Will takes in the views over the Spanish countryside

The top problem for most aspiring long-term travellers is how to earn enough income on the road. Travelling off of savings is great way to start, but what happens when you run out of money. If your travel bug is going to turn into a location independent lifestyle, you will need to start working on the road.

More often than not, that means doing some type of freelancing work. Many also try their hand at travel writing, for their own blogs or other sites. Will Peach does all of the above. In this interview, Will shares his experiences working for sites like Gap Daemon and Vagabundo Magazine, as well as SEO article writing and consulting. He shows that you don’t need to earn much money on abroad if you can keep your costs low.

Please tell us about your travel background?

Hi guys! First off let me envelop you all in a nice warm “Will Peach” hug and wish you all the best for the year ahead. Right, now that the sexual tension is out the way, let’s continue onward.

I started travelling as a wee nipper making my first trip abroad a few short years after having sprung from the womb. Growing up under the heavy influence of my travel-curious dad, I had the fortune of going on vacation to quite a few destinations during my childhood. Stand out trips include a month long tour of Australia at the age of 12, holidaying in Kenya at 14 and a tour of California in my awkward teenage years. I hardly saw much of my native England!
Needless to say this taste of travel spilled over into my adulthood. At university I was lucky enough to do a year abroad at the University of Miami and after graduating I upped sticks and went to live in Vietnam for a year and a half. I’m still not done yet!

Where are you now?

The past few months I’ve been living in a little city called Cáceres in Extremadura, Spain (quite close to the Portuguese border). I came to live in Spain primarily because I had the crazy ambition of becoming the first person in my family to become fluent in a language other than English (and, if I choose to believe my grandmother, Irish). Since moving here however I’ve found that Spain really floats my boat. Right now I’m back in London for the holidays but, depending on when you read this, I’ll be back out in Spain in a new location working on my goal. If you’re interested in reading about my experiences and checking out my progress check out my site My Spanish Adventure.

Will enjoying Caceres' old quarter

What are you living expenses in Spain?

A lot cheaper than when I was living in London! In Cáceres I was paying just 100 Euros a month in rent (for a room in a shared apartment). For food I was probably paying around another 180 Euros a month (eating out maybe a couple of times a week) and for entertainment (which there wasn’t a great deal of maybe 200 Euros). I spent most of my “entertainment” money on travelling around the area getting to see cool places like Seville and Mérida.

How do you earn an income now?

Ah this is the bit where I give away all my secrets isn’t it? Well the bulk of my money I earn from my role as an editor at Gap Daemon (that accounts for maybe 50% of my monthly income). Then I work with a few different clients in the SEO world and provide writing for them on a freelance basis. My earnings per month vary wildly (depending on how much freelance stuff gets sent my way) but have always been enough to cover my outgoings.
Recently I’ve been working on other projects designed to bring in some income further down the line. I’m trying to push my SEO writing work more into consultancy (willpeach.com is my base for this) and also running a few different travel sites in the hope of monetisation in the coming months. I’ve also taken an editorial role at Vagabundo Magazine, which I hope will help prop me up too.

My earnings are still very much a work in progress and I’ll be the first to admit I’m no expert in this area. Still I love being the master of my own fate and this way of living is certainly the one for me.

Please tell us more about Gap Daemon and Vagabundo

Gap Daemon is a gap year website for backpackers and young travellers that provides people with a network to help record and prepare their travels as well as meet other people while out on the road. I actually got involved with them over a year ago when I worked in a full time capacity as a site editor in their London offices. Deciding to go travelling myself I was fortunate enough to have them support me. Right now I’m helping to add to their ever-increasing information resource by writing articles and recording podcasts with travellers around the world. It’s pretty cool work!

Vagabundo Magazine is an online travel magazine run by Brendan Van Son, a pretty well known Canadian photographer and travel writer. I got involved with them after writing a few articles for the digital magazine and asking Brendan if there was anything more I could help out with. Right now Brendan and I are working together to bring Vagabundo Magazine to the masses by expanding our activity on social media (particularly Twitter) and continuing to provide great travel stories and inside destination guides from around the world. Be sure to check it out!

How did you find those job opportunities?

I found the opportunity at Gap Daemon after working in the trade press here in London for a while (I had a big portfolio of travel writing and blogs from my time in Vietnam to help support my application). Back then they were just starting out so I had the good fortune of joining them after only a few months of operation.

Vagabundo Magazine came off the back of me writing for it and contacting Brendan. If I had to give any advice to people looking for similar opportunities I’d say networking with bloggers or writers in the field (simply by shooting them emails and telling them you’re fans of their work) is definitely the way to go.

In one of the frustrating moments of learning Spanish abroad!

Is this work 100% remote?

The work is 100% remote with the only stipulation that I check-in via emails regularly and take the occasional Skype call.

Are there good opportunities for travel writers at companies like Gap Daemon and Vagabundo?

Both these publications have great opportunities for travel writers looking to make a break in the field. Unlike other sites of a similar nature, Vagabundo Magazine and Gap Daemon both pay for good content from decent travel writers. Granted you won’t make anything near as much as you would writing for national papers or magazines but it’s still a great way to start.
If you’re interested in writing for the Gap Daemon blog I’d suggest thinking carefully about what you can offer and then pitching to chief editor Nadia. You can get in contact with her via Twitter.

The process is similar with Vagabundo. Check out the site, familiarise yourself with the content then have a read of the contributors guidelines.

Why do you work for other companies rather than focusing on your own sites?

That’s a really good question but one that’s easily answered by saying that I’m still very much a beginner and new to this world. Working with people like Gap Daemon and Vagabundo gives me a very solid start (not to mention great contacts) and also two solid online brands behind that of my own name.
Working with these sites also reinforces just how great it is to be part of a team. That’s a feeling I often miss running my own independent project!

Please tell us about your search engine optimization services

SEO is new to me but something that I’m growing increasingly passionate about. I learned a lot from my time at Gap Daemon but have explored it more over the past few months, thanks largely to communities like Sean Ogle’s Location Rebel.

Right now I work primarily as a SEO writer, freelancing with SEO companies who outsource this type of work. For these firms I generally write on a whole host of topics, which can range from anything like telecommunications, to business agents to real estate dealings. Finding work in this field can be tricky (given the competition) but there are plenty of opportunities for people on sites like Elance.

I find most of my work based on referrals from previous clients or networking. More recently I’ve expressed an interest in moving away from the writing and more into consultancy.

SEO writing: Will's usual expression

Are there good opportunities to do SEO work for small businesses?

I’d say there’s a healthy amount. It’s all about taking action, contacting the types of business you want to work with and telling them what you can do for them. Chances are, if you’ve studied the subject, you’ll know more than most small business owners. The next thing you need to do is to convince them to pay you for it, even if that means doing some unpaid work first!

Can you give some advice for travellers looking to do SEO freelance work?

The first thing you want to do is find other people who are doing it and ask them about it – unfortunately I can’t relay all the details in an interview or it would go on forever! Ask those people if they wouldn’t mind Skyping or something and then take it from there.

I’d suggest starting out by simply reading about the subject and getting a feel for what it’s all about (the learning curve isn’t all that big!). From there I’d find SEO companies, web design firms or small businesses that you like the look or sound of and just start pitching to them.

It needn’t be too hard!

Do you have any advice for aspiring long-term travellers?

The only advice I’d feel qualified to give is make sure it’s your dream and don’t let anything hold you back. You don’t need massive savings, you don’t need specific skills and you don’t need to be that well prepared. All you need to be is a capable person and willing to take a few risks.
Oh and remember to give back by doing interviews such as these!

About Will Peach

Will is one of the site editors over at Gap Daemon, the gap year travel website for backpackers and young travellers. He also works as a freelance SEO writer as well as tackling the subject of what to see in Spain over on his travel site My Spanish Adventure. Follow will on Twitter.

What does it really take to make a location independent travel lifestyle work? Many people assume that it is okay for single people in their early twenties to take a gap year to travel the world, but what if you are getting older and need to focus on a career? What if you are travelling as a couple? How do you make a living? Simon Fairbairn and Erin McNeaney of NeverEndingVoyage.com share their experiences transitioning to a life of long-term travel in this interview.

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

It is hard for most people to imagine what it is like to constantly travel. Most imagine that great riches are required, but from my own experiences and those I have interviewed, a travel lifestyle is probably much easier than you imagine. Digital nomad, James Clark of NomadicNotes shares his story of creating a life of constant travel in this interview. By keeping his expenses low, he is able to fund his travels through various advertising driven travel related websites.

Please tell us about your travels.

My first trip abroad was a brief holiday to Hawaii which activated the travel bug. I took some annual leave holidays after that, but I found that even saving up 2 months of leave from work wasn’t enough time to explore in a time frame I wanted. My long term travels began in 1999 when I moved to London on a 2 year working holiday visa, where I used London as a home base for travels around Europe. So far my travels have taken me to over 40 countries across North America, Europe and Asia. I still have much of the world to see, but I am not in a hurry to tick off a list of countries.

What made you decide to begin a nomadic life?

I wouldn’t say that my nomadic lifestyle was a decision, rather it has been something that has evolved over time. My original goal was to become self employed doing a job I enjoy which I could do anywhere. At first I would travel for shorter trips, then the trips extended to the point where now I am traveling full time.

Do you have a home base somewhere that you return to?

At the moment I have no home base. When I first started out working for myself in 2003, I had a home base in Melbourne. I averaged around 6 months away and six months at home, while keeping the place I lived at. In 2010 I moved out of that house so I am now without a fixed address.

If you had to choose one country to live, what would it be?

Tough question! I think I will always call Australia home but lately I have been gravitating towards SE Asia whenever I want to stay put for a while. So out of that region I will nominate Thailand for its food, lifestyle, cost of living and good internet service.

How do you earn an income now?

I run a number of commercial travel websites which earn income from the following sources:

• Affiliate sales
• Google Adsense
• Direct Advertising

I have done web design and search engine optimization in the past for other sites, but currently I am working exclusively on my own sites.

Do you make much money from your website?

Without going into details, I make more money working for myself than when I was working for someone else, which is a satisfying feeling. I have had periods though where I wasn’t making much money at all. This is all part of the life of being self employed, a stress which is not for most people.

What is your approximate travel budget for a year?

I don’t really keep a travel budget as it is more of a living budget now. I am aware of my outgoings and I keep my expenses down by not paying for internet or staying in expensive accommodation. I recently kept track of my cost of living for a month for when I was living in Mexico as an example of how you can live well on a small budget. I spent $850 in one month while living in Playa del Carmen. This was a living budget, and not a travel budget, which has different considerations such as transportation and short term accommodation costs.

Are you getting tired of traveling?

I’m not tired of the traveling lifestyle, though I manage this by breaking up my travels with breaks in one place. As much as I love travel, I also love the work that I do as well, which is a good incentive to stay at a home base for a while rather than continuing on to the next destination.

Have you had any serious problems on your travels?

I have been denied entry to two countries in Europe for not having a visa (oops), been in a hotel fire and have had numerous flight delays and cancellations (I’m looking at you Eyjafjallajökull!) but nothing too serious (touch wood).

How do you deal with administrative issues like banking, bills and health care?

This is something that has evolved over time as well. Most of my banking is online now. I have opted out of paper statements and get e-statements instead. I have the occasional payment with cheques (yes some companies still use cheques!) so I have them sent to my parents who manage my banking as well as my quarterly business tax statements. I still maintain health care in Australia, and for travel insurance I am currently using World Nomads.

Do you have any advice for people considering long term traveling

Whether you are travelling as a working nomad or just taking a year off work to explore the world it is a good idea to start simplifying your life before you go. Get out of debt if possible and wind down any monthly standing payments like TV subscriptions. Get rid of unnecessary mail subscriptions and get anything that can be done online set up.

As for making a travel plan, I find you don’t really need one. Once you are on the road you will get into adventures that may take you destinations that weren’t on your original itinerary.

Links
Nomadic Notes - James Clark’s Blog
Follow James on Twitter
Nomadic Notes on Facebook

A key success factor, both personally and in business, is the ability to connect with like minded people.  It is great to virtually interact with and support our peers but nothing compares to real world meet ups. To bring lifestyle design focused entrepreneurs together,  Michael Bodekaer has created Project Getaway, a tropical paradise retreat in Bali, Indonesia. He talks about his lifestyle and businesses in this interview.

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

I am a huge fan of great, simple ideas. When I first heard of the TropicalMBA, I thought it was a brilliant concept with lots of potential. Just the name alone, conveys all the information you need to know. What better way to learn about business, then interning with a successful entrepreneur in an exotic country? In this interview, Dan Andrew talks about how he started the TropicalMBA, how he makes money and gives advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.

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

How would you like to be self-employed, while having the income and freedom to travel the world? Jason Batansky, has created exactly that lifestyle for himself and he is only 22 years old. He gives a fantastic account into his life with detailed information on exactly how earns his income in this interview.

Please tell us about your travels.

I started traveling independently around 4 ½ years ago in the summer of 2007 to South America. I expected to work four days per week at a non-profit organization in Ecuador in advertising and marketing to attract new members to the organization. I arranged this internship directly with the entity rather than going through a third party company so that I could have full control of my trip. I lived out of a hostel for months and traveled on the weekends. I eventually decided to quit the internship a month early. With my extra time, I took a trip to the Galapagos and skipped over the border to Colombia. That month was my first real taste of what I wanted to do full-time in the future.

Since then, I’ve visited and lived in countries in South America, Western and Eastern Europe, and Asia. A week ago I returned from three months of living in Colombia and in a few days I am traveling to Israel.

What has been your favorite country so far?

Colombia. I’m just back from living in Medellin. I’ve made five separate trips to Colombia since 2007. It’s a country full of the kinds of people who greet each other on the elevator. I think people are outgoing and thoroughly enjoy themselves. As a foreigner, it’s an even greater place because the typical Colombian wants you to feel comfortable and enjoy yourself. So many have gone out of their way to help me — whether approaching me to help with directions or taxi drivers inviting me over for dinner.

This past Christmas Eve, I celebrated with a family in Medellin for ten hours. The entire extended family drank, ate, and danced with neighbors stopping by all night. While I left exhausted at 5AM, they called me at 11AM to ask if I would return since they hadn’t stopped celebrating.

If it were not for this one place, the number count of countries I have visited would be far higher.

What has been the least expensive country you have visited?

If my goal were to live as a local, the countries with the least expensive cost of living would be Bolivia or Bangladesh where you can live decently on less than $10-$15 per day. Of course in the less expensive countries I tend to find myself spending much more than that. In Bolivia, I joined many tours to natural sites like salt flats, mines, and the jungle, which meant my expenses were much higher. In Bangladesh, I stayed with a friend but our tastes were expensive eating in the city’s nicest restaurants.

Did you have a lot of savings to begin with?

I never needed much savings to begin with. I’ve always worked while traveling. At the beginning, if my savings were lower than I liked, it didn’t worry me. I would earn more while traveling.

On my first trip at age 19, I left with about $6,000 or so in a checking account after airfare, travel insurance, and any other items needed to complete my packing list. Four months later I returned to the United States with more money than I came with. Looking back at my bookkeeping I returned to the United States with $8,000 in savings after four months, rather than the $6,000 I came with.

How do you earn an income now?

I have been self-employed since age 16. You can find all the details about it here. I never received any formal training, so a lot of what I have done is just educated research mixed with trial and error. Along the way, I honed my internet research skills and drastically improved my writing ability. These skills together are useful when it comes to advertising and marketing. They’re also skills that I take advantage of daily, since they directly relate to the services I run.

My primary business is a career services company that specializes in writing resumes, curriculum vitae, cover letters, and coaching clients on interviews. After four years, I received around 45-60 new clients per month and in total have created and revised well over 1,000 resumes and curriculum vitae since 2007. At this point, one sale can bring in between $100 -$190. I also receive a lot of repeat business from clients needing to add new information. This business has practically doubled in income during the last three years and now provides a solid, American middle class income well above what my peers make.

My second business, a personal travel blog, has only started earning recently from advertisers in the past two months. But in its first month as a business, it earned four figures profit and midway through the second month it looks like the income will double. I sell sponsored articles, text links, and banner advertisements on the blog. While my blog is not nearly as well visited as many others, I was able to use a simple method to attract advertisers. It’s mostly effortless and so effective because I am able to negotiate with advertisers with great timing as they are looking to spend some of their budget for a specific advertising campaign. Since I’d like to keep my travel blog as a hobby, I outsource the sponsored articles to an individual who recently graduated from NYU. In just a month of monetizing the blog it has overtaken another business of mine.

The third business, an online gift store, provides 15 categories of over 400 products including printed T-shirts, cologne, watches, sunglasses, tactical gear, lighters, and other categories. Since 2005, the store has completed more than 3,000 orders and counting. I am able to manage this business online because I have arranged for manufacturers and wholesale distributors to ship products directly to each of my customers only after I make a sale. For years, this was my primary business but having grown uninterested in improving it, it has suffered as a result.

These days, most of my sales come from a Google product search feed I upload occasionally. Although I had no idea at the time, this form of advertising helped me rank high for a particular cologne which I end up selling a few of every day. Otherwise, I also sell a bundle of screen-printed T-shirts each month. I originally found a few interesting Photoshop designs and contacted the designers offering them a commission in order for them to allow me to put the designs on a T-shirt. One design has sold really well over the years even attracting a few wholesalers who buy in bulk.

How do you get customers?

I started the career services business on a highly trafficked internet forum after purchasing the same service from another company. I wasn’t too impressed with the company that helped and so I figured if they could earn money this way, so could I. I posted an advertisement on the forum offering my service for very little money – just $20 at the time. The business only worked because after finishing with a client, he or she would leave feedback from their own username directly in the forum.

Other forum users would see the success from past clients and try it out themselves. After a little success, I turned it into a real company with a nice looking eCommerce website. The success of the business will always rely on positive feedback from the forum. But now, I also use paid advertising to enhance the effect of the forum. For example, I purchase banner advertisements linking to the forum thread. I also pay the website to keep my thread at the top of the forum. In addition to paid advertising, I also receive a good portion of referrals from satisfied clients who shared my service with coworkers, family, and friends. Lastly, a lot of my clients come back months or even years later to purchase a revision to their existing resume so I can add new information to the resume, or even extras such as a cover letter they may have not purchased the first time around. At present I spend around $300 a month on advertising.

I think the referral part of the business has had a lot of success because the email process encourages this. All of my contact with each client is very personal and at different stages, from the welcome email to final email, encourages people to share their feedback and refer new clients. For example, one customer referred his mother who later became a second customer. The mother then closed down her dental practice and as part of the layoff package purchased a resume for five of her employees.

The online retail store works much differently. It also started on an internet forum selling individual items and evolved into a retail site. Today most customers come from Google Product search. But in the past I have sent out product samples for a blog to review, which I had some great success doing. I also resorted to banner advertisements placed on a few select websites. The important thing was I negotiated directly with the websites avoiding third party advertising programs like Google Adsense. Then of course word of mouth played an important part. For example, I placed a shirt on eBay each week. One sale a week through eBay was pretty small but because of that consistent listing a few museums spotted the shirt and bought from me in bulk to resell. At present I spend $0 on advertising but in the past have spent as much as $150 a month, which is very little.

The way I find advertisers for my travel blog is going to be kept a secret for the time being. But my customers are typically internet marketing/PR firms representing companies, rather than the companies themselves. I don’t do any paid advertising for the blog and never have.

Are retail internet sites like that a good business?

eCommerce stores selling physical products are a great business for someone with the goal of eventually automating the business. Unlike a service which requires expertise of some sort, all of the processes for selling a product can be automated and outsourced eventually. This is ideal for many of you reading JetSetCitizen interested in travel, business, and minimal work. As it stands now, I spend less than 5 minutes a day running the entire retail store business. On the other hand, it earns very little in comparison to my other businesses.

Like any business it can also be very profitable. If I could do this all over again I would have chosen a more specific type of product to sell rather than a bunch of unrelated gift items I sell now. The problem now is that it’s too difficult to market my brand because there really isn’t one. It lacks any focus and has suffered because of that.

Usually the most difficult aspect of setting one up is finding legitimate wholesale products. Often times you will find fake drop-shipping programs that require you to pay money for access. The best advice I can give is to search for specific wholesale products. For example, try searching “dealer application” in quotations plus any product term (i.e. “Dealer Application” Shirts). This method will find legitimate companies offering their products at a real wholesale cost.

What is your travel budget for a year?

I spent US$21,707.46 in 2010, not including my taxes. I spent 10 months abroad and the other 2 months staying with family in the U.S. where my expenses were pretty minimal. But this number does include everything from airfare and health insurance to electronics and nightlife.

During 2010 I traveled in less expensive countries like Ecuador and Bangladesh, mid level countries like Germany, and expensive countries like Hong Kong and Japan. I have never created or stuck to any budget whether for travel or personal life. But for example living in Colombia over three months, I spent around US$80 per day.

Generally I stay in hostels ranging from $5-$35 a night. More often I find myself staying in hotels which go for around $40-$100 a night. I mostly use taxis unless a metro is available. If I’m going to a new city I tend to fly rather than take a bus.

Are you getting tired of traveling?

If you asked me four months ago, I would have said that I am tiring of traveling. That’s because I took a four month trip from Ukraine to Japan, spanning 9 other countries in between. At the time I had a few personal problems going on and felt lonely. But the four years previous to that were mostly excellent experiences, though all in Latin America. I didn’t know quite what to make of my new opinion on travel.

I think at that point, I came to the realization that non-stop travel for months is not for me. The novelty of meeting new people from different countries has worn off. I need longer relationships with people, even if only being able to spend time with a group of friends for a few months. A few days is just too little time. Not being able to speak with people every day because of a lack of foreign language skills also sucks. I remember sometimes during parts of my trip that if I had a five minute conversation with someone I would be satisfied socially for the day. It was that bad at times.

After a month at home reuniting with family, I moved to Colombia, a country that I have always enjoyed in the past.

That was the best decision I could have made at the time. I lived a very social and healthy lifestyle over there, completely opposite the previous four months. Three months later I am back in the U.S. for a week in between my next set of travels abroad, feeling better than I have in a long time. My three months in Medellin restored my excitement for travel. Unlike my last set of travels through Europe and Asia I only want to travel for around a month at most this time. At that point I’ll choose to temporarily live in some city in a foreign country, with short vacations in between. I’m thinking of Medellin again, or quite possibly London.

How do you deal with banking, bills and health care and other administrative things?

The administrative aspects of this lifestyle are simple. Nobody should ever have to stress about any of those things, because there are options for any person to handle them. I tend to rely on family often but paid services do exist to manage the administrative aspects.

In 2010 I purchased my own health insurance for a little under $2,000 for the year. The health insurance covered me anywhere in the world. In 2011 the new U.S. healthcare bill allows anyone under 26 to go on their parent’s health insurance, so I’ll save $2,000 because of that for the next four years.

My bills are mostly non-existent. I have never owned a house or car. For any small bills, I have my Dad send a check and then transfer funds directly into his bank account. I’d guess this only needs to be done three to five times a year.

As for banking, I have accounts with PNC and ING. ING serves as my savings account. At PNC I set up five different checking accounts in case a card is stolen or lost. With a minimum balance of around $2,500 in a checking account, the bank waives any overseas withdrawal fees. Surprisingly enough I have never actually used the credit card I have with PNC. I think I’ll need to change that in 2011.

Taxes are also done pretty easily. I record a few thousand transactions in my QuickBooks accounting software each year and then pass them onto my accountant by email when the year is over. I pay taxes quarterly each year. I prepare checks in prepaid and addressed envelopes to send to the federal and state government in advance. It’s as simple as telling my Dad to put an envelope in the mailbox when the time comes.

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

The first thing you should know is that long-term travel is definitely worth doing. But it is not a way of life for the long-term. Go for it, but when it starts becoming too tiresome, which it will, stop. At that point, you don’t need to return home to your old way of living but maybe compromise and try living abroad long-term. A lifestyle that doesn’t allow you to spend much time with family, start a family, or even maintain your friendships in person is not a kind of life to aspire to in the long-term.

Personally, I haven’t quite given up on long-term travel since I still have that travel bug, and seriously enjoy it at times. It’s been my passion to travel indefinitely for years now. I had to try it for myself or I could never be completely content living any other way. Now that I have experienced the positives and negatives I will feel more at ease eventually living another way. I don’t expect you to believe me that it’s really not cracked up to be all that it is. So my advice is to try long-term travel so that you can experience this way of living for yourself.

Links
LocationlessLiving.com Jason’s blog.
Follow Jason on Twitter

I can definitely attest that making money from a blog is difficult. Even bloggers with big audiences can struggle with earning a decent amount of revenues. One of the early people I connected with online is South Africa based,  Dirk de Bruin, or Diggy, from UpgradeReality. Diggy has been blogging about self-improvement related topics for a couple of years and has built a large following. He is now blogging full-time, but is still working towards supporting himself completely from his online efforts. Diggy gives an honest account about his experiences and progress so far.

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

Here is an interesting video via The Next Web about a couple of people making a lot of money from Google Adsense ads on their YouTube videos. Video is definitely the future, maybe now is the time to start shifting away from text?

For more information, check out the YouTube Partner Page to learn how to apply to begin earning money from your videos.

Do You Prefer Video or Text?

I personally would much rather read a blog post than watch someone talking to a camera. However, for many things video is far more effective. Chris Anderson from TED.com has a great presentation about “How Web Videos Power Global Innovation.” Anderson talks about how we are rapidly learning from each other through web video so that quality and skill levels keep advancing.

Video Rules for Education

For how to content, nothing compares to video. I have used CartoonSmart.com to learn Flash and illustration and a wide variety of video sites to learn guitar theory, licks and songs. It is so much more effective to be shown how to do something, rather than read about it. For any how to question, I find YouTube to be a better search engine than Google.

Is Video Difficult?

The problem is that decent video editing takes a long, long time. At least for me it does. Also, I am not so comfortable in front of a camera so it is definitely something I need more practice with.

Would you like to see more videos on JetSetCitizen or do you prefer to read text?

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.

Today’s interview is with Craig Martin of IndieTravelPodast.com. Craig and his wife Linda have been travelling full-time for more than 5 years now and are funding their adventure through their websites, podcasts and the occasional English teaching. Craig talks about how they got started and how they have bulit their location independent lifestyle.

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