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?
Don't pay attention to idiotic social media influencers. First rule.
After applying that, it really is as easy or difficult as you want to see it.
It is as simple as generating income online, you can get a job, be a freelancer or start a business. But don't think it will be easy, people overvalue their effort, how many quotes did you send to say it's not working for you? How many jobs did you apply for? If the answer is 100 it is little, if it is 200 it is little, if it is 500 it is also little, nobody knows. That it is COMPLETELY POSSIBLE to earn income to live as a digital nomad is a fact, I am from Uruguay and I have been doing it for years and many of my friends have made the transition, partly seeing my experience.
But there is no magic recipe, think creatively, try several different ways, find a way that works fairly well and try endlessly with that formula. It's a matter of time until you get it