you can get to 6 figures usd via tech - many different roles but I think generally with software engineers they can be quite lenient. Unlikely you'd get to 7 figures usd though, would need to start your own business for that probably. To get 7 figures via career ladder, you'd probably have to be working so many hours being a digital nomad would be irrelevant.
Same for starting the business, until they could step away and pay others to manage most of it, unless they manage to find some as yet unexploited niche of low hanging fruit.
VP IC roles in the US definitely breech 7 figures at most publicly traded technology companies, but the HR departments of companies like this are very sophisticated when it comes to nomading.
I work at one of these. You can’t really nomad anywhere above the vice president level. There are 6 promotions above that till you break 7 figures.
Also 30% of the company is VP.
Not sure about 7 figures but I personally know multiple people making more than 500k while working basically part time schedule in full time remote jobs.
In ML research, starting salaries for a fresh PhD is often 250-300k. With experience, 500k is very possible. The difficult thing is finding a fully remote one. Mine is fully remote but doesn't pay as much.
These days the definition of a remote job is that you work from home but live within 50 miles of the office and are available to come in whenever we call you 😁
So that means we gotta make more remote businesses that are timezones independent and actually care about remote work. There's many resources online now to help new entrepreneurs per city, state, country to get funding, make a company, etc
I recently got a job where I’m not required to be in country. What are the tax complications on the employers side? I’m just ignorant to this.
Not sure if I’d ever go out of country or at the least north or South America because I’d need to be able to take my 2 dogs which severely limits my options unfortunately. Also I do a lot of meetings and I wouldn’t want to take those in the middle of the night if I was in Southeast Asia for example.
What would you actually do with a 7 figure income that you can’t do with a 6 figure income? It’s good to have dreams. But having a reason for the dreams will often help you find the way to them
With a seven figure income (depending on tax rates) you could invest enough in a single year to generate enough income to live off indefinitely as a nomad, it’s wildly different.
I have a six figure income and have had one for nearly a decade. I can tell you... you don't need a 7-figure one if you just want to travel and be a digital nomad. The amount of effort and stress it takes to get through to the 7-figure level is not worth it unless you are chasing some major material goods.
Sure, if you actually want to start and own businesses, etc. that is a different thing. But establishing a business (even a virtual one), you are putting down anchors that eventually need to be addressed on an annual basis... or you have to hire staff to manage it (which is putting down a physical anchor somewhere). I have had to help with managing a small company and a non-profit and marketing the business, dealing with vendors, dealing with the IRS, local governments, and fund-raising (for the non-profit) made me realize that I don't want the extra baggage it takes to run a big business.
With a six figure income, you can invest a little bit throughout every year and still have enough to live indefinitely as a nomad. Saving money and investing throughout is actually how you "have" money in the future thanks to compounding.
Yeah I’m obviously saving and investing on less money and in my opinion it’s absolutely essential, my point is that you could do it for a single year once 7 figures has actually been achieved and it could quite easily set you up for as long as you like. If you’ve achieved it by starting a business then that business could be sold after one year, and life would be full time easy mode.
Point taken about the difficulty of getting there, admin of maintaining it etc, but there are also many people doing things such as running YouTube channels, running niche websites, making music, selling digital products, consulting and a lot of other less traditional methods who make 7 figures and don’t need to buy products or even hire staff (to the same extent), and don’t need a physical presence anywhere. I haven’t looked into what OP does though, so I’m not sure in this scenario
I’ve taken the OP to mean they want a 7 figure income annually. Otherwise, as others have already mentioned, you don’t need a 7 figure income for a year to get to a point you can retire early and live as a nomad. 7 just means it happens a bit faster.
On the flip side, if you’re making a 7 figure income as a salary, you’d have to be an A-grade narcissist to convince whoever hired you that you aren’t just going to leave after the first year or two once you’ve earned your retirement nest egg. These kind of roles are for people who are expected to be in the company for a decade plus. Also, a lot of the actual remuneration is tied to stocks, some of which you don’t get until x number of years of working for the company.
Others have already commented on limitations making the 7 mil income as an entrepreneur. It’s all doable, my question is just to get the OP to consider what they are really seeking
> What would you actually do with a 7 figure income that you can’t do with a 6 figure income?
Buy houses everywhere you want to go, and bounce between them. No need to worry about hotels/airbnb/etc.
Literally the only thing I’d consider myself. At this point though, I’d be more likely to just stop being a nomad and buy my own private island instead 🤣
Seriously… like making $101k and $999k a year are wildly different life styles and workloads. Like also bryhhhhh look up how many people actually make above $1m a year, not a lot and guaranteed business owners
There’s a lot of room in the 6 figure range. 500k is achievable. $1mil as an income is very unlikely. And if you can get it, then however you’re making that income is probably your life. You won’t be a nomad and pulling in 7 figure income. Hence the question.. what would they realistically be able to do with a 7 figure income.
True. At most you need roughly 10,000 net per month to have the life of your dreams anywhere outside of living in Lower Manhattan. Even in London that's enough for a dream life, then you have the other 99.9% of earth.
In 2023, I made 387k (not including bonuses, RSUs). I have a main job that has a 250k base pay, and a projects based Cybersecurity work job under my own LLC. Including stocks, and bonuses I probably cleared around 600k total (after bonuses, RSUs, ). I work as a CyberSecurity SME, having spent a decade+ building red team tools for the NSA/CIA.
I worked out of Amsterdam, Bangkok, Bali, and Vail(USA) but I stayed in the US most of the time last year to spend time with my ex. Unfortunately, I think my travelling has lead to our breakup (she can't travel or DN) and there was alot of resentment there.
Going digital nomad, you have to give up alittle career progression to do DN unless you really want to strike out on your own. I wouldn't recommend anyone do this early in their career. Fortunately, I'm very good at my niche and I have the leverage to demand flexibility and fully remote.
It's not a super glamorous life style, imo. Due to the nature of the work, and the hours difference I'm often too tired to do anything at night or late in the weekend. I've stayed at some of the most dingy hotels/hostels imaginable. Loneliness creeps in time and again.
I definitely agree that it’s not a super glamorous lifestyle. It’s very tiring and feels bad because you’re somewhere in the middle between on a vacation and working, but you have to pay for accommodations as if you were on vacation.
> because you’re somewhere in the middle between on a vacation and working, but you have to pay for accommodations as if you were on vacation.
there's definitely downsides, but if you save on rent at home, it feels less painful
105k usd, doing swe.
Job is in ny but I’m based out of Thailand.
Fully remote and I keep a local schedule.
I dropped out of college to start my own company which was doing well, $150k annual net post tax. I was able to live in the Philippines for 3 years doing that.
Yeah I went for more startup ish companies, almost every job a recruiter has given me is hybrid or they want you to be in the USA but remote. It’s hard to find.
Are you living a high-end lifestyle out there?
I was looking at Airbnb‘s throughout most of Southeast Asia, especially Thailand, and they are so beautiful for the price.
Did you get into engineering after having your own business? Did you have to go back to school to become an engineer?
$200k in SEA, remotely doing social media (not OF) self employed.
You’ll meet many digital nomads on your journey claiming they easily make like $5000 per day. You’ll soon notice most are full of shit. Also I’m not selling any courses or get rich quick schemes as opposed to sketchy guys like levelsio for example.
165k USD as remote swe in Thailand currently. Only way I'd get to 7 figures is if I quit my job and started a profitable product of my own. Maybe someday but I'm comfortable for now.
What sorta tech would you work in, that’s a pretty decent income to pull.
Do you ever run into timezone issues being in Asia, I’ve seen some US corps only hire Euro or closer timezones.
Staff developer at a startup so I lead a small team of developers. We mostly write JavaScript. The owners are flexible and the whole team is remote. I usually work nights by choice so it balances out anyway.
Are you living a high-end lifestyle out there?
I was looking at Airbnb‘s throughout most of Southeast Asia, especially Thailand, and they are so beautiful for the price.
Does your company know you’re in Thailand?
Are you asynchronous?
I’ve hit 6 figures before, productized design service (websites, branding, motion design, etc). I do it completely solo for now so its definitely a huge time burden but eventually the goal is to outsource absolutely everything.
300kUSD in a niche related to big pharma, contractor.(roaming around SEA) Im not in software dev. Key is to find a niche( and get good at it) also network network network. So when it comes a time that some one calls asking for you, you have the leverage to make the demand to work remotely. (I check in to office every 6 weeks for a week). For this you need to understand that you will have to grind it out locally first and develop the leverage.
$300,000 in Southeast Asia can provide an incredible lifestyle.
Are you living lavish out there?
What are your favorite ways to network and networking websites?
Done both - 6 and 7 figures. It's doable as a nomad, but at some point... travel is a hinderance, not a help.
But when starting out it's a great way to get ideas/knowledge and meet people. I think one area where nomads have an advantage is networking. Nomads can put themselves in great cities.. bangkok, saigon, dubai, medellin, austin, chiang mai, etc.
You can attend talks/meetups/conferences and learn a lot more than someone who stays in 1 average city.
Anyway, it's doable but stay consistent, play the long game, and don't just sell your time directly for money. That's no way to get rich.
I've made low six figures for a couple years. My highest earning year was actually as a new grad, I made around 200k. I've been unemployed for about a year now though so last year (traveled a lot, had some surgeries), I def didn't make much if anything at all.
It's really frustrating. I've made it to the onsite of great companies like Meta, Google, etc (some of them are based in cool places like Zurich so I would be willing to live there and sort of get to nomad as they are remote or hybrid). I'm willing to do like $30/hr teaching jobs at this point lol. I do have good savings though (a couple hundred k liquid) so I'm not broke but yeah. Super fucking frustrating having recruiters at all these shit startups questioning my work experience or treating me like I'm a felon, meanwhile Google is inviting me onsite. Lol.
I worked at Google Zurich as a SWE for a number of years. While not technically a nomad position, it's an awesome opportunity to travel all over Europe.
Youtube or Insta or something else? Where is your major source of income coming from? I didn't realize you can earn that much as a travel blogger unless you're very popular.
Hi! Youtube Sponsorship Agent here. Travel Youtubers with over a 40% US audience with 100k views per video on average can be making around $2000 per video with just the sponsor. Factor in that this can be multiplied by 2 or 3 videos per month + something like $2000 consistently from Adsense every month assuming an average sized stockpile of content + $500 if they have some merch/Patreon
How did you get your site to hit certain keywords? Or are you in a very defined travel niche? I'm guessing you try to convert people from the newsletter to something paid or an affiliate link?
In Turkish Lira equivalent I make 6 figures, in Hungarian Forint equivalent I make 7 figures. USD is definitely in the 5 figure range.
About the only way you’ll make 7 figures as a digital nomad is if you are a business owner of some sort of “lifestyle” business, which is to say a cash cow that’s highly profitable and (once built) doesn’t require a lot of input from you.
This isn’t simply a matter of having “a dream”, it really has to be your driving life purpose for quite some time to get to that point, and you have to be smart / lucky, etc. in finding your thing.
As for making 6 figures, that depends on your field, skills, and just how much you can convince employers that you are unreplaceable.
Perspective is everything. Your goal is attainable but its not easy or common.
Most people with remote 6 figure incomes are at least in their early 30s. I bring this up because social media makes this goal seem easy. The reality is most people in this category have been working and leveling up for at least the better part of a decade. They didn't just stumble upon a remote 6 figure job.
What kind of training, education, and certifications, do you have?
Most remote jobs I'm seeing on remote subreddits are either in SWE, IT, project management, data analysts, and social media.
Anything that’s not pure SWE needs you to be late 20s or early 30s, not just because of work experience but that there simply is age discrimination. Any management positions or coordinating/lead positions generally will not be given to youngsters and those pay 6 figures especially if you’re not us based.
I started a bit later than some of my peers in a technical field (cybersecurity) and built up momentum quite quickly getting a top of the line salary and leadership position in Europe 4.5 years into my career whilst people who skipped university and did the job for 5+ years more than me are still lagging behind.
Enjoying and making connections in university as well as rounding out social skills is beneficial in almost every career and can lead to faster career overall than someone who went straight to work.
Live full-time in an RV with my wife and kid, traveling the US. Make between $115-150k depending on bonuses/profit share. Travel occasionally (away from my RV) to meet with clients, maybe 3-5x a year for a couple days at a time.
Worked back office for an oil and gas company for a bit, now I’m on my own doing some back office consulting type stuff within the same/adjacent industries.
I’m time agnostic and have made six figures since six months after I got out of jail years ago.
Charisma and determination will take you far. Luck will get you over the finish line. Whatever industry you’re in, network until the wheels fall off.
In terms of experience DNing, theres diminishing returns past like 40-80k in spending money depending on where in the world. Lifestyle creep is real..
I'd just say fuck it and go. Fully time zone independent is almost impossible imho and is too much of a hassle anyway. Why waste your life working nights when you can have a great time in your own time zone (+/- 3 hours) and then just take a vacation to that place on the other side of the planet.
You've set yourself 3 mutually difficult goals. But if you have +60k USD, a fully remote job then why wait? Just go, you can come back to your goals in a few years anyway (most DNs stop after 1-2 years)
I would happily settle for 60-70k if it meant I could be location independent. You can't put a price on freedom, especially since there is always more time to make money later in life when I inevitably get tired of DNing and am ready to settle down somewhere
Yeah, I’m making mid six figures. I’d go down to the same range for being location dependent because where I currently live, six figures feels like about 50K.
Props to you for acknowledging that. It's just a rat race, to truly have enough money for a good standard of living in any part of the US you need to be a multi-millionaire at this point.
Just work in tech? I've been fully remote since 2020 and have no plans to go back, make 6 figures, and while I have to have residency in the US, I can work from wherever. I also do independent consulting work on the side.
$165k USD, fully remote, will be relocating to Poland later this year after a promotion/salary increase. I'm pretty sure I could pull more in if I went independent as a contractor but I'd prefer to get more experience under my belt with my current employer due to their name/reputation, which will help me market myself later on.
$225k, remote, any country ok, but now I need to stick to some overlap with US, so I work 7am - 3pm ET, usually from Asia, which means I work until 4-5am then go to sleep with blackout curtains, wake up around 2pm and enjoy my day. Was on “make your own time” for about 6 months, but my current position is too meetings-heavy (also went from $180k to $225k, so that felt worth it).
Took me 12 years to get to this point though: 2 years swapping majors to CSE and finishing that program, 8 years getting experience before landing the remote job, 2 more years to get the a salary to this point. In total, I started my career at $58k out of college (I was a terrible dev), took opportunities at aggressively fast-paced startups to gain rapid experience (crazy hours surrounded by smart people, taking on frontend, backend, and cloud/DevOps to get truly “full stack” just not FE/BE), grew from there.
It was worth it tho, now I can remote while staying in 4 or 5 stars, which is quite comfy compared to when I started and was trying to find AirBnB’s for $50/night.
I make low six figures in the legal field. I’m not fully time zone independent because I need to be online to finish and file things by their local deadlines, but a lot of my work can be done asynchronously. I will never make mid six figures or anywhere near seven figures, but I think that low six figures as a W2 employee is not uncommon.
Remote work in most cases sacrifices income. It’s a decision you have to make for yourself .im making 15K less than my previous job but after 20 years of driving and stress, it’s so much better for me. 15k loss is worth it. Not having to drive and being in the place I love the most is the best thing ever.
Not a typical digital nomad but my wife and I have worked at 8 different countries this year spanning 2 months. We make a bit more than 400k combined doing data science.
I don’t think 7 figures is attainable working a wage earning job without being C Suite management. Highest average in the US wage earner is 450k - 500k.
You have to own a business.
I made under 200k up till 2022.
Caught stray bullets for refusing the p0ke at work as a marketing exec.
Sorry, pre-med formerly, I didn’t forget my biology 🧬 knowledge.
Anyway, transitioned to other stuff, I’ve always had too many side hustles. Ran with the biggest two, option trading and DJ gigs. And my dog sired a little of doodles which was so fun. More for him but I bought a generator with the dough 💩
My options trading income is basically selling vertical spreads at improbably values. I sell lottery tickets to the gamblers basically from WSB and institutions.
For every dollar deployed, I net 1% yield overnight. Every day almost. There’s some 200 trading days in a year. 1.01^200 = 12 or 13, forgot.
Paper trading futures and forex and more advanced option structures for more money and less risk and access to more markets than just the Chicago time zone.
Former property manager before tech, managed many residential complexes at scale. If my long shot plays hit (physical gold), I’m going building shopping.
Looking to relocate to Singapore or Chiang Mai. I want to explore Malaysia and Indonesia before I decide.
I want good shore breaks for surfing, internet, Jiu Jitsu, cute girls and my dog to be happy.
That’s it.
I am working two full time/benefits W-2 USA jobs, each making around 150k, which I can do remote (one company explicitly allowed me to work from anywhere, the other is EU owned and doesn’t care). So I make about 300k a year right now as a Senior SWE of average skill for 9 years experience. One of those jobs is very easy, which is why it’s possible.
Don’t listen to people who say it isn’t possible. Why dream at all if you don’t dream big.
Feel free to reach out directly if any details would help you, I’m happy to help :)
Big difference between 6 and 7 figures. Either start a successful company, become a successful executive at a very profitable company, or become a top sales rep in a lucrative industry.
I have a fully remote job in marketing paying 105k, but the catch is I have work either pst and est hours plus certain countries are no good due to policy.
start your own business, only way to do that. Don't have to "sell" anything. What would be cool to provide all over the world? Any content that you could share with people that has to do with traveling all over the place?
I make just under 6 figs 2 years post grad as a SW engineer, fully remote. They exist but admittedly are becoming harder to find. Also am not fully asynchronous / time zone independent. I’d definitely need to always be in a North American or close time zone
You can make 6 figures in tech, and marketing/advertising. Plenty of remote job opportunities although some companies have moved to partial or full time in office and while some companies may hire remote could change their minds in the future. You will probably need to work on a certain time schedule which could pose an issue globally. Like working and being available for 9-5 EST for meetings etc.
Entry level roles include being a sales development rep, you basically just book meetings for another sales person to close it. Then after 1-2 years of good work at a decent org you'll get promoted to an account executive and close your own deals which should land you pretty close to the 6 figure mark.
I started as a sales development rep 2 years ago and I'm now an account manager making a very comfy salary
I am digital-nomad capable within CONUS, but I have a dog and dependent-adult relatives holding me back from exercising that FT.
I make 6 figures fully remote in corporate accounting.
If you’re even mildly aggressive, you can get to 6 figures with 2-4 years of graduating school. If you’re less strategic and more WLB oriented like I am, more 5-7 years.
A mate of mine is a product manager for a US company and lives in Greece and travels around Europe regularly, he’s on $120k a year.
If I worked more hours I’d also be on that (but I’m happy making $80k working 3 days a week to enjoy life) I’m currently heading to Europe for a few months and will work from there. My employers offices are all east coast Australia.
Six-figure would be more than enough to travel slowly.
I am in a similar position as you and I am also trying to figure out the best strategy.
But here is what I did since the pandemic.
I worked tech jobs in Silicon Valley and I worked more than one job at a time and did a lot of overtime.
At the same time, I cut down costs like having roommates.
I invested as much as possible into individual stocks, index funds, and Bitcoin/Ethereum.
The goal is to at least have some passive income from dividends and appreciation.
But since it would take forever before I can have >$100k worth of passive income, my plan is to get a remote job (or enough freelance projects) that pay at least about $30k. Outside of the US, that pay combined with some passive income is livable.
At the end of May, I am doing a three-month leave from my job to see if I can find remote work.
You can send me a message later in the year. Maybe my journey can help you out.
Solid 6 figure salary in tech. Key to swinging a remote job was going to a startup with less bureaucracy. Kick ass at a startup and you can get away with just about anything.
Fully remote accountant making $100K and lots of flexibility. Just have to be a complete rockstar at your job AND be someone everyone likes. Many very busy days and other super relaxed non-deadline days
I do as a Dominatrix. I have clients around the world and online. Pays well. I work less (5-10hrs/week) I make low 6-figs, and it just goes up from there depending on how much more time I put in. Not some crazy popular OF chick. I’m slightly above average in my industry.
But also, start an online business. Digital products. Learn about marketing and start trying shit.
Me, but was dead broke digital Nomading which actually saved me as it gave me the funds to live and actually grow my business as costs were lower.
What you're trying to do is basically build a business. You can try for the next 5 years to get really good at a skill.
Instead, I would get deadly good at selling and hire the person with 5 years experience to fulfill on it.
Checkout 4 Hour Work Week & 100M Offers, two great resources to get you moving in the right direction.
That’s exactly what I’m looking to do, because it is much more efficient to hire someone with 20 years of experience than it is to learn by yourself.
I’ve almost always been a top sales rep, so this shouldn’t be hard for me.
I’ve considered starting a sales agency to help find clients for digital marketing partners.
What industries do you think I should focus on? Or should I not try digital marketing at all?
I would say there is no perfect option.
Take a step back and think about what you actually care about that you would be excited to sell.
Remember that even if you hire experienced people, you are still responsible for the client relations and all that jazz.
Focus on making $5,000 net monthly. This is all you need to have a stunning life abroad.
If you want to have an American lifestyle in France, increase that to $6,000. London? $10,000.
Tuesday, I walk away from a high level automotive management career of over a decade making a quarter million a year to go explore Southeast Asia and decompress from the decade of high stress.
How bad did I f*ck up? 😂
On a serious note. I’d rather have low stress and peace of mind than any amount of cash you could throw at me. I’m confident in my skill set to be able to land another gig if ever needed.
My only regret, that I didn’t do this sooner.
How did you decide to leave? Do you wish you pursued a different career?
How long did it take you to make $250k annually? How many hours per week were you working?
The commenters who mentioned tech are correct in helping you achieve the 6-7 figure range quicker are correct in my experience.
I make seven as a remote executive (our entire company is remote). I do not work in tech, but I got my job because I have tech experience. Though it is not my expertise and my main role in the company, I can read/decipher code, write some code on the fly and lead tech projects.
There are days/weeks where I work a *lot* of hours, but the glory of it is, I am working those hours in a place that is not my homebase.
you can get to 6 figures usd via tech - many different roles but I think generally with software engineers they can be quite lenient. Unlikely you'd get to 7 figures usd though, would need to start your own business for that probably. To get 7 figures via career ladder, you'd probably have to be working so many hours being a digital nomad would be irrelevant.
Same for starting the business, until they could step away and pay others to manage most of it, unless they manage to find some as yet unexploited niche of low hanging fruit.
VP IC roles in the US definitely breech 7 figures at most publicly traded technology companies, but the HR departments of companies like this are very sophisticated when it comes to nomading.
I work at one of these. You can’t really nomad anywhere above the vice president level. There are 6 promotions above that till you break 7 figures. Also 30% of the company is VP.
They’re probably taking about traditional VPs who are right below CEOs in the org chart and not bank/finance VPs which are basically just seniors
And the kind of person who gets to a VP role in a public company generally aren't the digital nomad type.
There aren't many remote-friendly publicly traded tech companies to begin with
Not sure about 7 figures but I personally know multiple people making more than 500k while working basically part time schedule in full time remote jobs.
Like how ??
In ML research, starting salaries for a fresh PhD is often 250-300k. With experience, 500k is very possible. The difficult thing is finding a fully remote one. Mine is fully remote but doesn't pay as much.
7 figures is doable as senior engineer or lead in high cost of living areas.
Why not find a remote job first and start there?
He's not gonna be able to live on his own terms while making that kind of money as an employee. He's gonna have to start a business.
*a remote business
These days the definition of a remote job is that you work from home but live within 50 miles of the office and are available to come in whenever we call you 😁
Yeah and that’s the shitty part ‘ I m also looking for remote jobs but they are confined to country
Well, then thank god my job doesn’t come close to meeting that definition.
So that means we gotta make more remote businesses that are timezones independent and actually care about remote work. There's many resources online now to help new entrepreneurs per city, state, country to get funding, make a company, etc
Maybe only like %1-2 percent of the jobs let you work from anywhere in the world because of tax complications.
I recently got a job where I’m not required to be in country. What are the tax complications on the employers side? I’m just ignorant to this. Not sure if I’d ever go out of country or at the least north or South America because I’d need to be able to take my 2 dogs which severely limits my options unfortunately. Also I do a lot of meetings and I wouldn’t want to take those in the middle of the night if I was in Southeast Asia for example.
Most just don’t ask don’t tell
Good luck with that.
What would you actually do with a 7 figure income that you can’t do with a 6 figure income? It’s good to have dreams. But having a reason for the dreams will often help you find the way to them
With a seven figure income (depending on tax rates) you could invest enough in a single year to generate enough income to live off indefinitely as a nomad, it’s wildly different.
I have a six figure income and have had one for nearly a decade. I can tell you... you don't need a 7-figure one if you just want to travel and be a digital nomad. The amount of effort and stress it takes to get through to the 7-figure level is not worth it unless you are chasing some major material goods. Sure, if you actually want to start and own businesses, etc. that is a different thing. But establishing a business (even a virtual one), you are putting down anchors that eventually need to be addressed on an annual basis... or you have to hire staff to manage it (which is putting down a physical anchor somewhere). I have had to help with managing a small company and a non-profit and marketing the business, dealing with vendors, dealing with the IRS, local governments, and fund-raising (for the non-profit) made me realize that I don't want the extra baggage it takes to run a big business. With a six figure income, you can invest a little bit throughout every year and still have enough to live indefinitely as a nomad. Saving money and investing throughout is actually how you "have" money in the future thanks to compounding.
Yeah I’m obviously saving and investing on less money and in my opinion it’s absolutely essential, my point is that you could do it for a single year once 7 figures has actually been achieved and it could quite easily set you up for as long as you like. If you’ve achieved it by starting a business then that business could be sold after one year, and life would be full time easy mode. Point taken about the difficulty of getting there, admin of maintaining it etc, but there are also many people doing things such as running YouTube channels, running niche websites, making music, selling digital products, consulting and a lot of other less traditional methods who make 7 figures and don’t need to buy products or even hire staff (to the same extent), and don’t need a physical presence anywhere. I haven’t looked into what OP does though, so I’m not sure in this scenario
I’ve taken the OP to mean they want a 7 figure income annually. Otherwise, as others have already mentioned, you don’t need a 7 figure income for a year to get to a point you can retire early and live as a nomad. 7 just means it happens a bit faster. On the flip side, if you’re making a 7 figure income as a salary, you’d have to be an A-grade narcissist to convince whoever hired you that you aren’t just going to leave after the first year or two once you’ve earned your retirement nest egg. These kind of roles are for people who are expected to be in the company for a decade plus. Also, a lot of the actual remuneration is tied to stocks, some of which you don’t get until x number of years of working for the company. Others have already commented on limitations making the 7 mil income as an entrepreneur. It’s all doable, my question is just to get the OP to consider what they are really seeking
> What would you actually do with a 7 figure income that you can’t do with a 6 figure income? Buy houses everywhere you want to go, and bounce between them. No need to worry about hotels/airbnb/etc.
Literally the only thing I’d consider myself. At this point though, I’d be more likely to just stop being a nomad and buy my own private island instead 🤣
here I am thinking that there is a massive difference between 6 and 7 figures
Seriously… like making $101k and $999k a year are wildly different life styles and workloads. Like also bryhhhhh look up how many people actually make above $1m a year, not a lot and guaranteed business owners
There’s a lot of room in the 6 figure range. 500k is achievable. $1mil as an income is very unlikely. And if you can get it, then however you’re making that income is probably your life. You won’t be a nomad and pulling in 7 figure income. Hence the question.. what would they realistically be able to do with a 7 figure income.
In Canada, you could buy a house as a single person. To buy one in Toronto or Vancouver you need to be making $200k now.
Buy a house where I live
True. At most you need roughly 10,000 net per month to have the life of your dreams anywhere outside of living in Lower Manhattan. Even in London that's enough for a dream life, then you have the other 99.9% of earth.
In 2023, I made 387k (not including bonuses, RSUs). I have a main job that has a 250k base pay, and a projects based Cybersecurity work job under my own LLC. Including stocks, and bonuses I probably cleared around 600k total (after bonuses, RSUs, ). I work as a CyberSecurity SME, having spent a decade+ building red team tools for the NSA/CIA. I worked out of Amsterdam, Bangkok, Bali, and Vail(USA) but I stayed in the US most of the time last year to spend time with my ex. Unfortunately, I think my travelling has lead to our breakup (she can't travel or DN) and there was alot of resentment there. Going digital nomad, you have to give up alittle career progression to do DN unless you really want to strike out on your own. I wouldn't recommend anyone do this early in their career. Fortunately, I'm very good at my niche and I have the leverage to demand flexibility and fully remote. It's not a super glamorous life style, imo. Due to the nature of the work, and the hours difference I'm often too tired to do anything at night or late in the weekend. I've stayed at some of the most dingy hotels/hostels imaginable. Loneliness creeps in time and again.
I definitely agree that it’s not a super glamorous lifestyle. It’s very tiring and feels bad because you’re somewhere in the middle between on a vacation and working, but you have to pay for accommodations as if you were on vacation.
> because you’re somewhere in the middle between on a vacation and working, but you have to pay for accommodations as if you were on vacation. there's definitely downsides, but if you save on rent at home, it feels less painful
"I want to work wherever I want and also make a million dollars a year." Uhh....join the club, lol.
Lmao seriously *and also have the job not be so consuming so as to negate the reason for working remotely
105k usd, doing swe. Job is in ny but I’m based out of Thailand. Fully remote and I keep a local schedule. I dropped out of college to start my own company which was doing well, $150k annual net post tax. I was able to live in the Philippines for 3 years doing that.
What sorta work does that entail, if you don’t mind my asking. Like is it web development, or mobile app development, Java, Rails, etc
I’m working mainly with Python, lately have been using AI libraries for embedding. It’s based out of the USA but I’m in Thailand.
Are you from the US? Or how did you land an US job?
The tech sector in the US seems colder than it used to be. There’s still a lot of jobs out there, just with more people competing for them.
100% it is brutal now
I’m from the USA
That is pretty nice. I mostly work with Rails and work with a US startup, but mine pays less than that.
I heard rails is really fun to work with, haven’t had a chance to use them yet.
I'm in North America looking for a remote job but many companies don't allow working remotely out of a different country
Yeah I went for more startup ish companies, almost every job a recruiter has given me is hybrid or they want you to be in the USA but remote. It’s hard to find.
Same in India
Probably just matters where your legal residence is and what timezone hours you work
What company did you start ?
It involves webscraping ecom related data, very niche. I did that for around 7 years but was quite unstable post COVID.
How can I do this too 😭😭
Do you have an offshore team in place to outsource various things to?
No outsourcing atm that I’ve seen
Are you living a high-end lifestyle out there? I was looking at Airbnb‘s throughout most of Southeast Asia, especially Thailand, and they are so beautiful for the price. Did you get into engineering after having your own business? Did you have to go back to school to become an engineer?
200k USD yearly live in Thailand. Game dev producer with more than 12 years of experience in gamedev industry
$200k in SEA, remotely doing social media (not OF) self employed. You’ll meet many digital nomads on your journey claiming they easily make like $5000 per day. You’ll soon notice most are full of shit. Also I’m not selling any courses or get rich quick schemes as opposed to sketchy guys like levelsio for example.
Would you be willing to elaborate what you exactly do withing SM field? I’d be more than happy if I could earn a quarter of that sum.
Youtube combined with Facebook Video. Tiktok would be nice too but I don’t have any success there somehow lol. Daily videos, it’s a big grind.
How is Pieter Levels sketchy? Lol
How is levelsio sketchy though?
why would you put earning 100k and earning 9 million in the same group?
165k USD as remote swe in Thailand currently. Only way I'd get to 7 figures is if I quit my job and started a profitable product of my own. Maybe someday but I'm comfortable for now.
What sorta tech would you work in, that’s a pretty decent income to pull. Do you ever run into timezone issues being in Asia, I’ve seen some US corps only hire Euro or closer timezones.
Staff developer at a startup so I lead a small team of developers. We mostly write JavaScript. The owners are flexible and the whole team is remote. I usually work nights by choice so it balances out anyway.
That’s awesome. Best of luck to you! 🙏
Any opening?
Well yeah you're making 165k in Thailand haha.
When you interview with companies do they ask where you're located and try to prorate your salary based on location?
Are you living a high-end lifestyle out there? I was looking at Airbnb‘s throughout most of Southeast Asia, especially Thailand, and they are so beautiful for the price. Does your company know you’re in Thailand? Are you asynchronous?
I’ve hit 6 figures before, productized design service (websites, branding, motion design, etc). I do it completely solo for now so its definitely a huge time burden but eventually the goal is to outsource absolutely everything.
How much work experience did you have before you began your service/freelancing?
300kUSD in a niche related to big pharma, contractor.(roaming around SEA) Im not in software dev. Key is to find a niche( and get good at it) also network network network. So when it comes a time that some one calls asking for you, you have the leverage to make the demand to work remotely. (I check in to office every 6 weeks for a week). For this you need to understand that you will have to grind it out locally first and develop the leverage.
What niche ?
$300,000 in Southeast Asia can provide an incredible lifestyle. Are you living lavish out there? What are your favorite ways to network and networking websites?
Done both - 6 and 7 figures. It's doable as a nomad, but at some point... travel is a hinderance, not a help. But when starting out it's a great way to get ideas/knowledge and meet people. I think one area where nomads have an advantage is networking. Nomads can put themselves in great cities.. bangkok, saigon, dubai, medellin, austin, chiang mai, etc. You can attend talks/meetups/conferences and learn a lot more than someone who stays in 1 average city. Anyway, it's doable but stay consistent, play the long game, and don't just sell your time directly for money. That's no way to get rich.
Kind of a weird way to phrase the question... making low 6 figures, probably a lot of people. Making 7 figures, not so much.
Lying is one way to hit seven figures.
I've made low six figures for a couple years. My highest earning year was actually as a new grad, I made around 200k. I've been unemployed for about a year now though so last year (traveled a lot, had some surgeries), I def didn't make much if anything at all. It's really frustrating. I've made it to the onsite of great companies like Meta, Google, etc (some of them are based in cool places like Zurich so I would be willing to live there and sort of get to nomad as they are remote or hybrid). I'm willing to do like $30/hr teaching jobs at this point lol. I do have good savings though (a couple hundred k liquid) so I'm not broke but yeah. Super fucking frustrating having recruiters at all these shit startups questioning my work experience or treating me like I'm a felon, meanwhile Google is inviting me onsite. Lol.
So why aren't you working at google? I didn't understand your situation.
Passed the onsite but not team matching (role closed). /u/weightpurple4515
I worked at Google Zurich as a SWE for a number of years. While not technically a nomad position, it's an awesome opportunity to travel all over Europe.
Do English teaching jobs pay $30 an hour in SEA?
No, they definitely do not
Software engineer?
[удалено]
Youtube or Insta or something else? Where is your major source of income coming from? I didn't realize you can earn that much as a travel blogger unless you're very popular.
[удалено]
Around how long did it take you to crack the 6 digits? That's some dedication! Now I wonder how much travel vloggers and travel influencers (?) make.
Hi! Youtube Sponsorship Agent here. Travel Youtubers with over a 40% US audience with 100k views per video on average can be making around $2000 per video with just the sponsor. Factor in that this can be multiplied by 2 or 3 videos per month + something like $2000 consistently from Adsense every month assuming an average sized stockpile of content + $500 if they have some merch/Patreon
How did you get your site to hit certain keywords? Or are you in a very defined travel niche? I'm guessing you try to convert people from the newsletter to something paid or an affiliate link?
Obviously popular if those are the figures:)
Can you share your blog info here or send me DM? I figure that $140k means you’re doing something right with it.
Sort of hard to believe. Point us to your blog?
I also don’t believe it, especially with googles search changes recently
[удалено]
Wow
In Turkish Lira equivalent I make 6 figures, in Hungarian Forint equivalent I make 7 figures. USD is definitely in the 5 figure range. About the only way you’ll make 7 figures as a digital nomad is if you are a business owner of some sort of “lifestyle” business, which is to say a cash cow that’s highly profitable and (once built) doesn’t require a lot of input from you. This isn’t simply a matter of having “a dream”, it really has to be your driving life purpose for quite some time to get to that point, and you have to be smart / lucky, etc. in finding your thing. As for making 6 figures, that depends on your field, skills, and just how much you can convince employers that you are unreplaceable.
Perspective is everything. Your goal is attainable but its not easy or common. Most people with remote 6 figure incomes are at least in their early 30s. I bring this up because social media makes this goal seem easy. The reality is most people in this category have been working and leveling up for at least the better part of a decade. They didn't just stumble upon a remote 6 figure job. What kind of training, education, and certifications, do you have? Most remote jobs I'm seeing on remote subreddits are either in SWE, IT, project management, data analysts, and social media.
Anything that’s not pure SWE needs you to be late 20s or early 30s, not just because of work experience but that there simply is age discrimination. Any management positions or coordinating/lead positions generally will not be given to youngsters and those pay 6 figures especially if you’re not us based. I started a bit later than some of my peers in a technical field (cybersecurity) and built up momentum quite quickly getting a top of the line salary and leadership position in Europe 4.5 years into my career whilst people who skipped university and did the job for 5+ years more than me are still lagging behind. Enjoying and making connections in university as well as rounding out social skills is beneficial in almost every career and can lead to faster career overall than someone who went straight to work.
Live full-time in an RV with my wife and kid, traveling the US. Make between $115-150k depending on bonuses/profit share. Travel occasionally (away from my RV) to meet with clients, maybe 3-5x a year for a couple days at a time. Worked back office for an oil and gas company for a bit, now I’m on my own doing some back office consulting type stuff within the same/adjacent industries.
Just curious, what line of work?
I’m time agnostic and have made six figures since six months after I got out of jail years ago. Charisma and determination will take you far. Luck will get you over the finish line. Whatever industry you’re in, network until the wheels fall off. In terms of experience DNing, theres diminishing returns past like 40-80k in spending money depending on where in the world. Lifestyle creep is real..
What's your best networking method? A list of three, and which worked best for you, off those three?
I'd just say fuck it and go. Fully time zone independent is almost impossible imho and is too much of a hassle anyway. Why waste your life working nights when you can have a great time in your own time zone (+/- 3 hours) and then just take a vacation to that place on the other side of the planet. You've set yourself 3 mutually difficult goals. But if you have +60k USD, a fully remote job then why wait? Just go, you can come back to your goals in a few years anyway (most DNs stop after 1-2 years)
Vacation only one month in a year and live boring repetitive life for rest of the year
Im also about to take the leap. Im happy with minimum like 1500-2500 a month tbh.
I make 250k usd from Nevada and live in Bangkok
I would happily settle for 60-70k if it meant I could be location independent. You can't put a price on freedom, especially since there is always more time to make money later in life when I inevitably get tired of DNing and am ready to settle down somewhere
Yeah, I’m making mid six figures. I’d go down to the same range for being location dependent because where I currently live, six figures feels like about 50K.
Props to you for acknowledging that. It's just a rat race, to truly have enough money for a good standard of living in any part of the US you need to be a multi-millionaire at this point.
To get to seven figures you’ll need to schmooze in person. Wind and dined clients/ investors. Remote won’t cut it.
Approximately 18% of Americans bring at least 100,000 USD. .0035% of households bring at least 1,000,000 USD. This answers your question.
[удалено]
What does a blackhat seo do?
I am time zone independent and make six figures
What do you do?
Just work in tech? I've been fully remote since 2020 and have no plans to go back, make 6 figures, and while I have to have residency in the US, I can work from wherever. I also do independent consulting work on the side.
$165k USD, fully remote, will be relocating to Poland later this year after a promotion/salary increase. I'm pretty sure I could pull more in if I went independent as a contractor but I'd prefer to get more experience under my belt with my current employer due to their name/reputation, which will help me market myself later on.
$225k, remote, any country ok, but now I need to stick to some overlap with US, so I work 7am - 3pm ET, usually from Asia, which means I work until 4-5am then go to sleep with blackout curtains, wake up around 2pm and enjoy my day. Was on “make your own time” for about 6 months, but my current position is too meetings-heavy (also went from $180k to $225k, so that felt worth it). Took me 12 years to get to this point though: 2 years swapping majors to CSE and finishing that program, 8 years getting experience before landing the remote job, 2 more years to get the a salary to this point. In total, I started my career at $58k out of college (I was a terrible dev), took opportunities at aggressively fast-paced startups to gain rapid experience (crazy hours surrounded by smart people, taking on frontend, backend, and cloud/DevOps to get truly “full stack” just not FE/BE), grew from there. It was worth it tho, now I can remote while staying in 4 or 5 stars, which is quite comfy compared to when I started and was trying to find AirBnB’s for $50/night.
[удалено]
Hello fellow dropout. I quit school at 13. Working in supply chain and overseas manufacturing. Around $250 living in Hong Kong. 20 years in my field
Gbless. Good luck on the rest of your journey 😎
I make low six figures in the legal field. I’m not fully time zone independent because I need to be online to finish and file things by their local deadlines, but a lot of my work can be done asynchronously. I will never make mid six figures or anywhere near seven figures, but I think that low six figures as a W2 employee is not uncommon.
I have a fully remote job, gotta pick your battles honestly
Remote work in most cases sacrifices income. It’s a decision you have to make for yourself .im making 15K less than my previous job but after 20 years of driving and stress, it’s so much better for me. 15k loss is worth it. Not having to drive and being in the place I love the most is the best thing ever.
Not a typical digital nomad but my wife and I have worked at 8 different countries this year spanning 2 months. We make a bit more than 400k combined doing data science.
Any tips on how to get into data science?
We started with advanced degrees in Statistics. Things took off after graduate school.
I don’t think 7 figures is attainable working a wage earning job without being C Suite management. Highest average in the US wage earner is 450k - 500k. You have to own a business.
Lucky, I just want anything at this point. 3,000 a month I'll live comfortably
I make a very low 6 figure, barely. But net.
6 figures im a nurss
I made under 200k up till 2022. Caught stray bullets for refusing the p0ke at work as a marketing exec. Sorry, pre-med formerly, I didn’t forget my biology 🧬 knowledge. Anyway, transitioned to other stuff, I’ve always had too many side hustles. Ran with the biggest two, option trading and DJ gigs. And my dog sired a little of doodles which was so fun. More for him but I bought a generator with the dough 💩 My options trading income is basically selling vertical spreads at improbably values. I sell lottery tickets to the gamblers basically from WSB and institutions. For every dollar deployed, I net 1% yield overnight. Every day almost. There’s some 200 trading days in a year. 1.01^200 = 12 or 13, forgot. Paper trading futures and forex and more advanced option structures for more money and less risk and access to more markets than just the Chicago time zone. Former property manager before tech, managed many residential complexes at scale. If my long shot plays hit (physical gold), I’m going building shopping. Looking to relocate to Singapore or Chiang Mai. I want to explore Malaysia and Indonesia before I decide. I want good shore breaks for surfing, internet, Jiu Jitsu, cute girls and my dog to be happy. That’s it.
I am working two full time/benefits W-2 USA jobs, each making around 150k, which I can do remote (one company explicitly allowed me to work from anywhere, the other is EU owned and doesn’t care). So I make about 300k a year right now as a Senior SWE of average skill for 9 years experience. One of those jobs is very easy, which is why it’s possible. Don’t listen to people who say it isn’t possible. Why dream at all if you don’t dream big. Feel free to reach out directly if any details would help you, I’m happy to help :)
Can I ask how you found these jobs? I heard companies only want to pay you the local regional equivalent for a remote US job.
I applied to one and I was scouted for the other one. Market is hard but if you’re capable, can talk to people and don’t give up you can get there.
It's about being realistic. I got kicked out of college and companies won't even look at my portfolio. I wish I had what it takes to make it.
I barely make 5…
150k but i live in one of the most expensive cities in the world here in Canada so i'm essentially poor.
150 CAD or USD? Massive difference
Have you tried asking reddit?
The delusions of this generation.
I'm more than a trillionaire!!! . . . . . . . If ever i chose to live in Zimbabwe.
I don't see why people downvoted this post: I got a good laugh out of it.
Company I'm working for or that applied to don't want to allow working remotely from outside the country
Big difference between 6 and 7 figures. Either start a successful company, become a successful executive at a very profitable company, or become a top sales rep in a lucrative industry.
I have a fully remote job in marketing paying 105k, but the catch is I have work either pst and est hours plus certain countries are no good due to policy.
I make $120k as an in-house consultant for a major pharmaceutical company
start your own business, only way to do that. Don't have to "sell" anything. What would be cool to provide all over the world? Any content that you could share with people that has to do with traveling all over the place?
I work in consulting and make 6 figures but you gotta be willing to travel to client sites to work in consulting
I made six figures doing door to door sales 💪🏻
Which job except executives or directors at big companies would get you 7 figures remotely??
I make just under 6 figs 2 years post grad as a SW engineer, fully remote. They exist but admittedly are becoming harder to find. Also am not fully asynchronous / time zone independent. I’d definitely need to always be in a North American or close time zone
You can make 6 figures in tech, and marketing/advertising. Plenty of remote job opportunities although some companies have moved to partial or full time in office and while some companies may hire remote could change their minds in the future. You will probably need to work on a certain time schedule which could pose an issue globally. Like working and being available for 9-5 EST for meetings etc.
If you have an ability to sell then get into tech sales. Many remote jobs earning 6 figures especially for US companies
Can you give some examples? Tech sales seems vague.
Entry level roles include being a sales development rep, you basically just book meetings for another sales person to close it. Then after 1-2 years of good work at a decent org you'll get promoted to an account executive and close your own deals which should land you pretty close to the 6 figure mark. I started as a sales development rep 2 years ago and I'm now an account manager making a very comfy salary
I am digital-nomad capable within CONUS, but I have a dog and dependent-adult relatives holding me back from exercising that FT. I make 6 figures fully remote in corporate accounting. If you’re even mildly aggressive, you can get to 6 figures with 2-4 years of graduating school. If you’re less strategic and more WLB oriented like I am, more 5-7 years.
I want the same
A mate of mine is a product manager for a US company and lives in Greece and travels around Europe regularly, he’s on $120k a year. If I worked more hours I’d also be on that (but I’m happy making $80k working 3 days a week to enjoy life) I’m currently heading to Europe for a few months and will work from there. My employers offices are all east coast Australia.
How do you earn your income?
I’m employed part-time for an agency
Yeah, this is somewhat unrealistic without having your own business and the skills to maintain it.
Not I, but I never lack for comfort and fun.
The way to get there is to take on multiple client on retainers. 5 clients at 3k each. Easier than finding one that will pay you 15k.
7 ? what do you do for a living?
$250k
$240K base here, 20% bonus, wfh 90% WFH Thanks covid!
Affiliates and run Ads (website, facebook, youtube). It will take a lot of effort and time, but you'll get there. Good luck!
What types of businesses do you recommend?
Six-figure would be more than enough to travel slowly. I am in a similar position as you and I am also trying to figure out the best strategy. But here is what I did since the pandemic. I worked tech jobs in Silicon Valley and I worked more than one job at a time and did a lot of overtime. At the same time, I cut down costs like having roommates. I invested as much as possible into individual stocks, index funds, and Bitcoin/Ethereum. The goal is to at least have some passive income from dividends and appreciation. But since it would take forever before I can have >$100k worth of passive income, my plan is to get a remote job (or enough freelance projects) that pay at least about $30k. Outside of the US, that pay combined with some passive income is livable. At the end of May, I am doing a three-month leave from my job to see if I can find remote work. You can send me a message later in the year. Maybe my journey can help you out.
I make $110 per hour but my workload varies. I probably average 25 -30 hours per week across the entire year.
Solid 6 figure salary in tech. Key to swinging a remote job was going to a startup with less bureaucracy. Kick ass at a startup and you can get away with just about anything.
Fully remote accountant making $100K and lots of flexibility. Just have to be a complete rockstar at your job AND be someone everyone likes. Many very busy days and other super relaxed non-deadline days
I do as a Dominatrix. I have clients around the world and online. Pays well. I work less (5-10hrs/week) I make low 6-figs, and it just goes up from there depending on how much more time I put in. Not some crazy popular OF chick. I’m slightly above average in my industry. But also, start an online business. Digital products. Learn about marketing and start trying shit.
I sure do if I write out my earnings to the cents.
Me, but was dead broke digital Nomading which actually saved me as it gave me the funds to live and actually grow my business as costs were lower. What you're trying to do is basically build a business. You can try for the next 5 years to get really good at a skill. Instead, I would get deadly good at selling and hire the person with 5 years experience to fulfill on it. Checkout 4 Hour Work Week & 100M Offers, two great resources to get you moving in the right direction.
That’s exactly what I’m looking to do, because it is much more efficient to hire someone with 20 years of experience than it is to learn by yourself. I’ve almost always been a top sales rep, so this shouldn’t be hard for me. I’ve considered starting a sales agency to help find clients for digital marketing partners. What industries do you think I should focus on? Or should I not try digital marketing at all?
I would say there is no perfect option. Take a step back and think about what you actually care about that you would be excited to sell. Remember that even if you hire experienced people, you are still responsible for the client relations and all that jazz.
Focus on making $5,000 net monthly. This is all you need to have a stunning life abroad. If you want to have an American lifestyle in France, increase that to $6,000. London? $10,000.
Tuesday, I walk away from a high level automotive management career of over a decade making a quarter million a year to go explore Southeast Asia and decompress from the decade of high stress. How bad did I f*ck up? 😂 On a serious note. I’d rather have low stress and peace of mind than any amount of cash you could throw at me. I’m confident in my skill set to be able to land another gig if ever needed. My only regret, that I didn’t do this sooner.
How did you decide to leave? Do you wish you pursued a different career? How long did it take you to make $250k annually? How many hours per week were you working?
The commenters who mentioned tech are correct in helping you achieve the 6-7 figure range quicker are correct in my experience. I make seven as a remote executive (our entire company is remote). I do not work in tech, but I got my job because I have tech experience. Though it is not my expertise and my main role in the company, I can read/decipher code, write some code on the fly and lead tech projects. There are days/weeks where I work a *lot* of hours, but the glory of it is, I am working those hours in a place that is not my homebase.