As vaccines become more available and hopefully the cases drop, perhaps the world can resume what it loves to do ever since: travel.
Even better, people these days are born at a time when technology doesn’t have to make them miss productive activities that may boost their careers, generate income, run a business, or even get basic social services like education and healthcare.
1. Get Yourself an Education
In some countries like the Philippines, the concept of education is still within the four walls of the classroom. But that’s also been changing over the years.
Take, for example, homeschooling. Although data remain scant, some experts believe that at least 3,000 children in the Philippines are already homeschooled.
Many are enrolled in local programs. But thanks to the Internet, others have access to international curricula. This means that if they want to continue their education overseas, the learning curve is less steep and their credentials may be easily acceptable.
Working employees, meanwhile, can now sign up for post-grad courses online. AMA, for instance, now offers an online Ph.D. course in information technology. Once completed, graduates may consider shifting to other fields like teaching in a university as a professor or landing a more lucrative job in another country.
2. Maintain or Look for a Job
Let’s face it, even if you travel like a true-blue backpacker, this activity can still be money-draining. If you have no plans of returning to the Philippines anytime soon, you may want to transform yourself into a digital nomad and bring your work anywhere you go.
The good news is doing that is easier these days since you can already either look or maintain a job as long as you have an Internet connection. According to statistics, at least 2 percent of the population in the Philippines were already remote workers in 2018.
Meanwhile, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, over 85 percent of Filipino employees were ready to work from home when told by their companies. At least 75 percent believed that their organizations will be encouraged to continue with the setup once the health crisis is over.
But digital nomads may also not need to be tied down to a specific company. They can work as self-employed individuals, taking short-term, project-based, or contractual jobs. Websites such as Upwork can provide plenty of opportunities to pursue this path.
3. Earn Passive Income
While earning active income is good, it may be wise to pair it with passive income. After all, you really don’t want to spend half of your day working while on the road. You’ll still miss out on some good fun.
Passive income lets you generate money with the least effort, and there are many ways to do that:
- Buy shares of stock through companies like Citisec Online.
- Invest in mutual funds through Citisec Online or other options like First Metro Asset Management and Sunlife.
- Write a book and sell it in online marketplaces like Amazon.
- Run an affiliate or dropshipping business.
- Rent your home here in the Philippines, including adding the listing to Airbnb.
- Build an outsourcing team.
- Participate in peer-to-peer lending.
- Create a podcast.
4. See a Doctor
If you see yourself traveling for a while, one of your smartest decisions is to get a travel insurance policy. This can help guarantee that you can see a doctor or receive medical help when you need one.
But for non-emergency cases, you may want to reach out to a physician from the country of your origin. You may feel more comfortable doing that.
Fortunately, telemedicine is catching up in the Philippines. During the pandemic, one of the subscription-based telemedicine services saw around a 450 percent increase in contactless consultations in one month alone.
Today, Filipinos can download apps like SeriousMD that will connect them to doctors of various specialties all over the country. Websites like iCliniq, meanwhile, allow you to get medical advice from healthcare providers around the globe.
Telemedicine now helps ensure that you can be your personal health advocate. You can choose the doctors you wish to work with and get second or third opinions as soon as possible as long as your case is not an emergency.
For the past year or so, you may feel as if you’re pressed pause, halting any activity that may increase your risk of catching the disease like traveling.
But hey, the world is getting the help it needs. Times may still be uncertain, but at least the light at the end of the tunnel is already there. Hopefully, though, when you get to pack your bags again, you won’t forget other productive activities you can do on the side.
