Here’s a picture of me checking my email and typing this blog, my netbook on my lap.
We’re taking a break up at the coast again, so I’m running things from the table in the garden, and through the bottom of a wine glass (evenings only of course, and the occasional lunchtime)
I’m still in touch with business partners and my priceless assistant is running the business for me so all is in safe hands.
We have a grab bag that contains all the requirements for ‘mobile business’ such as various leads, headsets, adapters, pen drives, passwords, spare power supplies, notebooks, access codes and other stuff that we need to run the biz.
It just gets chucked in the car whenever we wander off, along with my netbook and iphone and suddenly everything it totally portable.
We could (and have) run things like this for weeks and even months at a time.
It’s not all plain sailing though. Aweber has a weird glitch that wouldn’t let me access my account for 5 days. It let me in OK, but when I tried to write a broadcast message and save it, it just told me my login had expired and chucked me out.
Luckily I pre-scheduled all the important stuff before I left home and that’s all gone out fine.
So I feel like a gypsy in a way I never did when I was working at a 9-5.
A vacation was something that was ‘fixed’. You knew when you were setting off and when you had to be back at work.
There seemed to be a very definite start and finish to the whole thing.
It was like being at the starting line for a race…
‘BANG! then gun goes off and you have to get into ‘holiday mode’ as quickly as possible, and get up to ‘maximum enjoyment’ (always seemed a bit forced to me)
And for me there was always the thought in the back of my brain that ‘in another 9 days I’ll be back at work with no vacation for another 8 months!’
It might be my weirdness but I always felt the same on Sundays too – I couldn’t really enjoy the day any more after Sunday lunchtime because the big sweaty spectre of going back to the grind on MOnday morning always really pissed me off.
Now it all merges into one. No definite plans for when we come and go, and I enjoy working from a different location.
The pace of life is just as slow as it is when we’re at home.
And you know the best bit?
You don’t have to earn thousands per month to live like this.
You basically only need the same as your current salary, or that you currently live on.
All you need is enough to quit your job.
If you go into the whole IM thing giving yourself a hard time and trying to match marketers who’ve been doing it for years and are earning $10k, $30k, $100k a month you’re buggered before you start.
You’re pushing the bar too high. You’ll never make the leap.
Jeez, when you experience the freedom of having your salary equivalent go into the bank each month but WITHOUT you having to go into a place of work 40 hours a week or more…
Well you just might decide that you don’t WANT to earn $30k a month and you’re more than happy with free time for you and your family and just enjoy the couple of grand that means you don’t need to work for an employer.
If you’re reading this and thinking ‘It’s OK for you -you’ve done the hard work already’ then you’re dead right, I have.
So now it’s your turn.
And if you feel all fired up and think ‘YES I CAN do this’, then you’re feeling the exact same emotion that me, and most other successful marketers felt at some point in their lives.
You’ve just got to put one foot in front of the other and move forward a step at a time.
The first one’s the worst of course 🙂 but after that they get easier.
Here’s what my ‘desk’ looked like earlier as we prepared dinner. Fresh local seafood done in garlic and white wine, and lotsa wine to drink too.
I’m off to relax now, but allow me to leave you with this thought…
Before I got into marketing I had various jobs and didn’t care too much for any of them.
Also I never earned much above average income before I got into internet marketing. usually below.
I was just some bloke struggling with finances, hating my time being sapped by my employer and dreading the thought of getting up, day after day, to go into work until I retired on a crappy pension.
The pictures in this post might look like the ultimate boring experience to many peopke reading this. But it’s how I (we, as a family) choose to live.
The key word of course is ‘choose’.
You can substitute the above pics for Las Vegas, St Tropez or Kilimanjaro when it’s your life. You can ‘choose’ what you want.
But if it’s putting you off even trying because you think I’m some super intelligent, born to it marketer than think again.
I’m just some bloke who wanted a bit more. So I started messing about on the internet because I was more scared of what would happen if I didn’t change my life than the possibility of failure.
Start messing now guys. It can change your life but only if you switch off the telly and get on with it.
The kids are in bed, and I’m off for some (more) wine and a chat with my wife as we watch the sun go down over the bay.
See you when I get home.
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Ola Tony,
How come whenever I’m reading your blog posts I can feel the green-eyed monster swelling up inside me?? 🙂
Good on you anyway mate. Enjoy everything that you have achieved as there is always hard work involved in making a business work and IM is no different but you are now enjoying the benfits of that work.
And I continue to work tirelessly to emulate you and I believe that I can at some point.
Many regards
Andy
Hi Tony, another of your irreverent posts on Internet Marketing! I really like your laid back approach to life and work. I think its something that we either forget or need to be reminded of is that we only need to replace our income. Too many people are chasing the big “easy bucks”.
Great post
Rob
Great pics, Tony. Looks like fun to me! Thanks for the peek.
I agree, setting the bar too high is a grave mistake that can only lead to misery.
Set a realistic goal, and then rinse and repeat until you get where you’ve always wanted to be.
-Marnie
Hey Tony.
I love the desk. Mine isn’t like that at all, I’ve usually got scrapes of paper, note books, pens, chocolate and a cup of tea on mine. I think it’s time for a redesign. where’s that cork screw? 🙂
The furthest I’ve been with my “mobile business” is to the patio in my back garden, still I suppose we all have to start somewhere eh!!
Enjoy your holiday (again).
All the best
Gert
Hey Tony,
Nice pics man. That area looks really beautiful. I will have to check it out some day soon. Most folks do get caught up in the earn 30k to 100k a month right off the bat. And internally your saying no way. Going from maybe 2,500 a month in something your experienced in to 10,000 a month and up is a hard one to bite and unrealistic as well.
I love the idea of replacing the income you make at your job first. Now that’s bite-able.
You don’t have to be a millionaire to live like one.
Enjoy your Trip.
Brandon
Ah, an IMer living the life not just writing about it!
Way to go Tony
Will
Tony, you are my idol. I am trying to mimic your lifestyle with the projects I am babying toward reality. Getting closer every day and dropping the tasks I don’t want to do anymore. Some say that I’ve “got attitude” and they are correct. But it doesn’t seem to be a positive remark from the unenlightened.
I, on the other hand, think it is the only way to live and am delighted that I can actually see the dream I want to live developing in the very near future. Exciting!!
Pat
Tony, your post reminds me of a book I once read on nanotechnology. At the end of a chapter there was a scene of a big comfy sofa with a bunch of physics grad students wondering what the world will be like when you can apply energy to big vat of gray goo and get anything from a spaceship to a steak. After a moment of silent pondering, one of them piped up with, “Everyday will be a Sunday”.
It appears you have achieved that, Tony. And you did it without any nanobots. 😉 Impressive.
Hey Tony,
I love being on your list and when you write a post on your blog. Without making your head too big you are one of the few marketers that I sit up and listen to.
I love your laid back attitude and the way you live your life. Screw las vagas , & st tropez give me the east coast of England ant day.
Keep things real, that’s what i like to do
Mike.
It is really motivating to see that some IMers do make it and can live the life of their choice – gives the rest of us a bit of a boost to keep going – now if only I could get my first $1000 per month 🙂
Have a great day – oh that is silly, I can see that you are
Best wishes
lisa
Hi Tony
Love the photos and reading your blog… while having a red wine myself!!
Yep I agree. Take small steps and build up from there. IM is not a sprint, but a marathon… just keep plugging away.
Like your Aweber gremlin, I cannot access my cPanel at the moment and my site is showing as “website moved” to new server. Wish I had been given notice.
Enjoy your break
Wayne
Hey Tony,
I agree with you totally, just hope I can keep the momentum going until I make it 🙂
Some days it all seems like wasted effort and others like it’s all coming together.
Lol! can’t wait until I’m there!
Hey Tony,
This is what I am going for. Not millions but just what you showed me. I could not have put it better if I tried.
Sit in the sun, smell the flowers, watch the sunsets and live comfortably.
Hey Tony,
Thanks for keeping it real!
I think your IM style is very refreshing and hype free.
Well Done!!!
Cheers,
Hey Tony,
You hit spot when you said just replace your current income with the internet marketing income without having to sacrifice 40 hours + each and every week in order to be a full time marketer.
This is my goal that I will reach by the end of this year.
BTW great pics 🙂
Steve
Great post and perfect timing for me.
I’ve just decided to take the winter off and move to an apartment in a ski resort in Bulgaria. After the ski season I might head off to Asia and travel a little.
I just bought a cool (and petty cheap) lenovo netbook and I’m all set!
Can’t wait to write my first travel post with me and my office (netbook) sat in a little cafe up a mountain soaking up the sun!
Cheers! Peter
Hey up Tony,
Thanks for another blast of welcome inspiration !
IM to seems very much like having a baby…..?
Well not me persnonally but as a bloke I have always
found that with my children the first 12-18 months
are the toughest…..
Very little routine
Extremley demanding
And finally why the hell am I doing this?
Then all of a sudden it all falls together and “bingo”
it’s all being worth it . It is allways more difficult the
first time and gets easier with time.
Says he with 5 children! Now it’s time to build 5 lists what do
you say?
Working from home is the dream lifestyle for me and
without” brown nosing” too much it has been a damn
site easier with your help and sensible advice !
Enjoy your hols.
Best wishes .
Darren Todd
P.s Looks like you are over on the East Coast, get
intouch if you fancy a coffee….the new Oasis has
finally re-opened on the North Bay in Scarborough
you really ought to check it out!
It’s been nine months since I went to an IM seminar, knowing very little about what it involved. Six weeks later, I took the first big step and made my blog independent. After six months, I have started to realise that it is possible to make money just from doing what I love – writing.
I began to branch out and, sure, there were things that didn’t work, but they tended to introduce me to other areas that were more effective… and better suited to me.
As a result, I started a new business that it is possible to fit in around the more enjoyable day to day things in life. I don’t aspire to be a millionaire, just to have a comfortable and less stressful lifestyle that allows me to appreciate the less obvious joys of living. If you are constantly searching for the ‘big thing’ that will make your fortune, it just puts ‘stress’ back into the equation.
Still baby steps, but it’s putting your foot onto the path in the first place that makes it start to happen…
I wonder if the reason I read your stuff versus the stuff a lot of gurus put out is because of the way you have chosen to live your life. So many IM people will do literally ANYTHING for another dollar, and it shows in the products they put out and their writing. How do you trust and buy from someone who would sell Grandma if the opportunity presented? I don’t. It’s a wise person who knows that enough is enough. Enjoy the time you are spending with your family, those kids will be grown and gone before you know what happened.
Hi Tony,
you and Sara Brown were the first people (hurray!) that I found when I typed ‘make money online’ into the search engine, a few months after we got broadband. I immediately identified with enjoying my house, popping out to have a half-hour in the garden and being there when my children came home from school. That makes more sense to me than the ‘look at my Ferraris’ scene.
I know it’s possible, I’m plodding along (painfully slowly) but I sometimes lose heart. So keep showing us glimpses of the earthly paradise that is choice and self-determination. Even if it does make us groan and gnash our teeth a bit.
Seeing is believing.
Cheers, Anne
Hey Tony,
Looks like you had a super relaxing time, in fact your life just seems like a super relaxing time full stop lol.
That’s soooooooooooo the life I am after.
Wont be hard for me to achieve the same amount as my salary offline, I dont earn much, so the sooner I can get that coming in regular, the quicker I can pack my receptionist job in.
I love the fact you shared this post, gives me a kick up the butt, to work hard and it can be a reality.
Sally 🙂
Your picture inspires me. I’m going to take a nap and make some more easy money.