Do you yearn for a life of travel and adventure, but your 9-5 office job doesn’t give you the flexibility to work from a new place each month? If so, read on for the tools to ditch your normal routine and live life on the road. All it takes is a little planning for you to land a couple of digital nomad writer jobs so you can be on your way to a new lifestyle of travel and adventure!
What Is A Digital Nomad?
A digital nomad is someone who forgoes living day-to-day in a permanent residence and instead travels and works from place to place, making their money entirely online. Unlike most remote workers, a digital nomad travels regularly, rarely working in the same place or routine for long.
While there are many different ways to make money online to sustain your life of travel, becoming a digital nomad writer is a popular route many choose to take because of the flexibility and availability of these types of jobs.
Digital nomads can work anywhere that has a good internet connection, such as coffee shops, coworking spaces, hotels, or even on the go from their own hotspots. They live in a location for as long as it suits them, from a few days to a few months.
As online work becomes more and more accessible, many people are choosing to live as a digital nomads, thus leaving behind the predictability of in-person jobs and permanent addresses.
So how do you become a digital nomad writer? And in addition to digital nomad writer jobs, what other jobs are available for a digital nomad?
1. Plan Out Your Digital Nomad Goals
Take a moment to envision what you would want your life to look like if you were traveling 100% of the time.
What types of destinations do you plan on traveling to and how do you plan to get around? Do you crave a more rustic experience, perhaps roaming the country in a van while experiencing life off the beaten path? Or do you envision yourself moving through more well-known tourist areas, finding time to write between exploring famous sites?
For a great digital nomad perspective of a writer currently living the #vanlife – check out Lifestyle Tips: A Mobile Writer’s Productivity Hacks
Depending on your travel vision, you could either travel on the cheap and work a little or have more extravagant goals and need more work to make it happen. Know what you hope to do now so you can make an attainable financial plan for it.
Once you determine your lifestyle goals, plan out your path and budget for your first 6 months – where you hope to go, what you want to do, and what you will need to make it happen. Once you have the game plan, it will be time to start lining up work.
2. Line Up the Right Digital Nomad Writer Jobs for You
Once you have determined the type of traveler you will be, decide what type of remote worker you intend to be.
For example, are you someone that enjoys keeping to a daily routine, with adventures sprinkled in between a steady working schedule? Or are you interested in a work-when-you-can lifestyle that puts an emphasis on adventure, with worktimes at night and on the fly?
When most people take vacations, it is an excuse to take a break from work for a week or so. As a digital nomad writer, your entire life is a vacation, so unless you have extensive savings you are ready to live on, you will have to work wherever you go.
The good news though, there are a lot of different ways you can make money online from writing. Before you make the jump to becoming a digital nomad full-time, spend time searching for writing contracts that will bring you consistent income. Get a couple of consistent contracts started and established before you embark on your adventures.
Here are a few great resources to get started setting up those digital nomad writer jobs:
- List of Digital Nomad Writing Jobs: Start here to find remote digital nomad writing jobs posted by companies looking for remote jobs that are either full-time, part-time, or contract-based.
- Get Paid to Write: 23 Sites That Pay Freelancers $100+: Diversify your monthly contracts by submitting articles as supplementary income. Start here for some great ideas of where to start.
- Travel Writing Jobs: 18 Magazines and Blogs that Pay Writers: Capitalize on your travel lifestyle! This is the perfect time to either start your own travel blog or write for other established travel publications (and get paid to do it).
- Where to Submit Short Stories: 30 Magazines and Online Publications: Are you interested in exercising the more creative side of your brain? Line up some income by submitting short stories and poems to these publications!
Remember to be realistic with what type of work you accept. Make sure the type of work you take on fits with how much you intend to travel and what your availability will be.
For instance, if you intend to sightsee most days, don’t accept a full-time writing position that will require you to be working when you intend to be exploring – you should instead look for a more flexible option (either a part-time or independent contract position) that lets you set your own hours instead.
3. More Great Jobs For Digital Nomads
If you find out writing on the road isn’t your thing, there are plenty of other great jobs for people living as digital nomads.
You may choose one of these other popular ways to make money as a digital nomad such as:
- Teaching English online
- Virtual Assistant
- Monetised personal blog, Youtube channel, Instagram, Etc
- Software Developer / Web Developer
- Graphic Designer (or book cover designer!)
- Customer Service Support
Ideally, you should try to steer away from work that will require more from you than a computer and an internet connection. If you need too many additional materials for a source of income it will be hard to sustain that on your travels. Remember your goal should be to travel quickly and travel light, which means work that is completed primarily online will be your best option.
Just like with writing, make sure the work you accept fits with your digital nomad goals. For instance, you may choose not to take on a job that requires set hours from you, like the hours required from an online English Teacher. On the other hand, you may have easy and consistent access to an internet workspace and online English teaching would be perfect for you!
4. Be Prepared to Work Digitally
In order to work remotely, you will have to commit to making it work. That means building work time into your schedule, having the right tools in place, and enlisting the support of whoever you are traveling with.
Make sure you have these remote work essentials:
- Laptop with charging cord
- Noise-canceling headphones
- Portable/packable desk
- Designated work bag
- Access to wifi – either from a personal hotspot or from a workspace such as a coffee shop, hotel, shared workspace, or another creative idea.
5. Just Do It!
Becoming a digital nomad writer requires you to get out of your comfort zone and make choices that are contrary to popular culture to truly make it happen. It is an adventure to nomad lifestyle, moving from place to place for an extended period of time.
Not everyone will support you in your decision, and that’s fine. They’ll be jealous when you take pictures and post about all the cool places you’ve been visiting!
Once you’re sold on truly becoming a digital nomad, you will not only need to spend time planning and lining up your digital nomad writer jobs, but ultimately you will need to commit to making the plunge and go for it.
