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How to Make Money While Traveling: Blogging, Web Design, Photography

In this post, you’ll learn how we became location independent. And how to make money while traveling and living abroad. I’ll cover the specific ways we make money while traveling and living abroad, including blogging, web design, and photography.

How to Make Money While Traveling

 

How to Make Money While Traveling

Last week, a reader wanted to know how we earn our living here. We are in a fairly unique situation compared to most expats – at least those in Cuenca. The majority of expats here are retired. They receive a monthly income from pensions or investments and don’t worry too much about their income.

When we moved to Ecuador, it was for a set number of years – we hoped for 2-3 years minimum, as long as the expenses were what we projected. After than, we would run out of money and go back to Canada. Returning wasn’t our goal – it was our worst case scenario. We planned on finding work and staying here indefinitely – which is what we have done.

Here is the question:

Hello Bryan & Dena,
I really enjoy your web site and all of the posts. The new one on health was very enlightening. I have been very interested in the costs of living abroad and have found your site very informative.
I hate to be so personal but how are you generating income to live down there? I know you have the blog and I hope that it with ads is paying you a bunch. Are either of you also working there or via computer back in Canada? Are you writers?
Are you able to get by just writing and living/enjoying life there? How is a typical day for you — not a weekend day but a “work” day?
Feel free to ignore my questions, but to a certain extent I am living vicariously through you. I am a few years off from retirement but like the idea of living elsewhere for at least part of the year.
Thanks for your hard work and interesting site!

So, how do we earn our living? It’s a bit of a long answer, but here goes, for anyone interested.

Project 1: GringosAbroad

What started out as destination-ecuador.com (boring, I know) was changed into what it is now: GringosAbroad.com

Our initial plan was to write and make revenue from advertising earned on our travel blog. The advertising revenue hasn’t really developed to the level we planned, but we are making money from the project.

As a result of our travel / expat site we were hired to cover online business by About.com (at the time, run by The New York Times Company). It was proof that we knew how to run an online business.

Also, through GringosAbroad we met Hernan Rodas, the founder of Red Mangrove Galapagos Lodges. He asked us if we would like to visit the Galapagos Islands in return for some writing.

So while we still don’t make enough to maintain our lifestyle by means of GringosAbroad, it has opened up many opportunities for us. And we have plans to generate some revenue from it over the next few months.

Project 2: Storyteller Media 

As a result of our first blog, we have been hired to run numerous content marketing campaigns for travel companies in Ecuador. We have also sold our photos and footage to agencies, restaurants, filmmakers, and other bloggers around the world.

Project 3: Other Websites

Since we began GringosAbroad back in 2009, we have started a number of other sites. These include coffee, camping, and photography.

In addition, Dena has done some writing for International Living and for About.com. I have designed a number websites.

I know what you’re thinking: Why do you work so much?

How Much Time Does This All Take?

Although some weeks we end up working all 5 days, this is unusual. On a normal week (although those haven’t been very common this past year) I work about 3 days per week and Dena works about 1+ days. The rest of the time we have for our family and our interests.

I’m a big believer in Parkinson’s Law. And try to take time every week to go offline.

What about you? What do you do to earn a living abroad?

6 Ways We Benefit From Our Travel Blog

This month we celebrate our 5-year anniversary of blogging. In this post, I share some of the benefits of travel blogging. But first, here’s a little history.

Our Ecuador Expat Blog History

Just a few months after arriving in Ecuador we published our first post (November 2009).

Our first site was called Destination Ecuador. We quickly changed it to GringosAbroad. And while we did hope to make a little money from click ads, we never imagined what it would become.

  • Today, we publish three weekly blogs under our media company: Storyteller Media
  • We now make 100% of our income from blogging. We have successfully transitioned to full-time (professional) bloggers (although we still don’t work full time.) 🙂

In this post, we share some of the benefits we’ve received from running an expat blog. And some reasons you should think about starting your own.

6 Ways Blogging Benefits Us

They really can be broken in two categories: what we get and what we give. Our blogs have always been free – we don’t offer any of our blog posts on a subscription model. We want everyone to have access to our information.

Here are six of the benefits we’ve received from our Ecuador expat blog:

  1. Blogging puts things in perspective: Just taking the time to sit and write it down often changes how we are feeling. It could be stress, fear or even anger. We’ve frequently written about hard situations. And both Dena and I have been helped by the simple process of writing it down. There is something about being forced to choose words for feelings that is very therapeutic. This can be especially helpful for new expats as they get settled into their new home.
  2. Create work opportunities: We have been offered more jobs and partnerships that I can count. Offers in marketing, management, education, and tourism. We did accept a job blogging for a Galapagos travel company for a few years – which we loved! I never dreamed that a blog could generate this quantity or quality of business proposals.
  3. Generate many press requests. We receive regular requests for interviews – both television and print. And while we’ve accepted two offers (a House Hunters International episode and a news piece with Reuters) we are really quite private people and the exposure doesn’t interest us. Two of Ecuador’s national television stations have contacted us for feature interviews, including Ecuavisa just last week. We have had numerous print magazine offers and countless blog interview requests. If someone likes the press and wants this type of exposure, there are lots of opportunities.
  4. Earn income: Not to be overlooked, is the regular monthly income that we generate on our sites – in spite of not selling anything. 🙂 We are working on some new products but until now we have generated our income without direct sales.
  5. Help other expats: The original purpose of our site was to help others relocate. We have been thrilled with the feedback from hundreds of expats who have successfully made the move abroad. Our sites have been read by more than 600,000 unique readers from just about every country of the world. Without a blog, it would be impossible to make that kind of impact. Reading comments of appreciation from other expats really gives us a sense of satisfaction.
  6. Shared stories with friends and family back home: A surprising number of family and friends still follow our site. Although we have some private channels for friends, our blog also allows us to share the details of our travels and adventures.

What do you think? Are you interested in starting your own expat blog?

start-expat-blog

How to Start an Expat Blog

Are you thinking about starting an expat blog? Congratulations! (Don’t worry – it isn’t that hard.) Here’s what you need to know:

  1. Use self-hosted WordPress: While you can get a free blog, it will be frustrating (if not impossible) to build an audience. A self-hosted WordPress blog costs less than $90/year (if you use HostGator) and you have full ownership of your domain and site content. This is how we run all our sites.
  2. Determine your niche: To be successful, you need to think about your angle. What makes you different from the other expat bloggers? Why should someone subscribe to your newsletter? Some examples could be: Ecuador for vegan retirees, a stamp collector traveling South America, or Cuenca for cycling couples. Of course, you need to make sure your niche appeals to a large enough segment of readers. Be careful not to go to broad. If you try to appeal to everyone, you will end up appealing to no one.
  3. Post regularly: You don’t have to write long posts, but if you are going to build an audience you need to post regularly – a minimum of once a week is best. Worried you won’t have enough to say? Here’s a list of 73 blog post ideas.
  4. We created a section on this site to share what we’ve learned with other expats and travelers. We write about how to make money with your blog, how to write a post, avoid needless offense, and then format it.

The best advice I can give you is to: just get started. Set it up and start posting. You will learn what you need as you go along.

ecuador-expat-blog

Your Turn

Are you thinking about starting a blog? Why do you want to become a blogger? What is holding you back? If you already have an expat blog, what tip can you share?

Please share your url in the comment section as well. We’ll see you in the comment section!

GringosAbroad is Now Part of Storyteller Travel (A Brief History) | Storyteller Media

Wednesday 30th of June 2021

[…] from the money, we running the blog was really good for us. A number of years ago, we wrote about how blogging benefited us. We found it to be a therapeutic […]

Diana

Saturday 25th of October 2014

Hello, Living and making a living abroad is surprisingly an easy task. To date, I've living in Guatemala, Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Europe while legally working and earning a living along the way. There are more ways to live abroad then one can imagine and it IS EASY! Some of my employment opportunities I obtained prior to leaving Canada along with the valid work permits. Other times, I obtained work upon arrival without ever going more then a few weeks without work. I started my living abroad adventures at 32 so I didn't start as a student but as a mature adult. Tourism, languages, sales, hospitality are but a few options for obtaining viable employment while living abroad. For those of you who have specific professions, maybe considering alternative work options till you get plugged into the local community to allow you time to grow your network and contact base might be an option. Feel free to email me if you have questions on working abroad, I'd be happy to share my personal experiences and knowledge. I've also written a book called Behind The Wave. It's about living abroad (not available in stores)...Follow your dreams and never let anyone deter you from discovering your passions! Happy Travels!

Bryan Haines

Saturday 25th of October 2014

Glad to hear of your success! Thanks.

Jeff

Monday 13th of October 2014

Hello, First things first - what a great site and resource. I have learned a lot in the week or so since I came across this site - great job! My wife and I (no kids) are considering a 6-12mo sabbatical to Ecuador in 2015. The most polarizing aspect of living there (vs Chicago where we are today) is the cost of living, and more specifically the cost of real estate. The though of purchasing a large home with a guest house (living in guest house, rent home out) while we are living in Ecuador has crossed my mind several times. However, I cannot find many good resources on what is required to purchase real estate and what I need to consider as I think of becoming a landlord. Does anyone have experiencing with purchasing and/or renting out homes in Ecuador? I'd love to learn more on this topic to really assess the viability of it. Thanks in advance for any responses. Jeff

Guy

Tuesday 25th of December 2012

I just Stumbled onto your site. It is Great. Thank You for all the Great information. My Question is. What is the average income of the locals. Is their any resentment from them toward independant ( Gringos )? Please e-mail me also to my e-mail address. Thank You Guy

Jakob

Tuesday 25th of December 2012

There is no resentment. Ecuadorians are very welcoming as a nation. We actually could all learn a lesson in hospitality from them. Salaries are much lower than in North America. I could expect roughly 20% of the salary I make in Canada in my field of expertise, but I am still thinking about cutting my ties to the developed world since cost of living is much less and quality of life is defined by much more than money.

Bryan Haines

Tuesday 25th of December 2012

The minimum wage for 2013 was just announced and it is $318 per month. Many make more than that - many make multiple times more than we do. I haven't heard of resentment on any scale but I'm sure it exists just like everywhere else. I don't see it as any real concern. Thanks Guy! Love the feedback.

Why We Sold It All And Moved To Cuenca Ecuador – BloggerAbroad

Monday 24th of December 2012

[...] Landing in Ecuador with no work and no concrete prospects in that area might have seemed like a crazy thing to do, but sometimes those crazy leaps of faith are what force us to think outside the box and realize what we are capable of. Read more about how we earn a living abroad. [...]