If you are travelling abroad, there are many things that will make their way onto your to-do list. From seeing tourist attractions, to sightseeing and experiencing new cultures, travelling comes with a lot of planning. One of the things, however, that people often realise later on is that you will:

1. Need money to continue on with your travels
2. Be able to make a living WHILST travelling across the globe.

It is possible to become a paid volunteer while travelling abroad, and the fact that you stumbled onto this blog is the first step.

Paid volunteer jobs: They are for everyone

It is important to remember that often times people forget that while they are volunteering abroad, they can also make money. International volunteers, gap year individuals, career breaks, and students abroad can all benefit immensely from paid volunteer work. It truly is the best of both worlds as you get to continue with your travels and be able to afford it all too. Paid volunteer work is available for those looking to earn money abroad – it really is as simple as that.

Better yet, there are various creative ways to make the most of your holiday by making money while experiencing parts of the world at the same time. Although it can be more intimidating looking for a job while you are abroad, there are many creative solutions that are available for you to use.

Now, let the record show that these money-making solutions won’t make you rich but they could help you extend your holiday and give you more opportunities.

Here are some ideas for paid volunteer work

Blogging

Starting a blog is free, and many websites offer you an opportunity to start a blog. There are specific sites like WordPress blogs, Blogger blogs and many others that can help house your content. Starting a blog is not hard at all, so don’t panic, all you need is a few topics of interest that you can blog about – just make sure it’s on something you love. You can write about where you are volunteering, what you are doing and where you have been. The blogs can be on just about anything and if you have good quality content and have a large following, you can make good money. 

Keep in mind that you can also popularize your blog by telling your friends and acquaintances ad send them a link encouraging them to read and share it amongst all of their own contacts. In order to monetize your content, you are going to need to run it through certain apps like Google Adwords; Infolinks, affiliate marketing and paid advertising. When you blog long enough and consistently (around 2 or 3 times a week), your blog will become more popular, and you will have more readers, increasing the likelihood that you can make more money.

There are also people who earn hundreds of thousands of dollars because they have been blogging for year nows. As an individual doing it as a hobby, you could earn up to $ 2,000 to $ 3,000 per month. Start blogging now so by the time you are on your holiday you will be earning money while abroad.

NB: Note that blogging takes time and patience.

Article writing

Writing articles is like blogging but they aren’t exactly the same thing, so don’t get confused. The truth is that you can also write articles about something you love and know well. That being said, the aim of articles is to rank high on Google which means you will need to rather opt for a topic that is trending or has a high search ranking. When you have a topic to write about, go to Google or any other search engine and research about your topic. Try to include as many keywords as possible to help increase the likelihood of someone stumbling onto your article while they’re researching things.

Writing a good article takes between 30 minutes to an hour and should be roughly between 500 and 700 words. Always keep them well researched and presented. After writing an article you can sell your articles to publishers, and magazines. Publishers are constantly looking for new and fresh content on the net, and they are willing to pay money for the articles.

Most online publishers will pay $ 7 to $ 20 per article. If you are able to write an article per day or two per day during your free time and sell them in a month you will earn $ 500 to $ 1000. The tricky part is selling the articles to online publishers. Once you have a constant market you will make good money.  Writing articles is like blogging – you need patience and consistency to start making a significant income.

Pictures and videos

While you are abroad you will get to experience new things and be exposed to brand new cultures, memories, people and adventures. Make the most of these experiences by immortalising them by documenting each of your experiences through captivating photos and stunning videography. Many people would love to see your content, so make that demand work for you. There are a number of highly successful companies that will even pay you for your videos and photos, like for example National Geographic. Apart from taking photos of common landmarks and tourist sites, look for unique photos which could tell a story. Travel companies and other organization could pay you a large amount for what is in your camera roll, so snap wisely.

Making money online

Did you know that there are websites like Hubpages that pay you whenever you write lens or hubs on their website? Yes, you read that correctly. The best part of these online ventures is that you can write about anything, and you can start making good money after 6 – 12 months depending on the quality of your work. Once you have made a lens or a hub it will always make money for you until it stops being popular. Go to their website for more information.

Offline methods

Paid volunteer work abroad is totally possible and sometimes you don’t even need to go online to make a few extra bucks! These online methods wont exactly give you a lot of money but they will help you enough so that you are at least able to pay for basic needs.

Some great volunteer organisations include The Volunteers For Prosperity, The Peace Corps and even becoming a UN volunteer. With these volunteer jobs, you will be able to access an entire database of jobs that they require. You would just need to see what their specific needs are and how they match with your skillset, time and location. You can get paid volunteer work if you simply research any of these organisations.

You can also apply for white-collar jobs where you don’t need work experience or any qualifications or a work permit. Jobs like working at a bookstore, working at a mall, waitressing, and as an Aupair etc are great paid volunteer jobs abroad.

Another great option is working as a tour guide in any of the cities that you find yourself in. Learn as much as you can about the area, its landmarks, history and more and you can easily do tours for travellers.  Other good ideas are working on an organic farm (WOOF) whereby you are given a room and food to work on the farm. This kind of job is preferred by those on gap years and it’s also physically intensive, so keep that in mind before you commit to a job of this nature.

READ MORE ABOUT HOW TO TRAVEL FOR FREE (OR NEXT TO NOTHING)

Remember that it is possible to travel the world AND make money. All you have to do is figure out the kind of work you would like to do and see f they match what you are capable and willing to do, then the rest is easy. Save this blog to help navigate you whenever you are trying to figure our paid volunteer work abroad, and you will be all set to make money soon!