All of my life I have known that I wanted to travel. When I was younger, I thought that it was because I wanted to do frequent trips to a new country and to learn a new experience before returning home to my native Australia. What I’ve discovered over the years is it wasn’t just about doing the short holiday and then coming home. It was about the lifestyle.
The first sign was when I was 23 and went to teach English in South Korea for one year working and travelling in the country. I’d return to Australia only to leave 3 months later to achieve a similar lifestyle in the United Kingdom. After 7 years in Europe working up the corporate ladder and doing trips around Europe, I decided to leave the corporate world behind and build my own empire and fulfill my dream of building my own entrepreneurial business and travelling the world.
I’m sure many other people want to fulfill a similar lifestyle. I’d been working with bloggers for years and seen how they were fulfilling their travel lifestyles while building their own empire. In my case, I’d come from a business background and many of the business dealings that they used to fund their travels was similar to what we were selling and executing daily.
As a single person, I can see how someone can fulfill this dream fairly quickly. As a married couple, it has been a bit more challenging and required a bit more risk management to make it more viable with our long-term goals. I’m going to share my story with you and perhaps you will relate or feel inspired to take the plunge yourself.
We both knew our passion.
This made it easier for both of us. My wife has had a strong desire to travel and for me, I’ve felt like I was born to do it. Going to new places and taking amazing photos, videos and experiences that allows you to share your own story and develop more as a person. We both dream of going to a place that is completely foreign, but amazing for the both of us when it comes to travel.
Secondly, we both have an entrepreneurial desire. My corporate background in digital marketing consultancy has helped us to start building our web-based business that will alow us to travel and fulfill our entrepreneurial ambitions.
We selected our destinations based on cashflow and the cultural experience on offer.
We treat our approach to travel as a business. Everything must be cashflow positive. This means that the income that is coming in must be greater than the income that is going out. As a couple, we manage our finances together. I’ve found that setting annual revenue targets as well as quarterly and monthly targets helps when building your business and managing your travel lifestyle. My business earns income in Australian and US dollars, as well as the British Pound. My business is based in Australia and is subject to the Australian tax laws and everything is declared through there.
For my wife and I, I’d set a monthly budget of $2000-3000AUD per month to fund our travels. This budget accommodates our desired lifestyle which includes:
- Living in nice, private accommodation in a country.
- Transportation expenses.
- Food consumption
- Miscellaneous activities.
$2000 per month is a push, but at this stage in our lives, we want to enjoy good quality of life. The best options we found was to travel and base ourselves around South-East Asia. The countries include:
- Indonesia
- Thailand
- Vietnam
- Malaysia
- Philippines
Other countries that you can also consider include:
- Laos
- Cambodia
As I said before, it is the quality of life that drives our passion to travel the world. Being able to venture to exotic street markets in Chiang Mai or partying in the most trendy bar overseeing the city skyline in Bangkok. Or perhaps jamming and partying on Khao San Road or just enjoying authentic food that is so delicious, it blows our minds. These are the experiences that we live for and for anyone else that wants to try it, we recommend that they do!
Things have become easier to afford due to the rise of services like Airbnb and low-fare airline carriers. If you want a private place that is quite nice, you should be able to pick up places from around $1000 a month. (Inclusive of bills). The thing is, the more you can make while you are travelling, the more lavish you can be with your lifestyle. In South East Asia, accommodation from $2000 per month will get you a place that is amazing!
We are choosing to cook most of our food at home, but we will venture out to restaurants when we want to go on dates. Also, the thought of learning a new language and participating in local activities are very appealing to us.
The main ways we finance our travels are through my media business where I conduct:
- Freelance digital marketing consultancy
- Freelance writing
- Earn income through Youtube advertising
- Earn income through websites
All of these are still in development and I chose to spend one year developing the business to maintain a steady cashflow before making the final jump abroad to travel. My wife is developing her income stream as well, although it is in its infancy.
We are at an age where everyone is moving onto parenthood and they are settling down. We want to go down that path as well, but we want to ensure that our lives remain fulfilled prior to and when our children come along. We also want to develop an income stream that is independent from employment. There has been alot of learning along the way, but it has proved to be a valuable and fulfilling experience. If you’ve considered becoming a travelling entrepreneur, or you are one, it would be great to hear your thoughts or for you to share your story.
Thanks for reading!
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