When Aileen Adalid joined the corporate world at age 19 with a degree in business management from De La Salle University in Manila, Philippines, she was just like any other fresh graduate looking for a job and hoping to find success in her career, but by age 21, she would quit her entry-level job at Deutsche Bank to gamble on her own business and become a full-time traveler.
The gamble paid off. Today, not only does she get to travel every month to places many of us could only dream of, she also gets paid to do it and even gets free airfare and accommodations! But not only that, the company she had started, Adalid Gear, also took off and has made a name for itself as a reliable health and outdoor accessories company that she’s earning around $70,000 a month on sales in the US and UK!
Isn’t that cool?
According to Adalid, while freelancing in Manila, she got a little envious of the lifestyle of the ‘digital nomads’ who enjoy traveling and have flexible schedules but also earning good money from it. So, after quitting her job, she began to work as freelancer, doing web design, SEO management, graphic design, and the like.
Earning double her previous salary while also enjoying a more flexible work schedule, she began to travel to places like Thailand and France. While traveling, she decided to revive her old ‘diary’ blog, I Am Aileen. She soon became a fashion and travel blogger. As she gained name in the international travel scene, she would also earn gigs from travel companies where she got a number of perks like being able to travel for free.
Today, she easily earns $5,000 from her online ventures plus another $70,000 on Adalid Gear, an Amazon retail business. Oh, did we mention that’s just her average income? On better months, she earns more than that!
This photo was taken at Mont Villingardalsfjall in Faroe Islands.
She’s now based in the Philippines but makes it a point to travel at least once a month on her gigs; though she plans to make Spain her next home base. As for her long term goals? She wants to travel to every country in the world! At the rate she’s going now and with the money she’s earning, we will not be surprised if she reaches that dream in the near future!
While traveling in Hong Kong, Aileen wrote, “I travel because I’d rather look back at my life saying, ‘I can’t believe I did that’ instead of ‘If only I had…”
Can you believe this ‘sky’ of ‘stars’ are actually made by a species of glowworms found exclusively in New Zealand? I didn’t know worms can be so pretty…
Taken during a hike in one of Indonesia’s mountains…
Check out that beautiful pink beach in Indonesia’s Komodo National Park…
Trolltunga in Norway surely has some awesome views…
Traveling to Japan is more exciting if you also try the costumes on!
This photo was taken in Helsinki… as usual, she got to travel here for free!
This Asian-like structure was actually at a zoo in Brugelette, Belgium…
Another snapshot in Belgium where Aileen used to live for a couple of years before going back to the Philippines…
This lovely spring is in Slovenia…
Another lovely snapshot taken in Norway…
Aileen’s advice for others? She said, “Always think long-term … Surely, it’s fine to take it easy at the start as you get skills and do temporary work and projects, like volunteering, but at the very core, it’s still best to work your way towards a grand goal that will give you a more stable remote profession.“