You have made up your mind: You want to say goodbye to your normal 9-5 office job and finally live your dream of traveling the world. You have also come to the conclusion, that a digital nomad lifestyle is a perfect way for you to combine globetrotting and working. Now the only question is, what kind of work would be the right one for you? Check out the following list to get some great digital nomad job ideas and inspirations.
Most Popular Digital Nomad Job Ideas
1. Graphic/Web Design & Development
The classic. If you have a talent for anything that has got to do with graphic or web design or development, this could be a great opportunity for you. Many employers don’t care where you work from, as you literally only need a good laptop and proper internet connection anyway.
2. Online shop for physical products
Maybe you have already started your own little business when you were still “at home”. You could open up an online shop or simply use an existing retailer, such as Amazon, and sell any type of product. It doesn’t matter if you go for quantity and sell many cheap products, e.g. smartphone cases, or if you want to sell high quality and rather expensive products, e.g. antique furniture.
You only have to find a way to organize the logistics processes (delivery, return, etc.) without you being there. Another thought on this: You could also sell unique local products from the country you are currently in. For instance, if you are in Myanmar for a few weeks or months you could buy handmade silk scarfs right from that area and export them to the world.
3. Online shop for digital products
The advantage of selling digital products is clearly that you don’t need to worry about physical logistics. It is purely an online business, which might be easier to handle for you. You could, for example, sell e-books, software, photographs, worksheets, training courses, videos, auto-files, or memberships.
4. Translation
English is not your first language or you are fluent in another one? Jackpot! You can easily do translation jobs. There are agencies you can work for or simply look for open positions yourself on freelancer websites like Upwork. You could, for instance, translate websites, apps, university presentations, amazon product listings, entire e-books, games, or marketing material.
When you have certain knowledge, let’s say in finance, then you could be the perfect person to translate content about financial issues since you are familiar with the terms.
5. Teaching/Tutoring
Teaching or tutoring is another job that can be more or less easily done online. You could again use your language skills and help others learn English or another language. However, you can literally teach anything you are good at.
Maybe you worked the last couple of years as a marketing specialist? Help university students pass their marketing tests. Or you are a history geek? Help high school kids to survive their threatened history exams.
Before you start, it might be worth getting a certificate that proves that you really know what you are talking about. This is one of the digital nomad job ideas where people will most likely ask for qualifications in terms of diplomas. For teaching English you could, for example, do the TEFL training.
6. Consulting
Consulting is such a great generic word. You can use any skill you have and help others solve their problems. Very popular online consulting jobs are in marketing, finance, or life coaching. Think of what you are good at. Maybe you can come up with a good niche and become an absolute expert in that.
Are you an expert in a certain area? Find ways to help others with your knowledge and skills.
7. Virtual Assistance
Are you good at organizing and multitasking? Why not become a private or business assistant? This is one of the most popular digital nomad job ideas. Many managers, artists, or entrepreneurs need help to organize their daily life. That can be issues around their private life, like finding the perfect car dealer, or business-related tasks, like market research. Often your duties include the scheduling of appointments, copywriting, social media work, or general administration work.
Check out this post and learn everything you need to know about being a virtual assistant.
8. Social Media Expert
Hardly any company, entrepreneur, or blog can be successful today without using social media. But it takes more than simply clicking the like button every once in a while. Social media management takes up much time and should be done professionally. If you have experience in that area, you could make this your new remote job.
9. SEO Expert
If you are a specialist in Search Engine Optimization, people will love you. Good SEO is absolutely essential. That’s why companies invest quite a bit of money in these experts. Needless to say that you can do the job completely online and only need a laptop and a good internet connection.
10. Photography & Videography
You travel to breathtaking places and get to know astonishing cultures. What would be better than taking photos or videos of your experiences? Afterward, you can sell them online to photography websites, such as istockphoto, or show them on your own YouTube channel. Another way of making money would be to work for hotels or tour companies. Take photos or videos which they can use for promotion and advertisements.
Another way of making money would be to work for hotels or tour companies. Take photos or videos which they can use for promotion and advertisements.
To be very professional you need, of course, decent equipment, experience, and skills. Simple snapshots with your smartphone can be successful if you are lucky, but normally it takes a bit more than that. Another very popular business areas are photos and videos which are made with drones. It might be worth investing in one.
11. Content Writing
Out of all the digital nomad job ideas, this is the one that I started my remote lifestyle with. You can write articles about all kinds of topics, such as alternative medicine, music news, fashion, or motherhood, and sell them. Potential clients could be anyone from radio stations, to certain blogs, magazines, universities, companies, or websites.
You don’t even need to be incredibly talented in writing. Some website operators only need content to get new traffic to their sites. It doesn’t matter how well researched or written they are.
Find out how you, too, can become a freelance content writer with these 6 easy steps.
12. Blogging
Many people make good money with their blogs. You could, for example, use Google AdSense or affiliate marketing to earn money or sell advertising space or different kinds of products on your blog. There are many opportunities.
Although this sounds very easy, please be aware that a blog is hard work and it usually takes a long time until you are able to generate your first few dollars with it.
13. Your Old Job
Who says you need to find a new career at all? Maybe you can do the same job as before (depending on the type of job, of course). Talk to your employer and ask if there is a chance you could do your work remotely. If not, check out some job search engines. If you are lucky you can find something similar to your old job, which can be done completely online.
There is no need to start a whole new career if you enjoy your current job and can do it remotely.
These Digital Nomad Job Ideas Won’t Work For You?
You think you don’t have the skills or experience to do any of the mentioned jobs? Don’t give up! And never underestimate your knowledge! What did you do in the last couple of years? What did you study or did you do an apprenticeship?
Let’s take a masseuse for example. You might think you can’t do your job online. Partly right. While you most certainly can’t give messages through your laptop, you could still use your knowledge about massages. Write a blog or write articles for other websites about your craft. Help students who are currently training to be a masseuse. Create video courses or webinars. Be creative and see how you can help others with your knowledge.
The same works, of course, for other jobs, like plumbing, carpentry, or nursing. You, too, can make money online with your skills.
It doesn’t even need to be your profession. How about an interesting hobby? You are sick of your accounting job and never want to have anything to do with numbers? Fair enough. But you have always enjoyed gardening? Great! Use your passion and your knowledge about gardening and find ways to make money with that. Be creative.
Find out what other great digital nomad jobs you can do that don’t require the typical IT skills..
Learn New Skills While Traveling
Even if you have a few digital nomad job ideas in mind but don’t have the necessary skills for your new career, you can still learn them while you are traveling. If you need to learn a new language, there are plenty of audio language courses.
If you need want to learn more about a very specific topic, check if there are universities offering online courses. Simply google the skill you want to learn and something like “learn online”. I am sure there are plenty of opportunities.
It’s never too late to learn new skills. There are plenty of courses you can do online while traveling.
Be open, there is the right job for everyone
I hope this list with some of the most popular remote jobs helped you a bit and gave you some inspiration on how you could earn your money while traveling the world. Be aware that these are only some digital nomad job ideas. Of course, there are many more opportunities out there. If you have decided on a profession, read my other blog post to find out where you can find a job as a nomad.
What do you think is the best job for you? Let me know in the comment section below!
Not enough ideas? Check out these 40+ other great remote job ideas you could do as a digital nomad.
Thanks, Jessica! Sounds like a good plan (and definitely a great time to start ;). Best of luck with it! :)
Thanks for your post Denise! I am planning to work as a transcriptionist on weekends. Currently, I am working from home due to the pandemic. Guess if I could make enough money with online job, I might leave my 9-5 job, I don’t like my current job anyway and I love the pros of working from home.