ReliableSEOGuy
Power Member
- Feb 23, 2015
- 628
- 323
Not long ago you were back home in Europe, doing your daily routine. And suddenly, only 2 months later you are sitting at a table with a Vietnamese family, sucking on chicken toes thinking about why the duck this guy selling jeans tried to give you a handjob, and how you ended up here.
Jup, that's exactly what happened to me.
Photo shot last Sunday
My story (long version here, short version below):
My story in short:
Why did I start this Journey thread?
Because a lot of things changed in my life the last few years (things that I never expected), and because I'm learning a lot of things I want to share. This is why I think it could be quite an interesting Journey.
My IM goal:
Being able to travel comfortable while maintaining a steady income through IM.
My projects:
IG
Pinterest
Dropshipping
Adult Website
Designer
Sales Thread
ORM Agency
Website for the hostel
Other possible projects:
Pimp my bike:
My "bike"
Price: $400 (or $450, can't remember lol)
Year: 2017
Engine: ~125cc
Top speed: 80km/h
KM: ~20,000km (bought it with about 17,000km)
New seat
Just got a new seat last Monday (for less than 10,- EUR)
I'm thinking about getting proper tires, brakes and a paint job, but that would cost me around 5 million dong (= around 200USD) and I'd rather spend that money on any IM project for now.
If I start making some money, I'll update with everything I pimp at my bike.
Some photos from Vietnam (keep in mind, my camera isn't the best and I'm not a good photographer)
Vietnam Photo Album
I know it's not your typical journey, so if you don't like the personal parts, you can always skip to the $$ part.
What are my plans for the next few months?
I have no idea to be honest. It depends a lot on how much money (if I make money at all) I will make per month and how consistent it is going to be. I'm currently thinking that I'll not make a lot of money in the next month, so I plan to go back to Europe at the end of this month or at the end of next month. I would get a job (or two), hustle for a few months, save money and continue to travel. I even thought about going on a ship to work for a few months, so nearly everything is possible (I think that's what makes this Journey so interesting). I also have the possibility to work in Brazil, Peru or England, so who know's what my next update will bring?
If someone comes to Dalat, the beer and weed is on me!
Peace!
PS: What do you guys think about my English? Is it good enough for money site articles? I'm thinking about writing articles myself, but that would cost me a lot of time and energy if I want to get it right.
Disclaimer: I'm no affiliate with any mentioned service. I mention them solely for informational purpose and because I've been really happy with their service.
Jup, that's exactly what happened to me.
Photo shot last Sunday
My story (long version here, short version below):
I was about to finish my civil service, when a friend and I spontaneously decided to drive with the motorbike through Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and back to Vietnam. It should take 3 months. I left my laptop back home, because I thought it would be irresponsible to take the laptop with me. At first it wasn't a big deal, but I couldn't stop thinking about my IM projects I wanted to do (I started to work on a dropship store and IG botting before I left). It was a torture. Not only couldn't I work on my IM projects, but my friend and I had different definitions of certain things like having fun. You know, I used to be shy when it comes to things like dancing, but after 3 weeks in Vietnam I was the first one dancing on the bar for a shot (no, I wasn't dead drunk). For me it was about coming out of my comfort zone. Getting more comfortable in life. My friend was easily pissed ("Mimimi don't drive so fast, you'll ruin the motor." Bitch, I'm here to have fun), wanted to see everything and needed plan everything in advance. I'm just not that type of guy. So we split up (in peace).
We met again in another hostel in Dalat. I loved this city from the very first second. The weather was way cooler than in the rest of Vietnam because the city is in the mountains. And when you stay at this hostel you feel at home immediately. Great food, very clean rooms, the stuff is really friendly and the vibe is just perfect. I became good friends with two ppl from Singapore, who were staying a little bit longer because one of them was here for the third time. Because he was already here for the third time, he had a really good relationship with the family running the business. When the family decided to invite the two guys from Singapore to their holiday here in Dalat, they also invited me (probably just because they wanted to be polite, but who cares lol). After the holiday (it was literally one day) at a villa on a lake right around the corner with bbq, the guys from Singapore had to fly home soon. The day before they had to leave they asked me if I wanted to come with them, so I was like fck it, I'm coming with you. On the same day the owner of the hostel jokingly talked about me working here, and I told her: "Okay, I'm going to work here.".
So I was in Singapore for about 1 1/2 weeks sleeping at the place of one of the guys, and I had a very interesting experience learning about the lifestyle of young adults there.
After Singapore I came back to Dalat to start working in the hostel. I got my own floor with about 10 dorm beds at the owners house (which was their old hostel). It was fun, because it never felt like work. The guests were mostly happy about staying at a clean hostel, with good food and friendly stuff, and the work itself wasn't really hard. Something really annoying was that I couldn't do things like taking calls or calling someone, because most of them don't speak a word English. Another exhausting thing was working 8 hours everyday with only 4 days off in a month. For under $2 an hour. The owner and I talked and agreed that I won't get paid anymore, and I'll just help out here and there if they need me (for accommodation and food).
I was looking for a decent used laptop with i7. Turns out that they don't have such thing in whole Vietnam. They only have overpriced laptops with outdated software and decent i7 in stores. So I did the only thing I could do. I bought my first MacBook on the 21st July. Was it a stupid idea buying a new MacBook? Yes, but I could finally work on all my projects (and could sell it back home for the same price if not for more).
We met again in another hostel in Dalat. I loved this city from the very first second. The weather was way cooler than in the rest of Vietnam because the city is in the mountains. And when you stay at this hostel you feel at home immediately. Great food, very clean rooms, the stuff is really friendly and the vibe is just perfect. I became good friends with two ppl from Singapore, who were staying a little bit longer because one of them was here for the third time. Because he was already here for the third time, he had a really good relationship with the family running the business. When the family decided to invite the two guys from Singapore to their holiday here in Dalat, they also invited me (probably just because they wanted to be polite, but who cares lol). After the holiday (it was literally one day) at a villa on a lake right around the corner with bbq, the guys from Singapore had to fly home soon. The day before they had to leave they asked me if I wanted to come with them, so I was like fck it, I'm coming with you. On the same day the owner of the hostel jokingly talked about me working here, and I told her: "Okay, I'm going to work here.".
So I was in Singapore for about 1 1/2 weeks sleeping at the place of one of the guys, and I had a very interesting experience learning about the lifestyle of young adults there.
After Singapore I came back to Dalat to start working in the hostel. I got my own floor with about 10 dorm beds at the owners house (which was their old hostel). It was fun, because it never felt like work. The guests were mostly happy about staying at a clean hostel, with good food and friendly stuff, and the work itself wasn't really hard. Something really annoying was that I couldn't do things like taking calls or calling someone, because most of them don't speak a word English. Another exhausting thing was working 8 hours everyday with only 4 days off in a month. For under $2 an hour. The owner and I talked and agreed that I won't get paid anymore, and I'll just help out here and there if they need me (for accommodation and food).
I was looking for a decent used laptop with i7. Turns out that they don't have such thing in whole Vietnam. They only have overpriced laptops with outdated software and decent i7 in stores. So I did the only thing I could do. I bought my first MacBook on the 21st July. Was it a stupid idea buying a new MacBook? Yes, but I could finally work on all my projects (and could sell it back home for the same price if not for more).
My story in short:
I planned on driving with a motorbike through Vietnam with a friend, we split up, I went to Singapore for about 1 1/2 weeks, and since I'm back I'm helping out in a Hostel in Dalat (for accommodation and food). In my free time I try to get my IM game rolling.
Why did I start this Journey thread?
Because a lot of things changed in my life the last few years (things that I never expected), and because I'm learning a lot of things I want to share. This is why I think it could be quite an interesting Journey.
My IM goal:
Being able to travel comfortable while maintaining a steady income through IM.
My projects:
IG
Currently:
5 Accounts Weed Niche ~1300 Follower in total. Running for few days.
2 Accounts Free Follower Niche (I expect them to get banned, and if not I will change niche when they are warmed up. Just wanted to use the accounts in any way and I've no experience with IG CPA
Next steps:
Setting up 5 Accounts Fashion Niche (to promote my dropship store)
Setting up 5 Accounts Quotes Niche (no specific use planned)
Setting up 5 Accounts Travel Niche (to promote my dropship store)
Setting up 5 Accounts Nature Niche (to promote my dropship store)
Setting up 5 Accounts Memes Niche (no specific use planned)
Setting up my dropship IG Account on GMT2 or Jarvee (lil bit worried about setting this account up, because I use the account on my phone)
Make my dropship IG Account look good
If I get some conversions with the 2 accounts in the free follower niche, I will probably set up more, but I don't expect anything from these accounts.
Settings from all accounts:
Similar settings like @proxified uses (thanks for your very informative journey)
Settings
Check his journey out!
Journey beginning
5 Accounts Weed Niche ~1300 Follower in total. Running for few days.
2 Accounts Free Follower Niche (I expect them to get banned, and if not I will change niche when they are warmed up. Just wanted to use the accounts in any way and I've no experience with IG CPA
Next steps:
Setting up 5 Accounts Fashion Niche (to promote my dropship store)
Setting up 5 Accounts Quotes Niche (no specific use planned)
Setting up 5 Accounts Travel Niche (to promote my dropship store)
Setting up 5 Accounts Nature Niche (to promote my dropship store)
Setting up 5 Accounts Memes Niche (no specific use planned)
Setting up my dropship IG Account on GMT2 or Jarvee (lil bit worried about setting this account up, because I use the account on my phone)
Make my dropship IG Account look good
If I get some conversions with the 2 accounts in the free follower niche, I will probably set up more, but I don't expect anything from these accounts.
Settings from all accounts:
Similar settings like @proxified uses (thanks for your very informative journey)
Settings
Check his journey out!
Journey beginning
Wasn't as easy as I thought, but I will keep going till I succeed. I want to use Pinterest to drive traffic to my dropship store.
Currently:
Failed a few times trying things out (read more here: [Pinterest] What is my ducking problem?)
Dropship Pinterest Account is set up
1 x Pinterest Account I use on my phone to promote my store is ready. I just want to go slowly to not get it banned and my phone flagged.
Next steps:
Trying to warm up 1 x Pinterest Account using Gmail USA PVA from buyaccs.com and using this method.
If the account doesn't get banned, warming up another 5 Pinterest Accounts for promotion.
Create nice graphics with the products I offer using canva.
Add all products to my dropship Pinterest Account
Getting in more fashion related Pinterest group boards either by paying or exchanging group board invites
After warming up the accounts I will use Jarvee to post product pictures/promotional pictures to relevant Pinterest boards.
Currently:
Failed a few times trying things out (read more here: [Pinterest] What is my ducking problem?)
Dropship Pinterest Account is set up
1 x Pinterest Account I use on my phone to promote my store is ready. I just want to go slowly to not get it banned and my phone flagged.
Next steps:
Trying to warm up 1 x Pinterest Account using Gmail USA PVA from buyaccs.com and using this method.
If the account doesn't get banned, warming up another 5 Pinterest Accounts for promotion.
Create nice graphics with the products I offer using canva.
Add all products to my dropship Pinterest Account
Getting in more fashion related Pinterest group boards either by paying or exchanging group board invites
After warming up the accounts I will use Jarvee to post product pictures/promotional pictures to relevant Pinterest boards.
Dropshipping
My store is a pain in the ass. Few days ago I was trying to add the Mailchimp pop up for about 6-7 hours. In the end the pop up did work, but everything expect of the header/footer and a slideshow was completely white... (but still clickable). I disconnected the store from my Mailchimp account and tried to add it again using the HTML code, which didn't work out till now because they can't verify the connection. I also couldn't make the pop up work, which sucks because I would need to capture email addresses.
Currently:
Wasted around 80,- Euro in fb ads (was a big mistake, because I had no social proof added to the page and in general I should have waited till my store is really finished).
Added 8 products with unique description
Added SSL and payment gateways
Improved website speed significant by using @SpoonFeeder's service (check out his banner, he still has a huge early bird discount)
Spent many days fixing errors I caused myself and making everything look clean and professional
Ranking for some LSI KW's Page 2-3, but currently not getting any organic traffic
Next steps:
Adding more products (so I have 15-20 in total)
Improving descriptions of all products
SEO optimize all images (don't know how to do this properly, so I have to look for some guides)
Writing some articles about the products
Setting up some Tumblr Blogs (PA 50-60)
Setting up the pop up (if anyone could help me, I would really appreciate it)
Currently:
Wasted around 80,- Euro in fb ads (was a big mistake, because I had no social proof added to the page and in general I should have waited till my store is really finished).
Added 8 products with unique description
Added SSL and payment gateways
Improved website speed significant by using @SpoonFeeder's service (check out his banner, he still has a huge early bird discount)
Spent many days fixing errors I caused myself and making everything look clean and professional
Ranking for some LSI KW's Page 2-3, but currently not getting any organic traffic
Next steps:
Adding more products (so I have 15-20 in total)
Improving descriptions of all products
SEO optimize all images (don't know how to do this properly, so I have to look for some guides)
Writing some articles about the products
Setting up some Tumblr Blogs (PA 50-60)
Setting up the pop up (if anyone could help me, I would really appreciate it)
Adult Website
Well, that's one of my favourites.
I was fortunate enough being allowed to beta test Crawlerie from @Pruvia (huge thank you!).
Since I'm a total IM scrub, I wasn't really sure about what I'm doing (didn't even know that I had to get my own API key smh).
I just set it up on my Hyonix VPS from @feezioxiii (cheap and good), and let it run all the time. Found a lot of decent domains, but one day I found an adult domain with the following metrics:
DA 83 PA 48 TF 4 CF 34 (dunno why DA/PA increased the last few days without doing anything)
I was like holy shit?! I didn't know how to properly check a domain, but I was sure that the site is penalized. But because the domain registration doesn't cost much at namecheap, I just registered the domain and didn't plan on doing anything with the domain for now. About a week ago I moved my dropship store from godaddy, so I thought I should really check if the domain is penalized or not.
IT'S NOT PENALIZED!!! Not manually nor automatically.
The exact domain name has 200k monthly searches on google and a KW difficulty from 50 (kwfinder).
I never planned on going in the adult niche, but I would be stupid if I didn't try it.
So I ordered 2k content about the KW for $20 from @onlineventures (Sales Thread), and I received it yesterday within the promised TAT. It was the first time that I've ordered HQ content, but I'm not disappointed. I was really impressed about the article and will order again for sure.
Currently:
Connected Namecheap domain with godaddy hosting
Received 2k article from @onlineventures
Ordered a logo (bc my designer ruined his laptop)
Started to optimize the website
Next steps:
Adding relevant pictures to the article and publish it
Adding all important pages (About Us, Contact, Privacy Policy etc etc)
Build a proper homepage (I've no idea how I should make the homepage look)
Disclaimer: I'm not affiliate with Crawlerie by @Provia, but I'm really thankful for the domain I got. Check out Crawlerie if you're interested!
I was fortunate enough being allowed to beta test Crawlerie from @Pruvia (huge thank you!).
Since I'm a total IM scrub, I wasn't really sure about what I'm doing (didn't even know that I had to get my own API key smh).
I just set it up on my Hyonix VPS from @feezioxiii (cheap and good), and let it run all the time. Found a lot of decent domains, but one day I found an adult domain with the following metrics:
DA 83 PA 48 TF 4 CF 34 (dunno why DA/PA increased the last few days without doing anything)
I was like holy shit?! I didn't know how to properly check a domain, but I was sure that the site is penalized. But because the domain registration doesn't cost much at namecheap, I just registered the domain and didn't plan on doing anything with the domain for now. About a week ago I moved my dropship store from godaddy, so I thought I should really check if the domain is penalized or not.
IT'S NOT PENALIZED!!! Not manually nor automatically.
The exact domain name has 200k monthly searches on google and a KW difficulty from 50 (kwfinder).
I never planned on going in the adult niche, but I would be stupid if I didn't try it.
So I ordered 2k content about the KW for $20 from @onlineventures (Sales Thread), and I received it yesterday within the promised TAT. It was the first time that I've ordered HQ content, but I'm not disappointed. I was really impressed about the article and will order again for sure.
Currently:
Connected Namecheap domain with godaddy hosting
Received 2k article from @onlineventures
Ordered a logo (bc my designer ruined his laptop)
Started to optimize the website
Next steps:
Adding relevant pictures to the article and publish it
Adding all important pages (About Us, Contact, Privacy Policy etc etc)
Build a proper homepage (I've no idea how I should make the homepage look)
Disclaimer: I'm not affiliate with Crawlerie by @Provia, but I'm really thankful for the domain I got. Check out Crawlerie if you're interested!
Designer
One day I was just browsing fb, when I read about someone complaining about his boss paying him next to nothing for his part time graphic designer job. He wrote about his monthly income goal.
I thought "Why not give this guy a chance, and maybe profit by doing so?".
So I got in contact with him and offered him to work for me for the exact hourly rate he wanted to achieve.
I wanted to know about his skills and if we could work together, so I offered 10 free logos for BHW members. It wasn't that easy, because of the time zone difference, because some logos were just really awesome, and some were like meh (and it took him about 4 hours for a logo). That's the reason I didn't open a BST. What I really love is his way of presenting the finished logo.
Because of the JV I describe below, I let him design the sales thread, and I was impressed. So when I saw people needing a sales thread, I applied and got the job. I had 2 paying (and happy) customers so far, and in total I'm probably barely not making any profits, but he also did some design jobs for me so I'm fine with it.
Now his laptop is ruined, so he can't work at all which sucks.
Currently:
Error404 Designer not found
Next steps:
Will probably just continue offering sales thread designs once his laptop is fixed
I thought "Why not give this guy a chance, and maybe profit by doing so?".
So I got in contact with him and offered him to work for me for the exact hourly rate he wanted to achieve.
I wanted to know about his skills and if we could work together, so I offered 10 free logos for BHW members. It wasn't that easy, because of the time zone difference, because some logos were just really awesome, and some were like meh (and it took him about 4 hours for a logo). That's the reason I didn't open a BST. What I really love is his way of presenting the finished logo.
Because of the JV I describe below, I let him design the sales thread, and I was impressed. So when I saw people needing a sales thread, I applied and got the job. I had 2 paying (and happy) customers so far, and in total I'm probably barely not making any profits, but he also did some design jobs for me so I'm fine with it.
Now his laptop is ruined, so he can't work at all which sucks.
Currently:
Error404 Designer not found
Next steps:
Will probably just continue offering sales thread designs once his laptop is fixed
Sales Thread
I was in contact with someone who suddenly offered me a JV, so I was like fck yeah, let's do this!
After creating some packages, creating the sales thread, getting some reviewers and submitting it we now just need to deliver the package for the approval. In the next few days the sales thread will be live.
Currently:
Created Packages
Created Sales Thread
Got 5 reviewers and delivered already
Submitted Sales Thread
Next steps:
Deliver Package for Mod Review
Start providing an awesome service with top notch customer service
After creating some packages, creating the sales thread, getting some reviewers and submitting it we now just need to deliver the package for the approval. In the next few days the sales thread will be live.
Currently:
Created Packages
Created Sales Thread
Got 5 reviewers and delivered already
Submitted Sales Thread
Next steps:
Deliver Package for Mod Review
Start providing an awesome service with top notch customer service
ORM Agency
About half a year ago I read about a method about selling review funnels for small businesses. I thought it would be an interesting project to try out.
The work required per customer is about 1-2 hours setting everything up. Yes, that's it.
What will I charge? $250/month
Currently:
Bought and set up domain
Bought theme
Set up SSL
Paid someone to set up a contract
Aquired an US Skype number
Next steps:
Setting up the whole website (homepage, about us, private policy, etc)
Creating a sales letter template
Looking for ppl in the US who will print and send the letters
The work required per customer is about 1-2 hours setting everything up. Yes, that's it.
What will I charge? $250/month
Currently:
Bought and set up domain
Bought theme
Set up SSL
Paid someone to set up a contract
Aquired an US Skype number
Next steps:
Setting up the whole website (homepage, about us, private policy, etc)
Creating a sales letter template
Looking for ppl in the US who will print and send the letters
Website for the hostel
The hostel has one of the best ratings in the world, but there are times when they have nearly no customers (bc it's raining season).
But there are still a lot of people googling about a hostel here, so I started to set up a website for the hostel (not in their name, but me just writing about the hostel and the city in general).
I didn't even properly start building the website, and it already started to rank.
Competition isn't really here, so I think it will be easy to rank position 1 for a few KWs that should bring in a few more customers.
Currently:
Bought exact match domain
Set up domain
Set up SSL
Started a little bit writing content for the website
Next steps:
Write more content for the website
Get proper pictures of the rooms
Start doing off page SEO
But there are still a lot of people googling about a hostel here, so I started to set up a website for the hostel (not in their name, but me just writing about the hostel and the city in general).
I didn't even properly start building the website, and it already started to rank.
Competition isn't really here, so I think it will be easy to rank position 1 for a few KWs that should bring in a few more customers.
Currently:
Bought exact match domain
Set up domain
Set up SSL
Started a little bit writing content for the website
Next steps:
Write more content for the website
Get proper pictures of the rooms
Start doing off page SEO
Other possible projects:
I thought about making a brand for 1 product with lots of varieties here in Vietnam / Asia in general. It would be fairly easy to set everything up, make nice ad pictures/videos and fb ads for example would be dirt cheap (talking about drop shipping). I have quite a lot of projects right now, so if anyone would like to JV, hmu.
Another project I was on like a year ago was an Ice Tea. I was in contact with possible investors, with the tea suppliers from Thailand, with the health office and more. It's ofc not your everyday Ice Tea, with a lot of ways to market it bc of the USP of the Ice Tea. In the end I didn't do it because of a lot of paperwork I would have to do and because of lacking funds to get everything rolling (the possible investors won't invest into an idea if I don't have anything of value). I tried to create a recipe on my own, but because it's not your everyday tea, it wasn't possible for someone with no experience in creating beverages. A company in Germany would have created a recipe for under 15k EUR, but I didn't have the money. Few days ago I was again thinking about it and how easy it would be to get the funds via kickstarter with the right video, so I might follow this later on. I could swear that this will be a success once right executed.
I'll probably set up a personal website soon (for blogging and for possible job applications).
Pimp my bike:
My "bike"
Price: $400 (or $450, can't remember lol)
Year: 2017
Engine: ~125cc
Top speed: 80km/h
KM: ~20,000km (bought it with about 17,000km)
New seat
Just got a new seat last Monday (for less than 10,- EUR)
I'm thinking about getting proper tires, brakes and a paint job, but that would cost me around 5 million dong (= around 200USD) and I'd rather spend that money on any IM project for now.
If I start making some money, I'll update with everything I pimp at my bike.
Some photos from Vietnam (keep in mind, my camera isn't the best and I'm not a good photographer)
Vietnam Photo Album
I know it's not your typical journey, so if you don't like the personal parts, you can always skip to the $$ part.
What are my plans for the next few months?
I have no idea to be honest. It depends a lot on how much money (if I make money at all) I will make per month and how consistent it is going to be. I'm currently thinking that I'll not make a lot of money in the next month, so I plan to go back to Europe at the end of this month or at the end of next month. I would get a job (or two), hustle for a few months, save money and continue to travel. I even thought about going on a ship to work for a few months, so nearly everything is possible (I think that's what makes this Journey so interesting). I also have the possibility to work in Brazil, Peru or England, so who know's what my next update will bring?
If someone comes to Dalat, the beer and weed is on me!
Peace!
PS: What do you guys think about my English? Is it good enough for money site articles? I'm thinking about writing articles myself, but that would cost me a lot of time and energy if I want to get it right.
Disclaimer: I'm no affiliate with any mentioned service. I mention them solely for informational purpose and because I've been really happy with their service.
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