“I’m in my final year of university. I don’t want a 9-5 job. What’s your advice for soon-to-be graduates who have very little business knowledge and really want to make money while traveling?” – Migle from Lithuania
I’m so happy to know you don’t want a regular 9-5 job, way to go!
The best advice I can give is to start something on the side while you’re still studying. I know being a student is not easy – there are a lot of papers to complete, tons of exams to go to and obviously legendary parties to take part in.
However, I’m sure you can find 30-60 minutes a day to test out some ideas and see how they go. If any one of them picks up, you can spend a little more time developing it and, hopefully, when you graduate, you’ll already have enough income to allow you to travel right after receiving your diploma.
Speaking of what to do exactly, I think service businesses are the best to start with, since they don’t require absolutely any investment money. If you’re into editing videos, doing social media marketing or translating texts, outreach to advertising agencies (here’s a guide on how to do it) and tell them you can provide these services to them for a fraction of their current price.
Once you get your first client, see if you can find someone on UpWork or Fiverr to do the actual job for you. When the job is done, send it over to your client and do anything it takes to make them satisfied.
If they’re happy working with you, see if you can get more orders from them and, most importantly, ask them to introduce you to their friends/colleagues and offer them a 20% commission on every sale you make from their introductions.
I think the most important thing at this stage is to not burn any bridges. I appreciate people who get so hyped about living their dream life that they quit everything and go for it, however that’s incredibly risky and if things don’t work out, you might find yourself in a lot of trouble…
So take your time, do everything step by step and don’t be afraid to drop an idea if you see it isn’t working.
This post is part of my "Digital Nomad Q&A" series - a weekly e-mail that I send out to my e-mail newsletter and later re-post on Steemit. Hope you enjoy it!
P.S. Have a question you want me to answer? Submit it here!
Great advice especially for fresh grads. I've been working for 10 years in a 9 to 5 job and I really have this deep desire to become a digital nomad and BE FREE :) If you would have time to answer me- what can you advise someone like me who fear losing the stability of monthly income? I am also non-techy and I notice that most good paying digital nomad jobs are in programming or anything technical. But I'm willing to learn. Where can I start?
Thank you :)
Well a lot of digital nomads actually have full-time remote jobs, so they don't really lose that stability because they do have stable monthly incomes. It's just that they don't go to the same office year after year :) If you're interested in learning about the many different ways on how to become a nomad, I think you might find my tiny free book useful: http://www.benomad.co/quit-9-5/ if you have any more specific questions, let me know!
Thank you very much for this reference, Jacob. I'll check it out :)
Awesome! Let me know if you like it :)
Great advice! I wish I had become a digital nomad sooner... :) Best decision I ever made.
Same here! :)
good advice and will be following for more as I am just starting out as a digital nomad:)
Awesome to know, Olivia! I'll be posting a lot more of these Q&As - hope you'll find them interesting :)
really great work bro..
i appreaciate it..
Thanks man!
Honestly, I think that is how it works. Just find someone else to do the job for you, but cheaper and just cash from that!
That's definitely one of the ways to do it - and it's a win-win-win for all sides :)