10 Best Ways to Make Money as a Digital Nomad in 2025
Are places like Thailand, Argentina, or Prague always beckoning on you?
Do you love the sound of the beach waves colliding with one another?
Is your laptop and phone your office?
Do you live and breathe to make money online?
If your answer to these questions is YES, then you must know that you are walking in the path of a digital nomad, the fastest-growing lifestyle of the last decade.
And do you know what’s more intriguing?
You are not alone!
The lingering global recession has resulted in a high demand for location independent jobs and remote work.
Presently, about 41.8% of the American workforce work remotely, and about 17 million people globally aspire to be digital nomads in the future.
With this increased population of digital nomads, it does sound alluring to become a digital nomad, but what does it take?
In this article, I’ve explained ten best ways to make money as a digital nomad, tips and strategies to help you become a highly productive digital nomad, and best places to live as a digital nomad with their respective cost of living.
Ready to embrace the nomadic lifestyle?
Great! Let’s get started.
What is a Digital Nomad?
Digital Nomad is a person who works virtually from different locations around the world.
So, you could either be in a park, coffee shop, public library, or co-working space relying on technological devices and wireless internet connections to work whenever you want.
In 2018, about 4.8 million independent American workers classified themselves as digital nomads. However, there are presently over 10 million digital nomads in the United States.
Wondering why there’s an increase in the population of digital nomads?
That’s because living as a digital nomad offers an exciting and unusual possibility for anyone who loves adventures and would love a new change from the traditional 9-5 life.
Whichever travel pattern you choose, either staying in a location for a long while or changing your location frequently, being a digital nomad offers you a life of freedom and adventure, all while being employed and financially secured.
Who Can Be a Digital Nomad?
Practically anyone can become a digital nomad as long as the distance is not a constraint to fulfilling your job.
There are many jobs you can do remotely from freelancing to selling products online as a digital entrepreneur.
But you don’t have to be self-employed to be a digital nomad.
As technology evolves and advances, more organizations are embracing remote work.
About 55% of businesses globally offer some capacity for remote work, and about 73% of business teams will have remote workers by 2028.
So, as long as you can work remotely, you can easily become a digital nomad.
However, as much as being a digital nomad sounds really fun and interesting, you must note that it’s not about some simple vacation or taking time off and setting out for a few days or maybe even weeks.
The concept of being a digital nomad is born out of the freedom of traveling around the world without any boundaries or borders to abide by, at the same time living and working comfortably from wherever in the world you are.
Therefore, as you decide to become a digital nomad, you must settle these two important things.
Your Expenses and Debt
One major factor that may limit you from becoming a digital nomad is the lack of money to fund your new lifestyle. That may come in as debt or having too many expenses to sort out.
When you are in a situation like this, the burden on your shoulders becomes too high, and staying without an income for a while can be a real struggle.
So, sort out all your debts and control your expenses by getting rid of unnecessary expenses.
One easy way to get through this is to develop habits that can help you gain financial freedom and become wealthy such as living within your means, setting up emergency funds, setting up investments.
You can also opt for credit cards, which can be a better option than regular consumer cards.
Credit cards offer you helpful travel protections and valuable points on all your purchases, which you can use to access some of the best facilities and cover your travel costs.
Let’s see the exceptional credit card options for a digital nomad.
1. Chase Sapphire Reserve – Best Overall Credit Card for the Nomadic Lifestyle.
Chase Sapphire Reserve offers 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points on purchases up to $4,000 within the first three months of your account opening and a wide variety of shopping and travel protections.
You earn 10x Ultimate Rewards points when you use Lyft rides, 3x points on travel and dining, and 1 point per dollar on all other purchases.
Chase Sapphire Reserve card provides you with a travel credit of up to $300 and has an annual fee of $550.
2. Citi Prestige Credit Card – Most Preferred Credit Card with Immense Capability and an Extended Warranty Period.
Citi Prestige Card offers 50,000 Citi ThankYou points on purchases of up to $4,000 within the first three months of your account opening with a travel credit of up to $250.
You earn 5x Citi ThankYou Points on airlines, travel agencies, restaurants, 3x points on hotels and cruise lines, and 1 point per dollar spent on every other purchase.
Citi Prestige Card also offers a complimentary 4th-Night-Free-Benefit, which provides a free night on stays of four nights or longer and has an annual fee of $495.
Your Income
You must also focus on your income squarely, as it will help you determine the best way to fund your nomadic lifestyle.
Here are four crucial questions you must provide thoughtful answers to.
These questions paint a scenario of the unexpected, and answering them helps prevent you from throwing caution into the wind and preparing for the worst.
That’s important, especially because you will always be in an unknown location where you may not know anyone.
Every answer to those questions will lead you to this general point; You’ll have to rely on a remote job to allow you to fund your travels easily as a digital nomad.
An easy solution is to find an excellent money-generating activity that you can indulge in and become successful in.
Best Ways to Make Money as a Digital Nomad
36 million Americans will work remotely in 2025.
This increase is caused by the numerous benefits of working remotely, such as flexible schedules.
Working remotely also offers you the opportunity to earn massively, and as more people work remotely, there’s also a significant increase in the total population of digital nomads.
So, let’s see the best ways you can make money online as a digital nomad and stand out.
1. Earn Money as a Freelancer or Consultant
Being a freelancer or consultant affords you the opportunity to work remotely and earn a living.
In the United States, over 57 million people are freelancers and are collectively contributing approximately $1.4 trillion annually to the economy.
However, the concept of earning more money as a freelancer or consultant is not built on “more work” but rather on following the right steps.
No doubt, you’ll work hard but you shouldn’t also miss out on the freedom and flexibility that comes with freelancing.
Here are the easy steps to help you earn money as a freelancer or consultant.
1. Choose a Niche and Stick with It
Before you begin your freelancing career or start your consulting business, you must be strategic about the kind of jobs you want to do and the clients you want to take on.
That's important because finding your right kind of job will help you focus on what you love doing best, and this way, you'll get to be a specialist and an expert in your field.
You might be wondering: How can being a specialist in my field help me make more money?
Well, let's look at this scenario.
Imagine you need the service of a kindle style writer for your ebook. Who would you hire; a general ebook writer or a person specializing in kindle style formatting for ebooks?
Do you now understand what I mean?
Choosing a niche and sticking with it presents you like a pro to your clients, and you can always charge more for your specialized services.
2. Build a High-Quality Portfolio Site
When clients reach out to you for your services, how will they know that you can indeed do everything you say you can do.
That's only possible when you have a portfolio site that you can easily refer to.
As a freelancer, you need to own a stellar portfolio that showcases your skills, highlights your previous experiences, highlights your relationships with past clients in the form of reviews, and also includes contact information so that potential clients can find you.
You can easily create this portfolio on a website.
But before you create the website, spend time collating every previous project you have worked on, every review you have gotten, and every other thing you can feature on your portfolio and decide the best way they should be displayed.
3. Determine Your Pricing
Determining how much to charge your clients could be quite tricky.
As much as you want to ensure you charge your clients according to your perceived value, you do not want to overcharge them because then you might be chasing potential long term clients away.
You also do not want to undercharge them because you won't be making enough to afford a comfortable and sustainable living.
Well, here's how you can easily achieve this.
Determine the actual amount it will cost you to complete a job or consulting service for a client.
Calculate every expense you made from transportation, internet to your time spent. Ensure that you are not leaving any money on the table.
Additionally, most clients will easily pay higher rates to freelancers that gives them a good first impression and delivers astounding results.
So, charging the best rates also depends on how well you can live up to your client's expectations.
4. Choose a Platform
One very quick and easy way to land jobs as a freelancer and make easy money is by joining a freelance platform.
These platforms have millions of potential clients from different organizational tiers, so you are sure to find potential clients and offer your services to them.
All you need to do is follow the rules involved in opening an account on these platforms and start sending out impressive pitches to clients.
Let's look at the best freelancing platform you can choose from.
a) Upwork – Best Overall Freelancing Platform for Beginners with an Amazing Support System.
With over 1.5 million clients constantly posting gigs and looking for freelancers to work with, Upwork is the largest platform to find all types of jobs as a freelancer.
Upwork clients come from different organizational levels, including the “big guys” such as Airbnb, Microsoft, and Deloitte.
Virtually anyone can navigate the user interface, and freelancers can charge clients hourly, weekly, or set a fixed price and get paid parts of the money in a feature called “milestones.”
They also have a large community of freelancers, numerous articles that can help settle your concerns, and a secured and protected freelancing environment.
b) SolidGigs – All-round Functional Freelance Platform that Connects You with Reliable Clients Weekly.
SolidGigs saves you the time of scrolling through different job sites looking for jobs relevant to your career.
Instead, it scours through hundreds of freelance job listings on the internet and picks one or two percent that's authentic and beneficial to you, and sends them to your email weekly.
SolidGigs also partners with several successful freelancers and entrepreneurs to coach its members.
This means that you will find over 127 productive courses and loads of resources and tools to help you succeed in your freelance career.
To have access to the numerous features and benefits of SolidGigs, you'll have to pay $2 to have access to the platform for 30 days. After this trial period is over, you'll then pay a monthly commission of $19.
c) Fiverr – An Incredibly User-Friendly Freelance Platform with an Abundance of Gigs.
“Sell your service at $5.” That's the Fiverr tagline, and that's how the name Fiverr was gotten.
However, the platform has evolved over the years, and you can always sell your services above $5.
There is always an abundance of jobs on Fiverr spanning over three million gigs in numerous skill sets, including virtual assistants, web developers, writers, translators, and accountants.
Fiverr also has an SSL certificate that protects freelancers' information and secures dealings between clients and freelancers.
d) Flexjobs – Most Preferred Freelance Platform with a Straightforward User Interface for all Kinds of Remote Work.
Whether you are looking for a part-time job, a satisfactory full-time job in an entry-level or executive position, or remote jobs with flexible schedules, you may not have to look beyond Flexjobs.
In addition to the numerous freelancing jobs that Flexjobs offers, you can also find a large number of remote and on-site jobs in more than 50 categories.
However, to get unlimited access to Flexjobs, you'll have to pay a subscription fee. Pricing starts at $6 for 1 week, $14.95 monthly, $29.95 for three months, and $49.95 for a year.
5. Upgrade Your Skill
The key to becoming a successful freelancer is to remain thirsty for knowledge.
Truthfully, you can never know it all, and with the increase in technological advancement, you have to be on top of your game to win over potential clients in the freelance world.
More skills are being added into the workforce every day, and the skills that previously existed are being upgraded.
For instance, if you are a graphic designer with expert experience in Corel Draw, you may find it hard to get clients if you do not upgrade your skill and learn to use other advanced tools like Adobe photoshop.
Also, upgrading your skill is one easy way to justify your high rates. You definitely won't be charging the same amount with an Adobe photoshop experience as you would with a Corel Draw experience.
2. Launch a High-End Blog
There are currently over 600 million active blogs globally and over 31 million bloggers just in the U.S alone.
Wondering why even with this increasing number, more blogs are still springing up?
That’s because blogging, a location independent job, is every bit lucrative and quite easy to run.
Companies with blogs produce an average of 67% leads monthly than companies without blogs.
What does this mean for you?
There’s a lot of audience waiting to read your blog!
Let’s see these simple steps that can help you launch your own high-end blog.
1. Select a Blogging Platform
Before you can launch your blog, you would have to create your website to make your blog accessible online.
You can achieve this by hosting your website using web hosting software or using blogging platforms that require no prior knowledge of tech to run.
Let’s look at the best blogging platform available for you to choose from.
a) Bluehost – Best Overall Web Hosting Platform with Limitless Versatility and Maximum Support for Bloggers.
Bluehost is one of the largest web hosting companies that offers unlimited access to beautiful themes and plugins with a robust customer support system.
You also don’t need to look too far as Bluehost offers a fast and reliable WordPress hosting plan with a one-click installation process.
Recommended by WordPress since 2015, Bluehost allows you to build your website with its automatic WordPress installation, brand your email account with your domain name, and secure configuration of your login credentials.
Although WordPress is free to use, you’ll have to pay for hosting and domain name on Bluehost.
Pricing starts at $2.95 monthly for the Basic Plan, $4.95 monthly for the Plus Plan, $5.45 monthly for the Choice Plan, and $13.95 monthly for the Pro Plan with a free domain name for a year.
b) Wix – Best Overall Blogging Platform for Novices with a User Friendly Interface.
Wix is a simple and straightforward blogging platform that has over 500 beautiful templates for easy customization with a drag-and-drop interface.
Wis stands out with its Wix Artificial Design Intelligence (WixADI), which helps you create a website under ten minutes.
You can also access other amazing features such as video and animation backgrounds, a personalized SEO plan, and top security.
Wix is free to use but offers more astonishing features when you upgrade to its premium plans.
Pricing for Wix begins at $4.50 monthly for the Connect Domain Plan, $8.50 monthly for the Combo Plan, $12.50 monthly for the Unlimited Plan, and $24.50 monthly for the VIP Plan.
c) Weebly – Most Preferred Blogging Platform for Business Owners and Entrepreneurs.
Weebly is an easy-to-use blogging platform with beautiful features like custom fonts, animation effects, an image editor, and numerous stunning themes to create a perfect and professional website.
It has integrated social media marketing, Seo tools, and AdWords credit to help drive traffic to your site. You can also build an email newsletter and custom various email marketing programs.
Weebly is free to use but also has premium packages that offer more access to all its features.
Pricing for Weebly starts at $6 monthly for the Connect Plan, $12 monthly for the Pro Plan, and $26 monthly for the Business Plan when paid annually.
d) Squarespace – All-round Functional Blogging Platform with Maximum Flexibility.
Squarespace has various amazing tools and themes that you can use to customize your blog to suit your taste.
It features a built-in SEO and analytics tool, email marketing and social media tool to promote your blog, and numerous dependable resources to provide answers to all your concerns.
Pricing for Squarespace starts at $16 monthly for the Personal Plan, $26 monthly for the Business Plan, $30 monthly for the Basic Commerce Plan, and $46 for the Advanced Commerce Plan.
2. Choose Your Blog Niche
Finding the right blog niche is crucial because that’s what you will be creating topics around and making money from.
So, you must ensure that whatever niche you choose is something that’s exciting for you to write about and appeals to a large audience.
In choosing a blog niche, here are two main things you must consider.
- Find out what interests you: What’s your passion? What topics do you love? What talents do you have? What skills and knowledge have you built up over the years? Answer these questions and draft out about 5 – 10 ideas that you are interested in.
- Find out what other people are interested in: This is important because as much as you love a topic, there must be a market available to receive it. You can make a simple search on the internet to find out what subjects people are interested in. You can also use Google Keyword Planner and Ahrefs Keyword Explorer to find out the most searched niche or idea category.
After discovering what you and others are interested in, compare the list together. Ideas that appear in both lists should be your priority.
3. Choose Your Blog Name
After you’ve created a website to blog on, the next thing is to choose your domain name.
Nowadays, most people use their names for their blogs. That’s a good idea. However, if you choose not to use your name or perhaps your name is no longer available, ensure that you choose a name that’s easy to spell and pronounce, just like ours, “Founderjar.com.”
Let’s look at these few tips to help you name your blog better.
- Keep it short, simple, and catchy.
- Use a keyword related to your niche.
- Do not use irregular capitalization, numbers, or special characters.
- Use a .com, .org, or .net because they are the easiest extensions for people to remember.
4. Plan Out Your Blogging Cadence
Writing blog posts isn’t a sprint but a marathon, so you must critically decide on the following.
Step 1: What Topics to Post
This is where you start research that never ends. But for now, ask yourself these questions about your readers.
These questions will ensure that you don’t run out of ideas and help you stay ahead of your readers.
Also, make sure that you do keyword research on your topic so you can maximize SEO opportunities.
Step 2: Posting Frequencies
In order to have a high-end blog, you must devise a writing pace and remain consistent with it.
That way, you will always meet your readers’ expectations, and traffic will keep flowing.
At the barest minimum, you should write a substantial post of not less than 2,000 words and upload it to your blog at least weekly.
Looking at this Orbit Media’s 2020 survey below, you will see that about 16% of bloggers post monthly.
Now, that isn’t a good posting frequency to adopt because you’ll have written only 12 posts at the end of the year, which isn’t enough to keep your readers anticipating a new blog post, thus putting you behind in the blogging race.
Step 3: Blog Content
As you create your blog content, ensure that it is of great quality, free from errors, and highly valuable to your readers. Avoid using generic information.
Go the extra mile and source out compelling information that will make your readers keep coming back.
One easy hack here is to search the topic on the internet, read what others have written, and derive ways to write yours in a better way.
You should also add high-quality photos and relevant statistics to make your blog content more authentic.
Once you have fulfilled all these points above and are ultimately satisfied, you can then publish your post.
5. Monetize Your Blog
By now, your blog is up and running, with great content and an awesome audience. It’s now time to monetize your blog.
You can feature ads specific to your audience on your blog, team up with retailers to promote products and services for them, or add an eCommerce plugin and sell your own product or services directly from your blog.
3. Create and Sell Online Courses
The online learning market is expected to be worth over $300 billion globally in 2025, and that includes individuals and corporations spending more time on online learning.
Thus, there has never been a better time to make money online as a digital nomad, creating and selling online courses than now.
The following steps will guide you through creating and selling your own profitable online course.
1. Decide What You Want to Teach
Choosing a topic of interest is the starting point of every successfully sold course online.
You have to choose a topic that you’re very familiar with but at the same time, one that is marketable and can bring in revenue.
Here are three easy ways you can discover what to teach about.
Step 1: What Are Your Skills?
First, think about the skills and talents you have. Do people always seek your advice or help with a particular problem? Do people pay you to help them out with something in your free time?
The answers to those questions will be a perfect subject for you to teach since the demand is high.
If nothing comes to your mind, that’s okay too. You can move on to the next step.
Step 2: Ask Others for Help
Here, you’ll have to source out for the topics with the help of others.
Ask your family and friends what they think you are good at.
You can also raise conversations concerning your topics of interest on your social media platforms or in any online community you belong to.
Step 3: Search the Internet
Thirdly, you can search the internet for ideas you can create content on for your online course.
The internet is the center of information, so you’ll definitely find several topics you can choose from.
Alternatively, you can use these three steps together to ensure that no stone is left unturned.
After you must have completed the steps, compare the list of topics you got. Also, check the internet to ensure that your topic is marketable.
Topics that appear in more than one list and are also in demand should be your priority.
I’ll also advise that after selecting a broad topic, you streamline your ideas to keep your content within a defined scope.
For instance, you can hone your course to target either beginners or professionals.
2. Select an Online Course Platform
After you have discovered what you want to teach, you’ll have to select the best online course platform.
This is important because these platforms allow your prospective students to easily locate your online courses making it easy for you to earn money online.
Let’s see the best online course platform available for you to choose from.
a) Thinkific – Best Overall Online Course Platform for Newbies.
Thinkific is an online course platform with a robust set of user-friendly features, and you can easily build and customize your online course with its drag and drop editor tool.
You can also integrate Thinkific with over 1,500 applications and get access to its high-quality templates, email marketing tools, integrations for your courses, membership sites, and 24/7 customer support system for the easy creation of your perfect online course.
Thinkific offers a free plan for all its core features. However, to get access to more amazing features, you must purchase its premium plan.
Pricing starts at $49.50 monthly for the Basic Plan, $99 monthly for the Pro Plan, and $499 monthly for the Premier plan.
b) Teachable – Most Versatile Online Course Platform Providing Maximum Simplicity to Entrepreneurs.
Teachable is an online course platform that allows you to customize and brand your online courses just as you’d like.
You can easily publish multiple courses, enroll an unlimited amount of students, and keep them engaged with interactive tools like quizzes, surveys, and discussion forums.
It also offers astounding features such as integrations with several systems like Mailchimp and Ontraport, marketing and analytics tools to monitor your course performance, international payments, and affiliate programs.
Teachable provides free access to its core features. However, to get access to more features, you will have to opt for its premium plans.
Pricing starts at $39 monthly for the Basic Plan, $119 monthly for the Pro Plan, and $299 monthly for the Business Plan.
c) Kajabi – Most Popular Online Course Platforms for Large Business Owners and Solopreneurs.
Kajabi is an all in one online course platform that allows you to market, sell, and deliver your courses and sell memberships, training portals, and every other digital product you own online.
It has loads of amazing features, including “Kajabi Email,” which creates high-converting and attractive emails and website builder capabilities.
Kajabi offers a 28-day free trial, after which you must purchase its premium plan to continue using the platform.
Pricing starts at $149 monthly for the Kajabi Basic, $199 monthly for the Kajabi Growth, and $399 monthly for the Kajabi Pro.
d) Learnworlds – Most Preferred Online Course Platform for Interactive and Engaging Learning Experiences.
Learnworlds is an online course platform with several beautiful templates, styles, and theme editors to help you build and customize your course site easily. You can also add multiple instructors to your course.
Additionally, you can offer an ultimate interactive learning experience with its responsive tools such as interactive video players, questionnaires, tests, surveys, polls, downloadable attachments, interactive ebooks, certificate of completion, and a custom landing or sales page for easy access to your online course.
Learnworlds is free to use but you get access to more features when you purchase any of its premium plans.
Pricing starts at $29 monthly for the Starter Plan, $99 monthly for the Pro Trainer Plan, and $299 monthly for the Learning Center Plan.
You can also request for a professional quote and customize your package however you want.
3. Build Your Online Course Content
Before you build your online course content, make sure you focus on everything your student needs to achieve results rather than bombarding them with every information about the topic.
One way to achieve this is by starting with the end result and building your course content backward from there.
So, think about the end result you want your students to achieve. That will serve as the foundation on which your course content will be built.
Building your course content involves preparing outlines and modules, recording audios, creating videos, drafting and editing content, formulating quizzes, and every other activity that must make your course as interactive, creative, and authentic as possible.
That’s important because while you are passing valuable information to your students, you also want to make sure that they do not get bored, tired, or lose interest in your course.
Finally, you should select a format for your content. According to psychology, people retain information better when they are given it in small portions with breaks in between.
4. Package Your Course
After you have sourced the right content for your course, your course is almost ready to be published.
Now, you have to choose a name for your course and fix a price for it.
Your course name is the first thing anyone sees when they encounter your course. So ensure that the name can grab their curiosity and make them eager to purchase and learn more.
For instance, an online course titled “Writing Skills 101: From a Newbie to a bestselling author” is a better name than “Improve your writing skills” because the former tells prospective students what level of skills they are going to acquire and what outcome to expect at the end of the course.
After finding the compelling name for your course, you can then fix your price.
Fixing the perfect price for your online course is often a deep and complex subject, but it shouldn’t be so.
One easy way around this is to realize the purpose of creating your online course, which is to earn money.
So, ensure that the prices you are fixing are realistic such that it doesn’t drive away prospective students and is enough for you to live a comfortable and sustainable life.
4. Start a Dropshipping Business and Sell Physical Goods
There are 2 billion digital buyers globally in 2020 and it is expected to increase to 2.14 billion in 2021.
What does this mean for you?
With more people shopping online yearly, there has never been a better time to start your own dropshipping business than now.
Let's see the five proven steps to starting your dropshipping business and earn money online.
1. Choose a Niche
Focusing on one niche allows you to become an expert in that niche.
As an expert, you can easily discover suppliers with the best products.
Also, through your interaction with potential customers, they will realize you have in-depth knowledge of the market. Thus, they would be more willing to trust and buy your products.
Factors to consider when choosing a niche.
- Choose products with quick turnover and potential profits: You will expend the same effort to market a $10 and a $900 product. There is no need for sticking with low priced products.
- Find unique but necessary products: The products you will choose to sell must be so important that people are willing to search online for them.
- Choose impulse products: Impulse products won't require a long and hard thought before they are purchased. For example, most people will think long and hard before buying a motorbike, whereas they will think less before buying a pair of shoes.
- Shipping costs: Imagine you're in the USA, and your potential suppliers are in India, the cost of shipping your goods will be quite high. That can increase your item's price, and this may cause your customers to terminate purchase orders.
- Competition: The truth is any product without competition lacks sufficient demand so stay away from such products. When you discover a product with several sellers, scope them out, identify what they're doing wrong and do it right. That would be your unique selling point. You can also check out their customer's reviews to get deep insights into what you need to do better.
2. Find Suppliers
Most of the best suppliers are excellent in manufacturing and distribution. But they lack good marking skills, even if it's basic search engine optimization skills.
Therefore, for optimal results, perform thorough research to scope out the best suppliers.
Any of the following Google search parameters will be of great help to you:
- Niche, product, or keyword “supplier.”
- Niche, product, or keyword “warehouse.”
- Niche, product, or keyword “wholesale.”
- Niche, product, or keyword “bulk.”
- Niche, product, or keyword “dropship.”
You can also try searching without using the keywords.
After your research, create a spreadsheet and enter the names and contact details of these potential suppliers.
Then go on to seek clarifications from them. Ask them your product and shipping-related questions. Be sure they can confirm that they have enough volume of this product to your market demands.
Alternative ways you can find suppliers is to use marketplaces such as Alibaba, AliExpress, or 1688.
Keep in mind that competition can be high, and margins can be low when you purchase from these marketplaces because most drop shippers use these same marketplaces.
3. Build Your E-commerce Store
Your store is where you showcase your products, direct traffic to view and buy what you're selling.
So, once you have found a supplier, you should find the best e-commerce platform to build your store.
Let's look at some of them.
a) Shopify – Best Overall E-commerce Platform for any Scale of Business.
Shopify has easily built a name for itself in the E-commerce industry with its simple and straightforward interface and numerous templates you can tweak to create your desired store.
Though you can use third-party payment gateways, it has its own payment processor, which you can use to accept payment. You can also integrate our Shopify store with over 3,200 apps in the Shopify app store.
You can get started with their 14-day free trial, after which you will pay a monthly subscription fee of $29 for Basic Shopify, $79 for Shopify, and $299 for Advanced Shopify.
b) 3dcart – Most Versatile E-commerce Platform for Experienced Users.
3dcart has several amazing features like built-in SEO, functionalities, and over 200 payment gateways.
Once you get started on 3dcart, you get a free domain for a year and easily integrate your store with third-party online marketplaces.
All 3dcart plans come with a 15-day free trial, and pricing begins at $19 monthly for Startup Store, $29 monthly for Basic Store, $79 monthly for Plus Store, $129 monthly for Power Store, and $229 monthly for Pro Store.
c) Woocommerce – Most Popular E-commerce Platform with Unlimited Functionality.
Woocommerce is the only E-commerce plugin mainly designed to turn a WordPress site into an E-commerce store.
It is an open-source plugin with versatile features for setting up and customizing your online business to reach your target audience.
However, you must already have a domain name, hosting service, and your WordPress account set up. Bluehost is the perfect hosting platform with a 1-click installation for WordPress.
Hosting on Bluehost comes with a free domain name for a year, and pricing begins at $2.95 monthly for the Basic Plan, $4.95 monthly for the Plus Plan, $5.45 monthly for the Choice Plan, and $13.95 monthly for the Pro Plan.
d) Magento – Most Preferred E-commerce Platforms for Large Businesses and Enterprises.
For larger, more complex E-commerce sites, Magento is the best.
It has over 1,000 themes and extensions, an easy-to-use interface, and a drag and a drop builder to build and customize your store, just as you'll like it.
You can also personalize a specific customer segment and deliver best-in-class shopping experiences without support.
To use Magento, you'll have to contact sales and request a demo.
4. Promote Your Business
Besides having a beautiful e-commerce store, it would help if you promoted it for maximum exposure to your target audience.
Your first starting point of the promotion is social media. Create social media accounts specifically for your niche on platforms like Pinterest and Instagram.
When you've enough valuable content out there, you can use paid ads on social media to boost your content and store views.
You should also increase your store's chances of appearing in search results by including keywords your potential customers will likely use when searching for similar products on Google.
5. Monitor and Adjust
Even though your dropshipping store is now complete and you're driving traffic to it, you still need to monitor your business' performance.
Use Google Analytics to track and monitor your store's performance to develop plans based on reports relevant to your business.
Additionally, be patient when getting started. You would likely need to research and test various products within your niche, suppliers, and marketing strategies before making your real revenue.
5. Get Famous as YouTube or Instagram Influencer
Do you know that 67% of marketers believe influencer marketing helped them reach a more targeted audience and increased their sales?
Technology is advancing daily and so building a solid brand in the digital landscape as an influencer is paramount.
The two most relevant platforms that can help you achieve that are YouTube and Instagram.
With over 2 billion people using YouTube and over 200 million Instagram users visiting brand profiles daily, these platforms are easily the best places to begin your influencer journey.
You are also sure to make enough money online and live a comfortable nomadic lifestyle as a YouTube influencer or Instagram influencer.
Let’s see how you can become famous as a YouTube or Instagram Influencer.
1. Decide on the Type of Content You want to Create
People appreciate a social media channel that sticks to one specific niche.
So, what do you want your YouTube channel or Instagram account to be known for?
Your choice should be related to:
- Your skills and passion.
- The target audience.
Choosing to publish contents that you love, are knowledgeable about, and have an available audience will help you remain on your A-game so that you never run out of content.
If you have decided what type of content to post, then you must stick to the following rules.
- Be Transparent: Your content should reflect your personality or mindset. This way, more people will want to connect with your account or channel.
- Be Original: Your content should be borne out of critical reasoning and creativity. Even if you love someone else's style of content arrangement and would love to replicate it, ensure that yours isn’t the same. Put on your thinking cap and create “you.”
- Be Consistent: Once you have chosen a style for publishing your posts, ensure that you are consistent with it. Inconsistency will make your subscribers and followers lose their trust in you.
2. Set up Your Instagram Account or YouTube Channel
After determining your type of content, you need to create an account for yourself on YouTube and Instagram.
For Instagram, you’ll have to create a professional account that will give you access to tools such as Analytics to monitor the growth of your business.
Set up your Instagram account with these simple steps.
- Download the Instagram app on Google or Apple play store. The app offers more features than the website does.
- Create an account using your business email address and fill in your full name, preferred username, a strong password. Always remember to use a name that’s easy and memorable so that your viewers can easily find you.
- After successfully creating your account, tap on the profile button on the home page. Click on Edit Your Profile on the page that appears to complete filling your profile information like your bio and contact information.
- On the Edit Your Profile page, click on Try Instagram Business Tools. You’ll be requested to link your Instagram with your Facebook business page.
- Once you are all set, you can start posting your content on your Instagram account.
Set up your YouTube account with these simple steps.
- Open YouTube and click on Sign in, located at the top right corner of the page.
- Log into the website using the Google account that you’ll love your account to be associated with. If you do not have a Google account yet, click the Create Account option to create one.
- After successfully signing in, click on your profile icon on the home page. On the dropdown menu that appears, select Your Channel option.
- Click on Customize Channel and personalize your channel by filling in your channel name, adding a description, uploading a profile picture, and adding links to your social media accounts and blog/website.
- Once you have satisfyingly customized your channel, click on Publish and your YouTube channel is ready for its first video.
3. Encourage Engagement on Your Content
Once you have created your account, you can start posting your content on the platform.
However, to increase your visibility, you must encourage engagement on your content.
One easy way to do this is by adding a call to action in all of your content.
Always ask your followers to like your post if they agree with your content, share their opinions by commenting or replying, and share your posts on their own platforms.
Also, when the engagements come in, make sure you respond to them.
That will make more people interested in engaging with your content, thus increasing your subscribers and followers.
4. Plan Your Activities
Have long term plans for your content. These plans should include strategic ways to increase your visibility and, consequently, your follower base.
Here are some guides.
- Make your contents as appealing as possible. Always use a compelling and captivating image for your Instagram posts.
- Ensure that your YouTube videos are of high quality. You can use some of the best video editing software such as Adobe Premiere Pro to ensure you give the best video content to your audience.
- Make trailers for your YouTube videos, which will be accessible to users who haven’t subscribed to your YouTube channel yet.
- Add watermarks to your pictures or videos, which will carry your signature wherever the content is being viewed on the internet.
- Add hashtags to your content post on Instagram and video description on YouTube. This will help you become easily discoverable and grow your online presence. You can use some of the best hashtag generator tools like Seekmetrics and TagsFinder, to discover hashtags relevant to your content.
- YouTube and Instagram analytics can also help you plan your subsequent posts by showing you what type of content your followers prefer.
- Use a calendar to schedule your posts, mark out events, and tailor your content to fit into the season. For instance, you can tailor some of your content to fit into special events like New Year, Christmas, Easter, and Independence Day.
5. Use Brand Partnerships
When you’re beginning to get famous as a YouTube or Instagram influencer, your account can be your main online business point or a side business through brand partnerships.
That will increase your visibility, depending on the class of your brand partner, and will also help you make as much money as other YouTubers.
However, before you decide on which brand to partner with, consider if the partnership will help your brand or take away from your brand.
You should also consider if your audience will appreciate the partnership and welcome the content you may have to put up for the partner.
Additionally, you don’t have to wait till a good brand partner reaches out to you. If you identify any good brand you can partner with, send them a brand pitch.
6. Don’t Get Discouraged
In the process of becoming a famous influencer on YouTube or Instagram, you will encounter derogatory comments from people who don’t like you or your content.
Social media gives people the anonymity to share their opinions without minding the effects of the words they use.
However, that shouldn’t deter you from being true to yourself and your content.
Use any adjustments where necessary but don’t let hurtful remarks stop your ambition to become famous as a YouTube or Instagram influencer and make money online.
6. Host Free or Paid Webinars
Whether free or paid, hosting webinars is one of the lucrative digital nomad jobs around and a great opportunity for you to earn a lot of money and live a prosperous life.
Free webinars are a great tool to create awareness for future paid classes, gain audience trust, and generate leads.
At the same time, paid webinars bring in the money almost immediately and usually provide more in-depth information on the topic being discussed.
So, let’s see how you can successfully host your own free or paid webinar.
1. Structure Your Webinar Content
Before you can host a webinar, you have to decide on the topic you want to discuss. Please ensure that the topic is in demand and easy to discuss, say within an hour.
If you do not have any prior topic choice, you can always source topic inspirations from the internet. A simple Google search on in-demand webinar topics can help you discover your perfect topic.
Also, if you have a blog, you can search for the posts with the most engagements and keywords that your readers use to find your blog.
After deciding on a topic, then plan out your webinar content such that you have an introduction, brief engagements, main content, conclusion, a Q and A session, and farewells at the end.
Use that plan to prepare a script, which you’ll turn into presentation slides with bullet points, headings, and subheadings. Also, add images or photos to improve your viewer’s engagement.
If you are not used to using only outlines for online presentations, you can write down important details from your script.
Finally, your webinar content should always include a call to action at the end, such as a request to give a feedback comment or subscribe to your mailing list.
2. Choose a Suitable Webinar Hosting Platform
Before you can host your own webinar, you’ll need to choose the best webinar hosting platform that will make it easy to record, share, and follow up on your webinar easily.
Here are some of the best webinar hosting platforms you can choose from.
a) WebinarNinja – Best Overall Webinar Hosting Platform for Beginners Looking to Convert Attendees into Customers.
WebinarNinja is a webinar hosting platform with a simple and straightforward user interface that offers various landing pages for you to choose from.
It allows you to run automated replays or combine live and pre recorded events. It also integrates with over 1,000 apps, thus offering you versatility and a pool of choices to customize your webinar.
You can find several unique features such as a webinar search engine where people can find you and sign up, analytics to track your live webinar performance, and ad tracking, which allows you to track your social media ads.
WebinarNinja has a 14-day free trial, after which you’ll have to pay to access its features.
Pricing starts at $39 monthly for the Starter Plan, $79 monthly for the Pro Plan, $129 monthly for the Plus plan, and $199 monthly for the Power Plan.
b) Demio – Most Preferred Webinar Hosting Platform for Business Owners with Amazing Features.
Demio is a webinar hosting platform with an attractive and easy-to-use user interface that offers live, hybrid, automated, and on-demand webinars.
You can automate your live webinar replays to build an email list and check your webinar performance through their Analytics tool.
It also has numerous astounding features like polls, CTAs, private chat, integrations with MailChimp for easy email listing, and you can also upload slides and share videos directly from Demio.
Demio has a 14-day free trial for its users. However, pricing starts at $49 monthly for 50 attendees, $99 monthly for 150 attendees, and $234 monthly for 500 attendees.
c) Livestorm – Most Preferred Webinar Hosting Platform with Easy Email Marketing Integrations.
Livestorm is a webinar hosting platform that offers live, on-demand, and automated webinar events in an easy set-up process.
It has a one-click invitation feature for your attendees, an analytics tool to track your webinar performance, an interactive live chat feature, a multilingual customer support system, and offers maximum engagements with the polls and live chats tools.
Livestorm also has an impressive email that allows you to send a promotional email, automate it, customize your email, and check your email status.
Livestorm has a free Webinar and Meet Basic Plan. However, pricing begins at $109 monthly for the Webinar Premium and $39 monthly for the Meet Premium (presently free as part of COVID-19 relief.)
The Enterprise Plan allows you to customize your package however you want it and you’ll have to contact the sales team to request for a personalized quote.
d) GetResponse – All-round Functional Webinar Hosting Platform with Maximum Data Security.
GetResponse is a webinar hosting platform that provides email marketing, webinar marketing, and basic automation for your webinar events.
It has SSL-encrypted URLs, and you can always choose if you want your webinar to open to the public or password-protected.
GetResponse also allows you to record and share your webinar, track your webinar performance with the Analytics tool, and create custom URLs for your webinar.
GetResponse offers a 30-day free trial after which you’ll have to pay to access its features.
Pricing starts at $15 monthly for the Basic Plan, $49 monthly for the Plus Plan and $99 monthly for the Professional Plan.
The Max Plan offers an advanced option and you can customize your package however you want. To opt for this plan, you’ll have to contact sales to get a quote.
3. Set Up Your Price
As you set up your price for your webinar, ensure that the price communicates much value and is well-deserving of the information your audience will be receiving.
So, if you opt for a high price, ensure that your target audience can afford it and if you opt for a low price, ensure that there is a reliable guarantee on ROI.
One easy way to do this is to consider all the factors such as the amount of money spent on the webinar preparations, the time invested, and how much your competitors are charging.
4. Promote Your Webinar
Once you have set up the price for your webinar, select a date and time to host the webinar. Thursday afternoon is the best time to host a webinar.
Additionally, your webinar will achieve more when it attracts and involves more people, so spread the word about it.
You can create a landing page or sales page with important details about the webinar and direct intended participants there.
Similarly, you can use social media platforms to create awareness about your webinar through posts and share your webinar’s landing page.
5. Run Multiple Tests
You don’t want to promote your webinar and then have participants declining because of an error in your registration process. Therefore, you should perform several tests before then.
First, test the registration process and the webinar yourself using a different computer and mobile devices, browsers, and operating systems.
Then invite some friends to a demo meeting, test run the registration process, confirm if they can hear you well, see your screen when you share it, and see messages on the live chat.
6. Deliver Your Webinar
As you prepare to deliver your webinar, plan out your clothing in advance to ensure that it looks nice on screen and will not distract the audience from the information you want to pass.
You should also log into your webinar 10 minutes before the time so that you can welcome your participants as they log on to the webinar.
Turn on your recording tool and do your best to sustain an engaging and interesting conversation with your audience.
7. Build Your Podcasting Empire
The ad revenue from podcasting is expected to exceed $1 billion dollars in 2021.
However, even with this increase, the podcast industry is not being explored enough.
There are about 600 million blogs but only about 1.5 million podcasts.
That means there’s a lot of money on the table for you to live your nomadic lifestyle if you start your own podcast.
Let's see the practical steps to build your podcast empire that will help you earn money online.
1. Select a Niche that Fits Your Audience
Before you begin your journey on this location independent job, you need to determine what niche you want to focus your podcast on and who you are recording the podcast for?
Here's how to go about this.
Step 1: Find Your Niche
Firstly, think about the niches that you are comfortable with. It may be an area you are passionate about, a skill you have learned, or a talent you have.
If you don't have any idea in mind, the internet can be a good place to start looking. There, you'll find a wide range of marketable ideas.
You can also ask family and friends around for their opinions. Then compare their opinions with your findings and select the best niche.
Step 2: Find Your Audience
Secondly, you have to consider the audience that will relate to your podcasts more: the middle-aged and young demographic.
So, compare the ideas you have earlier gathered and choose a niche that these demographics relate with the most.
2. Select a Podcasting Software
After you have successfully figured out the right niche and audience, you'll need a perfect software to record and edit your podcast.
Let's the best Podcasting software available for you.
a) Audacity – Best Overall Open-source Podcasting Software for Every Podcaster.
Audacity is a free, easy-to-use, and open-source podcasting software available on all versions of macOS, Linux, Linux (Beta), and Windows operating system.
With Audacity, you can customize your user experience, record your podcast, edit multiple episodes, use different sound effects, and access its amazing features like Sync-Lock and Silence Finder.
It also has tons of videos and online tutorials to help you navigate the platform with ease and guide you through your podcast production process.
b) Buzzsprout – Most Preferred Podcasting Software for its Affordability and User-Friendly Interface.
With over 100,000 people hosting their podcast on Buzzsprout, you are sure to have a beautiful experience creating, hosting, and promoting your podcast.
It has unique features like Magic Mastering that use advanced technology to edit your audio automatically, optimize your audio automatically, schedule posting, transcribe your audio, and affiliate marketing that allows you to monetize your podcast.
You can also track your podcast statistics directly on Buzzsprout and get your podcast listed in top podcast directories such as Amazon Alexa, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Stitcher, Castro, and Google Podcast.
Buzzsprout has a 90-day free trial period, after which you'll have to pay before you can access its services.
Pricing starts at $12 for an upload time of three hours monthly, $18 for an upload time of six hours monthly, and $24 monthly for an upload time of 12 hours monthly.
c) Hindenburg Journalist – All-round Functional Podcasting Software with Extensive Features.
Hindenburg, available on both Mac and Windows, is a pro-level podcasting software with numerous audio tools to create the perfect podcast.
Although it isn't as cheap as Audacity, it is one of the best options for newbie podcasters around.
You can easily import and edit your recording irrespective of the size, and it can also conveniently integrate with some podcast hosting providers.
You can also access several unique features, such as a voice profiler tool that balances your recording quality and direct audio upload to SoundCloud or Loudness.
Hindenburg Journalist has a 30-day free trial available, after which you'll have to upgrade to its premium plan.
Pricing begins at $95 monthly for the Journalist Plan, $375 monthly for the Journalist Pro Plan, and $500 monthly for the HABC Narrator Plan.
d) Adobe Audition – Most Popular Podcasting Software with Maximum Performance for Entrepreneurs.
Adobe Audition is a comprehensive podcasting software that allows you to create and mix your audio content.
It has beautiful features like noise-reduction capabilities, advanced compression, multiple recordings in cases where you have a co-host, an essential sound panel to help you achieve professional-quality audio, and batch processing that allows you to apply various effects on one file.
It also has a multitrack and spectral frequency display, and you can access its numerous tutorials and resources to guide you as you create your own podcast.
Adobe Audition has a free trial available for download on the Mac and Windows operating systems. However, pricing starts at $20.99 monthly.
3. Plan Your Podcast
Now that you have found the perfect platform to record your podcast, you'll need to spend an adequate amount of time upfront planning your podcast.
In whatever plans that you are making, ensure that it's for the long run. Here are the key things to set in place.
Step 1: Name Your Podcast
Your podcast name is the first thing your listeners come in contact with.
So, ensure that the name contains keywords that are relevant to the purpose of your podcast.
Also, avoid stuffing keywords in the name and remember to keep it short, simple, and easy.
Step 2: Select Your Podcast Topic
What do you want to talk about in your podcast?
For every podcast recording, you can either have a new topic discussed in that recording or sections of a large topic you can discuss as episodes in different recordings.
However, keep in mind that the topics you choose for your podcast must be something that is marketable, relatable and which you are confident about.
Step 3: Choose the Right Podcast Format
There are different kinds of podcast formats available.
You can either decide to have a monologue podcast where you are the only host, a co-hosted podcast which will consist of two or more hosts, interviews, narrations/storytelling, or a combination of one or two of these formats.
Choosing the best format depends on what you want and what your audience likes.
Step 4: Select the Best Publish Time
You should have specific days for publication of your podcast and be consistent with it.
One easy hack around this is to look at similar podcasts like yours and find out when they publish. Follow the pattern as you build your podcast empire.
Soon enough, when you have gotten enough audience, dig through your analytics, and identify the time people listen to your podcast most.
Once you have noticed the trend within your own audience, you can then change your publish pattern to suit your audience's needs.
4. Record and Edit Your Podcast
Before you begin recording, create an outline containing important points you'll love to discuss on your podcast.
That will serve as a guide and prevent you from rambling or making mistakes.
Once you have created the outline, you can then begin recording your audio. Try not to focus on your voice or fine-tune it to sound like a professional's. Instead, speak audibly and naturally.
Also, remember that you can always edit the recording when you are done, so don't be afraid to sit in silence if you forget the next point, and even if you make a mistake, correct yourself and keep going.
After recording, you can then begin the editing process.
That usually involves segmenting your podcast, adding your intro and outro, stabilizing the volume, removing audible and inaudible distractions, and inserting pre-recorded ads, after which you can then export as an audio format.
5. Promote Your Podcast
After recording, editing, and converting your podcast to audio format, you should submit it to podcast aggregators such as Apple Podcast, Google Play, Spotify, SoundCloud, or TuneIn.
That will expose you to new audiences as they browse through their favorite listening app, searching for new sounds.
Similarly, you can promote your podcast through various social channels such as Twitter, Facebook, and also through your websites.
You can also directly tell people about your podcast and leverage your friendship with others by requesting that they post about your podcast on their social channels.
6. The “Super Listeners” Phenomenon
Do you know that 96% of dedicated podcast listeners consume twice the content of an average podcast listener and regularly recommend content to their friends?
Yes! And they are called “Super Listeners.”
These people help you do the bulk of your promotion. They spend more than eight hours consuming podcast content weekly and would rather subscribe than download your episodes.
However, super listeners are not just in a room waiting for you to unlock the door.
They are present in your podcast audience, but you must attract them to your podcast like any other location independent jobs.
Here's how you can easily attract and keep your super listeners.
- Ensure that your podcast is easy to subscribe to.
- Create content that is relatable to your choice of audience.
- Create in-depth topics and build on them. Best to spread a large topic into a series of episodes to keep your listeners coming back.
8. Publish and Market eBooks
Do you know that 335.7 million eBooks have been published in the United States alone?
This number will keep on increasing because, in addition to eBooks being portable, lightweight, and easily accessible, readers can also experience augmented three-dimensional visuals on texts and images, which is always a surreal feeling.
Additionally, the estimated revenue from the sales of eBooks in 2020 is set at $29 billion, making publishing and marketing eBooks an effective way you can earn money online and live a comfortable nomadic lifestyle.
So, let’s see the easy steps you can take to publish and market your eBook successfully.
1. Find Your Ideal Audience
It’s no fun curating an eBook that would end up in your archives. Therefore, you have to find your ideal target audience.
Firstly, you must discover your preferred niche on which you are sure to provide value. That would give you good leverage when publishing and marketing your eBooks.
You can get a good head start by thoroughly thinking about what kind of eBook you want to write and what niche you want to write under. You can also consider your skills, passions, and where your strength lies.
Then, search the internet to get insights on what people want to know and where to get them from. The purpose of this is to ensure that the topic you choose has a large audience waiting to receive your eBook.
Finally, compare all your results together and select the niche that fits all these factors perfectly.
2. Create Compelling Content
Now that you’ve discovered your target audience, you should focus on providing them working solutions that would quench their thirst for knowledge with your eBook.
Even though the profit from your eBook is important, your essence of producing an eBook shouldn’t be limited to just that.
Your eBook should seek to provide values, solve problems, and answer questions that your audience may have.
For instance, if the title of your eBook is “5 proven ways to stop procrastinating and save time” and the content of your eBook doesn’t answer any of those questions, when next you publish another eBook, people will not be so ecstatic to purchase it again.
So, endeavor to think long term as you create your eBook.
3. Publish Your eBook
Now that you have your audience and product ready, you should publish your eBook to make it accessible online for your potential readers to buy.
Here are the best platforms you can use to publish your eBook.
a) Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing – Most Versatile Self-Publishing Platform with a Vast Audience.
Amazon is one of the largest online sources of eBooks and has a self-publishing platform called Kindle Direct Publishing.
It accepts text documents and EPUB files but converts them into a Kindle book for sale only on Amazon. You also get a free ASIN, which works like an ISBN.
Publishing your eBook on the Amazon Kindle Store makes it available on any Kindle device and Kindle apps for multiple operating systems.
Kindle Direct Publishing is free to use, and you can also earn up to 70 percent royalties on sales.
b) Barnes and Noble Press – Most Preferred Self-Publishing Platform with Immense Functionality.
Barnes & Noble Press, formerly Nook Press, offers an easy-to-navigate dashboard so you can monitor the progress of your eBook and track sales.
You also get full control over the price of your eBook and can make up to 65% on any books priced at $2.99 or above.
c) Smashwords – Most Popular Self-Publishing Platform Which Allows Distribution of Your eBook to other Platforms.
Smashwords is one of the oldest aggregator sites that allows you to distribute your eBook to other retailers like Barnes and Nobles, Kobo, and Apple books.
They also provide you with daily sales reporting from stores with your eBook to monitor the progress of your eBook and a free ISBN if you want one.
Smashwords is free to use, and you can earn 60% of any sales through a retailer and 80% of any books sold on the Smashbooks Store.
However, Smashwords charges 15% of the sales you receive after retailers’ cost has also been taken out.
4. Build an Influential Social Media Presence
Your potential buyers and readers are lurking somewhere, so you have to put in the work and get to them.
One sure and easy place to find them is on social media.
Depending on the niche your eBook focuses on, you will have to handpick suitable social media to focus on and boost your influence.
For instance, if your eBook is a cookbook with different recipes, it would be a waste of time creating an influence on LinkedIn or Tumblr. The social media to best create influence for such content are Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook.
Find the social media relevant to your eBook, focus squarely on it, and build an influential online presence there.
5. Consider Giveaways and Promos
Freebies are by far one of the ways you can easily get massive attention.
When you publish your eBook, you can change the settings to allow your prospective buyers to read through your book’s first chapter. That would be just enough to get readers hooked on your eBook and complete a purchase.
Additionally, hosting promos like “Weekend sale” and giving price discounts is also an effective marketing strategy for your eBook.
9. Run a Digital Marketing Agency for Small Business
In 2018, the global digital marketing revenue amounted to $496.08 billion.
This amount has since increased tremendously, making it easy for digital nomads to work remotely and earn money online comfortably.
So, how can you run a digital marketing agency for small businesses as a digital nomad?
Let’s learn the basics here.
1. Choose a Service for Your Digital Marketing Agency
There are a lot of services you can offer in your digital marketing agency. However, you need to start from one and grow into others.
You can either choose to offer one service or two closely-related services as you begin. As time goes on, you can expand your digital marketing agency and add other services.
Let’s see some of the profitable and hugely popular services you can offer in your digital marketing agency.
Social media marketing involves creating platform-specific content that engages business’ audience to gain more visibility, engagement, website traffic, and eventually, sales.
Here are the most popular social media platforms you can market on.
2. Content Marketing
Content marketing involves creating and promoting written, and video content to create awareness, generate leads, and grow your clients’ customer base.
3. Marketing Automation
Automating some marketing actions helps businesses schedule repetitive tasks and focus on non-repetitive tasks.
Though there’s a lot of software that can perform these automated actions, most of these businesses still get stuck.
However, market automation specialists set up automated funnels for their business, thus helping them achieve their marketing goals.
4. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO remains an in-demand service, and most businesses prefer to outsource this service because of its technicality and importance.
It involves using relevant and ranking keywords, hyperlinks, backlinks, and compelling meta descriptions to ensure your clients’ websites show up as one of the top search engine results.
5. Email Marketing
Despite social media advancement, email continues to thrive. Email marketing is so important that small businesses keep hiring experts to run their email campaigns.
Email marketing focuses on helping businesses build an email list (contact list with names and genuine email addresses). Then, engage this list till they become paying customers.
6. Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
Businesses understand that without traffic, there would be no customers. Though organic traffic has its place, it isn’t sufficient, especially in highly competitive niches.
Paid advertising is what compliments organic traffic to boost views on products and services.
PPC focuses on helping businesses run their online advertising campaigns to maximize returns on their ad spend.
7. Social Media Advertising
Social media advertising involves analyzing and optimizing ads for businesses on various social media platforms to maximize returns on ad spend.
A detailed understanding of how adverts work on each of these social media platforms and how you can use them to help your clients get more traffic, conversions, and sales is a core factor.
8. Data Analytics
Data analytics involve analyzing online data, such as data from Google Analytics, to predict future marketing and business actions.
As a data analytics specialist, you will measure the performance of your client’s analytics. Then, offer suggestions on how they can improve their marketing channels.
Such analysis includes ad performance analytics, performance analysis of email campaigns, social media platforms, and web content.
2. Improve Your Skill
Your next step is to improve yourself in the services you have chosen.
Learn the nuts and bolts of these services and get certifications to improve your authenticity further.
Google offers a free digital marketing course which you can register for and become certified.
Similarly, you can pay for digital marketing courses on Udemy, Edx, and become certified.
You can also seek advice from people that have been in the digital marketing industry before you. Read books, articles, blog posts, social media posts written by entrepreneurs and other digital marketers to improve your knowledge further.
In all you do, never stop learning!
3. Practice Consistently
In the beginning, you may find it hard to get clients. But that’s okay.
Your best option is to offer free services for family, friends, startups, and non-profits or get paid far less than the service’s worth.
However, this is not a loss.
These experiences will help you get a foot in the door at providing these services for clients and make real-time decisions.
Also, as you practice, you will get the hang of your competitors and discover their strengths and weaknesses. That knowledge will then help you to develop your own successful digital marketing agency.
4. Fix the Perfect Price for Your Services
Pricing may be quite difficult, but it shouldn’t be so. One easy way to get around this is to create packages for your services.
Your packages can have low-ticket, mid-ticket, and high-ticket price ranges with the low-ticket price range covering some basic services and the high-ticket price range covering all your services.
If you can’t come up with a pricing package by yourself, you can check out the pricing packages of your competition and use that to create the perfect price for your digital marketing agency.
5. Attract Your Clients
Create a website for your digital marketing agency and a professional email address. An example of a professional email address is john@socialmediaexperts.com.
Doing that makes you appear more credible and authentic, qualities that clients look out for.
Another way to attract clients is to leverage the social media space. Open a YouTube channel and publish video contents. Then, publish blog posts of your most-viewed videos.
Additionally, it can be natural for those you’ve provided with free services to refer you to paying clients. However, you should still ask them for referrals from time to time.
10. Become an Online Tutor or Teacher
Online tutoring is rapidly developing with the help of technological innovations and unlimited internet accessibility.
The online tutoring market valued at $133.20 Billion in 2018 is expected to reach $369.69 Billion in 2025, making online tutoring a profitable online business for any digital nomad.
Let’s see the easy steps you can follow to help you become a successful online tutor.
1. Carry out Market Research
Before getting started tutoring online, you need to perform major research on the following important factors.
- Subjects you want to tutor: There are a lot of subjects that can be taught online. Examples include schoolwork and college-level courses such as math, upgrading skills such as languages, and interest-based courses such as music and photography. However, before attempting to teach any subject, ensure that you have a substantial understanding of it.
- Who your audience is: Explicitly specify the age group of your prospective students – adults, college students, or school-aged children and their level of knowledge – interest-based, complete beginners, or intermediates.
- Your competition: You should also consider the people that have been in the game before you. You can use their mode of operations and prices as a guide to determine how best to run your online classes.
- Your mode of teaching: How do you want to teach your students? Do you want to appear on live videos or share your screen or create videos explaining the topic? Do you want to follow the “Academy model” where students pay a monthly/yearly subscription or a “Night school model” where students pay an upfront fee? Whatever decision you make must be relevant to the age group of your prospective students.
2. Choose an Online Tutoring Platform
After completing your market research, you can then choose the right platform to host your classes online.
Here are the best online tutoring platforms available for teaching and learning.
a) WizIQ – Best Overall Online Tutoring Platform.
WizIQ is a very easy-to-use online tutoring platform with numerous features that allow you to deliver live classes and launch self-paced courses.
Learners can easily access your online classes from any location on any device, and you can also integrate your classes with Learning Management Systems like Moodle and Blackboard.
WizIQ offers a 14-day free trial period, after which you have to contact their customer support for a professional quote for either the Professional Plan, Enterprise Plan, or Pay-Per-Use Plan.
b) MyTutoring – Most Affordable Online Tutoring Platform with Extensive Flexibility.
MyTutoring is an online tutoring platform with a simple and straightforward interface that you can easily customize without any technical assistance.
It has various features, such as landing pages, analytics, seamless payments processing, whiteboard tools, and a customized admin dashboard to help you build your online tutoring brand.
Pricing for MyTutoring begins at $39 monthly for the Private Tutor, $64 for the Small Tutoring Agency, $125 for the Large Tutoring Agency with a 15-day free trial period. There’s also an Enterprise customer plan, but you’ll have to request a professional quote from their customer support.
c) Newrow – Most Preferred Online Tutoring Platform for Maximum Interactions Between Teacher and Students.
Newrow is an online tutoring platform that allows you to deliver highly engaging live online classes straight from your web browser.
It has an array of interactive features, including screen share, breakout rooms, quizzes, a cloud file management system to give you the best tutoring experience.
Newrow has a free plan that can only host five participants. To organize classes for a higher number of people, you’ll have to purchase one of its paid plans.
Pricing starts at $14 monthly for the Kaltura Meeting, $45 for the Virtual Classroom 50, and $90 for the Virtual Classroom 200.
d) Tutortrac – All-round Functional Online Tutoring Platform with Simplified Scheduling.
Tutortrac is an online tutoring platform with interactive features like custom emails, online scheduling, workshop attendance, and high-level security to build the perfect online tutoring brand.
It also offers a one-way integration with outlook so that Tutortrac appointments easily appear on outlook calendars and students can always stay reminded of their classes.
Request a demo from their customer support to get started building your online class with Tutortrac.
3. Build Your Lesson Plans
Once you have chosen the platform to teach on, you should develop a system to organize your teaching materials and meetings to avoid confusing yourself or your students.
Here’s how you can achieve this.
- Plan Your Teaching Outline: Create an outline to follow, break down complex aspects of the subject into multiple topics and subtopics, and ensure that every student understands every material and resource you decide to use. Also, your teaching outline should be flexible enough to cater to one-on-one training and group training.
- Build a Solid Feedback System: Create a feedback system to ensure your students get the most out of your online classes. You can do this by preparing some lesson points for your students to practice free conversation and ask you questions.
- Store Your Lesson Materials carefully: Keep track of materials or lessons covered using a simple spreadsheet and Google calendar. Also, store lesson materials in the cloud, such as Dropbox or Google Drive, and share the links with your students.
4. Consider Your Students Needs
While building and developing the lesson plans for your subject, you must consider your potential students’ needs.
Let’s see how you can consider your potential students’ needs with these most popular subjects for tutors to teach.
1. Languages
Before attempting to teach any language, you must speak it at an upper-intermediate level or higher.
Create materials that require little modification to use with different students and prepare some lesson points for students to practice free conversations and ask you questions.
You can also talk to other tutors to learn from their experience.
2. Photography
First, define your area of specialty. It could be photo architecture, landscape, portrait, film photography, nature, flash, fashion, or wedding photos.
After each class, recommend at least two exercises for each student, which you will evaluate at the next class. If it’s a group class, you can assess each students’ lesson to the whole group so that others can learn.
3. Music
You need the right set up and the equipment to teach music online.
Here’s an example of an excellent setup for you.
- A comfortable chair – the piano bench won’t be useful here.
- A desk to have more workspace and place your PC.
- A notebook and a pen for writing.
For your students, specify the features of the PC they’ll need to attend your lessons.
Students can’t have the same setup as yours, but if they have something close, help them make the right adjustments. For example, you can help them adjust their audio levels to avoid distorted audio.
For optimal results, send teaching materials ahead of class so that your students can print and display them during class.
4. Math
To tutor math online, you will need a simple themed google slides template without clip art to avoid distractions.
You can also consider including online games that students can use for practice as it adds fun to learning. Sites like Mathgames.com and abcya.com are places to search for math-related online games.
5. Market Your Service
Once you have developed your online tutoring strategies, then you must consider marketing your services.
You can organize free introductory language classes or volunteer for teaching gigs, which will help you build your experience and skill set. It will also help build trust between your students.
That way, they can always refer you to others because they have a firsthand experience learning under you. However, don’t be shy to ask for referrals from them.
Additionally, you can reach out to your target audience on social media or in person. Help them with their subject challenges, and they will easily love to enroll in your paid class for full training.
Why People Choose to Become a Digital Nomad
Everything we have today is built around technology, and it has totally transformed the way we live and work.
About 50% of the workforce are currently remote workers.
As more people take up remote jobs and businesses recognize the benefits of recruiting remote workers, the more digital nomad lifestyle becomes a norm.
The tide is turning, and remote work will equal or overcome fixed office in the coming years.
Let’s see more reasons why people choose to be digital nomads.
1. Freedom
The best part about being a digital nomad is the undoubtedly genuine freedom you experience.
Unlike a 9-5 job that dictates your work schedule, you literally own everything. You get to call the shots!
You can choose to work anywhere in the world as long as you are more productive there.
You build your work around your life and not the other way around.
You can decide to start your day with your personal errands or take long breaks in between work to recharge, all of which are not accessible in a traditional 9-5 job.
2. Minimalism
Becoming a digital nomad is the chance you have to let go of anything that’s holding you back in life.
There are many things the world can offer apart from big televisions, fancy cars, and nice houses, and more people are realizing this daily.
Don’t get me wrong, houses, cars, and televisions are great assets, but there’s a lot more going on in the world you can experience as a digital nomad.
The nomadic lifestyle helps you get over the control that your mind has been conditioned to around your possessions. Often than none, you are always traveling with a backpack.
Being a digital nomad helps you live simpler lives and adapt easily to whatever situation you find yourself.
3. Money
As a digital nomad, you have the opportunity to earn a lot of money online.
Currently, about 16% of digital nomads earn over $75,000 yearly which is far more than what traditional workers earn.
Besides the large space of earnings available to you, you may also not need to spend much as a digital nomad.
Living in places with a low cost of living like Southeast Asia can help you save so much money for your future travels.
You will see yourself surviving on amounts that wouldn’t have been enough to take you around for two weeks in the United States.
4. Build Your Own Life
Everyone has different objectives for their lives and different life goals they want to achieve. But do they always achieve those goals?
As a digital nomad, you get to create your own life story based on what works for you and motivates you, all on your own terms.
Life is worth more than living paycheck to paycheck, paying bills, and settling debts.
With the numerous opportunities available in these times and the unwavering network of people to connect with, there has never been a better time to build your life and achieve your goals.
5. Eliminate the Stress of Traditional Work
The stress associated with traditional work is a causative factor of health problems.
Longer commute hours have been associated with high blood pressure, insomnia, increased Body Mass Index (BMI), and other health problems that increase your risk for chronic diseases.
However, on the contrary, the nomadic lifestyle has subtly battered office politics, longer commute hours, and every other con of traditional work.
Being a digital nomad offers you a less stressful working environment, commuting at your own will, quality time for yourself, all of which are good health indicators.
6. Productivity
It is not uncommon to run out of ideas once in a while. Sometimes, you may even find it more difficult to think outside the box or try out innovations.
However, as a digital nomad, the reverse is the case.
Some say travel feeds the soul, but travel can also make you a more productive and creative individual.
90% of the information transmitted to the brain is visual. So, you will get more ideas, inspirations, and opinions when you see and experience other people’s culture, and visit other parts of the world and that will increase your level of productivity.
Also, conversations with other vastly traveled digital nomads will build up wells of inspiration in you because, truthfully, everyone you’ll ever meet knows something that you don’t.
Pros and Cons of Being a Digital Nomad
As you choose the nomadic lifestyle, you should remind yourself of what to expect in the reality of being a digital nomad.
Let’s look at them.
Pros
1. You’ll Have More Time to do the Things You Love
Having more time for yourself is one of the biggest pros of being a digital nomad, maybe the major reason everyone wants to live a nomadic lifestyle.
Shirts and ties are seemingly replaced with pajamas and shorts, confinement to a desk is replaced with hiking, surfing, kayaking, and boardroom meetings replaced with virtual meetings or just a simple email.
Living as a digital nomad affords you the ultimate freedom and flexibility to set your own schedule and work on your own terms. You never have to ask for time off from anyone because you are your own boss.
You can always set your workday around events, travel as you like, work in ways that are most effective and fulfilling to you, and have more time and space to reflect on the things that matter most to you in life.
2. You’ll be More Productive
As a digital nomad, you literally work from anywhere and under any circumstance.
That means your job is with you while you wait for your coffee, on the road, or at the lobby in the airport.
So, rather than waiting for the right time, you can easily adjust to whatever situation you are in and get your job done.
Besides, there are loads of fun activities you can engage in after work. So, why waste time?
Also, since you are your own biggest investor, you can decide how much time and money to put into developing your skills rather than waiting for an organization to do so.
This way, you spend more time developing and improving yourself and your skills than any employer, which will improve your productivity.
3. Exposure to Different Cultural Experiences
Although there’s much more competition online now than there was ten years ago, there are more opportunities today.
That’s why many governments are changing their immigration policies to accommodate as many digital nomads coming into their borders, providing you the opportunity to experience their different cultural backgrounds and practices.
You’ll get to enjoy all sorts of cultural foods, work attitudes, norms, beliefs, and convictions.
You’ll also learn more about people, become more open-minded, and understand the world in a better way.
4. Inspirational and Groundbreaking Ideas
Nothing beats the inspiration you get from seeing captivating places, meeting new people, eating new food, and experiencing different cultures.
These inspirations help you develop multiple points of view towards many issues, motivate you to live a life worth living, help you understand the world better, foster your personal growth, and provide you with the courage and numerous amazing ideas for your entrepreneurial route.
5. Great Networking Opportunity
What other opportunity is available to meet people from a variety of backgrounds than when you travel around.
You get to establish international friendships, exchange stories, learn from other people’s experiences, and develop long-lasting friendships and relationships.
There’s also a huge community of digital nomads worldwide, and you get to run into them at random hours, learn about their lives, and draw inspiration from them.
Life will also take an interesting turn of fun for you when you can call up someone in every country you visit.
6. Dollar isn’t Dollar Everywhere
As a digital nomad, you get the freedom to go to places where your dollar is worth a lot more.
There are over a hundred countries where the cost of living is not as high as the United States, Canada, or London.
For instance, the cost of living in the U.S is quite high compared to some other countries like Thailand, Indonesia, and some eastern parts of Europe.
So, while living on $1,500 per month in the U.S may seem difficult, it is more than enough in those other countries.
Thus, by living in places with a low cost of living and earning in a foreign currency, you can literally live twice the life for almost half of the money, sometimes maybe more.
Cons
1. Loneliness
As a digital nomad, you won’t be able to arrange brunch with a friend or organize a cinema night to switch off after a stressful day.
All attempts to physically connect with colleagues and friends may prove very difficult, and soon enough, you might find yourself in a deep well of isolation.
Even though you get to meet people, you sometimes may want to be around friends or family, which may not likely be possible at that moment.
If this sounds like an intense thing for you, you should strategize your plans for the nomadic lifestyle or reconsider it altogether.
2. Time Zone Issues
Imagine you are in Bali within the Indonesia Central Time Zone, and you have to be in a 10am virtual meeting with your coworker or client in New York.
That means you’ll be having this meeting late in the night according to your own time which could be quite discomforting!
Being a digital nomad will require you to work late at night or very early in the morning if you are in a different time zone than your clients or coworkers.
So, you must have a clear understanding of how time zones work so that you can meet up with your client’s demands diligently.
3. Internet Problems
Although the world is rapidly evolving and technology is advancing even to primitive areas, there are still some places without a solid internet connection.
And do you know what every digital nomad’s nightmare is?
Staying in a place with an unstable internet connection. I mean, you basically cannot function without the internet.
You may have to rely on public Wi-Fi or pay a huge amount of money to access the internet.
4. Rebuilding Community Over and Over Again
Imagine that you successfully built a community of friends with the locals in your location and some other digital nomads like yourself.
Then someone leaves, or you leave that location.
How exhausting will it be seeing that you have to start making friends, asking questions, and getting to know people over again in your new location and even in the next ones after that?
Tips and Strategies for Becoming a Highly Productive Digital Nomad
The thoughts of becoming a digital nomad might be easy to formulate, but this goes a long way farther than just thoughts.
For you to be a highly productive, not struggling, independent, digital nomad, here are seven crucial tips and strategies you must follow.
1. Create a Budget and Stick to It
As a digital nomad, your budget is an essential part of your life. That will help you settle your accommodation, food, transportation, internet, and clothing in the most decent and reliable way.
You seriously don’t want to be stranded in an unknown city.
So, you’ll need to critically assess your expenses to determine if the money you’re earning, either from your full-time job, part-time job, or freelance gigs, is enough to fund your nomadic lifestyle.
Here’s how you can achieve this.
Using this template below as a guide, add up all your source of income including gifts.
Then, calculate your living expenses, the cost of traveling to different destinations, the cost of staying in those locations, the cost of working in those locations, and the activities you’ll do there.
After that, subtract the total expenses from your total income to get the real amount you’ll need for your visit.
You can also check how this nomadic lifestyle will affect your savings. If it’s something that you cannot live without, then go back to your budget and cut out any unnecessary expenses or find a side business.
2. Prepare All Your Vital Paperwork
A vital step of your preparation for the digital nomadic lifestyle is to explore the laws and requirements of the country you intend to visit and ensure you comply with them.
Different countries have different laws covering freelancers, solo entrepreneurs, and digital nomads regarding taxes and immigration.
So, always ensure that you have all your vital paperwork at hand as you travel from location to location.
You should also have a legitimate and acceptable way of accepting payment from the different parts of the world. For instance, you cannot accept payment in cryptocurrencies in India because it is against their laws.
So, find the appropriate bank solutions like creating a PayPal account or opting for a credit card – depending on your needs.
You must also note that it’s better to settle all these while still in your home country to prevent getting stranded in an unknown location.
3. Choose Realistic Destinations
Traveling is all shades of fun, but the reality is that it is not cheap, especially when your location is one of the top cities in the world.
It sounds so beautiful eating ramen in Tokyo or walking down the beach in Spain. Still, until you make so much money to afford those places comfortably, you must consider visiting places that are relatively affordable.
Top world cities are enticing and all that, but there are also great things to explore in countries with a low cost of living. They have very beautiful cultures, large markets, fewer populations, and you can easily establish a good rapport with the locals.
Locations in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe are best known for a low cost of living. You can also visit some top countries when living costs may be cheaper at some specific time of the year. Put all that into consideration as you plan your next location.
You still have a lot of time ahead of you to visit top countries globally, but as a newbie, you need to find a balance between your wants and your needs so that your digital nomad journey can be worthwhile.
4. Get in Touch with Other Digital Nomads
Living the nomadic lifestyle gets lonely at some point.
So, in the absence of friends and family, you must build a solid community of digital nomads to own a successful nomadic lifestyle.
Fortunately, there are numerous online digital nomad communities of which you can be part.
Examples include:
1. Digital Nomad Community – Most Popular Online Digital Nomad Community with Easy Accessibility.
With over 100,000 members and a lifetime access fee of $57, you can get access to numerous resources, courses, and tools that can help you become a successful digital nomad.
2. Workfrom – All-round Functional Online Digital Nomad Community with a Customizable Interface.
As a member of Workfrom, you can create a customized virtual cafe and invite people in, at your own will.
You can also set a custom playlist, real-world sound, and personalize your cafe to reflect your brand and identity.
To get access to Workfrom, you’ll have to fill in an application form and indicate how much you’ll be willing to pay.
3. Global Digital Nomad Network – Best Online Digital Nomad Community Offering Maximum Support to its Members.
Global Digital Nomad Network is a private Facebook group that offers maximum support and provides real-time help to its members.
There are currently over 50,000 active members offering support to one another in the group.
4. Nomad List – Most Affordable Online Digital Nomad Community with Numerous Helpful Resources.
Nomad list offers you access to research on the best places and cities to live in and has tools such as climate finder to find the most weather-friendly location.
Pricing for Nomad List begins at $9.99 monthly for the Lite membership and $29.99 monthly for the Premium membership.
5. Balance Screen on/off Time
First of all, it sounds like a big challenge telling a digital nomad, someone who lives off their screen, to balance their screen time.
However, staying on a screen for a long time can be detrimental to your health.
Not only does it create a work-life imbalance, but it can also lead to computer vision syndrome and cause problems like eyestrain, neck and back tension, vision problems, and sleep deprivation.
Here’s how you can balance your screen time.
- Allocate Screen Off Time and On Time: According to your schedules, allocate the best time for you to be working on your screen and the best time to stay off your screen. You could still work during your off-screen time as long as the job can be done without a monitor screen.
- Apply Time Tracking: Create a visible boundary between your work time and rest time and adhere strictly to it. Use time tracking to stay reminded of when it’s time to work or rest. That will help to keep you focused, reduce unnecessary stress, and help you make better decisions for yourself.
- Develop Strong Work Ethics: Develop strong work ethics such as persistence and discipline that will help you stay true to your laid-down rules and schedules. It will also improve your productivity and help you form good habits you’ll need in the long run.
6. Work When it is Best for You
As a digital nomad, you must leverage the freedom you have to work anytime and create a working schedule during the hours that you are most productive.
When you get into a new place, experiment with your schedules, and discover the best time of the day that you are most productive.
It could be in the early hours of the morning when everyone else is asleep or in the evening when everywhere is beginning to go calm.
You should also take note of the weather condition in the location you’re traveling to.
Locations where the weather is unreasonably hot may not be an ideal place to work or be productive, especially when you are not used to such conditions.
7. Remind Yourself of the Important Things
Even as a digital nomad, you still have goals in different life areas that you want to achieve.
That’s not strange. However, you can get caught up with fulfilling jobs that you forget or postpone achieving the goals you have set out for yourself.
So, here’s what you can do.
Before you make any move, write down the goals you want to achieve in that location.
You should also create a vision board to see your goals every time and stay reminded of the things that matter to you.
Subsequently, you can also journal your thoughts every day.
Doing this will help you become aware of all that’s happening around you, giving you more reasons to be grateful and motivating you to become more productive.
World’s Best Places to Work and Live as a Digital Nomad Ranked
By 2035, there are expected to be 1 billion digital nomads globally.
All thanks to our modern high-tech world and fewer visa regulations restrictions which makes it easier for digital nomads to travel and handle their location independent jobs effectively.
You could easily be working in a coffee shop overlooking the ancient city of Tbilisi, and the next week, you are having a glass of wine at the beach in Koh Lanta.
You could also create a bucket list of the best cities you want to visit and turn your work into an adventure.
Sounds exciting, right?
Well, since you can earn money online from any part of the world, where should you choose to hang your hats?
Here are the best places to live comfortably as a digital nomad.
However, you should note that your cost of living comparison will depend greatly on your interest and desired lifestyle.
1. Koh Lanta, Thailand
Thailand joins this list of best places to live as a digital nomad because it has lots of co-working hubs, a thriving nomadic lifestyle, and fantastic weather.
However, tourists are crowding the most popular islands, making them noisy and polluted, and consequently increasing the living costs in those places.
In comparison, Koh Lanta is devoid of these downsides and offers all the benefits of a nomadic lifestyle.
Living Quality
The cost of living comparison for you will depend on the options available at Koh Lanta.
The available accommodation options are Airbnb, hostels, and hotels, but at almost $300 per month, the hotels provide the best value for money.
An entire apartment through Airbnb can be a little over $1,200, though a private room through the same means will cost you about $500.
If you want to pay less for more space, a reliable housing tip is to get a local that can negotiate a short-term rental for you. For example, it is not uncommon to pay $300 for a 1-bedroom studio rental.
Though there are few crime rates, you should be careful not to overpay for goods and services.
Transportation
Local taxi bikes (popularly called Tuk-Tuks) or motorbikes (which you can rent for a few dollars per day) are the best ways to move around Koh Lanta.
Wi-Fi Availability
Though most available Wi-Fi aren’t free, Koh Lanta has an average Wi-Fi speed of 16 Mbps.
Additionally, more co-working spaces are becoming available in Koh Lanta and their packages are suitable for any digital nomad’s budget.
Food and Entertainment
If you prefer local Thai dishes (which are cheap and delicious) to foreign foods, you will eat well and save costs in Koh Lanta. For under $2, you can eat food sold on the street or at an inexpensive restaurant.
However, coffee and beer cost roughly the same amount ($2), making them relatively expensive compared with feeding costs.
Apart from many nightlife and side attractions, Koh Lanta has several natural beauty spots, scenic roads, and sandy beaches for your entertainment at almost zero costs.
Taxes
If you stay in Koh Lanta for more than six months, you’re liable to pay taxes.
2. Prague, Czech Republic
Prague’s excellent international links, culture, and transport have made it a top attractive destination for digital nomads who desire the right culture and walkability.
European nomads won’t need a visa to stay here since it’s part of the Schengen area of the European Union.
Prague is known to take female safety very seriously. Assault and violent crimes are also extremely low, though there are quite a few ATM scams and pickpockets.
Living Quality
Hotels, hostels, and Airbnb are the most common accommodation types.
At an average cost of $2,500 per month, hotel rooms in Prague are somewhat expensive, but if you don’t mind sharing your space, you will find cheap dormitory-style rooms (hostels) for less than $1,000.
Additionally, one important housing tip is to visit Prague during the off-peak tourist season, and you’ll find an excellent Airbnb to rent for about $1,000. At other times, the same place can go for about $1,700.
Transportation
Prague’s trams, buses, and metro trains are available all over the city.
For $1.10, you will get a single ticket for public transport, which is quite reasonable. However, if you decide to board a cab, you can spend as much as $12 for a five-mile journey.
Traffic, especially in the city center, can be dreadful, so it is better to get around using public transport.
Wi-Fi Availability
There are excellent Wi-Fi services available at cafes, co-working sites, and river banks scattered all over the city.
Food and Entertainment
A good, low-cost restaurant meal will cost you almost $6.30, about $1.65 for a local beer, and $2.25 for a morning cappuccino.
You should also stick with free classical concerts and local-walking tours to avoid spending a lot visiting regular nightclubs and big-name concerts.
Taxes
You won’t pay taxes for the first 183 days of your stay in Prague, and you’ll also have to know how to count your “days present.”
3. Medellin, Columbia
One crucial reason Medellin is becoming the choice of digital nomads is that it has a similar time zone with Chicago making it easy for most entrepreneurs and startups to easily set up business meetings across North America.
Living Quality
You will find some exquisite Airbnb private rooms for less than $400 per month or full apartments for about $800 per month.
Medellin still has few crime issues even though there has been a significant improvement in safety from the dark days of the 90s.
Petty thefts are common, and it is in your best interest not to resist a robbery as a tourist.
Transportation
Absorb the scenery of this beautiful city by moving around the neighborhood on foot. However, there is a metro network available for long distances.
While taxi prices are low (you can cross the city for less than $10), they can be scarce; you can save time by ordering an Uber, which would cost more.
There are direct flights that link Medellin with South America and the United States.
Wi-Fi Availability
With lots of free Wi-Fi coverage and an average internet speed of 22 Mbps, internet availability across Medellin is excellent.
Also, several co-working spaces are available, with entrepreneurs, startup founders, and practically every location independent job worker occupying most of them.
Compare their monthly passes and choose the one that suits you.
Food and Entertainment
Cheap meals in Medellin cost around $3.30 but they aren’t the most appetizing. Good food, cappuccino, nicely brewed beer, and every other food and drink is quite expensive.
So, your best option for good food here is to rent apartments with good cooking facilities.
Also, with several clubs and bars, Medellin has an exciting nightlife. If you love hiking and nature, beauty spots such as the Laguna de Guatape are your best tourist attractions.
Taxes
If you work remotely with clients outside Medellin or any part of Columbia, you won’t be paying income taxes in Columbia for the first 183 days of your stay.
4. Tbilisi, Georgia
Tbilisi, located between the black sea and Caucasus mountains, offers good food, friendly locals, and dramatic scenery, making it an ideal place for a nomadic lifestyle.
Living Quality
Your cost of living comparison might be limited to private rentals, hotels, and Airbnb rooms because they are the most common accommodation options.
Depending on the time of the year and available amenities, you can rent an apartment for around $600-$1,000 per month.
There are also hostels with shared dormitories, which you can rent for as low as $300 per month.
Tbilisi and most parts of Georgia have low crime rates and are considered a safe place.
Transportation
Tbilisi’s public transportation system is excellent; there are buses and an underground metro that connects essential areas. You can get a monthly pass for a little above $12 or pay per trip, which costs just $0.20.
If you want to connect between Tbilisi, the rest of Georgia, and central Asia, you can also use the central railway.
Wi-Fi Availability
The city’s co-working hubs are the best places to get good internet speeds and free Wi-Fi.
Most of these hubs are remote worker-friendly, have good coffee, and, more importantly, good internet speeds.
Food and Entertainment
There are lots of healthy eateries scattered around Tbilisi. A full meal costs about $6 while local beer and coffee costs around $1.25 and $1.60, respectively.
You also get to enjoy various sports and entertaining activities such as extreme hiking at fair prices.
Taxes
You’re liable to pay a tax of 1% on turnover for any income you earn while staying in Tbilisi or in any part of Georgia.
5. Belgrade, Serbia
Belgrade makes this list of best cities because of the friendliness and the welcoming nature of its locals. Generally, everyone is laid-back towards foreigners.
Living Quality
At less than $700, Belgrade’s Airbnb apartments are among the cheapest available accommodation options.
Expect to pay $50 per night for a low-cost hotel and a little under $400 per month for a private one-bedroom rental in central Belgrade.
If you would be staying for a while in Belgrade, this private rental represents the best value for your money.
Violent crime is also low, but tourists can experience petty thieving and pickpocketing.
Transportation
Belgrade’s public transport network can be confusing for a newbie, but when you get the hang of it, it’s excellent.
One crucial travel tip is to get a monthly pass (which costs about $30 and is more economical), which you’ll use for all your travel purposes across the city.
Additionally, you would spend less on transport if you can find accommodation in central Belgrade because Belgrade is quite walkable.
There are also various transport links between Belgrade and major capital cities across Europe.
Wi-Fi Availability
Though Belgrade has several co-working spaces and coffee shops, they all have fantastic coffee and high-speed Wi-Fi connections.
Get a monthly pass to any of these co-working hubs for about $150.
Food and Entertainment
Despite being a major European city, Belgrade’s food and entertainment are affordable. A full local meal in Belgrade costs almost $6.
There are also many exciting nightspots in Belgrade, and the tourist attractions in the city are enchanting. You’ll also find a friendly digital nomad community in almost every corner in Belgrade.
Taxes
Digital nomads will pay zero tax rates for income earned while living and working in Belgrade for 90 days.
Digital Nomad FAQ
People who settle all their business dealings online, moving from one location to the other, rather than do traditional jobs to live a sustainable life are called Digital Nomads.
Digital nomads work remotely – from home, public libraries, coffee shops, and even recreational vehicles to accomplish any task that could be ordinarily done in a stationary workplace.
Being a digital nomad is a lifestyle. With your laptop, smartphones, and the internet, you can easily fulfill location independent jobs and enjoy a flexible employment system.
Some digital nomads may prefer to stay longer in a certain location before moving onto the next one, while some just move onto the next location quicker.
However, it is important to note that as much as a digital nomad is constantly moving to different locations, they are not on a vacation.
They are literally working everywhere they go but not just working in a fixed location.
As a digital nomad, you can earn as much as you would or even more if you have a traditional 9 -5 job. However, the type of online business you engage in will determine exactly how much you earn.
Notwithstanding, as digital nomads are mainly remote workers, they earn quite a lot for themselves.
The average annual income for remote workers is $4,000 higher than that of a non-telecommuter, with about 18% making over $100,000 yearly and 22% making between $50,000 and $99,000 yearly.
Additionally, your location will determine the worth of your earnings. For example, if you do not make a lot of money from your online business but live in eastern Europe, you’ll be able to live a comfortable nomadic lifestyle than if you lived in North America.
Nevertheless, there is a lot to be made as a digital nomad.
Over the years, digital nomads have been tagged “tax dodgers.” However, this is untrue.
In most instances, your tax as a digital nomad will depend on the following factors.
How Much You Earn: The amount you earn as a digital nomad will determine how much you’ll pay in taxes. Basically, your amount in taxes will increase as the amount you earn increases.
How Often You Travel: Most countries invoke the “183 day rule” if you spend more than 183 days in a single tax year in their country. The 183-day rule essentially regulates tax payments for immigrants in a country. So, once you stay in that country beyond 183 days, you become a tax resident there.
Where You Are From: If you are a US or Eritrean citizen, you automatically become a tax resident.
Primary Residence: Some countries, e.g., Portugal, will claim you as a tax resident if your primary residence is registered there. However, countries like the UK will implement a “Statutory Residence Test” to see how best you know the country and determine if you’ll become a tax resident based on your results.
Technically, you need a work visa to perform any work-related duty in almost every country.
However, a digital nomad cannot apply for a traditional work visa because they would need a contract with a local organization or an invitation letter.
They also cannot stay longer than their tourist visa permits even if they wanted to.
So, this is where a digital nomad visa comes in. A digital nomad visa is a travel permit that legalizes the status of professional remote workers.
Unlike the tourist visa that prevents you from working, the digital nomad visa permits a longer stay and allows you to work while in the country as long as you work remotely.
Ready to Become a Digital Nomad and Making Money While Travelling the World?
Becoming a digital nomad is an authentic opportunity to get the most value of your time.
You work in your own time with no boss or a long commute to the office. You’ll also be free from constant office politics.
However, just as with any other life-changing opportunities, taking the digital nomad route requires hard work and precision.
Luckily, in this article, you have learned 10 best ways to make money as a digital nomad and useful tips to help you become a highly productive digital nomad.
You’ve also seen the best cities to live as a digital nomad and the cost of living in each of those locations.
All you need to do now is find your bearing, turn your different locations into your home, and enjoy every moment.
Truthfully, grasping the hitches of the nomadic lifestyle may take a significant time, but the result is definitely worth it.
So, take your first step towards becoming a digital nomad by choosing one of the best ways to make money as a digital nomad.