A 34-year-old woman's summer side hustle as a private chef on yachts was successful, earning her over $15,000 last year.
Kesi Irvin's summer side hustle has taken her across the world.
An individual from New Jersey is compensated to taste gelato in Italy, ride jet skis in the Mediterranean, and stroll through open-air markets in Croatia.
This summer, Irvin, 34, has been hired on five yacht charters, each lasting one week, as a private chef sailing in Europe between June and August.
Irvin, a full-time travel blogger and digital nomad, says that traveling has been a fun way to see the world.
According to financial documents reviewed by CNBC Make It, Irvin is projected to earn more than $10,000 at the end of the season, as she made approximately $15,000 last year.
Quitting a career on Wall Street to be a digital nomad
Irvin intended to devote her career to Wall Street rather than global exploration.
Following her graduation from the University of Pennsylvania in 2012, she relocated to New York to pursue a career as a financial analyst.
Irvin says that he started to crave the life aspect after working on Wall Street and found there was not much work-life balance.
In 2015, she left her job to take a year-long break for global travel.
Irvin has been living and working in different countries for over two years now, taking breaks to stay with her parents in Bluffton, South Carolina.
She started working on yachts in 2015 to fund her adventures abroad.
For the first few years of her travel journey, Irvin relied on her savings and earnings from her culinary side hustle. Now, her travel blog, "Kesi To and Fro," has 17,000 followers on Instagram and serves as her main source of income.
Landing a yacht job with no experience
In 2015, Irvin applied for her first seasonal job at Yacht Week, a company that hosts week-long sailing trips in the Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas, after being a guest on one of their charters.
She applied for a professional cooking job despite having no experience, claiming to be a skilled home chef and a fast learner.
One week before departure, a crew member dropped out of a Yacht Week charter, prompting the company to call Irvin to replace them.
On most charters, Irvin works with a two-person crew consisting of herself and a skipper who captains and operates the boat.
Other opportunities soon arose for Irvin, as guests recommended her to their yacht-owning friends and introduced her to Facebook groups and online job boards for seasonal boat jobs.
'It's nothing like 'Below Deck'
During the summer months, Irvin remains employed as a yacht chef with various private yacht charter companies, including Yacht Week and The BucketLust.
Every day, from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., she adheres to a consistent routine for most charters.
Irvin says that preparing meals for a large group in a tight boat kitchen requires a lot of "creativity, patience, and quick thinking."
On some trips, she can buy fresh fruit, meat, and fish from a local bakery, grocery store, or farmer's market because they dock in a new city every day. However, on other charters, she has to purchase all the ingredients and supplies she needs for the week on the first morning.
Irvin plans to freeze meats to increase their shelf life and rely on non-perishable foods like pasta and rice due to the limited fridge and pantry space on boats.
She claims that her most popular meals for guests are tuna poke bowls and brunch spreads featuring pancakes, eggs, and bacon, along with a bloody mary bar.
Irvin plans to explore the city in the afternoons and evenings, either by renting a moped or grabbing coffee at a local café.
Is Irvin's job similar to that of the crew on "Below Deck," a Bravo reality series about the lives of superyacht crew members?
"Unlike 'Below Deck,' we don't work non-stop and are allowed to interact with the guests, ensuring they have a pleasant experience."
The finances of being a digital nomad
Irvin states that working on yachts has been a "pleasant addition" to her primary employment.
Irvin earns multiple income streams as a travel blogger, including organizing and hosting group trips, paid travel writing, affiliate marketing, brand collaborations, and ad revenue from her website. Her income streams can earn her anywhere from $20,000 to $40,000 a year, according to financial documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.
Earning a stable income as a content creator can be challenging, she remarks. "Having a steady, dependable job to rely on is comforting," Irvin says about her culinary side hustle. "And I don't have any expenses when I'm working on the yacht, so I'm saving money while I'm earning."
If you're a decent cook and want to earn money while traveling the world, Irvin suggests that the gig is a breeze. You'll get to live on a boat, soak up the sun, and meet people from different countries. Although it can be tiring, it's not a difficult job once you get used to it.
Disclosure: Bravo is owned by NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.
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