What I've learned from travelling the world, and why I've succeeded thus far... | Success stories and anecdotes | Forum

$80,000 dollars for a newly graduated businessperson? I don't believe it unless they've got enough other support that it's nothing to do with what they learnt in their degree anyway.

You say in the post here that your father's argument was that you should be working on a career path, whereas in the FB post you're arguing against trying to buy a house immediately. The two are not the same thing at all, and shouldn't be confused. Plenty of career paths could be supported by some good travel experiences, even if they don't put money on a mortgage.

Just a couple of immediate thoughts.

Anything language-related (teaching, translating/interpreting, diplomacy) or otherwise international (import/export, politics, transportation, military, journalism, competitive sports, research) is obvious. Understanding other cultures, and even just really getting that people aren't all the same, and have different backgrounds and expectations is very important in commerce, customer service, medicine and so on. I can't think of a career, on any level or income bracket, that wouldn't benefit from the mind-broadening experiences of travel and meeting other people, personally.

I obviously don't know your family dynamic at all, but I know that in my family the concern would be that you were just going to drift, get into trouble, have to be bailed out and brought back home with nothing to show for it all. If you could, however, show that you have a plan for how you're going to support yourself in the short and medium term, while travelling and beyond, and that you've seriously thought about some of the benefits that will accrue from your travel, as well as the downsides of not immediately going into education or something better than a dead-end job. A teenager (and I'm guessing from what you've written that you're recently post secondary school) who had some kind of plan, even knowing it was likely to change drastically, would be supported in their decision, even by those who disagreed with it, far more than someone with no thought beyond the next six months.

For instance, I travelled between school and uni, with a uni place waiting for me (my cousin did similarly, decided she wanted to travel for longer, and was able to defer her place for a second, and maybe even a third year). That might not be your path, but it's an example of a longer term plan that might be more acceptable to your parents. Part of my year was working in France for a few months, just before going to study French & linguistics, so they could see the relevance. I also read the most accessible intro to linguistics book on my uni course's booklist while still travelling.

University might not be something you're currently planning to do, but pretty much every career does need some training, as do the better paid temporary jobs you might be able to pick up on your travels. Might your parents be happier if you did a short TEFL or similar course either before you set off or in a planned early stopping place? You can't run your life just trying to please your parents, and I don't believe their supporting you up to now gives them the right to dictate your future actions, but a little bit of concern for their probable worries would show them your level of responsibility.

Hey Ikas,

What about doing your university course online? There are several universities (Even the most famous one) now offering an online version of their courses.

As for making money on the road you may check the famous websites:

http://www.odesk.com

http://www.elance.com

There are others. Point is you work through the internet so you can really work from anywhere in the globe. Even from the Antarctica. And you can still work on your career. Let's say you choose to be a Java programmer. You can really evolve your career from junior to senior programmer, to lead developer, to project manager, or even you can open your own business (That's trickier to find clients if you're on the road though).

good luck!

One of the best ieces of advice I've ever heard was "don't take anyone's advice" – I made an exception for this one.

I'm not all for telling people how to live their ives, but I always do make sure they know it is ultimately vital to live freely and not giving any room for bad energy. Pursue your dreams and stay healthy and well-humored. Then, when you're 59, and only then you should think of what you gonna do when you're 60.

Ikas90 said:

Very good words, Fabio. I have to say I agree.

 

One more question, that I just remembered.

 

How does one support themselves via a website / blog? I want to make one of my own, and I'm just wondering; does income depend on how many hits/clicks your website gets? Or are there other factors?

Thanks

There are a few options.

You can sell banners – but they are annoying as fuck

You can use Google Ads (those little links to the right, usually related to your blog post) – Everytime somebody clicks there you make some money. But this can be slow, I guess it takes 1000 clicks to make 1 cent.

You can sell an e-book – That's what Benny does, some others too. That will depend largely on how wide is your audience and how well you market it and if the e-book fits your blog.

Actually Bennys blog has a whole section on the top just with tips on how to market your blog, but I'm giving away my own ideas here:

First of all you'll have to do smart marketing to get your blog visible in the internet. That's called SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Get to study that right now (google is your friend)

Then also you'll have to setup social networking pages (facebook, twitter, pinterest, google+) that will help you promote your blog. Then you need to get people on these networks to follow you.

During this time you can come up with some witty clever idea for an e-book or product that you can sell. E-book is best because people can simply download it saving you the hassle to actually shipping it to them.

While you're not able to fund yourself through the blog you may want to try a home-office job, i.e. geographically independent job (translator, project manager, software developer, tester, virtual assistant). Or you can be an English teacher, the downside is that you cannot travel freely unless you teach through Skype.

Ikas90 said:

Would it be easier to get a teaching job in Skype or in the classroom? The TEFL course I'm doing should enable me to do both, right? The Skype option has definitely been a consideration of mine, but I am sure you need a very good internet connection for that, and chances are if I'm staying in a hostel, their connection will be shitty and not give me a good chance to work online.

I've also heard that you can do your own hours over Skype teaching, but others have told me that you have to have a set schedule.

This would be very ideal for me though; I would love to be able to work from wherever I am just from my laptop. Can I really work my own hours? How do people handle the crappy internet connections problem?

I'd say it's easier to get the classroom in the beginning but that won't prevent you from getting your skype customers.

Hostels have sometimes shitty connection but that's not really the best option. I'd go for a rented appartment (you can use easyroom.com or the local version for that) or even hire a virtual assistant over oDesk to find an appartment for you. You may also contact the local couchsurfing community to see if there are more people willing to share the appartment with you. Having your own appartment means you can have decent connection.

I honestly believe you can work your hours however you must check if those are compatible with the schedules of your customers :)

You may give a shot at http://www.verbalplanet.com for instance. I know http://www.livemocha.com also has a part of the site where you can find private tuttors. The good thing with these websites is that once you have taught the first class you can offer a discount to the student and then move away from their platform and avoid paying their fees.