I had just finished my study abroad course in Florence, Italy and I spent most of the summer partyingβbut my head never throbbed as much as this morning. The party last night had been epic: 60 people at my flat, eating pasta and fresh buffalo mozzarella while watching fireworks above Piazzale Michaelangelo for La Festa di San Giovanni. I stumbled to my computer to check my email. Gmail loaded, and the expression on my face mutated.
I had accidentally bought a ticket to Buenos Aires. Oh, and I had apparently stopped out of Stanford as well. Over the next few weeks, I decided that I had made the right decision, and I planned my trip to Buenos Aires. My only problem was funding: how could I afford this journey? I set out to try and find a freelancing gig, someone who would pay me to work on a project, no matter what city I was located in.
I found not one, but three gigs 2 programming and one writing job that paid in dollars and euros, while I was spending in pesos. I used these gigs to fund my travels for two years in South America and India. How can you break free and become location independent? It sucks, but it comes with the job. The benefits: freedom of location, a liberated time schedule, and the possibility of currency arbitrage make it well worth it.
The first thing you should think about is the type of work you want to do. I was lucky to have studied as a programmer when I began my search. Freelancing Internet jobs, such as programming, graphic design, etc. Do you have any skills you can teach? Check out edufire. Can you speak any other languages? You might be able to find work as a translator.
Are you a native English speaker? You can find writing jobs everywhere. You want to think hard about the kind of value you can provide to a client.
