The doors to the world are open. Things have never been better for the freelancer/traveler.
Location independent professionals encompass a wide cross section of people. What most have in common is a need for the freedom of determining their own hours of operation in the settings of their choice. For the many location independent people that I have met who do this, 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 to watch the sunset than return home at an alarm clock-governed time. They are paid for what they produce, instead of a salary based on a fixed arrangement of hours during which they are to be productive.
Earlier this week I discussed specifically where my income as a location independent person came from. Here I will discuss sixteen specific careers that travel wherever the person who works them happens to be. Though some people make their living off a single career listed below, as many generate their income from a combination of the following careers that travel. As we will see, more and more people these are opting for a location independent career to support a traveling lifestyle.
Five decades ago, far less people would have related to this meme:
This pic censored by squirrels
Today, no one is confounded with the sentiment the meme references. At record rates people are ditching the office to set their own hours. With businesses moving towards higher efficiency models, this is the age of the freelancer/traveler. The doors to the world are open. If your day-in day-out feels like an internment camp, it might be worth while to looking at what others are doing to set themselves free. Remember, it never hurts to look.
1. Authors: Supporting Careers that Travel Since Always
Authoring books belongs to a list of “classic location independent careers.” It existed before the advent of computers and the bucket load of location independent careers that came with it. Part of authoring, books tours, replace shiftless wanderings with goal-oriented travel. It’s also a sure-fire means to meet people on the road.
You can write a book from anywhere. You can publish with a big publisher, or publish yourself. From anywhere. The profits of books are reaped (assuming it’s a good product with solid marketing) after the work is done.
2. Camera Men and Women/Film Maker/Cinematographer
After the 2008 economic downturn, companies found ways to be more efficient. Even large companies, like ABC News, moved to hiring freelance camera crews rather them paying expensive salaries and benefits to in-house people. 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 lives with his girlfriend in Lima. In addition, his project “Hello My Name Is: World Trav’ler” is active in schools where he teaches students about the benefits of travel.
Garry Tutte and his Father,
3. Graphic Designers
No list of careers that travel is complete without mentioning graphic designers. 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 medium 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. Computer Programmers
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. 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. On October, 30th CNN called it the “hottest job skill” to have these days. According to their research, interpreters can earn between $300-$1,000 a day. Translators aren’t fare behind. For every 3,000 words translated, they can expect to earn $390.
6-10. Web developers
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/Anyones with “IT” in front of their title, Social media creators/managers, Online marketers/Affiliate marketers
11. Bloggers
If you know a special trade or skill, such as welding, home repair, dog training, organic gardening, pot cultivation, baby juggling—and the list goes on—you can share that know-how with people and become a maven of that field. There is a formula to follow, which for one person would be a full-time job to follow, but plenty of people make their livings from their website.
12. Freelance Writers
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 deliever it. There are sites like The oDesk and Elance (both recently merged into one company) where freelance writers bid for thousands of writing projects.
13. Copy Writers
According to Linda Formichelli, grammar Nazis make terrible writers. Well, even if that is true, at the entry level, they are higher earners. Both the oDesk and Elance also list jobs seeking grammar Nazis.
14. Online Salespeople
There’s a variety of ways to do it. Linkedin never seems to be short of listings of positions in online sales jobs.
15. Owners of Internet Businesses
This list is as long as you want it to be. If you have a product that you can connect to reach consumers and distributors with online or otherwise, 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.
16. Musicians
There is a theory of 1,000 true fans that if corrects has very important implications for musicians today. To make a living as a musician, 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 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’re interested in becoming location independent, click here to learn how I am able to work from anywhere in the world.
3 Lessons From 3 Years Freelance Writing
*All images used comply with US Trademark Law
