Extract from Untethered: Living the digital nomad life in an uncertain world by Nathan James Thomas.
Here’s one fundamental thing the speaker at the ‘digital nomad’ conference I went to many years ago did not explain: in order to make money, on the road or elsewhere, you generally need to be able to do something that others can’t or won’t do. There are exceptions and alternatives — and we’ll explore some within these pages — but for the most part, digital nomads provide a service online. That is, they do something on their computer that helps people.
It’s a basic law of economics that the rarer or more specialised your skill (i.e. the fewer people who can do what you do), and the more people who want your skill, the more you can charge. This is why English teachers can command high sums overseas where their native language has suddenly become a relatively rare and sought-after commodity, whereas at home it was probably not something they even thought about.
The number one way that digital nomads exchange their skills for money is as freelancers. That is, they serve a number of clients with their specific, developed skills. Other popular nomad pathways include entrepreneurship and remote work.
Starting with freelancers, let us establish a few handy principles that will be of use to you no matter which path you end up taking. Freelancers, in the digital nomad world at least, tend to come in fives.
The five broad types of digital freelancer
Most freelance digital nomads I’ve encountered fall into one of five categories, which we will explore in depth just below. Most people will immediately know which of these categories best suits their interests or talents, and all are broad enough to provide plenty of opportunity for specialisation (i.e. for you to bring your unique skills to bear on the broader subject matter).
The rest of this will be most relevant for people who have not yet begun their digital nomad journey and/or may not yet have a career or income source. Or, if you do have one already, it’s not something you want to take with you on the road (however, more and more fields now have potential for remote earning, from teaching to medicine, see below.)
The five most common ways freelancers make money on the road
Let’s look at the five broad categories of work which are in high demand and provide opportunities both for freelance work and remote employment. These are all ways that you can offer value — and I mean economic value that is sought-after — completely independent of location.
I have selected these five based on extensive interviews with many digital nomads, and also in consideration that people have different skills and attributes. We aren’t all artists or designers or creatives or writers. Some of us are better at wrangling schedules or coding software. None of these requires particular qualifications — all can, to some extent, be self-taught — but they are all skilled roles that require some experience and training, and yes even a little bit of talent to pull them off. As I have written elsewhere, being a digital nomad can put your worklife on hard mode. You are going to need to be able to overdeliver value in a specific way. And it’s unlikely that you’re some kind of super-generalist genius who can do exceptionally well at everything. If you’re like most of us mere mortals, you’re going to have to specialise at least a little bit. These five categories will help you choose where to get started and establish yourself. Chances are, you already will have a sense of where you are best placed due to your work history or academic/ school life so far.
1. Communicators
This is my space: the copywriter or the graphic designer. People attracted to this line of work tend to have a talent or passion for writing, designing, editing or speaking, but they may not know how to monetise these talents. Often, they think it isn’t possible to do so. After all, because these are skills many people are passionate about, there are many people willing to do them. To stand out, you need an edge. The best way to develop an edge as a communicator is to specialise. As with all skills, the more specialised you can be, the easier it will be to find clients and the more you will be able to charge. This means you will likely need to enhance your core talent of writing or designing with an extra layer of commercial know-how that will form the bridge between the skill you have and what clients and hiring managers are actively looking for. In short, you need to find the best way (that you are comfortable with) to use your talents to make money for someone else, and therefore make money for yourself.
As a copywriter, I have enhanced my marketability by understanding Search Engine Optimisation, the techniques and technicalities of email marketing, lead nurturing, marketing psychology, and much more. Therefore, I can bill myself out as a marketing copywriter, rather than simply a ‘writer’. Being a marketing copywriter is quite different from simply being a writer, in the same way that being a generic ‘designer’ (i.e. a person with Photoshop skills), is quite different from being a trained website designer or, better yet, a specialist ecommerce website designer.
2. Programmers
Programmers have always been in high demand, and that is not looking likely to change any time soon. Many of the most well-paid digital nomads I have met, from Europe to Asia, have been programmers, typically remote workers specialised in one key language, working a few days a week in exchange for enough for a comfortable lifestyle in whatever country or time zone they choose.
Familiarise yourself with the programming languages currently in demand, and you’re unlikely to ever suffer much from a lack of work. In the research I undertook to see how the market looks for remote programmers right now (the turn of 2021/2022) nearly all results I found were aimed at businesses hiring programmers. In fact, chances are, if you’re a programmer, you’re not reading this book. You’re either in an office somewhere in Seattle making six figures, or you’re on a beach somewhere in the Caribbean (also making six figures!).
3. Organisers
This one is not where many people’s minds naturally go to, but it is an increasingly important way to help companies and make a living remotely. In fact, in many of the companies I’ve come across, it’s one of the most important roles.
Organisers are typically adept in helping remote companies keep their teams on schedule. They will be familiar with project management tools such as Trello and Jira. Their LinkedIn bio will likely say something like Project Manager or, better yet, ‘Project Manager for Remote Companies’. Immediately, you have turned the fact that you are travelling the world into an asset, not a liability. If you have some corporate experience, even better. Companies are hurting for this role and this skillset. If you can make someone’s life easier, or someone’s business more efficient, then you are a valuable asset. Learn the lingo of project management and read as many articles as you can on organisational efficiency to get a sense of the contemporary buzzwords, then modify your pitch (more on that later) to the right kind of clients.
4. Customer support or social media management
Customer support and social media management fall somewhere between the communication category and the organiser category, and both can be either awful or brilliant depending on who you work for. Large companies often outsource these roles to agencies who are increasingly tolerant of remote workers; however, the roles are not considered specialised so the pay is poor and hours are often rigid. Working for startups, on the other hand, where every customer interaction is considered precious, can put you right at the core of the organisation and can be rewarding.
If you are looking in this field, search for startups and emphasise the advantage your time zone gives you. For example, if you’re from Canada but live in Thailand, then think about Canadian start-ups that serve the Asian market and could benefit from a native English speaker already in the target time zone.
5. Teaching
While teaching English in the flesh is probably the most established and least original way for people from native English-speaking countries to make a decent enough living in exotic countries, I am increasingly encountering remote teachers on my travels. Several platforms such as VIPKID, Magic Ears, Qkids Teacher and SayABC connect Western teachers to students in places like China, pay reasonably well per hour, and have absolutely no shortage of demand. This work is exhausting and the prospects for career advancement are fairly limited, not to mention the rigid hours and often inconvenient schedules, but this can be a pretty sure way to make your first dollars while getting established on the road.
And you needn’t limit yourself to English. A host of languages are in demand on platforms such as Amazing Tutor, and other specialised skills, such as coding, marketing, design and more, are also sought after.
If you have specialised knowledge in any field, there will be people out there who want to learn it. Google ‘Tutor [plus whatever your subject matter is]’ and find out what the competition is like. Choose platforms that seem active, and put time and care into setting up your profile. Once you have a few repeat students, you may well have an income that will be enough to propel you out of the door and into the nearest airport.
No craft, no matter how polished, will earn you a cent unless you have a client willing to pay you for it. Whether you want a host of clients that you do small amounts of work for, or one main client who is your de facto employer, the techniques of getting hired are similar.
An edited extract from Untethered: Living the digital nomad life in an uncertain world by Nathan James Thomas, published by Exisle Publishing, RRP:$34.99.
You can buy books from https://exislepublishing.com/product/untethered/
