You’ve probably seen countless pictures and instagram posts of the glamorous digital nomad lifestyle…

The Bali sunsets, infinity pool villas, white sand beaches, waterfalls and mountains…

Back when I was working in my corporate job, I started to follow a ton of digital nomads on instagram and other social media platforms.  These posts would always make for a good day dream here and there.  I’d just put myself in their shoes for a minute, and imagine what that would feel like.

But it seemed so far fetched.

I mean, could I actually ever have that level of freedom?  Me?

I didn’t think so.

I couldn’t have been further from the Digital Nomad lifestyle that I truly craved in my life.

Where I started from:

I grew up in a middle class neighborhood in the US (outside of Philadelphia). I went to a traditional 4 year college, and was headed down the same path everyone else was.  I graduated with pretty good grades, and got a solid first job in New York City working as an analyst.

By everyone’s standards, I had made it.  I landed the job in New York, and I was climbing the corporate ladder.  

Years went by, and I was still in the same place, working the same job that I wasn’t passionate about, same routines, same bars on the weekends.

Over time, I became more frustrated with where I was in life.  I knew I wasn’t headed in the right direction.  I also realized that nothing in my life was truly going to change unless I made the change happen.

And with that, I made the conscious decision that I was going to pursue my dream life – A life of travel, adventure, and passion.  I made the decision that I no longer wanted to climb the corporate ladder and work up until my retirement.

I wanted to travel the world, to have the freedom to wake up and go for a hike, snorkel, swim in a cenote in Mexico, or kayak in Thailand…

But the reality of my situation was that I had bills to pay, student loan debt piled up to my chin, and New York City rent (which seemed to be getting more expensive each year).  How the hell was I supposed to become a digital nomad?  I didn’t have a clue.

The start of my Journey

I really had no idea where to start.  So, I started researching like a maniac.  I’d listen to online business podcasts all day at work, webinars throughout the night, self-improvement books… I was trying to learn everything.  If I thought it could get me closer to my goals, I was all about it. 

I learned a lot while I was in this research phase… but after a few months, it was time to start taking some real action.

My first online business attempt: Dropshipping

After a ton of research, I decided that I was going to start a dropshipping store.  Plenty of people were teaching this model, and I had seen tons of success stories… enough to make me think that dropshipping was the best business model for me.

I was dropshipping t-shirts, and selling through a shopify store.  I was learning a ton about marketing on Facebook and Instagram, and paying influencers for shout-outs.  I sold a handful of shirts here and there, but overall… the business was a flop.

My second online business attempt: Amazon FBA

Selling products on Amazon was another hot business model at the time.  All the gurus were preaching this method.  You basically buy products from a supplier in bulk quantities, ship them to a fulfillment center, and list the products on Amazon.  I thought I was going to make a killing with this method.  But once again… this business turned out to be a flop for me.

I still have some of that first inventory shipment under my bed to this day.  I definitely lost a good chunk of money with this venture.  Unlike dropshipping, you have to pay for all of your inventory up-front, which makes for much more risk. Lesson learned.

My third online business attempt: Digital Marketing Agency

With my first two businesses, I found that I enjoyed marketing the products more than any other aspect of the business.  I loved looking for instagram pages to partner with, getting into facebook ad strategies, and really just trying to analyze the mind of the consumer.  It was fascinating to me.  Once I realized that marketing was what I was truly passionate about, I decided to offer my marketing services to businesses.

At one point, I had two clients (both only on a free-trial).  One was a crossfit gym, and the other, a commercial cleaning company.  Getting results for these clients was much harder than I thought and getting them to pay me was another story.  I eventually worked out some commission based deals, but I wasn’t getting very far.  A couple months went by, and I started to realize that this business model might not be the best for me.  I didn’t enjoy the whole client management part, as well as the cold outreach to try and get more clients.

A few more months passed and this business slowly began to fizzle out… 

Since I wasn’t really working on any side-hustles at the time, I went back into research mode, looking to see what other options were out there.

I was getting pretty hopeless at the time.  I really wasn’t sure if I was going to ever be able to break free of the corporate lifestyle.

The Training that Changed my Life

I forget exactly when it happened, but I stumbled upon one of those online webinar training videos.  I was pretty familiar with how they worked.  You enter your email, then get sent a video that’s basically a sales pitch.  I had seen dozens, maybe hundreds of these types of videos before…

But there was something different about this.  I had never really watched one of these videos that seemed so genuine. The guy in the video had basically laid out all of the pain points that I was dealing with… I felt like he was talking directly to me.

He explained exactly why all of my previous businesses failed.  There were simply too many pieces of the business for me to focus on – especially while I was still working a 9-5 job.  And if any of these aspects of the business weren’t set-up or running correctly, the whole business would fail.

There was finding a product, creating a website and funnel, marketing, collecting payments, returns, getting clients, fulfillment, customer service… the list goes on.

He then laid out a business model where I didn’t have to worry about 95% of these things… A model that would allow me to focus on just one aspect: Marketing.

I was hooked.

This might sound crazy, but later on I booked a flight to Medellín, Colombia to meet him in person (his name is Andrew by the way).

I was about to spend some serious money to go fly to the other side of the equator to meet some random guy I had just seen on a webinar… yeah, you could say I was completely bought in.

I knew this was the business model that would set me free.

7 months later

Fast forward 7 months to today, and I’m making around $5k+ per month online, and it’s mostly passive at this point.  

I just planned my first of many trips.  I’m headed to Mexico for a month (Tulum and Playa del Carmen).  My goal is to move to Bali, but with everything going on in the world these days, it’s been nearly impossible to plan a trip out there.

If you have any interest in creating an income online, I would strongly suggest you check out Andrew’s training.

It isn’t for everyone, and it’s not really the type of business where you’ll be able to make a million dollars…

But $5k, $10k, $15k per month is definitely feasible.

If you’re serious about putting in the work and earning your freedom, I truly believe that there is no better way than this business model.

It changed my life.