1 Year as a Digital Nomad.
How to build a business by the beach.!!
by @yongfook
This is how!I spent the last !
12 months.
Instagram @yongfook
60 second video montage at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8sZjki8LIk
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)
52 hotels! (I’m an Agoda Elite member now)
In between the!fun & games!
I’ve been building!a software company.
beatrixapp.com
About 5 months in,!my business was earning!
enough monthly profit!for me to travel indefinitely.
No investors.!No boss.!
Real work / life balance.!100% Freedom.
My old office My new office
This is a !pretty fun lifestyle.!
More folks should try it.!Here’s how.
Part 1No, you don’t need to be rich
How much money!do you think you !
need to live like this:
Going on adventureswhenever you feel like it
Living in a hotelevery day of every month
Flying to a new countrywhenever you want
Answer:!About $2000 USD!
per monthAchieve this, and you don’t need to worry about
money any more.
*$2500 SGD
You can easily live herefor about $50 a day
Aosane / Naiharn, Phuket
or here
Ubud, Bali
or here(the list goes on)
Georgetown, Penang
I fly budgetIt’s basically ~$100 one-way anywhere
I have zero distractions$3 to get my laundry cleaned and folded in Thailand
I eat local 70% of the timeand 30% spent on booze / splashing out
I work from cafesor coworking spaces, or the beach, or the pool, or a
rooftop bar, or my hotel room
$2kFresh 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.
$2kYear 1 Year 3
Treat it as a milestone. I’ve already passed $2k a month, now almost at $5k a month.
$5k $10kper month
per monthper month
Want to !get started?
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
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
Part 2Revenue model brainstorming
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)
Aim for !Low Touch
Low maintenance businesses enable you to!enjoy your nomadic lifestyle properly.
Buy Now
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
Have a !Well-Defined Target
It makes marketing much easier.
Stupid Ideas!!
Consumer!Physical!Transactional!!
You want customers,!not “users”
Too much work!!Many moving parts
Needs high volume!and hustle, too much!work
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
$2k USD / month !looks like…
This guy made $15,944 in sales
FROM ONE TEMPLATE!
Sell a $10 website template…!!
…200 times a month
Sell two $10 website templates…!!
…100 times a month
Sell five $10 website templates…!!
…40 times a month(you get the idea)
Pricing page at beatrixapp.com
How many customers did I need before I hit $2k per month?
Get 200 subscribers!!
…at $10 per month
Get 50 subscribers!!
…at $40 per month
Get 20 subscribers!!
…at $100 per month(you get the idea)
Part 3From launch to $2000 USD profit per month
Start Lean!a month before!you hit the road
Validate your idea and make sure there is demand
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
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”
July 2013
Of Course!
One big problem that businesses have is actually keeping their Facebook and Twitter accounts up to date
July 2013
New idea = social media content suggestions based on keywords
July 2013
550 subscribers into launch mailing list
August 2013
Built V1 of Beatrix in Koh Samui!in one month
Have a story!to launch with.
August 2013
“funny/controversial” blog post
August 2013
journalist sneak preview (app was still closed to public)
August 2013
2000+ subscribers into launch mailing list
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
6 months to $2k monthlyM
onth
ly P
ayin
g C
usto
mer
s (a
vg. $
30 p
lan)
0
20
40
60
80
August September October November December January February
$2k
Koh Samui, Phuket, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Melaka, Bangkok
NOW: August 2014
200+ paying subscribers!and the app is way, way cooler too
100,000+ keywords, multimedia content suggestions
Always be marketing.
Blog posts, newsletter blasts, special offers, !campaigns, partnerships, funnel optimization
Part 4Always Be Creating
February 2014
hey yongfook,!why don’t you !write a book?
ok lol
Guy Vincent, founder of publishizer.com
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.
Stuff like this
Part 4Always Be Creating
yongfook book preorders
How I marketed the campaign,!google this:
Even now,!I sell 1+ book !a day at $30
That’s an extra $1k a month, all passive
Write about:!Things you know well!
Topics that are trending!Topics that help others profit
August 2014
Monthly: $4k via Beatrix + $1k via book sales(USD)
But most!importantly…
Complete!Freedom
Part 5Top 10 Things I ate
REAL krapow, Thailand10
Best wantan mee ever, Kuala Lumpur9
Best neapolitan style pizza in Asia, Singapore8
Best strawberries in Asia, Cameron Highlands7
Sambal Prawn Spaghetti, Kuala Lumpur6
Pork soup with bitter gourd, Penang5
the “Lunch Lady”, Ho Chi Minh4
Khao Soi, Chiang Mai3
Banh Mi, Ho Chi Minh2
Babi Guling Tacos, Bali1
The End!@yongfook