Have you ever wanted to be travelling all the time and still have the money to support that lifestyle? Or have you wanted to end that distance part of the long-distance relationship (without breaking up)? Becoming a digital nomad or remote work could be the solution for you. In this article you’ll find the best stay at home or travelling jobs.
Not just the lucky few
Many people believe this is reserved for either lucky or highly skilled people, however this is not necessarily the case. There are various careers you could get into and still work on a remote location depending on your kills and preferences. The good thing is that location independent jobs are on the rise.
Salary vs Freelance Remote Work
We will provide a nice list of jobs that can be done remotely and where you can find them. Work from home jobs can be split up in two categories: freelance work & salaried work. Before we delve into any lists it’s important to discuss the pros and cons of each.
You can pretty much start to offer your freelance services at any time and place, you can take up as much or little work as you want and set your own prices. However, your income will usually be variable, especially initially when you are still building your customer base.
As a salaried employee under an employment contract or contracted labour jobs, you will get a stable income and typically also have higher work security, especially if you’re from a country with great (remote) worker’s rights. The downside however is that you cannot change your prices and have less flexibility over your working time. Another downside is that you might need to find and work for this company first and then negotiate working remotely.
Now you need to decide which home based job/work suits you best. Don’t worry we’ll go through them with you. Here’s a nice overview you can start with. After going through them, visa’s will also briefly be discussed.
Freelance jobs
Teaching online
Teaching online can be considered as a freelance job because there is flexibility about working hours from both sides, teaching company and yourself.
Depending on the demand of your native language (or in some cases second language) and your level of education, you could consider teaching your language online. If your native language is English (sometimes being fluent is sufficient too), teaching online should be easy to do.
You could also teach at several online schools: MagicEars, Palfish, Cambly (click for more info) and many more.
Besides teaching a language, you could also teach a skill such as marketing, trading, website design, etc. on websites such as Skillshare, Udemy and similar sites.
Blogger, social media influencer or affiliate marketeer
There are many bloggers or people on social media out there some do it just for fun while others make a full time living from it. The way to monetise your blog/social media account is by running ads (such as google ads) on them or getting into affiliate marketing programs such as getting a commission every time you refer someone to amazon. However, this will only generate money if your audience is big enough and visitors click on or view ads or click through your affiliate schemes.
Taking online surveys
Many countries in North America & Western Europe (probably beyond too) pay quite well for online surveys. I used to do surveys for an international company called Global Test Market and they paid quite well for the work I put into it. After the services started to become worse and the company closed down. However, there are still plenty of good websites around. Survey Junkie, Swag bucks, Opinionworld, etc. You can find a complete list here.
Translation
If you are proficient in a few languages, you can offer translation services. Although, for professional translations you might need a degree or certificate, depending on the country. These services can be offered online (through freelance work websites such as fiverr) and through your online or local network. You can also find work on job boards, companies have tried to contact me via job boards and offered me several cases for which they paid per word.
Design
If you are good at photography, Photoshop, drawing (technical or regular) or website design then going freelance might be an option for you. You could design logos, ads, websites and so much more for your clients. You just need to find your clients. Your customers could be many small businesses in various industries, or you could cooperate with design companies. For example, a website designer might want to cooperate with a logo creator.
Digital marketing (SEO & SEM services)
Similar and related to website design, digital marketing, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) or marketing (SEM) can be done from anywhere, however you do need to know the knowledge and the industry is quite competitive.
Local tour guide
Once you’ve been in a place for a while, travelled around and studied about the place’s history you could become a local tour guide. I’ve met people who show people around in their native tongue (English or any other language) in their new host country. I’ve also met people who take people from their home country and show them around in various countries.
Copywriting and writing
You could find work to write articles or manuals from job board sites (e.g. indeed.com) or freelance sites (fiverr.com). Some might require technical knowledge or SEO knowledge though. Through job board sites you get a sort of partnership with a firm and get several assignments for which you get paid per word. Through fiverr you can sign up for tasks and get paid for them. You could also write articles to share your wisdom on sites such as Medium.
If you don’t mind other people taking credit for your work you could also consider writing thesis’s for students. I once did this for a firm called academic knowledge. They pay very well.
Employment contracts
Programmer/coder/IT work
If you have an IT background you don’t necessarily be in an office to work for your employer, this work can be done remotely. Many IT professions are highly sought-after, and those professionals therefore have some negotiation power. I have personally met quite a few people who work remotely from their home or even from a country with 7hrs time difference (Taiwan). This can be especially beneficial if you move to a country with lower living expenses.
Accountant
I personally have worked as an accountant and then worked my way up to become a finance manager in a small firm. Because I had a significant amount of knowledge about the industry, company & finance of the business I had become invaluable and they therefore let me work from a country with 7hrs time difference, Taiwan. This is where I met people with different a similar story to mine. Accountancy firms also confirm this, they do accountancy work for businesses remotely.
Customer services representatives
What can be done in a call centre can also be done from home. As long as you are able to receive calls from clients, or chat with them online and achieve your KPI’s (Key performance indicators) you could do your work remotely. It’s important to check which companies allow this, however I have met a British guy who did this.
Administrator / data entry
Some job’s focus is on inputting, processing, analysing and reporting data. Some of these jobs can perfectly be done remotely. It’s just a matter of working in a company that allows remote work and your negotiation power and skills.
Visa & working permit
Working holiday visa
Check if your country and the country you want to live in have this agreement and you could potentially live there for 1-2 years. If you want to live there longer this will at least buy you time to learn the language, customs and build a network or resources.
Regularly leave the country
Some countries have visitor visa renewal every time you leave the country. For example: as a European living in Taiwan, I can leave the country for a weekend and my visa will be renewed for 3 months.
Setting up a business
some countries have a lot of or strict criteria when it comes to setting up a business and others are more welcoming foreign investors. Make sure you do your research. You could potentially sponsor your own visa through your business.
Getting your visa sponsored
Probably the most obvious option is to go to a country and find a company to sponsor your visa. This is ideal if you have studied in the country you want to live in and are looking for a job right after completing your studies. There are some countries such as the UK, Taiwan & Australia that allow you to work in the country for some time after completing your university degree, this will give you some time to get your visa sponsored.
Other visa options
– Similar to setting up your own business some countries have entrepreneurship visas.
– Some countries have a sort of gold visa. If you can prove you have had a very high income in the past some countries can offer you a “gold visa” because they think you are skilled labour or have high wealth.
Some countries allow you to buy visas/citizenship. Cyprus or Malta are known to have loopholes and you can pretty much buy citizenship and live anywhere inside the European Union.
