How to Make Money as a Nomad? (Spoiler Alert: We Are Not Retired)
This is a topic that deserves much more than four paragraphs, but for now, I’ll keep it short and personal. When I left Belgium in 2003, I had no idea it would be “forever”. I took a leave of absence from my teaching job, which allowed a previously unemployed educator to take my job, for which the government rewarded me with a stipend of $300 a month. That gig lasted a few years and I could pretty much live off it, as I toured North and Central America in a truck camper. When Mark first stopped working as an IT manager, interest rates of his savings account were high enough for him to get by on.
When we still found ourselves roaming about – on a 35-foot sailboat this time – in 2007 and were asked how long we’d be keeping that lifestyle up, we said: “Until we get sick of it, or until the money runs out.” Well, boats are expensive to maintain, so I quickly found myself picking up jobs whenever I could, physically and digitally. Over the next eight years, I cleaned boats, homeschooled children, created book lesson plans, wrote articles, walking tours (available on Amazon), and press releases, tended a bar, and started translating.
By the time we sold our boat in 2015, I was officially a “digital nomad”. More importantly, from 2009 until 2018, Mark and I ran a successful Marine WiFi business that put food on the table the initial years and eventually covered our yearly expenses. We’re always extremely busy.
Observations:
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