Digital Nomad Jobs

Dreaming of working from anywhere in the world? How would you like to work from a beach in Seychelles? In a coffee shop in Budapest, from a treehouse on Lake Bled, or from a hammock on an island off the coast of Thailand? The modern laptop lifestyle now affords you the ultimate freedom to decide where and when you work. Digital nomad jobs may be your way to financial freedom as you travel the world.

We've been digital nomads for close to 7 years now while travelling the world together. We lived in Spain, in Budapest and we are now living in Germany. All while we take monthly trips all around the world, as long as we have access to our laptop and high-speed internet.

Just because you are a globetrotter, it doesn’t mean you cannot work and earn a decent income. And it’s not a 9 to 5 kind of work. Fortunately, many of the online jobs available today can be exceptionally profitable if you are willing to put in the effort and time.

Perhaps the best thing about remote online jobs is that they don’t even require too much financial investment. Have got a laptop and access to the Internet? Then you can do it!

You are probably aware of the new Digital Nomad movement. With new sites helping nomads relocate and find work, you can see why this trend is growing super fast. We know it's super confusing: how can you possibly travel and make money? How does it ever work?

Since we've been doing it for so many years, we thought we should share our comprehensive guide on digital nomads and finding remote jobs. Trust us, we are expert digital nomads and we know the topic very well as we have three super successful online businesses, lots of income streams and know how to strategize and grow our income.

Is it possible to make a mid 6 figure income by having remote jobs and travelling the world? Absolutely so let's get started and show you how you can work from anywhere and make money.

What is a digital nomad?

The basic answer is super simple: a digital nomad is a person who can work from anywhere in the world. These people are basically location independent and can work from home or from a different city or even country.

With so many salarymen and desk jobs, why would anyone hire remote workers, right? Because it's much cheaper as an employer to hire staff who is capable and can work from their own home. The employer doesn't have to invest in renting an office space and doesn't have to purchase desk equipment. In exchange, the employees (the remote workers) save time commuting to work, have more spare time to enjoy their life outside of work and perform much better.

There are of course some things about the digital nomad lifestyle that nobody tells you. But irrespective of the negatives, there are so many positives to consider, especially knowing there are many remote jobs that pay very well, you probably didn't even know they existed.

It's important to note that like any job, you will need to work your way to the top. This guide is not about making money fast and retiring before you hit 30. This guide is to show you that anyone can become a digital nomad, with minimum experience. At first, you will probably earn little. But the more you practice and make new connections around the world, the better your pay and more job opportunities you will get.

We started our businesses 7 years ago, so it took us a long time to get to where we are. This should encourage you! Because that means there are a lot of remote career prospects which eventually pay off a lot of money. It's about practice, perseverance and getting started as soon as possible.

Leading Digital Nomad Jobs Today

For some people, finding a profitable digital nomad job that can be done from anywhere is not an easy task. Perhaps you think that remote jobs are the reserve of the “chosen ones“. We want to inform you that if you are a digital nomad, there are tons of remote jobs that you can do no matter where your travels take you.

Digital jobs cover a broad spectrum of careers or professions that you can combine with travelling. Yes, it means you can do them as you travel the world. If you have any interest in remote jobs, then you are in the right place. We have compiled some of the best digital nomad jobs (that actually pay really well!)

A significant number of remote workers and digital nomads are writers. The travel niche especially comes with one remarkable advantage if you lead a travel lifestyle; you can do it from any corner of the world as long as you have a good internet connection.

Copywriting/Content Writer

Copywriting entails writing texts for marketing and advertising goals. As you work on a freelance basis, you can communicate and work with several clients online. The best part is that you can work from anywhere. You can work on short-term projects, and if you develop a good relationship with a client, you can get long term copywriting jobs.

Think you can write well? Then why not try it out. And don’t limit yourself to creating marketing texts, consider branching to general writing. The possibilities are virtually endless as you can that can write on a broad range of topics as long as you get the right customers.

The best thing about content writers is that the more you do it, the easier it will be to find new gigs. This is because people tend to recommend copyrighters. If you start getting into journalism, for example, you will get a paid better and eventually start writing for the big news outlets.

Blogging

Another great digital nomad job is blogging. While many assume blogging is only about travel and food, you can blog about anything under the sun. While blogging is easy to monetize and a good source of passive income, it’s a slow game. Bloggers have to rely on Google and SEO to generate traffic. However, if during your travels have the time and patience, blogging is among the best remote jobs!

How do blogs make money? The most common way of making money is through sponsored advertisements, sponsored posts, and affiliate marketing. You can also sell valuable content on your blogs such as courses, e-books, and seminars. Although anyone can start a blog, it takes patience, creativity, and persistence to make a success of the venture.

We primarily blog on the travel and food niche and we've been doing it for over 4 years now. We can assure you that is treated as a business, blogging can make you a healthy 6 figure salary a year. Investing in your own products can also help you double your income.

Self-Published Author

If you are an author already, it’s now possible to bypass the traditional book publishing system. You can publish your books or eBooks on sites like Amazon. This is something you can do as you enjoy the sites. However, to succeed in selling more copies, you need to learn how to market yourself and your work.

This is not the easiest of the remote jobs as it requires times and practice. Marketing can be difficult and usually without the help of another platform, people will not know who you are. For example, if you have a blog on travel and decide to sell a wanderlust book on Amazon, you can use your platform for promotion.

You can also use other social media platforms to make yourself known. But once you start rolling, getting paid for selling your own product is well worth it.

Word of advice: once you push your first book, start working on your second one. Eventually, sales will slow down, so you need to keep yourself fresh and sell something new every 1-2 years or so. This is to maintain momentum and establish yourself as a well-known author.

Did you know that I wrote two books about travel (Japan and Seychelles) and several books about blogging?

Digital Designer

This is how I started my digital career. I'm a self-taught digital designer now well paid Creative Director. I worked with agencies all around the world. Do you know how I started with this job? By creating $50 logos for bloggers. As I got better at it, I increased my rates until I got hired by well known major brands that pay thousands of dollars.

The best thing? You can work remotely from anywhere in the world. You will get better at it the more you practice and you will be rewarded greatly for your creativity.

Like writing, the design is an important career in both the offline and online worlds. Every product you use today has passed through the hand of a designer. Companies need digital designers to build and maintain their brand’s identity. You can design logos, social media advertisements or the overall look and feel of a website.

You don’t need to be physically present in a company’s office to meet their design needs. You can do it from the comfort of your hotel room or by the sea. The best thing about this highly profitable remote job is that it doesn’t require any special qualifications. If you are conversant with the basic functions of standard design software, you are a good candidate for this digital job.

As strong advice, start small before taking contracts with larger brands. Then, work as a remote contractor for some smaller businesses and learn how to work within a more professional environment. After a couple of years, you will have enough experience under your belt to position yourself as a talented, coveted designer.

P.S. This blog here is actually fully designed by me and built by my husband. It's a custom design and built to ensure it's unique and fun.

Photographer

A photographer is someone who takes photos professionally. As a photographer, your subjects can vary from people, landscape, product shots, and more. All you need is a good camera and basic photography skills. Photo editing helps.

How do you make money with Photography? This may vary, but primarily you sell photos to publications or stock sites. You can also sell your digital files/prints, or create curated content for a specific client(s). This may entail taking portraits or product shots.

When we started this blog, my husband and I were both keen to learn how to take photos. The first photos were not great, but we improved as we continued to practice. We now sell our professional photos and use our photography skills as an extra income stream. And yes, it pays really well. You can easily make thousands of dollars just by selling your photos every month.

Teaching Languages

The magic of the Internet! Now two people from two different corners of the world can communicate with each other instantly. The development allows for things such as language learning to flourish with ease. Luckily, today numerous online companies have taken up this idea and created online platforms for students and teachers to come together.

So, if you know more than one language, this is an online opportunity for you to teach others, and earn. And because the English language is the world’s “lingua franca”, English teachers are in high demand. Other popular languages include German, Spanish, and Chinese.

Bonus advice: if you don't want to teach languages online, you can travel the world while teaching. You will still be considered a digital nomad, as long as you get shorter contracts in various countries. The advantage of these contracts is that you can usually get accommodation included in your pay, which means you get to save most of your income to start your own business.

Language Translation

Know more than one language? Then translation is a job for you, especially if English is one of them. This could mean openings for you to translate content to another language. You could even translate or write documents into multiple languages.

When I lived in the UK I worked as a language translator and interpreter for an international company. It used to pay a lot more than I ever got at my day job so I can assure you, it's really worth looking into this type of remote job. If you get certified, you can even get contracts from government establishments which pay very, very well!

Translation is a great remote job that can be done from anywhere so long as you can converse in multiple languages. Where do you start with translation? A simple Google search will bring many sites offering translation gigs. To safely test the waters, why not try Upwork or People per Hour?

Transcribing

Transcribing may be somewhat duller than other remote jobs we are covering in this article, but you can make good money. This might be an excellent place to start as it can be done remotely. What do you require? Basically, if you can type, you can transcribe. You create written copies of audio material, videos, spoken words, or lectures.

An area experiencing tremendous growth is transcribing English YouTube videos recorded in English to subtitles in a different language.

Narrating Audio Guides

This remote job is super fresh as audiobooks just started taking over the world. People want to listen to books while driving their cars, going to the gym or making dinner. Time is a limited asset which not many have, so audiobooks are great!

Do you have a great voice? Then you can be paid to narrate people's books. This is a very lucrative business and if you happen to speak several languages, then you can tap into different markets all around the world.

As animations are becoming more and more popular, an experienced narrator can start applying for movie and documentary gigs.

This remote job is an excellent additional income stream when working as a digital nomad.

Video Production Or Vlogger

Video jobs are booming, and the demand for video producers and editors is high. If videos get your juices flowing, you may want to try your hand by creating simple movies based on your travels. Begin by familiarizing yourself with video cutting and adding effects.

A relatively new line is a vlogger. But who is a vlogger? The term stands for video blogger, and like regular bloggers, as a vlogger, you will be creating entertaining or helpful content. The difference is that your medium is video. YouTube will be the search engine you rely on, so you also qualify to be called a “YouTuber.”

How do you make money as a vlogger? Through YouTube advertising, sponsorships, affiliate marketing, and selling products. Honestly, there's lot of cash in this business and while not easy to become popular, hard work pays off. I mean look at the well-known bloggers out there like Casey Neistat who is known paid big bucks to advertise on his channel and even appear in Netflix movies!

Video Editing

How do you make money with video editing? The client pays for your editing services typically on a project by project basis. Video editors don’t usually shoot the video footage they work on. Instead, they are given reels by a client who needs it assembled professionally.

To start with video editing, all you need is some video creating software that you can use to practice and improve your skills. Initially, you can take on simple online tasks for people that need their recordings cut and put together.

We personally know many bloggers and vloggers who are also video editors and work for major brands all around the world. These talented guys use their skills to have an extra income stream from their remote work. And yes, it actually pays brilliantly. We also worked with several video editors and we can assure you this is a very lucrative business.

Become A Virtual Assistant

Are you comfortable and organized with administrative tasks? These are skills needed to get this trendy, top dollar digital nomad job.

Who does a virtual assistant do? As a virtual assistant, you perform diverse small tasks for another person or company. Think along the lines of a personal assistant, but this time done remotely. This is something you can do from anywhere in the world.

Your responsibilities could include, among many others, answering emails, making phone calls, writing content, working with business documents, or handling other employees. This type of work from home job can be done with almost no qualifications. You just need to start by going to various Facebook groups where people are looking to hire. Have a can-do attitude and offer a trial of a few days to really showcase your talent.

Once you get the first job, the next client will usually come via recommendations! This is a brilliant digital nomad possibility because you can expand your own business. As you get more and more clients, you can start hiring your own remote workers. This can really become a 6 figure business in less than 3 years!

Social Media Manager

Major brands need to maintain a strong social media presence and the person who helps with that is a social media manager or marketer. As a social media manager, it’s your responsibility to schedule social media posts, respond to comments, queries, concerns, and run contests on social platforms on behalf of a brand or company.

We worked with several social media managers in the past and we think this is a brilliant remote job option for anyone who loves social media. The job is about curating social feeds, interacting with followers, finding new followers and fostering a great community.

A social media manager can work for all platforms or just one particular one, depending on your own preference and ability. You can start with a niche and then develop more and more skills as you go.

A social media manager can work on a contract basis or a full-time employee for any business. They can make thousands a month so it's really worth getting into this type of digital work.

Web Developer/Programmer

Web developers and programmers are not only paid very well but in high demand making this one of the best paying digital nomad jobs today. Although coding and developing computer programs is not for everybody, it can be highly rewarding as a career. Salaries can vary depending on your expertise.

This is how my husband started his digital nomad career. He initially worked as a software developer in his full-time job, then slowly transitioned to a fully remote career. He found his first paying clients online and thanks to recommendations he eventually got lots of contracts from major brands all over the world.

Working remotely as a programmer is highly lucrative. This is one of the best paying jobs for digital nomads where you can easily make 6 figures from contracts alone. Once you know what you are doing you can start your own agency too. Check out our digital business called 42droids with an office in London and remote workers all around the world.

You can read about our full digital nomad story here.

Ecommerce And Digital Products

Selling your products online is big business today and is one of the better paying digital nomad jobs. You can sell tangible products or services. Another branch of e-commerce is dropshipping. Here, you buy products at a lower price directly from a manufacturer or middleman and then ship them to a customer. Dropshipping is convenient as you don’t have to worry about stocking up inventory.

You can (and should) start selling your own products on places like Amazon, eBay and Etsy first. Test the waters and see what sells. Then, you can setup your own e-commerce shop with Shopify or Magento. There are many online-only shops with remote employees all around the world.

This means there is a lot of potential for you as a digital nomad to set up your own products and start selling them from anywhere in the world.

Did you know I used to sell tea through my own e-commerce store? That was one of the first business tries I ever attempted. I eventually sold the business and started my own blog instead.

Affiliate Marketing

Although affiliate marketing isn’t a preserve of the digital world, the advent of the Internet has made it easier to make more money through this unique type of advertising. As an affiliate marketer, you promote the services or products of another company. For your efforts, you’ll receive a percentage of the income or sales coming to their websites.

An affiliate marketer works like a sales agent, except you do it online! Other ways you can earn affiliate income include blogging, running ads, YouTube videos, and funnels.

Affiliate programs are many, but you could start with a well-known one; Amazon Associates. If you get it right, affiliate marketing can be a very lucrative but passive income that can be a great boon for your digital nomad lifestyle.

We have 5 figures a month from affiliates only. This means that we link to partners who pay us a commission for every sell they make thanks to our recommendation. The beauty of affiliate marketing is that the customer doesn't pay anything extra so everyone is happy!

Affiliates are especially important when blogging in a microniche.

Online Trading

Many digital nomads are making good money through trading forex, commodities, stocks, and cryptocurrencies. Perhaps the Bitcoin wave bypassed you or trading in cryptocurrencies doesn’t appeal? That’s okay for there are other online trading methods that are equally, if not better.

Ever considered options such as trading in international currencies? Yes, fluctuations in exchange rates of currencies like the US dollar, Japanese Yen or British Pound can be a profitable side hustle. Perhaps you prefer something more reliable? Try commodities like gold and oil.

For this highly lucrative digital nomad job, you will need some capital upfront if you are to make adequate returns. However, once your investment starts snowballing upwards, the sky's the limit, literally.

If you learn how to trade by using your business intelligence, you can make a lot of income. There is a lot of skill involved in this, but it will pay off. We recommend starting small, then building a bigger portfolio.

Become An Online Entrepreneur

Why not start your own independent online business. Thousands of travel nomads are also savvy entrepreneurs successfully running businesses. And guess what? Some are not just “solopreneurs” lone ranger entrepreneurs.

A growing number of large companies have fully or partially distributed teams, and you can also join one. Examples include Buffer, Mozilla, and Automattic, the creators of WordPress. Many of these companies offer remote work positions.

Consulting And Coaching

If you possess lots of experience in a particular field, you could consider becoming a consultant. Nowadays, consultants don’t have to be old or middle-aged with 20-30 years of experience. For example, if you’re really good at Facebook ads, you could become a consultant specializing in this lucrative niche.

Coaching is another popular digital nomad job. Life coaches focus on different areas ranging from life coaching to creativity, business, to mindfulness – and the potential is endless so long to have the required certifications in your field.

Our friend can work from all around the world thanks to her consultancy job in economics. She advice companies while working on her statistics and presentations remotely. It's a nice way of making a very good full-time income and working from virtually anywhere as long as she gets access to a desk and internet to do her research.

Fill Online Surveys

Filling online surveys is one of the best and easiest digital nomad jobs even for beginners! Making money is easy! Websites like SurveyJunkie pay you for sharing your opinions. Other ways of getting paid include testing various products to help brands and companies with their customer research.

Simply look for websites with such opportunities, register, build-up your profile, and you are good to go! Once they accept you, they start sending suitable surveys your way if they match your hobbies, knowledge, or services/products you usually use.

Online surveys are unique among digital nomad jobs. They require nothing more than your availability, and the starting cost is practically zero. This is a remote job you can even do on your smartphone.

Online surveys should only be seen as remote jobs that are a small income stream. While it's a great way to make a few extra bucks, it's not going to get you rich. But this is good practice to start earning something on the side, while doing it from home.

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Thank you for reading and learning about all the possible options for you to start your laptop lifestyle.

Yay, you now have a better understanding of what digital nomads do and what type of remote jobs are available to them. The beauty of this new industry is that it's constantly evolving which means that once you start, you will get more and more work options in the future.

We recommend starting with one of the above jobs and moving to more and more income streams. While some jobs are full time with full benefits just done remotely, other jobs are short contracts or rely on your freelancing skills. It is therefore imperative that you create a safe environment and always travel with health insurance and have savings and investments as extra assurances.

Being a digital nomad might seem difficult at first, but anyone can do it. Patience and perseverance pay off, trust us, we've been at it for 7 years and we are not slowing down. We are growing our income streams and getting better at spotting new business opportunities.