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Making money while traveling has been one of my favorite topics, since I am actually doing it now.  However, the internet is not the only way to fund your travels.  There are plenty of different ways to make money while traveling outside of internet work.  Though anyone agree that working on the internet while blogging is one of the best possiblities, I’ve come across a number of ways to travel cheap. As many have said, if you have both time and money, you have the ultimate freedom.

Working at a Hostel
Plenty of hostels will often let you stay for free as long as you do some work each week, usually about 15 hours.  This often involves cleaning the rooms or working at the reception.  One of the best ways to get started is to first stay at the hostel a bit, get to know the staff, and their chances of letting you stay will be much greater.

Organic Farm Work
Often or not you can work on an organic farm for free and even get your food taken care of.  It is a great way to travel and have your expenses nearly paid for outside of travel costs.

More often than not, the best way to approach traveling is to do it, even if you are low on a bit of funds.  If you can cover the first month, the rest will come.  When I first went to Germany with about $500 to my name, I wasn’t sure I would make it.  But behold, I was able to find jobs, cheap places to stay, and slowly make it, one of the things that led to me creating this website in the first place.  Sometimes you need to leap into the water without thinking, if you fail, you can always start over.

The Dot Com lifestyle isn’t all about earning money and buying fancy things.  The Dot Com lifestyle is about being free and flexible to do what you want when you want.  Even if you can’t fully earn money of the internet, you can still lead the lifestyle, just by finding opportunities around you in each place you travel to.

Are we moving towards technology that will effictively end cashiers, making business automated and with less human contact?

The end of Video Rental Cashiers
Already we’re seeing the end of  video rental stores with services like RedBox, and other little video vending machines that operate like a video rental store, all in one little box.  How can a video store that takes up space and needs to pay cashiers even compete?  Maybe it’s the extra human touch that matters…

The end of Post Office Cashiers
Why do you honestly even need to go to the post office anymore?  It can all be done online.  Not only that, but most post offices have mailing machines let you buy your stamps and mailing supplies all from an automated machine.

The end of Convience Stores?
Belgium created Shop24 an automated convienence store that runs itself.  It has many of the same things you’d find right in a normal gas station kiosk, but no one has to be there to cashier the system.

The end of Supermarket Cashiers?
Already we’ve got self checkout machines in Supermarkets where we checkout ourselves.  One employee can monitor 12 lanes.

Automated Fast Food
New Yorkers already have an automated fast food restaurant called Bamn!  It serves out food out of a vending type system and is open all day long.  Bamn! located at at 37 St. Marks Place between Second & Third Ave serves mini burgers, fried chicken, pork buns, dumplings, and more.  Everything at Bamn is made fresh throughout the day.

Will we have to eventually switch to a more socialist system just to make up for the many employees that won’t have jobs?  As the inventors get rich what happens to the people who were employed at this wiped out sector of labor?

I’ve often asked myself the question “Should I get a Job?”  Should I consider blogging my only job?  Quite a few bloggers have written “no you should never get a job”, “it’s an income for dummies” or even better “getting a job is like being a coward.”

Should I Get a Job?
There are all valid points, to the thought that getting a job stifles creativity, turns you into a wage slave, and chains you to one place.   There are still many valid reasons for getting a job.  Having a job leads toward meeting friends, getting out of the house, and having something to do.  Jobs working for someone else necessarily aren’t bad.  In fact this planet wouldn’t function without people working for other people.

Get a Job, then Work for Yourself
Most of us get a job simply because we have to.  Without we wouldn’t have any money.  I’d suggest working for someone with the intention of later working for yourself.  Work in a field you’d like to later do business in.  Want to open a coffee shop?  Work in one and study the inner workings.  Use your time working for someone else to really learn the field… Be eager to learn!

Reasons Never to Get a Job
Never is such a strong word, but there are plenty of reasons why working for yourself is ten times better than working for someone else.

1. Loss of Independence - Are you really free to take the company in the direction you see fit as an employee?  You have to dress a certain way, work at specific times, and follow crazy regulations.

2. Being a Wage Slave? - As an employee you’ve got to beg to increase your wage. You’ve got to suck up to the bosses and listen to their every command in fear of not getting your wage increased or worse your wage reduced.

3. Risks… – Though in many ways have a job is secure… what happens when you lose it?  You’ve got nothing… Experience only means so much.  What the difference between 10 years and 15 years of experience?

Currently Blogging is my only income and I’ve been fortunate to live off blogging alone.  I wouldn’t suggest blogging as the ultimate job, but it does have many perks… Sleeping in, writing when you want, and of course work from wherever you want.