1 Year as a Digital Nomad - How to Build a Business by the Beach

1. 1 Year as a Digital Nomad. How to build a business by the beach.! ! by @yongfook

2. This is how! I spent the last ! 12 months.

3. Instagram @yongfook 60 second video montage at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8sZjki8LIk

4. Koh Samui, ! Kuala Lumpur, Phuket, Penang, Koh Tao, Melaka, Cameron Highlands, Singapore, Bangkok, ! Hua Hin, Chiang Mai, ! Ho Chi Minh, Bali, Krabi (most places multiple trips)

5. 52 hotels! (I’m an Agoda Elite member now)

6. In between the! fun & games! I’ve been building! a software company. beatrixapp.com

7. About 5 months in,! my business was earning! enough monthly proﬁt! for me to travel indeﬁnitely.

8. No investors.! No boss.! Real work / life balance.! 100% Freedom. My old ofﬁce My new ofﬁce

9. This is a ! pretty fun lifestyle.! More folks should try it.! Here’s how.

10. Part 1 No, you don’t need to be rich

11. How much money! do you think you ! need to live like this:

12. Going on adventures whenever you feel like it

13. Living in a hotel every day of every month

14. Flying to a new country whenever you want

15. Answer:! About $2000 USD! per month Achieve this, and you don’t need to worry about money any more. *$2500 SGD

16. You can easily live here for about $50 a day Aosane / Naiharn, Phuket

17. or here Ubud, Bali

18. or here (the list goes on) Georgetown, Penang

19. I ﬂy budget It’s basically ~$100 one-way anywhere

20. I have zero distractions $3 to get my laundry cleaned and folded in Thailand

21. I eat local 70% of the time and 30% spent on booze / splashing out

22. I work from cafes or coworking spaces, or the beach, or the pool, or a rooftop bar, or my hotel room

23. $2k Fresh Grad Executive how the hell am I supposed to earn $2k a month by myself? why the hell would I ever work for just $2k a month?? Yongfook says: It’s about freedom and enabling a certain lifestyle, not about earning tons of money (but see next slide). Yongfook says: Actually, there’s a lot you can do and we’ll talk about that in a little while.

24. $2k Year 1 Year 3 Treat it as a milestone. I’ve already passed $2k a month, now almost at $5k a month. $5k $10k per month per month per month

25. Want to ! get started?

26. You’ll need! some savings.! 4 months is plenty. …but don’t let this be a limiting factor.! You just need enough money to cover yourself! until you start earning revenue. Less savings = more motivation to earn revenue faster! #practicalfook#itsbestnottostarve

27. It’s a big ! lifestyle change.! Create a deadline. e.g. cancel your lease, book a plane ticket, book the ﬁrst month of hotel somewhere, set a date for the goodbye party

28. Part 2 Revenue model brainstorming

29. Aim for ! High Margin Proﬁt enables you to buy nice things like food, ! drink and a place to sleep. (High revenue but low proﬁt does not enable this lifestyle)

30. Aim for ! Low Touch Low maintenance businesses enable you to! enjoy your nomadic lifestyle properly. Buy Now

31. Aim for ! B2B Aim to sell to entities who will in turn proﬁt ! from what you’re selling*. It’s an easier sell. *e.g. tools / resources

32. Have a ! Well-Deﬁned Target It makes marketing much easier.

33. Stupid Ideas! ! Consumer! Physical! Transactional! ! You want customers,! not “users” Too much work!! Many moving parts Needs high volume! and hustle, too much! work

34. Good Ideas! ! Digital Goods! Software! eBooks! Wordpress themes, ! plugins etc. Make once ! and sell many times SaaS or paid mobile apps.! Monthly subscription =! predictable revenues Make once and sell ! many times

35. $2k USD / month ! looks like…

36. This guy made $15,944 in sales FROM ONE TEMPLATE!

37. Sell a $10 website template…! ! …200 times a month

38. Sell two $10 website templates…! ! …100 times a month

39. Sell ﬁve $10 website templates…! ! …40 times a month (you get the idea)

40. Pricing page at beatrixapp.com How many customers did I need before I hit $2k per month?

41. Get 200 subscribers! ! …at $10 per month

42. Get 50 subscribers! ! …at $40 per month

43. Get 20 subscribers! ! …at $100 per month (you get the idea)

44. Part 3 From launch to $2000 USD proﬁt per month

45. Start Lean! a month before! you hit the road Validate your idea and make sure there is demand

46. July 2013 Originally, Beatrix was going to be a competitive analysis tool. It would tell you how good your social media marketing was, compared to your competitors. First ever mockup - no code written

47. July 2013 The response was all the same:! ! “gee that sounds interesting but we never even have time to create social media content in the ﬁrst place”

48. July 2013 Of Course! One big problem that businesses have is actually keeping their Facebook and Twitter accounts up to date

49. July 2013 New idea = social media content suggestions based on keywords

50. July 2013 550 subscribers into launch mailing list

51. August 2013 Built V1 of Beatrix in Koh Samui! in one month

52. Have a story! to launch with.

53. August 2013 “funny/controversial” blog post

54. August 2013 journalist sneak preview (app was still closed to public)

55. August 2013 2000+ subscribers into launch mailing list

56. From this point,! I started letting people! into the app, about ! 200 new users at a time August 2013 Fix bugs, gather feedback, add features,! make the experience better for each new batch

57. 6 months to $2k monthlyMonthlyPayingCustomers(avg.$30plan) 0 20 40 60 80 August September October November December January February $2k Koh Samui, Phuket, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Melaka, Bangkok

58. NOW: August 2014 200+ paying subscribers! and the app is way, way cooler too 100,000+ keywords, multimedia content suggestions

59. Always be marketing. Blog posts, newsletter blasts, special offers, ! campaigns, partnerships, funnel optimization

60. Part 4 Always Be Creating

61. February 2014 hey yongfook,! why don’t you ! write a book? ok lol Guy Vincent, founder of publishizer.com

62. I had been mentoring with two institutions,! SMU in Singapore and True Incube in Bangkok.! I basically put all of the advice I had been giving ! …into a book.

63. Stuff like this

64. Part 4 Always Be Creating

65. yongfook book preorders How I marketed the campaign,! google this:

66. Even now,! I sell 1+ book ! a day at $30 That’s an extra $1k a month, all passive

67. Write about:! Things you know well! Topics that are trending! Topics that help others proﬁt

68. August 2014 Monthly: $4k via Beatrix + $1k via book sales (USD)

69. But most! importantly…

70. Complete! Freedom

71. Part 5 Top 10 Things I ate

72. REAL krapow, Thailand 10

73. Best wantan mee ever, Kuala Lumpur 9

74. Best neapolitan style pizza in Asia, Singapore 8

75. Best strawberries in Asia, Cameron Highlands 7

76. Sambal Prawn Spaghetti, Kuala Lumpur 6

77. Pork soup with bitter gourd, Penang 5

78. the “Lunch Lady”, Ho Chi Minh 4

79. Khao Soi, Chiang Mai 3

80. Banh Mi, Ho Chi Minh 2

81. Babi Guling Tacos, Bali 1

82. The End! @yongfook

1 Year as a Digital Nomad - How to Build a Business by the Beach

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