Hey guys!
My last post on Steemit about my life in North Korea vs. South Korea did really well with 700+ upvotes and 250+ comments and so I decided to publish another post straight away.
Hope you'll enjoy it too!
When I was a kid, I hated not being able to control my own life – I couldn’t travel alone, I couldn’t drive a car, I couldn’t (legally) work, heck, I couldn’t even stay at my friend’s place if my parents didn’t agree!
That’s why I always dreamed of starting my own business so that I could make my own money and be able to do whatever I wanted to do with my life.
Making My Own Money at 15
Long story short, I established my first business at the age of 15, which I sold 10 months later for €7,800 to my business partner who was 38 years-old at that time.
For the next three years I continued running various online businesses ranging from a recipes website to a vintage fashion products’s marketplace to everything in between. In those years I couldn’t think about anything else other than my business – it was my work, my passion and, essentially, my life.
The day I established my very first corporation at the age of 15.
Life-Changing Trip to Malaysia
However, when I graduated from high school at the age of 19, I had a completely random opportunity to spend 2 weeks exploring Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. That experience made me realize how big and interesting the world was and I suddenly became interested in traveling.
Even though at that point I had been financially independent for quite a few years, I wasn’t really location independent as I would have to attend some conferences, meet my team members and customers face-to-face.
At that point I didn’t even know what a “Digital Nomad” was, but I realized that I could create and run an online business remotely, which would allow me to travel absolutely anywhere and stay for as long as I wished (as long as I had a Wi-Fi connection, of course).
Becoming Location Independent
After thinking about all the different businesses I could start, I decided to establish a social media marketing agency that would provide Facebook marketing services to small businesses.
The idea was this: every small business had a Facebook fan page, but they were so busy with all the operational tasks that they didn’t have time to manage it. Even if someone did have a little bit of time, it would usually be a person who’s doing 7 different jobs at the same time and obviously wouldn’t know much about social media marketing.
That’s where we would come in.
We would create a marketing strategy for them and once they would approve it, we would start managing their Facebook fan page. We would post 3-6 times a week (write all the captions, put their logos on the photos, reply to people’s comments, etc.), depending on which payment plan they chose.
Now the best part of the whole business was that I didn’t hire anyone.
Every client worked with one project manager and one content manager, whom I would pay a monthly fee per client. Let’s say I was getting paid $250 a month for one client. I would then pay $75 a month to the project manager and $75 a month to the content manager, in which case I would be making $100 profit.
Not only that, the company would be profitable even if we only had a single client, which would, of course, be impossible had I been paying my employees full-time or part-time salaries.
The only thing I had to focus on was acquiring customers and making sure they were happy with the services we were providing.
Full-Time Traveling While Working Only 6 Hours/Week
I remember in those days I was only working 6-8 hours a week and making from $1,600 to $2,400 a month. That is not a lot of money in Western Europe, but it’s definitely enough to travel to most places around the world and that’s exactly what you need to be a digital nomad.
You don’t need a million dollars, you just need enough money and time to do anything you want to do.
Thank you very much for reading the post, I really hope you enjoyed it!
Let me know what you would like me to post about in the comments below and follow me for more updates in the future.
Also, if you want to get real-time updates from my travels, check me out on Instagram.
And always remember...
Keep living that dream! You are a hero to a lot us who are desk jockeys. :)
haha
You can do this too, @kiporen212!
i do jacobtaukaitis
Legend!
Wow, you have achieved what most of us have been just dreaming about! You did it quite early which is very good. Most of us have been trapped in daily sedentary job, which howmuch every we try becomes more and more hard to come out of! Though, hopefully someday we all live the dream!
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Excellent life story, a further demonstration that age is never a limiting factor.
Yesss! Age is definitely just a number :)
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when i read content like this one, i get super inpired. You are the proof that if you really want something and you focus on that, you can get it. Since i've started travelling i've realised that my home is the whole world. I like to have a base and be settle somewhere but i also want to be free to move anywhere i want and be able to work at the same time. I'm definitely not a person that find fullfilment by working 8 hrs a day for 5 days a week. I've been working hard since i was 14 for different company and now at the age of 30 i've realised that all i did was building the business of someone else but very soon i will start to build my own one. I think that we don't need money to start a business but a good strategy. Dream BIG, start small, act NOW. Do you agree buddy? Congratulation for your post, i've really enjoyed it.
nice photos
Lovely images and very inspiring story. Impressive!
awesome post man once you come to India then you met me. I live in Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir.
fb id: rahul.mahajan.1088
looks awesome, enjoy your adventures
Excellent story, +100
"Happiness is the successful state of life, pain is an agent of death. Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one’s values. A morality that dares to tell you to find happiness in the renunciation of your happiness — to value the failure of your values — is an insolent negation of morality. A doctrine that gives you, as an ideal, the role of a sacrificial animal seeking slaughter on the altars of others, is giving you death as your standard. By the grace of reality and the nature of life, man — every man — is an end in himself, he exists for his own sake, and the achievement of his own happiness is his highest moral purpose.
But neither life nor happiness can be achieved by the pursuit of irrational whims. Just as man is free to attempt to survive in any random manner, but will perish unless he lives as his nature requires, so he is free to seek his happiness in any mindless fraud, but the torture of frustration is all he will find, unless he seeks the happiness proper to man. The purpose of morality is to teach you, not to suffer and die, but to enjoy yourself and live."
Ayn Rand, For the New Intellectual, 123
@jacoblaukaitis Fantastic story!!! You have actually inspired many youngsters to look at their life and focus on their dreams. " Set your goals high and try to exceed them"
Keep growing!!!
Thank you very much, @jagdishb! That's exactly what I want to do with my life and it means the world to me to read this comment of yours. Thanks :)
@jacoblaukaitis I am truly delighted to see your commitment and burning desire that is needed in today's youth to make the world a better place!
Wao! You really knew where you wanted to go from 15 years old. it´s a wonderful post, I thank you very much for taking the time to tell us what your business idea was to make money online. Definitely the options are endless, we just sometimes close ourselves to the opportunities. I live in Venezuela and my dream has always been to know the world and have enough money to travel quietly, support my mother and help people get me on the road. Reading makes me feel and think that if you can. (Sorry for mi bad english)
Wao! realmente sabías hacia donde querías ir desde los 15 años. Que maravilloso post, te agradezco mucho que tomaras el tiempo para contarnos cual fue tu idea de negocio para hacer dinero por internet. Definitivamente las opciones son infinitas simplemente a veces nos cerramos nosotros mismos a las oportunidades. Yo vivo en Venezuela y mi sueño siempre ha sido conocer el mundo y tener suficiente dinero para viajar tranquila, apoyar a mi madre y ayudar a las personas que me consiga en el camino. Leerte me hace sentir y pensar que si se puede.
You can definitely do it, there's no question about it. Go for it!
This is quite revealing AND INSPIRATIONAL! It should be a " must read" for every youth especially in moderately developed nation's like South Korea and Nigeria.
Because of it's ability to influence positively, I have decided to make it a " COMPULSORY READ" for my teenage Son and my several other proteges !!
Do I need a copyright for this??
I hope I am granted as asked@jakoblaukaitis
I think it's amazing that you have such drive and ambition at such a young age! The level of maturity you present is wonderful! So many people would rather just sit on their asses and get handouts than work for something they believe in and in your case, you did the exact opposite!
Not many people can say they created their own business and sold it, at all, so to have done it at such a young age is astonishing!
Definitely keep up with your passion for the things you do, you're gonna go far in life! I really enjoyed reading your post and I would definitely love to hear more stories about your life! :)
Thank you very much for the kind words, @jerr! They mean a lot to me :)
Nice blog, shame about all the bid-bots
I need this life. I am trying to work toward it. I want to travel by bike and work on the road though.
That's awesome story. At age 15, all I did was play basketball.
Entered was warmed by what I took to be an effective heater.
At the point when awesome distresses come it is on the grounds that in the battle we have not been effective.
Never had there been rebellion so sudden, so short, thus effective.
As of now she was discovering that significant serenity is basic to effective undertaking.
When I began on my computerized migrant voyage, I needed to go to these spots that I'd found out about in the advanced wanderer network and over my multi year travel, I went to more than 15 unique nations to find the best urban areas to live and work remotely.Many computerized migrants discover items, for example, great antiperspirant, bug shower, contact focal points, contact arrangement, sunscreen and non-brightening skin lotion essentially less demanding to simply bring from home.
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You got a 26.57% upvote from @steembloggers courtesy of @steemium!
Thats a great post without being showy offy or preachy. For someone wanting to start a nomadic lifestyle now, other than Steem,where would you suggest a good starting point is please?
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Hey @jacoblaukaitis, I follow you on Youtube regularly. I really liked the video of your motorbike ride through Khardung La India, it was crazy what you did (seriously). You really have inspired me and a lot of people who wishes to travel but cannot due to financial ties. Your digital nomad concept could not have had been a better example for it. You rock bro!!!
Thanks a lot, bro! Super happy to hear that. Are you thinking of doing Khardung-La too? :)
Yeah totally! I am looking to avoid storms though. I could never survive such harsh conditions like you did. 😠
But then again you only live once and if you do it right, once is enough. Give me a heads up if you ever decide to do it again and keep up the good work buddy! 😊
Congratulations... It's way to go
you did bro, keep it up. very nice experience of your life
Hey Jacob! I'm a digital nomad too-- been working remotely for almost 3 years now and have traveled to over 20 countries within this time. I'm actually employed though and work 9-5, which I think is pretty rare for nomads. I'd like to start up something similar to what you did with your agency but don't understand where you found your content managers that you worked with. Did you just have a bunch on deck waiting for work?
P.S. I'm brand new here! Just posted an IntroduceYourself post and am trying to get into the Steemit game :)
Your biography inspired me. Nice post. I want to say to all do not listen to people keep on in your work.
@jacoblaukaitis well awesome brother..but have you thought ever that you can do these things in this young age ???
This life span is ours, live with our own passion ,I like your courage, keep it up and grow well, and support others. Thank you for sharing.
Very informative article and an incredible story. Please do not hesitate to view some of my posts.
Excellent, i like your story👍
You're Inspirational for us & I learn a lot from your blogs.
#KeepInspiring #KeepItIp #KeepWorkingHard :)
It's great to read your post. So I think that your post should be voted.
Thanks man! Good to hear :)
have you went to china before,it's also a beautiful country!
great post! I too vibe out to the digital nomad lifestyle and think it's great we can share thoughts on a platform like Steemit. Keep up the good content friend! #Followed
Thanks for your posts and for motivation!
You got a 37.81% upvote from @redlambo courtesy of @steemium! Make sure to use tag #redlambo to be considered for the curation post!
Hi, i like the way you express yourself! I want start a travel around all the intresting places in the world, I wope that dream can be posible soon!
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well done pal
I agreed with you, freedom and travel the best memories in the life! :-D
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