The dream of living abroad depends on many factors. You need to understand the visa requirements but you often also need a stable source of income (if you do not have a job waiting for you). That said, too many people don’t get appealing job offers that match their skills or expertise, so the need to create your own job is the main stepping-stone to success.

Luckily, there are so many hobbies that have the perfect potential to become lucrative careers, ideal for living as an expat in any country of your choosing. These careers often have the necessary flexibility to help you work on the go if need be, but also to work and make a living without too many setbacks. Here are a few examples of hobbies you can develop into full-time careers, and that can help you thrive while building your expat life abroad.

Photography

Whether you’ve been using your phone or a professional camera to take photos thus far, this is definitely one of the most in-demand positions expats can build into a career. What’s more, wherever you decide to live, you’ll have so many versatile subjects to consider, and with a bit of experience and equipment, you can even advance fairly quickly as an artist and create photos worth selling to businesses and individuals alike.

If you’d like to take photos of events like weddings and birthdays, you’ll need to invest in a top-notch professional camera so as to be a valid candidate for the job. Not to mention the lights and other props you’ll need, so it’s important to think about the investment and how you can position yourself as a unique, authentic professional.

Creative writing in many forms

If you love the written word and you’ve spent countless hours writing everything from short stories, blogs, to your own diary, this is a wonderful opportunity to create an expat-friendly career without worrying about location or the pandemic. You can become a dedicated blogger for your own website, or work remotely for any company that needs a full-time writer.

You can also become a freelancer and ghostwrite books, stories, and any other commissioned work out there. Content marketing is big enough that you can easily find a job that will involve plenty of creative writing, so you can provide everything, including product descriptions, technical guides, and fiction – your options are endless. Just make sure you know how to manage writer’s block if you plan to turn this into a profession.

Gaming

Those who are passionate about video games and love to spend hours developing their gaming skills can greatly benefit from this hobby. The beauty of working as a gamer is that you can find a number of ways to earn a living: you can stream your gaming process, work with game-producing companies, or start competitive gaming if you’re good enough.

A common setback involves a lack of focus and frequent fatigue, so many players rely on a gaming energy drink that helps restore their cognitive capacity and enables them to perform better. This can help you overcome focus issues that might deter you from becoming a professional and transforming your gaming hobby into a lucrative, thriving expat career.

Teaching online

Online education is becoming more relevant by the day, especially ever since the pandemic caused most countries to send their pupils home and turn to digital classrooms. Even before the pandemic, people with various skills have been able to teach online and work either on their own, or as part of a school that offers classes in various subjects. For example, if you’re a native English speaker and a great conversationalist, you would likely enjoy teaching English to people from all over the world.

If you’d like, you could also set up dedicated courses in hobbies you love, be it photography, writing, gardening, fashion design, you name it. You can set up a website and provide a number of different workshops and seminars that can bring you clients from the entire world, no matter where you choose to live.

Social media

If you love spending your time on social media and you understand how these platforms work, this will make it a great opportunity for you to start leveraging social to your advantage. For those who have a well-established following and interesting content ideas, especially on Instagram and TikTok, you can become a valuable asset and an influencer working with a select number of brands. Keep in mind that it takes time to build up a reputation that will be noteworthy in the eyes of the biggest brands, but smaller businesses will often collaborate with influencers, too.

On the other end of the social media spectrum, you can become a social media manager for a number of businesses and work remotely without any setbacks. This digital career is particularly appealing for those who have a knack for writing engaging content for social and know how to communicate effectively with people.

Although there are other options out there, these are some of the most profitable hobbies you can take anywhere with you, and help other businesses and people grow with the help of your abilities. If you’re planning to move abroad and live as an expat, these can even become your source of additional income and help you achieve greater financial stability over time.