Life Update – Apologies, Explanations, Travel and Business
Recently my blogging have been sporadic at best, I’m aware of it, and I’m sorry for it guys. My traffic has gone from pushing 100, 000 unique visitors per month to around 65, 000 per month because it, and I’ve no-one to blame but myself. So I’m back, and back for good.
Table of contents
I thought you deserved an explanation as to why I went from posting almost daily for a couple of years to almost not at all for the last couple of months so here we go. I’ve been growing my businesses online, hiring staff, outsourcing work, and trying to increase my income and to get to a level where no matter what happens in the future with my travels, I’ll have a roof over my head and some modicum of an existence.
Trying not to be a bum
I’m 29 now, so my twenties are fast running out. I’m still footloose and fancy free but equally I have no aspirations of being that naked, homeless 50 year old former hippy with dirty dreadlocks bumming around some town in India, with the only marbles he has left being the ones you see dangling from his exposed crotch. For me, that’s not travel, that’s desperation. Sad, but true.
Money
So money has been on my mind, I admit it. And actually, I’m not ashamed of it, I’m actually kinda proud of it – this week I made the biggest purchase of my life, all through travel blogging and things associated with, I’m gonna update you guys about this very soon (hopefully this week). But I hope it’s gonna really inspire you to follow your passions to the nth degree, showing that the disengaged corporate route is not the only path to success.
With that being said, as my income has been increasing, so has the void in my heart. I miss onestep4ward.com, I miss my readers, and although I still get daily emails from people from all over the world, I wanna feel like I’ve earned the right to give advice again.
During my business push over the last 9 or 10 months or so, I’ve still been on the road (as you’ll know if you follow my facebook fan page), so although my blogging about backpacking had reduced, my actual backpacking hasn’t. But that’s not good enough, so my blogging is coming back. Crazy stories (safe-for-work only tho, perhaps I’ll write a book for the not-so-safe-for-work stories, although my gf and mother might disown me), tips on how to travel long-term, advice for new travelers and a website redesign is all coming.
100 Countries Before 30?
On a personal level, I always had a goal of traveling through more than 100 countries before I was thirty, and now at 29 I’m sitting proudly at 95, I have 8 months to visit 5 more, but I already have the trips outlined and the flights booked taking me to 100 and beyond, all before the end of August, so it looks like my dream is gonna come true. I can’t find verification for this unfortunately (maybe you guys can put me right?), but I think I’m gonna be the youngest person from the UK and Ireland to visit 100 countries ever. Pretty cool if it’s true.
In terms of my site, I’ll always be true to backpacking and budget travel, but I was thinking also about talking a little more about making money online, business, internet marketing, and travel blogging as a viable means to generate revenue, do you think that’s a good idea? If not, I’ll stick to the travel stuff only.
Anyways here I am sitting the departure gate of an airport waiting for my flight to Malaysia, then Australia and onto Papua New Guinea and beyond. I’m excited about coming back to onestep4ward.com properly, I’m excited about my travels and my businesses and I’m excited to share it all with you. Sorry again, and thanks for sticking with me. Happy travels!
Remember, never travel without travel insurance! And never overpay for travel insurance!
I use HeyMondo. You get INSTANT quotes. Super cheap, they actually pay out, AND they cover almost everywhere, where most insurance companies don't (even places like Central African Republic etc!). You can sign-up here. PS You even get 5% off if you use MY LINK! You can even sign up if you're already overseas and traveling, pretty cool.
Also, if you want to start a blog...I CAN HELP YOU!
Also, if you want to start a blog, and start to change your life, I'd love to help you! Email me on johnny@onestep4ward.com. In the meantime, check out my super easy blog post on how to start a travel blog in under 30 minutes, here! And if you just want to get cracking, use BlueHost at a discount, through me.
Also, (if you're like me, and awful with tech-stuff) email me and my team can get a blog up and running for you, designed and everything, for $699 - email johnny@onestep4ward.com to get started.
Do you work remotely? Are you a digital nomad/blogger etc? You need to be insured too.
I use SafetyWing for my digital nomad insurance. It covers me while I live overseas. It's just $10 a week, and it's amazing! No upfront fees, you just pay week by week, and you can sign up just for a week if you want, then switch it off and on whenever. You can read my review here, and you can sign-up here!
As you know, blogging changed my life. I left Ireland broke, with no plan, with just a one-way ticket to Thailand and no money. Since then, I started a blog, then a digital media company, I’ve made more than $1,500,000 USD, bought 4 properties and visited (almost) every country in the world. And I did it all from my laptop as I travel the world and live my dream.