The Day My Income Died

Less then a month into my journey I hit my first ‘bump’.

While exploring Thailand, it has been difficult to find both the time and opportunity to work and my earnings have suffered because of this (additionally my charger broke and I couldn’t use my computer for some time).

Just like with most online business, they’re in constant change, and without maintenance, even a once stable residual income can crumble.

What Happened

While I am in the process of diversifying my income through various business endeavors, there was a drastic change with the company that supplied the largest portion of my income (~90%).

Changes were made to the site’s search algorithm which meant that though I used to be one of the top results in the marketplace (for my keywords), I no longer was.

The Effect

The result of this ‘small’ change you ask? That roughly 90% of my income I mentioned earlier, well that dissolved into almost nothing overnight. My overall rank (compared to my peers) went from a consistent top 100 into a free fall, dropping 100-200 places daily.

The Future

I have not had much of a chance to work in the last month and I’m headed to a country with very limited internet (Burma) so there’s not really anything I can do to ‘fix’ this problem right now but luckily, I don’t need to.

Over the last two months of writing and working online I have added enough to my savings to continue traveling past this years end with no extra income and I am still currently earning and income through other outlets online (roughly $300/month).

I was recently offered an English teaching job in Thailand beginning after I return from my month in Burma. I’m not sure if I’m going to teach or maybe just get my own apartment somewhere for a month or two but I’m going to spend some time in just one location.

Living comfortably, I should be able to cut my spending by not traveling so much, save up a good bit of money working either as a teacher, writing, fire spinning, website work, or starting some other business.

Being stationary, having my own apartment and having lots of extra time are all things that will help me get back where I was and allow me to even grow further. My costs will drop significantly and my productivity will grow

Over those four months I’ll have more time to work on my writing, my website, and myself. I have time to practice poi, give private English lessons and maybe even start a gem exportation business (I’ll conveniently be working in Thailand’s gem capital).

While change is sometimes inconvenient, I’m sure I’ll survive and continue living the dream. This ‘road block’ will help me keep from getting too complacent from my past earnings and allow me to learn to grow, change an adapt in this ever changing world.