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Traveling might be cheap if you know the right budget tips, but what if you could turn it around and actually make money from traveling? Just like any hobby, traveling can be monetized as well with help of some tools and the right mind-set. People gain lot of useful stuff when travelling - information, experience, stories, pictures, videos, souvenirs - and all of these can be sold for profit.
These are several ways how to do so with links to further information and resources. Enjoy!

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#1 Become a Japanese tourist
Got a camera? Awesome! You don't have to be a professional photographer to take stunning pictures of exotic places/people/food. Learn some tricks how to edit pictures in Photoshop and then upload your art on photo stock website. You get paid commission from each sale for years to come. 

My favourites are: FotoliaGettyImages and ShutterStock.

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#2 Blogging your way to success
Writing a blog has several advantages and making money out of it is one of them. Whether you sell advertising, become affiliate, sell your own products (podcasts, webinars, ebooks), attract sponsors (hotels, agencies) or attract speaking opportunities, having a website is really worth it. The cost of domain, hosting and nice theme is really low. The hard part is to do it right. For inspiration on successful blogging, watch what other great bloggers do or read a book by Nomadic Matt,  become member of Travel Blog Success or get free guide on Travel Blogger Academy.


#3 Writing for someone else for $$$
Once you have a blog and some writing style, why don't you try to sell articles to magazines, blogs and newspapers? For some ideas visit MatadorU and Travel Writers Exchange. Websites that pay you for content are: Yahoo VoicesHeliummyLotSuite101, Destination360
 and probably the best ones - BrightHub and Squidoo.

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#4 Hassle free e-shops
Once you have lot of pictures and inspiration from travelling around, you can upload your art on products at Zazzle and create your very own eshop. The best part? You then just relax and watch people ordering your t-shirts, iPad covers and other stuff and get paid. Zazzle takes care of everything else - from making the product, shipping and payments. Visit my Zazzle eshop and read this article on further information about setting your eshop.

#5 Make a sex tape! 
Kidding :-) I'm sure you have seen one of the Where the Hell is Matt videos. It always makes my day. With millions of views, Matt gets paid some nice money from YouTube. He also sells t-shirts to people who dance with himYouTube has Awards for performancers. With nice videos - whether its travel guides, tips or just funny stuff you experienced on your journey - you can create passive income for lifetime. Read these tips on how to succeed on YouTube on MashableBusiness InsiderThe Guardian and ZDNet. For inspiring travel videos follow my Pinterest Board.

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#6 Books
But I don't have the time to write a book!, I hear you complaining. Guess what? HyperInk creates ebook from your already existing content (blogs, tweets, your Quora answers etc.), edits it and publishes it on several platforms (Kindle, nook, iBook store) for you for a share of profits. If you do have the time, write ebook yourself and sell it either on Kindle Direct Publishing or iBook Store. iBook store platform has one huge advantage - interactive ebooks that contain audio, video, games and other apps. For interactive ebooks contact iAdverti publisherRead these articles on how to create ebook on Mashable and Copyblogger.


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#7 Souvenirs
Yesss souvenirs. I don' know how about you, but I love to visit local markets and negotiate for unusual things you can't get anywhere else. Think antique stuff, jewelry, high quality clothes, decoration and collectibles (stamps, knives, religious objects etc.). Once you have good suppliers, you can sell stuff on eBay or find importer in your country and sell directly to him in larger amounts.


#8 Freelancing jobs
To work while travelling is probably the easiest thing you can do, but you won't have that much time for exploring. There are several jobs one can do almost anywhere in the world: headhunter, writer, graphic designer, copywriter, marketing consultant, photographers, artist, translator, virtual assistant, english teacher, dancer, website designer, coach, travel guide or journalist.

#9 Becoming a location independent entrepreneur

Freelancers have the opportunity to work from any place in the world. What if you want to actually own business, make serious money and travel in style? It's easier said than done, I know. However, army of affordable virtual assistants and atuomation tools online are here to help. It's my ultimate goal to become location independent entrepreneur and that's why I learn from people who made this dream come true. Make sure you read 4-hour work week by Tim Ferriss and follow The Suitcase Entrepreneur blog


              What are your tips? How do you make money when travelling? Share it with us in comments below! 
 


Comments

Some great tips here :)

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01/28/2013 9:38am

Thank you! :-)

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01/25/2013 9:53pm

hello Martina!
Excellent post! I am glad I found you through the interview with the crazy sexy fun traveler ;)
I always wanted to sell my photos into a stock photos websites...My stupid questions are:
once you sell the photos to one of them, can you still use them in your own blog? can you sell them to another photo stock websites?
Thanks for your answer, I will follow you in the net!
Noelfy

Reply
01/26/2013 12:15am

Hey Noelfy!
Thank you! Your questions are not stupid at all:-) I actually wasnt sure so I checked with Fotolia and yes you can sell it on other sites or you can use it as you are the copyright holder, however I found this disclaimer on Fotolia:
"If Fotolia becomes aware that a non exclusive contributor with a rank of “Emerald” or above is distributing any images, vectors or videos (the “Works”) through another stock agency or website (where at least some of such Works are the same as the Works being distributed through Fotolia), and if the pricing charged on such other stock agency or website for the downloading of any of such contributor’s Works are comparatively lower than the pricing charged on Fotolia for downloading Works of “White” ranking contributors, then, subject to applicable law, Fotolia reserves the right, at its discretion, to lower the pricing of any of such contributor's Works offered through Fotolia so as to match the pricing for the Works of “White” ranking contributors on Fotolia. Subject to applicable law, Fotolia reserves the right to inquire, from time to time, with any given contributor with a rank of “Emerald” or above as to whether such contributor is distributing any Works through any other stock agency or website, and such contributor shall promptly provide this information to Fotolia. For clarity, Fotolia is under no obligation to make any such inquiries."
I dunno how about the other websites, I use Fotolia most of the time :-)
Martina

Reply
01/26/2013 2:43am

Cool, I suscribed also to Fotolia this afternoon I found this disclaimer today, but still not very clear...Anyway, I will give them a try before trying the competence...
Did you have any luck so far selling your photos? I now I had wonderful photos, but not very sure about the resolution or how "interesting" can be for the public...I know they are more likely looking for "anonymous" pictures (no faces, easy thematic...) rather than travel postcards...
I need to investigate further :)
Thank you!

01/26/2013 3:52pm

@noelfy I think the key is the right tags. If you describe some picture just by its location, chances are very small. I would describe also emotions, culture etc so more people find you. I have very cheap small camera but my pictures sell anyway :D I usually play with them in Photoshop, sometimes coloring the sky blue etc. When you look at the most popular picture sold at Fotolia, you get some idea what works best.

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01/27/2013 1:48am

Perfect! I would investigate further before starting to upload...
I had a cheap camera too, but the camera is not important, the bets is to have a good eye!
Tags are very important, I learnt that from my own blog too ;)
Thanks so much!

Reply
01/27/2013 1:48am

Perfect! I would investigate further before starting to upload...
I had a cheap camera too, but the camera is not important, the bets is to have a good eye!
Tags are very important, I learnt that from my own blog too ;)
Thanks so much!

Reply
01/27/2013 1:48am

Perfect! I would investigate further before starting to upload...
I had a cheap camera too, but the camera is not important, the bets is to have a good eye!
Tags are very important, I learnt that from my own blog too ;)
Thanks so much!

Reply
01/28/2013 4:16am

Great tips! I only have a nice point-and-shoot camera, so I am thinking twice of submitting photos for stock, but your post just made me think that maybe I can give it a shot. =)

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01/28/2013 9:39am

I wish you luck and hope you sell lot of them! :-)

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01/29/2013 7:23am

Seriously great advice and a few things that I hadn't thought of. I always leave extra space in my suitcase for souvenirs, but I've never thought of bringing home extra to sell. What a great idea and it fits perfectly into my travel blogging niche. Thanks!

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01/29/2013 8:05am

Im glad I could help! Let me know how it works for you when you try it :-)

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jack reynolds
01/30/2013 8:33am

I worked at one point for Destination360. While they don't pay alot I did a few assignments that worked out well for my resume.

Reply
01/30/2013 9:48am

Thank you! I will add it to the tips ;-)

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Very good information. Lucky me I came across your website by accident (stumbleupon). I've saved it for later!

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    Hi! Im Martina, 20-something yo girl from Slovakia who loves to explore the world either by travelling or reading tons of books. I want to encourage others - especially girls - to travel more. So far I have visited 23 countries. My bucket list is endless, but my current goal is to explore Asia, learn to dive and finish my first book. More about me here

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