Getting Paid to Travel - Is it possible?
- March 5th 2008
- Blog to travel
If the list on 43 things is any measurement, the goal of getting paid travels is a very popular one. In the United States, the average vacation time allotted to an employee is 2 weeks a year. This leaves a full 50 weeks a year for the cubicle ensconced to dream of a life that is exactly the opposite. Unfortunately the goal of getting paid for your traveling is one that elicits a skeptical laugh and the inevitable “when you figure that out, let me know” response at parties and family gatherings. Everyone knows that eventually you’ll give in and settle down like the rest of them for dreaming about your 2 weeks. Won’t you?
Is it possible to get paid to travel? Startgo’s answer is a resounding “YES!” Today’s global marketplace is making it easier and easier for travel to become a lifestyle choice for many people. However, getting paid for your travel and not simply working while you travel is still a hard gig to get into. But it’s not impossible! If you’ve still got the dream of learning how to get paid for your travel, Startgo is the place for you. Our new weekly article, Travel for Profit, we’ll be discussing how you can turn your travel time from a money hole into a money bag.
If you read the blogs out there in the world, there seem to be a few clear categories of professional travelers as we’ll call them. First of all are the people who have created a lifestyle that enables them to work from anywhere. Take for example Tim Ferriss who wrote “The 4 Hour Work Week” and walks his readers through how he outsourced most of his job so that he can literally work from anywhere. Already have a great job and want to do this kind of thing? Our ‘Working on the Road’ series gives you tools and tricks to make this a reality. Even if you don’t want to travel full-time, consider how much a week of working by the beach in Bora bora would make you a more happy and thus more productive person! However, even if you’re traveling while you work, you’re not yet getting PAID to travel, which is of course the goal of this article.
Next you have the self-made internet gurus. Take for example Nerdy Nomad. These internet personalities take advantage of the online marketplace, beautiful sources of income though Adsense and text link ads and make a decent living by maintaining websites. Frequently these websites have little or nothing to do with travel (Nerdy Nomad is an exception, not a rule) but the exchange rate and the natural portability of this kind of enterprise makes a web-preneuer a valid career field for someone who wants to travel all the time. Our new ‘Internet Income’ article series is geared towards helping the budding webpreneuer learn the basics of making money from a website. Yet, unless you are creating travel websites chances are that you’re not actually getting paid for the travel you’re doing, but once again just taking your work with you on the road.
Finally you have the 21st century version(s) of a couple of very old professions that do, actually, pay you to travel. First of all is the treasure hunter. Yes folks, this is a valid career field in today’s market. Don’t recognize it by that name? Oh, well perhaps ‘reality show star’ is a better title. Yes, if you have a slightly lovable and slightly caustic personality with a strong competitive streak you just might have what it takes to be this century’s Marco Polo or Juan Valdez. Sorry though, the number one travel reality show “Amazing Race” has already cast it’s 2008 season. You missed it (as did I). So we won’t talk about that option.
If you fail to become a great treasure hunter, you can still follow in Marco Polo’s footsteps and become a travel writer. While you must actually be able to write well in order to get these very sought-after gigs, a career as a travel writer can be a possibility for those who enjoy the hunt of the continual article query or who has already developed an impressive CV of published articles. Don’t believe me? Just ask Tim Leffel, he’ll even show you how it’s done if you buy one of his books or read his New York Times article. More attainable for the rest of us who are just starting out is the infinitely affordable travel blog. Such as this one. If you can write well but don’t have a huge CV, consider establishing yourself as a travel blogger. This growing industry combines the work from anywhere approach of Tim Ferriss and the internet savvy of Nerdy Nomad with the art of travel writing. With some SEO tricks and techniques you’ll be able to develop a following of readers whose click revenue (with some work) will enable you to make enough to travel. How much can you make? If you’re reasonable at the marketing aspect it’s feasible to make about 1,000-2,000 a month from your blog. Got a huge following and some amazing writing? You could easily find yourself making more than your cubicle mate back in Fort Worth while you thrash through the jungle of Peru and write about it at night.
Do you get paid to travel? Is it all it’s cracked up to be?
I don’t get paid to travel, I do however get paid to blog about it.
@DeboHobo: way to go! And for those intrepid travellers who don’t make bucks blogging, some advice - check out the travel community at trivago, where you earn shares for all input (i.e reviewing hotels & attractions, submitting your holiday pics etc). The monetary value of these shares are disbursed bi-monthly to all members. Happy travels!