Being a Digital Nomad is great, but you need a permanent source of income to help fund your travel lifestyle. As a lot of Digital Nomads are freelancers, it can be daunting if it feels like your work might be starting to dry up or if your clients have become inconsistent.
Looking for a side business as a Digital Nomad is the perfect way to supplement your lifestyle and top up your income. It’s not easy starting anything from scratch and that’s why these suggestions are ‘side hustles’ and not your full time work… yet! With some time and effort (oh and patience) put in you can totally turn a side business into a full time gig. So, if you’re a digital nomad and you’re looking for a new side business, this is a great place to start generating ideas.
5 Side Business Ideas For Digital Nomads To Start ASAP!
1. Digital Product On Etsy
Did you know you can buy (and sell) digital products on Etsy? I didn’t until a friend showed me and there are literally 1000s of opportunities to create and sell a digital product on Etsy. If you’re the creative type, this could be the perfect option for you as a Digital Nomad side business.
I’ve seen people selling baby shower games that the customer downloads and then prints themselves. There’s pre-designed excel worksheets, colouring books for kids, digital wall art and digital journals. The ideas are endless! And the best part is, it hardly costs anything to set up, you just have to put in a bit effort with your creations! I started an Etsy store selling pre-made powerpoint presentations, I’m not exactly flying private jets from the income, but it’s definitely a nice little earner.
Setting up your Etsy store couldn’t be easier, and there are plenty of youtube videos on how to sell digital products on Etsy. Now all you need is a name for your new store and a few designs to get you started.
2. Blogger
There’s pros and cons to starting a blog when you’re a digital nomad. The pros being that it’s super easy for anyone to start, and there are plenty of free websites and templates to help you. The con is that you do have to play the long game. And you will likely not start making money from a blog until you have been consistently posting for over a year and ranking on google. But if you have a topic you are passionate about, it should be very easy to write lots of authentic content and engage your audience.
My brother has a very successful blog on ‘Marine Fish’, he never started it to make money but now it’s almost his full time income. If you have some free time, this could be the ideal digital nomad side business to start now. Check out WordPress or Squarespace to help start your new blog.
Some advice: There are lots of travel blogs already out there, which means the competition on Google is already VERY high. Therefore making money from your blog will likely take even longer. Find your niche passion and write about that instead.
3. Social Media Influencer
In truth, I am not a fan of social media for varying reasons. However, as a side business for your digital nomad lifestyle it is the perfect opportunity to make some money. You’ll have lots of rich travel content to share with your followers and nowadays there are many small start ups that will work with micro-influencers (10,000 followers or less). So don’t stress if your following isn’t strong at the moment, you can slowly build it up and eventually work with much bigger brands.
Start by making your page and content look professional and relatable to your audience. You can engage with them by asking them questions on what type of travel stuff they want to see more of. And finally, do your research by following and examining other influencer pages that have it nailed.
There are also plenty of brands with an affiliate program. Head to their website and check if they have one you can sign up to.
4. Dropshipping Business
A dropshipping business is probably not a side business you had considered before. But it can be a great option for digital nomads to make more money on the side. This one is a bit more complicated and requires some effort so I’ll break it down for you.
What is dropshipping?
Dropshipping enables you to sell a physical product via an online platform or store without having to physically own the stock or even process the orders.
How does dropshipping work?
There are dropshipping companies which produce, store and ship products for you. You need to find a company who’s product you want to sell and sign up to an agreement with them to use their service. The fees for this type of service can be quite high given the convenience they provide but it can outweigh the benefit of not having to own the stock. Which is usually a big outlay for many start-ups.
How to pick a product for dropshipping?
This will come down to the type of products that the dropshipping companies sell. It’s often very common items like t-shirts, photo frames, candles etc but often they can be customisable. This is where you can stand out against the crowd. Unique designs will help sell your product.
You may have seen a genius idea during your time as a digital nomad such as a travel yoga mat and you could find a company that supplies this and then make your own designs. But something this unique usually comes at a higher cost and is more difficult to source. Not impossible though so if you have a product idea, just do the research.
Where can I sell my products?
There are a few platforms you can sell on with a dropshipping set up. One of them being on Etsy, you can literally connect the dropshipping service you have used directly to your Etsy store saving you loads of hassle! If you’re completely new to setting up an online store I would recommend going with this option as Etsy make it very easy. However there are additional fees to selling on Etsy so build that into your margins.
The other place to sell your products is via your own e-comm platform with Shopify, for example. This is a lot more complicated and time consuming as you need to set up an entire website and treat it like a proper business, not just a side business.
There’s definitely more to dropshipping then listed above but it gives you a good understanding of what is required and how it works. Hopefully from this you’ll know if it’sthe right side business for you.
5. Online Course
You can find an online course for quite literally ANYTHING these days. I’ve seen online courses for; How to become an influencer. Selling on Amazon. And even a course on How to create and sell courses! Personally I think an online course is a great side business for any digital nomad. If you have a skill or tonnes of knowledge on a particular subject, why not turn it into an online course? I actually created a course to educate teachers on the importance of breast health and breast science!
Thinkific help you create and sell your online course making it as easy as possible. You’ll need to do some marketing to drive sales but with the help of social media that’s very easy to do these days. Most of the hard work is done in creating the course but once that’s finished there’s very little effort involved and you can sit back and watch the sales roll in.
There you have it, 5 side business ideas that are ideal for digital nomads. And if you’re looking for more digital nomad work advice, check out my post: 5 Ways To Become A Digital Nomad. I also love sharing my story: How Looking At Boobs Gave Me Freedom To Travel The World, because it makes you realise how many opportunities there are that enable remote working.
Good luck with your new side business venture, let me know how it goes! Or if you have any questions on any of the above please drop them in the comments and I will be happy to help.
Amber x