Today, the world is becoming more remote, in terms of our working lifestyle and this can be a great opportunity for those looking to ditch the traditional 9-5 office setting. Presuming you have a decent internet connection, you can literally work and study from anywhere in the world; be that in the comfort of your own home or the luxury of a beach paradise.

Indeed, for many people today, “living the dream” is no longer about having a corner office with a fancy job title – it’s more about having the freedom to jet off to an exotic location and work from their laptop in a beach hut if they so desire.

The benefits of this remote working lifestyle are clear, and they are legitimate; indeed there are plenty of people who have given up their office cubicle for a beach lifestyle in the South Pacific, where they can get a foot massage for a few dollars while completing tasks on their iPad.

Similarly, online learning offers a great way to save money when compared to the massive expenses of college fees and the costs often associated with moving away from home to a campus. Today, you can even enroll in courses offered by prestigious international universities and learn remotely, anywhere in the world.

A remote working lifestyle is clearly an attractive option, but it’s important to be realistic about how challenging it can be to find paid opportunities and ensure you have a strategy in place to be able to keep your head above water, particularly when starting out.

This article looks at three ways to do just that:

Remote Working Lifestyle Considerations

1. HAVE MULTIPLE PROJECTS

The general advice is to have a number of different projects rather than depending on one source of income, from one employer. If you think of it as a table with four legs vs. one leg you can picture how your financial stability is more vulnerable if you have one leg supporting the table as opposed to four.

The key advice, therefore, is to develop multiple streams of income rather than relying on one particular source.

2. DEVELOP SKILLS THAT ARE IN DEMAND

The next bit of advice is to develop skills that are in demand, and in particular, skills where the need is likely to increase in coming years.

The demand for video editing is booming; yet you can pick up basic video editing skill very quickly, and the Adobe Suite of products doesn’t cost that much for a monthly subscription.

Web Design is yet another booming marketplace. Just a few years ago it was necessary for web designers to have a thorough knowledge of coding. However, today are plenty of WYSWYG website builders available, where it is as simple as dragging and dropping elements onto a page. This is very easy to learn and has a low barrier to entry.

Copywriting is another excellent option, now, of course, you’ll need to develop your English language skills and one of the best ways to do this is to practice English by reading aloud, but there are many ways you can make money using your ability to write. For instance, you could write blog posts, advertising copy, or even more specialized projects such as business plans.

3. BECOME AN EXPERT IN A PARTICULAR FIELD

Rather than being a generalist or jack of all trades, it pays to focus on one particular field and within one sub-genre of that; for instance, web design for hotels would be better than a broad spectrum and generic “we can build your website” service.

As a life coach, I empower women to define their passion, link it to their purpose and unapologetically explore the possibilities that await.

Life is short, so why not chase your dream. And if chasing it takes you to a lovely island for a stretch of time, while you make money doing what your love, then, by all means, GO FOR IT!

What’s your passion? Can it be monetized sufficiently to earn a living?

*Collaborative post