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Is it possible to work an online job while working as a missionary?
The short answer: yes.
The long answer: Also, yes.
At the end of 2012, I returned home after spending 11 months on the missions field with a heart full of dreams and plans to return as soon as possible to continue working as a missionary. The problem?
I was broke.
I spent the previous year support raising amongst my friends and family a hefty sum of $15,500 to afford the 11-month trip. But now, as I sent out more support letters and began the fundraising process again, this time to go to the Middle East, it seemed the support raising well had run dry.
I had tapped out my resources.
I did end up going to the Middle East because I worked a dozen odd-end jobs and saved every penny for five months. I had enough to stay for three months and then ended up taking a job back in the U.S. in the middle of the North Dakota oil boom.
That oil field changed the trajectory of my life, but fast-forward six years later, and I was in Cape Town, South Africa, teaching English online to kids in China.
At this point, I had been traveling for two years and 20+ with my then 3-year-old son. A few months earlier, I decided to apply to English teaching companies to supplement the passive income I was earning — but teaching English was not my jam.
Furthermore, I had plans to travel to SE Asia next, and the teaching hours would be in the evening, which was not feasible with a small child.
I started looking for other online work opportunities, but I didn’t have any skills for online jobs (or any corporate work experience for that matter) and just had no idea where to start.
I happened to stumble across an online course that taught the most in-demand skills for virtual assistant work and promised to have me working online in 90 days or less. ( It was a $500 investment which I made back + some three months later when I began working for my first client)
The course taught me the bare bone basics of the remote work skills I would need as a virtual assistant. I then took it upon myself to learn the skills more in-depth and other skills not taught inside the course. It also taught me how to set up my own virtual assistant business and apply for VA jobs.
Almost all the remote work skills I now have I didn’t learn inside the VA course. But what the VA course did do was point me in the right direction, helped me identify the skills I already had and helped me land my first client. For that, I am grateful.
I have been working online for two years alongside a multi-passionate serial entrepreneur, so I have learned a few things about what works and does not work.
These are the 10 in-demand skills for online jobs you should learn to work remotely from anywhere in the world while working as a missionary.
1. Canva and Graphic Creation (Because every business uses graphics)
2. All Things Email Marketing (Because it’s where online businesses make their most sales)
3. How to Create a Strategic and Targeted Content Strategy for Social Media (That gets the audience to convert)
4. How to Build Sales Funnels (Tech & Strategy)
5. The ins and outs of Instagram for Business (Because it’s a great platform to sell from)
6. How to Build a High Converting Website (WITHOUT writing a single line of code)
7. How to Launch, Edit, and Promote a Podcast Show (As a lead generator)
8. Learn the Basics of Copywriting (Copy is EVERYWHERE)
9. Facebook & Google ads (Businesses ALWAYS need leads)
10. Content Writing (Blogs, SEO, Captions, You name it, businesses want to outsource it)
These skills for online jobs can be learned in a short amount of time and perfected with hands-on experience.
So, the long long answer: Working remotely from the mission field is not only possible, it’s a model that the Apostle Paul himself followed. Paul worked as a tentmaker in the cities that he traveled to while carrying out his church planting ministry and sharing the gospel.
Working remotely online while working as a missionary has never been easier than now. The number of online jobs has skyrocketed as more and more companies offer remote positions and entrepreneurs launch online businesses.
Do you want to learn about skills for online jobs so you can live a self-sustained life while on the mission field? Then check out out the Virtual Tentmakers Course.
Join our growing Virtual Tentmakers Community on Facebook and connect with other like-minded individuals who want to make a lasting impact for the Kingdom!
Join the waitlist and get exclusive access to the Self-Sustained Missionary Virtual Toolkit when it launches!
