What I thought the house was worth: $135,000

Look on my face after getting the news from the appraiser that the house is really worth $156,000: Priceless…

Ok…so I have to put in about $15,000 in repairs & closing costs, but still a sweet deal….

Just over three months ago (last quarter), I finished reading The Four Hour Work Week, and I decided to work the principles into my life. The purpose was to create a virtual company, where I would subcontract the work to freelancers (or become a freelancer myself), with the eventual goal that I can run this company from pretty much anywhere in the world I choose to live.

Here now is my personal 10-Q…

The plan was to use multiple streams of income from the Internet, and possibly Real Estate investing (which sort of is counterintuitive because you need to be around to manage your properties, but I’ll get to that in a minute) to finance my endeavor.

Internet

I ramped up my education in Internet Marketing by taking the Thirty Day Challenge in August. My first attempt at applying the principles from the challenge ended with two outcomes; the first outcome – not desirable – was that I didn’t get any sales from my affiliate link on my blog. The second outcome – desirable – was that I placed on the first page of Google when searching for my keyword phrase. Yes it was at #10, and yes it was only for a couple of days before dropping off, but in my defense, I did not apply all the principles I learned and didn’t put a whole lot of effort into it. Seeing it on Google did boost my hopes that it was possible to make it happen, and motivated me to take more action. Like everything else in life, you get out of it what you put into it.

I got sidetracked a little with my “day job”, but I am on track to make another attempt at a successful Affiliate Marketing project. This time I’m all in.

The second Internet project I am working on is some sort of Information Product, like an eBook or Video. This is still in the early stages, but I have a couple of ideas I will explore, and document in later blog entries. I think this holds a lot of promise, because it doesn’t take a lot to produce, and if marketed right, it could produce a nice stream of income, with a minimum of maintenance.

Finally, something that I have not mentioned at all in this blog. Using an old PC I had lying around, I built an Ubuntu (Linux) server. Along with Linux, it had Apache – a web server, MySQL – a database application, and PHP5 which is used to create Web based applications (collectively called LAMP). I am getting up to speed on web page design and creation. This falls in line with my freelance aspirations. All you need is a laptop and an internet connection, and you can run a business.

Real Estate

As I mentioned in my last blog entry, I have a pending deal on the table. If the bank accepts my counteroffer, and there are no surprises in the inspection, I’ll have a nice house in a decent neighborhood. I originally intended to rehab and flip it, but in the current environment, I may either wholesale it to another investor, or change my strategy and rent or lease purchase it. Yes, if I rent it, in the short term, it will mean that I have to be around to manage it. Not something I can easily do from a beach in Nice…or the Italian Riviera…Still, in this market, I am thinking I can pick up one or two more houses, and if the numbers are good, I can hire a team to handle the property management. This, I can run remotely.

Plus there is no rule that I can’t do a little of everything, Internet Marketing, Web Design & Creation, and Real Estate investing.

The overall goal is to quit my day job to free up my time to do the things I want to do with it.

So…that’s the current state of Project Nomad, Inc. )

This first Quarter was primarily goal setting, education, exploration, and some action. The outlook for the second quarter is to take more action to move me closer to my goal of independence.

I bought a copy this morning and read it throughout my work day. It is an easy read and covers a lot of information. The early chapters describe Lea’s background and how she and her husband got into the LIP Lifestyle. It goes over the places they have lived and their rationale for choosing those locations. I like this part because it builds up her “creds”; a lot of authors write about a subject with which they are not familiar; she walks the walk.

After this, the book starts getting really meaty. It goes into the rationale for doing it, facing your fears, how to get started, and the basic nuts and bolts of what you need to do and things you need to consider. The book is chock full of tips and hints, and the Appendix has an excellent list of additional resources. As an added bonus, by buying the book, you get access to their Facebook group of other LIPs and soon to be LIPs.

I consider the book a valuable resource, and an excellent how-to book on living the Location Independent Professional lifestyle.

The book costs $12 US (6 GBP). You can buy the ebook here. There are 100 ebooks for sale in this pre-release. The print version will be out at the end of the month, and will cost $22 (11 GBP); there will also be only 100 books in the pre-release.

Note: In the spirit of full disclosure, the link above is an affiliate link, and I will get a portion of the proceeds if you buy through it. But I really do like the book and think that it is a valuable resource, so much so that if you want to order the ebook without my getting the commission, you can get it from here; it costs the same either way – I’m just standing by my review.

I don’t expect to make any money on this site, but I did want to see if what I learned in the 30 Day Challenge would get me placed.

I am now redoubling my effort to come up with a niche I am comfortable with and go whole-hog into developing. I am pretty psyched. Maybe the internet marketing route does have the potential to be a good Muse.