Re: Earning while cruising
Many cruisers provide skilled labour to other cruisers at prices that are lower perhaps than in the USA, but are sharply higher than most local craftsmen. Maybe the cruiser craftsmen are better although not always. At least there should be no language difficulties and therefore less static in the communications. Some cruisers also write articles or sell photographs to sailing and other mags. The internet makes this possible.
Internet work
There are, however, also other ways to earn some money thanks to the internet. My wife is a proof-reader for verbatim court reporters in the USA, for example, and I translate German legal and business texts into English. We know also of one retired high-school history teacher in Port Townsend, WA, who researches online the history of mining claims in the NW States for use in court battles. Another acquaintance provides indexing for publishing companies.
I am sure that many cruisers would like to hear of other online ways to make money as you cruise.
There are some obvious and some less obvious advantages.
The work can be done anywhere and in your own time. We have done work, for example, in the remotest coves of Alaska and BC as well as in Mexico, The Galapagos, mainland Ecuador, Venezuela, Germany, The Netherlands and England. I have even translated big projects whilst at sea. We receive the work by internet and send the completed job back the same way. Sometimes the world time differences are a competitive advantage and sometimes a disadvantage. Billing is also done by email and, in Europe at least, payment is sent directly to your account anywhere in Europe by direct transfer and you can check it online. Basically you never see your clients and they never see you. Although sometimes you do build up a relationship with a client, the relationship is generally superficial at best. At least there is no office bullying or gossip and your office and work overheads are substantially lower (i.e., no commuting, no car, no dress-up office clothes, no office lunches, no entertaining, etc.) Importantly, depending upon where you live, the income earned from online work outside your country of domicile may be taxed at a much lower rate and sometimes not taxed at all.
The disadvantages?
Communications are the biggest problem. Staying in email contact from a boat can be challenging. Although things are getting better all the time, you generally need to be near a harbour or at least near a coast to be in touch. If you rely on work from (e.g., translating) agencies, for example, they tend to shop the work around to 100 people and the first one to reply gets it. Unless you are near wi-fi in harbour, of course, you are at a response disadvantage. You otherwise have to visit cyber-cafes ashore; you can take your own laptop and go online on the cyber-cafe's wi-fi, if they have it; we tend to use a flash memory to transport data. Agencies also take a big cut in the money received from the end-user, so, if you can build up a clientele yourself, you make more money. The disadvantage with that is that now you are running a business, and you can't just say you are busy and go sailing for a few days. Sailmail and similar programmes have problems with attached files which can be a serious disadvantage. In Canada and the USA we used cell phones with data transmitting ability and this is increasingly available (GRSM technology, for example; cell phone companies offer data programmes at reasonable rates even here in Ecuador). There are alternatives when you are not near wi-fi or cellphone towers. We used an Iridium sat phone in Alaska and Northern BC. It worked just fine for voice but was extremely slow and therefore very expensive for data and ate up all the money we were making. But at least we kept the contact to our customers while we cruised very remote waters. Staying in contact is getting easier as technology progresses so rapidly. Wi-fi didn't even appear until just a few years ago and now is becoming increasingly prevalent. As to payment, some US clients don't understand direct transfers and insist upon paying with cheques (older mariners will remember them! Little bits of paper that are passed around the bank-clearing systems for years, frequently are claimed to be in or to have been lost in the mail, and take days at best to be credited to your account!) In this case you will need a friend or sister-in-law back home who is willing to cart the things to your bank for you.
The real disadvantage of online work, of course, is that working online keeps you away from all that boat maintenance that you would much rather be doing. And sometimes it even gets in the way of sailing too. The best online earning source is without a doubt notification from a solicitor that you have become the heir to a large fortune.
So, how about some other tips and ideas for earning while cruising.
And, if you liked this tip please, send $1,000 to my account.
Ronald Bird
S/V Vilisar, Victoria, BC
In transit at Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador
Custom-built Wm Atkin Design
Many cruisers provide skilled labour to other cruisers at prices that are lower perhaps than in the USA, but are sharply higher than most local craftsmen. Maybe the cruiser craftsmen are better although not always. At least there should be no language difficulties and therefore less static in the communications. Some cruisers also write articles or sell photographs to sailing and other mags. The internet makes this possible.
Internet work
There are, however, also other ways to earn some money thanks to the internet. My wife is a proof-reader for verbatim court reporters in the USA, for example, and I translate German legal and business texts into English. We know also of one retired high-school history teacher in Port Townsend, WA, who researches online the history of mining claims in the NW States for use in court battles. Another acquaintance provides indexing for publishing companies.
I am sure that many cruisers would like to hear of other online ways to make money as you cruise.
There are some obvious and some less obvious advantages.
The work can be done anywhere and in your own time. We have done work, for example, in the remotest coves of Alaska and BC as well as in Mexico, The Galapagos, mainland Ecuador, Venezuela, Germany, The Netherlands and England. I have even translated big projects whilst at sea. We receive the work by internet and send the completed job back the same way. Sometimes the world time differences are a competitive advantage and sometimes a disadvantage. Billing is also done by email and, in Europe at least, payment is sent directly to your account anywhere in Europe by direct transfer and you can check it online. Basically you never see your clients and they never see you. Although sometimes you do build up a relationship with a client, the relationship is generally superficial at best. At least there is no office bullying or gossip and your office and work overheads are substantially lower (i.e., no commuting, no car, no dress-up office clothes, no office lunches, no entertaining, etc.) Importantly, depending upon where you live, the income earned from online work outside your country of domicile may be taxed at a much lower rate and sometimes not taxed at all.
The disadvantages?
Communications are the biggest problem. Staying in email contact from a boat can be challenging. Although things are getting better all the time, you generally need to be near a harbour or at least near a coast to be in touch. If you rely on work from (e.g., translating) agencies, for example, they tend to shop the work around to 100 people and the first one to reply gets it. Unless you are near wi-fi in harbour, of course, you are at a response disadvantage. You otherwise have to visit cyber-cafes ashore; you can take your own laptop and go online on the cyber-cafe's wi-fi, if they have it; we tend to use a flash memory to transport data. Agencies also take a big cut in the money received from the end-user, so, if you can build up a clientele yourself, you make more money. The disadvantage with that is that now you are running a business, and you can't just say you are busy and go sailing for a few days. Sailmail and similar programmes have problems with attached files which can be a serious disadvantage. In Canada and the USA we used cell phones with data transmitting ability and this is increasingly available (GRSM technology, for example; cell phone companies offer data programmes at reasonable rates even here in Ecuador). There are alternatives when you are not near wi-fi or cellphone towers. We used an Iridium sat phone in Alaska and Northern BC. It worked just fine for voice but was extremely slow and therefore very expensive for data and ate up all the money we were making. But at least we kept the contact to our customers while we cruised very remote waters. Staying in contact is getting easier as technology progresses so rapidly. Wi-fi didn't even appear until just a few years ago and now is becoming increasingly prevalent. As to payment, some US clients don't understand direct transfers and insist upon paying with cheques (older mariners will remember them! Little bits of paper that are passed around the bank-clearing systems for years, frequently are claimed to be in or to have been lost in the mail, and take days at best to be credited to your account!) In this case you will need a friend or sister-in-law back home who is willing to cart the things to your bank for you.
The real disadvantage of online work, of course, is that working online keeps you away from all that boat maintenance that you would much rather be doing. And sometimes it even gets in the way of sailing too. The best online earning source is without a doubt notification from a solicitor that you have become the heir to a large fortune.
So, how about some other tips and ideas for earning while cruising.
And, if you liked this tip please, send $1,000 to my account.
Ronald Bird
S/V Vilisar, Victoria, BC
In transit at Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador
Custom-built Wm Atkin Design
posted by rjb @ Saturday, October 06, 2007
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home