk – Remote work website where you can be hired as a full or part-time employee.
- WeWorkRemotely – Remote work website where you can be hired as a full or part-time employee
Digital Nomad Lifestyle
- Nomad List – Research website to see the best countries and locations to visit as a digital nomad.
- Workaway – Find work in exchange for room and sometimes board in amazing places doing amazing things.
- Home Exchange – If you have a home, use this site to trade houses in other countries.
- Trusted House Sitters – If you love animals, this site allows you to pet sit and house sit around the world.
- World Nomads Insurance – We found this to be one of the best industry standard insurance offerings.