Moving to another country is a dream come true for many retirees. Whether you are wanting to escape the cold, live where the cost of living is lower or you are wanting to experience different cultures, your successful relocation depends on you managing your money well. No one wants to have a financial crisis far from home.
In order for you to be able to live comfortably on your retirement income, no matter where you end up, you may need to earn some extra money to make ends meet and/or be able to afford some frills. Side hustles for expats can bridge your money gaps and give you peace of mind.
Luckily there are many ways you can supplement your reduced income, even when you are living in a foreign country.
If you are an expat looking for a side hustle idea or two, here are 12 ways to earn cash when travelling:
Side Hustles To Supplement Your Income While Living Abroad
1. Freelance Writer
Freelance writing is without a doubt one of the easiest ways to make make money online, especially as an expat. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, as long as you have access to the internet and writing skills, then you can earn cash as a writer. What you should do is join at least 3-4 content creation platforms.
Alternatively, you can start your own website. Create a portfolio and load it up with samples of your work. Next, reach out to various businesses and website owners to see if they’d be interested in paying you to provide content to them.
2. Social Media Marketing Expert
Many businesses around the globe still don’t know how to use social media to its fullest potential. This is where you come in. You can contact various businesses in the area you’re residing in or contact business around the globe. Pitch them about your services and the benefits of social media.
All you need is a handful of clients per month to make a really good living. A good example is to offer social media marketing services at a set price of (just an example) $100 for a month’s worth of service. If you can land just 30 clients per month, then you’ll be on your way to earning thousands of dollars as an expat.
3. Become A YouTuber
Another good way to make income online is YouTube. YouTubers can make a decent amount of cash, but you do need to get 1,000 subscribers before being accepted into the YouTube partner program. However, you can try to earn more money via affiliate marketing. This involves finding products/services to promote via YouTube videos and then you get paid when viewers click your link and purchases those products/services.
Making cash on YouTube isn’t something that will happen fast. If you’re consistent and publish videos regularly, then eventually you’ll earn money.
4. Teach English
Teaching English is one of the top ways to make money as an expat living in a non-English speaking country. Obtaining a TEFL certificate is a must, as this will increase your chances of landing a job teaching abroad.
When the time comes to finding work, there’s no shortage of job boards you can check out. Look for teaching related jobs in the area you’re living in. Alternatively, you can contact an agency that specializes in getting expats English teaching jobs.
5. Sell An Online Course
Expats can create an online course to sell. It doesn’t matter who you are, the chances are you know something that is valuable to someone. For example, do you know how to make money online? Are you an expert writer? If so, create a course on how to earn cash online or a course on writing. You can literally create a course about anything these days.
One way to sell a course is to sell it via your own website. Use a tool like LearnWorlds to create your course before publishing it to your site. You can also sell on a platform like Udemy, which is one of the top places to sell courses.
6. Online Tutoring
Online tutoring can bank expats a lot of cash. You can tutor students in an array of subjects, such as math, science, language or any subject for that matter. There are platforms that connect students with tutors. What you want to do is join 2-3 platforms that cater to expats/tutors in the country you’re living in. Then you can start teaching students, while making money online.
7. House Sit
Another easy side hustle idea is to offer house sitting services. It doesn’t matter what country you’re currently in or planning to visit, there will be people looking for a house sitter. You can charge by the hour or a flat fee for your service. This is a great way for expats to easily earn around $100 per day or even more.
To get started, join several house sitting sites. After you’ve done that, you’ll create your profile and then you can start looking for house sitting gigs.
A few of the top sites you can join to find work are:
Related Post: Is Global Housesitting Right For You?
8. Dog Walker
To be successful as a dog walker, you want to be residing or near a city or town with a large population. The larger the population, the more people who will have dogs. In turn, this means you have tremendous earning potential. In general, you can easily earn around $20 per 30-minute dog walk. The more dogs you can walk at the same time, the more money you can make.
9. Hotel Work
Hotels usually have a high turnover rate, and they are constantly looking for help. As an expat, you can apply for jobs such as reception, house cleaning, dishwasher and room service to name a few.
Working at a hotel can be lucrative. With no experience, you can easily earn around $15 per hour. You might also be tipped, which can add to your income.
If you are an RV traveler, you can offer your services to campgrounds that you stay at for cash or in lieu of rent. If you don’t mind cleaning toilets, gardening or fixing things, this may be the perfect way to keep costs down and make some extra cash while on the road.
10. Restaurant Worker
Like the hotel industry, restaurants have a very high turnover rate. This is especially the case where tourism is high. If you’re an expat in an area that is big with tourists, then you can make quick cash and a lot of it.
Landing a job at a restaurant is easy, but you’ll likely need a work visa or a license. If you already have one, then start looking through the classifies, both online classifies and newspapers. You can make a list of restaurants in your area and contact each one to see if they have job openings.
11. Fitness Instructor And/Or Yoga Teacher
You get a world-wide recognized fitness certification, such as from ISSA. Once certified, you can work anywhere as a fitness instructor. Alternatively, you can gain qualifications so you can become a yoga teacher. Better yet, you can gain both qualifications, that way you can work as both a fitness trainer and a yoga teacher.
You can work at gyms, fitness studios, yoga studios or you can rent out your own commercial space and try to attract clients. Advertising online via paid social media ads is one of the best ways to get clients.
As for earning potential, expats can make excellent money. You can earn $20 per session as a trainer, and that’s on the low-end. Yoga teachers can make around the same amount.
Check out advice from other expats about relocating here.
12. Scuba, Surfing Or Ski Instructor
One of the best ways to make money as an expat is to be a scuba, surfing and/or ski instructor. If you are in a country that gets all four seasons, then you can do all three. Once you are certified, you’ll have the chance to work for companies that employ such instructors. If you gain plenty of work experience and you have decided you want to live in the host country for the long-term, then you can start your own business teaching people how to scuba dive, surf and/or ski.
Feel free to do just one side hustle idea or give them all a try. It’s recommended that you try several of the above because this will help you earn more money as an expat. Who knows, one of those side hustles could turn into something more, such as a full-fledged business.
About the author:
Peter Koch is a veteran money maker with various side hustles. He is a DollarSanity co-founder and he has been featured in Yahoo Finance, MSN, The Guardian, Daily Mail, and many others.