You might have seen my blog post a few months back about how I earn money online and travel full time, and I thought it was time for an update. Quite a lot has changed since then and I’m on track to hit my New Years’ Resolution earning goals this year, whilst also visiting at least 9 countries – not bad!
Udemy
Udemy made some big changes this year which has slashed everyone’s income. So far I’m down to a 1/3 of what I was consistently making before Christmas. Despite that I actually do like the changes (they’ve stopped doing such insane discounts, and lowered all the over inflated prices to be more realistic). They’re promising us that the fall in income is temporary while customers get used to the new pricing… and I really hope they’re right as I was loving living off a totally passive income! I’ve also released a whole bunch of new courses (check out my full Udemy profile here) so hoping some of those will take off too.
Alternatives to Udemy
I get approached almost daily by Udemy competitors wanting me to list my courses with them too. I’m always pretty skeptical as the beauty of Udemy is that they do all the promotion for you so the income is totally passive. A lot of competitors have a much smaller audience and so expect you to make the sales by creating Facebook ads or spammy mailing lists. Many of them also offer a smaller cut than Udemy, and I worry about my courses getting pirated if I put them in too many places. However, I did get one offer from a new Udemy-esque site who offered to buy my courses for upfront cash! I thought it seemed to good to be true, but they bought about £3000 worth of courses from me, straight into my PayPal. I can still sell them on Udemy too, and not having to wait for uncertain commissions was a major win.
They’re actually also offering me a referral bonus for recommending other instructors. I’ve already told all my direct Udemy friends and they’ve got their payouts, but if you’re an instructor reading this then get in touch for an intro! Email me on: louisejcroft@gmail.com
Freelance PR
I’ve been dabbling in PR for years now; writing press releases, contacting journalists, connecting people on Twitter and this month I finally made it into an official career move. I’ve taken on a whole bunch of small PR clients to help them with writing releases and choosing who to contact, and also one major client who are getting me to do their entire PR outreach across 8 countries. I am really excited to have a freelance skill that I can sell whenever I need an extra injection of cash – my number 1 Digital Nomad tip would be to find SOMETHING you can sell on a decent hourly rate. Of course the goal is passive income, and jobs you love, but it’s really comforting to know you’ve got a valuable skill you can call on when you need money. Whether it’s writing, coding, SEO, consulting, or personal training – get yourself a skill that pays at least £30 an hour and keep it in your ’emergency’ file!
Growing Startups
By boyfriend also runs a number of startups that I’ve been assisting with to help both of us build bigger futures. Journo Requests is the main one, and it helps connect journalists looking for stories with companies looking for coverage – totally win win. It’s helped me get all kinds of national press, and also several of my friends. Well worth a look!
Blogging and Youtube
This one is thanks to you!! I’ve been managing to get my blog stats up a lot recently and hence have been offered a lot more sponsored posts from brands. I’ve also been focussing a huge amount of my time on my Youtube channel, so if you’re not already subscribed to that it’d make my day if you did!! Earning money from my blog and youtube has always been a dream, and now it’s starting to happen I am really excited to grow it even bigger!
A photo posted by Louise Croft (@louisecroft) on
What next?
I’d love to hear in the comments below if you make any money online and what you find works best for you. If you’re interested in becoming a Digital Nomad and working online while you live abroad, check out the introductory blog post I wrote on it.
Happy travels!
