Hmmm…what has he been hiding?

Well the truth is, Derek leads a pretty exciting lifestyle and has been traveling the world for about a year and half so far, starting about 1 month after he started writing for us. Yes, that’s right…he’s been using his writing skills to achieve the freedom most of us only dream of.

Recently, I asked Derek a few questions that would give us the opportunity to learn more about him and even provide us with a few tips on how we can also achieve such freedom in life. Whether you’re traveling or just want to have more freedom and flexibility in your daily schedule at home, Derek is certainly someone we can look to for inspiration.

Meet Derek

Derek was born in Redwood City, California. He spent about 6 of his formative years living in Hong Kong and for the rest, grew up living in the San Francisco area with his mother, father and brother. He still considers San Francisco home, even though he is currently traveling the world. He hopes to settle back down there, start a business, get married and even have some kids.

Growing up, Derek had a passion for business and never cared much for school. Instead, at about age 13, he found great interest in the works of people like Robert Kiyosaki and Anthony Robbins and devoured whatever he could. To the chagrin of his parents, Derek dropped out of high school at age 16 and left college at 18, never completing his formal studies.

But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been doing his own independent study to carve out the life he has always hoped for. Derek says:

Business has always been my interest. Anything pertaining to business, from marketing to economics to finance to HR to raising capital to real estate to trading has always fascinated me. I never studied it in school, but I’m always reading books and listening to audiobooks. I typically read about 4 books a month, plus listen to podcasts like NPR’s Planet Money and Mixergy and stay on top of various internet and business related blogs.

So, I guess it’s no surprise that, at the age of 22, Derek decided to take his self-made know-how and put it to the test on the road.

Traveling The World

With only $2000 in his bank account, Derek left California and went to Thailand, the birthplace of his father. This was the beginning of his journey that he has been funding through his online writing efforts. Derek says, “I was earning about $1,400 a month from freelance writing at that time. It wasn’t much for San Francisco’s standards, but for Thailand, my first destination, it was more than enough.”

And so it began. While on the road, most of Derek’s income comes freelance writing because he says its the most reliable and steady source of income. He also dabbles in affiliate marketing as a secondary source of income. However, when it comes to earning money online he has dipped into a number of things including buying and selling domains, consulting and even online poker (what would his mother say?! ).

Derek has traveled to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Philippines, Poland, Germany, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, England, Scotland and throughout the USA. Next, he is heading to Greece and Israel. He will likely be visiting Spain, Croatia, Latvia and Estonia. He is hoping to make it to Morocco and Egypt before he heads back to the Americas where he’ll start with Nicaragua and work his way down Central America and South America.

About his travel “wish list” he says:

I’m also very drawn to South Africa, more or less purely for the great white shark diving. I can’t really justify flying all the way down there and back up just to go shark diving; so at the moment I’m probably going to save Africa for a separate trip in the future.

I asked Derek is travels on his own or if he has a travel companion. He told me:

My trip overall is on my own. I very frequently meet people who I’ll travel with. For example, I went through Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam with a group of people that I met on the road. Occasionally friends will fly out and meet me somewhere in the world as well. By and large, travel companions usually stick around for 1 to 3 weeks. The trip overall though, which will probably last over 2 years, is solo.

Here are a few photos from his adventures:

Boating in Vietnam. Actually, one of my favorite experiences was bamboo rafting in Thailand, but I don't have any pics of that. On a bamboo raft, you half float half sink down a river. You're half submerged, so you feel cold, it's a little scary because you're not really floating but you are.

Remember how the Beatles stopped taking LSD and found a guru in India instead - then wrote the White Album? This was taken at the abandoned ashram where the Beatles wrote that album. It was closed when we got there, but we "broke in" by sneaking in the side.

Taken in India, next to the Ganges (river) in India. In India, cows are sacred and roam freely, so you'll literally see cows wandering main streets, even in big cities. This one such cow.

This was from the Lantern Festival in Chiang Mai. If you've ever wondered what the 4th of July would be like without laws, this is what it'd be like. Kids were firing off fireworks in the streets at cars. People shoot fireworks from motorbikes. People throw crackers in front of tourists to freak them out. Much more dangerous than the states, but good fun anyway. By the end of the night, the sky was lit up by lanterns flying up in every direction.

Taken at Ankor Watt in Cambodia. Cambodia was devastated by war just 40 years ago, so there's still a sense of recovery and even some violence beneath the surface. Overall a very friendly place, but you can still feel a bit of the war in the air. Anyone alive in Cambodia today has a parent or grandparent who witnessed or participated in the war.

Fitting Writing into Your Travel Schedule

Obviously, it’s not always easy to find time to write when you could be out having fun instead, but Derek seems very organized in this regard. And actually, as one of his clients, I know that he always meets his deadlines and does stellar work. So how does he do it?

Derek says:

I use the Pomodoro Technique. (Derek also wrote a post about Pomodoro a little while back.)

Basically, I segment my work into 25 minute chunks of pure work – No bathroom breaks, no cellphone, no Facebook. I work 4 to 5 Pomodoros a day, generally. You could look at it as only working 2 hours a day, but the reality is my work day’s probably more like 5 hours, sometimes longer depending on how productive I need to be. If I was working with zero distractions at all, I could probably get all my daily work done in 2-3 hours.

That said, unless my day is jam packed, I usually do a Pomodoro then play some poker, browse Reddit/9Gag or just hang around doing not much, then do another Pomodoro. If I do need to finish my work quickly however, like if I have plans during the day and at night and only have a few hours to get things done, I could usually get my day’s work done in 2.5 hours.

I keep track of all my deadlines in one notepad file. They’re just a list of dates and the times by when they need to be done. Keeping along with my 5 pomodoro work limit, I only accept work that I feel I can fulfill on. I also manage my Warrior Forum post bumps so that I only bump my thread when I have a block of free days coming up. The goal is to manage my work so I fill exactly the amount of work I want to have, without taking on more and without taking on less.

I try to find co-working spaces in the various countries I go to. It depends how long I’m there for. If I’m in a country for 2-3 months, I’ll definitely try to find a co-working space, as working out of my bedroom can be a little depressing and unproductive. If I’m on the road, I’m perfectly happy working out of the hostel or guesthouse.

I think apart from that it’s just practice. Develop the ability to get things done quickly and get a good sense for how much work you can get done in a certain period of time.

Biggest Challenges

I asked Derek what the biggest challenge he faces on the road and you might be surprised it wasn’t earning and income. Instead he says:

One of the biggest challenges I face is balance. To keep up with my freelance writing, my traveling, my social life *AND* continue to build my other streams of income is extremely tough. Sometimes one area just completely falls off the wagon. I’ll completely neglect my future financial goals for example, or I’ll just go without much of a dating life for a little while.

Social life and dating on the road is very interesting. You more or less hit reset on your social life every few months. That means having meaningful friendships and relationships in your life is always something you need to actively cultivate, rather than just having a set social circle and/or significant other.

What About the Uncertainty of Income and What Will Happen?

I asked Derek what advice he would give to someone who would love to embark on a similar lifestyle, but were concerned about the uncertainty of it all. To this he said:

A human being’s ability to fight for survival is truly amazing. If you just throw yourself into the the unknown, you’ll figure out a way to make it work. If you find yourself in Panama with no choice but to make an internet income, you probably will.

That said – I wouldn’t just jump without a safety net at all. Try to hit about $1,000 a month first. That should get you by in most developing countries. Work online for 2-3 months before you leave so you get a good sense of how to get clients, how to deliver on work, how much work you can do in a certain time period and so on. Have a backup plan for what to do if a client source dries up.

Also, if you’re worried about the uncertainty of it all, it helps to know that the reality is that foreigners can find jobs in many countries *very* easily. Anywhere in Asia you can pick up a job teaching English, working at a hostel or working at a bar that caters to foreigners in under a week. The job market is actually much stronger for foreigners in entry-level jobs abroad than at home in the USA. That’s an easy fall back plan if things don’t work out.

I think the idea of making money online and traveling just seems a lot more uncertain than it really is. The reality is, the financial pressures while living in Thailand or Poland (expenses = $800 or less) are just so much less than San Francisco (expenses = $2,000+.) Your chances of living a financially abundant life are much higher abroad than at home. You have much more free time as well.

I think Derek’s advice is well-grounded. These days, a regular old job back at home rarely provides much security and by having the ability to seek out your own opportunities, you might find yourself in a much better place when it comes to financial security. Of course, it doesn’t help that traveling means you can often greatly reduce your cost of living.

Top 3 Tips for Traveling Writer Hopefuls

Derek has plenty advice for people who want to travel and write, but I asked him to narrow down his advice to his top 3 tips. This is what he told me:

1) Figure out the income you need to live in your first destination. It’s often much lower than you think and definitely much lower than any first world country. For example, Thailand you can easily live on $800 a month, food included. Then you can just buy a ticket and travel as soon as your income surpasses that number. Most people make the mistake of measuring themselves by the financial goals they’d need to hit to live where they are, rather than where they want to go.

2) Have at least 2 avenues for getting clients. It can be very nerve wrecking to not have a fallback plan. When I lost eHow as a client and didn’t have eLance and the Warrior Forum figured out, it was pretty scary. Today, I’m very confident that if I lost most of my clients, I could rebuild relatively quickly.

3) Track your expenses and your income meticulously. If you don’t know exactly what you’re earning and spending, it’s very hard to feel relaxed around money. You won’t feel “safe” about leaving until you do this. I wrote a post specifically around this as well.

With a plan and sources of work, you can get yourself there. And, of course, like Derek said be very detailed in your record keeping. It’s a great lesson for when you’re traveling or when you’re ready to settle back down.

Check out Derek’s Blog: Earn on the Road

About 2 months ago, Derek started his own blog to share tips and his adventures on the road. I actually didn’t know about this when I asked Derek to do this interview, but was glad to hear he had a place for people to get more information.

When asked why he started the blog, Derek said:

I want to create something that’s both a real asset and something that actually helps people. One issue I have with affiliate marketing and most methods of making money online is that I wasn’t actually *creating* anything real. I was just funneling traffic. My intention with this blog is to eventually turn it into the #1 resource online for people to figure out how to travel and make money. I certainly intend for it to be a money making site in the future. I’d say it was a combination of me wanting to do something that genuinely contributes to the world, a desire to create something real and a desire to create a more substantial business.

While the site currently focuses on earning through freelance writing, in the future Derek plans to interview other people who have earned money while traveling. Whether they worked as scuba diving instructors, online poker players, English teachers, WOOFers, people who’ve started business in foreign countries, people who have found jobs in other countries and more.

Be sure to drop by Earn on the Road and subscribe to Derek’s RSS feed. He even has a free guide Unlimited Travel: Earn Your First $1000 Online that you can download.

Before you go, here are a few more photos from Derek’s adventures. You may have seen these in the staff portion of our Reason Why Video, but if you haven’t seen them yet…enjoy. The snake one makes me shiver and shake a little each time I see it!

Volunteer English teacher in Laos

Scuba Diving in Bali

Derek and a giant snake in Vietnam

Skiing in Poland

Again, check out the Earn on the Road blog and feel free to post your comments and questions below.

But please don’t take this to simply be a rant because my real goal is to actually help anyone who has struggled with creating their own content.

Here’s the back story…

For the past couple of weeks, I have been chasing a woman who has relentlessly taken it upon herself to publish the content of others, while making it appear as though she wrote it. She does this on a daily basis, across 4-5 websites and perhaps plenty more. One website is her own and the rest are blogging networks, so it’s actually a little difficult to track down all the copying and pasting she’s been doing.

Anyway, I have made some headway with the help of a few other people and got (most of??) my content removed, but it appears she is putting her focus into other victims for now. She continues to use her same method of copying content and making it look like she wrote it with a little link at the bottom that links to the original source. She’s just doing it with other people’s content now and that still makes me angry because it’s absolutely and undeniably wrong particularly because she is trying to position herself as some type of blogging / content expert.

Even when confronted by a concerned online publisher, she indicated she felt she is doing nothing wrong because she gave credit to the original source of the content. After all, the content wouldn’t be on the Internet if the creators didn’t want it republished everywhere, right? Of course not…that’s the lamest excuse for copying content ever.

I have spent way too much time chasing this woman around for two reasons:

1. I want to protect my other fellow online publishers from copyright infringement.
2. I don’t want her to spread the misinformation that what she is doing is okay. It is simply NOT okay.

With that in mind, I’d prefer to stop complaining about someone who is eventually going to burn herself out and turn this into a positive message for our readers instead. If you struggle to create fresh content for your site on a regular basis, there is no need to resort to such tactics.

Of course, I realize that I am probably preaching to the choir because I know that when many of our readers struggle with content creation, they go through legitimate means to get things done. However, I also know that many others feel paralyzed to do anything because they’re not sure how to get around the obstacles they face in regard to publishing content.

First, a Refresher on What’s Not Okay:

• Never copy articles or blog posts from another website if you don’t have permission. It doesn’t matter if you credit the original source or not.

• Never take articles from an article directory like ezinearticles.com or freeaffiliatearticles.com without including the full and clickable byline and following ALL of the directory’s terms of use.

• Never take somebody else’s and rewrite it paragraph by paragraph. It is OKAY to do research from various sources (and credit them in your work) and create your own content, but it is NOT okay to simply say what someone else has in a single blog post and reword it.

Now, What to Do if Writing Regularly (or at all) is a Struggle for You:

• Blogging is not a race and it’s not a matter of “he who has the most [blog posts] when he dies wins”. Volume helps for growing traffic, but if you don’t have an idea for every day of the week, realize there are so many other more important things you can be doing for your business.

• If you don’t fancy yourself a writer, hire a ghostwriter. Sure, this costs money, but this IS your business after all. You can use a writer to do all your content, some of it or just fill in the gaps here and there.

• If you don’t have the budget for a ghostwriter or are looking for more volume, use PLR (we have some here and here). You can publish it as is, edit it for your purposes or use it to supplement your own original content. It IS content that you can purchase the rights to and there is no need to credit the original author. It’s yours to use within the guidelines set out by the PLR publisher.

• Use articles from directories like ezinearticles.com or freeaffiliatearticles.com, but remember you must include the full clickable byline and follow all the terms of use.

• If you want original content for free or cheap, enlist guest writers who will publish content in return for a byline and/or a small fee. Publishing the content of others shows you as a great source of information from a wide variety of sources.

If You Still Don’t Want to Spend Money or Publish Other People’s Content with Full Credit

I get it, not everyone has the budget to pay for content and they may also be weary of using guest writers or free reprint articles because the focus goes to someone else’s business. If that’s the case, here are a few tips for you.

• Stick to markets where you are at least knowledgeable. It’s one thing if you struggle with writing, but you actually know what you’re talking about. It’s entirely another if you can’t write well AND you don’t know what you’re talking about either. People can overlook grammatical issues if they are getting great advice.

• Publish in other mediums including video and audio. If you speak better than you write, SPEAK. If you want to create written content from your video and audio recordings, transcribe the content.

• Photography and other images. If you’ve got photography skills or an artistic flair, use this to your advantage to help yourself stand out in your niche.

• Take courses to improve your writing skills. If English is your second language, basic grammar and writing courses will help you immensely. If you struggle with writing compelling content, learn about copywriting and effective content marketing. You can start with our free course here.

• Practice. Just like with all things in life, you get better with practice. Don’t decide that because writing is struggle today that it will be a few months from now. Practice, practice, practice.

If you want to be a content publishing success, you’ve got to work at it and you’re probably going to be shelling out some cash along the way. It’s your business and it’s so worth it.

This was sent by email to our subscribers, students and customers earlier this morning…

———————START EMAIL ————————————-

Lesli is feverishly working on your Easy Content Weekly
update for tomorrow, but I wanted to touch base with you for
a second about something.

Yesterday officially marked my 10 years in online business.
I remember like it was yesterday when I’d joined a direct
sales company and tried to sell their products online. I had
to build my own website because the company didn’t provide
one then. They told me that the Internet just wasn’t
the way to do business.

Hahahahaha! I soon gave up on the direct sales and did my own
thing, all the while, trying to show others the Internet was an incredible
business tool

One of the main things I’ve tried to share with others, from
my very humble 2002 beginnings, is the power of content.

Content has always been the cornerstone of generating
traffic, building traffic and converting prospects into
customers. And while the Internet landscape has changed a
lot in the past 10 years, I think content is even more
powerful.

That’s why, to celebrate I wanted to make your content
publishing a whole lot easier. Whether you need tips to share
on social media, illustrated how-to guides or slide
shows…we’ve put together plenty of those for you at
DIYplr.com.

And right now, you can pick and choose ANY of the content
you want up to a regular price value of $200 for 60% off.

Have a peek here to get the details of this special time and money-saving offer.

That’s a TON of content you can put to use right away. And
honestly, if you have any questions on how to put your
content to use, you can come to the Contentrix.com blog and
ask away. I’ve always got ideas for publishing, monetizing,
repurposing and more.

So just ask!

—————— END EMAIL —————————————-

Whether you grab the 10 Download Credits Anniversary Special or just a bundle or two, please use the space below to ask for tips on using, monetizing and repurposing the content. And heck, even if you didn’t buy any PLR from me or anywhere, just ask too.  Please be as detailed as possible in your questions and share your ideas, what products you might want to promote and so forth. That will help me give you the best answer possible.

But there is much more that you can do with reports and we’ve got a few ideas for you.

I figure if you’re going to spend the time writing your own reports or spend the money to get someone else to write them for you, you should make the most of the opportunity.

• Sell the report from your website.

• Sell in digital marketplaces like the Kindle, iBooks and Nook stores.

• Ask a popular information product seller if they’d like to offer your report as a bonus with purchase.

• Offer it as a surprise bonus to your customers after they purchase a product.

• Add it to document sharing sites like scribd.com.

• Allow your affiliates to brand the report with their affiliate link and give it away.

• Get it printed and allow local businesses to give away your report to their customers.

• Add it as an extra resource for your membership site.

• Offer it as a free gift for completing a survey.

• Offer it as a free gift for following you on Facebook or Twitter.

• Use it as an upsell for a paid product.

Once you’ve published your reports, you can also reuse and recycle them too. Don’t just let them get lonely on a hard drive somewhere. Try these ideas:

• Break up the report into blog posts or articles.

• Turn the report into a podcast by sharing the content in an audio recording.

• Bundle up a few reports to create a bigger product.

• Break up the report into an email autoresponder series.

Reports are extremely valuable content that can be used over and over again, and in so many different ways. Whether you’re working on a new report or have some older ones kicking around, start putting them to work!

And of course, if you need help writing some reports, call on us or check out our PLR report selection here.

These are all valuable things. Absolutely.

But do you know what the most powerful list of all? Maybe you already know or you figured it out from the subject of this post. Yes, it’s your customers.

People who have purchased from you before:

• Have proven they are interested in your stuff
• Have shown they trust you
• Are more likely to buy again
• The more you impress them, the more likely they are to tell their friends about you

This means we need to treat these people like gold and planning content just for them can help you deepen that growing relationship.

Some Ideas for Keeping in Touch with Your Customers

• Surprise bonuses and extras: If you sell an information product, give them extra reports and tools to help them consume your product. If you sell a physical product, you can still give them extras like guides that show how to effectively or creatively use the product. For example, if you sell scrapbook supplies, give them ideas for creative layouts, tips for easy scrapbooking, etc.

• Email, email, email: Keep in touch with your customers by email regularly and give them special attention that the public doesn’t get. For example, give them priority access to products, get their input and offer special discounts.

• Other methods of communication: You can also use snail mail (remember that stuff?) to send your customers a thank you that’s sure to get attention. You can set up private groups on Facebook and Circles on Facebook to stay in touch through social media. There are so many possibilities.

Even though our customers may love our products, there are plenty of other businesses vying for their attention. Make sure YOU get that attention.

Planning Your Customer Content

Take some time (at least monthly) to plan your customer content. Ask yourself a few questions:

• What products will you be releasing?
• What special offers can you make your customers and what extra content can you provide them?
• Are their special holidays or occasions coming up? How can you tie these into the content and special offers you make?

Just like with everything else with marketing there is no set formula to planning content for your customers, but make it a conscious effort and know exactly what you’re going to do and deliver it.

Segment Your Customer Lists

Many shopping cart or ecommerce systems make it easy to separate your customers from your subscribers, but if yours doesn’t, make immediate changes so you can keep track.

You also need to go a step further than just having a customer list, you want to be email to mail customers who purchased specific products, so you can make them relevant offers. Remember when I posted about a mailing to 98 people beat a mailing to over 2500? This type of targeting works like crazy and your customers will appreciate receiving the most relevant offers.

So please, if you’re so busy growing all your prospect lists and forgetting about those who have already showed their loyalty and value to your business, you’re missing out here. Start making a customer content plan now.