Digital Nomad Jobs – Jobs for the digital nomad gone analogue.

Whilst Digital Nomading is all well and good you may come to a point on your travels when you decide to get out there and try to earn some extra pocket-money interacting with real people. Proper flesh and blood people, not pixellated people, pretty scary? Not at all, here is a brief list of on the road analogue nomad jobs you can do anywhere in the world.

Musician/busker – If you, like 75%* of digital nomads/backpackers/gap year students/analogue nomads fancy yourself as the next big thing on the music scene, can play four or five chords and know all the words to a few Beatles songs why not have a go busking? You can pick up guitars the world over for fairly cheap and there is almost certainly going to be a ukulele to be found in some corner of Cambodia for you to chance your arm with. As the tourist season gets going you will find large crowds desperate to hear your unique take on all of their favourite songs and won’t at all be annoyed when you get the words wrong (probably). Make sure you check with the local authority before starting to see if you need any specific license mind or you may end up like Johnny Cash playing in jail, just you wont get to leave afterwards. I guess the only thing you need other than talent in this role is a thick skin, people can be cruel!

*75% is not an actual figure, it’s maybe more like 87%.

Street performer – If singing isn’t your thing that doesn’t mean you can’t still busk for bunce. You can try many things including juggling, break dancing, being a living statue, dressing up as a superhero (I’ve never understood that really), a comedy act, other dancing, erm. Magician, mime artist, gymnast, unicyclist. Anything you can think of that people might be interested in enough to pay you really. Free to set up providing you don’t need a license and hopefully a decent way for you to earn a few pennies.

Tour guide – If you’ve found a place you love enough to call home for a while and have swotted up on all the local knowledge why not make it work for you? Use your new-found expertise to show other digital nomads/gap year students/backpackers the place you love. As an English speaker you will probably have the great advantage of people from all over the world being able to understand you! I’m fairly sure that you can circumnavigate most rules and regulations by offering your services as a free tour that takes donations at the end but you should really check dependent on your country of choice. Tour guiding can be a great way of earning money whilst hopefully meeting some really great people, advertising is cheap and easy to do providing you utilise social media and local connections and as an added bonus it’ll probably keep you quite fit!

Ticket seller for existing tours – Anyone that’s ever been to a major city on holiday has certainly been offered the chance to see that city on a bus, bike or boat for a fee. It’s quite annoying after the 64th or 65th time but you’ve got to feel for the poor boys and girls asking the question. You’re not the only person they’re picking on after all, for every time you’ve been asked they have asked another 1000 people the same question. If that sounds like fun to you why not consider having a go yourself, get in touch with the local tour operators and see if there are any vacancies. To put a positive spin on it try this job description. ‘Do you like meeting new people? Every day a challenging experience in the fresh air? Then get in touch at www.faketourpeopleticketsellers.com for more info!’

Bar worker – If you have previous experience and you are staying in a bustling tourist trap I’m pretty sure it’s easy enough to get bar work, not the most glamorous of jobs maybe but they can be a decent earner when you factor in tips. If you’re the sort of person that enjoys a lively, loud and usually exciting lifestyle this could be ideal for you. Finding bar work should be a pretty straight forward matter of walking around bars and asking for a job, hopefully you’ll find a nice one? If you can’t find a job working behind a bar you might consider working as a leafletter, a truly unpleasant role I can tell you from personal experience but it does help pay the bills, I can only recommend this if you are genuinely desperate.

Artist – We’ve covered this before in a previous post https://digitalnomadjobs.com/digital-nomad-jobs-portrait-artist/ but if portraits aren’t your style you can always try your hand at caricatures. The beauty here is that you don’t really have to be that good at drawing, most people won’t mind! There’s no need to try to intentionally wind people up though, unless you have good health insurance that is!

Teacher – If you are already a qualified teacher have a look at the local international schools in your country of choice. I have met quite a few of these teachers on my travels and they are all pretty minted. The wages in these schools are often pretty tidy and seem to allow you the opportunity to holiday without impediment, have a cleaner for your massive apartment and enjoy weekends and life in general to the max! Wish I was a teacher.

Finally, if you have enough money from your digital ventures and want to give a bit back or just experience something new try volunteering. A great way to integrate yourself into the world and culture of your chosen country, there are many ways you can help from working in a soup kitchen to environmental projects. Make sure you look around at all the options open to you, see if there are any expat groups online that can offer you advice. Be wary that the organisation you work for is legitimate and obviously be careful where you go, don’t put yourself in to any dangerous positions needlessly.

 

Hopefully that’s given you an idea or two to take on your travels with you, any other ideas? Let us and everyone else know in the comments section.

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