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12 jobs you can take on the road written by our favorite world nomad and travel guru, Luke Armstrong.
First seen on sevencorners.com - to read more blogs by Luke, because they happen to be very popular on our blog, click here! ... You won't be disappointed.
I think it's a common question to ask while vacationing somewhere wonderful, "Wouldn't it be great if life was like this all the time?” Well guess what? If you are really serious about that question, life can be lived on a perpetual vacation by freelancing or landing a location independent career. I know this because for the last four years I've been doing just that! (And getting mauled by a raccoon! [Yes, my Seven Corners Travel Health Insurance covered my rabies vaccination])
For Some Freelancers, Traveling is Cheaper Than Staying Put
A few years ago, someone asked me the question, "How do you afford to travel so much?" I think from all the pictures he saw me post that year from all over the world, he assumed that was some sort of a trust fund baby—that year I’d traveled to or lived in Guatemala, Iceland, Kenya, New York, Uganda, Spain, France, and Holland.
My answer was pretty simple, "I can't afford not to travel this much!” My friend asking the question had a mortgage, two car payments, a monthly Internet bill, utilities to pay, and all the other miscellaneous expenses that come with having your life in a fixed place. I was probably living off little more than his two car payments ( I was earning at the time between 800-$1,000 freelancing a month). My time in The Third World living off a few hundred dollars a month allowed me to save up enough to live in The First World the rest of the year.
Location Independent Professionals Can Work and Travel Anywhere
Location independent professionals encompass a wide cross section of people doing a lot of different jobs. What most have in common is an innate need for the freedom of determining their own hours of operation in the settings of their choice. For the many location independent professionals, money is seen as a necessary means for living/eating/etc., but it is not an end in itself. They would rather order another sangria and watch the sunset than return home at an alarm clock-governed morning. Location Independent Professionals are paid for what they produce, instead of a salary based on a fixed arrangement of hours during which they are to be productive.
In this article are twelve specific careers/jobs that travel wherever the person who works them happens to be. Though some people make their living off a single career listed below, others generate their income from a combination of location independent jobs. In today's global and mobile economy, more and more people are opting for a location independent career to support the intrepid lifestyle their wanderlust demands.
If you can dream it, you can do it! The doors to the world are open. If your day-in day-out feels like an internment camp, it might be worthwhile to look at what others are doing to set themselves free. Remember, it never hurts to look (except at the sun!).
1. Work from Anywhere by Being an Author
This isn't the easiest gig to land, but if you can hack it, you can kiss the 8-5 lifestyle adios! Authoring books belongs to a list of “classic location independent careers.” My favorite novelist Tom Robbins always wrote from his home (presumably in his underwear) and then adventured off to somewhere exotic after each novel was written. Writing books as a location independent career existed before the advent of computers and the bucket load of location independent careers that came with it.
You can write a book from anywhere. And in today's world you can publish with a traditional publisher, or publish yourself from anywhere (see bullet point #12). Best of all; the profits of books are reaped (assuming it’s a good product with solid marketing) after the work is done, freeing you up for an adventure!
2. Work from Anywhere by Being a Camera Man/Woman /Film Maker/Cinematographer
After the 2008 economic downturn, many media companies found ways to be more cost efficient. Even large companies, like ABC News, moved to hiring freelance camera crews rather than paying expensive salaries and benefits to in-house people. They fly their freelance camera crews from where they are to where they need them. In 2008, I met Canadian Garry Tutte in Nicaragua. At the time he was just transitioning from being an in-house film maker/editor to a freelance one. He is now 100% freelance, travels as much as Indian Jones, and bases with his Peruvian wife in Lima.
3. Work from Anywhere by Being a Graphic Designer
No list of location independent careers is complete without mentioning graphic designers. After all, what graphic designer working in his/her field isn’t freelance these days? In 2012, the Bureau of Labor reported that a quarter of all graphic designers were freelance. With median pay of 44k, that kind of career could offer quite a lifestyle on a beach in Belize, where you can rent a two bedroom town house from $200-400 a month.
4. Work from Anywhere by Being a Computer Programmer
According to Code My Own Road, $100/hr would be considered a cheap wage for a freelance computer programmer. If you have an aptitude for math, you can earn what a math teacher earns annually in two months if applied to computer programming.
5. Work from Anywhere by Being a Translators/interpreters
People who love the sonorous nuances of languages have a persistent hankering to travel to countries where foreign languages can be learned from native speakers. Fortunately for them, they can have a lifestyle that allows for travel if they work as a freelance translator.
The more obscure the language, the greater the hourly rate a translator’s services fetch. CNN called translating the “hottest job skill” to have these days. According to their research, interpreters can earn between $300-$1,000 a day. Translators aren’t far behind. For every 3,000 words translated, they can expect to earn $390.
6. Work from Anywhere by Being a Web Developer
This is a broad banner behind which quite a few of the following niche location independent professions pertain. Here are four basic categories in this area: Website designers, IT project Managers/IT consultants/Anyone with “IT” in front of their title, Social media creators/managers, Online marketers/Affiliate marketers.
7. Work from Anywhere by Being a Blogger
If you know a special trade or skill, such as welding, home repair, dog training, organic gardening, pot cultivation, moose tracking, traveling, baby juggling—and the list goes on—you can share that know-how with people and become a maven of that field. It's hard work to build a business from a financially successful blog, but there is a formula to follow, and plenty of people make their livings from their blog.
8. Work from Anywhere by Being a Freelance Writer
On any given day, have you ever taken stock of how much writing pervades your life? Even if you read not a single word a year, you are surrounded by writing. Every time you watch TV you are viewing a creation derived from something written. Ditto the music you listen to. From labels, to advertisements, to all those user manuals you never read, writing is everywhere. Every company needs copy and many are willing to pay for someone able to deliver it. There are sites like Upwork, where freelance writers bid for thousands of writing projects.
Even something like writing the fortunes for fortune cookies (a job I've always coveted), someone, somewhere is doing that and must be getting paid!
9. Work from Anywhere by being a Copywriter
According to Linda Formichelli, grammar Nazis make terrible writers. Well, even if that is true, at the entry level, they are higher earners than writers. Upwork lists tons of jobs and projects seeking grammar Nazis.
10. Work from Anywhere by been an Online Salesperson
Are you good at getting people to do what you want? Are you persistent and hellbent? If so, online sales might be the location independent job for you. There’s a variety of types of these jobs and Linkedin never seems to be short of listings of positions in online sales jobs.
11. Work from Anywhere in the World by Owning an Internet Business
This list is as long as you want it to be. If you have a product that you can connect consumers and distributors with online, then you have a viable online business. There is probably someone making their living selling seashells online. Recall that Honeychile Rider in the 1962 Bond film Dr. No did just that. This even before the Internet!
12. Be Location Independent by Being a Musician or Artist with 1,000 “True Fans”
There is a theory of 1,000 true fans that if corrects has very important implications for musicians and creative types today. To make a living as a musician or artist, you don’t need to be a superstar who sells millions of records, you just need 1,000 “true” fans. A true fan is defined as one who will drive up to 200 miles to see you preform and purchase everything you as a musician produce.
In 2008, when Wired magazine co-founder Kevin Kelly unveiled his 1,000 true fan theory, he likely was not expecting his theory to gain a cult following. His now indi-famous article “100 True Fans” has since been translated into over a dozen language and this link is going to be passed from aspiring artists to aspiring artists for decades to come.
If you do become location independent, make sure you get a travel insurance policy that fits with your lifestyle. If you live full time outside of your home country, regular trip insurance might not cover you. Be sure to talk to a Seven Corners Insurance Agent to find a policy that fits your location independent life.
