What’s your dream holiday? Is it walking along unspoilt beaches? Practising extreme sports? Trekking on snow-capped mountains? Or perhaps immersing yourself in local history and culture? Whatever it may be, there’s the right country to make it happen.
In the last few decades, travelling has become more accessible and affordable. Nevertheless, it doesn’t come for free. If you are planning a long-term vacation or you’re reinventing yourself as a digital nomad, you might be looking into options to fund your travels abroad.
Take a look at the money-making options suggested below. Most of them rely heavily on technology, but some of them are hands-on.
- Au pair
This challenging yet rewarding job is a great option if you enjoy working with children. As a family au pair, you will have multiple responsibilities related to the welfare and upbringing of the children. Your duties are likely to involve doing the school run, taking and picking up the children to and from after-school activities, cooking their meals, playing with them and helping them do their homework. It is a demanding job that requires a lot of patience, but there are plenty of benefits. You will receive a salary and you’ll save money on food, rent, and bills, as you will be staying at the family home. In addition, host families are likely to take their au pair on holiday with them, so your holidays would be free!
- Professional trainer
The corporate world has become increasingly competitive. For this reason, many companies hire professional trainers to improve and develop their employees’ skills. Among a professional trainer’s duties are: running workshops and training sessions, public speaking, developing engaging training materials, and carrying out observations. Whatever your field, there are plenty of opportunities within your own country or abroad.
- Blogger
This is one of those jobs that can only exist with technology. You might think that blogs are obsolete, as fewer and fewer people spend time reading. However, blogs are making a comeback and, if taken seriously – not as a hobby – they can become a lucrative business. Running a blog is not just about writing. While engaging posts and up-to-date information are paramount, blogs can make money only with the work you put behind the scenes, like product placement and marketing. It is true that this sector is competitive, but finding your niche and specialising in one area (or even one aspect of that area) can make you stand out and bring in the money.
- Content writer
If you enjoy writing without the hassle of the ‘behind the scenes’, you will probably enjoy content writing. It can be done from anywhere in the world, as long as you have a laptop and an internet connection. This is an interesting job that allows you to write about all sorts of different topics with flair and accuracy. You don’t need any qualifications for this job but, needless to say, your writing skills should be on point.
- Online teaching
As the name suggests, teaching online is done remotely through a laptop or PC. In recent years, the distance learning scene has boomed and many existing and newly qualified teachers have taken advantage of it – and rightly so. In particular, the TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) industry has seen an increase in teachers switching from their usual classroom-based environment to an online setting. This opens doors to multiple opportunities: lessons can be taught from anywhere in the world and at any time of the day or night.
Most online teachers have chosen to work for well-established online schools. These allow teachers to deliver their lessons through online platforms with the guarantee of a consistent number of teaching hours every month. At the same time, teachers are free to offer as much (or as little) availability as they like at the times that suit them. Let’s see some of the most popular online schools:
- Cambly
This platform allows teachers to deliver informal conversational classes to learners of English worldwide. This means that Cambly students are able to communicate in English to a certain extent.
- Italki
The popularity of this platform has grown exponentially in a relatively short period of time. There, teachers can teach any of the languages listed (around 40), including English. You can join as a ‘community tutor’, to provide conversational classes, or as a ‘professional teacher’. In this instance, you should have some prior teaching experience.
- LatinHire
This online school targets the Latin American market, delivering lessons for adults and children. It prides itself with a fast hiring process, and covers subjects such as Accounting, Chemistry, Algebra, and, of course, English. This will give you real-life experience of teaching Latin American students, an advantage in getting a good job at a brick and mortar school in Brazil or Ecuador, for example.
- Topica Native
If you are interested in the South-East Asian market, this is the go-to platform for non-native TEFL teachers. What makes this school stand out is that, while it allows maximum flexibility, it guarantees at least 20 teaching hours a month.
- OiKID
Based in Taiwan, and in contrast to Topica Native, OiKID hires only native speakers of English from specific countries: the UK, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the USA. The students’ age range on this platform varies between 3 and 15 years old.
So many options…
Travelling is a wonderful way to break free from the ordinary. It broadens people’s minds and enriches their spirits: no wonder why so many are leaving their stable job behind to follow a life where their passion for travelling merges with their work interests. From looking after children abroad to writing about your travel experiences, from teaching skills to teaching languages online, working abroad is a dream that more and more people are making into a reality.
