I’m sharing my story with you to tell you how I was able to earn more than $50,000 in 12 months, which has allowed my wife and I to travel around the world. In the last 12 months, we have lived in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, France and Indonesia. We could have visited many more places, but we chose to travel in those countries at a slower pace.
The barrier that most people face when they want to enjoy a lifestyle like this is money. They earn an income doing their job, but they wonder how they can earn the same or more while they travel around the world.
It sounds like it is an impossible dream, but I have been able to do it. And if I can do it, you can too!
The amount that I have made isn’t staggering. There are several other people that make much more money travelling around the world every year. In some cases, people are making this amount every month!
In my case, I continually test different ways to earn an income. Generally, 20% of the activities that I do earn me the bulk of my income.
Before I go into the details that you want to see, I want to let you know that I had experience in building a business before I started my life as a digital nomad. I also spent 6 months building up my earnings to a point where I felt confident to work from anywhere in the world. You don’t have to follow the exact path that I took. Ultimately, you need to develop a system that works for you.
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Freelance business – $50,000
Here is a breakdown of the tasks that I was doing.
Freelance writing – $37,000
This earned me the bulk of my income. I had secured copywriting projects with agencies and small to medium-sized businesses for writing articles and blog posts.
You can learn how I did this with my digital nomad ebook.
Virtual assistant – $11,000
I was able to get this work by pitching for clients on Upwork. I successfully won a client on a one-year project.
Account manager – $2000
I won a project where I managed the Adwords account for a client for a few months.
YouTube advertising – $100
I have my own YouTube channels that I make an advertising income from. I have also shared a guide that talks about how you can make money with YouTube.
Share dividends – $200
I own shares in the Australian stock market and their dividends pay me around $200 every year. I use a buy and hold strategy. Each year, the company pays out a percentage of the profits to shareholders.
Affiliate marketing – $0
I experimented with affiliate marketing, but was unsuccessful in generating sales. It is still a channel that I am working on.
Ad networks – $5
I earned an income from ad networks like Adsense, Sovrn and Media.net. But I haven’t been able to claim the money from all of the networks. It is possible to earn an income through advertising.
Money aside, what was I able to do while I earned this income?
The great thing about this lifestyle is the it allows you to be location-independent. If you earn enough income, you will be able to have more time to enjoy your life the way that you want to enjoy it.
Here are some of the highlights of the things that I was able to do while travelling as a digital nomad.
Bali
- Learned to surf in Bali.
- Visited countless rice fields
- Made new friends while travelling.
- Explored the different waterfalls
Thailand.
- Attended a neon festival
- Met long-time friends while travelling.
- Danced all night at the Full Moon Party on the beach in Koh Phangan.
- Stayed at a resort
- Enjoyed exotic food.
- Escaped to beautiful islands.
- Shopped until we dropped
Paris, France
- Visited a French castle
- Ate amazing French food.
- Saw the Eiffel Tower.
- Learned to speak French.
- Learned how to cook French food.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Ate the most amazing curries
- Tried to learn basic Malay.
- Visited the Batu Caves
- Wined and dined in some of the most amazing bars overlooking the city.
This is my story. You can create your story the way that you want to.
I honestly think that if you can get yourself to a point where you are earning at least $24,000 a year, you will be able to live as a digital nomad successfully.
If you would like to learn more, then sign up to our email list.
If you have any thoughts or comments about how you can achieve this, let me know in the comments below.
Thanks for reading!
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