50+ Remote Jobs for Digital Nomads
I created this list of 50+ remote jobs to get your journey as a digital nomad started. This list was compiled with input from other people as well as my own experiences over the last 3 years.
I hope this will get you started on your
There is no way to overnight success. Building a career as a digital nomad and finding
Therefore, I put together this guide that consists of 2 sections
- How to make money on the road
- 50+ Remote jobs for Digital nomads (this page)
- 30+ Passive income jobs
- How to save money on the road
- 20+ ways to save money on travelling, flights and food
You will find all this combined ( ++ bonus material) in my guide to becoming a digital nomad. It has 100+ Tools, Websites & Platforms to Make and Save Money on the Road. I’m asking a small amount of $5 for this e-book so I can provide you with the best value possible!
To give you a taster of the guide I have compiled below list of remote jobs that you can do remote so you can start your dream lifestyle as a digital nomad! To keep the list readable I have only added two example website/platforms where you can start earning money for each job. I have put many more in the official guidebook (PDF).
What's coming up
- 1 You got what it takes for a remote job?
- 2 There we go! 50+ remote jobs, just for you
- 3 Freelance Marketplaces
- 4 Writing
- 5 Translating
- 6 Transcribing
- 7 Coaching
- 8 Online Personal Trainer
- 9 Software testing and user research
- 10 Teaching languages online
- 11 Virtual Assistant
- 12 Graphic Designer
- 13 Search Engine Evaluators
You got what it takes for a remote job?
Remote jobs are not for everyone. I have seen lots of people fail. Not because they couldn’t do a job or they were not good enough. No, it was because they were not ready. Most often the mindset wasn’t right. Simply signing up for a translating website and then waiting for the jobs to come pouring in just won’t cut it. You have to start small, think about your strategy and FOCUS. Reading some of these recommended books for digital nomads can help you on your way. If you have any questions, please put them as a comment to this blog and I will try to help you out.
There we go! 50+ remote jobs, just for you
Freelance Marketplaces
Description: Via Freelance marketplaces, you can have a look at what kind of jobs are in demand, what appeals to you and what’s your market value. Basically all kind of jobs you will find in the rest of the post, you can also find at these freelance platforms. In the beginning, it may seem daunting to sign up and create a profile, but they are an amazing place to start.
Pay: 1/10 – Don’t expect to find proper salaries on these platforms when you are just starting out. Unless you speak languages apart from English and Spanish, you have so many competitors from low-wage countries! But it’s worth starting with a lower salary and build a portfolio. The money will come!
Difficulty: 6/10 – If you don’t mind starting out on a lower rate, then it is not extremely difficult to find jobs on these platforms. Especially if you have some existing skills like writing or graphic design, this is a good place to find your first gigs.
How to succeed: Create a good profile with lots of information, write good cover letters and be clear about how long it will take you to complete the job and how much you charge
Upwork
I will be forever grateful to Upwork for allowing me to become a digital nomad 🙂 At the time, it was simple to sign up on Upwork and it was extremely easy to browse for remote jobs and apply. I only got the lousy jobs at first, but then I quickly was able to secure better paying jobs and clients. The best clients are the ones that bring in recurring revenues like weekly or monthly gigs. On Upwork you can find anything from developers to writers to graphical designers and much more! I think it helps if you speak a language that is not that offered that much (like Dutch) or if you have a very specific skillset that is rare. This will make it easer. Upwork gives some good tips here on how to be succesful on their platform. Invoices are easy to process and also payment is easy, but mind Upwork’s payment structure and figure out what’s most beneficial to you.
People Per Hour
People Per Hour connects talented experts with savvy businesses that search for the right skills to get a job done quickly and with no hassle. The people working on this platform are called “hourlies” and perform the widest variety of jobs you can think of! So whether it’s drawing cartoons, writing reviews on someone’s website or transcribing a group conversation – offer it here!
More places to find freelance jobs in my 100+ Tools, Websites & Platforms to Make and Save Money on the Road Guide
Writing
Every blog, every website description, every biography – every piece of content on the web is written by somebody. I love writing as a remote job because I can do it literally from anywhere!
Description: Most website owners do not have time to create all that content themselves. Let alone in different languages. Freelance writing is a great way to become a digital nomad because it comes in many forms and shapes. Ghost-writing, SEO writing, technical writing, e-book writing, editing and so much more. So if you like writing and can type fast (otherwise you will never make money out of this), check out the following writing platforms.
Pay: 3/10 – When you start out without a portfolio, you will not make much money. But if you type fast and grow your portfolio, you’ll soon be able to charge $20-$30 an hour
Difficulty: 1/10 – Proper, technical writing is a true profession. However, there are many websites that are looking for lower quality content. If you have a creative mind and can push out content quickly, you shouldn’t have issues getting your first jobs.
How to succeed: Enter a niche – SEO writing, ghost-writing, it doesn’t really matter as long as you pick it. Specialise in a certain niche, find your clients and build your portfolio.
Contentmart
Contentmart is a platform focused on matching copywriters with companies. What I like is that they give guidelines on fair rates based on experience level. Like many freelance platforms these days, Contentmart has many freelance writers for the same gigs – there are over 100.000 freelancers on the platform as we speak. Still, there seems to be a plentitude of work to choose from if you have the right skills and are able to build the right portfolio.
Constant Content
Constant Content is a website where companies can order articles from writers, but also the other way around. What I like about this website is that writers can also offer their articles to clients that can browse by topic. So writers that like to write about any specific topic, can upload their articles here and sell them to any clients out there. For website owners, this may be a great source of original articles without the hassle of hiring people. A great way to have flexible remote job!
More places to find writing jobs in my 100+ Tools, Websites & Platforms to Make and Save Money on the Road Guide
Translating
Translating is one of the easiest ways to start a digital nomading career. As soon as you know your mother tongue and one other language, you can already start!
Description: Translating can happen at many levels and is a profession by itself. But there is also a lot of low quality translating to be done for webshopes, review sites etc. If you leave the technical, legal or medical documents to the pro’s you’re good 🙂 In the beginning it won’t pay much, but the great thing is you can do it anywhere. Some clients will send you a word or excel file with translations to be made, others have more sophisticated apps where you can enter the translations.
Pay: 1/10 – if you don’t have an official degree, don’t expect to earn much at first. Also translating can be very hard as often the clients that look for lower-rate translators, also deliver bad texts.
Difficulty: 3/10 – I find translating much harder than writing my own content. However, there are a lot of jobs to find. Especially if you speak other languages than English and Spanish you have a good chance to find jobs.
How to succeed: Look for a client with regular work and a solid translation system. Some companies use apps that every time a new word is added to a website, it will show up in the translator app.
Fairlingo
Fairlingo is a crowd translation platform where you can pick the texts you want to translate. They work with both novice and experienced translators. I have not worked with them yet, but because they work with novice translators too it seems like a good place to start working remote.
Gengo
Gengo is a large platform for freelance translators. You sign up, do some tests and if you get approved you can start translating. Gengo has a great knowledge database to improve your translation skills. What I like about this platform is that you can pass pro qualification tests to unlock access to more challenging projects at higher reward rates. So there is definitely an incentive to do your work in the right way! It seems flexible enough to make for a great digital nomad job!
Transcribing
Download the audio files, sit down and type! Sometimes you even get to learn something from the conversations you’re transcribing 🙂
Description: Although the speed of completing an assignment is completely dependent on the quality of the audio recording, this can be a great job to do on the road.
Pay: 3/10 – If you are a quick typer, transcribing can be profitable!
Difficulty: 4/10 – there are not too many transcribing jobs to find, and also sometimes it can be very hard to understand what people are saying!
How to succeed: Subscribe to the right platforms and practice! In this case, practice really do makes perfect. Before you start a job, always make sure to listen to a part of the audio recording to make sure it’s not impossible to transcribe!
Scribie
Scribie is a transcribing service based on turnaround time. Quicker delivery is a higher price for the client. If you are a freelancer with Scribie, they pay by audio hour and not the actual time spent working on it. They pay a monthly bonus of $5 for every 3 hours completed each month. You have to do a test first, and can earn performance points to get to reviewers level. You can subscribe as a transcriber here.
TranscribeMe
TranscribeMe offers premium, top-rated speech-to-text transcription, translation and voice analytics services for leading companies all over the world. What’s cool about this company is that instead of transcribing long interviews, you get to transcribe short 2-4 minute fragments. This way, it doesn’t get boring and multiple translators can work on the same piece at the same time! This makes for a great flexible, digital nomad job
More places to find transcribing jobs in my 100+ Remote Jobs Guide
Coaching
Are you a lifestyle, career or other type of coach? Then take your business online as a remote job! There is an increasing amount of places where you can offer your services & coach people on many topics.
Description: Even if you are not certified, you can still help people out. Read on!
Pay: 5/10 – although some platforms pay better than others, there’s quite a lot of buck’s to earn for your time! Especially when you’re certified and already have customers that you can take with you on the road, this is quite a great income prospect!
Difficulty: 7/10 – you can not just apply for gigs online. You have to make people find you which involves branding and marketing. Not easy, but it can definitely be done!
How to succeed: If you already have clients, you are likely to be able to continue with your activities on the road. Skype will be your best friend 🙂 Otherwise, make sure to find your passion/focus and become an authority in your topic.
Evisors
I love Evisors! Evisors is a Career Advise Network. They enable people to access personal career coaching and webinars from professionals who’ve worked at top employers. I have always liked to help people out with resumes and career steps and this platform facilitates exactly that. I do resume critiques and provide advice on how to proceed with job applications. You get your own advisor page on the platform and students can look for you based on your services and resume. Currently, I do between 2-5 sessions per month. These are usually $10 sessions of 30 minutes. So it’s not a lot of money, but I really like doing this and I see the requests increasing the more reviews I get. Some experienced advisors earn lots and lots of money per hours! The pay-out is fast and easy via paypal.
Jigsawbox
Jigsawbox is the online coaching platform for coaches, consultants and trainers. It aims to help a thousand coaches, consultants and trainers help a thousand clients each and impact a million with JigsawBox. You can sign up and get clients from all over the world. 1-1 sessions, modules and programs, it seems very flexible!
Online Personal Trainer
Are you a personal trainer or are you certified in giving fitness classes? Then have a look at one of these platforms where you can have 1-1 sessions with clients, or live-stream your fitness classes!
Description: Bring your own clients or reach new clients as an online personal trainer or gym class teacher! You can join several platforms to livestream your classes. A great way to earn money, especially if you have some certifications in certain fitness classes.
Pay: 5/10 – pay varies a lot, depending on your own abilities to attract clients and the certifications that you have.
Difficulty: 5/10 – I have not tried this myself, but I can imagine it does take some time before you’re fully up and running! Once going, this should be an amazing (and healthy!) remote job.
How to succeed: TBD
gymGO
Gymgo’s online platform lets trainers and clients connect and work out together at locations and times that are most convenient. You can register as a trainer here.Powhow
With Powhow, people can join fitness classes from hundreds of instructors. People can schedule a time for a private lesson or join a group class with a global community around the world. You can open your own Powwow studio here.More places to find personal training jobs in my 100+ Tools, Websites & Platforms to Make and Save Money on the Road Guide
Software testing and user research
Companies sign up with testing platforms, and those platforms assign testers to test the website or app. A fun way to make money on the road!
Description: If you have ever built your own website you will recognise that for every bug you fix, you will find 10 other problems 🙂 Contact forms that don’t work, broken links, bad CSS and mobile website failures. There is now a solution: crowd testing.
Pay: 4/10 – the hourly rates can be very good (up to $80 an hour), but these are not full-time jobs unfortunately. They are more gig-type
Difficulty: 5/10 – some experience in software testing is desired, but you can follow tutorials on the platforms themselves
How to succeed: Follow the tutorials, complete your profile and keep it up to date, and deliver high-quality test reports
Testbirds
Testbirds is a Crowd-testing platform. Companies can test websites, apps or Internet of Things applications with the help of testers from anywhere in the world. You can sign up as a tester and get invited to many different tests. Testing with Testbirds is a serious job and you are expected to deliver high-quality bug reports and use cases. You usually earn a fixed price per test, and you get paid more if you report relevant bugs in the system. I have done a couple of tests now and really like it! You can sign up as a tester with testbirds here.
Usertesting
Usertesting is such a fun way to earn some extra cash! You have to perform some user experience tasks on websites, speak out loud what you are doing while your screen and voice are being recorded. This way, companies can found out the real things you are clicking on and if you can or cannot find certain things. You can sign up to become part of Usertesting here.
Teaching languages online
Schedule classes with your students, prepare your classes in the plane or bus and login to Skype to hold the classes! You can connect with students from all over the world .
Description: There has never been a time in which there were more people wanting to learn new skills! And speaking languages is one of the main topics people want to develop in. Good news for all language teachers that are looking for remote jobs.
Pay: 5/10 – it depends on the platform, but teaching languages online as a remote job can be very lucrative
Difficulty: 3/10 – Teaching experience is desired, but not mandatory for most platforms
How to succeed: Find the platform that suits your needs
Italki
Italki is a is a language learning social network that connects students and language teachers. It claims to be the world’s largest marketplace for online language teachers and to have over 2 million students.. You can sign up as a teacher here.Verbling
Verbling is an online language-learning platform that connects language learners with qualified language teachers for private sessions through live video chat. With Verbling, you can teach anytime, from anywhere and set your own rates. You need to be a native speaker, but certificates are not required. You can apply to become a teacher hereMore places to find remote teaching jobs in my 100+ Tools, Websites & Platforms to Make and Save Money on the Road Guide
Virtual Assistant
Description: You can be a virtual assistant in almost anything! You find a lot of social media virtual assistants. There are also a lot of entrepreneurs that need help with emails and keeping their agenda’s up to date. Most Virtual Assistant jobs you will be able to get through sites like Upwork or personal connections, but there are some platforms too (mainly US based)
Pay: 5/10 – as a beginning virtual assistant you should expect about $10 an hour. US-based experienced VA’s can count on wages up to $35
Difficulty: 1/10 – as virtual assistants can assist in literally anything, you can pick a skill, develop yourself and offer your services as VA. This doesn’t have to take more than a few weeks.
How to succeed: Specialise in one or a few specific services. For example, become a Pinterest virtual assistant or an agenda management VA. This way, you can also streamline your activities across clients. If you are not from the US, look for VA positions on Facebook, LinkedIn or Freelance Marketplaces.
Zirtual
Zirtual is a platform for virtual assistants for entrepreneurs, professionals, and small teams. This company only hires US-based virtual assistants and you have to go through a rigorous selection procedure. It seems very professional and a great way to work remotely.
Fancy Hands
Fancy Hands is a team of US-based assistants. People can purchase tasks or requests and spend them on things as scheduling, research or other personal or business requests. You can apply to become a Virtual Assistant at Fancy Hands here.
Graphic Designer
Graphic Design is a popular way to make money while travelling. Plenty of jobs are available but it’s a pretty crowded market. What’s most important: portfolio, portfolio, portfolio
Description: Logo’s, business cards, websites, e-books – you name it and it needs to be designed. There is more demand than ever for graphic designers. The market has opened up to reach out to designers wordwide. You will find many jobs on Upwork, but the supply is abundant. Designers from Western countries will struggle with rates from desigers from Eastern-Europe and Asia.
Pay: 1/10 – until you are an established designer with a portfolio and reviews , the likelihood of earning a lot is very small
Difficulty: 1/10 – you can become a novice graphic designer with basic skills relatively easy these days with affordable courses from Udemy for example.
How to succeed: Build a portfolio, attract the right kind of clients (that match your style) and ask for referrals!
99 Design
99 Designs is an innovative design platform that works with contests. The client writes a brief and picks a pricing package. Then designers from all over the world can submit their work and try to win the contest. As a designer you can sign up here.
Juiiic
I love platforms that do things just a little bit differently! Juiiicy is a private community for top notch designers to refer freelances jobs to others or apply to jobs posted by others. This means that on this platform you cannot just find jobs, you can also create a passive income (7% commission per referral) by referring other people. You can request an invite on the website.
More places to find Graphic Designer Jobs in my 100+ Tools, Websites & Platforms to Make and Save Money on the Road Guide
Search Engine Evaluators
Ever wondered how Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines know what to show you? They make use of algorithms. These are usually already quite smart, but it’s not uncommon to get weird or useless results on your search query. That’s where human input comes in. As a Search Engine Evaluator, you analyse the results in the search engine for quality and relevance.
Description: Ever wondered how Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines know what to show you? They make use of algorithms. These are usually already quite smart, but it’s not uncommon to get weird or useless results on your search query. That’s where human input comes in. As a Search Engine Evaluator, you analyse the results in the search engine for quality and relevance.
Pay: TBD
Difficulty: TBD
How to succeed: TBD
Leapforce
Leapforce gathers human judgements to help data scientists build algorithms. They seem to be one of the leading players in this market. You can sign up here to become an evaluator . You select your country, fill in the requirements and then you have to do some tests to become an evaluator.
Lionbridge
Lionbridge is one of world’s largest professional translation and localisation company. They run The Smart Crowd of which the Search Engine evaluator is one their remote jobs. You can click here for the job opportunities and check out what they have in store for your region.
