Have you ever looked at someone’s social media page and wondered where they find the time and money to travel so much? 

They’re probably digital nomads. In other words, they’re people who travel while working and make money off the internet. They have flexible schedules, don’t need to clock in and out, and they get to explore the world on the go. 

All they need is the necessary skills and an internet connection. Best job ever? Maybe. 

With lockdowns coming to an end, this is the perfect opportunity to take your office to the mountains--without worrying about when you’ll get back home. 

Here’s a checklist of what digital nomads can’t go without:

• A laptop.

• A reliable internet connection.

• A knack for working online.

• A hunger for travelling.

• The willingness to learn additional skills, or hone existing ones.

Note that every job listed below requires training and, a lot of times, long work hours. They’re still jobs, after all! The good news is, there are plenty of options anyone can master.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Specialist

SEO specialists are the masterminds who crack the code of reaching top rankings in search engines like Google. Their skills rely on best practices such as keyword research, link building, optimized content creation, and white hat SEO practices. 

The goal of SEO professionals boils down to generating targeted traffic, multiple shares, and increasing visitors’ time on website pages. High-quality traffic, in turn, will improve a website’s online visibility--which is crucial for lead generation and conversions. 

SEO experts are in high demand in 2021, and won’t become obsolete anytime soon. 

Affiliate Marketer

An affiliate marketer makes money by earning commissions from other brands for marketing their products. The results? Massive traffic generation. Increased brand awareness and customer acquisition. In short, a career that’s chock-full of benefits for any online business aiming for rapid growth. 

Arguably, the most exciting part about affiliate marketing is every entrepreneur’s dream: making money while you sleep. It’s no wonder 40% of marketers consider affiliate marketing a crucial skill for online success. 

What’s more, Findstack estimates that 80% of brands will have affiliate programs in 2021. 

Web Developer

Web developers are responsible for building and designing websites on a deep level. These professionals can be divided into three main categories:

The front-end developer works with markup, styling, and programming languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. They organise websites in a way responsive design standards and stellar user experience (UX) are met. 

The back-end developer administers databases and creates rock-solid website architectures relying on programming languages like Python, Ruby, and PHP. Their goal is to have all front-end operations running without any hiccups. 

The full-stack developer is a true multitasker. They are specialised to do both back-end and front-end work, and are familiar with all programming languages. 

Due to the increasing popularity of mobile apps and ecommerce stores, the demand for web development services is expected to grow 8% in 10 years at an above-average rate.  

Web Designer

While web designers may also be familiar with the “tech-y” language of web developers, they’re more engaged in the appearance of a website. 

Using tools like Illustrator, Photoshop, and Sketch, web designers are responsible for creating UX and SEO-compliant website designs. They will also create graphic design elements such as logos and icons based on a company’s branding. 

Just like web developers, the employment of web designers has a projected growth of 8% until 2029. 

Copywriter

Copywriting is often defined as “salesmanship in print” for a good reason. With digital marketing reigning supreme over traditional marketing, however, it makes sense to call it salesmanship on the screen. 

Contrary to creative writers, copywriters work with conversions in mind. Writing is only part of the process: these professionals interview customers and potential customers, dig deeper into their decision-making process, understand their pain points, beliefs, and fears...and only then tap into the right messaging and tone of voice to write pages that sell. 

Copywriters are responsible for the research, planning, writing, editing, and optimisation of high-converting marketing materials such as landing pages, sales pages, product pages (like the ones you see on Amazon), and even whole websites. 

Copywriting is a high-demand career for those looking to tie product research, writing and marketing together. 

Video Editor

According to TechCrunch, the average Youtube viewer watches 5 hours of videos a month. Plus, YouTube has over 1 billion active users. That explains why 48% of marketers expect to add YouTube to their marketing strategy in the next year. 

The famous YouTubers everyone loves wouldn’t be as successful if they didn’t have a trusted editor behind every video. A video editor receives untouched footage from a client, organises and reorders clips, retouches elements light lighting and coloring, and finally adds sound effects if required. Their work platforms include softwares like Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro. 

In short, their job is to get videos looking professional and ready to publish.

Language Teacher

You read that right. After COVID-19 has demanded an initially impromptu migration to online teaching platforms, students and teachers alike are finally acquainted with the remote schooling environment. And a lot of them prefer it that way. 

Language teachers teach foreign languages to native English speakers using specific frameworks that involve reading, listening, speaking, and writing. And now, they get to enjoy teaching from anywhere by applying to online teaching platforms like FluentU and goFLUENT.

Seeing that there's a global language teacher shortage, now’s the perfect time to follow a remote teaching career.  

Translator

Movie subtitles, user manuals, legal documents, novels, research papers...there’s an avalanche of translating jobs out there. 

The role of a translator is to, of course, convert one language to another using software like OmegaT. Besides, translators can work from anywhere, as long as they have a connected computer and the right tools. 

German, Japanese, Arabic, Spanish, Russian, and Mandarin. Are you fluent in any of these languages? They’re some of the highest-paying translation languages in the world! 

But of course, as long as you’re fluent in a second language, your translation work will be needed. After all, the employment of translators has an estimated growth of 20 percent from 2019 to 2029. 

Customer Service Representative

Customer service representatives (CSRs) are the professionals you talk to when you have complaints about a product or service. Their job is to get in touch and engage with customers to address their objections and complaints, as well as to encourage their feedback. 

All they need to get work done is a phone or a computer, as they’ll either be taking calls from customers or communicating via email or online chats. That means they can work from home, the mountains, or pretty much anywhere they wish.

With customer experience (CX) being essential to build customer loyalty, the employment of CSR has an estimated growth of 5 percent from 2016 to 2026. And if you’re thinking chatbots and automated services are about to rule the world, think again: the US and the UK customers would give everything to get help from an actual human. 

Social Media Influencer

Likely the most glamorous professionals in the digital world, social media influencers get paid to use their influence on existing social media platforms to promote different brands. 93 percent of marketers rely on influencer marketing campaigns because, well, they wouldn’t want to miss out on one of the fastest-growing online customer acquisition methods.

By the way, you don’t need to be an Instagram model under 25 to do it. The influencer industry is getting increasingly diverse, and the demand for influencers in areas like comedy, health and wellness, and body positivity is huge. And these are just a few examples. What’s more, they can manage their entire career from online influencer marketplaces.

You don’t even need thousands of followers to make it happen since micro-influencers have shown higher engagement rates. So if you’re in the 1K follower range, rejoice!