Now things are changing. The children have their own families to think about. They are starting to plan for things like college costs and karate classes and piano lessons. All those things my wife and I have already experienced. So, as the children have become self-sufficient, they don’t need us the same way that they did before. We can start to think about ways to enrich our own lives and stay busy and take in the world. And spoil our grandchildren now and then!
In the first post, I talked about having the travel bug. It came on me just before the 2006 Europe trip. When we got back, I just knew what I wanted and I’ve been working toward that goal ever since. Here’s an outline of what I want to do:
- Build a website to collect travel articles, reviews and travel tips.
- Start a travel blog to have a conversation with whoever wanted to join in.
- Develop a plan to make a transition from “brick-and-mortar” store owner to globe-trotting travel writer.
- Share my travels with others via articles, video, photos, etc.
- Learn how to be self-employed and make it work (earn a few extra bucks).
- Teach others to do what I’ve done (assuming that I have some degree of success).
- Make friends wherever I go and stay long-term in many countries.
The website is up and running and collecting valuable content every day. With the advent of this blog, I have a chance to talk with people all over the world. I’m working on the “transition” plan and I want to discuss it with you. I am pretty cautious about everything I do, so it has been a long time since I started this project. I want to make a minimum number of mistakes as I go along, but I’m not afraid to fail every once in a while. I’ll approach everything carefully and try out what looks to be the most promising way to reach my goals.
So here’s what I’m investigating:
- Becoming a travel writer and selling articles to magazines and newspapers. I’ve done some research on this and it looks difficult and very competitive.
- Selling products of my own design, such as ebooks and training courses related to travel.
- Working hard to build traffic to my website and selling advertising.
- Becoming an affiliate for various travel-related companies to earn commissions. You can already see a lot of affiliate advertising on the site. I haven’t had any sales yet, though. That’s discouraging.
- Maybe I can prepare myself to teach English classes to make an extra income. The only problem with that is it means staying in one place for a certain amount of time. We’ll lose some flexibility.
I’m sure there are other ways to make a living while traveling. I just have to do a bit more research. But these are my thoughts so far. Do you have any ideas to throw into the mix? Are you making a living out on the road already? I’d love to hear about it! I’m committed to making my dreams a reality. And I’ll help everyone I can to reach their goals, too! How can I get from “here” to “there”?
