Who and what is Around the World in 80 Jobs?
My name is Turner Barr, founder of the website Aroundtheworldin80jobs.com. I'm 29 years old, hold a Bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley in Political Science and Government, and a Master's degree Business Entrepreneurship & Innovation from the University of Luxembourg. You may heard of my company from its recent involvement in one of the biggest settlements against a multi-national corporation to an individual due solely to social media pressure with no legal lawsuit. I have been featured in:
Inc.com
Young Entrepreneur
NY Daily News
The Chicago Tribune
Foders
Skift
Refinery29.com
The Consumerist
And many other publications.
My goal is to answer an important travel question:
How can I make money for travel and live overseas?
I sought out the answer in 2008, but was unable to find satisfactory information, not even on popular travel blogs and online job boards.
The intent of my company and blog publsihing is 4-fold.
1-To continue my passion for world travel that inspires and informs
2-To travel abroad & live overseas (hopefully not in complete squalor)
3-To fund these escapades by doing interesting travel jobs abroad and chronicling what happens when you leave the "beaten path"
4-To show other people unique travel job opportunities abroad so that they can do the same
So after being fed up with filing TPS reports and living the corporate lifestyle, I set out abroad 6 years ago doing different jobs around the world. My website hopes to cut the romanticized fantasies about what it takes to live life overseas and aims to show you how to find meaningful experiences and gainful employment abroad. From doing feel good volunteer jobs with sick elephants to bizarre odd jobs in strange costumes that offer once in a lifetime unique cultural experiences, to getting your hustle on to find money making opportunities abroad that keep the lights on, I hope that I can show you that it is possible to take the less traveled. Take a look at my site to discover odd jobs, adventure travel jobs and location independent jobs that might interest you or check out the Living Abroad and Lifestyle Design sections on what the reality of deliberately making life choices to find your path is really about, and maybe have a laugh at my expense in this learning process called life. You can do what you want, where you want in life, if you just dream big.
What I need to keep my blog alive
- Legal expenses - Say, for future trademark disputes and other potential legal fiascos. I'd like to internationally trademark my brand so that it will never happen to me again.
- Business expenses - So far, aroundtheworldin80jobs.com has only been me! I hope to fully register my business, continually have access to reliable internet, and even hire other helpers when necessary.
- Volunteering expenses - Some of the jobs I perform are volunteer jobs that support charities and non profit organizations. These provide valuable cultural experiences that I can share, but often require up-front fees to participate.
- New web servers - In order to avoid future server crashes from sites like reddit, I'd like to be able to host my site consistently and professionally
- New web design - My computer and web software skills are novice at best, and I'd love to upgrade my site to be more dynamic, responsive, and more professional than ever.
- New content creation equipment - Still and video cameras don't come cheap, and a lot of my blog relies on innovative filming and photography.
- Ability to hire a real video editor for my YouTube videos - Up to now, I haven't been able to offer any money for video editing, and that seriously limits the professional and creative potential of my blog. I'd love to invest in a quaility editor and be even more proud of the content I'm producing.
- Travel expenses - I travel on the cheap, couchsurfing when I can, but the expenses still rack up as no matter where you travel, there's always a cost, especially doing it full time as I do.
- Make a living doing what I love - As my blog increases in popularity I'm hoping to parlay that into future work opportunities, sponsorships, etc, but to do that, I can't stop now. Help me take this company to the next level, and maybe I won't live the life of a broke travel blogger forever!
Other Ways You Can Help
Not everyone can afford to fund campaigns like this, but you can still get involved by:
- Following me on social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, etc
- Subscribing to my blog feed or my newsletter
- Sharing this project to your friends and anyone you think can help
- Spreading the word about immersive travel to inspire other young people to live out travel dreams like this one
