Jobs are easy to find these days. You can find a job flipping burgers, waiting tables, cutting lawns, or folding clothes in a mall pretty quickly, if you put a couple days of legwork in. High paid careers, on the other hand…those are hard to come by. They require hard work, college, sacrifice, more college, and more hard work. And networking. Don’t forget about networking. 

To some, it might sound like a nice way to make a living. To others, it probably sounds like a one-way trip to cubicle hell. The corporate world is not interested in flexible schedules and self-starters…or your travel plans. They want automation and repeatable processes. 

So how do you break out from the norm and craft a real career that you don’t hate – especially if you want to create a life of travel?

Many people put in the time to become a digital nomad. It isn’t easy, making money on the road. You’re distracted by trying to work AND discover new places. For some, having a home base for a month or more at a time is enough to be able to learn about a location, find a favorite coffee shop, and space out sightseeing with work. For other digital nomads, longer (or shorter) stays are more desirable. Your travel (and staying in one place for a while) can depend on many variables – visas, currency exchange rates, cost of living, weather, events, availability of high speed internet, etc. And, you’ll need to discover the best ways to work and, at the same time, learn about a place (we’ve got ten such tips right here – it’s all about balance). 

Is being a digital nomad for you? There is much to think about - what skills do you have? What do you like to do? What can you do to earn money online? Are you a writer? Do you have transferable skills that can work online (i.e., an art teacher conducting art classes via skype)? Do you feel comfortable working and traveling? Do you need a routine, or are you flexible with work and life plans? 

Or do you want to learn or hone an income-earning skill before you leave - and take it with you? There is a story floating around the day trading community, about a trader who was able to take just a little more than $500 and turn that into nearly $100,000 in just a couple of months. That seems like an incredible feat, but it is doable. Just not by a novice. By immersing yourself in day trading classes online, you can learn techniques that will help you identify movers early in the morning. Then you need to know when to get in on those skyrocketing stocks and when to get out before the big crash. Those strategies are teachable. You can carve out a nice, lucrative career by learning how to day trade. And, you can do it from anywhere in the world, as long as you have great internet.

It can be difficult (and stressful) to continually patch together an income from freelancing, teaching online, and other ways of working on the road – only you can decide if it is worth it. The bottom line is this: if you want a career, one that offers flexibility, the chance to be your own boss, and the freedom of doing it online, from anywhere, start now, from home, while you have a job – and are putting together your plans for becoming a digital nomad. Learn your skills, save up money, and make a plan. And then? Work, travel, make a life for yourself that YOU love, that you choose, and that makes you happy.