Please tell us about yourselves.

We are a British couple who’ve been together since we were 18 (we’re now 30). Our first backpacking trip together was around Europe when we were 19 and we’ve continued to travel ever since. Simon has worked his way through varied careers as a musician (the highlight was playing at the Glastonbury Festival), legal caseworker to help asylum seekers stay in the UK, and web designer. I worked for a community arts organisation working with refugees to organise arts projects and events including an annual multi-cultural festival attended by 10,000 people.

How did you decide to embark on a nomadic lifestyle of long term travel?

Although we had taken one month backpacking trips around Europe and I spent three months volunteering in Sri Lanka after university, I always knew that I wanted to do a year-long round the world trip and after working for a few years I was keen to head off. It took a bit of effort to convince Simon but as soon as we set off at the end of 2007 he was hooked. We spent an amazing year travelling around Asia, Australia, the South Pacific and the US and had more incredible experiences that year than we had in the previous ten.

Returning to the UK was hard and we struggled to fit back into the dull routine of working 9-5. We had been back a few months when I discovered the world of digital nomads – people who could work and live anywhere in the world. This seemed perfect for us, especially as Simon was developing his web design career at the time (after designing websites for fun for 10 years) – an ideal location independent job. It was a natural step for us and wasn’t really a difficult decision to make. We decided to save as much as we could in nine months (as we were already experienced at saving for our previous trip we managed to save 75% of our income, sell everything we own and then hit the road. We left England with a one way flight to Rio de Janeiro on 1st March 2010.

What countries have you visited so far?

On our first trip we visited Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, the Cook Islands and the US.

This time we spent our first year travelling mostly overland in South America: Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru and Colombia; then Panama and Costa Rica. From there we moved on to the US, Canada, England, Hong Kong, Japan and now Thailand.

What are your most and least favourite countries so far?

Our favourite country is India. It’s a country of extremes, vibrant, colourful, challenging but never boring. We also loved the food and as vegetarians it’s one of the few places in the world where we can eat local food without worrying that it contains meat.

Our least favourite is New Zealand, which is a bit controversial as most people love it. For us it was too much like England and it didn’t help that we were there during the winter and it rained constantly, so we couldn’t do a lot of the outdoor activities that it’s famous for. That said, least favourite is relative and we still enjoyed snowboarding and heli-hiking on a glacier.

Can you give us a rough break down of monthly living expenses?

Our living expenses vary widely – when we are house sitting and have free accommodation we spend very little, but then other months can be expensive when we are travelling around places like Japan and have to buy international flights. During our first year in South America we averaged £1500 a month for the two of us. Our second year so far is working out at £2000 a month on average as we have travelled to more expensive places like the US, Canada and Japan, and we’ve spent a lot on international flights. As we don’t plan our travels very far in advance we buy one way tickets and these often aren’t much cheaper than returns so flights have been a big expense this year.

We have shared detailed breakdowns on our blog of our travel expenses in Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay; Bolivia and Peru; and Japan.

These days we don’t travel that frugally, although we are flashpackers rather than luxury travellers. We always stay in private en-suite rooms, and as we spend a lot of time working in them we can be quite fussy. We also spend quite a lot of money on food, but we don’t drink very much. After a few months travelling we often need a break from moving around to get some work done so we rent apartments for a few months. We usually end up choosing quite luxurious places as we want somewhere comfortable to work. These cost anywhere from $650 a month in Thailand, $800 in Argentina up to $1200 in Colombia.

Can you please tell us some administrative details about your banking, health insurance, credit cards, etc.?

As UK citizens we don’t need health insurance but we do have travel insurance which covers medical emergencies while we are travelling. We manage all our finances through online banking and access our money by withdrawing cash using debit cards at ATMs. We also have a few credit cards for emergencies. It’s important to have a number of different cards in case one gets stolen (which has happened to us). We also carry a few hundred US dollars just in case.

Although we don’t have a home base it’s impossible to manage without an address so we use a relative’s address where our banking and tax related mail gets sent.

Do you return to the UK often?

We’ve been back to the UK once in 20 months for a friend’s wedding and to visit family. We don’t know when we’ll next go back, it’ll depend if a visit works out with our travel plans. While we were there we stayed with various family members.

We sold almost everything we owned before we left and don’t have anything in storage. We keep two small boxes at Simon’s mum’s house with some documents and photo albums.

Do you still own a house there?

Unfortunately we do still own a house in the UK, which we are desperately trying to get rid of. The market is awful at the moment so we haven’t been able to sell it, so we’ve just put it on the rental market. We don’t like having the tie, and there’s always the worry that something will go wrong with the house (ours is over 100 years old) and it’ll cost us a lot to fix it. Dealing with the house from abroad is a bit of a pain, and we are lucky to have a friend and relative nearby who have helped us out a lot. If we find a tenant then we’ll have the estate agent manage it for us. Ideally we’ll rent it out for six months and try selling it again next year.

Do you travel with a lot of possessions?

We travel with a carry-on size backpack each plus a travel guitar. We love travelling with just carry on luggage – we save time at airports and always have our bags with us on planes and buses. It’s also much easier not having to lug a big backpack around when looking for accommodation. You can see exactly what we travel with on our packing list post. People are fascinated by that and it has been our most popular post for the 20 months we’ve been running the blog.

What are the essential items you must travel with?

Really the only essential item for us is a laptop, which we need to work on. Simon has a Macbook Pro and I have an Asus EeePC netbook (although I have my eye on a Macbook Air). I also love my Kindle – being able to travel with hundreds of books on a device smaller than a paperback is amazing.

Have you had any serious travel problems?

Not really. Simon got pick-pocketed in Costa Rica but he only lost $30 and one of our debit cards (which we had a backup for). We tend not to keep too much in the wallet we use daily just in case it gets stolen. On travel days our passport, cards and money are in money belts and our backpacks are lockable so it prevents anyone being able to get to the laptops easily.

How do you earn an income now?

Our main source of income is Line-In the WordPress web design and development business that Simon runs. We only started monetising the Never Ending Voyage blog three months ago and now have some income from that and another travel website I run, from selling links, advertising and affiliate products. I’ve been surprised at how lucrative it can be and although those sites are making about £900 a month at the moment, I have no idea how long it will last.

We aren’t currently making quite enough to cover our expenses (we saved up before we left to give ourselves a cushion) but to be honest we haven’t tried that hard, and have often been distracted by travel. We aren’t particularly good business people, and Simon loves what he does so much that he tends to over deliver way more than clients have paid him for. It turns out being a perfectionist isn’t so good for business!

Ultimately client work isn’t scalable so we are currently settled in Chiang Mai, Thailand for three months to develop some products to sell including Premium WordPress Themes. We aim to have income coming in from multiple sources.

What are some of the downsides of a location independent lifestyle?

Sometimes we get tired of moving around and we miss home comforts like a couch, a comfy bed and having a kitchen. That never makes us want to return to the UK though, instead we just rent an apartment for a few months or look for a house sitting opportunity. After a few months of comfort we get itchy feet and are ready to hit the road again.

Our biggest challenge has been building a business as we don’t have any experience with that.

Is it difficult to travel as a couple?

We don’t find it difficult at all and argue less on the road than we did at home when we were stressed with work and commuting. We rarely have any time apart, and that’s not a problem for us, although it is nice to have an apartment with two rooms so that I can sleep if Simon’s working late!

Do you plan on settling down in one country as a home base?

We have no plans to settle down permanently. There isn’t one place in the world that we want to commit to, although we’d be quite happy to spend a few months each year in San Francisco. The world’s a big place and there are still too many places we want to visit. Even if we begin to travel more slowly we are still addicted to the freedom of this lifestyle.

Do you have any advice for people considering long term traveling?

Do it! Get control of your finances, cut down your unnecessary spending and start saving now. It’s important to set a start date for your trip, even if it’s two or three years from now. It gives you something to work towards and helps keep you motivated while you save.

Links
Neverendingvoyage.com
Follow @nevendingvoyage on Twitter
Follow on  Facebook

Related posts:

1. Interview with Digital Nomad, James Clark
2. Chiang Mai – The Digital Nomad Capital of the World
3. Interview with Entrepreneur and Digital Nomad Corbett Barr

Please tell us a little about your background?

I’m a tech-geek, adrenaline junkie and entrepreneur who got tired of 9-5 day-jobs and decided to be my own boss. I love kite-surfing, wakeboarding and world travel, and have managed to start/run a few online businesses that allow me to live life how it is supposed to be lived

While traveling around the world I often missed the community feel and creativity that comes from working with fun, inspirational and like-minded people, but what I didn’t miss were the timesheets, managers and meetings.

So instead of going back into an office, I decided to try to bring inspirational people out of offices and into exotic environments by starting Project Getaway.

How long have you been living in Indonesia?

I’ve been living in beautiful Bali, Indonesia, since September 2010 – that’s 9 months so far, and I’m still loving it.

Why did you choose Indonesia?

I did a bunch of research online, looking for a place that had most of the things I love, and the least of those I didn’t. I narrowed my options down to Thailand, Indonesia (specifically, Bali) and the Philippines, then asked well-travelled friends for the pros and cons of each place. Bali always turned up as the destination with the most friendly locals, a great natural environment with superb diving, surfing, shopping and nightlife (what more could I ask for?) – so that’s where I pointed my compass and didn’t look back.

How do you manage your visas?

As a Danish citizen, I can get a 2-month, multi-entry visa to Indonesia via the local embassy, which is great to start with. I’m a pretty sociable guy, so I then got to know enough locals to earn myself a 6-month social visa, which allows me to stay here for 6 months at a stretch visiting my new local friends.

What is Project Getaway?

Project Getaway is a one-of-its-kind gathering that brings creative entrepreneurs together in a luxurious location to live, work, network and play for several weeks. It’s the ultimate get-together for adventurous, independent “lifestyle design” entrepreneurs/freelancers who are self-motivated, driven and savvy enough to live their dream responsibly NOW rather than wait until they’ve accumulated enough vacation leave or until they grow old and retire from a desk job.

It’s an immersive gathering of like-minded folk who yearn to live life on their own terms, to love what they do every day and to bring their unique business ideas to life through fruitful partnerships, efficient work habits (work smarter, not harder!) and a positive, fun attitude. In short, Project Getaway is more than just an event – it’s a way of life.

How many location independent entrepreneurs participated in the first session?

We were a total of 18 people flying in from all over the world. Most of us didn’t know each other at first (or only vaguely via emails and networking events), but when the event ended, we’d developed very close friendships – and a host of viable new businesses, too!

How many are expected for September 2011?

We’ll have between 15-30 people at the September 2011 Project Getaway event in Bali – not too big, not too small, but just…. right. We are still taking applications (haven’t picked the final participants yet) - check out more details here.

What types of workshops and learning experiences are offered?

We’re still fine-tuning this year’s offerings, which will include master-sessions such as:

• Online Marketing
• Product development in China
• Business development/evaluation
• Individual feedback sessions
• Outsourcing your life – and business
• and plenty more!

How do you earn an income?

This is the million-dollar question that’s at the top of most people’s mind I guess

In my case, I run 5 different companies at the moment, most of which I primarily manage a specific area of, where I have a lot of expertise.

Two of those are software companies that generate revenues at the moment (they’re confidential, so I can’t mention their names yet) and the other 3 companies I’m currently investing time and money into, in the hopes they’ll also start generating revenues in the near future.

Basically my work consists of getting good ideas for Windows software applications or online services, then finding, hiring and building a great design & development team to realize those ideas, and then marketing the software online. For example, I’ve recently set up a 5-person team in Bali which is focused on developing, improving and building two new software applications.

I’ve also sold two of my companies in the past (a software company called Smartlaunch, and an online apartment rental service in Europe). Even though I earned a fair amount from selling those companies, I haven’t yet had to spend any of that money to fund my current lifestyle. But that money certainly gave me the confidence go out in the world and experiment with different work/life styles. It was important for me to know that even if things didn’t work out, I had those earnings as my “safety net”.

What businesses are you working on now?

• 3 software companies
• 1 mobile conference application: evenbird.com (beta)
• 1 online villa rental service: vilondo.com (beta)
• 1 non-profit for lifestyle entrepreneurs: projectgetaway.com

Tell us about your travel frequency?

It takes a little while to settle into a new place, so for optimal productivity, I tend to stay at least 1-2 months in a single place. Besides that, I now have businesses in Asia and Europe, so I travel back and forth a few times a year enjoying the best of both: summers in Europe, winters in Bali. It’s pretty sweet

Through organizing Project Getaway gatherings, I hope to have more events around the world soon, which would mean more exciting travels for me.

We are actually looking for people who want to help us organize events, so if any of your readers are interested, please drop me an email.

Do you have any advice for aspiring location independent entrepreneurs?

1. Set a TMI (Target Monthly Income): US$ 1000/month is a good start, and should be sufficient for most low-cost travels e.g. in South-East Asia.
2. Find a way to become a location-independent consultant in your field of expertise (for example, we had a lawyer at the last Project Getaway event who started his own 1-person law firm, and could then easily move to Bali for a month at a time and deal with clients via Skype and email).
3. Search online to find your ideal place to live for a while (look in online forums, Google searches, etc. for recommendations); talk to friends and acquaintances as well. Try to find a place where you can network and meet with other like-minded people (Bali is becoming a great place for this, while the Philippines still has mostly backpackers and fewer lifestyle entrepreneurs).
4. Contact other people who already live in the location, or have lived there, and ask them for a short interview.
5. Take the plunge!

Bonus tip: Listen to podcasts like Dan Andrew’s LifestyleBusinessPodcast for loads more tips and inspiration. Have faith in your dream – and then go live it!

Links:
michaelbodekaer.com
projectgetaway.com
Project Getaway Facebook Page
Personal Twitter
Personal Facebook

Related posts:

1. Interview with Location Independent Entrepreneur Brandon Pearce
2. Interview with Location Independent Entrepreneur, Lea Woodward
3. Interview with Location Independent Entrepreneur, Mike Henry

Please tell us about yourself

After studying philosophy in college, I sort of blindly jumped in to business because I assumed that business guys had a lot of freedom in terms of how they spent their time and where they can be located. I didn’t really have a plan, but in retrospect I think I was right about the business thing. Being an entrepreneur allows me a great deal of freedom in how I spend my time and I also get to be creative, which is really important to me.

It took me a little while to figure out how to get the kind of freedom I was looking for. I started my business in 2007, basically the day after I read the Four Hour Work Week. At the time I was working as the Vice President of Operations for a small manufacturing firm, and even though I was making good money, I wasn’t able to afford the kinds of adventure and freedom I wanted in my life.

At that job, I started hiring web developers and experimenting with outsourcing to improve our marketing. As I learned about things like SEO and web development it dawned on me that by becoming an expert in that stuff I could make a living from anywhere. After the business made its first few sales I quit my job and took off to travel.

I don’t want to portray it like one day I was just free and galavanting around the world. Although I can work from anywhere and do a lot of cool stuff, I still have tons of responsibilities (like payroll!) and its not all fun and games. For me, building a lifestyle business is a ton of work and freedom increases gradually and by degrees, it doesn’t just arrive overnight.

Where do you spend most of your time?

I’d describe my lifestyle as semi-nomadic. I travel a lot and generally spend about 3 months in a location. Since I quit my job in San Diego I’ve pretty much been drifting from condo to condo. I’ve spent time and done my work from San Diego, Pennsylvania, New York, Montreal, Saigon, Hanoi, Bangkok, Manila, Dumaguete, Puerto Galera, Phnom Penh, and Bali. I’ve set up offices and hired employees in Vietnam and the Philippines, and checked on our suppliers in China. This year I’ll be renting a space in Bali to meet and hang out with my TMBA interns.

Please introduce your main sites, Tropical MBA, OutsourcetothePhilippines and the LifestyleBusinessPodcast.

The TropicalMBA is basically my personal blog where I occasionally offer paid internships for aspiring digital nomads. I started the Lifestyle Business Podcast because I’m a radio nerd and wanted to have my own show, and OutsourcetothePhilippines.com started as a place where I could share my experiences setting up a business in that country.

You wrote that you had sales of more than $800,000 last year, exactly how do you earn an income?

We aren’t known for giving satisfying answers to this question. If my product were an information product I’d be showing everybody everything, but with hard goods its a zero sum market. There can be a downside to revealing how I make my money. For example: one of the products I sell is a particular kind of safe. If I start publishing on the web how much money I’m making there, and show the key terms, it really has the potential to damage my business.

In general, we basically do niche marketing but with manufactured products. My business partner @AnythingIan is a product designer. We got started in business by designing and manufacturing products for niches that we felt were under-served. We develop industrial products for hotels, restaurants, and we also have a line of consumer cat furniture.

We got two new interesting sources of revenue in 2011:
1) Contracting. We’ve started to do environmental design and contracting within the parking industry, which is really exciting because the deals can be quite large. We are currently working on securing new contracts and
2) Information products. This year I’ll be launching a private membership site for entrepreneurs, a guide to setting up a business in the Philippines, an expat living guide to Bali, and a product that helps people make money by flipping used cars.

I love the idea of the TropicalMBA, can you please tell us about that?

Starting the TropicalMBA really changed my life. Exploring the world while I work is really a dream come true for me and I’m so happy to get to help others make the same transition. I came up with the idea when I was in the Philippines looking to hire a PHP developer. I had a budget which was pretty decent. It occurred to me that when I was in a job hoping for things to change, I would have jumped at the chance to have that salary I had budgeted for a Filipino employee, provided I could earn it from anywhere and have a good learning experience out of it. So I bought the domain and put the offer up there. You can still see the first post on the site now.

The response was pretty overwhelming– I got some incredible applications for both semesters and ended up hiring two incredible guys who are now great friends of mine and still working for my business.

I’m really in love with the idea of the program, and if our business continues to do well I hope to provide many more internships in 2011.

Why did you go the podcasting route for the Lifestyle Business Podcast?

The podcast has been up until this point a 100% passion project. I’m a total radio and podcast nerd. I used to skip high school to listen to the Howard Stern show, and I still listen to tons of podcasts.

Podcasting is a lot of effort, but for me its so much fun. I feel I am learning to communicate better. I think the people who listen to our show have a more intimate and trusting relationship with us than if we were writing.

I’d say if I could do only one project for the next 5 years, it would be the podcast.

You wrote that you have more than 80 domains, can you give some advice on choosing profitable niches?

I think one thing about niche selection that isn’t talked about much is expertise, this is especially true in conversations surrounding affiliate marketing. The more you know about a niche the more likely you are going to be successful in it.

I’d also suggest that you chose niches that you love. Any way you slice it, being successful takes tons of work, so it sucks to slave away at niches you don’t care about and it’s difficult to keep up the energy for it. I’ve been successful in a few niches I don’t care about (safes?!) and I’ve handled it by hiring myself out of that role.

What country do you pay your taxes in?

We have a California S-Corp and we’ll be finalizing a corporation in the Philippines this year. We have an accounting firm, an office and warehouse in California, and we offer health insurance to our employees.

Have you had to set up a business or get any special visas or licenses to work in other countries?

Oh my! I could go on for days… Right now we’ve got people on the payroll in Vietnam, China, the Philippines, and the USA. Currently, all but our US employees are technically independent contractors. I’ve gone through all kinds of visa stuff to operate overseas, but in general, you can operate on tourist visas as long as your primary corporation is in the US and you aren’t making money in the country you are in.

Can you give some advice about outsourcing?

My favorite outsourcing site at this time is Odesk.com. My best advice about finding employees overseas is that you should treat them just like you would any other employee. I think a lot of internet marketers and online business people underestimate the time and commitment it takes to have an employee on board.

If you were new and starting today, what would you do differently?

I would find one small creative project that I could pour all of my energy in to. I have a zillion things going on right now, which is cool, but sometimes I’d like to have a little more focus. I also would not do hard goods again. It’s too tough to make a buck. I’d focus on information products and software. If I had to start form scratch, I’d just wake up every morning and do the Lifestyle Business Podcast.

Links
TropicalMBA
Lifestyle Business Podcast
Outsource to the Philippines
Follow The TropicalMBA on Twitter
Follow The Lifestyle Business Podcast on Twitter

Related posts:

1. Interview with Nomadic Day Trader, Marcello Arrambide
2. Interview with Entrepreneur and Digital Nomad Corbett Barr
3. Interview with Nomadic Entrepreneur, Chris Osborne

Please tell us about yourself.

Hi there! I was born in Amsterdam and lived in Europe for a few years (different cities). When I was 6 years old my family moved to Cape Town, South Africa where I still live 18 years later.

What is South Africa like?

South Africa is truly a beautiful country with incredible scenery and nature within an hours drive of where ever you stay. I see South Africa as having a lot of risk and crime in certain areas/neighborhoods but when you live here and you’re in the better areas you are hardly even aware that there is any danger. On television they often show only the negative, criminal and violent nature of the people in South Africa, but the majority of people here are very friendly and helpful. For example you can get fuel for your expensive $100 000 Mercedes and people working for $1 per hour will still give you a big smile and have a long conversation with you instead of showing envy and resentment to you being rich and them not.

I have noticed that crime is on the rise, but since I am not really in contact with people everyday in a school/work environment, I’m rather isolated from it. South Africa is a beautiful country and still a great place to live, but because of the crime I would not want my children to grow up here. I think that would be too much of a risk.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful country, very nice to live and safe if you’re careful and stay out of bad areas. I just feel like I want to head back to Europe, it’s where I’m from after all.

Please introduce your blog, UpgradeReality.

UpgradeReality is a blog I started over 2 years ago as my personal journal to document my growth in life. I was very much into personal development and self improvement, but wasn’t so aware of the online world and blogging community.

To cut a long story short, I took blogging more seriously and turned Upgradereality into a top self-improvement blog with thousands of readers and over 180 articles on various topics.

It’s really taken me until today to build up awareness of my blog, and it’s gaining more momentum with every article I post. It’s like that with everything, the bigger you are, the faster your grow, the bigger you get etc.

Tell us about your 3 month trip to Amsterdam.

At the beginning of 2010 I took 3 months to go to Amsterdam with one of my best friends. We’d planned it months beforehand and literally counted down every day until we arrived.

This was the first time that I ever traveled without family and was the best experience of my life. We rented a really posh apartment 5 minutes from the center of Amsterdam (It cost us 1400 Euros a month). Our daily schedule consisted of sleeping, blogging/online work, watching various TV series, going out for lunches and dinners and partying every single night. The clubs were literally 5 minutes walk from our place so it was a real blast.

I actually have mixed feelings about Amsterdam. It’s a really pretty city, I speak the language and it’s my home-town, but it’s so different to Cape Town where I’ve lived for 18 years of my life. I think it’s safe to say that Amsterdam is a serious option for me to at least have an apartment where I’d spend a few months a year.

How do you earn an income now?

At the beginning of Dec 2010 I made an announcement on my blog that I’d be taking the next 13 months to build an online business that would generate $5000 a month or more. The reason for this is that I was at a point in my life where I needed a new direction and I dreaded the idea of getting a normal job.

I have two years of experience with blogging and internet marketing part time, so I decided to take the leap and go for it. I’m lucky to be in the position that I have enough saved to live off for an entire year without working, so now it’s really a matter of sink or swim.

Can you give us an idea about how much income UpgradeReality.com brings in?

Currently UpgradeReality has 2800 subscribed readers and brings in about $500 a month.

I’m working on growing the subscriber numbers this year by doing a lot of guest posting and interviews. The plan is to create and release a product (ebook or video series) every 3 months or so, which should boost the income significantly.

How do you earn money on your blog?

I make money off UpgradeReality from sidebar ads, affiliate links and my ebooks that I sell to readers and visitors. I’m also in the process of adding consulting and I’m curious to see how that will add to the monthly income.

How many niche sites do you currently have?

I’ve actually stopped focusing on niche sites and focused my energy and time on creating products. I’ve never really understood niche sites and SEO enough to make it big. Although I made a few thousand dollars last year from mini-sites, it was with so much work and effort that I did not find it rewarding enough.

I enjoy making my own products, and once you have something valuable that can solve other peoples problems, you can go out and market it and build a big business around it which is what I’m working on.

Have you had any big breakout successes?

Nothing worth mentioning that would make you say WOW. Talk to me at the end of the year and I’ll be able to give you a better answer:)

Do you have any advice for bloggers or niche marketers?

I have some advice for bloggers:

1. 1. Build an email list. If you’re not doing this right now you’re losing money.
2. 2. Grow your audience through guest posting and interviews. The bigger your audience, the more likely you can make good money.
3. 3. Create your own products. Although affiliate marketing can be profitable on blogs, it’s more the exception than the norm.

Your friend Glen Allsopp is a huge success online, how has his friendship influenced your work?

Glen is a massive inspiration for me. He is really making a lot of money from his online projects and he has built blogs with audiences of thousands of subscribers.

He lives two minutes away from me and he shares most of his projects and ideas with me. It’s strange but I’ve never really asked him for much advice or mentoring. I kind of feel that would be abuse of our friendship but every now and then I do ask him to help me with the direction that I’m going in.

I have no doubt that Glen is only going to be more successful as time goes on, so keep your eye on him.

You have a couple of years of online experience now, if you were new and starting today, what would you do differently?

Pay for coaching. Seriously. I spent weeks and months trying to figure stuff out and trying methods that were old or outdated.

If I were to start totally new today I would spend the money to get coaching from the best of the best, build an email list, create my own products and market to the list. This seems like the best business model that I’ve come across.

Links
UpgradeReality
Follow UpgradeReality on Twitter

Related posts:

1. Interview with South African Native, Cath Duncan
2. Interview with Thailand Based Nomad, Cody McKibben
3. Interview with Entrepreneur and Digital Nomad Corbett Barr

Fishing for Ideas to Improve your Life, Istanbul

Here are a few amazingly comprehensive resources that I have discovered that are important to anyone trying to build a blog or online business. All are completely free and will have a huge impact in your life and business.

Pat Flynn’s Niche Marketing Duel.

Pat is sharing, in incredible detail, exactly all the steps in finding a niche business idea and turning it into a profitable business. He already has a six figure passive income and is proving that his success is replicable.

Follow his progress right from choosing a topic. He shows how he got to the number one listing in Google in less than 3 months. His site made $151 from Google Adsense in November and $62 in October. This is after 4 months of part time effort.  Pat has plans to sell ebooks and other advertising that will definitely deliver much higher earnings. Start from the beginning and check out this series of posts. It really is amazing content that is completely free.

• Niche Site Duel: I’ve Been Challenged, and I Accept!
• Niche Site Duel 002 – Finding a Profitable Niche: My Process Revealed
• Oops. The Niche I Selected is Bad, and Here’s Why
• Niche Site Duel 003 – How to Setup a Niche Site: Before You Add Content
• Niche Site Duel 004: My Content Strategy
• Niche Site Duel 005: My Backlinking Boo Boo
• Niche Site Duel 006: My Backlink Strategy
• Niche Site Duel 007: Ranking and Traffic (and Earnings!) Update
• Niche Site Duel 008: My Monetization Strategy
• Niche Site Duel 009: I’m On The First Page of Google!
• Niche Site Duel 010: I’m Ranked Number One in Google!!
• Niche Site Duel 011: THE Backlinking Strategy That Works
• Niche Site Duel 01 2 – An Experiment and Income Update

SEO Advice: How to get to the Top 5 in Google within 40 Days

Joseph Archibald wrote a series of detail posts titled, “40 Day Challenge  “Top 5 in Google within 40 days!”” It is a little hard to follow because it is written in a discussion forum with other commentors contributing, however it is first rate SEO advice. (Pat Flynn references the 40 day challenge in the niche site duel.)

Both Pat Flynn’s and Joseph Archibald’s series of posts are generating huge traffic. There are some good lessons here about how to attract people to your site with quality content.

How to Build an Internet Business

Karol Gajda of RidiculouslyExtraordinary.com has a great email newsletter, The Freedom Fighters that walks you through the steps of finding a niche, affiliate marketing, writing an ebook, getting traffic to your blog and more. It is a concise and motivational series that I recommend to anyone trying to build a blogging based business.

If you read this post within two days of posting you might also want to check out Karol’s Only72.com deal. “23 Business Courses From 23 Successful Entrepreneurs, Normally $1,052, On Sale For $97.” It is only available for 72 hours. (Again, the idea of packaging many ebooks from different authors into one discounted offering is a fantastic idea that other bloggers can learn from.)

Ramit Sethi of Iwillteachyoutoberich.com also offers a great email newsletter of content that doesn’t get published on his blog. Some of the emails are incredibly in-depth offering case studies and practical advice to earning extra money online. There is a sales pitch for his training program which I haven’t purchased, but the free content is first rate. Pay close attention to how Ramit sells his program, even if you are not intereseted. He is definitely someone who knows what he is doing.

Interviews

If you read this blog you probably know that I am a big fan of interviews. I particularly like interviews that get into juicy details with practical lessons on how you can build your business or improve your life. Two great sites that I highly recommend are:

GreatWorkInterviews with Michael Bungay Stanier
There are many fantastic interviews with some huge names from all types of backgrounds like Seth Godin, Leo Babauta, Gretchen Rubin and Chris Guillebeau.

BlogcastFM
Srinivas Rao and Sid Savara interview several bloggers every week. This is a great source of ideas and inspiration for all of us struggling to grow a blogging audience.

If you know of any other resources that I have missed, please let me know in the comments.

Related posts:

1. Interview with IttyBiz founder and Small Business Guru, Naomi Dunford
2. Interview with Pat Flynn, $200,000 per year in 15 minutes a day!
3. How to Learn about Making Money Online

0:22 Tell us about your travels, where are you now and where have you been?

(Currently in Vietnam, their first time in S.E. Asia. They have been to 22 countries this year including South America, Europe and New York. Craig shares how he and his wife funded their travels by working hard to save money and then teaching English around the world. )

1:48 Do you have a homebase?

(Only a P.O Box where Linda’s father collects mail. “Home is where the backpack is.” He talks about why they started their travels in Malta. )

3:26 What did you do in Malta?

(They taught English. They got into English teaching in order to work around the world.)

4:24 Is Malta a good country to teach English?

(“Not if you want to earn any money.” Two weeks teaching in Italy earned the same amount of savings as three months in Malta.)

5:03 Tell us about IndieTravelPodcast.

(They started the site after they left Malta. They realized they made many dumb travel mistakes that guide books didn’t cover. They wanted to create a website for independent travellers that plugged the gap that guide books weren’t covering. The now have over 170 podcasts. They are looking at practical ways that people can travel long term.)

7:20 Why the podcast focus?

(That was almost by accident. Blogs were quite saturated but no one was really doing a podcast.)

8:17 Are there any advantages or disadvantages to podcasting?

(It’s very time intensive. He goes into detail about what is required. 20 minutes of audio often represents 5 to 8 hours of work.)

9:32 Do you find your listeners value the podcasts more than just a blog post?

(It’s something very unique. People can download it and take it away. “You really get in their ear and they begin to trust you.”)

10:29 Is IndieTravelPodcast funding your travels?

(It is now covering 70 to 80% of their costs with the rest being made up by English teaching. They now have about 25,000 unique visitors a month and they have half a dozen other websites as well. They reckon they will be up to their goal of US$100 per day by the end of the year which will cover all of their travel and living costs.)

Links
IndieTravelPodcast.com
Follow Craig Martin on Twitter

Related posts:

1. Interview with Long Term Traveller, Expat and English Teacher – Nomadic Samuel Jeffery
2. Interview with Perpetual Traveller, Wandering Earl
3. Interview with Long-term Traveller, Roni Weiss

Interview Summary

01:11 Where are you now?

(Buenos Aires)

01:39 What is day trading?

(Essentially taking profits from the differences in moves in the stock market.)

02:04 What exactly are you trading?

(Indexed futures.)

04:50 Do you make money on every trade?

(No, losing is part of the game. It is all about probability. Make sure you win more than you lose.)

05:18 Do you have negative months or weeks?

(No, negative days. That is about it. When people get consistent enough it is rare to have losing days in a row.)

05:50 Do you have some algorithm or computer program that helps you determine when to buy and sell?

(It is a set of indicators. It is not a red light or green light that tells you when to get in. There is a set of rules you have to follow but within those rules there is some wiggle room for discretion in terms of profit targets… In the stock market it all works with probabilities. The same things happen over and over again.)

06:55 It sounds a little risky, on your about page it says you lost $25,000 when you started?

(It is the simplest hardest thing to do because it is simple to understand but hard to execute. It comes down to emotion and discipline and if you can follow the rules.)

07:39 How did you learn?

(I bought a few courses, did a lot of study, spent hours of back testing… I spent so much time to develop a strategy.)

08:20 And you are teaching others how to day trade now?

(Yes.)

08:23 What is more profitable, teaching how to day trade or actually day trading itself?

(They are about even.)

08:37 How long does it take for a novice to learn how to day trade?

(Depends on how much time they put in. Ballpark between a month and six or seven months.)

09:00 What would they learn? How to use a system? How to look for the right opportunity?

(It depends on the system you use. -He explains why he doesn’t like automated systems.- With a discretionary system… it takes practice to learn how the market moves and where to get in.)

10:00 You can’t just go on and trade, you have to wait for the right moment?

(Right, there may be a day when I don’t take a single set up… There is a split second to take advantage.)

10:40 Tell us a little about your travels?

(I’ve been travelling since I was little. I am from Venezuela. I lived part of my life in Venezuela. Part of my life in the United States. Then I moved to Italy. … Sicily, Malta, The Caribbean, Canada, Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Iceland.)

11:22 Do you have a favorite country?

(No, it is favorite things from specific places.)

11:45 How about a least favorite?

(Venezuela because it is backwards there at the moment.)

12:11 What is the cheapest country you have been to so far?

(Paraguay)

12:36 Can you give us an idea of your travel expenses?

($1500 to $2000 per month.)

13:46 Any advice for aspiring day traders or nomadic travellers?

(Do your research. You don’t want to get burned. The best way to find an apartment is to go and stay at a hostel then look around the city. If you want to find places online, I recommend Craigslist. )

Links
WanderingTrader.com Marcello’s blog.
Follow Marcello Arrambide on Twitter

Related posts:

1. Interview with Successful Nomadic Entrepreneur, Dan Andrews
2. Interview with Entrepreneur and Digital Nomad Corbett Barr
3. Interview with Location Independent Irish Polyglot, Benny Lewis

Niche Marketing Interview with David Boyd

I have written recently that niche marketing is one of the best ways to make money online. It is no get rich quick scheme but it does have the potential to earn a solid consistent income while offering the freedom to work when and where you want. Most niche marketers are secretive about their niches to avoid a tsunami of competition, however David Boyd from CreditCardCompare.com.au was happy to share some information about the niche business he has built over the last few years. This is a great example of what to expect with niche marketing and if you happen to live in Australia you might want to check out his site to compare all the top credit cards.

Please tell us a little about yourself?

My name is David Boyd and I live with my wife a couple of hours north of Sydney, Australia. For the past couple of years I’ve been running an Australian credit card comparison website, CreditCardCompare.com.au which is free to use and impartial from the banks.

Is this your primary income source?

Yes, the vast majority of revenues come from affiliate marketing.

What related business or technical experience do you have?

I’ve been involved in ecommerce and online marketing by extension for over 10 years. Up until recently I worked at large marketing agency based in Sydney where I helped market various brands in Google. However, most of what I know about online and niche marketing was born out of my prior work experience with promoting ecommerce stores.

How many niches do you focus on?

Just the one vertical, finance.

Did you start working at it full-time or did you ease into it while keeping a job?

We wanted to minimise the financial risk so we have been building up our website steadily. It has been hard work but having a sound financial footing has been worth it.

How long have you been doing the credit card niche?

Since late 2007 when we launched CreditCardCompare.com.au.

Isn’t that a very competitive area to focus on?

Yes, it’s a very competitive niche with more people entering the market looking to take a slice every month.

What do you do different or better then your competition?

I think the main thing that sets us apart from others in the same niche is strategy and a laser focus. We’re not in this for a quick buck, we’re planning for the long haul. The main benefit of this is that while we work hard, we work also work smart according to a long term plan (which has worked well for us so far).

Why did you choose credit cards?

Initially I was going to develop a credit card comparison site targeting Americans, but because of the ‘crapiness’ of the domain that never happened. Instead I decided to stay closer to home and build a website to help Australians compare cards.

Do you have a system for researching and evaluating niches?

In short, no. That’s not to say we didn’t research the market before getting in to it. We worked out how big the market was, how many applications there were per year in Australia, what the average pay out was, whether it was a growing market or not. So after speaking to people in the affiliate industry and reading a lot, we made the plunge and started to build a site.

Do you care to share any details on how much you are earning?

It makes enough for a full time income.

Most niche marketers are very secretive of their niches, aren’t you afraid of getting a lot of competition?

Whilst this is a niche, it’s still very mainstream and it would be fair to say that most marketers worth their salt know there’s money in money!

How many guest posts have you written for the credit card niche?

It’s hard to say. More than 40 and less than 100. We haven’t done many in the last few months, but that’s all about to change. (John’s Note: David contacted me to do a guest post. I asked him to do an interview instead.)

Does writing guest posts affect your search engine rankings and site traffic significantly?

That’s hard to say because there are so many on and off page variables. Whilst it is a good tactic, we’re not solely focused on using it to build rankings either. Guest posting is a great way to build your brand and engage with real people.

How many websites do you own and maintain related to the credit card niche?

We have one main site, CreditCardCompare.com.au. Other than that we have a couple of other sites that are currently operating just under the radar.

How many sites are linking to your credit card site?

According to the soon to vanish Yahoo! Site Explorer we have approximately 2,600 links, but obviously you can’t count all these as relevant. (John’s Note: The site ranks number four on Google for “australia credit card comparison”)

How many hours of work do you think it takes to fully set up and market a typical niche website?

It depends. If you want to go beyond a thin affiliate website then you have to put in a lot of time and effort, especially if you’re entering a hyper-competitive niche. It’s hard to put a specific number of hours on it, but it has taken us hundreds of hours to get to where we are and we aren’t even remotely finished.

Once it is fully set up does it become passive so that you can focus on other niches?

In our case, not really. We’re in a competitive niche so you can’t afford to rest on your laurels for very long. If you were working in a less competitive niche, then a truly passive income is much easier to achieve.

How much money can an average site earn?

Again, that really depends on the niche you choose to enter. If you would like to earn a passive income then it would be better to build a site in a less competitive niche where it’s easier to be the big fish in a smaller pond.

How much technical and marketing skills do you need to succeed at niche marketing?

I don’t think you need to be technical (ie. able to write code) because you can outsource all that, but having an understanding of the language and terminology used is definitely going to be beneficial. Being a savvy and timely marketer will make you much more money than being able to write code.

Can a relative novice get the skills in a reasonable time frame?

Yes, there are so many blogs, forums and books that anyone with the drive and right idea can get into niche marketing in a relatively short time frame.

Are their still many opportunities or are most of the niches over-run with competition?

Something like finance is ultra competitive where you are competing against not only other highly motivated affiliates, but also extremely well funded banks. Finance isn’t the only competitive niche though, in fact there aren’t many niches that don’t already have dominant players already in place.

There are definitely still opportunities. New products are launched (like the iPad) where, if you’re fast enough, you can set up a new site to cater to new users eager to learn more, engage with other users and buy accessories. So while the traditional verticals are definitely crowded, new niches open up all the time.

Do you think it is better to go deep into one niche or try to diversify over many different areas?

There are benefits to both. You can be a lot more focussed if you are operating a single site in a niche and grow to become the dominant player, but you can also lose everything overnight if the organic or PPC algorithm changes and hits you hard. On the other hand, a marketer who has successfully diversified out into other niches is much more protected: the algorithm may hit one site, but your other websites (and therefore revenue streams) are not affected. Diversification does pose a lot of challenges though, especially in terms of project management.

Given the amount of time you have put into niche marketing and the returns you are getting, would you do it all over again if you were starting now?

Definitely! It has been a very rewarding experience, even if it has been sketchy at times.

Related posts:

1. Interview with World Traveler, Niche Marketer Karol Gajda
2. Interview with Superstar Marketer Nathan Hangen of Beyond Blogging
3. Interview with David Horn, Costa Rica Restaurateur

Breakfast in Hungary

Many travelers hope a travel blog is going to provide enough income to have a location independent lifestyle. What could be better than getting paid to write about your travel experiences? The problem is that blogging is one of the most difficult ways to earn an income online. It takes a phenomenal ongoing effort to write and promote posts and even then you have to steer topics towards selling something; you don’t make money by writing an online travel diary. There are much more effective, faster and reliable ways to earn money while traveling.

Want to be a Millionaire?

Imagine if you had one hundred thousand dollars in the bank. In today’s financial climate, you would be pretty lucky to earn a safe 3% per year or $3,000 ($250 per month). That means if you could make $250 per month in regular passive income, it would be the equivalent of having $100,000 in savings. If you could ratchet that up to $2500 per month you would in fact have the income of a millionaire. ($1,000,000 X 3% = $30,000 per year. $30,000 / 12 = $2,500 per month)

Elusive Passive Income

The hard part, of course, is earning the passive income. After all, if it were so easy everyone would be doing it.  Many of the travelers I have interviewed are proving that consistent online income is definitely possible. (Check out some of my interviews with Pat Flynn, Kirsty Henderson, Karol Gajda, Nomadic Matt-Mathew Kepnes, etc.) One thing I can attest to, and I know all the people I have interviewed would agree, is that passive income is NOT easy. It takes a lot of upfront work and knowledge of internet marketing. You have to spend hundreds or probably thousands of hours learning until you can consistently deliver profitable results.

If Blogging Doesn’t Work, What Does?

There are people making money blogging, so I know it is not impossible. It is just really, really hard. There are rock stars making millions traveling the world, but there are also countless musicians that play only as a hobby. Becoming a successful A-list blogger is a lot like becoming a rock star. It takes years of dedicated, focused effort and some good luck helps a lot too.

A better alternative to blogging is creating mini-sites to market other people’s products or services. This is often referred to as affiliate marketing. It basically means building a small website to get targeted traffic to sell things. You don’t have to create the products because there are thousands made by others to sell already. You just have to get traffic to a site. If a sale is made through your web site you earn a commission, often around 50%. So for a $100 product, you would earn $50 per sale. Five sales per month would earn you $250, the equivalent of $100,000 in the bank as I mentioned above.

Get Rich Quick (Earn a Decent Income Slowly)

There is a science to getting traffic and finding out what works and doesn’t. It can take years to get that level of marketing and technical sophistication. There are some good training programs to walk newbies through all the steps of creating niche affiliate marketing sites. Some programs can cost thousands dollars, especially if there is a real life seminar, and others are membership programs for $97 per month or more. While I am sure those programs have value, they are a far too pricey for most people starting out.

I have just completed Corbett Barr’s Affiliate Marketing for Beginners course and found it to be a great inexpensive course to get started in affiliate marketing. Corbett walks you through all the steps in choosing topics, researching market potential, finding products to sell, creating mini-sites, search engine optimization and more with a real affiliate marketing example. The best part is that all the modules have comments so that you can ask questions that Corbett will answer. The modules explain everything clearly and concisely without all the hype and pushy sales tactics. Affiliate Marketing for Beginners is relaunching today (August 10th) with a two day discount. The price increases  on Thursday.

To be clear, this is not a quick and easy way to riches. It takes time to research niches, find products and start earning commissions. Some of your sites might be successful, some not. Like anything in life, consistent effort and regular improvements are required to find out what works best. My niche sites make almost no money at all. When I got started I didn’t know how to research key words and optimize sites effectively. Actually, I didn’t even bother to find products to sell. I hoped to earn enough from Google Adsense. Well, I know that ads alone don’t earn much income. Now I need to put in the work to implement Corbett’s techniques.

Again, if you don’t have the motivation to implement what you learn in the course then save your money. Corbett makes it clear that his program is about ethical marketing of good products that people want to buy. Creating a sustainable income honestly, takes work and time. If you want to get a good, easy to understand, comprehensive introduction into building mini-sites and Internet market, then Affiliate Marketing for Beginners is good value for the price.

You have probably guessed that I get a commission for selling Corbett’s program (affiliate marketing) . For anyone who buys through the links on this page, I would like to offer an extra mastermind group where we can regularly share our experiences, problems and lessons learned. If you are interested in working through Affiliate Marketing for Beginners with me please email after you go through the course. It would be great to bounce ideas off of others doing similar things. I can show you some of the sites I have and mistakes I have made to hopefully save you some time when you do it for yourself.

Related posts:

1. Interview with Entrepreneur and Digital Nomad Corbett Barr
2. NomadicMatt’s, How to Make Money With Your Travel Blog, eBook Review
3. Best Lifestyle Design, Personal Development and Travel Links

Sean Aiken's One Week Job

Sean Aiken of OneWeekJob.com, uncertain about what career choice to make after graduating university, decided to take job hopping to the extreme by trying 52 one week jobs. He has since managed to parlay the first website outlining his intentions into a book deal, speaking engagements, a documentary and an on-going project helping recent graduates try different jobs. Those of you reading my IdeaEconomy.net blog will likely know that I love a great idea; by that measure Sean Aiken is pure brilliance! He has proved that a good idea, talent and hard work can accomplish amazing things. Sean offers some background details about his success with the project in this interview.

How did ‘One Week Job’ get started?

When I was looking for a job, I saw all of these important sounding job titles but I had no idea what the job would actually be like. I was scared at the thought of committing to one, not liking it, and then feeling trapped in the position. In my last year at Capilano University, my dad gave me some advice on finding a career, he said, “Sean, it doesn’t matter what you do, just make sure it is something you are passionate about. I’ve been alive nearly 60 years and I’ve yet to find something I’m passionate about besides your mother.” It made me realize how many people are in similar situations – doing the same job for the past 20-30 years and not necessarily enjoying what they are doing. I promised myself that I would take the time to find something that I was passionate about and that would make me happy. I thought the One Week Job project would be a great way of testing out different careers. I think a mistake that many people make when deciding on a career is to focus on the title and ignore the characteristics of the particular career and it’s associated lifestyle. We may spend a bunch of time and money on school or required designations only to show up at the workplace and find out it’s not for us. My thinking was that if I could somehow try out different jobs then I’d be able to learn about the characteristics I wanted in a career, and the type of workplace situation I’d need to be happy before making the full commitment.

How did you find the first companies to work at?

I created the website with the help of my best friend and web developer Ian MacKenzie. On the website I wrote that anyone, anywhere in the world could offer me a job for one week. I explained my motivations behind the project, my background information, how to offer me a job, and then I sent an email out to all my friends and family and asked for help to pass it along. It slowly picked up momentum and the offers began to come in; however I rarely knew where I was working a week in advance – it was always last minute!

How did you get so many companies interested in hiring you for a week?

I think the idea resonated with many people because it’s something that everyone can relate to, whether you recently graduated looking for your first job, or in an older generation looking for a career change, at some point in our lives we all must ask ourselves, “What do I want to do with my life?” I think many employers wanted to help out as they related to my circumstances, thought it was a unique idea, expected to receive exposure from the website, or some liked the aspect that all my wages were going to charity.

Was one week enough to really gain an understanding of what the jobs are like?

I think it’s a misconception that it takes several years to learn whether a job is right for you. A lot of information can be gathered quite quickly. Granted, yes, a job might become more rewarding with time — once you really learn the ins and outs and how you can contribute and be successful at it. But It wasn’t my goal to find the perfect job in one week. It would have been awesome if I had, but it was more about learning from other people and putting the pieces together — well, figuring out what the pieces were.

What were your most and least favorite jobs?

My most enjoyable jobs were the weeks where I was working with some great people. It was not necessarily the job I was doing but my coworkers that made the experience memorable. The ones that stand out are: Cancer Fundraiser (Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation), Pizza Maker, Fashion Buyer, Advertising Executive, Steam Whistle Brewery. The least enjoyable week was working in a swamp picking cat tails. It was plus 35, tonnes of bugs, smelled bad, and really long 12-hour days. All in all not too pleasant.

You finished the jobs in March of 2008, what have you been doing for the last two years?

Writing the book which was recently published, working on the documentary which will be out this spring (view the trailer at oneweekjob.com), and speaking to students/companies about my experiences and what I learned. We also just started the One Week Job program which grants others the opportunity to have a similar to experience to mine.

‘One Week Job’ really is a marketing phenomenon, how did you accomplish so much?

• First step was creating the website and outlining my goals, and why I was doing what I was doing.
• Second, I landed a sponsor at Week 5 to help pay with travel expenses as my wages were donated to charity.
• Third, Week 6, the first major media outlet covered the story.
• Fourth, the book deal happened around Week 37.
• Fifth, all of the small milestones in between with trying to find a new job, a new place to stay, and organize travel plans each week for an entire year.

Sean Aiken's book The One Week Job Project

How did the book come about?

I was extremely lucky in that when the New York Times picked up the story, I heard from several publishers directly asking if I’d thought about writing a book.

How did you get the great support for the book from all the famous authors?

I emailed them and asked real nice.

Please tell us about the people working on One Week Job?

Ian MacKenzie is my best friend, filmmaker, web editor, new media producer guy. He directed the upcoming documentary (view trailer on website). There were a few companies we worked with for the documentary.

How are you making money now?

The publishers provide an advance against royalties so that an author can live while they are writing the book. I make money by doing talks at conferences or schools.

Is the book going to make you rich?

Time will tell. Although I remember reading a quote from bestselling author Seth Godin – it was something to the effect of “those who write books to get rich are fooling themselves.”

Is One Week Job making you rich?

Nope.

What comes next? What is the future for Sean Aiken?

The book about my experience is called The One-Week Job Project. Published by Penguin Books in Canada and Random House in the US. The book is a memoir of my year. It begins from graduation, and me struggling to find an answer to the question “what should I do with my life?” How this developed into the idea to start the One Week Job Project, the different jobs I had, all the advice I received from my employers on finding a career, and the story of my personal journey making the transition from school into the working world. We recently finished post-production on the documentary that will be available this spring. We just started the One Week Job Program that provides others the opportunity to have a similar experience to my original journey. We’re giving three individuals $3000 each over the course of two months this summer. They’ll perform eight different one-week jobs and blog from the website. Anyone interested can apply at oneweekjob.com. I’d like to help other people interested in starting the One Week Job project in their country. Currently there is interest in the UK and potentially in China. Also, I’m planning an extensive college campus tour around the country next fall to share my story and all that I learned in making the transition from school into the working world.

Links
One Week Job
Follow Sean Aiken on Twitter

Related posts:

1. Interview with Superstar Marketer Nathan Hangen of Beyond Blogging
2. Interview with Successful Nomadic Entrepreneur, Dan Andrews
3. Interview with Entrepreneur and Digital Nomad Corbett Barr