With many people realising the benefits of taking some time out to go travelling, the trend for an adult ‘gap year’ has been booming in the last couple of years. While students are used to slumming it in hostels and seriously cheap hotels – there is also a market for those who want to do some travelling without having to budget. The idea of going away for a year may seem financially daunting to some people, but the internet is a great way to make money and you can find wifi near enough everywhere on the globe. If you are thinking about packing it all in and going on an adventure there are plenty of things you can do to make ends meet. So here are 5 ideas for you to think about:
1. Do some paid writing work
You don’t need to be a literary genius to pick up some online copywriting work. There are may websites that act as broker websites like Textbroker and Greatcontent. The way that work is that you are given a sample article to write when you initially sign up. Once you have done this you will be given a grade by their team and then you can log on and select articles to write of that grade. You will need to complete quite a lot of work to earn big bucks depending on your grade – but there are many different ways to add to your income through online writing work. If a client likes you because you complete orders in a timely fashion and write them well then they may either invite you to join their team or even select you to do some work for them individually. Depending on what grade you are a 700 word article can make you around £20, so this easily adds up if you can spare an afternoon or two while you are travelling.
2. Sell Your Knitting Online
Ok, this might seem a little random, but knitwear is getting more and more popular as people want unique items and whilst on the move, it can get really boring on those long flights, bus and train journeys. You can use this time to make a bit of money if you are skilled. My friend Sheila can knit for England. And she does! She’s always conjuring up sweaters and scarves, some of them beautiful works of art. She sells online and gets regular, income, just by doing what she loves. She snaps up bargain basement wool in sales and is never caught unaware for last minute birthday gifts.She has a supply of lovely goodies for gift purposes when Christmas and birthdays come around. It doesn’t have to be just knitting, if your arty and crafty then anything you can make can be sold. She discovered that sites like Etsy are great for helping you set-up your own store and set up her own. A savvy lady indeed.
3. Sell your Photography
When you are taking your photos on your adventure, try and think a little bit bigger than your social media accounts. Many bloggers and website owners pay for stock photos and there are a lot of broker websites like Fotolia and Shutterstock which allow you to sell your photos online. If you are going to a remote place get as many pictures as possible as it means they will be more rare and easier to sell. Just remember that once you have sold the picture itself you have also sold the rights – so you won’t be able to use it yourself
4. Online trading
The thought of online trading can be intimidating to someone with no prior knowledge of the stock market. You don’t have to be a professional stock broker to put some money into investments. Online trading websites like CMC Markets let people with no experience register and start trading online instantly. You can invest in instruments like forex, stocks and shares, mutual funds and CFDs. Many of the online trading websites that are available on the web give you the opportunity to register and use a practice mode before you deposit your own money to invest for real. If you are travelling it can be hard to keep up with your investments but most good online trading websites will have a mobile app so you can keep a check on things anywhere you are able to access wifi. If you are going to trade in something like forex the markets can change quite quickly – so ensure you set everything at safe levels if you are going to be somewhere remote for any period of time. Do your research, you can never know enough when it comes to trading and all that comes with it.
5. Get Blogging
This can work side-by-side with the writing and photography so you are covering all areas now! You can put both these skills to use by writing about travels for example, or any topic of interest. If you can create great content that people want to read and share then it won’t be long until people start approaching you for offers. They say you should write about what you know, you might think it’s not that interesting but to someone else it’s a whole world away from what their life is like. This can be great, especially if it is about your travels, it’s almost as if you are being paid to write in your dairy. I would do some research, and see what you can make your unique selling point. The most common way to start a blog is with wordpress.com, you can customise and create a website which suits your style and personality.
