How to Make a Living While Traveling
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photo by lechatnoir via iStock
If you’re a photographer, there’s probably been more than one occasion in which you thought, “Man, I wish I could travel and photograph the world and make money doing it.”
And while that might seem like a pipe dream that most of us can never possibly attain, it’s actually something you can attain with some prep work.
Now, this isn’t to say that packing up your life and hitting the road for months or years on end is easy, because it isn’t. I’m just saying it’s not as difficult as you think!
Let’s take a look at a few ways to make a living while traveling that will allow you to do what you love and give you the freedom to explore the world at the same time.
Try Affiliate Marketing
photo by aydinynr via iStock
If you’re unfamiliar with affiliate marketing, it’s a method used by many photographers to generate income streams from product links that they promote.
In other words, companies pay you a commission for sales (or sometimes even just traffic to their site) generated by your affiliate links.
Affiliate marketing can be for virtually any kind of product or service, photography-related or otherwise. Cameras, hotels, food and beverages - you name it.
The question is, how do you get started?
Again, it’s easier than you might think!
photo by Geber86 via iStock
With no experience whatsoever, you can get going in affiliate marketing by joining Travel School’s comprehensive training program.
With a proven step-by-step process, you’ll learn how to build a successful business that generates you income in the short and long-term.
Travel School was built on the notion that anyone can master affiliate marketing. And their specific, actionable steps help you get there by helping you connect with various businesses and brands and develop core marketing skills that will lead to financial independence.
With private marketing lessons to get you jump started and recorded training sessions and webinars you can access anytime, Travel School gives you all the tools you need to realize your dream of living on the road!
Get Involved in Stock Photography
photo by zeljkosantrac via iStock
Stock photography might not offer the level of income it once did, but it still represents an excellent means of income for photographers that are traveling the world.
And it’s not like you won’t have plenty of subjects to photograph on your travels!
Like affiliate marketing, there’s a lot of passive income potential in stock photography.
photo by bogdankosanovic via iStock
Sure, there’s some legwork that’s required upfront in taking photos, editing them, uploading them to stock sites, tagging them, and so forth. But once they’re uploaded and tagged, you really don’t have to do anything.
Besides, there is an incredible need for stock photography in many different industries, so the possibilities are virtually endless for earning a little money from your stock photos.
Get started by exploring mistakes to avoid in stock photography and the following reviews of several popular stock photography sites:
Monetize Your YouTube Channel
Photo by Hello I'm Nik ?? on Unsplash
The great thing about YouTube is that you can monetize your channel as a means of making side income as you travel.
Essentially what happens is that after your channel is approved for monetization, YouTube will place ads in or near your videos. With a connected Google AdSense account, you’ll earn income that’s generated from the ads.
On top of that, videos are a great way to teach others about the process of photography. You can demonstrate your expertise, develop a reputation as a great photographer and teacher, and that in and of itself might lead into a nice following on YouTube (and get you more clients in the process).
Edit Other People’s Photos
photo by cdwheatley via iStock
Not every photographer has time to edit their own photos, so they outsource that job to other photographers. Why not make yourself that photographer?!
There will be days when the weather is bad or you can’t sleep or you just want to relax, and those are perfect times to make a few extra bucks by editing photos for other photographers.
If you look on sites like Upwork and Fiverr, you’ll find all sorts of job listings for photo editing.
So long as you have your laptop and a good post-processing workflow, you can hammer out editing photos in pretty short order and add that money to your income stream as you travel.
Better yet, combine all the different ideas presented here and you’ll have multiple revenue streams to support yourself as you explore the world.
