6 Proven Ways To Earn Money Remotely

Welcome to the Grubernation Weekly Newsletter!

I share information, tactics and tips for moving abroad, living your dream and EVERYTHING in between.

In this week’s edition:

• 6 Proven Ways to Earn Money Remotely

• Our Favorite Date Night Spots in Punta Cana

• We Shopped at the Most EXPENSIVE Grocery Store in DR

Colchones Naco is a Dominican owned mattress company with stores in Santo Domingo, Punta Cana and Santiago. They sell all the top brands plus they have their own Naco Royal line made right here in DR! They’re currently offering INSANE Black Friday specials and with any purchase, tell them code ELGRINGO24 (or put it in their website) and you’ll get 2 free pillows on me!

6 Proven Ways to Earn Money Remotely

Finding a job in a country like the Dominican Republic that will pay well is difficult. And frankly, it’s a sign of thinking small and basic.

Today I saw a comment that said ‘if I could only find a steady good paying job, I’d be there in a heartbeat’.

To me, that’s like saying ‘if someone just gave me $5m I would quit my job today’.

There’s a concept regarding competition out there called a ‘blue ocean strategy’. The gist is that where all the fish are, so are the sharks - so the ocean is red.

The better tact would be to find the blue ocean this way you’re not competing as much for the fish there.

It’s harder, it can be scarier, it’s more turbulent to get there - but it’s where all the prosperity is.

‘I just need a job’ is a red ocean strategy.

You and every other human being want that! There are good paying jobs in Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Panama or anywhere else you may want to move. But they’re less plentiful than in a fully developed nation.

If you’re SERIOUS about wanting to move abroad, then it’s time to start your blue ocean strategy and I’m going to share 6 of them that are PROVEN and work for many people I run into living here and in other countries - including myself!

The concept is called ‘Geo-arbitrage’. This is living in a less expensive place while earning US Dollars. And it’s the best way to live abroad.

And one note - indeed.com currenlty has nearly 200,000 remote jobs posted on their site .. there are options out there!

#1: Freelancing Online

Platforms: Fiverr, Upwork

Skills in Demand:

• Video editing

• Personal/Virtual assistant

• Fortnite gaming coach

• Bookkeeping services

• Writing/editing or translation services

• Records review and transcription

This is the simplest of the six and ONLY requires knowledge of platforms and a little creativity.

Right now on Upwork, user name Ravel E has 12 jobs in queue at $150 for a consultation plus $35/hour to design and develop video games for those seeking those services and he lives in Pakistan

On Fiverr, Scaler Studios charges $100-$500 to edit videos for Instagram, TikTok, YouTube etc. They have 10 orders in queue and have 940 reviews for previous work done and they’re based in India.

The Philippines has cornered the market on Virtual and Executive Assistant work for $5-$30/hour full time which is way cheaper than paying a US based assistant $80k/year. 

The biggest challenge is the time zone - they’re 12 hours ahead. I have 3 people working in the Philippines including my video editor. They do a great job but there’s NO REASON someone with excellent english skills couldn’t be a high level assistant virtually for $25+/hour living essentially in the eastern time zone.

‘Jamie, I would love to edit videos but I don’t know how’

FREAKING LEARN!

For context, I’m paid $5000/month for high ticket sales consulting with a mastermind organization. I’m also paid $1500/month for podcast management for other brands.

#2: Remote Employment

Platforms: Flexjobs, WeWorkRemotely, RemoteOK

Skills in Demand:

• Customer Service Representative

• Marketing/Social Media strategist

• Project or Account Manager

• Software Developer, Data Analyst, UX Designer

People ask often for resources to find remote work, and then months later ask again without having looked at the resource I sent them.

I'm BEGGING someone to do the work to apply for the jobs on any of the platforms above.

Apply for 100 jobs. 200. How ever many it takes! The jobs are out there.

The most common response I get is ‘are you sure the jobs are legit?’ to which I respond ‘NO .. but that’s not for me to do for you .. you figure it out!’

On WeWorkRemotely, there’s a social media manager job for Horizon Brands looking for up to 3 years experience managing social accounts and with influencer marketing. 

Simply because I have a brand, I would qualify and could make the case that I’d be a GREAT SM Manager for them.

But it took me the last few years of creating content and learning platforms enough to understand how to maximize reach and leverage algorithms.

So if that type of role is interesting, start building your brand, offer your growth strategies for free to a few friends whose brand you can build and VOILA! 12 months from now you can tell a story and apply for this job.

#3: E-Commerce or Dropshipping

Platforms: Amazon FBA, Etsy, Ebay, Shopify, WooCommerce

Strategies in Demand:

• Inventory management for suppliers

• Physical products

• Etsy store management/oversight

• Artisan products for sale

I host the Tribe of Millionaires podcast which has drawn some big name guests like Grant Cardone, Andrew Bustamante, Tim Grover, Jesse Itzler and Tom Bilyeu to name a few.

When a guest is truly awesome, I go to Etsy and order a customer $100 wood sign engraved with their brand, business or family name as a thank you.

If custom product creation isn’t your thing, then do Amazon FBA.

Heck, partner with a family member or friend in the states to run things state side while you do it from abroad.

Not sure how? Go on Udemy and buy a course.

The best selling Amazon FBA course on Udemy sells for $79.99 but has a 3 day special as of this writing for $9.99 (assuming Black Friday).

Either way, you won’t break the bank to learn.

#4: Teaching or Coaching

Platforms: Udemy, Skillshare, iTalki, Preply

Skills in Demand:

• Online courses

• Language training

• Individual coaching

Before I moved to the Dominican Republic, I paid a lady $15/hour on Preply from Colombia to get me started with Spanish.

Yes my wife speaks it, but we do enough together - she doesn’t need the frustration of me not getting the language!

If you have the ability to teach the language without having to do it 1-on-1, build a course on basic spanish.

You can create courses for cooking, photography, fishing, tech, sports - or anything you have skills with!

From the course can be an upgraded option for individual coaching at a higher price.

This isn’t ‘easy’ but it is fairly ‘simple’.

You’ll need to learn how to build a course (you can buy a course for that 😉) how to market and do webinars and so on. And it can take a while to become profitable.

A great resource is Amy Porterfield . She has a ton of free content along with books and courses to get you educated.

My main source of income is Gobundance Emerge which is a fully paid community of aspiring entrepreneurs where we give content and accountability to achieve goals.

90 of our members have become millionaires and we teach a 6 week course at the outset of membership to get people aligned on vision, goals, planning and more before they network in the community at large.

Just so you know I practice what I preach.

#5: Investing or Trading

Platforms: Read this article for best trading platforms

Income Options:

• Day trading

• Options trading

• Wholesaling/flipping real estate

This is not something I’ve done, but many are interested in.

If thinking about day trading, I’d suggest getting educated (sensing a theme?), learn how to read a candlestick chart and paper trade for a while to test your strategies.

Options trading requires a whole other level of education on puts, calls, etc etc.

Real estate investing is something else I do, but I do it as a team with others on the ground in the markets I invest in. My role has been investor relations and marketing.

If you have an on the ground partner that can be the eyes and ears while you provide capital and deal with hard money lenders and so on, you can do that from anywhere!

#6: Content Creation and Monetization

Platforms: YouTube, Instagram, Blogging Platforms, Podcasting

Income options:

• YouTube Partner Program

• Sponsored posts/videos

• Podcast hosting services for brands

• Sponsored newsletters

As a YouTube partner myself, I make an income monthly from Google AdSense for the views I achieve. I get about $10 for 1000 views in a given month. YouTube views are evergreen - a video I did in April just went from 8000 to 33,000 views in November.

In addition, I’ve started to take on strategic sponsors for my content to boost my monetization on platforms and allow me to be even more focused on my personal brand.

This newsletter is not yet sponsored, but I’ve been offered - I’m just a fan of waiting until they’re begging before I agree 😉 

If building a brand is for you, remember mine took 5-7 years - but you have to start now!

Pick a niche, figure out what makes you passionate in that niche, and offer value to an audience that looks and sounds like you - or wants what you have.

Final Thoughts:

If you’re objective is to choose one of the six and move next month, don’t even start. You have to have a 3-5 year time horizon in mind.

The only exception could be the remote job or the freelance work if you can quickly establish yourself and take on clients. Those can be done within a year easily.

If you have a passion for something but no skill, use your money to buy skills.

I’m a firm believer that if I have $5000 to invest, I would put every dollar into skill development or community to learn how to add enough value to make money. There’s no better ROI for that money.

Honestly, I invest over $50,000+ in my skills and community annually and the return is greater than any business or piece of real estate I’ve purchased. Actually, the $50,000 in my community has created the relationships that have gotten me the real estate and businesses.

Our FAVORITE Date Night Spots in Punta Cana

Every Thursday night, my wife Silvia and I have our date night.

We have our housekeeper flex to 1pm-9pm that day so we can get some alone time together away from the kids. Major perk of living in DR!

Many weeks we just go to a local spot we like, but on occasion we venture out and find some new spots.

I’ll lay out our favorites by neighborhood here in the Punta Cana area.

Punta Cana Resort/Village

• Playa Blanca Restaurant

• La Cava

• Taberna De Pepe

• SBG

• Market

Bavaro/Downtown

• Jellyfish Restaurant

• Herman 311

• Rincon Venezuelano

• Noah

• Don Pulpo

Cortecito/Corrales

• Castaways Bistro

• La Terra Negra

• Bella Napoli

• Citrus

• La Bruja Chupadora

Cap Cana

• Barbudo

• Noah

• Drago

Most of these have Dominican options but aren’t authentic Dominican restaurants. Stay tuned for a more comprehensive guide including favorite dishes!

We Shopped at the Most EXPENSIVE Grocery Store in Dominican Republic

My wife joined me for a fun shopping adventure over on YouTube!

We bought the same 5 items from 5 differenet supermarkets in Punta Cana and compared price, value and selection between them.

At the end, I shared the best option based on all factors above .. and who won will likely shock you!!

In fact, most assumed the winner would have far and away been the most expensive!

Appreciate you subscribing to my channel - I’m doing some really cool stuff over there!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I hope this message finds you after a hearty meal and little football and a clear eye on the magic of the Christmas holiday!

I’ll share some cool stuff we’re doing for the holidays and beyond in upcoming newsletters. Cheers!