Welcome to the 9th edition of “How to Make Money While Travelling” which features successful nomadic teams and interviews with location independent entrepreneurs.
This week I interviewed Grace O Donnell, the founder of Falling Gracefully, a location independent film production company.
So, how do you make money while travelling?
Filmmaking and marketing. I do a lot of corporate editing jobs, for instance I get several hours of market research footage and whittle it down to an exciting five mins which tells a good story. In addition, I do photo shoots and filming jobs via local contacts.
What were you doing before Falling Gracefully?
I’ve always been a freelancer, I was mainly doing marketing but also some filmmaking. I started getting more and more paid filmmaking work, so when I made the transition to digital nomad I decided to also make filmmaking my main source of income. It’s a really great time to get into filmmaking, video is coming into it’s own in terms of marketing potential and there’s an explosion in need for vibrant video content.
What are your reasons for becoming location independent?
I’ve been a freelancer for four years now. My backpacking trips started getting longer and longer and then I met a digital nomad who introduced me to the idea of being location independent and a lightbulb went off.
Do you face any challenges while both working and travelling?
It can be hard for me to switch off sometimes, I love what I do and I’ve always had a tendency to be a bit of a workaholic, controlling my own work schedule can exacerbate this tendency.
How do you find work while travelling?
I love social media, I totally own it! I also love, love going to photography and filmmaking events and making new friends, I do that in every city I go to. At the moment, there is an arts/film festival on in Penang (where I’m based now) and a photography festival, have had crazy amounts of fun and offers of work through going to these events.
Why do you think businesses should offer more remote working opportunities?
Because then they’d get to hire me, jokes! Seriously though, the benefits are myriad for both employee and employer.
If you were to give advice to someone who wants to quit their desk job, what would it be?
Look into Facebook groups (I swear I’m not getting a backhander from That Travel Blog ;)). But seriously, I realised the other day that over 90% of the money I’ve earned, in my lifetime, has come from jobs I found on Facebook. If Facebook isn’t your thing then find social media that is, Twitter or Instagram. Find like minded people, it’ll definitely help.
What is your favourite travel quote?
Don’t have any, I make my own quotes.
Do you have a mantra, slogan, or catchphrase?
Be kind, everyone you meet is carrying a heavy load.
