Post: #1

Seems to be a few people here who have online business and are (or potentially could) working from anywhere in the world. I'm curious if there's any websites or forums you visit for getting information, sharing tips, reading up about how to set this type of life up etc?

I'm looking to get some ideas off the ground soon and want to get as much knowledge as possible. I know with everyones business being different that there will not be one single website that useful to everyone but I'm guessing there will be some almost everyone could learn from.

Let's here about them please...

Thanks.

Post: #2

http://www.digitalnomadacademy.com
http://www.freedombusinessblog.com
http://www.nunomad.com/blog/25-career-id...lifestyle/

And the obvious book, Four Hour Work Week.

One thing I'd recommend: Dont think you HAVE to have an online business to do this. There are plenty of ways to earn money online without having to "run a business" in the sense you're creating websites/products etc. Freelancing comes to mind.

I've been building content sites and monetising with advertising for a couple of years but my heart is 100% not in it. It's been a fucking slog every step of the way and I have not made nearly what I expected to. It doesnt make use of my strengths, or things I enjoy, or have any sense of meaningfulness for me. Seriously considering selling my sites and washing my hands of them, before I have to scramble and polish them up before the next big update from Google.

Thinking back, I wish I had not got sucked in by the idea of "passive income" and having a flashy internet business. I wish I'd just found a way to earn $20-30 an hour online, and worked 20 hour weeks as I travelled, enough to pay the bills. Writing, programming, translating, etc. By now I'd have a strong personal brand, skillset and client list. Maybe I would have played around with a side blog or biz venture in something Im passionate about, like a pickup/lifestyle design blog etc. But certainly not made building content sites my whole deal. I really hate it, I regret getting sucked into it and sticking at it for so long really.

However - I can say the biz experience and learning curve has been very worthwhile though. I learned a shitload about online markets, SEO, HTML and site structure, marketing, analytics, testing, business principles and pitfalls, etc. I'm now positioned quite well in terms of skillset and biz knowledge if I actually came up with an idea for a product or service I was passionate about. But TBH I'd rather do something where the work is sent to me and I just use my brain to accomplish it - programming, writing, etc.

Post: #3

Learned it by trial and error, and when I was in South America I talked to some guys who were doing the same.

Problem is that no lifestyle is the same. There's a lot of customization that you won't be able to get from a book or site. The best you can get is some tips here or there like banking or packing help.

Post: #4

ViperChill.com and SmartPassiveIncome.com are good places to start. And, as mentioned, The Four Hour Work Week really should be your first read for this. I would stay away from affiliate marketing if I were you and focus on building some kind of legitimate business. I've done affiliate marketing for the past couple of years and am moving away from it completely onto real online businesses.

Post: #5

Thanks for the links Richie and Rio, will have a look and need to get the book, just watched a short docu about Tim Ferris on BBC World News.

Post: #6

Check out the Four Hour Work Week blog as well. Some great posts on there and case studies from people who read the book, and then went on to create businesses.

Post: #7

I have location independent work...sort of like a "data processing" contractor (not comfortable being more specific but I have a small suspicion a poster or lurker knows me here)...per hour rate is great for me...but a bit of a tradeoff in total pay as I don't work the entire month nor do I want to. All I need is a data stick (the work isn't bandwidth heavy) and laptop. Unfortunately I couldn't begin to say how to get to this point as I stumbled across the opportunity by chance after being in the same industry for a little over a decade. Ironically, I think it is not the norm to be able to do so, even though the in-office work makes heavy use of computers.

Post: #8

If you want to save some time in learning the top ways to make money online, consider buying the ebook The Super Affiliate Handbook. Otherwise you can spend days and days scrapping together information from different places online. I bought the book and used some of the information to build my business.

I used the content site building model that I learned from sitesell.com. It's a slower method to make money online but I don't regret it. It took awhile but now I go days and sometimes weeks without working while still making a full time income. A "work" week for me is maybe 10 hours, 15 max.

You can also check out Wealthy Affiliate. It's a monthly subscription but it's supposed to be some great training recommended by one of the most ethical marketers that I know.

Post: #9

Thanks for the information.

Post: #10

I was at work and a lady came in to tell my boss about her life and how she's doing. Anyway, she was talking about freelance work where she can work from anywhere and get paid decent wages. She said she was working as a transcriber for law firms.

I did my own investigation and these people make $10-20+ an hr. I would imagine this kind of work is competitive. They are looking for people with an excellent grasp of english and those that can type upwards of 80 words a minute. I doubt you would make anything over $1,500-$2,000 a month. Even that might be a stretch. Here's a site I found:
http://www.findtranscriptionwork.com

Post: #11

(03-24-2012 05:32 AM)RichieP Wrote:  http://www.digitalnomadacademy.com
http://www.freedombusinessblog.com
http://www.nunomad.com/blog/25-career-id...lifestyle/

I've been building content sites and monetising with advertising for a couple of years but my heart is 100% not in it. It's been a fucking slog every step of the way and I have not made nearly what I expected to. It doesnt make use of my strengths, or things I enjoy, or have any sense of meaningfulness for me. Seriously considering selling my sites and washing my hands of them, before I have to scramble and polish them up before the next big update from Google.

thanks for the cool links!!! im checking them out... If you dont mind sharing, what sites do you have???

Post: #12

Keep an eye on news.ycombinator.com. People who want to be mobile and run their own show also need to be on the forefront of tech and engineering, IMO. You don't have to be a tech guy, but reading enough of this will help you speak with the inevitable engineers you'll meet. also check out the interviews at mixergy.com.

The most important thing is to start slowly adding income. Find websites to do freelance work for / with. I started with a 75/week paying gig, and now i'm pulling down over 1k a month location-independent. i live in one place, but i travel frequently and have no connection to the whole 9-to-5 style world.

it's really nice.

Post: #13

(03-24-2012 02:44 AM)AlphaTravel Wrote:  I'm curious if there's any websites or forums you visit for getting information, sharing tips, reading up about how to set this type of life up etc?
I'm looking to get some ideas off the ground soon

I just posted my location independent business model. Hopefully it can inspire you to reach your dream lifestyle: /thread-11699.html

Post: #14

I've been to 16 counties in the last year and a half and I've been funding my travels and pickup through freelancing. Work a few hours a day, go out at night. In London I need to work maybe 3-4 hours a day to pay my expenses, but in countries like Thailand really one hour a day covers all my expenses.

I make between $40 to $60 an hour, but getting started you're probably looking at between $20 and $30 within a month or two. I wrote a really detailed guide on how to do it. It's on the right: http://www.EarnOnTheRoad.com

Post: #15

Every time I run into those kinds of website, I wonder what they really sell and make money??
they all just talk about how you can have freedom and money blah blah.....

I thought about building a dating website for specific religion group (since I can't compete with match.com)
I logged into this website and there were about 600 people during busy hours.
So I say there are at least 1000~2000 members. the monthly fee is only $9.99.
So this guy is taking at least $10k to 20k with very low maintenance fees.
I guess it all comes down to marketing though...

Post: #16

(04-03-2012 04:59 AM)Sebastian Wrote:  Every time I run into those kinds of website, I wonder what they really sell and make money??
they all just talk about how you can have freedom and money blah blah.....

I thought about building a dating website for specific religion group (since I can't compete with match.com)
I logged into this website and there were about 600 people during busy hours.
So I say there are at least 1000~2000 members. the monthly fee is only $9.99.
So this guy is taking at least $10k to 20k with very low maintenance fees.
I guess it all comes down to marketing though...

Dating is a huge money niche, but I think is fairly competitive. The people who do ThaiLoveLinks, ColombianCupid, DominicanCupid, and their whole network of sites must be doing very well. All about finding a niche which is under serviced and moving in with a good business strategy and marketing plan.

As far as a specific religion niche, the ChristianMingle.com commercial cracks me up "Find Gods Match For You." as if God placed your soul mate on a paid dating website lol. I bet they are KILLING it though.

Post: #17

The websites listed above have some good information.

In the end though I believe the best way is to try a bunch of things and figure things out for yourself, that's what I've been doing for a while now. Most of the websites I come across about this sort of thing are websites where the author is selling a guide about how to make money online. Personally I'd rather experiment and figure what works for me rather than follow someone elses blueprint.

Post: #18

I get motivated by sites like ChristianMingle.com. Honestly I think its an awesome idea and wish I didn't come up with it first. But when they have a couple thousand users I realize I can do the same. How about FarmersOnly.com. I read somewhere they had a couple thousand active users as well. How about WeMetOnAPlane.com. Personally I think that is a horrible idea, but apparently they making some dough.

Pitch an idea to a couple friends. If they say the love it and the competition is limited. Go headstrong with it. The internet is probably the way to get the best ROI on an investment. A couple grand invested can easily get you in the $500 a month return range. But it can usually burn your money just as fast.

Post: #19

Smartpassiveincome.com
affbuzz.com

Are good places to start. You might want to join some sort of classroom.
I know Ryan Deiss has some good stuff.

But the best way to learn is to learn the hard way. Trial and Error. And I mean a lot of error.

My cashflow is all from online resources.. but it took me 2 years of pain and debt to get there.

Post: #20

(04-03-2012 06:33 AM)3am Wrote:  I know Ryan Deiss has some good stuff.

He used to have some great stuff. Now, most is overpriced for what you get.

Post: #21

(04-02-2012 06:00 AM)DareP Wrote:  I've been to 16 counties in the last year and a half and I've been funding my travels and pickup through freelancing. Work a few hours a day, go out at night. In London I need to work maybe 3-4 hours a day to pay my expenses, but in countries like Thailand really one hour a day covers all my expenses.

I make between $40 to $60 an hour, but getting started you're probably looking at between $20 and $30 within a month or two. I wrote a really detailed guide on how to do it. It's on the right: http://www.EarnOnTheRoad.com

Thanks a lot for this, very inspirational, I downloaded the guide yesterday and will definately look into it in the coming months as it looks like I will quit my current regular job in a couple of weeks.

Post: #22

I make my money through a variety of different income streams. I have learnt that hard way that it's best not to put all your eggs in one basket and rely on one sole source of income, if that fails, then you are screwed.

I do a mixture of Freelancing, online trading(Ebay, Amazon etc), and financial services.

For me personally, it's all about finding a niche. And that comes from extensive hours of research in a particular sector. Typing "make money online into Google" is mostly going to produce results people who view you as their potential income source. If somebody's got a good thing going, chances are they aren't going to want to advertise their methods on a website.

Remember sometimes working online isn't as great as it sounds, often you are running your own business, it can consume you. You may be glued to your laptop for all your waking hours, whereas if you had a day job you could have gone to the pub at 6pm without a care in the world.

For me it's also about streamlining my ventures and getting as close to 100% residual income as possible, whether it be through outsourcing admin, time saving software packages, etc

I recommend spending in internet business forums, sometimes people get carried away with their success and can't wait to blab to the world about it.

Post: #23

Quote:Remember sometimes working online isn't as great as it sounds, often you are running your own business, it can consume you. You may be glued to your laptop for all your waking hours, whereas if you had a day job you could have gone to the pub at 6pm without a care in the world.

The thing that appeals is that if you're working online you don't need to be based in the same place all the time. You can move around the world instead of being stuck in the 9-5 rut in one city. There's nothing worse than having what time you need to go to bed and wake up at dictated by work IMO.