It is a great way to stay afloat though for those living abroad who have some descent writing or English skills who do not want to teach or deal with the public in those countries. The problem is the taxes or the tax system in many countries doesnt allow for freelancing. You cant just do a 1080 form and have to set up a business which makes no sense for a job that is so inflexible or unpredictable to pay some huge taxes just to have a self business license you may not use in a month or two since you can lose all clients in an instance.