Alright so, if you’ve been keeping up with my latest blog posts, you may know that I recently took a “traditional” 9-5 job. But, for the last two years I had been freelancing full-time and living the digital nomad life and lots of people asked me for more info on how to work while traveling or what I did for a living that allowed me to travel so much (hint: as much as I’d like to, I don’t pay the bills from taking bikini shots for IG).

So, here’s a sort of explainer/breakdown on what I was doing as work while traveling that paid the bills and allowed me to travel so often. Also info on how I got started, any tips and tricks, and the things (and people) who helped me out.

First, for a little background, before I went freelance I was working at a digital platform/magazine as a staff writer/assistant editor. I had done similar freelance writing work up to that point, but none of it paid that well. My full-time gig wasn’t paying that well either, so I decided to quit and try to make enough money freelancing to work while traveling (I also had around $15-20k saved up at this point because this had been a long time coming).

Want to Work While Traveling? Here’s How I Did It:

How Did I Get Started?

I got started writing by securing an internship with Galore. I assumed I’d be getting coffee, but they asked me if I could write and I was like, “sure, sounds fun.” Ultimately they were happy with the numbers my pieces were getting and asked me to stay on as a freelancer while I finished college.

About a month after moving back to DC and going freelance, I met a guy out at a bar who, like me, was also not drinking. We texted for a bit before it came up that I was a writer, and he told me he owned a digital consulting firm and had tons of projects that he needed a good writer on. We got dinner and I agreed to take on two projects for him: one for an OBGYN practice that was opening soon in the area and another for a mobile app called KNGRO. I had never priced something out as a project rate before, I think at this time I’d never even given my own rates (I’d just accepted whatever per piece rate a publication offered). I had also never done anything close to consulting, building a strategy plan, etc. But the guy, Roy, said he could tell I was smart and he was always around if I had questions. We had many late night Google Hangout conferences, and I had lots of questions, but we eventually turned both projects around and both clients agreed to sign on for long term contracts for us to manage their social channels, which I’d also be working on.

I talk more about how I first found the rest of my early clients later on, so keep reading!

If you’re looking to get into writing, I recommend starting a blog (although admittedly, I didn’t start a blog until I was writing professionally). That way you’ll have something to show editors when they ask to see examples of your work. Internships are also good, but most writing ones are unpaid and if you’re going to write for free, you might as well write about what you want and on your own platform.

What Did I Do For Work & What Paid The Majority of My Bills?

I liked to think of my freelance income as a pie chart. While I’d love to tell you that 50% of my income came from social media work, 25% came from copywriting, and 25% came from writing for media outlets, it really differed each month.

Occasionally I had social media clients that wanted a lot of management, and would give me a monthly retainer of anywhere from $1000-3000 depending on their needs/what I asked for. Some clients simply wanted 12 feed posts a month, some wanted one post every day plus Instagram story posts and engagement (responding to messages, comments, etc.). This work involved writing, graphic design (I’d create and/or edit the images myself), plus strategy—and lots of lots of time on my phone. Oh and, if I was negotiating a contract myself, sometimes it also involved writing up a contract (along with the help of a lawyer friend I met through Twitter who would so graciously assist me).

Based on my data, my average monthly gross income in 2018 was $3,371/month, so sometimes one social client gave me over 50% of my monthly income. But sometimes I didn’t have any big social clients (when a startup is low on funding, social is usually one of the first things they cut), or sometimes I lost them unexpectedly, so I never got too comfortable.

The “fun” writing I did for Galore and went on to do for HelloGiggles, Bustle, Vice, etc., almost never made up the biggest piece of the pie. The journalism industry is not the place to go if you’re looking to make money, plus the time I would spend finding a new editor’s contact info, crafting up pitches, and sending follow-up emails was unpaid time that sometimes resulted in zero returns for me.

To give you an idea of how much I get paid to write for “fun” publications, most of them pay flat rates rather than per word, starting at around $75 a piece and going up to $300. Word rates for online publications are usually around .20/word, although I’ve gotten paid closer to .70/word for print. There are also definitely publications that will try to get away with paying you like, $25 for a piece (and I definitely wrote for some of them, like totalfratmove.com, briefly in college).

If you’re okay with getting low-balled and just trying to get your foot in the door, just keep track of how long it actually takes you to write a piece to make sure it’s worth your time. I write really fast, so sometimes I can convince myself I’m okay with something that doesn’t pay great because I can bang it out. And always try to negotiate for a little more! It doesn’t hurt to ask (although admittedly, I wasn’t asking until recently). I will try to write a more in depth blog post on this in the future if there’s interest!

In addition to writing and social media, I started doing a good bit of copywriting. No, it has nothing to do with law. Copywriting involves pretty much any writing done for a business. For example, if you go to your favorite e-commerce website, everything from their “about us” to their FAQ to their blogs to their product descriptions are done by a copywriter. I worked on copywriting for some of my social clients, plus one-offs for new businesses or brands that needed a revamp. My rates for this started at .20/word, but depended on the subject (certain subjects would require more research on my end).

How Often Did I Work?

I know, I know, my social media feed makes it look like I’m on a permanent vacation, but I promise I spend more time working than sitting by the pool.

All my friends knew me as the girl who constantly had her laptop + backpack nearby. If I had so much as a free five minutes, I’d open my laptop and start getting work done. Instead of working 9-5, on an average “work” day I worked from 10am-9pm (plus about an hour break for lunch and yoga).

I say average “work” day because obviously I didn’t have to work Monday-Fridays like most people. Generally, I’d work every weekday from 9 or 10 am until anywhere from 7 PM to midnight. A lot of times I’d do work on Saturdays and Sundays too, depending on my workload and my schedule. I’m really not someone who’s good at relaxing, so unless I had plans with someone or was cooking, you can probably bet that I was working. Even when I was traveling, my daily plans were generally to take a nice walk to a cute cafe and work from there.

Because I’ve always been a bit of a workaholic and I liked what I was doing (not to mention that I got to do things on my own time), I didn’t mind working all the time, but sometimes I did envy my corporate friends who were able to actually take a week off. Sure, I could take a week-long (or hell, a month long) trip, but I’d still have to be checking in on things at least once a day unless I wanted to lose all my clients and therefore lose all my income.

Where Did I Find Clients?

Finding clients was what I assumed would be the trickiest part of freelancing for me, because I’m awful at selling myself. But, thanks to some internet resources and previous work I’d done, I never found myself needing to look for work. In fact, just a few months into freelancing, I found myself actually learning to say no to work because I just didn’t have time to do it all.

When I first started, I found a few gigs through a Slack channel called World of Writers, which I found through a Facebook group for Digital Nomads that I had joined a while ago. Some of these gigs were low-paying one-offs, like the SEO-copywriting I did for a VR porn site, but some of these were decently paid ongoing gigs, like a ghostwriting gig where I ended up writing 1-4 beauty blogs a month for a skincare company (I still work with this client—plus other clients that they recommended me to).

From there, I met Roy from Digital Revamp (as I mention in my intro), and he was constantly bringing on new clients and asking for me to help out on projects. I met another friend through my MBA program that had a similar agency, and I occasionally did some copywriting for his clients as well (although since my rate was a lot higher than their usual writer, they only enlisted me for clients that needed special attention).

Other projects, believe it or not, came from the writing I did for Galore (or at least the people I worked with at Galore). People who had read my stuff and liked my voice (or were looking for a similar voice for their project), reached out asking me to work with them.

When it comes to pitching editors or doing more blogging-type work, my best method is generally just following editors and other writers on Twitter and keeping an eye out for when an editor does a call-out for pitches. There are also other helpful Facebook groups like Binders Full of Writing Jobs where you can find writing gigs, but just like job posting sites, you have to apply and compete with tons of other people who are looking for work (and considering the constant media layoffs, it’s competitive).

How Did I Plan Out My Finances?

In case you haven’t noticed, I am a planner, and I am not a risk taker when it comes down to it (especially not when it comes to finances). My senior year of college, I had my finance major boyfriend make me a lil’ budget Excel doc and I’ve been using it since. I track nearly every last dime I spend and have a budget for all the different “categories” that I spend on (dining, groceries, subscription services, transportation, etc.). I also track all the money that I make each month (as most freelancers do).

In 2018, my monthly budget was about $700-1000 each month. Although I often went over that number, I always ended up “in the black” each month aside from April—the month that I had to pay my medical bills for my surgery.

As I mentioned, I had at least $15k saved when I quit my job, so I definitely could’ve dipped into my savings if I ever had an off month, but I didn’t want to because I knew I’d want that money for something more important down the line (like, for example, the car I’m about to buy).

If it was nearing the end of the month and I noticed that I was in the “red,” I would scrounge up some extra freelance work, try to stop going out to eat, or whatever to make sure I at least broke even. But realistically, I actually ended up putting a lot of money away each month, even with traveling.

For your viewing pleasure, here’s what the month of June 2018 looked like for me:

I got a little savvier this year and split my freelance income into categories, here’s February and March of 2019 to show you how much things vary. In February I lost my biggest social client and was traveling in Thailand for two weeks, and you can tell. You can also tell that I was moving in March, because I made nearly $400 from selling stuff, I paid two months of rent, and I spent lots of money on flights, baggage, etc. (I put it in the expense category because I’ll write it off on my taxes).

If this looks unrealistic to you, keep in mind that I’m literally a psychopath when it comes to spending money—I’m disgustingly cheap! Like, carrying around tea bags and asking Starbucks for free hot water cheap. Still using my student ID to get discounts cheap (maybe money-saving tips should be my next post?).

Also keep in mind that I had the privilege of living rent-free because my “home base” was my parents’ house in DC, and I rarely spent money on groceries due to my mom so graciously picking up my few necessities (kale, rice cakes, hummus) from the grocery store for me when I was home. If we’re going to get really honest about privileges here (which I want to, because that’s what so many bloggers and “success stories” seem to skip), I was also dating a guy last year who would pay for most of my transportation when I would visit him either in NYC or wherever he was traveling for work once a month—I also rarely spent money on food whenever I was staying with him.  

Is Being a Digital Nomad As Fun As It Sounds?

Living the digital nomad life is definitely not as glamorous as it sounds, and I absolutely would not recommend it for anyone who’s not extremely self-motivated (not to mention anyone who doesn’t like spending a lot of time alone).

Now that I’m working a corporate-ish 9-5, my eyes are definitely opened to a lot of the perks of a 9-5 that I maybe didn’t see while working as a freelancer (I’ll be writing a full blog post on this later). Like most things, the grass is always greener on the other side.

Because of my tendencies, I’ll probably always be doing a bit of freelancing in some capacity. So I’ll still get some of the perks (fun projects, extra income) and the not-so-fun parts (chasing down paychecks, clients expecting you to be available at all times) to remind me.

What about all the travel-hacks to travel for cheap?

Somebody asked about this on Instagram, and I’m not the right person to give you tips on how to travel for cheap. The only thing I sort of looked into in terms of “hacks” is Scott’s Cheap Flights, which sends you flight deals to your inbox regularly. They’re definitely good deals, but require planning many months in advance, and it’s too difficult for me to know where I’m gonna be (and what I’m gonna want to do) so far ahead, so I never used it.

Hostels are always a great way to spend less $ on lodging (which is always the priciest part of traveling), but I’m a little too private/boujee for that, so I would usually stay in an affordable Airbnb in which I’d pay around $35 a night to stay in a private bedroom in a shared apartment/house.

All the other ways I saved money traveling were just common sense: taking the local subway system instead of getting a taxi from the airport (my arms were bruised for weeks after lugging my suitcase up the subway steps in Madrid), packing snacks so I don’t spend unnecessary money on food, bringing a carry on instead of checking a big bag, etc. Oh, and not drinking helps.

I feel like everyone wants a “secret” to traveling affordably, but the secret — at least for me — is simply living more frugally in your regular life so that you can comfortably ball out (at least a little) while you travel. I also recommend a card that gives you good travel rewards! I know the company is a bit problematic, but the rewards I get on my Uber card are great.

I hope this blog post gave you a little more insight into what I actually do/did for a living. As much as I cringe at the overused title, what I was doing really could all be grouped into the role of a “content creator,” more than solely a writer. As always, happy to answer additional questions in the comments section.  

Hey there, you may have noticed that I live in Los Angeles now, and that I seem to be staying put instead of traveling 24/7. Allow me to explain.

Remember when I had that quarter life crisis in Thailand? Same. I had traveled to so many amazing places in the past two years, but I was ready to settle down.

The cause of my anxiety was the usual (and probably common) cause—feeling like I didn’t have a “plan” or a “goal” in mind in terms of my life (that goes for career, relationships, etc.). On top of that was the concern that even if I did figure out a plan, I would be stressed about money.

I’m all about being transparent with money, so let’s be straight up. As a freelancer I netted about $38k last year. It was more than I made at my last full-time media job, but still not enough for me to live in a big city without constantly worrying about money.

I knew that to eventually make more money (and thus give myself the time and space to figure out all the other shit in my life), I would need to probably do one of two things—build out my freelance business or get a full-time job.

The idea of building out my freelance business didn’t really appeal to me. I don’t like hiring or managing people, and I’m bad at delegating work (I’m queen of “if I want something done right I’ll do it myself”). Of course, I could just increase my rates, which I had steadily been doing, but that would still take time and as a writer probably would hit a glass ceiling at some point. Although the digital consulting and social media work I was doing was more lucrative, I didn’t see myself being someone who would go out and get clients myself. I’d been lucky that in the past year or two people had simply come to me through referrals or networking.

I originally wanted to freelance so that I could work on personal projects, like my book. Or even leisure activities that I didn’t monetize, like my art, but as a freelancer I felt like I was always just following the next (perpetually late) paycheck and never wanted to relax because I always wanted to be productive (I’m like this even when not freelancing, so you can imagine how bad I am when I’m trying to hit a monthly revenue goal).

I’m graduating from my MBA program next weekend, so I knew if I was ever going to apply to jobs again, this would be a good time to do it. I also knew that it was going to be difficult for me to leave my rent-free, familiar living situation without a “reason” to move across the country (I knew I most likely wanted to go to LA).

So, I started lightly applying to a few jobs a week, and when I was in the Cayman Islands with my family, I booked an interview with a skincare company based in LA. They offered me a position just hours after the phone interview, which I found a little questionable tbh, but the salary was higher than I expected (I’m making $65k now) and I figured if it sucked, I’d just quit and continue freelancing. At least it would get to me to LA.

The “catch” was that they needed me to start on April 1st, and by the time I got back from the Cayman Islands, I’d have about a week to pack and get my shit together before my first day.

But I was no stranger to last-minute trips and expert packing at this point, so I packed up two big suitcases and one carry-on’s worth of clothes and shoes, booked a one way ticket, and went. It didn’t really feel real, it just felt like I was going on another vacation.

The place I had planned on staying was a friend’s roommate’s empty room (he was an actor away for the month). I knew it was going to be a bro pad, but I figured I could stick it out for a week or two while I found something better. Let’s just say that, after having to break into the room with a knife and walking in on people partying in my room the night after, I did not want to stick it out for a week or two. I spent my first two days in LA visiting apartment sublets (that I found through Facebook, which is a great resource), and signed a sublease for a cute studio by Runyon Canyon (and by my new office) on Sunday evening, just in time for work on Monday.

Side note, for those who have questions about how to secure an apartment across the country before you move there—you really can’t. If you try to, you’ll probably get scammed. You should never send money before you see a place yourself (and in my opinion, have the keys in your hand when it comes to subletting). I would recommend booking an Airbnb for your first few weeks while you look for places. Because I had already done some work on Facebook and “saved” the spots I was interested in, once I got to LA it was easy to just go through and schedule times to see the places I liked.

Although the last month has been pretty crazy and I still am working on finding an apartment to sign a lease on, a car to buy, and more—I’m so, so happy I finally made the move to LA. I feel really at home here, the weather is beautiful, there are vegan options galore, and the work-life culture is way better than it was in NYC.

I think I will probably turn this into a separate post because I don’t want this one to be too long, but transitioning from freelance life to a 9-5 has been strange in tons of ways as well. Aside from the obvious wardrobe struggles I’ve been having (that you’ve probably seen on my Instagram stories), there is also the weird feeling of getting home from work at 6 and feeling like the world is your oyster—which can be beautiful but also scary as someone who was filling the void with work for so long. After taking the job, I also felt like I was giving up part of my identity by taking a full-time job that wasn’t a journalism job (my official title at my new job is Copywriter, although I end up helping out with a lot of marketing and social media stuff as well). Weirdly (or maybe not so weirdly) I feel like I have way more freetime now than I did when I was freelancing, but it definitely still pangs me every time someone asks me to do something during the week and I have to tell them I’m not free until after 5.

Anyway, I’m probably going to make another post on what you should know before moving to LA, so feel free to drop questions below or DM me on Instagram. I just wanted to post a lil’ explainer because a lot of people have been asking me what’s going on and if I moved to LA “for good.” And while I cannot answer anything like that because I have commitment problems, I will be in LA (and at my current job) for the foreseeable future and I’m so happy about it!

Photo by James Law

Eating vegan in Thailand? Why not hit up some of my favorite spots while you’re there? Here are a few of the places I visited while there this past February. 

I wanted to do a short and sweet blog post on some great vegan spots I ate at in Thailand. Although I was in Thailand for two weeks, I actually didn’t go to that many specifically vegan places because first off, I was traveling with a meat-eating friend, and second off, the majority of restaurants in Thailand have an entire vegetarian menu, so going to a vegan spot is not as crucial as it is in the US or Madrid or wherever.

If I had gone to more places, I would have made a city-specific blog post (which obviously would have made more sense, I realize), but here we go anyways!

Eating Vegan in Thailand: My Favorite Restaurants and Cafes

Bangkok

The Dream Hotel // Bangkok

Gluten-Free Spinach Wraps (corn, carrot, spinach)

I stayed at The Dream for my last three days in Bangkok before heading home. I’ve hung out at their NYC outpost enough to know I liked their style, and it was still relatively affordable (around $70 per night) considering the accommodations. We also loved the food there. Not only was their breakfast buffet the best out of all four hotels we stayed at in Thailand (all of which were about the same price point), but they also had vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free items on their menus.

My favorite item, pictured above, were the gluten-free spinach wraps with corn, carrot, and spinach. I don’t know exactly what these were or how they were made, but they were so, so good. They also offered a veggie sandwich, broccoli and zucchini nuggets, and lots of Thai options that could be made vegan if you asked for the dish without fish sauce.

You can eat in their traditional dining room, but we opted to eat at the pool bar for the majority of our meals.

May Kaidee’s // Bangkok

Everyone told me I should try a cooking class while in Thailand, and I’m so glad I did! May Kaidee’s offers specifically vegetarian and vegan cooking classes (they’ll ask you in the beginning if you are vegetarian or vegan to cater your class to you).

We chose to do a half-day class, the Express Thai Cooking Class, where we made three dishes (Massaman Curry, Pad Thai, and Tom Yum Soup) plus got a mango sticky rice dessert without the hard labor. At first we were a little surprised to see that we were the only ones in the class, so it was essentially going to be a personal class (not bad for $40/person!). This was good because we got all the attention and things moved at our desired pace, but maybe wouldn’t be ideal if you’re trying to meet people (I assume more people do the full-day class). Our instructor was so energetic, funny, and helpful—and I totally am going to try making Massaman curry at home soon.

If you’re not keen on doing the cooking class, you can stay downstairs in their restaurant and just eat.

P.S. They also offer classes in NYC!

Tom Yum Soup by yours truly

Mezzaluna // Bangkok

Polenta “Crispy Fried” (red cabbage, renkon radicchio)

Okay, this restaurant is not technically vegan, but considering it’s a 2-Michelin-starred restaurant that offers an entire prixe-fixe vegetarian menu, I figured I’d include it in this list.

Mezzaluna is situated on the 65th story of the Lebua Hotel, right next to Sky Bar, which you may recognize from the second Hangover movie. The views are insane, and honestly reason enough to visit (and the reason many people do). Eating with that view was even better.

As for the food we were eating? My friend, who got the regular,  non-vegan prixe fixe seven course menu was a big fan. I was less impressed. This might have been because I had a vegetarian seven course meal, but also because I have higher standards when it comes to food. Speaking of vegetarian, I told our server that I don’t eat dairy, and I’m pretty positive a lot of my food still contained dairy (I mean, the dessert came with ice cream)—but I didn’t feel sick after, so maybe they were just sneaky like that.

Anyway, the views and the service were freakin’ amazing. It was a great experience eating there for sure, and it’s very rare to find such a fine dining experience for vegetarians and vegans (at least in the US—although Elizabeth’s Gone Raw in DC is an exception). But, for $200+ per person, you might have higher expectations for the food.

Here’s a portion of the menu I ate when I went:

Chiang Mai

ImmAim Cafe // Chiang Mai

ImmAim was by far my favorite cafe I visited while in Thailand. I ended up here when I was having a not great mental health day, so I decided to grab my laptop and go sit in a vegan cafe and write/have some alone time. Not only was the food great (pictured above is a spicy dip with potato naan, I also had the Grilled Pesto Veggie sandwich), but the atmosphere and service were stellar.

There were lots of expats like me, chilling on their laptops, and there was even a rooftop-esque area upstairs.

When I ordered my food, I wasn’t asked to pay up front, so I ate, chilled, ordered some more, chilled, then talked to my mom on the phone and headed out. When I was about ten minutes away I realized that I never paid. Because I had really liked the place and felt guilty, I ended up walking back to pay. The man at the register (possibly the owner) was like, “it’s free.” I was like, “what?” And he said, “it’s Monday! It’s free.” I was literally probably just staring at him for ten seconds when he was finally like, “Just kidding, what did you have?” And proceeded to tell me my total. When I found out they took cash only, I wasn’t sure I had enough, and he told me I could just pay it next time. I did eventually find enough cash to pay my full balance, but the attitude they had towards paying was so easy-going and nice, it really added to the good experience I had already had at their spot.

P.S. Their wifi was also great!

Krabi

Cafe 8.98 // Krabi Town + Ao Nang

Aubergine + Hummus Sandwich (artichoke, avocado, basil pesto)

After hiking up the Tiger Cave Temple (Wat Tham Suea) we were hungry, and to be honest kind of sick of Thai food. Thankfully we discovered this gem somewhat nearby in Krabi Town.

My friend was extremely excited to get a burger and milkshake, and I was excited to see lots of vegan and gluten-free options. I got the aubergine and hummus sandwich on gluten-free bread, which included artichoke, avocado, and basil pesto. As you can see, it was a mouthful for sure.

I didn’t have my laptop at the time, but this would also be a great place to chill and get work done. As for as eating vegan in Thailand goes, there aren’t a ton of vegan specific places in Krabi area, so this is one of your best bets!

If you are planning on eating vegan in Thailand and looking for more a more extensive list of vegan spots in Thailand, check out my friend Diana (a.k.a @vegansbaby)’s blog post on 10 vegan restaurants to try in Bangkok. OR, join her on her vegan tour of Thailand in October!