Post: #51

I just keep adding to my positions in dividend yielding stocks. This week bought 150 shares of Chevron which will add around $650/yr of income with good prospects of 5%+ annual dividend growth.

Ultimately, the goal is to build up these dividends a couple of hundred bucks at a time until it gets to an amount where it's viable to live off in conjunction with geographic arbitrage. Lots of ERE bloggers espouse this, 262 on this site seems to make it work for himself.

Post: #52

^ I actually live off capital gains, though that does include dividends (automatic reinvestment).

Post: #53

(10-31-2016 04:42 AM)262 Wrote:  ^ I actually live off capital gains, though that does include dividends (automatic reinvestment).

Interesting... what's your ratio for capital gains vs dividends when it comes to the money you're spending?

I have a terrible track record selling at lows or selling at what I thought were tops and then seeing the stock continue to climb. I've decided that I'm going to try and bypass that by holding indefinitely - unless under unique circumstances - and live off the dividend income almost completely. Perhaps have a few hustles and some freelance work to subsidize my lifestyle.

Post: #54

^ Good question. I don't know, but in the Money Mustache method, it doesn't matter.

Check this out: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/05/2...etirement/

Post: #55

I'm liking this thread. Not sure how I missed it.

I finally knocked out my google ad words certification a few weeks ago. I am now google certified!

I have scouted out a product that I use and would feel confident standing behind and selling.

Currently on the hunt for a decent website name. I have 1 year hosting leftover from a project I had ages ago. I have been writing blogposts and such so that when I make the posts I can schedule them all out and continue to churn them out as the blog picks up steam.

I'm not sure how this will all work out since this is my first time trying to create my own online venture, but I'm really looking forward to learning and getting paid to learn.

My job recently went bust. I still get paid for work, but the director of my team was recently canned so I am getting paid to sit at my desk and be a foreigner in china. Not a bad gig, but the sense of entropy was killing me. I need to be engaged. It'll be cool to work on my project during work hours.

Post: #56

(11-01-2016 04:10 AM)262 Wrote:  ^ Good question. I don't know, but in the Money Mustache method, it doesn't matter.

Check this out: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/05/2...etirement/

It's an interesting thought-process. MMM comes from an abundance mentality because both he and his wife were relatively high income earners before their retirement and now his blog makes several hundred grand a year. Plus, the guy is a born craftsman, he DIY's some crazy shit.

Even if some black swan event happens like a catastrophic health issue or social upheaval, he's got the resources and skills to ride it out. Very few people are in as envious a position and it definitely colors his viewpoint on the 4% withdrawal rate, even with his extremely frugal lifestyle.

No hating on the guy, he's the real deal - but at the same time, I think more than a few Joe Schmoes who don't have his mix of skills/money might fall through the cracks of a 4% rate. I'd lump myself in with that group - hence why I'm looking for something more conservative.

Post: #57

I recently made an AdSense account and monetized a youtube channel. Will be throwing up a website soon.

Making plans for importing. Got a bunch of free ebooks on the subject.

I have a lot of downtime at my job (I only teach a few classes), so I've been applying for jobs that I can covertly work online and get paid for while I'm working, heh. If I land them, that should net me over $5000 a month right there.

Question for guys who have your own websites: do you design the site yourselves or outsource your work on Elance or one of those websites for cheap? Or just use a standard, pre-made blog format from Wordpress or whatever after you register a domain?

Post: #58

(11-01-2016 08:44 PM)Mr. Scumbag Wrote:  I recently made an AdSense account and monetized a youtube channel. Will be throwing up a website soon.

Making plans for importing. Got a bunch of free ebooks on the subject.

I have a lot of downtime at my job (I only teach a few classes), so I've been applying for jobs that I can covertly work online and get paid for while I'm working, heh. If I land them, that should net me over $5000 a month right there.

Question for guys who have your own websites: do you design the site yourselves or outsource your work on Elance or one of those websites for cheap? Or just use a standard, pre-made blog format from Wordpress or whatever after you register a domain?

It depends on the kind of website you want, whether it's a full-fledged app like Facebook, a blog, or an e-commerce type store, for example.

A neat site I've been visiting lately is http://www.isitwp.com/. You can enter a site's address into the input field and it will let you know if it's a WordPress site. So, if there's a site you like that you want to model your site on, just check it using that tool, and if it's WordPress, you can go from there and hire a WordPress dev to whip up a similar site for you (or do it yourself, depending on the complexity).

Post: #59

(11-01-2016 08:44 PM)Mr. Scumbag Wrote:  Question for guys who have your own websites: do you design the site yourselves or outsource your work on Elance or one of those websites for cheap? Or just use a standard, pre-made blog format from Wordpress or whatever after you register a domain?

Scumbag - as wordpress for blogs there is shopify for e-shops.

This brings me to what I did this week. I just started a shopify trial yesterday, planning to build a shop in next few weeks.

Post: #60

(11-01-2016 06:44 PM)booshala Wrote:  

(11-01-2016 04:10 AM)262 Wrote:  ^ Good question. I don't know, but in the Money Mustache method, it doesn't matter.

Check this out: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/05/2...etirement/

It's an interesting thought-process. MMM comes from an abundance mentality because both he and his wife were relatively high income earners before their retirement and now his blog makes several hundred grand a year. Plus, the guy is a born craftsman, he DIY's some crazy shit.

Even if some black swan event happens like a catastrophic health issue or social upheaval, he's got the resources and skills to ride it out. Very few people are in as envious a position and it definitely colors his viewpoint on the 4% withdrawal rate, even with his extremely frugal lifestyle.

No hating on the guy, he's the real deal - but at the same time, I think more than a few Joe Schmoes who don't have his mix of skills/money might fall through the cracks of a 4% rate. I'd lump myself in with that group - hence why I'm looking for something more conservative.

You never know until you try.

But yeah, you need a combination of fiscal discipline, flexibility, excess resources, and skills to make it work.

That being said, as MMM predicted, it turns out I spend less than even I predicted I would.

Post: #61

I am never going to start a website selling widgets, I will never do google adsense, I will never start a blog, and I am not going to buy rental property and become a landlord. For me, the only way to location independence would be to build up a huge investment portfolio and live off off the interest and dividends. I didn't really see a feasible path outside of the investment portfolio option, and finding a "remote" gig in my field is all but impossible. It was never in the cards, and it was never my plan.

Everyone thought I was crazy when I left my job and headed out to experience the great frozen north, and in the short term it was not the best career move, but along the way I became an expert in some very technical and geographic-specific areas where remote work is a possibility. A few months ago I started moonlighting for my former boss in a different part of the state. He was in a bind and wanted to see if I could help. Things were falling apart and about to collapse and I could have charged him whatever I wanted. He was talking to other contractors at the same time, so I decided to "buy the business" and do it for free and keep everyone else out. I considered it an upfront cost for a potential long-term business relationship. Since then he's kept me working (all remote) and I'm bringing in an extra $1-$2K a month. It isn't a ton of money, but it also isn't a ton of work either, and I actually enjoy it. It has really planted a seed for me for what I could do in the future. I still give him a good deal (about a 40% discount off what any other contractor would charge for same services) for two reasons-

1) I want to keep this going as long as possible. If I charge too much he'd just try and hire a full time employee to do the work. I'm making money and get everything done, and he is saving a ton of money by not having a full time employee, so we both benefit.
2) I now have a current reference as a contractor and can go after other similar jobs that require references. This is KEY!! Since I will be moonlighting I don't need them talking to my current employer.

I realize now I could make even more money by going independent full time and doing this at a bunch of different places, but I am not ready to make the jump. Things are very unstable, and the contractor position can evaporate in an instant. I've seen it happen over and over. I would need three or four locked down before I could make the jump. I already have a good reputation, but I'm still a newcomer and need to network more and get my name out there. Everything is network and reputation.

I saw a job posting for a remote contractor to do exactly what I do, and when I read every detail of the posting I can hit a home run on every bullet point. I can do it all. I've been thinking about it all day, and I decided I'm going to go after it. I'm going to call first thing Monday morning. I keep telling myself that job will be mine.

Post: #62

Has anyone ideas how to pull of instagram marketing to work remotely? I have a pretty strong personal brand instagram.

Affiliate marketing would be my first guess.

Post: #63

(11-20-2016 06:47 PM)frozen-ace Wrote:  I saw a job posting for a remote contractor to do exactly what I do, and when I read every detail of the posting I can hit a home run on every bullet point. I can do it all. I've been thinking about it all day, and I decided I'm going to go after it. I'm going to call first thing Monday morning. I keep telling myself that job will be mine.

Good luck tomorrow, Frozen-Ace!

Post: #64

Just got off the phone. It would pay $10k a month.

One problem- they will need someone to come out for 1 week a month and be on site, at least for the next half year to year. After everything is set up it could be done 100% remote.

I'm going to have to think about this one, I can't really do the 1 week a month thing right now, but otherwise this would be the perfect position, and this would be awesome to have to supplement my income. I could actually make more money off of this than my regular job I have now...

Post: #65

(11-21-2016 12:32 PM)frozen-ace Wrote:  Just got off the phone. It would pay $10k a month.

One problem- they will need someone to come out for 1 week a month and be on site, at least for the next half year to year. After everything is set up it could be done 100% remote.

I'm going to have to think about this one, I can't really do the 1 week a month thing right now, but otherwise this would be the perfect position, and this would be awesome to have to supplement my income. I could actually make more money off of this than my regular job I have now...

Why can't you do it 1 week a month right now?

Post: #66

^^
I'm working right now, so I don't have time to do the physical presence part. They said that was non-negotiable, and I'm about to start a huge project that is going to eat up all my time. They said get creative, they would be open to any ideas. I could maybe see if they would do once every 6 weeks, fly in on a wed and leave on Sunday. If I did that the downside is pretty clear- living in a remote area is hard, but at least I can get out every now and then. Never leaving and working 24x7 might make me get cabin fever!

The only thing that gives me pause is they use this awful 40 year old system. It is the worst. I have used it before, but I am no expert in it, and it's so old there are no resources online (it's a dead legacy system). They need someone to upgrade, and I could do that (and once it is upgraded working remote nearly 100% would be a possibility). If I did the upgrade they would be in my pocket forever because I would be the one who knows the new system inside and out, and would be able to do a good job for them.

This isn't the first opportunity like this, and if it doesn't work out it won't be the last- it is just the first time I have become aware of what is out there.

Post: #67

Looking to get into currency trading; just bought a Forex trading for dummies book. A small step for man..

Post: #68

I'm deep into Ruby on Rails right now teaching myself web development. My front end skills aren't too bad either. I have made a couple thousand off little projects on Upwork in the past but I am hoping to leverage my new backend skills I'm building into a legit remote job. I think in about another 4-6 weeks I will feel confident enough to start the job application process.

Also, I want to get into social media marketing, and have decided to start out with Instagram. I got the Followliker program as recommended in Ragnar and Vinny's datasheet and have been testing the waters on my own personal Instagram over the past week. After I get a feel for what works with my account, I am going to launch several more niche accounts that I hopefully will be able to push affiliate products with in the future.

One thing I've wondered is why no one ever talks about organizing a RVF digital nomad house.. Certainly the whole process would be easier if say a bunch of us got together and rented a cheap house in Colombia to grind out this journey together? Last time I tried this was a few years ago when I moved to Chiang Mai and tried to survive doing freelance writing. I wasn't really prepared/ready at the time though and it didn't work out. Definitely would have been easier if I had been with a group of like-minded guys all working together to keep each other motivated.

Post: #69

(11-30-2016 04:19 PM)WhatTheFuck Wrote:  ...
One thing I've wondered is why no one ever talks about organizing a RVF digital nomad house.
...

Closest thing I've seen discussed on RVF.

/thread-17605.html

Post: #70

I worked a new part time job, which all income generated is going directly into dividend-yielding stock, and startup costs. I am under 20 anyways, so I have time, but I want to get as much traveling as possible done during my twenties, might as well start early and get a real comfortable passive income setup for my early thirties.

Post: #71

(11-30-2016 04:49 PM)Marmite Wrote:  

(11-30-2016 04:19 PM)WhatTheFuck Wrote:  ...
One thing I've wondered is why no one ever talks about organizing a RVF digital nomad house.
...

Closest thing I've seen discussed on RVF.

/thread-17605.html

The closest other place I've seen people talking about this idea is at https://colive.co/. It's an offshoot of nomadforum. It doesn't seem very active though, as in no one ever really makes anything happen.

There are few dozen digital nomad coliving/coworking businesses that have popped up around the world as well, but the downside of those is that they are run for profit so most are at least $1500-2000 per month and more geared towards short term. IMO, there is no reason it should have to cost that much.

In a place like Colombia I bet a group of like 6-8 people could rent a really NICE house for no more than $300-400/month each. Maybe even cheaper is better if some of us are trying to bootstrap businesses. I know this would be possible for that price in Thailand at least.

I also think there is a much greater benefit if guys were able to commit to something longer than just a few weeks or a month. I envision like 3-6 months minimum as being ideal.

I'm reading the men's club thread now.

Post: #72

I finished my first paid copywriting assignment - a sales letter for an info product.

Next steps: Get more clients and get my own info-product out.

Will report here with news later.

Post: #73

I bought my plane ticket and booked my apartment, taking off in a few months.

Now it's time to wrap everything up in the states so that all is well while I live abroad.

Post: #74

Congratulations!

Post: #75

^ Awesome. It's an amazing feeling when you finally walk out the door to freedom.

I'm just pivoting - was never a fan of trading money for time directly so I spent the past 4 years doing blackhat affiliate marketing while travelling. Made a packet but got sick of the grind, now moving into creation and sales of high ticket video courses (whitehat). Will have the first one up within a month - the course is complete enough for initial release, now for dialing in the sales process (favourite part), building out the funnel and getting some traffic in.

If you're looking to get into this sort of thing, what I most commonly see is guys starting out running blackhat affiliate, making 6/7 figs mastering traffic and then moving into creating their own whitehat products (ecom/physical, info).

The reason this is so common is that the most important piece of the puzzle is working out how to drive traffic effectively - you could have the best product in the world but it doesn't matter if you don't know how to sell it. Affiliate marketing is perfect, since by definition the product is already built - it's just up to you to find a pocket of traffic and make it work.

Want to get started? Ya me too.

Skills I recommend a basic level of knowledge in:

Headline/copywriting (Ca$hvertising)
HTML/CSS/Javascript (basic is ok, you'll pick it up along the way)
Very basic photoshop

Best place I've found for getting started is STM Forum. It's a paid forum, which is a good thing... take a look at Warrior Forum and Wickedfire and you'll get an idea of what a free forum looks like. A monthly fee weeds out the punters. Full of tutorials from 0-100, plus a responsive membership base who answer questions. Highly recommend starting a followalong thread to keep yourself accountable (I actually met my first business partner because he was impressed with the detail and thought I put into my followalong). I have nothing to gain from recommending it other than the moral satisfaction knowing that I'm passing on the resource which started it all for me... I would have appreciated not having to wade through tides of bullshit when I was trying to find my starting point.

It's important to have 5k+ capital you are willing to lose (i.e if you lose it you are not homeless and starving) because you have a reasonable monthly cost for tools (tracking, spy, cloaker etc), and during the learning phase you may not make much of a return - it's important to not make rash campaign decisions based upon fear of losing money. Money makes money.

Any questions let me know.