Mar 07, 2022
One of the best things about living and working as a marketer in this moment in time is that you do not have to be bound by the traditions and constraints of the past. A “9 to 5 job” – that requires a long daily commute, to a glass and concrete office building where you sit in a cramped cubicle – is rapidly becoming a symbol of a bygone era. This is just not the way that productive, creative people were intended to live and work. So, if you find yourself longingly looking forward to the next holiday or a few precious vacation days to escape the ongoing grind, you are likely ready for a change and you should read on to discover how best to escape.
The digital nomad movement has accelerated over the past few years as people found new ways to work from home or from other locations where they could safely follow social distancing guidelines. During the COVID pandemic, many people discovered that they could get their job done on their laptop from pretty much anywhere in the world. Working remotely has been facilitated for freelancers thanks to the introduction of new products and services that cater specifically to their needs for global travel and health care protection. By simply securing Cigna international travel coverage, you can live and work for a few months in one country before moving on to the next. Certain countries, like Barbados, Costa Rica and Iceland have even setup specific international visa programs to attract digital nomads and encourage talented people to come work and contribute to their economies.
If this type of nomadic lifestyle appeals to you, consider a few of the best ways to put your skills to work, earn money remotely and deliver value from wherever you choose to setup shop:
Take Your Skills on The Road
The recent pandemic demonstrated that people could work effectively from anywhere, if they have the right skills, enabling technology and supportive business cultures. Today, there are many companies that are shifting away from corporate office environments, hiring remote teams and encouraging their current teams to work remotely. This means that you could probably keep your current job and ask your management team if there is a way to take your job on the road. You may end up facing some difficulty with response times across different time zones, but if you are willing to work on the time zone of your clients, then anything is possible. Many offices these days don’t care what time or how you do the work as long as deadlines are met, and you are able to attend virtual meetings when required. If your company is not supportive or flexible when it comes to remote working, then you can always start your job search online and surely find one within your field. There are many job portals specifically for remote jobs. Many remote jobs in marketing only require relevant experience and there may not be specific degree requirements. Inventory the marketing skills that you have developed and be sure to highlight them on your social profiles to land your dream remote job.
Focus on Digital Marketing
There are two ways to work in digital marketing. One is to work as a freelancer and contract directly with your own clients. The other is to work with a marketing agency or consulting firm that may have clients around the world. Either way, there is potential to make quite a bit of money if you are a high performer. Given the nature of the work, you have a lot of freedom to work and live wherever you choose. Digital marketing can take many forms, but essentially it represents a powerful way to communicate brand stories and activate a marketing strategy to sell specific products and services online. Whether you decide to work for a firm or freelance, you could be in charge of anything from creating sales funnels to managing clients’ social media marketing strategies. You will have a chance to design and build websites that are either for affiliate marketing or e-commerce and find ways to bring traffic to the site. Then, your marketing experience will make money either through commissions earned when users click affiliate links with a special tracking ID, or they buy the products you are selling. Blogging these days is far more sophisticated than just writing articles and doing SEO for increasing organic traffic. You have to work all the marketing angles and strategies to get the right traffic and influence readers to click through and convert sales. When you get it right, digital marketing jobs can be highly lucrative and also give you a path to earning money while you sleep!
Setup an E-Commerce Business
In today’s fast-paced e-commerce economy, there is no need to actually handle the fulfillment of your own products from your online store. This means there is no reason for you to be tied down to one physical location or warehouse in order to successfully run your business. Furthermore, an online store is literally always open. And depending on how you configure your e-commerce platform, you don’t have to be present to interact with and support customers – it can all be automated. You can monitor your marketing, sales, order fulfillment and customer service processes from wherever you like. You can set up fulfillment with a company that will link to your store. When orders come in, they will pick, pack, and ship the package for you. You’ll pay fees for this outsourcing service, but you also won’t be paying for your own warehouse and logistics team, so you will likely lower costs in the long run and stay focused on your marketing and sales efforts. Your primary goal will be to drive traffic to your site and take responsibility for search engine optimization strategies. Content marketing through blogs, social media, email campaigns and electronic catalogs must also be a key part of your go-to-market strategy. If you have any digital marketing experience, then it can easily be applied to your online store site. Running digital ads and buying media is a science and takes a lot of patience and focus to get the right campaign running that will lead to qualified leads and conversion to sales.
When it all comes together, the lifestyle of a digital nomad can be a beautiful thing. And don’t forget to take the time to be a tourist along the way and explore the countries where you’re living and working! To learn more about how to become a digital nomad and successful marketing road warrior, please follow me @TopRightPartner! If you’d like to continue receiving a series of great tips like this, sign up for the TopRight blog, connect with me on LinkedIn, or buy a copy of my latest book, Marketing, Interrupted.