How I Make Money While I Travel
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Welcome to the 24th edition of “How to Make Money While You Travel” which features successful nomadic teams and interviews with travel entrepreneurs.
For the final edition of 2016, I have answered the same questions from my nomad interview series! For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Dave Weatherall. I am the creator of That Travel Blog.
I am a blogger, social media influencer and online entrepreneur. My mission is to create unique and insightful content that caters to an audience of young, ambitious travelling entrepreneurs and those who aspire to be one.
Here are the main ways I make money while travelling:
- Selling digital products, like my e-guides
- Freelancing for companies as I go
- Affiliate marketing through my blog
- Sponsored posts on Instagram
- Writing for online magazines
- The blog itself, through ads and content
Below, I answer the same nine questions I put to every nomad in my interview series.
Q1: So, how do you make money while you travel?
I can travel indefinitely because I work on-the-go. I founded a team of digital marketing nomads whilst working from and travelling to 19 countries around the world. I have written and sold e-guides. I freelance for companies on-the-go. I interview travel bloggers, successful nomadic teams, and a total of 24 entrepreneurs last year. I get sponsored on Instagram. I also write for a small collection of online magazines, and I keep a checked list of the publications that pay for travel writing if you want to do the same.
The blog itself is a big part of the picture, and I have written a full walkthrough on how to make money blogging if you want the step-by-step version. A lot of that income is passive, so it is worth learning how affiliate marketing works for bloggers early on. You will find plenty more ideas across the make money blogging hub.
Q2: What were you doing before That Travel Blog?
I left school without A-Levels or a University degree and started working in a Marketing Agency in London when I was just 17 years old. I worked hard, I built a freelance portfolio over the weekends and by the time I was 20, I had founded and was growing my own nomadic digital marketing team from the beaches of Portugal.
School wasn’t for me. It’s not that I didn’t like learning, I wasn’t learning enough and I knew that whatever qualification I came out with in the end, wouldn’t make me stand out from the millions of others just like me. And anyway, who needs formal qualifications when you want to be your own boss?
Q3: What are your reasons for becoming location independent?
In April 2014, I quit my 9-to-5 desk job to travel indefinitely. Like many nomads who work remotely, I was once sold the empty promise of “good career progression and development opportunities” by the corporate world. Investing the next 40 years into somebody else’s business did not appeal to me. I wanted to travel, so I worked on freelance and journalistic projects in my spare time while learning how to monetise my travel blog. After a few years, I was able to redesign my lifestyle and quit my job!
Q4: What challenges do you face in your career while you work and travel?
Contrary to what I let my Instagram followers believe, “living the dream” is hard work. Here are two of my biggest challenges:
1. Feeling homesick. I have been travelling on and off for almost 3 years. The reality is that I often miss my family and the friends I grew up with, and it has been difficult not meeting up with my two elder brothers on a regular basis. I also occasionally fear being disconnected from social circles back home when I miss important moments and events. I understand this is natural, and I counteract these feelings with the happiness I feel when meeting new people and hearing their unique stories. While I am young, I want to soak up as much “new” as possible. Luckily, I can always decide to travel home for a bit!
2. WWW (Workspaces With Wi-Fi). When you are not tied to an office with set hours, it is very easy to waste time searching for the perfect work spot: power sockets, a chilled environment, non-pushy staff, and reasonably priced food and drinks. I avoid spending too much time walking around by paying a little extra for a nicer hotel or an Airbnb apartment with super-fast Wi-Fi and a space to work. That way, I can cross out most of my urgent to-dos while I am at home and save money on endless coffee and eating out. Having a workspace to rely on is essential!
Q5: What is the biggest lesson you have learnt from becoming location independent?
Don’t get too down on yourself if things don’t go to plan! I learnt this recently while travelling to and working from 6 countries in just 6 weeks. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t make a mistake when exploring an unknown city or launching a new project. There is always something I could have done that would have been a better use of my money or, more importantly, my time. We are all learning and it is perfectly OK to ask for help. This is what life is about: learning from your mistakes and enjoying the journey, not just the destination.
Q6: How do you find work while you travel?
Social media and blogging have been extremely useful, but it was not until recently that I really saw my hard work pay off. I almost gave up on my blog 6 months ago after over 2 years with barely any readers! Now my inbox is always full of interesting entrepreneurs, nomads and brands who want to collaborate. To get through the hard times, engage with online communities and always develop your personal brand. Don’t give up, and remember that there is a Facebook group for everything: meet-ups, events and even job opportunities are posted in them every day.
A couple of my favourites are Digital Nomads Around the World and Webworktravel. You are also welcome to join my own group, Travel Bloggers & Online Entrepreneurs.
The two main ways I monetise my blog are influencer marketing (getting sponsored by brands to put them in front of your audience) and affiliate marketing, the process of earning commission by promoting other people’s products.
Q7: What’s a typical day for you? Do you have a set schedule?
I would love to tell you that I wake up at 7 AM, go to the gym and eat the perfect breakfast. My Facebook friends would probably tell you my life is all about beaches, airports and exotic landscapes. The truth is, most of the time I’m either staring at a screen or searching for a Wi-Fi cafe. But when I do take a break, I’m often a short walk from something really cool and unique.
My schedule is usually dictated by whichever time-zone I am in. For example, I have spent the last 4 months in Asia. My clients in the UK start working at 9 AM, when it is already 4 PM here! And I always share things from my blog late in the evening, because most of my readers are in the United States. I love it because I get a whole day to do and prepare whatever I want, stress-free, before I have to think about work.
It is however easy to overwork. Some days I get too obsessed and I can honestly work 14 hours straight, almost 7 days a week. For this reason, I try to make sure I have some kind of escapade booked every weekend, while remembering to take breaks when I’m working. This all helps me keep my creative juices flowing during the week.
Q8: What would your advice be to someone who wants to quit their desk job to become location independent?
I urge you not to spend the next 40 years investing your life into somebody else’s business in the hope of a secure future. In the better words of Jim Carrey whilst commenting on the life choices of his late father:
“You can fail at what you don’t want. So you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.”
It’s better than looking back on what could have been. Try to think of the worst-case scenario. Is it really that bad? Probably not!
Q9: What is your favourite travel quote?
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.”
Mark Twain Tweet
More real examples from nomads on the road
Everyone funds travel differently. Here is how other people in my interview series actually do it:
