Do you want to travel the world while building your online business?
One of the biggest benefits of having an online business is that you can work from anywhere in the world, all you need is a laptop and internet connection.
I've been traveling the world while running multiple online businesses for a number of years now. Not only is it possible, but I've found that you can actually grow your business FASTER while traveling.
Years ago when I was struggling, I decided to move to Thailand for a few months to get away from all the distractions, and to fully commit myself to creating a successful online business. That move changed my life forever and is a major reason why I enjoy the life I have now.
In this video blog, I share strategies that will enable you to travel the world, while simultaneously growing your online business, all while staying productive and out of debt.
Watch the video below:
(Click here to watch on YouTube)
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Video transcript
Hey, this is Stefan from projectlifemastery.com and in this video, I'm going to share with you how to build an online business while you travel the world. Now, one of the greatest advantages and perks of building an online business is the freedom that it can provide for you, the ability to travel the world, and run and operate your business from anywhere. It doesn't matter where you are in the world, as long as you have a laptop and a WiFi connection, you're set.
I've been living the Internet lifestyle, the laptop lifestyle as they call it, for several years now, traveling the world and living in different places. I primarily live in Vancouver, Canada, but at the time of this video right now, I'm in Miami. I was also traveling for the last 3 months. I was in Japan, Thailand, and Bali, then I went to the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Now I'm in Miami, then I'm going to Arizona and California.
Traveling around for a few months is a really fun lifestyle to be able to have, because when you have your online business that's running and operating for you, all you essentially need to do is just check in on your business.
Maybe your business primarily provides passive income for you, which is always the ultimate, the ideal scenario, but even then, even if you're a freelancer or whatever it is, you still have to spend the time, the hours every day on your business. Att least being in different environments and different settings is really exciting and fun. I know for me, just being able to work and then also be in a different environment, and explore, and go to the beach, and do fun activities is a really fun lifestyle to live.
How I was able to build my online business at the beginning
In this video, I'm going to share with you a few different things. I'm going to share with you, #1, how I was able to build my online business at the beginning, the beginning stages, just starting out and be able to travel the world, because I did that several years ago when I was first starting out, making maybe $20 a month. I don't think I was making any money at all, maybe a few sales here and there.
I went traveling for 3 months and built my online business while I was traveling. That was one of the things that really helped me start making money online. I'll also share with you where I am right now, running multiple businesses, very successful with my businesses, and again, having that freedom, that ability to travel around.
I'm going to share a few different things and I'll also share a little bit about how to be productive at the same time while traveling because I know that's a challenge for a lot of people. When they're traveling sometimes it's hard for people to discipline themselves and actually get work done. There's so many fun things to do, and depending where you're living and staying, it could be a challenge.
I'll share a few different things. First, let me share a little bit about the story when I was first starting out. I first started my online business career, I think when I was 23, 24 years old. I started my first business at 21. That business was more of an offline business, although I used the Internet and learned about online marketing to be able to promote seminars and coachings that I did. I started selling digital products around 23, 24 years old. I was selling e-books and I was trying a lot of different things.
I was dabbling around and I didn't have what's available today, the different courses, and training, and stuff. I was trying to figure it all out on my own and everything, and at the time, I was making a little bit of money from this other business that I had. I was doing some construction work a few days a week as well to make some extra cash flow, and at the time, I was struggling. I was struggling financially, I was really committed though to building an online business.
I actually decided to travel for 3 months to purely focus on building my online business at that stage. I think that when you're younger, you have a bit of an advantage, because for me, being a young person at the time, 23 years old, I didn't have a lot of expenses. I was just living with roommates, I didn't have a mortgage, I didn't have children. I didn't have anything like that, and I think when you're in that position, it's a little more challenging.
Focusing on your online business
When you have a family, and a spouse, and other obligations like that, you can't just think about yourself. You've got to think what's best for your family and your children. Although I do know a lot of families that live the Internet, laptop lifestyle as well, so I'm not saying that you can't do it, but for me, I decided that I needed to be in an environment where I could just purely focus on my online business and also enjoy myself and travel around as well.
What I decided to do was I decided that I was going to put money aside and basically work my ass off so that I could travel Southeast Asia for a few months and purely focus on my online business. If you're someone that wants to just start out, focus on building an online business just at the beginning stages, I do recommend that you either have some stream of income coming to you every month, whether that's from your job vacation or maybe seeing if you can work your existing job on a virtual basis.
Maybe they can actually allow you to travel and just maybe do some work from abroad, or to put money aside like I did. I basically determined I needed about, at the time in Thailand, Southeast Asia, it's very inexpensive to live there, but I determined I need like $1500 to $2000 a month to basically live there in Thailand for 3 months. I needed a total of about $6000 put aside, so I prepared for that, I planned for that.
Also, what I've decided to do, at different points I did different things, but at that point I had moved out of my apartment and traveled around, but at other points, I sublet my apartment. If you have a certain place, you might be able to sublet it for 1 month or 3 months, maybe on AirBnb. I'm actually renting out a place here in Miami on AirBnb. One of my favorite websites to book places at and work from is on AirBnb. Or you can go to Craigslist, sublet your place for 2 months, 3 months, whatever it is that you decide, however long you're going away for.
Often times when you sublet your place and it's furnished, you can actually make money from it. If your rent at your place is a $1000 a month but it's furnished, you might to able to rent it out for $1500 a month. Now you're pocketing an extra $500 that can be a positive cash flow, a passive income for you that can help pay for your travels as well.
I basically determine, “Okay, this is how much money that I need”. It might be different, depending on where you travel to, but I did all the research and I planned and prepared for that. Then, I went off to Bangkok and I traveled around Southeast Asia. I went to Bangkok, Phuket, Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, and Koh Tao. I went around up north to Chiang Mai in Thailand, and then I went to Laos, and I went to Cambodia as well.
Immersion while building your online business
Then I went back to Thailand, and my whole duration of the trip was about 3 months. I made a lot of sacrifices during that time. Basically, during those 3 months, I decided I'm going to immerse myself to build my online business. I'm going to work my ass off, I'm going to stay at hostels, because that's all I could afford. In many cases, I stayed in hostels where there was no air conditioning, and that was very uncomfortable and very challenging.
Other parts, a little bit easier, because I got to go to coffee shops, different environments, and stuff. I remember at other points I was staying at a hostel where there were bunk beds and there was like 12 different people staying in a room. I remember at one point I was staying on the top bunk, I've got my laptop and it's like midnight. I'm working on my online business and everyone else that's traveling in the hostel, they're not there to work or build a business.
They're there for the most part to party and have fun, so it's pretty funny as everyone else is getting drunk and partying, but I'm there focused. However, it's totally up to you how you want to live, but at the time, that's what I went through.
During that time I found it was actually one of the best times of my life, because before that trip I made a decision, I made a commitment to myself that I was going to make $300 a month by the end of those 3 months. I was just starting out with the business selling e-books online, and sure enough, I was able to achieve the goal. I still remember I got a YouTube video sharing the place in Phuket when I first made my first $100 a month, I remember.
I committed myself, I didn't have any distractions, and I also got to have a lot of fun too. That's what I did and that's what I recommend for someone that's in that position, just starting out is you've got to make sure you're smart with your money. You don't want to be getting in debt, and credit card debt is tough to do it. You want to make sure you're smart, put money aside or have a stream of income that can help support you while you're traveling.
Focus on building your business
That's #1, that's what I did, and that's what I recommend if you're in that position, just starting out. If you're not, then I do recommend focus on building your business. Sometimes it's hard, I understand, when you have a full-time job, you're just basically spending whatever extra hours that you have.
That's why I saw the value in committing myself and taking a break, but I do know a lot of people, they take a break from their job, they go on hiatus from your job, take a break, take a vacation, travel and they spend that time building their business and their job is still there waiting for them. That's another option there as well.
The situation I'm in right now, I make more than enough money from my online business that I can travel anywhere and stay in nice places if I choose and whatever kind of lifestyle. What I personally do, is either I move out of my place that I rent from and put everything in storage, or I sublet my apartment for however long that I'm traveling for so that I can be there and go back to it when I go back.
When I'm traveling now, I'm traveling to a lot of different locations, and there's a few travel tips that I have for you on how to be productive and actually be able to grow your business while traveling. You want to make sure you do a little bit of both and depending on how your business is set up, some people, I understand, you've got a totally passive business and that's fine. You've just got to check in on it 4 hours a week, whether the 4-hour workweek or whatever.
Just manage the business, make sure everything is running smoothly. Other people, they want to be productive at the same time. Usually, for me when I travel at the beginning of my trip, I want to have a bit of fun. I want to go to different places, explore and do some touristy type stuff. I might travel around a little bit, but then eventually I want a routine.
You need to have a routine
I find that in order to be really efficient and productive while traveling, you need to have a routine, because if you're always in different environments, that's not efficient at all. Every new location you travel to, there's always an adjustment period. For example, if you're going to go to Japan or Thailand or something like that, well the first day you're traveling, you're going to be tired, you're going to be jet-lagged.
You're going to have to explore the area, and find the store, and find the gym, and find all the different restaurants and stuff. You're going to spend a day or two just adjusting and finding, exploring the area and everything. Unpacking and all the stuff that you've got to do there.
Then if you're always traveling, like every week to a new location, then you've got to repeat that cycle. You're basically wasting a day or two having to adjust and that's not efficient at all. For me, I like to do that at the beginning of my travels, but then I like to settle in. By settling in I like to find a place on AirBnb that has reliable Internet, reliable WiFi, which is very important.
That's one of the biggest challenges you'll have when traveling is good Internet and depending on your business, I do a lot of Skype calls and webinars and things like that, so I need really good Internet connection also for uploading videos. A lot of WiFi connections that might have good download speeds but not good upload speeds, so you want to make sure that you do your research and even reach out to the locations before you decide to book there to make sure they've got good, reliable WiFi.
Every location that I go to, I always go to a website called speedtest.net. That will basically test the upload and the download speeds. It's important to have both, because if you're streaming videos, uploading anything, you're going to have to need good upload speeds for that. Or if you're going to restaurants, coffee shops, Starbucks is always usually good, you want to make sure that you have good Internet connection for that as well.
That’s a very important piece, good Internet and making sure that I do the research and a place that I'm staying has that for me. Also, making sure, I like to stay in a place that has a really good location. For me, the most important things are always a gym, I need a place that has a gym so that I can exercise and work out. Ideally, if there's a gym in the building, in the hotel or across the street or somewhere close by, that's more ideal. Also, a place that has a grocery store as well.
Again, these are just different things you want to think about to be more efficient, because if you want to exercise but it takes you a half hour to get to the gym, or you want to go to the store and it takes you an hour to get there, then that's not very efficient at all. That's key. I found that AirBnb is ideal because there's a kitchen, I can cook my own meals.
If you're going to restaurants a lot, I found that's not very efficient either, because you've got to wait there and order the food and stuff, not unless you're working on your laptop while you are at the restaurant. That's another option as well, but having to go to the restaurant every time you want to eat is very inconvenient, it's not very efficient either.
Conclusion
So, making sure you just set up the environment, the dynamic, the location, the place that you're in, and that's ideal and optimized for the kind of lifestyle that you want. I found that to be very important. I like to stay in places where there's a lot of activities, there are different things that I can do, so if I want to go out in the evening time or the weekend time, boom, right there I'm by the beach. I'm right by the shopping area, the nightlife area, or whatever it is. That's also a very important thing that I found, but for the most part, when you're traveling you've got to be disciplined.
You have to make sure that you schedule the times of when you're going to work on your business. For me, I always schedule things on my phone, all throughout the way I've made different appointments with my team. I've got coaching calls, I've got times that I'm focused on filming or recording videos. Then, I'll almost treat it like evening times or weekends, that's the time where I can go and have fun.
Once you get to that routine point, you've got to make sure that you're disciplined and you're not just goofing around, because you're still running a business. You're still trying to grow your business and do your thing and be productive while you're traveling as well.
It's a bit of balance of both, but I recommend getting into a routine in order to do that, to be the most efficient. Then, usually, what I would do is if I'm traveling to a new location, I might take a few days, a week off, have some fun and do some fun things, but then I'll settle back into a routine again. The routine I find, optimizing that, that's a very critical thing if you want to be productive while growing your business while traveling.
Those were a few different tips on what you can do to travel and live that lifestyle. There's a lot of amazing advantages of an online business, travel being one of them. I've loved traveling to locations that are very inexpensive because I live in Vancouver, it's a very expensive city, but when you go to locations, like Thailand and Southeast Asia, you can live amazingly well, very inexpensively.
Depending on the currency exchange and also just the expenses of accommodations and food in some of these places, you can live a really amazing life.
In Vancouver, it's raining and it gets really cold during winter time, so I love to travel and live in the sun or by the beach, and then during summertime I come back to Vancouver. That's always been the most optimal way that I've enjoyed doing things, and it's been a lot of fun. That's one of the amazing advantages of building an online business.
If you guys want to know more about how to build a successful online business, then check out the free course that I put together at projectlifemastery.com/freecourse. There'll be a link below in the description. I've been able to make money online for years in different ways, and that's one of my favorite parts, is being able to travel around, and have fun, live life, and have that freedom.
It's an amazing thing. Again, if you guys want to know more about how to build your own online business and travel, click the link below in the description or go to projectlifemastery.com/freecourse, but that's it for this video. Thanks for watching. Make sure to leave a comment below and subscribe for more videos. I'll talk to you later.