Most of the travel bloggers you’ll come across are able to travel full-time because they’re making money from blogging or their Instagram account. This seems like a pretty sizable roadblock to doing it yourself when you don’t have a successful blog at your disposal.
“How do I do what they’re doing without making money from a blog? What if I’m not in a creative field? How can I travel and make money at the same time?”
These are some of the questions I asked myself when I was thinking about the logistics of becoming a digital nomad. If you’re considering the same lifestyle, they may look familiar!
The answer, at least for me, was finding a full-time remote job in a technical field.
If the internet is to be believed, the realm of remote work seems to belong solely to freelancers and creative types.
This just isn’t the case.
I’ve been in tech for the last 10 years. When I first started this blog, I was working remotely for the first time. I did that job for a few years and took advantage of its flexibility by moving across state lines and traveling internationally. (As long as I hit my deadlines, my boss didn’t care when or where I worked.)
After a while, I got burnt out on constant nomadism and planted my feet for two years in one place (Austin, Texas) to gain some stability and save some money. That didn’t last long, though – my feet got itchy again, so now I’m working from the road on a 40-hour-a-week basis with a different company.
These jobs aren’t unique. There are plenty of full-time roles in non-creative fields that can be performed entirely remotely if you know where to look.
If traveling while working a salaried position (and pulling in that consistent moo-lah) sounds like something you might be interested in, there are job boards and websites like FlexJobs and WeWorkRemotely dedicated to people looking for full-time remote work. Some of the more commonly searched job sites like Indeed, LinkedIn, and others will also have remote work listed on them occasionally.
There are whole companies that are run completely remotely, with the employees only getting together once or twice a year. You could work at one of them!
If you begin to search specifically for this type of employment, it’s more than likely you’ll be able to find something suited to your skill set, even if you’re not a creative.
And remember: You don’t have to be technical to work in tech. I’m not a developer and I don’t know how to code. (Looking at it gives me a headache, frankly.) There are software tester positions, project management positions, admin positions, marketing positions, and more that have nothing to do with the development side of things.
I’m happy to answer any questions about how I got my job, how I balance my time between enjoying my travels and getting my work done, and any other related questions in the comments!
Do you work remotely while traveling? How do you balance your work and your life? Tell me about it in the comments!
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