Being uneducated doesn’t mean you can’t make a living travelling around the world

As an introductory post, I’ll share some things that I think may help people out there feeling the need to ‘get out’, leave, pick up and go, and yet feel they don’t necessarily have the educational background or work experience to do so.

I left school at 15 years-old, with perhaps written, and officially sanctioned proof, that I was indeed the idiot my parents had assiduously told me I was. The proof is in the pudding, so they say, and my pudding read D- or thereabouts, neatly couched between a pile of school reports that all said something close to, “Must try harder.”

I didn’t try very hard to be honest, and was more interested in how to create a Holden Caulfield than turning up to a school which was divided between good kids and bad kids long before my sorry face was missing in a class photo.

I had a plan to travel the world, write stories, become renowned, and one day send giddy missives back home to all the disbelievers detailing my adventures and their gullible non-travels.

It didn’t quite work out like that, but I am still here, living in the only place I want to live, nestled in my tropical cockpit aside some mountains in South East Asia. I’ve been on the road for more than 20 years. I don’t write resentful letters back home.

Foot in the Door

Back before the term digital nomad became an expression, earning money in faraway places often meant the requirement of having a university degree. Not finishing high school is pretty much resume anathema, but I quickly learned how to get around this.

*Note. I advocate always telling the truth. Buying a degree online or paying $50 for a MA in Medieval History counterfeit is not recommended. You don't need to lie.

Starting off, while working on a landscape crew in Canada I took a course in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). A course which is practically impossible not to pass, and what you learn or don’t learn will soon become evident when you start to teach. I even started my own private school in one country, putting up posters at universities and trawling local businesses. No work permit, illegal, so that had to stop. But I got by for a while.

The TEFL certificate is virtually a passport to travelling around the world. Schools may require you have a degree; some governments may state that you do, but mostly in language schools this is not a legal prerequisite. My advice to budding teachers: find out when the terms end, and apply in person a week before. Schools are always short of teachers at this time – I now know many school owners. This is when managers get nervous and will hire teachers that are perhaps not armed with beneficial (as opposed to my sort) qualifications.

This got me going, the teaching, and it was for the most part very enjoyable. You meet the locals, as they say, and it’s then you start making contacts.

As a sideline, I started selling things online, things that I could buy cheap in cheap countries and make a few bucks from selling them in countries that were not so cheap. After being harangued by Ebay I soon gave this up, but for a year or two it kept me in money. On my travels I have met many expats who have literally fallen on an idea of buying one thing here and selling it there and have made tons of money. There’s no secret recipe; you don’t need to get on the affiliate program. See what’s missing, and provide the goods. I have a friend that has made a small fortune exporting paper!

To my shame, I was one of the first guys (in this part of the world) to start writing SEO (Search Engine Optimization). It didn’t earn me very much money, but it was for my travelling buddy who owned the company. He became fairly wealthy; I just kept writing. By the way, he met his contact in a bar. Like I say, stick around, but stray from the madding crowds who all tell you they are “smashing it”.

Doing ‘spoken words, reading maybe-at-best-ok poetry landed me a gig at a magazine; which, landed me a gig at a news desk; which gave me the impetus to start freelancing, and 20 years on I am doing well on my own terms writing mostly journalism, but some copywriting and blogging.

What can I say, if you stick with something it usually pays off.

My thing was rearranging words into sentences and sentences into stories. What most young digital nomads in my experience seem to fail to realize is that you do actually require some sort of talent to make it on the road. Don’t buy into the ‘Make lots of money from home’ routine, rather, buy into the fact you’ll get paid if you put the work in.

There is no Yellow Brick Road, in spite of what digital-schemers may tell you. But then again, if you are looking to make gains from being on the road it’s very possible given you have time to stick around and feel out what’s missing where you have chosen to live. I am surrounded by friends who did just that, and not one had to unfurl a bounty of educational certificates to prove they were worth their salt.

Getting to the bottom of this I realize it’s maybe a little vague. I guess I just want to say that you don’t need proof that you can do something as long as you are committed, and that there are opportunities around the world so long as you have the staying power to figure them out. As for education, auto-didacts may have a rough start, but they usually prevail; much of the time because they have no choice but to focus and try that little bit harder. If you are a dummy like me, I hope this is some inspiration.