What if you could work while traveling the world? If you haven’t noticed yet – becoming a digital nomad is quite trendy nowadays. If you’re thinking about shifting your lifestyle to a nomadic one, we’ll answer your questions.
So, how do digital nomads make money? And how much?
It’s a great question. In this article, we will show you how digital nomads make money online, we will give you some examples and we will share some numbers with you.
Because let’s be honest, you’re probably dying to know how much I make online too. You’ll learn everything there is to know about the digital nomad salary.
Before we start, let’s take a quick moment to remind you what a digital nomad is.
A digital nomad refers to a person who has a nomadic lifestyle and who can work digitally. That said, the nomad can work from anywhere as long as he has WiFi or a laptop.
Many people shift to this lifestyle as it gives you a bit more freedom and let’s be honest (again), it’s more stimulating to be around a beach than in a cubicle office.
Hint: I went from making zero dollars online to making 5-figures a month.
How To Make Money As A Digital Nomad?
If you’ve been looking at the trendy digital nomad skills to develop, you might have a good idea of what kind of skills you can monetize.
If you haven’t, let’s discuss the options.
Three Types Of Digital Nomads
The ones who have a remote position, the ones who are freelancing, and the ones who have their own online businesses.
Of course, some of them will mix a few different things altogether.
Let’s analyze them one by one because it does influence your digital nomad salary.
The Remote Worker
A remote worker is someone who has a position in a company but has the right to do it remotely. That said, the remote worker might have to handle calls and Skype meetings while he’s away.
It’s basically having a job with a set amount of hours and doing it remotely. If you’re teaching a language online, you might be able to set your own schedule though.
Examples: Software engineer, digital marketer, English teacher, etc.
How do remote workers make money?
Remote workers make money with their remote position easily. They are likely to have a fixed salary including tasks and hours to make, and they are paid by the company hiring them. The salary can be similar to a 9-5 job (or more) depending on the number of hours worked and the skills. Usually, a software engineer can make multiple hundreds of dollars per day.
The Freelancer
The freelancer refers to someone who basically picks up gigs here and there. It also means he works for other people while keeping some kind of freedom.
The downside of freelancing is finding clients, especially if your clients need one-time things.
Example: Graphic designer, content writer, copywriter, etc.
How do freelancers make money?
Freelancers make money with the gigs they have. It’s not likely to be fixed unless they have regular clients. That said, the clients pay them for the pieces done or hourly.
Some freelancers have retainer packages that can give them a better idea of how much they can make in the following months. Although, unless they have a contract, it can be pretty volatile.
That said, you can expect anything from zero to thousands of dollars per month.
The Entrepreneur
The entrepreneur is someone who has started their own digital business. They might have taken other roles to support themselves until they reached their goals.
An entrepreneur can run his businesses online, or have people running them for them so they can be fully remote.
Example: Course creator, website owner, content creator, Amazon FBA, etc.
How do entrepreneurs make money?
Entrepreneurs make money by selling their own products or, for example, by mastering affiliate marketing. It depends, of course, on the type of work they do. For example, a content creator might be making money by advertising brands on Instagram. Most of the time, entrepreneurs are able to build different income streams.
An entrepreneur will likely start at zero and will have to invest money in their project – whether they buy a hosting plan for their website or invest in a platform/product.
Eventually, they can become successful and they can make thousands per month. Of course, entrepreneurs can also fail. You can’t know if you don’t try, right?
Before You Start As A Digital Nomad
Before you start your epic life abroad, you might want to ask yourself a few things:
- How’s your financial situation?
- How will you make money?
- What skills can you monetize?
This might sound a bit scary at first, but let me explain why these points are so important.
Your current financial situation
If your financial situation is “tricky”, it might be hard for you to support yourself abroad. Ideally, savings are a great way to get started as a nomad. This way, you won’t be super stressed, and you can take your time to find gigs you like.
If you read about digital nomad jobs, you may have realized it can take months before being able to support yourself. So, you might want to keep this in mind.
What type of nomads will you be?
Now that you know what types of nomads there are, you might have some more ideas. So, you need to find a way to get money while abroad. Will you be a remote worker, a freelancer, or an entrepreneur?
Obviously, many nomads have more than one hat at first. Many people will freelance or have a remote position until they can support themselves and get their own business started. It only depends on your financial situation and your current skills.
Monetizing your skills
Do you have skills you can monetize? Are you a fantastic writer? Are you a therapist who wants to make the switch and work online? Are you an artist?
Think outside the box and find ways to monetize your current skills. Although, if you feel like your skills can’t be shifted to the digital world, you might want to learn new skills along the way.
Digital Nomad Income: How Much Do Digital Nomads Earn?
It really depends. I know this answer sucks, but it does depend on the job.
You can check the job section of this website, and you can learn more about how much people earn depending on the job.
One great thing to keep in mind is also the location where you will live.
For example, if you don’t make a lot of money but live in Asia – you will be able to have a better lifestyle than if you live in North America.
Your money might go further there. Basically, picking the right destination for your current income is a great way to avoid going broke abroad.
Depending on your skills and your nomad status (remote worker, freelancer, or entrepreneur), you could make a different amount of money.
As many digital nomads have surrounded me over the years, I’ve seen it all from the broke nomads to the richer ones. I’ve been, myself, in both camps.
You can expect anything from a tiny zero to multiple figures. I’ve been meeting people in both camps too.
Keep reading to see a realistic timeline and how you can bring it income faster than I did.
How Do I Make Money Online? And How Much Am I Making?
Personally, I’ve been making money online as an entrepreneur and as a freelancer.
I used to do freelancing as a way to support myself until I was able to make enough money from my own business.
So if you didn’t know it already, I have a travel blog and Nomad Life 101. I also have more niche sites in the making.
How Do I Monetize My Blog?
- Sponsored content: brands are paying me to advertise their brands on my channels.
- Paid campaigns: Brands or tourism boards are paying me to promote their brands or destinations while sending me products or to a destination.
- Advertising: I use ads to monetize my website passively.
- Affiliate marketing: If you’re not sure what affiliate marketing is – it’s basically having a commission every time someone buys something using your links. For example, if you book your hotel using my link, I get a commission, and it doesn’t cost you anything.
Learn how to monetize your blog.
How Do I Monetize My Skills?
As I said above, I’m also freelancing. I’ve been doing all sorts of gigs over the years to support myself. From social media managing to Pinterest managing, from content writing to copywriting…to SEO jobs… I’ve done a lot of different ones.
Nowadays, I only freelance as an SEO editor. If you are wondering what this is, it’s basically making sure a website is optimized for Google queries and that the website is converting.
I developed these skills by having my travel blog and learning it through the years. As I also speak French (it’s my native language), so I can do this job in French and English.
Why do I keep freelancing? I love being a freelance SEO. It just makes sense for me to continue. If you want to get started with SEO – feel free to check out my SEO online course.
How Much Do I Make?
Oh, this is going to be embarrassing.
Let’s go back in time.
I started traveling in 2014. Back then, I had a working holiday visa in Australia, and I was picking jobs along the way – and I refer to physical jobs.
I started working online in 2015 as a travel blogger. I launched the blog in July, and the first year I barely made anything – a very tiny CAD 105. At the time, I was still working a offline job, too, obviously.
In 2016, I worked an offline job, too, on top of the blog. Eventually, I quit my physical job and went fully online. I struggled financially, so I picked up volunteer positions here and there. I made only CAD 4,200 that year, and I landed my first freelancing clients.
At the time, I managed to survive with cash from my offline job and my tax return from Australia. (Looking back, I’m wondering why I kept trying. I guess I was willing to compromise on my comfort to stay abroad) Towards the end of the year, I moved to the United Kingdom, but I didn’t have to pay for accommodation.
In 2017, I lived in the United Kingdom for a few months, then I moved to Portugal for a few months and moved to Asia towards the end of the year. I was still struggling between freelancing and the blog. I could survive by having very low-cost accommodation and volunteering to get free housing. I only made CAD 11,793.
In 2018, I lived in Asia for the most part, including a visit home and a couple of months in Europe. It was starting to get better. I made CAD 17 603 with the blog and CAD 6,541 freelancing. The total was 24,144. Finally, it was getting a bit more decent. As I was in Asia, I was able to live a good life.
In 2019, it’s going great. In July 2019, I was already at CAD 23,350 with the blog and 7,177 with the freelancing for a total of 30,527 and the year wasn’t over yet. At the end of 2019, I made a total of CAD 62,182. This number doesn’t include all my expenses since I have a few people working for me. That said – it’s a huge difference if I compare it to the previous year!
In December 2019, I hit my first 5-figure month.
2020 was even better.
2021 was my best year – and I became a 6-figure business owner.
When I look back at these numbers, I’m a bit shocked, to be honest. I’m surprised I managed to survive this whole time living overseas. I guess I made it happen, and I was willing to compromise on living abroad.
As you can see, I had a very slow start, and I was never a big money maniac. Although I’m happier with my current financial situation, it does make my life easy when it comes to picking destinations or investing in my business (and my future).
My journey was super slow, and to be fair, I had periods where I worked a lot and some others where I didn’t work a lot. Would I do all of this again? Well, now that my knowledge is much better, I’d say I would do things differently and learn some more skills from the start.
That’s also why I started Nomad Life 101 – people can rarely earn 6 to 7 figures in their first year. I’d rather keep this realistic. Although, it doesn’t mean it won’t be the case – and sometimes, we need some big harsh truths.
How Do Digital Nomads Save Money For Their Future?
Most digital nomads don’t have long-term plans for saving for their future. And honestly, it’s sad but true.
Remote workers might have some benefits or saving plans linked to their contract, but freelancers and business owners might be a bit more limited there.
Entrepreneurs might be investing their money into their business, so one day, they might sell it. Selling a website or business is an excellent way to secure your future, but it’s also risky.
So, what can you do to secure your future?
You could diversify your income streams by investing your money to generate a passive income (P2P lending, real estate, stocks, cryptocurrency, etc.). For example, you could invest in a property or rent it on Airbnb, which is a great way to secure your assets.
Please, kindly note that I’m not a financial expert at all here. I would recommend you read more about this topic and ways to invest your money here.
Final Thoughts On Digital Nomad Salary
As you can see, my journey was slow, but I made it in the end. By “made it”, I mean that I can live a comfortable life without feeling like I have to compromise on what I want. This is the meaning of freedom to me.
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