Earning money online and travelling

I just posted this over on the digital nomads thread, but I think that is aimed more towards people who have already figured it all out. So I'm reposting here because I think there are more people who are still just trying to break into the online work game, so might benefit more from this, and also might have some more relevant suggestions for newcomers, like myself.

I’m pretty new to the digital nomad world and I found it a bit difficult to crack at first seeing as I don’t have any real tech skills. I thought I would share how I have done it, because it is mostly entry level stuff that will be doable for a lot of other people.

So I have been travelling around Europe for the past six months, staying in Air BnBs and spending a few weeks in each place. To fund that I have been working online with DaDaABC, doing some private English lessons via Skype and also a bit of transcription through Rev.

First up - DaDaABC. I actually worked for DaDa a few years ago and it was terrible. I have a few years experience teaching ESL in a classroom, and found DaDa's materials and outlook to just be crap. However - when I decided to go travelling again, I resigned a six month contract with them and they are a million times better than what they were. The company is growing super quickly - and it is definitely improving as well.

I work 12-18 hours with them a week, over 4 days ( hours which I chose. You can do more or less). I have regular students who I really like. I actually find it to be a lot of fun. And I love that I can do it from anywhere in the world with reliable internet. I chose to work for Dada because they pay you half pay for standby time, which a lot of other online schools don't.

If anyone is interested - this is my link.

DaDa Teaching job

Full disclosure, I do get a bonus if you sign up via this link.

My second income stream is from private students. I was working in a school and had some really great students. When I left the school, I let my students know that they could contact me for online lessons and some of them did. It works really well for me because the classes are at flexible times. Sometimes I might teach a student on a Tuesday morning, the next week I might teach the same student on a Friday afternoon - we just decide a mutually convenient time each week. If anyone is teaching ESL in a classroom setting, I recommend suggesting to your students to move your classes online when you leave.

I also make some money each week via Rev. I see a lot of people on here complaining about Rev, and I understand the complaints. I think those people however look at it with a different eye than I do. I really like Rev for the convenience of it. I've been with them for six months, they pay on time every week, and I can earn a little extra cash if and when I need it. Some weeks I barely do any typing at all, other weeks if I have more time, or I want to do something on my travels that is a little more expensive than I usually do, than I will just type more.

Starting out at Rev can be difficult because you dont have access to all of the audio files, but if you push through until you get upgraded to a Revver Plus, then there is usually a lot to choose from. I am very selective, I only choose files where the audio is clear, there aren't too many speakers and where they speak slowly.

I know people also complain about the money with Rev - and they're right, it's not great. But, for example, I am selective about my audio file choice, I type at around 70 words/ min, most files pay 50 cents / audio minute. Usually it will take me 3 minutes to transcribe one audio minute - so my pay rate usually works out at about $10 an hour. Which yeah, isn't great. But I'm okay with it because I'm generally doing it with a glass of wine in hand anyway.

My question to the group is – what should my next move be?

I am really happy with what these jobs have allowed me to do and thankful to have found them, but I don’t want to be doing something as mundane as transcription forever. I’m staying put in Turkey for the next few months, to save some money and also to give myself some more spare time to grow my portfolio a little bit and maybe explore some other revenue streams.

I have been applying for different blogging and writing jobs but haven’t had much success because I don’t have any experience in these areas. I know the money is in tech – but I think I would have to upskill quite a lot for that too.
I’m a bit lost guys… Any suggestions on how to move forward?