Hi all,
I’m an American living in Brazil. I work in AI at a Brazilian firm on a Brazilian contract.
So here’s the thing: Before I accepted this current work contract it was a real struggle for me. I was thinking to myself, “Hey, wouldn’t it be great if I was earning in US Dollars down here, that would surely give me an advantage.” I tried applying for US jobs but there simply not a lot of firms that want to hire an employee living in Brazil. I tried following a bunch of digital nomads on Instagram and they keep talking about how easy it is to make passive income digital marketing or on PInterest, or some other site, I just can’t understand how I could get involved with something like that. I tried freelancing on Upwork in my area and couldn’t find many opportunities. I tried looking on remoteok and other digital nomad sites where programmers could get hired. There were barely any postings that went to AI. And most of them went to very senior front end developers with LOTS of years if experience. Finally I applied to local jobs down here and got an offer.
Which brings me to my question, how exactly do you guys make money as digital nomads? It seems like everyone but me has a get rich quick scheme going on or some digitial marketing thing and I just can’t get it. Are people lying and just getting some money on the side from their parents or something?
British DN here. Worked in Construction for Main Contractors doing the Quantity Surveying (Cost Management for US ppl) for 5 years. I quit after 3 years of being a Trainee/ Assistance and went Freelance in London for a year, which I was heavy recommended not to, and arguably far too young or inexperienced to do so, but I bullshitted my interviews and it threw me in the deep end and I became really skilled and experienced very quick.
I took a break to India/ Sri Lanka, then came back did more Freelance saved up £7k and went to Mexico as wanted to live life in Sun an get out of the hell hole that is UK these days.
Had 2 ideas for making money:
- Teach English so I got a TEFL cert while sneakily at work those last 3 months in UK. Cost me £150 and was all online. Passed. That’s my back up if anything ever goes wrong I can always make money somehow as a native speaker.
- Set up Export Management Company. I tried hard with this but inevitably gave up after first year because I was running v low on cash, it was wayyyyy harder to break into clients that I wanted to work with and I was completely out of my depth LOL
It didn’t matter though… because I found out I could actually do the QS/ Estimating work remotely… effectively helping Trades/ Subcontractors price jobs an do estimating.
I emailed around ALL my old managers/ linkedin contacts and one old manager had gone solo and set up a small construction firm of his own. We negotiated a 50% pay cut on my rates, but flexible hours and I’d just charge a day rate for his Estimating needs.
He introduced me to a small Bricklaying company and charged him for me (taking a %). He told me he’d only “take a tenner” (£10) but me an the Brickie found out after 6 months he’d been taking £50 (so charging the Brickie £200).
We cut him out as he was actually a lying prick, and we decided to go it alone at a meet-in-middle rate of £175. That was 2020.
I’ve since built out his entire Bricklaying Company into something professional, with all the top Construction certs, and doubled his Turnover (during Covid). We just did our record year and next year looking to go for £1 million turnover. His biggest job was 3 houses and we’ve now done 21 Homes in both 2022 and 2023, and began doing enormous Care Homes and have been able to bring his Brother back into the business.
We do everything digitally - all Whatsapp based/ Whatsapp groups for projects. We have a Dropbox plan, and highly organized folders. We do Zooms/ Teams with clients. And as he is in the UK he attends meetings and I do everything by email/ zoom or Skype-Phone plan also.
My rate increased yearly from 175-190-skipped a year- then this year I agreed £220 a day. I work about 3-4 full days each week, varies a lot. Invoice bi-weekly £1300 to 1500.
I use a Florida Registered LLC so as a NRA I pay no tax. I don’t make more than £35k per year, and it’s expensive everywhere except Asia and Argentina. Hot Spots in Mexico are so expensive these days with Peso getting stronger.
Seek to limit your Expenses & Taxes and live cheaply. Always live like the locals. Make friends with locals not nomads. Learn the local language. Talk to taxi drivers everyday. Become friends with Cafe an restaurant owners. Befriend your airbnb hosts. Your network is critical.
I spend a lot as I have special diet requirements also - Carnivore/ Keto. That also makes it hard to travel. I also don’t drink or smoke. This means lack of “partying”, but that used to make me lonely & depressed even surrounded by a crowd.
This is the best life I could imagine for myself right now and I’m always grateful.
Just this year - Thailand, India, Indonesia (too far actually timezone killed me), Argentina and Colombia. I’m writing this from a $30 USD a night studio in Bariloche. Will be hiking in a few days once I’ve finished my tasks and opened up some free space.
I used to do a lot of manifestation/ The Secret stuff but now I just set my mind to what I want and then I go for it. IDK who or what is helping me but without a doubt I’m always looked after and I find that things take care of themselves. Osho & Zen Buddhism helped me a lot.
The world is getting much more expensive, but third world countries are getting more developed… there’s always a new amazing spot the hippies have found - just gotta find them.
My man!
Fellow brit here, while not necessarily a DN but working in the UAE, I’m dying to do my own thing and be in charge of my own income.
While I’m in a different field (Cyber), I find myself trying to break into any market I can think of to make my own money but also have started to resent my field and skillset.
Any tips on getting started I’m all ears / eyes!
Heya
I have been a digital nomad since 7+ years now and the best part?
I met a financial advisor during my stay in a country and he helped me strategise how to make $10k/month in digital nomadic lifestyle
Have a remote job at home and just started traveling. No one ever really asked where I am and when they do I just say at home. If someone new asks, I say “I am based in {city}” so basically a lot of people are just lying to their employers. But employers don’t have your best interest in mind so I’m not going to have theirs.
Most people pretend they’re in the us, work remotely and commit tax fraud among other things
The trick is to apply for local jobs in the US, not “remote” jobs. Any website that has all remote jobs listed on it will be super competitive.
But applying to local companies in mid-sized cities will be significantly easier AND still often have remote positions (especially depending on experience or if you’re cheap).
Many many companies went to remote whenever Covid happened & not all of them went back to being in-office. Some went back to in-office, some went to hybrid, some are still completely remote to save money on office space.
So you need to find these local mid or small sized companies that probably don’t have the biggest advertising or recruiting budget & get them to hire you remotely.