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?
I teach English as a second language and do all my classes online
You won't likely make amazing money, but depending on where you live and your standard of living you can certainly live comfortably
It's really rewarding to help someone learn English and improve themselves. Also I work independently so it's nice not having a boss
Where are you working from now?
You said it's not amazing money, but could it increase as you become more skilled / senior?
I'm actually in the states at the moment, spending the holidays with my family. I live/work most of the time in Brazil. But I've spent time other places in South America and Europe
Yes, you can raise your prices. As your prices increase you'll become more of a niche teacher, catering specifically to the people who have the financial resources to pay for your classes. Which is a good strategy if you really want to have the DN life as a teacher
Also, you can create a "school" by hiring other teacher who work for you. At this point you're essentially getting more leads than you can work with so you hand them off to your contract-teachers and get a percentage of the cost of the classes