How I Earn Remotely: My 10 Income Streams... plus

how you can work remotely, be more productive and lead a balanced life.

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

Hello and thank you for being here! I’m Kimberly Anne—a U.S. expat who moved to Portugal solo in 2022, sight unseen and without a safety net. I started this Substack to document my own journey, but these days, I’m here to help you explore your own dreams of moving abroad. Thanks for joining me on the adventure! (Want more of the backstory? Click here.)

This newsletter and podcast are free, but donations are always appreciated! Paid subscriptions or one-time “buy me a coffee” contributions really motivate me to keep creating helpful content. If donating isn’t possible, liking or sharing makes a big difference too. Thank you so much for being a reader!

Introduction

A big thank you to

Benjamin Hies

at Digital Citizen for our lively chats. Because of Benjamin’s questions, this week’s planned article took a back seat.

Benjamin asked: “How long does it take you to write one post? and what are your 6 jobs, as you mentioned in the chat?”

Before I respond I want to give a little background. If you’re not new to this newsletter, forgive the repeat or skip to the next header.

While living in the U.S. I worked two full time jobs for forty years. I love to work. I’m a workaholic but only when I’m working for myself. Thankfully, I learned that early on and started my first business when I was nineteen years old. I’ve had a dozen or so since them as I’m a serial entrepreneur. I recently learned from

Jeremie

at

Beyond Ordinary

that North Americans are primed to be entrepreneurs. I had never thought of that before listening to his podcast with

Kenny - Your Freelance Friend

. I highly recommend listening or watching it here.

Before leaving the U.S. I had a brick and mortar business. I was an acupuncturist for ten years. If you talk to me long enough you’ll notice this cycle. I start a business or two or three or five (yes, at the same time) and when I finally earn a good living with one I get bored, quit and start another. This usually takes me about ten years and I know it’s counterproductive, oh how I know!

Anyway… there were so many things I loved about being an acupuncturist but when the things I didn’t love outweighed the things I did love, it was time to move on. And a big part of this was wanting to leave the U.S. and not wanting to take a job where I have to be somewhere else for a specific amount of hours each day. I love working at home. I trained myself to do it many years ago, focusmate helped, and thankfully (for the most part) I’m disciplined; which I also trained myself to do.

When I first moved abroad, I was still writing and publishing novels.

I’d like to talk about the myth vs. reality of the “digital nomad” lifestyle but it’s the same even if you’re not a digital nomad and you work for yourself.

When you work for someone else you get to leave the job at 5pm (or whenever you finish working) and not bring it home with you. Unless you’re my bestie who’s an IT fixer guy and usually has to be on call. But for most people who work for a company, you leave your job, you go home, you do you. This is not the case when you work remotely or even when you have a brick and mortar but work for yourself. You always bring the work home with you. You’re thinking about it, you’re doing it, you’re breathing it. A recent example is this morning. After attending Porto Pride yesterday, which was amazing BTW, I was fried and fell asleep at 9pm. But my pup woke me up at midnight (not on purpose of course), barking at the neighbor. I couldn’t go back to sleep so from midnight until 6:30am I worked in bed! As I cover in the next section, I work a LOT, usually ten hours a day.

I completely acknowledge this is just my experience and it may not be this way for all digital nomads.

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Ten Income Streams, Nine “Jobs”

As mentioned I told

Benjamin Hies

the other day that I have six jobs but when I counted I realized I currently have nine.

Most of them aren’t income streams though, because I only earn from four of them. I don’t recommend this LOL.

As I did in this older article, I’ll list the “jobs”, talk a bit about each of them; the pluses and minuses, how or why I started if relevant, etc. Then I tell you the time I spend on each and the amount +/- that I earn.

It’s important to note that the income is not stagnant. Part of the joys of being a freelancer is that your income will fluctuate. Some months are better, others leaner.

1. Marketing for my twenty novels. I wrote these books several years ago over a period of seven years and while I’m no longer writing under that pen-name or in that genre, I still market the books. This entails writing and sending two newsletters a month to my list, joining promos, getting new book covers every year or two, changing blurbs, and now: taking all my books out of Amazon exclusive (Kindle Unlimited) and putting them wide (into all the other online retail stores).

   1. Weekly Time Commitment: 3-5 hours

   2. Earnings: Before pulling my books from KU I earned $150 to $200 a month. This month out of KU I earned $30. 😫

2. Writing on Substack. In June of 2024 I committed to writing and publishing one substack article per week and I have! 🥳 I want to interject a “you can too” here. —I’ve never, in my life, been consistent at anything other than brushing my teeth. So… if I can do it, so can you!—Prior to forming my weekly habit I was publishing periodically for two years. Even when I started gaining a little traction I chose to keep my Substack free and not put it behind a paywall. I talk about why in this article but the crux is that when I needed this information, I couldn’t afford to pay for it. Others gave it away for free and I want to give back as much as I can. The pay it forward model. I currently have twenty-seven paid subscribers, THANK YOU! This is a donation based system. They do receive a discount for my class and I hope to offer more perks in the future. —I also have a “buy me a coffee” link for one time donations and people THANK YOU do use this as well, for which I am eternally grateful.

   1. Substack Weekly Time Commitment to Write the Article: 5 hours minimum (but it usually takes about 8 hours).

   2. Earnings: +/- $200/month (this fluctuates)

3. Podcast: I’ve slacked on the podcast as I’ve picked up other jobs but I want to get back to it!

   1. Time Commitment to record and edit one podcast: 3-5 hours

   2. Earnings: $0

4. Writing and Creating Videos for International Living. Thanks to an amazing Substacker, I was given the opportunity to write articles and create videos for International Living Magazine. I love this job SO MUCH! My first article is here and my first video is here. I try to write one article per month and was just hired for a new product they’re launching and will be providing one video per month. 🥳

   1. Time Commitment (this varies): Producing and editing a video, like this one, took me about eight hours. Writing this article took me about seven hours but writing this one took me closer to ten.

      1. On average I’ll say about 5 hours a week.

   2. Earnings: +/- $500/month

5. Teaching English. I still have three students but one takes multiple classes per week and two ask for EXTENSIVE homework. Just coming up with their homework lessons takes me five hours per week. I have loved all my students and while I hate to quit teaching, it’s become unsustainable, especially with everything else I’m doing. Thus, I will be stopping completely at the end of August.

   1. Time Commitment: 10+ hours per week.

   2. Earnings: $150-$200/month (sometimes they reschedule or I take a week off)

6. YouTube Videos. This is my newest endeavor and yes I’m obviously nuts. When I realized I MUST earn more, I did what I always do… I made a list. On the top of my list was voiceovers and book narration. I have the background (long story), I have the books. I researched for months, hired a coach and even purchased the gear. But then… I started watching YouTube creators. One person in particular peaked my interest Ed Lawrence. But I still wasn’t convinced. I thought… maybe it would be something I could try in the future. Of course, my YouTube algorithms changed from 100% comedy sketches to YouTube gurus. Enter Alexa Saarenoja. Alexa spoke to me (virtually LOL) and I devoured her videos. Then I thought, well, why not now? So I hired Alexa as a consultant and the rest is history. JK, I just started last week, and I have a VERY LONG road ahead of me. But after watching both Alexa and the woman she recommended, Silver and Solo, I thought… if I can get to YouTube monetization and earn $800 to $1,000 a month, I’ll finally be able to breathe again! At the time of this writing (June 30th, 2025) I’ve been on YouTube for one week but I already have 50+ subscribers and over 300 views on my first video. This feels like a huge win to me, however I know it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

   1. Time Commitment: 15+ hours per week.

   2. Earnings: $0

7. Coaching/Consulting. This fluctuates the most with both time and earnings.

   1. Time Commitment: 1-5 hours a week depending on the week.

   2. Earnings: +/- $500/mo

8. Finishing the Expat Class. When I started creating this class a year ago I had no idea how extensive it would be but I’m an overachiever so I really should have guessed. Plus it’s the first virtual class I’ve created and I had to learn four new programs completely from scratch. Every time I think, “I’ll finish it in two more months” it takes longer. Because the class is so robust (even though it’s not finished yet) and because I’ve spent approximately 500 hours so far creating it, I’ve finally had to raise the price. Thanks to some amazing meetings with

   Dr. CK | Beyond Borders 🛫
   who coached me, once it’s complete I’ll charge significantly more for the master (full) class. At the time of this writing the full version is on sale for 70% off the final price for lifetime access.

   1. Time Commitment: 15+ hours per week.

   2. Earnings: +/- $100/mo

9. Tweaking my Expat Website. I only have to do this every few months but this is one of those months.

   1. Time Commitment: 15+ hours per week.

   2. Earnings: $0

10. Saying YES… to being interviewed on other people’s podcasts!

    1. Time Commitment: 5 hours a month.

    2. Earnings: $0

Other Earnings:

Affiliate Marketing both Amazon and from specific brands: +/- $20/month

TIME Totals

I don’t work on all of these projects every day. There’s no way I could. Currently I work about ten hours a day, six days a week. But some days I work more and others I work less. For example, last Sunday I worked for thirteen hours and so far today I’ve worked for eight, it’s only noon and I have many miles to go before I sleep… Update: I finally fished this article and am re-reading it for the last time and it’s 8:30pm. I worked on it for a total of fifteen hours. Time flies when…

Other things that take up my time…

1. Estrela, my amazing dog: walking her, driving to and from daycare, cooking her food (yes I do WTH?), lots of playing, some training.

   1. 2.5 hours a day

2. Cooking two meals a day for myself from scratch. I love to cook (and save money) so this is non-negotiable.

   1. 1-2 hours a day

3. Doing dishes, cleaning the house, doing laundry (this takes significantly longer without a dryer) and I do laundry every other day.

   1. 1-2 hours a day, depending on the day.

4. Working out (two times a week I lift weights and once a week I go to circus class.

   1. 3.5 hours a week.

5. Studying Portuguese: I really try to study for at least one hour a day but when I’m on a deadline, this is the first thing I sacrifice.

   1. 1 hour per day.

I realize this all sounds like a lot but I think most of us have similar schedules, plus or minus a few hours or swapping out commitments.

People with kids have significantly less time. People with partners that help around the house or cook for them, have significantly more time. I’ve never experienced this in my life but when I think about my father I’m a bit resentful. He had a 9-5, M-F. When he wasn’t cheating on my mom, he was home at night drinking heavily and watching TV. She waited on him hand and foot for twenty years.

After their divorce she flipped the script and found a partner to wait on her. They’ve been together for thirty years and he does everything. He does all the marketing, cooks her dinner every night, sets the table, does the dishes, brings her scotch and appetizers as she sits in the den reading. He does all the gardening, drives her to her doctor’s appointments and the list goes on…

Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like with help like that. I did experience it briefly last year when I stayed with my friend Marc for a week. But full-time I’ll never know because I refuse to live with anyone again 😅 So it is what it is. Somethings in life are a trade-off. Moving on!

The Monies

I do have to pay taxes on everything I earn. And when Biden was president the dollar was strong (almost 1-1) with the euro. I am paid in USD. Since Trump has tanked the economy on purpose, the dollar has dropped to .80 or .85 so now I’m losing about 20% of my income. Plus my income fluctuates monthly, as mentioned. Unfortunately it looks like the U.S. truly is heading toward a recession thus my (and everyone else’s) income may drop even further 😫

I did the math and with taxes and the abysmal exchange rate I’m “losing” 40% to 50% of everything I earn.

The only solution I see is to earn more.

A Balancing Act

While it sounds like I’m back in the perpetual work to live cycle, I’m truly not. I take and make time to do the things I love. I go out to lunch and/or dinner with friends all the time. I go to events. I even get to take short, local vacations. When I lived in Marin County in the U.S. a huge part of my problem was having to drive an hour to get anywhere. To see most friends it was a two hour drive for me, there and back. To go to circus classes in San Francisco it was also a two hour drive round-trip. This is one of the benefit of living in a city. I walk to meet friends here or jump on the metro. Even my local circus school is just fifteen minutes away.

How Can You Do It?

Time Management: I wrote an article about this! But really it comes down to finding out what works for you and getting into the practice. I didn’t start out being able to sit down and focus on a task for five+ hours at a time.

Discipline: When I first started writing novels seriously I had to have a deadline in order to complete them. I did this by hiring a very busy and expensive editor. If I missed the deadline, I’d still have to pay her. This kept me on track. Was it hard, oh hell yes! Did it become easier over time? It did!!

Do whatever it takes for you to start now.

• Set up a committed/hard deadline because you’re paying someone.

• Set a personal deadline/goal you don’t allow yourself to break (heavy life circumstances not-withstanding like illness or death).

• Rewards: some people really respond to rewards, I’m not one of those people, but maybe you are! My friend

  Rachael Herron
  used to use actual gold stars (I don’t if she still does) to motivate herself, and I love this approach! Maybe your reward is going out to dinner, buying yourself a gorgeous bouquet of flowers, luxuriating in a long bath, going to the ocean/forest/lake/snow or on a mini-vacation!

• Acknowledging all that you’ve done!!! Scream it from the rooftop, post your wins here on Substack, tell your bestie, dance with your dog!

Managing boundaries (work/life/family/pet): as you can see from my “Balancing Act” header, it’s a dance. But I would like to address what I do specifically in regards to setting “family/friends” boundaries. My phone remains on silent unless I’m expecting a work or other important call or text. 99.9% of the time my phone is on silent. I physically have to grab it and check the lock screen in order to see if anyone has texted. I also keep my phone screen face down. If it’s on my desk, couch or a table at home or in a restaurant. Unless I’m expecting someone to reach out, I usually put it away when I’m out at a restaurant with others. I also turn off ALL my notifications except for WhatsApp and Signal. YUP, everything else is off. Email, apps, the news, etc. Constant notifications pull us out of “deep focus” and I can’t afford that as it takes ten to twenty minutes to get back to focusing again. There’s a lot of data about this but I don’t have time to search for it as I’m currently sitting at the airport waiting for a friend to arrive and need to get this article out.

But… I will say that I know someone who has all their notifications turned on. They subscribe to dozens of YouTube channels, facebook notifications and more. They also don’t silence their phone, even during sleep! Their phone dings and pings every five seconds and I wish I was exaggerating but sadly, I’m not. Whenever they leave a quick voice message for me I hear at least four notifications in the background. I suggested they turn them off but they claim they don’t know how. I offered to do it for them, they declined. Just hanging out with their phone makes me anxious and for a self-proclaimed luddite, they are completely attached to it. 🤷🏽‍♀️

As mentioned: Data… there’s some that shows people are more distracted when they’re out with others and their phones are on the table as opposed to out of sight. And… there’s even more data out about how long it takes us to get back into focus after we hear the ping of a message, even if we don’t check it—longer if we do check it. I forget the exact numbers on this but you can google it or ask AI if you want to know.

—I also have set work hours. When I’m working, I’m working. I don’t check my phone. I don’t respond to texts until I take a break. I don’t take calls from friends or family in the middle of a workday unless I’m on a break which brings me to…

Workday Balance: Take breaks! Schedule an hour for lunch and take that time. Because I use focusmate a lot, the sessions are fifty minutes with a ten minute break at the end. I use those breaks. I get out of my chair, get something to drink, run to the bathroom. Often times I stretch or play with the dog. When I get back to work after, even a short break, I have more energy and focus.

Tools, Routines, or Habits: I write about tools in the productivity article here but the most important thing you can do is experiment and find what works for you. Create your habits. Change your routines. Experiment. Try working when you first wake up or in the afternoon or the evening. When I first began this journey it was suggested I keep a log. I’ll be honest, I’m not great at that but I did it anyway. I found my most productive time of day is usually in the mornings but it can vary. As of this moment it’s close to 9pm and I’m still productive. When I’m on deadline, as I am today, I can be productive at 11pm. But I didn’t start that way. It was a learned habit.

Conclusion

When I started this article I was planning on listing all your remote work options but the article took much longer to write than I anticipated and I’ve run out of time. I do have a lesson in my class that I researched heavily but it doesn’t feel fair to the people who are in the class if I cut and paste everything here. But here are a few ideas/options.

• A Reddit Thread

• Linked-In

• Flex Jobs (Job Board)

• 15 Work from Home Job Ideas

My New Substack Chat

I opened up my Substack chat! My hope is that it will be a kind and thriving community of like-minded people helping one another! I opened it up so anyone can start a new thread and I’m encouraging questions though I hope others will join in answering them with me! I may not always get to monitor it so if any of you notice anyone who’s not playing nicely, PLEASE send me a DM. Not that I expect that to happen, but you never know 😬 and I’d rather be safe than sorry. Especially since I had such a weird experience with my visa post recently. Someone I had spoken with at length in the past, who was always very nice, lost their ever-loving S$%& and tore me a new one in the comments section. I must have triggered them but I don’t respond to abuse. I wish they would have opened up a civil conversation instead. I’m always open to discussion even if we don’t see eye-to-eye.

Notifications: If you don’t want to get notifications every time someone posts in the chat, click into the chat, click the three dots in the upper right corner and choose mute.

I usually run my articles through the editor Pro Writing Aid but this week has been crazy busy so here you go—mistakes and all! Which also lets you know it’s hand (not AI) written 😅

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Resources

• Jeremie
  from
  Beyond Ordinary
  was interviewed here and here!

• Jeremie’s wife, Rosie, has a YouTube Channel focused on TRAVEL!

  👉🏽 Please give her a follow 🥰

• Here’s a great article re: earning via writing that just popped into my feed!

• A Reddit Thread about remote earning

• Linked-In

• Flex Jobs (Job Board)

• 15 Work from Home Job Ideas

Thank you so much for reading! If you don’t want to become a paid subscriber (my articles will always be free) but enjoyed this article, please consider a one time donation below.

I’m excited to help you make your dream of moving abroad a reality! 🎉 Book a video consultation with me to get personalized guidance for your big move, or check out my super affordable, self-paced class to learn key steps and strategies for relocating abroad. Let’s make it happen!

• Consulting Information: Discover how I can help make your move abroad smoother and stress-free.

• Work With Me: I offer personalized à la carte consultations and ridiculously affordable packages to fit your needs!

• My Class: Learn step-by-step strategies to move abroad on a budget—all at your own pace!

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—If you want to learn another language before you embark (or after) on your new adventure, I highly recommend the platform Preply! It’s what I use to learn Portuguese and it’s also the platform I teach on. Please use my referral code for $17 off your first lesson!

—I use Wise to transfer money internationally between bank accounts and they also offer a free ATM card that can be used worldwide without fees. Please use my referral code for a free transfer of up to $600.

—I’ve started using Kindred Home Exchange in order to secure affordable accommodations! If you’re interested and want to sign up, you will get five nights with my referral code!

—I use SafetyWing for my travel medical insurance abroad. You can check them out here.

—For travel hacking, I use my Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card. I earn enough points by using the card regularly (with no foreign transaction fees) to get a “free” RT ticket from Europe to the US at least once a year.

—I use the eSim Nomad. I’ve tried several others, and Nomad is the only one that’s ever worked for me.

—If you’re traveling or moving to a new country, I highly recommend choosing ExpressVPN. It’s the VPN service that I use. Click here for more information and get three extra months on an affordable twelve month subscription.

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If you’re interested in my “Why I Left the US and Won’t Ever Return” Series, please check out..

1. Cost of living: Article here

2. Healthcare (or lack thereof) here.

3. Safety—article here.

4. Polarization—too much hate and anger

5. Community

6. Values

If you’re interested in moving abroad, check out my free Expat on a Budget pub or podcast on Substack

The How to Live Abroad Publication is here.

• Part 1—Want to move abroad? Start here!

• Part 2—Conquer your fears about moving abroad!

• Part 3—12 Minimizing Mistakes Part 1

• Part 4—12 Minimizing Mistakes Part 2

• Part 5—A Personal Case study (re: Minimizing)

• Part 6—Your Move Abroad: The Ultimate Checklist

If you’re on a budget (as am I) please like by clicking on the heart below and share this article with a friend. 

Your support (in all ways) is greatly appreciated! 

—Expat on a Budget (AKA) Living Abroad on a Budget and My Unknown Adventure by Kimberly Anne

*** This article contains a few affiliate links. Using my affiliate links is not required and does not cost you anything extra but I greatly appreciate it, if you do. It’s a (free to you) way to help support my writing.

***Disclaimer: My writing, and podcasts are based on personal experience and are for informational purposes only. I am not a lawyer. Please seek professional advice before making decisions about moving abroad. I am not responsible for any outcomes resulting from the use of this information.