Originally posted Dec 12, 2017 – Updated Feb 24, 2022
So, I wanted to write an article detailing how many hours I spend working in order to support my new lifestyle of living in a different country every couple/several months. I recently did the math and it turns out I only work around 8 hours a week and make enough to support myself.
What!? He only works 8 hours a week and he’s not living off mom and dad or homeless??
No, I don’t get money from my parents (I wish I did though!) I am simply harnessing a tool available to every single person reading this—the internet!
What I’m doing and why:
Not long ago, I had a yearning to escape a life that wasn’t inspiring me anymore. I don’t have anything against my adopted home for 13 years, New Orleans, but I needed to see more of the world!
So, I started researching how to work online and a little over a year later, here I am. I’ve been on the road for about seven months now. I’m still learning how to earn more so that I can do more fun stuff (or work even less), but let’s breakdown my 8-hour workweek:
I’m currently making pretty much all my income from Upwork.com.
Gig #1 – Maintaining a blog for a client: 30 to 40 mins every day – 3.5 hours a week
Gig #2 – Online reputation management (social media and SEO): 1 hour a week
Gig #3 – Local search/SEO for a small business: 2 hours a week
Gig #4 – Promotional reviews for an eCommerce business: 1.5 hours a week
Total hours per week = 8 hours.
Total income earned per month = approx. $700 USD.
Now, if you read my last blog post (How To Live On $16 a Day As a Digital Nomad), you’ll see that living off $700 a month is not luxurious in any way, but it’s totally doable in an affordable country! I’m currently in Ecuador and while I should work more to have a little more of a comfortable life, I’m actually doing alright here on this amount.
Why am I sharing this? What’s my point?
I’m sharing this because I want you to know that if you desire to become a “digital nomad” and work online and travel the world, not only can you do it on a pretty slim budget, you can do it while only working several hours a week!!
What if you don’t have my same skill set? (Online marketing, SEO, etc.)
I can almost guarantee that you have skills to work online or create an online business. If you’ve done any customer service job even, you could work online. You may end up doing something totally different than what I do, but that’s great! The world is full of people and businesses needing a very wide variety of tasks accomplished. And, you should be able to find enough work to enable you to create this location independent lifestyle.
Now, I’m not trying to sell you on anything other than the knowledge that this lifestyle is completely doable for virtually anybody who has the desire to make it happen.
Please note: I actually spend a lot of time not included above working on new business ideas, researching and reading up on relevant/helpful information, working on this blog, etc.
So, I’m not saying just work 8 hours a week and watch TV the rest of the time. You should be working to improve your situation and enjoying the freedom that increased income can bring.
Also, traveling from location to location, country to country, will either take dipping into savings, using air miles, or working more to make more $$!
I hope this article gives you a better idea of how it’s not that hard to earn money online and make it while traveling the globe.
*Here’s me drinking a beer in a Cuenca beer hall while writing this 🙂
Sincerely,
-Elijah
Cuenca, Ecuador – Dec. 2017
