Have you ever wondered how you could earn a living that would allow you to live and work anywhere in the world? Many people already living that dream shared the details of how they make a living in the recent Location Independent and Digital Nomad Survey.
64 of their answers are below. The results might surprise you if you thought location independent people were all bloggers or online business owners.
The truth is that these people earn a living in many different ways. Sure, there are plenty of freelance writers, consultants and web developers, but there are also professional musicians, lobbyists and land developers on the list.
Check out these 64 real ways people earn a location independent living:
- Database consulting for MySQL
- Sales (other peoples’ products)
- Public affairs and public relations working in digital engagement
- Updating blogs and ghostwriting
- Through coaching and consulting, by helping expats and diplomats cope with homesickness and culture shock, staying focused on their goals and overcoming the emotional and motivational challenges of expat life
- As a music composer and sound designer along with running an audio production company
- Website design and audio engineering
- Through a business that produces ready-made newsletters, sold online to people cross North America
- Graphic design for a Fortune 500 company
- As a freelance writer, involving blogging, copywriting, ghost writing and article and e-book writing
- Affiliate marketing
- Software development, end user support, training, documentation, database management, project management, technical marketing & strategy and producing travel content
- As a self-employed webmaster, blogger and travel writer
- Communications strategy consulting and content development
- Running a yacht charter company
- Professional poker player
- Freelance script writer and script doctor
- Online community manager, community consultant and entrepreneur
- Translation and related language services
- Instructional designer and consultant for large businesses
- Reporting, copywriting, and marketing consultation
- Project Manager for an electronic medical records software company
- Geographical information analysis for research institutions
- Consulting services for organizational development
- Selling information products and coaching
- IT project management and regulatory compliance
- Web development
- Senior consultant for a large data services/hardware company
- Customer service manager for online software company
- Website design and management with 2 major contracts
- Sales (conducting phone sales with Skype to contacts in the US)
- Market research
- Writing for other people, recording conferences and audio programs and selling “stuff” on-line
- Web developer
- IT systems design and software implementation
- Creating websites to sell online niche products
- Freelance translation of technical documents
- Working as a full time employee at home for a major IT company
- Through three websites and some freelance design work
- Building blogs and websites for small companies and social media consulting
- International airline/aviation consultant and lobbyist
- Land development and consulting
- Affiliate marketing manager and digital marketing consulting
- Through recurring income from web hosting and support contracts
- Adjunct professor specializing in online learning (teaching and designing online courses)
- Consulting, training and coaching in the fields of new ways of working and information worker performance
- Professional musician
- Public relations for creative (advertising, marketing, PR, design) firms
- Working for a publisher (writing, illustration, photography)
- College instructor
- Health and wellness coaching
- Running a web application with a monthly subscription model
- Consulting in software development
- Selling an extension to a popular content management system
- Working for Matador Network and Where There Be Dragons
- Arts consulting
- Business advisor
- Manage operations of online business
- Senior IT consultant
- Marketing coach and copywriter
- Trading forex (foreign exchange)
- Owning an internet business
- Selling online eBooks
- Running a technology sales website
Learn how to set goals that actually stick!
The Top 10 Mistakes in Online Business
Every week we talk with entrepreneurs. We talk about what’s working and what isn’t. We talk about successes and failures. We spend time with complete newbies, seasoned veterans, and everything in between.
One topic that comes up over and over again with both groups is mistakes made in starting businesses. Newbies love to learn about mistakes so they can avoid them. Veterans love to talk about what they wish they had known when starting out.
These conversations have been fascinating, so we compiled a list of the 10 mistakes we hear most often into a nifty lil' guide. Get the 10 Most Common Mistakes in Starting an Online Business here »
Great post with lots of great ideas for work.
This is a great little article, it’s good to see exactly what people are up to already. I look forward to more of these snippets as the full results from the survey come out. Good work guys and a big thanks to everyone for sharing!
Yes, thanks everyone for sharing. I can’t wait to write more (and read what other blogs write) about the results.
You left out ‘professional MAGICIAN’. Just FYI. Extremely L.I.P.
Definitely lots of things I never would have thought about being L.I. on that list. I think I am going to live on a yacht and become a musical composer…
I was thinking about being a professional poker player and college instructor ;)
hi sean, i completely agree with you!! i travelled all around the world on my own, i m italian and one day i ll go living on a tropical island, pacific area whom i know nearly everything. it s about 22 years i m a bank employee and still saying the same thing i want to escape (vojoscappa of the email means in italian slang escape ahah), hope you understand my perfect english ahah, best regards cecilia
Corbett,
I see a ton of technology jobs. It is amazing to me how quickly technology changes the landscape of business. Many of the jobs that are allowing people to live this way probably weren’t even jobs/positions 5 to 10 years ago. Very cool. Thanks for the information
Jeremy @ RefocusingTechnology.com
Yeah, living the location independent life was a much different proposition 10 years ago. It wasn’t impossible, though. Steve Roberts was doing it waaay back in the 1980s.
It’s exciting to think about how technology will improve people’s lives even further over the next 10 and 20 years. Location independence will definitely become a more attainable lifestyle.
I am already a “location independent person”, I work as a senior software engineer for a small Silicon Valley-based startup. I am (currently) based in London and I am currently looking for my next short rent somewhere in Europe. But this post gives me a few more ideas if I want (or I have) to change soon…
Thanks!
Renato
That’s great, Renato. It sounds like the company you work for is quite progressive. Is the entire company distributed throughout the world, or is there a central office that most people work from?
Great post! I myself have tried some of these and was successful in some and got failure in others. being a freelancer one major thing required is a central system so that wherever you are you can access things in an easy way.
Initially we used basecamp (www.basecamphq.com) for project management purposes and it changed the email email games we used to play. Though we find out some even better product named Proofhub Proofhub (www.proofhub.com)which provided the same or you can say better services at a cheaper and effective price. The thing is that wherever you are your work should be effective enough to attract more business.
Thanks for the post
Thanks for the advertisement, Justin ;) Your point is important though. Communication is one of the trickiest parts about being location independent.
Haha, guess I’d better learn to play poker and compose music. Then I’ll be set!
Fascinating!!! I took part in the survey (I’m the freelance translator of technical documents) and it’s so interesting to see the large scope of jobs that you can take with you across the globe :) Interesting to see what I share (blogging) and what is different between myself and other technomads (no children and in the younger age group in my case).
Really looking forward to further information on the survey!
Thanks for participating. I’m glad to see such a diversity of people represented in the survey. It makes interpreting the results very interesting! I look forward to sharing more soon. I love your nickname here, by the way. Which languages do you speak?
English, Irish (Gaelic), Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and Esperanto! I’m currently learning Czech (and blogging about if it’s possible to learn it in 3 months flat!)
Looking forward to these results :)
All the best!
I’ve been a freelancing IT consultant for 10+ years and whilst the pay has been excellent and it’s also allowed me many good travelling experiences, it’s definitely not a silver bullet or the end goal.
The business model (if you could call it that) is fundementally flawed, in fact it plain sucks. You’re always trading your time for a dollar, which means ultimately although you have a bit more flexibility, but you still have to show face everyday and put in your 8 hours.
The only way to have true freedom, is to build a residual income stream which isn’t dependent or reliant on you warming a seat 5-days a week. That being said, consulting can be a good stepping stone to nirvana.
@Phil : Man, you are like my mirror image then. I’m in the exact same boat, but consulting only for about 8 years. I tried expanding the consulting buisness, i.e. hirring people, which helped some, but didn’t really get me to true freedom either. I think like you said residual income streams are key. So my task now is trying to figure out what is the most straight forward way to turn my 8+ years of IT Consulting experience into some sort of product that can be sold. Would love to kick around some ideas with you around that topic if your interested.
I do 10 of these and still don’t earn enough to sustain myself (yet) :/
Hi Rob :)
I reckon it can be tricky to make your incomes steady enough.
The thing is to re-assess your business as often as possible and find what you can ameliorate whenever possible.
Good luck! :)
I’m an online psychologist providing live therapy sessions over video or IM, and I manage to make ends meet, its been sustaining my ILP lifestyle for 3 years in 4 continents.
Great list, I’ve been reading on many aspects of what people do to maintain their lifestyle while traveling and the necessities of being a digital nomad but nothing really listing what everyone is doing to actually earn an income while traveling. I want to break my own way of making income through location independent means but I’m no expert in anything – but hopefully by the time I take that jump move outside the US I’ve refined any skills needed.
How come everyone praises an article that has a number of repeated suggestions (streching it to the number of 64) ? I am getting into this idea of blogging slowly, and it appears that a lot of the comments act as a lead to “hey, come check my stuff out” – reoccuring theme of “e-books, blogging” – maaates…All good though – It’s a wonderful post! Can’t wait to get more :)!
Hey Rico, I think you’ll find that empty comments like “nice post” won’t help you connect with anyone or deliver new visitors to your site. The more value the better. Try to contribute something to the conversation. That usually works best.
As a successful internet entrepreneur, I’ve helped hundreds of people earn money online, and it can be done… fast. As long as you are committed, with the right expertise and guidance… anything is possible. I have created a unique system that maps out everything you need in order to consistently earn over $3000 every week! (a step by step guide, if you will).
If you are serious about making money online, you can check it out at http://www.quickcashaffiliate.com.
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Nice article. I’ts amazing you could think of so many things one can work on from home. to condense, almost any information work can be done from home.
If you do Design and Webdesign, you have to compete with talented people from emerging countries who set the prices very low compared to someone who wants to remain location independant (costs of living aren’t the same!).
I think that it’s the main difficulty if you don’t manage to have at least 4 big clients who constantly rely on you.
Added to that, there is the issue of trust.
Many companies have difficulties to trust someone they can’t see or meet.
So, you’d better have to find those 4 big companies before you become truly virtual.
I’ve been location independent for 8 years. I have a graphic design and marketing business that has done very well over the years. I’m now expanding to other markets in hopes to create a more passive income.
Comprehensive list! I’ve met many location independent workers but meeting everyone this list will take a while
Very cool post.
Corbett – thanks for the list, I’m really enjoying reading your blog and hope to someday too be location independent :).
This list is really timeless. Today may be a couple years after this post was published but it still rings true. Hopefully those who read this list a couple years ago have figured out how to implement some of the stuff here.
Great post! I am a web developer and already working location indepently. However I only have one main client, and if I lose them, I’ll be in trouble. I’m embarking on other ways to generate income, and your post has given me more ideas. Thanks much!
The list is nice, but what would be really helpful are tips or pointers on how you get from point A (employer has you chained to your desk) to B (you setting the terms on how and where you want to work).
Telecommuting has been a hot subject for many years now, but I don’t see much evidence of companies allowing people with technical skills to do that unless they low ball themselves to India levels.
Am I permitted to do 2 or more of this? Lol
Great post its funny i’m just seeing it now
Sheyi
Just came across this article (years later, ah, the joy of the Internet!) Noticed that there are creative jobs on your list, i.e., professional musician, freelance writer, etc. I am that. Is it really possible to earn a living doing those things abroad? I live in the US and the ‘starving artist’ is alive and well. I’ve met older musicians who’ve told me there was a time many years ago when musicians could earn a living but that time is gone. Maybe things are different in other countries? I’d heard that musicians who perform original music are more respected in Europe than in North America. I wonder if that’s true… Just curious whether anyone might still be following up on these comments.
Thanks for the article anyhow. Interesting…
This is a great list that I had to share – http://aroundtheworldin80jobs.com/demystifying-location-independence/ – Make me wish I would have learn about web design and computer oriented things back in college. Oh well press on. Just found your site Mr. Barr and am impressed. Thanks for the info.
-Turner Barr
Hi Corbett,
Pretty cool list!
I’m curious about how people would do consulting in location independent manner – is the communication done via Skype or such? How about the billed hours?
I personally do the typical – I blog and run blogs as a business.
Cheers!
Great post and thanks for the bank of ideas!
I’m looking to nail this for 2013 and I’m going with a mixture of 2 things mentioned.
But I’ll know where to come if ever I need a ‘Plan B’!
Great list! I’m excited at finally becoming location independent myself :)
One option is to forget the whole making money thing and go to live in a place where you can live without any money. The world is full of all kinds of monasteries and there is also some communities offering money-free way of life.
but where to get jobs for your way of earning?
Hi,
you covered the entire list of location independent workers.
thanks®ards
vinodh
Is there a simple way of earning income that is basic where you can see people in person when offering the service? Online business is very complicated with no assurance one can be paid for the service rendered. I paid $250 dollars to a binary online option 1 and my money was not returned. There are plenty of scams on the internet which I become a victim, a small amount only but hated become victimized. How can we find an honest way to earn a living, please provide some comments or suggestions for I need them.
I would simply love to earn money by typing data
This is a very nice list to get the juices flowing. I dipped my toe in the water last year with a side hustle in the digital marketing and analytics space. I was able to make an extra $18,000 to learn a new skill set.
Now I am using that skill set to build my own platform that I hope to one day turn into my main hustle. For now I will focus on trying to master the blend until I can make the break. Meaning the break from the Golden Handcuffs that keep me locked to the desk at my corporate job.
Loving the podcast by the way. I have only listened to a handful of episodes, but I plan to be a regular listener.
The three of you are informative and entertaining at the same time.
Cheers!
It took me 3+ years of blogging, networking, sharing, etc to get where I am. It’s not easy, but with determination and persistence, YOU CAN!
good one