How I Blogged My Way Around the World

It cost me $18,000 to travel the world for a year. Although this was less than the cost of what it would've cost me to live at home, I did have to figure out a way to earn that money on the road.

Here are the five ways that I made the money I needed (and made that money stretch):

1. I started a blog, and started making money off it. This was 2006, and as I was publishing my first posts, my mom was noticing the first trickle of articles in her local paper about people making money off this thing called blogging. She sent them to me, and I gobbled them up. I began to follow smart blogger folks like Problogger to learn what he did to build his blog. Slowly but surely, my blog started bringing in an income. (Get a free guide to starting your own blog here.)
2. I used that blog to build a platform. Blogging wasn't just about writing and sharing my story of my travels with the world. it was also about building a network of folks and a platform I could use to share who I was and what I wanted.
3. I looked for freelance opportunities everywhere. When the goal was constant travel, I knew I couldn't be tied to one city for work. Thus, I was constantly on the lookout for ways to earn the extra buck to get to my next country. Get to know elance, and make it your BFF.
4. I turned my focus to a bigger project. One freelance writing or editing opportunity could give me the funds for a month, but one big project could give me the funds for a year. By setting aside some of my time on the road to tackle a bigger project (for me it was writing my first book), I was investing my time in future income.
5. I kept costs low. Although I had no debt and some savings at the time, I didn't have much to fall back on. Thus, making sure I was stretching every dollar was important. That said, I know many folks who have travelled for far, far less than I did. for free lodging and Craiglist for long-term apartment rentals could've brought my costs much lower than they already were.

Traveling the world for an extended period of time is not possible for everyone, but it may be more possible for you than you realize.

Interested in reading about world travel? For the next 2 days you can download the 280-page memoir, One Year Lived, by bestselling author Adam Shepard here.