Freedom comes down to $1. Generated online.
I wrote this article for all my friends who want to join us for sunset cocktails in Thailand, Europe, and South America but can't. Yet.
ABSTRACT:
Anyone with an internet connection in 2020 can live the life I do. And I want you, my friendly reader, to join me. Because I'm awesome, and you're awesome. And we should meet. We should meet somewhere you never imagined you could venture for longer than two weeks because of your soul crushing day job.
Maybe you don’t want to travel as much as I do. You can still benefit from the freedom of time and choice that only earning a living on the internet can provide. From the comfort of your own home.
Creating this life is simple, but it’s not easy. In fact, it’s an insane amount of work and anyone that tells you otherwise is trying to sell you something.
Three things that will set you up for success are: honing your network, public accountability, and reading the right books.
I made my first $1 online playing poker when I was in high school. I didn’t realize how significant that moment was. I could live anywhere with good internet. And earn a living in $USD.
This Tweet made me reflect on how important that first $1 was to my life. From Jack Butcher on Twitter.
This article isn't going to teach you how to make $1 million online. Hell, I'm not even going to show you how to make $1.
But, by the end of this article, I want you to believe - to truly believe - that if you can earn $1 on the internet you can live an awesome life. I want you to believe you can choose how and where to spend your time.
Benefits of Lifestyle Design
Above (left to right): Sri Lanka morning walk, Komodo Island in Indonesia, Rare beach working (idk where), and finally, atop the Stromboli Volcano in Italy as part of the Volcano Retreats I used to host ;-)
Tim Ferriss brought lifestyle design and digital nomadism to the mainstream with ‘the 4 Hour Work Week’:
“The New Rich are those who abandon the deferred-life plan and create luxury lifestyles in the present using the currency of the New Rich: time and mobility. This is an art and a science we will refer to as Lifestyle Design.”
The essence of lifestyle design is making decisions to live life the way you truly want. Examples include everything from van-lifers and nomads, to university professors and authors. Each have consciously chosen to spend their days doing what they love, on their own schedule, with complete autonomy.
For me, lifestyle design has meant traveling the world since 2015, visiting 31 countries along the way. Soon, lifestyle design will mean settling down in a country of our choosing. My wonderful wife Fran and I are currently deciding between Chiang Mai, Thailand (where we met), and the UK (the place that gave her words like ‘chuffed’, ‘knackered’, and ‘stodgy’).
More importantly than freedom of location, I have freedom of time. I make my own schedule. As long as my work at ZenMaid gets done, I'm good to go.
In addition to working at any time from anywhere in the world, I've found other benefits that might make you jealous. Or maybe they're just important to me. That's the beauty of this. It's your life, design it how you want.
My rich life:
Only set alarms to catch flights and wake up from naps
Work out whenever I want
Nap almost every day
Have a leisurely lunch with my wife every day
Lower cost of living (higher quality of life for less money)
Constant change of environments (I'm ADD so I like this; you might hate it)
$1 = Freedom
I know what you're thinking… “Amar, all this sounds great, but how on Earth does $1 help me do it?”
Stephen Pratley explains it perfectly:
Unless you've somehow found the only way to make $1 and only $1 online, your first dollar will be just the start. Dollar #1 is just to show you that it's possible. Don't worry about making a 'scalable' dollar. Don't worry about making a million dollars. Focus on just $1.
The bottom of the article has free resources that lay out the path from your first dollar to freedom.
Getting Started / Next Steps
Step 1. Read the Four Hour Work Week
Buy the 4 Hour Work Week, by Tim Ferriss. Audio, visual, I don't care if you inject this book into your veins, just get it done.
This book is considered THE Digital Nomad Bible. He does a great job of laying out what your perfect life might look like (it's very different for everyone!), figuring out the roadmap to get there, and in depth first steps well beyond what I can cover in this article.
It’s both inspiring and actionable. My two favorite takeaways from the book are both mental models I still use daily:
Pareto’s Law (aka the 80/20 principle) - for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Examples include wearing 20% of your clothes 80% of the time, and 20% of your relationships causing 80% of the stress (hello, in-laws).
Parkinson’s Law - The adage that ‘work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion’. Example: every essay you’ve ever written on a tight deadline.
Dug up this video from my YouTube (from London in 2018)
I recommend the 4 Hour Work Week to friends more than any other. Go buy it right now. Thank me later (on Twitter)
BONUS: Another book I highly recommend is the more-actionable How to be a Capitalist without Any Capital, by Nathan Latka. This book came out in 2019 but I wish I'd had it back in 2010 when I was starting my entrepreneurial journey.
Nathan also references “The New Rich”:
“…they’re part of the “New Rich,” as Tim Ferriss calls the segment of the population who have figured out how to maximize everything in their life — even if it’s not much — so it becomes an asset that works for them. The New Rich are resourceful with their time, their money, and their energy. They get what they want when they want it. They travel however much they want. They have blank calendars. And they have very, very few expenses.”
(this perfectly describes my life - I don’t earn a lot, but I do a lot with it)
"Joining the New Rich has only two requirements: a desire for more free time to do what you want while making money on your terms, and ambition. I can’t teach ambition, so you’ll need to bring your own.”
(I hope this post helps your ambition)
Step 2. Hone Your Network
Honing your network is one of the most important steps you can take to design your perfect lifestyle. When times get tough, it’s your network - your friends and family - that will keep you going. And times will get tough.
Having a great network doesn’t guarantee success but having the right support in your life from day one (today), significantly lowers your chance of failure.
How to hone your network:
Honing your network is about about spending more time with good influences, and less with bad. Don’t worry, you don’t need to say Sayōnara to anyone today.
Which of your friends & family do you know are bad influences on you?
Which of your friends & family help you accomplish your goals?
Which of your friends & family believe this lifestyle is possible, even if they are not living it yet?
Answer these questions and you'll immediately know how to better allocate your time. You don't need to entirely cut out friends and fun. Instead of a night drinking with a negative influence, replace it with a night with a positive friend. This alone is a HUGE step in the right direction.
It all comes back to the 80/20 principle I mentioned above. 80% of the negative social influences in your life come from just 20% of the people. Spend a little less time with that 20% and your quality of life, and belief in yourself, will skyrocket.
I first implemented this towards the end of college. My fraternity brothers were not a good influence on my life and I began to consciously spend time with them only when I was planning to relax (ie not be productive). Simultaneously I took notice of my friends that were striving for similar goals to me, like my teammates in Club Soccer.
I started by shifting one night a week. I essentially shifted Thursday nights from drinking nights to more positive, uplifting nights in many ways.
Positive changes like this are often small and go unnoticed. In the short run, you won't notice these decisions one way or the other but over time they compound.
One of the first people I met after honing my network in college was Joseph Gonzalez, my best man. Despite a very different lifestyle design he’s had my back through thick and thin.
Step 3. Be Accountable Publicly
Start writing. Even if no one is reading. ESPECIALLY if no one is reading.
My biggest regret of the past 7 years is that I didn’t start documenting my thoughts and work better back when we first started ZenMaid. My decision making would have been a lot better, and we would have received a lot more help along the way.
An important caveat: I do NOT mean to share that you’re going to be a digital nomad and travel the world.
What I DO mean is to start documenting your personal journey and your professional journey. This will help you across the board. If you’re working on a new blog or business, write about it. This doesn’t mean you have to share it much or stuff it in the faces of your Facebook friends. Focus on documenting your thoughts and what you’re working on, and you’ll find ways to attract people that want to support you in various ways.
Failing publicly (and thoughtfully) will open more opportunities to you than you can possibly imagine.
And you will likely fail at first. Writing is one of the best ways to turn that into a positive no matter what.
If you have the money, I highly highly recommend Write of Passage by David Perell. I’m finally writing the words you’re reading right now because we’re going through the course.
Here's your permission. Make $1. Change your life.
There are thousands of ways to earn money online that you can Google based on your own strengths and preference (or drop me a line on Twitter and I’ll point you in the right direction)
It’s not that different to earning money as a job, or building your own company. The difference is in the mindset and the way you use your time/money.
That’s the reason for this article: to plant the idea in your head that you can do this. If you’re interested in joining me around the globe, it is possible. Google is your friend. There’s always a way to earn online using your unique skillset.
I’m happy to answer any questions if you have them (hit me up on Twitter here or email me amar at zenmaid dot com)
Additional Links On Money Mindset:
https://robwalling.com/2015/03/26/the-stairstep-approach-to-bootstrapping/
https://twitter.com/naval/status/1002103360646823936