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Should digital nomads make money as affiliate marketers?

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*Note – This post contains affiliate links, however the opinions are my own. 

Affiliate marketing is something that I’ve been familiar with for a number of years. In fact, when I first got into online marketing, one of my responsibilities was to manage affiliates who would promote our company’s products in order to make as much money as possible.

I did try it several times (half-heartedly I’ll admit) and failed. But over the years, I’ve seen many travel bloggers and influencers use affiliate marketing to their advantage. They actually generated referral sales and an income without trading their time.

I’ve been fortunate to work as a digital nomad since 2015, however the model that I adopted which was a combination of freelance work, which evolved into me developing an agency saw me trade my time for money. Even though I was travelling to exotic places like Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, I wouldn’t get much time to really explore the different countries that I was visiting due to my business’s commitments.

I think one of the things digital nomads need to consider is how they can grow their income without having to invest so much time into their venture in a way where it takes them away from their intentions to travel.

So in 2018, I decided to jump back into affiliate marketing and to get serious about making it work. It is still early days, but it is one solution that will allow me to free up my time in exchange for building a marketing/promotion model that will generate referral based income.

Affiliate marketing benefits for digital nomads.

The main thing is being in a position where you can earn an income passively. This is because you’ve developed a marketing system that converts in exchange for an income. Building out the campaign will take time. However, once you have developed that campaign, it should work for you on autopilot.

What type of affiliate marketing models are available?

The main model is getting paid a fee for every referral that you make through your affiliate link. The great thing about this model is that you don’t have to do any of the fulfillment. So as long as the affiliate partner that you are working with has a good conversion and delivery model with their business, all you will need to do is send them qualified traffic and leads to convert.

There are also other models such as pay per call, cost per action (CPA, also known as pay per lead), and there is a cost per install. Some of the CPA models command $50-100+ or more per lead. So this can turn out to be a very lucrative model that can work passively or with little time invested.

How much money can you make with affiliate marketing?

It depends on a few factors. You might make a few dollars a month or you might make tens of thousands of dollars a month. Super affiliates make over $50,000 a month promoting products and services for businesses. If you focus on specific niches, you can build up your passive income to $100-1000 a month.

Which affiliate networks/partners are good to start with?

Amazon Associates Program

If you are a beginner, I would recommend that you start with the Amazon Associates Program. The reason being is that Amazon has millions of products listed on their platform. So you will be able to test several different niches and see how affiliate marketing can work for you.

It is free to join Amazon’s affiliate program. Click here to learn more.

There are a couple of drawbacks to the program that you should keep in mind. 

The affiliate cookie only lasts for 24h.

Most affiliate programs will give you a 30-day cookie for any referrals that you make. However, this isn’t the case with Amazon. If the person decides to purchase an item after the 24h period, you won’t get any commission for the sale. This makes it more challenging as the person that you refer needs to be ready to buy whatever is being offered as soon as you refer them.

You rely on the seller to deliver.

The Amazon platform is good, but it is comprised of several market sellers. Some are good and some aren’t so good. You will get paid on the delivery of the product. If you have made the sale and seller fails to deliver, you won’t get any commission for your referral.

Additionally, if the customer cancels the order, you won’t receive any commission.

Deductions on refunds and returns.

If the customer returns the product in exchange for a refund, the commission that you have earned will be reversed.

There are good benefits to the Amazon associates program. 

You earn a commission on sales via your referral link, not just the product referral.

This is really beneficial since you can earn commission from other products that you aren’t promoting. However, since you referred the person, you will receive the commission.

Amazon pays consistently.

You can set your payment threshold and opt to receive a check or Amazon vouchers.

There is more credibility with Amazon.

Unlike promoting other offers on other platforms like Clickbank, you get to work with products that have credibility through product reviews and seller verifications. This makes it easier to generate sales. Especially if the product that is being sold isn’t a well-known brand.

Share A Sale

Find a sponsor for your web site.

I’m still trying to get things working well with this platform. Many other successful affiliates vouch for this platform due to their deals, the partner offers available and the cookie window.
Click here to join the affiliate program from Share A Sale.

MaxBounty

These guys specialise more in CPA and offer higher payouts than most other affiliate networks, however the types of funnels needed to convert can be more tricky than some of the others platforms like Amazon’s affiliate program. That being said, it is possible to earn 10x more per referral.

Click here to join MaxBounty’s affiliate program.

As you become better, you will seek out and find other affiliate marketing opportunities.

Helpful resources

There are quite a few helpful resources that can get you started in the world of affiliate marketing. This will help you with earning your passive income through affiliate marketing.

Affiliate Buzz Podcast with James Martell.

He has been an affiliate since 2003 and has expert guests on his show. It’s transparent and shares tips, ideas and methodologies that can help you improve your affiliate marketing performance.

Income School.

These are two very bubbly affiliate marketing guys on YouTube. Very smart and they are transparent with showing you exactly how they earn affiliate income from Amazon through content marketing. Their goal is to get people to earning their first $1000 a month through Amazon’s affiliate program.

Deadbeat Super Affiliate

I actually took his course and there are quite a few things that I liked. He provides several videos on his YouTube channel which can help you get started in the world of affiliate marketing.

Are you a digital nomad that is also an affiliate marketer? Share your thoughts and experience with us.

Should you invest in shares for passive income as a digital nomad?

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The ideal scenario for travelling around the world fulltime is to do so by earning a passive income. This means having the ability to earn an income without actually having to trade in your time to do so. There are several ways to accomplish this, but one of the methods that has been promoted alot in the past is to do so by owning shares/stocks.

I’ve personally invested in stocks and shares over the years and I want to share some of the insights about using shares as a tool to develop your passive income portfolio.

Have a passive income strategy.

The minimum that you will want to earn annually per person is $24,000USD. You will need to build a stock market portfolio that will allow you to achieve that.

Your goal will be to acquire shares that provide a high dividend yield.

Ideally, you will be able to find shares that have a dividend yield of 4% or higher. The higher the dividend yield, the more cash you will receive when the company pays out its dividends.

You want to invest in shares that have low volatility.

The strategy that you will be implementing will be a buy and hold strategy. The intention is to never sell the shares, but to use the shares for cashflow. The higher the volatility, the higher the risk of the shares losing their equity value. This means you can lose money. And you want to minimise the risk of you losing money.

How much money will you need to start earning additional income from shares?

If you work to a rule of 3% of what you have invested, it will give you a figure. For example.

  • $1000=$30 a year
  • $10,000=$300 a year
  • $100,000=$3,000 a year
  • $1,000,000=$30,000 a year

Is it worth investing in shares?

It is an easy way to earn an additional income. There are a few reasons why I don’t personally like investing in shares.

  1. The management is under someone else. If they don’t manage the company well, then the profits and revenue growth won’t happen and you won’t benefit from owning the shares.
  2. The risk that you take is high compared to the dividend amount that is received.
  3. The risk of losing the equity value in the shares are high.

On the positive side.

  • You can earn an income without having to put any time into developing the business.
  • If you invest well, the share amount will increase over time and increase your net worth.
  • If you have a lump sum of cash and you are unsure of what to do, then investing in shares can be a good option for increasing your cashflow.

Have you invested in shares? What do you think?

Let us know in the comments below.

Would you like us to help plan your trip?

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Would you like to travel the world, but would rather get help from an expert that has done it before?

Lollivia can help.

We can coordinate homestays and cultural experiences for the regions of the world that you are travelling to.

That way, all you need to do is pay for the trip without having the hassle and stress of planning and organising the trip.

Here are a few things that we can help you with.

  • Getting flights
  • Airbnb room accommodation
  • Activities to do and experience.
  • Intercity transport
  • Visa advice
  • Health advice
  • Travel insurance advice

You have a few package options available.

2 months in Bali

$6,000

3 months in Vietnam

$6,000

2 months in Spain

$8000

We can even help you earn an income before you head abroad.

If you would like to learn more, get in touch with us today.

Lollivia at gmail dot com

Productivity challenges that you need to be aware of as a digital nomad.

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I do love the freedom of being location independent. However, there are positives and negatives to everything. There are certain things with the digital nomad lifestyle that affects the productivity with the work that you are doing. It’s good to be aware of this and to work out a work-life balance that will allow you to achieve what you want as an income, as well as with the travelling lifestyle.

From my personal experience, here are a few things that you need to keep in mind.

You need to be in a productive working environment.

There are several digital nomads who post Instagram pictures of themselves working on their laptop at a beach or in front of rice fields. As good as it sounds, it often isn’t practical. I’ve tried working at the beach and it is difficult to be productive when the sand is blowing on you or you try to look at your computer screen and the glare from the sunshine affects what you can actually read on the screen.

As for the rice fields, many of these nomads work in a cafe that overlooks the open field. They fail to tell you about the mosquitos and sometimes the patch internet or discomfort of the chairs.

Even if you decide to work in a cafe, you may experience something similar. And if you are on a public Internet network, there can be security risks or even a lag time with the internet connection.

If you really want to be productive, you will need the following type of environment.

Access to good lighting.

Natural light is best. But if you have access to LED artificial lighting that is well designed, it will also help you improve your alertness, which will directly impact your productivity level.

Access to quick internet.

Not all internet providers are created equal. I personally go for the quickest internet provider available (currently 5G), as it allows me to complete my tasks without delays. When travelling, there are places that advertise an internet connection, however it is so slow that you cannot be productive. Check the Mbps to see when you can.

Avoid working in areas with alot of distractions.

When you want to be productive, you need to minimise the distractions around you. Many digital nomads recommend working in coworking spaces. I personally find these environments very distracting. It is better to get a private room or to work in the room of your accommodation. That way, you can completely focus on the task at hand.

Minimise frequent travel.

It’s a bit of a juxtaposition. You can travel and explore, but aim to base yourself in a location for at least 5 days. This will give you time to balance your travels with your working schedule. It will also minimise the amount of time that you will lose when in transit.

Work in a clean area.

We take this for granted, but many working spaces are cluttered and are full of distractions, which will affect your productivity. This includes messy spaces, unclean areas such as tables, and non-minimalistic designs.

Take the time to find a clean and minimalistic space to boost your productivity.

Before starting your digital nomad lifestyle, make a note of the things that allow you to be productive and see how you can successfully incorporate it during your digital nomad journey.

Other useful resources

How to perform better at work.

Explore Seville as a digital nomad location.

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I travelled to Seville for ‘La Feria‘ and also wanted to see what the city had to offer. I’m not a huge fan of big cities nowadays, so I decided to only stay there for a few days. I was impressed with the city and found it interesting. I definitely think that if someone wants to have a Spanish city experience, then Seville should be considered.

I did notice the language/accent was different compared to say, Granada. I felt like people were speaking really quickly. But it did feel like a nice experience.

Accommodation

You can easily jump onto Airbnb and find accommodation. Just beware that if there are major events like the Feria happening in the city, you will need to book your accommodation in advance so that you can secure the room. I was looking at places for about $40 a night.

I actually ended up staying outside of the city centre in a suburb called Tomares, which was much quieter. There was a bus stop close to my accommodation and it was a 25-minute journey into the city for 1.60 Euro each way. However, it wasn’t close to the shops.

I did a homestay whilst I was there and I felt that I had a much more authentic experience because of it.

Transportation

If you actually stay within the city centre, it is very easy to get around. I was walking around the city, but you could easily jump on a bus if you wanted to. You can drive, but as with most major cities, finding a car park will be difficult.

Food

It costs more to live in Seville. Eating at home with groceries is your best bet. But you can enjoy the bocadillos (sandwiches) for a fairly inexpensive price whilst you are there.

Tapas costs more there, but it is still affordable. You can also opt for simple meals such as a Spanish omelette.

Things to do.

I mainly enjoyed myself in the city centre, where there are plenty of shops, cafes, bars, restaurants and historical buildings. There’s also a strip where all of the nightlife happens as well.

Here is a short Instagram video that shows my experience in Seville.

It’s worth considering Seville as a destination. Have you been there? Let us know.