Post: #1

RVF,

I started this thread in order to seek the advice of the forum regarding my financial future. The knowledge imparted on here constantly astounds me and I'm hoping that you gentlemen will be able to assist me as I plan for the future.

Here is my situation. I have been travelling the world since I was 18, immediately after finishing high school. I have basically been working as many months as it takes to bank a few thousand, quitting then setting off on my next journey. In the years since leaving school I have travelled in the Caribbean, the Middle East, Asia and Europe. During those trips I met some amazing people, saw some amazing places, slept with some sexy women and made memories that will last a lifetime.

Now, I find myself in my early twenties. Here's the deal. I want to be location independent, I want to be in the position where my money works for me. Eventually, I want to settle down, find a wife and have a family. I want to be in a position where I can spend time with my family and children without having to slave in an office. Whenever I explain this to anyone else I'm always met with the same type of comment, with the same dismissive tone, something along the lines of 'well how do you expect to do that', 'I wouldn't count on it', 'that hardly every happens. Now, I live in in rural Britain, in a tiny village. I don't know anyone who lives this sort of lifestyle. But I know that there are many members on this forum who have a lot of money, who are location independent, who are working towards being location independent, who are single bachelors with secure finances, who are married with strong families are in a great position financially. I think that near enough every guy on here understands the yearning for a strong financial base, a strong nuclear family and to live life on your own terms.

Now, and I'm being 100% honest here. I know nothing about starting or running a business, I have no knowledge in this field whatsoever, I don't know where to begin at all, I have no clue. What resources should I read (websites, books)? I know a lot of successful guys have had a mentor to help guide them, how can I find a mentor? How do I find inspiration and ideas? I'm literally like a blind guy in the middle of the desert trying to find his way out.

While I could work and travel for a few more years, I don't want to wake up at the age of thirty without a pound or penny to my name. I want to travel well and eventually have a big house in a nice area, a strong nuclear family of which I am king. Essentially a personal Kingdom.

Thanks for reading this, I appreciate any advice you guys are willing to give.

Post: #2

Accept right off the bat that there will be compromises and it's extremely difficult to get everything you want early on.

Think about some of these things:

Do you want to be location independent today or 10 years from now?

Do you want enough money for the 1st or 3rd world? Both?

What is your time table? Do you want a family now or when you're 40?

Are you willing to sell out for a while or do you want to go for the brass ring right now?

What is your tolerance level for failure? As you get older, it generally becomes harder to recover from bad/poor decisions.

Do you have other assets or family to fall back on in case shit doesn't work out?

Do you actually want to be moving a family around all the time or do you want to establish yourself in a community? Will your future wife/kids be tolerant to moving around all the time? Most women want to stay relatively close to family.

You need to narrow down a few things and pick your priorities.

EVERYONE wants to be location independent, be able to support a family, travel the world, and be a king. How, when, and if you get there depends on how you feel about some of the aforementioned however.

"I want to be in the position where my money works for me"

Also accept right now there are few true passive income sources excluding stuff like pensions (which are not bulletproof), patent/licensing residuals, winning the lottery, selling a business for 8 figures, and a few other odd things.

There are very few sources of "turn your brain off for life" money pools:

Real estate? - You're managing tenants and other bullshit.
Stocks/bonds dividends? - You're constantly watching the markets.
Online business? - You're dealing with constant worldwide competition.
Brick and mortar business? - You're dealing with local competition and keeping a lid on things if managing stuff from afar.

It use to be you could get a sizeable amount of savings and dump it into a govt bond and get 4-7% for 20-30 years. But we now live in a world of NEGATIVE interest rates. So, forget that idea if you had that as a plan.

Furthermore, we have a global populace exponentially growing along with worldwide job growth slowing due to technological innovations; meaning more competition and less opportunities from a broad perspective. Will what you invest in now (a skillset, business, etc) be in demand 10 years from now? Remember, you don't get the time back.

A few examples of potential paths that meet your basic objectives:

1. Let's say you want to have a family in Mexico/3rd world country X around 40. You are absolutely sure you want to be there (outside the 1st world at least) and you don't want kids until then.

The most straight forward and reliable path is probably a government job with some sort of pension after 20 years. Invest your money in real estate and the market over 20 years.

A modest pension won't let you live like a King in the first world but it could in the 3rd world. Combined with the right investments and real estate, you could even live pretty well in the 1st world with minimal money oversight. But you gotta sell out for 20-25 years to make it happen.

2. Govt job sounds like hell? Invest in a local business and build it up to the point where you can keep a light touch on it via good management after 3-10 years of dedication. Or sell it for 7-10 times (or more) earnings. Potentially quicker path with way bigger pay off but the risk is MUCH higher than Option 1.

3. Develop a skillset early on that allows for high-paying contract work. With some modest savings, you could work part-time in the 1st world and live in the 3rd world very early in life. Nursing, PA, and ER doctor are three professions that allow for this lifestyle. Nursing in particular (in the US at least) is a GREAT field from a cost/benefit standpoint while enabling a good paying flexible lifestyle early on.

Again, you have to figure out what your priorities are and what you are willing to compromise on. Once you know that, go full speed ahead and don't look back. Just don't stagnate and waste your time; that is the ONLY thing no matter that is the wrong thing to be doing at ANY time.

Post: #3

You have only talked about the outcome that you want. There are many ways to get that.

What you have not talked about is the doing. What have you seen in all your travels that you want to try?
Who have you seen that has income and how do they get it?
Who lives in the kind of houses you are talking about have you gone there to ask anyone?
Are you willing to realize that one forum post, one year or one effort will not get you what you are asking for and you may have to work DECADES to achieve it?

Post: #4

Here is what I would do in your position.

You need to hustle your way into a sales job ASAP. This will build core skills and get some capital that you can deploy later.

In your down time read as much as you can about online entrepreneurship and online marketing. There are tons of resources out there: try Fastlaneforum and BUSO.

Learn as much as you can and choose your wealth vehicle. Most likely will be eCommerce, Affiliate Marketing, Publishing or Digital Service biz.

Try to go to as many in person events or join communities as related to your industry. These connections will prove invaluable.

Grind hard to get a venture profitable and keep growing it part time whilst you are not working your sales job. Reinvest everything for 6-12 months.

When you become too time stretched and you are earning more from your venture than your day job then this is time to quit and go full time. Now you can move overseas and do the location independent thing. Preferably choose a long cost country (at least temporarily) so you can reinvest more money back into your businesses.

Don't rest, you haven't won yet. Now you are in a unique position as you will have in-depth market knowledge. Continue your first business, scaling it if possible. But now is the time to look at selling shovels.

Using your market knowledge build something scalable ie. educational product, SaaS, productized service etc. This will be your vehicles to get you to the next level and possibly have a liquidity event (this is how you make your fuck you money).

This will take 3-7 years.

Post: #5

(07-06-2016 10:23 PM)The Black Knight Wrote:  Accept right off the bat that there will be compromises and it's extremely difficult to get everything you want early on.

Think about some of these things:

Do you want to be location independent today or 10 years from now?

Do you want enough money for the 1st or 3rd world? Both?

What is your time table? Do you want a family now or when you're 40?

Are you willing to sell out for a while or do you want to go for the brass ring right now?

What is your tolerance level for failure? As you get older, it generally becomes harder to recover from bad/poor decisions.

Do you have other assets or family to fall back on in case shit doesn't work out?

Do you actually want to be moving a family around all the time or do you want to establish yourself in a community? Will your future wife/kids be tolerant to moving around all the time? Most women want to stay relatively close to family.

EVERYONE wants to be location independent, be able to support a family, travel the world, and be a king. How, when, and if you get there depends on how you feel about some of the aforementioned however.

"I want to be in the position where my money works for me"

Also accept right now there are few true passive income sources excluding stuff like pensions (which are not bulletproof), patent/licensing residuals, winning the lottery, selling a business for 8 figures, and a few other odd things.

Real estate? - You're managing tenants and other bullshit.
Stocks/bonds dividends? - You're constantly watching the markets.
Online business? - You're dealing with constant worldwide competition.
Brick and mortar business? - You're dealing with local competition and keeping a lid on things if managing stuff from afar.

It use to be you could get a sizeable amount of savings and dump it into a govt bond and get 4-7% for 20-30 years. But we now live in a world of NEGATIVE interest rates. So, forget that idea if you had that as a plan.

Furthermore, we have a global populace exponentially growing along with worldwide job growth slowing due to technological innovations; meaning more competition and less opportunities from a broad perspective.

1. Let's say you want to have a family in Mexico/3rd world country X around 40. You are absolutely sure you want to be there (outside the 1st world at least) and you don't want kids until then.

The most straight forward and reliable path is probably a government job with some sort of pension after 20 years. Invest your money in real estate and the market over 20 years.

A modest pension won't let you live like a King in the first world but it could in the 3rd world. Combined with the right investments and real estate, you could even live pretty well in the 1st world with minimal money oversight. But you gotta sell out for 20-25 years to make it happen.

2. Govt job sounds like hell? Invest in a local business and build it up to the point where you can keep a light touch on it via good management after 3-10 years of dedication. Or sell it for 7-10 times (or more) earnings. Potentially quicker path with way bigger pay off but the risk is MUCH higher than Option 1.

3. Develop a skillset early on that allows for high-paying contract work. With some modest savings, you could work part-time in the 1st world and live in the 3rd world very early in life. Nursing, PA, and ER doctor are three professions that allow for this lifestyle. Nursing in particular (in the US at least) is a GREAT field from a cost/benefit standpoint while enabling a good paying flexible lifestyle early on.

I am curious as to what type of businesses there are that sell for a 7-10X multiplier.
I need to start one of those.

Post: #6

(07-07-2016 01:09 AM)AboveAverageJoe Wrote:  I am curious as to what type of businesses there are that sell for a 7-10X multiplier.
I need to start one of those.

The Bay Area/Silicon Valley is a good place to look for ideas or inspiration.

Hell, you don't even need to be profitable in some cases.

Post: #7

It's an interesting post that you put here OP and you would be right to try and tap the forum knowledge. There are some very interesting people on here.

I thought I would share this. My best mate has essentially been living this life that you've been doing up to this point. Thing is, he's now 39 going on 40 like me and when you get to our sort of age, this whole, location independent, do what ever the fuck I want, travel everywhere, drift around life, sort of slips down the priority list a bit. He is currently working his way around the world dog sitting is his latest adventure which is fun to look at from the outside but I often wonder if he is happy inside.

All of the rest of us have more or less moved on in our life and as you get to late 30's 40's you start to look for other things.

My own journey took me straight into the city at 18, and eventually Broking and my own businesses until 35 or so before I decided I had had enough. Buying my own house early and some luck in the UK housing market meant I was able to change my life around and am effecitively semi retired and doing what I want at 39.

HOWEVER, life changes. My lack of family circumstances is about to change in the next 9 months (I hope) and I am genuinely looking forward to it. Will this mean I'll have to work harder? Probably. Do I mind? No.

The greater point I'm trying to make is this. What you want now is not what you want in the future.
If you've decided that it's time to make money I would suggest the following;

If you want to work for yourself.
1. Work out what you are interested in
2. Find a niche in that area
3. Try things till you find something that works. Money will follow
4. Know that there is hardly anything that hasn't already been invented, just degrees of doing it better than other people.

If you want to work for someone else.
1. Work out what you are interested in
2. Get good at it
3. Money will follow.

Oh, and this. If you want to make serious money, expect to work for it. Money doesn't come easy. There is no quick fix.

Rarely will you be location independent working for someone else but I often think the location independence thing on this forum is overblown.

Cheers
SP

Post: #8

(07-06-2016 03:33 PM)Poker Wrote:  RVF,

I started this thread in order to seek the advice of the forum regarding my financial future. The knowledge imparted on here constantly astounds me and I'm hoping that you gentlemen will be able to assist me as I plan for the future.

Here is my situation. I have been travelling the world since I was 18, immediately after finishing high school. I have basically been working as many months as it takes to bank a few thousand, quitting then setting off on my next journey. In the years since leaving school I have travelled in the Caribbean, the Middle East, Asia and Europe. During those trips I met some amazing people, saw some amazing places, slept with some sexy women and made memories that will last a lifetime.

Now, I find myself in my early twenties. Here's the deal. I want to be location independent, I want to be in the position where my money works for me. Eventually, I want to settle down, find a wife and have a family. I want to be in a position where I can spend time with my family and children without having to slave in an office. Whenever I explain this to anyone else I'm always met with the same type of comment, with the same dismissive tone, something along the lines of 'well how do you expect to do that', 'I wouldn't count on it', 'that hardly every happens. Now, I live in in rural Britain, in a tiny village. I don't know anyone who lives this sort of lifestyle. But I know that there are many members on this forum who have a lot of money, who are location independent, who are working towards being location independent, who are single bachelors with secure finances, who are married with strong families are in a great position financially. I think that near enough every guy on here understands the yearning for a strong financial base, a strong nuclear family and to live life on your own terms.

Now, and I'm being 100% honest here. I know nothing about starting or running a business, I have no knowledge in this field whatsoever, I don't know where to begin at all, I have no clue. What resources should I read (websites, books)? I know a lot of successful guys have had a mentor to help guide them, how can I find a mentor? How do I find inspiration and ideas? I'm literally like a blind guy in the middle of the desert trying to find his way out.

While I could work and travel for a few more years, I don't want to wake up at the age of thirty without a pound or penny to my name. I want to travel well and eventually have a big house in a nice area, a strong nuclear family of which I am king. Essentially a personal Kingdom.

Thanks for reading this, I appreciate any advice you guys are willing to give.

Hey, good question. Couple things I notice right off the bat. First off most people are conditioned to believe everyone must work a 9-5 so right off the bat most people are going to be somewhat dismissive or call you a dreamer.

That said, who cares what people think. The main problem however I see with what your saying is you don't have a business, you don't have any ideas for a business and you dont seem to have a skillset required to do affiliate marketing, ecommerce, etc.

Without a plan what your saying is basically like someoen saying I want to be rich, travel and not do shit. Of course people are going to be dismissive of that. People would be less dismissive if you said I'm getting into affiliate marketing. I have the SEO skills to rank a site high, I have the PPC skills to where I can spend $100 on ads and bring in $200 in revenue. Or I'm in the process of setting up a private label brand I can sell on Amazon. People will still question whether you will be successful but at least you have somewhat of a plan.

What your saying is you want the endgoal but don't really have a means of getting there. Just acquiring the skills to find a way to make money online could take months or years let alone then fine tuning your busienss and making it happen as even people who already have these skills sometimes struggle to make money.

I'm not trying to knock you by any means so please don't take it that way but my point is you need to take action starting today. If that means setting up a blog do it, if that means setting up a Youtube channel do it but dont do what so many do is this mental masturbation of sitting around watching youtube videos of others talking about how they make money online because that is not action. You need to start taking action today whether it be setting up a Fiverr profile, publishing a kindle book, etc.

I think one thing you should do is really think hard about what you want out of life. I think alot of people think you need to have a million in the bank to live like you want. For some people that's true, for others its not. For example, say I want to be a river rafting guide and do what I love and I'm not overly concerned with material things or big cities. For that goal I would say if you have 50k or a 100k in the bank and you can get a job doing that your in a pretty good position. Your food and loding is covered, even if your making only $10 an hour that can pretty much all be saved. Tim Ferris talks alot about this in the 4 hour work week that most things are not nearly as expensive as you think and dont put a dollar amount on your life as a goal, think about what you want to do, waht money it takes to do it and then find a "muse" to make the money to do it.

I would also stress that you start doing various online projects to make money. Things like Freelancing on Fiverr, writing a Kindle Book, buying a few items off Ali Express and trying to resell them, affiliate marketing. Not all these things will necessarily make you rich but it will bring in some money, you'll build some skills that you can use in other ventures, and you'll discover what you like as well as what your good at. This is basically a throw shit at the wall and see what sticks method. When you find something you have some success with try to scale it.

Post: #9

Join the military, earn some good money while not becoming corporate rat and after some years, you have capital to start own bussiness.

Post: #10

-What can you do that builds skills/assets/experiences that will earn you cash down the road? Projects/jobs/biz ventures that will either pay off massively or leave you in a very good position in terms of skill and experience? What can you do that lets you get good chunks of travel in along the way?

There are many configurations of work/freelancing/consulting/business building/investing that could get you there.

It depends on your specific goals, and your specific strengths, passions and character. Three tips:

1)Make sure it uses your strengths and passions. Enjoying your projects and work is a massive tailwind for success.

2) Be very selective and discerning. Keep turning over options until you find something that *really* looks very solid. I.e. dont just take the first english teaching job that comes your way (you know this already).

3) Account for uncertainty and risk. things rarely pan out as you expect. What if you fail? How will you limit your downside? Be smart about the time and money you're willing to risk on a venture, so that anything you try, even if it doesn't work out, is an "acceptable loss", and at very least a valuable experience.

Post: #11

BTW Ski Pro's advice is very good. Couple that with "do something that plays to your strengths and passions" and you cannot go wrong.

The key is to find out QUICKLY how suited you are to a particular venture.

If being stuck in front of a computer screen kills you, then a career as a programmer is probably a terrible idea regardless of the market and salaries. And likewise, if managing people and closing deals just drains you and stresses you out, you're unlikely to be able to grow a business dependent on clients and employees.

"Embrace your funk" and find a path that fits it.

Post: #12

I will read this carefully and see if there is anything here that will tell me how I can retire in 5 years. I am 31 years old, broke as hell and in debt. Obviously, I am not earning/have yet to deserve an early retirement, but I'm also not stuck in a dead-end job. I'm in a freelancer mode, so I can only get broker or richer.

Post: #13

(07-09-2016 03:52 PM)Mr.GoodThread Wrote:  I will read this carefully and see if there is anything here that will tell me how I can retire in 5 years. I am 31 years old, broke as hell and in debt. Obviously, I am not earning/have yet to deserve an early retirement, but I'm also not stuck in a dead-end job. I'm in a freelancer mode, so I can only get broker or richer.

The biggest thing I can stress is take action, don't get caught up in this mental masturbation mode of watching youtube videos, reading blogs, buying programs and not doing shit, that happens to way too many people.

Most businesses can be started in like 3 days or less. Now if your going to create a product and need molds and stuff etc fine it takes longer but get a "muse" as Tim Ferris would call it.

Two big pieces of reading or listen as they are free on Youtube is the 4 hour work week and $100 startup. The basic message of both these books is find low cost startup things which can be thrown together fairly quickly, make mistakes quick and correct them. If something doesn't pan out in say a month to three motnhs its a turd drop it and move on.

Basically though, when you have an idea setup a website and get moving same day you get the idea. Doesn't matter if the website isn't perfect, just take action, small things and mistakes can be corrected or fixed later. Basically right now your in throw shit at the wall and see what sticks mode, when you find something that works refine it and scale it.

Post: #14

delete. Update coming

Post: #15

Update

This thread needs an update. A lot has changed since I wrote the OP 2 years ago. In the past two years, I have learnt a lot, spoken to forum members on and off the forum and have improved in every area. I'll update it from time I wrote the original post to the present.

After writing the OP, I hit a mental slump as summer quickly turned into autumn and winter. it was not depression (a word used far to much these days) far from it in fact, I was just feeling blue. What I did during this time was to refuse to fall further into the hole. I kept going to the gym, I kept reading, educating myself, seeing friends etc...this was key, if I had just shut myself away and felt sorry for myself, then things would of been a lot worse.

It had been a few months prior to the OP where the realisation that I wanted to work online and for myself solidified itself in my mind, it was quite something and I remember that day and how I felt so vividly. Yet, I was not able to come up with anything at all, it was very frustrating considering the billions that are spent on the internet every week, that you can provide almost any service online, yet there I was, struggling to come with any ideas at all.

Being a man of logic, I knew that something would come up eventually, I just had to keep my eyes peeled and to carry on searching, knocking on doors and seeing which ones opened. It eventually happened, and in the most strangest of circumstances. I was having a few beers in pub with a friend talking about it in early spring of 2017, when an idea suddenly popped into my head, and not just a silly idea, but a serious idea, a potential gap in the market that I knew I could fill.

Over the next year, I went out and spoke to as many people in this industry as possible. I spoke to owners, to customers, to shops, to everyone I could. I went to events, networked, exchanged ideas, the full monty really. All of this was part of my wide research into whether this gap in the market actually existed. I looked into the various costs, potential income, what my potential customers would want, what the manufacturers would expect, if there was a consumer base, everything really. I researched into every variable that I could to make sure that I wasn't wasting my time. To me, everything checked out, so I created a website, a brand, business cards, a unique marketing position based on what I believe that the wants of my potential customers would be.

From there I went back to the manufacturers and pitched my idea, and slowly but surely gained clients, great clients in fact. This confirmed to me that at least part of my research had been proven correct.

As 2017 rolled on into its later months, I had the products on my website, social media pages and everything. Then one night, I looked at everything from as neutral of a standpoint as possible. Then it struck me, my marketing and copy was shit, utter shit. As the weeks and months rolled on and 2018 arrived, I spent a lot of time researching ways to improve my marketing. I even wrote up letters introducing myself and went to car dealerships and estate agents introducing myself, saying how I wanted to learn about the art of selling and if I could volunteer there. Unfortunately, no one took up on my offer, though I did receive compliments on writing ability, which was nice. Forum member Redbeard reached out and we began speaking off the forum. He recommended a marketing resource, a book by John Carlton that was an absolute game changer for me. I changed up all my copy and implemented what I had learnt from this resource and others.

From there, as 2018 continued, I started to notice a slight bump in traffic. Knowing that this had great potential, I started going to events and pitching my products in person. I also acquired a part time job which I have had for a few months to keep the cash flow coming in and for something to do. But in the last few weeks, I have had a handful of sales, which I still quite can't quite believe but I felt ecstatic once that first sale came through. So here I am, writing this update, which at some points I thought would never happen.

Forum members I owe thanks to

Firstly, everyone who replied to my OP: The Black Knight (fantastic reply), Off The Reservation, Skptc, AboveAverageJoe, Ski Pro (great post that made me consider a few things), Jamaicabound, tomzestatlu, RichieP (post made sure I laid my foundation correctly) and Mr.Goodthread.

Now, the forum members who I really owe a great deal of gratitude too:

Redbeard
We've been talking off the forum for a while now, and apart from giving me the great marketing resource, he always answered any questions I had and took time out of his day to assist me. Without his assistance, I highly doubt I would be in this position now. Great guy.

Suits
Had a very productive Skype conversation. It made me consider other avenues and possibilities that I hadn't by that stage.

oilbreh
Reached out when I needed outside opinions on something. Comes across as a smashing bloke.

Off The Reservation
Reviewed some of my copy for me.

Beyond Borders
I remember years ago, back when I was lurking, reading his datasheets on Elance and Freelancing in general. I had never really considered the fact that people lived lifestyles like that and actually made decent money from it. He is a big reason why I kept reading the forum and eventually joined.


I'm sure there are others that I have forgotten, but basically anyone who has posted about starting a business, location independence and things within that realm.


What I would of done differently

My main flaw within this process is probably myself. I had a habit of putting things off and not touching this for weeks. Instead I would go to the gym, go boxing, read, go out for walks, watch tv, browse the forum, hang out with friends etc... So not completely unproductive for me personally, but still, I could of been this position much sooner. I also had a degree of self doubt about the whole thing, that it would fail or go wrong, that it would never work. It was completely illogical and I knew it, so I carried on going, but you guys know the effect that a negative thoughts can have. Now with these sales, I have a drive and the dark cloud of self doubt has completely vanished. I know that this is viable.

What I need to learn more about

Running ads on social media: I haven't run a single ad yet, so I don't know much about what constitutes a good facebook/instagram ad.

Search engine optimisation: I haven't researched into this so know fuck all about it outside of the absolute basics.

Adwords: Haven't done any of this nor looked into it at all.

My in person pitch: It's not bad but needs to be polished up

My copy writing ability: It's vastly improved but I know it can be better

Accounting: How I keep my records is very basic, and I know it can be made more effective.

Improve my website: Though I think that I have a god website, I know it can be improved. My bounce rate is pretty shit too so I will have to address that.

Any resources to help learn about the above would be appreicated.

So that's my update. A lot of you read my OP posted replies and helped me out, so I thought that an update was only fair. Onwards and upwards from here.

Post: #16

I know that Kyle Trouble has both spoken and written quite a bit on the subject of location independence and often refers to other information sources.

Post: #17

Weekend Casonova is a guy I forgot to mention. He posted many helpful threads and posts. Really good stuff

Here are just a few examples:
5/6 figure a month online data sheet
Drop shipping with Oberlo
Ultimate dropshipping with Shopify guide
Digital marketing consulting Q&A