If you are like me, traveling on a whim and a wish in Africa, create a budget and stick to it. Because if you fall on hard times in the Continent, there are not very many options for you. I left in January and I have been traveling for the last 6 months, living like a king sometimes and a pauper others. But I am a student and could always count of financial aid to provide the cash I need. But when holds are placed on your account, and you’ve run out of family and friends to hit up for cash, what are you to do? Especially when you need cash yesterday and your uncertain how to pay for your current accommodations. I’ve looked at tons of options, spending hella hours tryna figure out how to make this dream be feasible. Here’s what I came away with. To be honest, I’m not sure you should expect quick results, especially without effort.
1. Fiverr
I first tried Fiverr, thinking that it would be easier to sell my impeccable writing ability with the world for a small fee. Well, it wasn’t. And I think its partly because I’m surprisingly not very good at selling myself to others (not sure If I’m shy or I just like the process). If you are going this route, take some time to study marketing tips, and make sure you have a good pitch. I wanted money, but I didn’t really want to work for it, so none came my way. I’ll update this if I get over my ego and give this an honest chance.
2. Upwork
Upwork turned out to be largely like Fiverr. You have got to do research and you have got to market your self effectively. I gave a little more effort on this one, but was still dissapointed. All my positivity and law of attraction practices didn’t have money flowing in my way. Rather than being overwhelmed by a steady flow of job offers, I found my self depressed with my inbox’s inactivity (first dry DMs and now this!!). I got frustrated and anxious so I switched to something else in an attempt to get the quick cash I needed.
3. Selling via Craigslist thru Proxy
The best thing about family is that you can count on them a good 80% of the time to be in your corner and help you out. And let’s be honest, this is a good 30 percentage points than lots of our friends who are also busy and are a toss up most of the time. I left the US in a rush and did not plan things out. Also, since the news, school, girl problems, etc. was depressing the spit out of me, I didn’t really take care of my things. Thus my trend of failures at quick cash continued. My motorcycle is nice, it’s a classic 80s bike and its in almost good condition. I thought it would sell quick. It almost did…But once folks heard about the parking tickets on the registration…Boy….More dry inboxes, and I couldn’t get the grand I needed to keep my travel dream afloat this way neither. Word to the wise: take good care of your things, you never know if you will need to sell them and nobody wants to buy junk.
4. Loans / Credit Cards
Don’t think I didn’t think of or try this option. I definitely did. I searched and searched. I sought out student loans of all kinds (public and private). I looked at credit cards with over 20% APR in horror and desperation. But my credit score is too low, and my unpaid debt is too high with the student loans stacked on top of ~$10k of immature undergraduate choices. There are honestly tons of choices out there for quick loans, and if you got the credit score for it, or a willing cosigner, this is probably the easiest way to get that money you need for your trip.
5. Scholarships
I was certain that this would be my pathway to financial stability. Long story short, it wasn’t. I combed internet search engines, as well as lauded sites like Fastweb but still no positive results. Looking back, I think I missed a few promising deadlines on Fastweb because I was trying to do too much. Basically everything on this list is being done at the same time or in really close proximity. Having a more focused approach and less smokey mind will probably help many of you out in this front. Theoretically, I still think this is a good way to go,but timing and follow through and very important if you want to even think about succeeding.
6. Amazon Mechanical Turk
Now here is where I start getting desperate. This webpage literally pays you cents for most data entry tasks or surveys. I now have a glimpse in how it feels to work and be paid $1 an hour. The really big money video transcription jobs required 3 or 4 unpaid qualification tests that I felt I just didn’t have time for. But for 30 minute videos the pay was $10-$20 for an anticipated 2-4 hours of work. And monster 2 hour videos paid as much as $80. The funny thing about anxiety and feeling rushed is that one you literally will pass things up because you feel there is no time, and end up wasting tons of time trying to find something that takes little to no time to make money. It’s a little insane in retrospect. Check out the webpage, this may be a decent option, just be prepared to put in the prep work.
7. Survey Websites:SwagBucks & 20/20 Surveys
Would you be surprised if I said this didn’t give me what I was looking for either. The biggest pain in the neck is that many, many companiea restrict access in Africa. So I had to enter thru a web proxy just to see if there was a vein of gold…Whelp..20/20 surveys didn’t inform me of anything day of ( I really needed them too) and Swagbucks wouldn’t let me in, even tho I had a proxy. Woah is me, right!? On to the next.
8. Pay Per Tweet
I really hoped this would work out. But more prep work is necessary, I do not have a big following. To be honest, I never was about taking drunk pics, talking smack, being petty, or flashing money so my Twitter circle had been small (surprised I didn’t want to put effort into this either? Apparently I think things should happen instantly..). The review sites said that anyone, despite numbers of followers could get paid here, but I haven’t gotten any offers nor have I qualified for any..
9. GPT Apps: Pocket Bounty / Inbox Dollars
These apps dissapointed me largely like the websites did. You have got to be in the states to qualify for many surveys off of your location. Additionally, it took 10000 points to get $10 in your PayPal, but most of the stuff I did qualify for gave 1 – 30 points. Not quick enough!!! You ever hit rock bottom? It’s not as hard and uncomfortable as most assume it is. It actually feels like cushy office chairs or spring mattresses. And you don’t necessarily fall, it’s more like implode..But anyways
10. Blog, Writing Articles
I knew when I first started trying to get mkney on Fiverr and Upwork that I would need more material on the internet. To be frank, I wouldn’t really hire anyone to write for me either if they couldn’t show me any evidence that they actually write. And in my never ending quest for quick ways to make a buck, I stumbled across sites that pay relatively well for articles. So Alchemist style, I came full circle and realized what I needed was always right in front of me. I hope it works out, I’ll update you when I able to put enough focused and dedicated work into it.
Conclusion
I hope this look into the insanity that is me helps you figure out what to do when you travel. If you feel called to go abroad then go. In a perfect world, you’ll have savings or access to credit that will allow you to do what you want. If you’re like me, and are traveling with student loans, I pray you plan in advance, save your money, and stick to your budget. What ever you choose, please plan ahead. When you get here, it may not be easy to fill budget gaps once friends and family are unable to support you anymore.