Below, I’ll be sharing some photos and videos highlighting our trip. But first I’d like to talk about what I learned from being without the Internet for almost a week. As much as I tout working only five hours per week (and I usually do), I have to admit that I do some work every day, and I use the Internet a LOT. In addition to being a fun vacation, this trip was also an experiment to see how my business would run without my daily interaction, and how I would handle being away from my business, personal email, online reading and research, and *gasp* Facebook!

It turns out that except for a few temptations the first day, where I resisted the urge to reach for my iPhone and check email, I didn’t miss these things at all! I was able to completely focus my attention on enjoying my time with family and friends, and the beautiful nature that surrounded us. I didn’t bring a book to read, and didn’t touch the iPad I brought, except to put it away in the safe.

Me drinking pipa juice

Before I left, I did let my teams know that I wouldn’t be available for about six days, and that they would be on their own for handling all problems. I also set up an auto responder on my personal email box letting people know not to expect a response right away. I unsubscribed from a number of newsletters and email notifications to keep the inbox volume down.

When I came back, I had 82 messages in my personal inbox and 84 messages in my business inbox. I was able to clear the personal inbox in 90 minutes and the business inbox in about 3 hours. It surprised me how many of the messages were unimportant in the context of a week, where I would have spent more time on them had I checked daily. And because I wasn’t readily available to my teams, they didn’t rely on me and came up with their own ways to solve problems. The result was that no major issues occurred, my businesses continued running smoothly and growing steadily, and my programmers even launched a couple new features while I was gone. I’m starting to think about maybe switching to checking email weekly instead of daily, at least for my business email. It’s less stressful overall. I’ll get more chances to test how this works in the weeks ahead as we travel to Hawaii and move to Malaysia.

Speaking of Malaysia, on the first day of our trip we ate lunch in Dominical, Costa Rica at the Coconut Spice restaurant which specializes in Thai and Malaysian food. I had the Penang Curry and was overcome by the explosion of delicious flavors, which got me even more excited to move to Penang next month. Only, once we’re there, the same dish will cost 10 times less! Oh, I’m so excited for more Malaysian food!

Penang Curry

On the way to Dominical, though, I did get pulled over for going 20km over the speed limit (about 10mph). I didn’t bribe my way out of this one so it’s costing me a whopping $350 for that ticket! Ouch! Not the best way to start a vacation. I’m not sure how locals making less than $1,000/month here can swallow that kind of ticket — it’s really expensive! But maybe that’s the point.

Speeding ticket

Anyway, after we made it to Dominical and had lunch, we stayed at Villas Rio Mar, where we enjoyed their swimming pools and lovely gardens, very clean cabins, and the delicious dinner and breakfast that were included in the price ($120 for all five us).

Kings and Pearces at Villas Rio Mar

The next day we got up early and drove another hour and a half to Sierpe, where we got on a small, crowded boat that would take us to Punta Marenco Lodge on the Osa Peninsula. However, about ten minutes out, the motor quit, and we had to wait about 30 minutes for a rescue boat. After switching boats, we enjoyed our ride through the river, until we came out into the ocean and started crashing against the oncoming waves. I got quite sea sick, and Emily and Marie were terrified when water started coming into the boat. Fortunately, we arrived safely, and I was able to recover without vomiting. But I’m looking forward to not being on a boat again for a long time, if ever.

Getting on the boat at Sierpe

The highlight of the trip was definitely our time at Punta Marenco! We hiked through Corcovado national park and saw all types of animals, including scarlet macaws, toucans, a white hawk, monkeys, basilisks, giant grasshoppers, poison dart frogs, hermit crabs, tapir footprints, and many more. We even saw a whale from the shore!

Large grasshopper

Being a rain forest, the trees were also incredible, and we learned a lot about the animals and foliage we encountered, from how strangler trees shoot down roots to kill other trees, to how leaf cutter ants don’t eat the leaves they cut, but use them to cultivate a giant underground mushroom inside their colony which they then eat.

Strangler and Ficus trees

We also had fun playing on the beach and in the waves, and hiking through the stunning landscapes. We even climbed a steep and wet trail to the top of a waterfall where we played in the refreshing water.

Many beautiful beaches in Osa

Despite it being the rainy season, we had near perfect weather every day of our trip — bright, sunny days with little or no rain in the afternoons — except for the last day, where it poured constantly. That was the day we were supposed to go snorkeling at a nearby island and hopefully see whales and dolphins. But we still had a great time sitting and talking in the lodge, listening to the rain, and relaxing. The kids played in the rain, did crafts, and made up games to play together. Our hosts were wonderful and made us feel like part of the family.

Kids playing in the rain

On the way home, we stopped in Manuel Antonio for lunch at Jefe’s Mexican restaurant, which was excellent. And then we came back home to reality, which I think doesn’t have to be quite so different from this vacation.

Here’s some of the video footage and other pictures from our trip.

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What did surprise me was that except for a small percentage of respondents, people would choose “money” and “a fancy job title” over things like “happiness,” “health,” or “friends.” Of course, money can help us attain a degree of happiness, but it seems a strange end goal to me. Encouragingly, “family” was ranked among the top choices for what is “important to your dream.” You can see the complete survey results here or even take the survey yourself, if you’d like.

Interestingly, one word I didn’t see mentioned at all throughout the survey was “freedom.” To me, this is what the American Dream is all about, and is in large part what the country’s first immigrants found so appealing — well, that and lots of cheap land. Prior to the 19th century, most countries were still run like caste systems, giving little chance for success, wealth, or ease to any except those born into a family who already had it. The American opportunity to pursue dreams, avoid religious oppression, and obtain wealth regardless of social class was a beacon to many.

However, a lot of things have changed since those early days. Most countries now respect women’s right to vote. Segregation by race has largely disappeared, and discrimination against different sexual orientations and religions is even beginning to lessen (well, in some places). Most modern countries allow any citizen to own land, create a business, run for political office, and believe whatever they want without fear of losing their rights. True, there is no utopian society on earth, but we are progressing overall, and the opportunity for success — not just in the United States, but globally — is at an all-time high.

Perhaps the survey didn’t mention freedom because we’re so used to it now that we forget we even have it. It seems that somewhere along the way, the Dream has shifted from the freedom to obtain wealth, success, and ease, to actually having those things. Historically speaking, the average person is wealthier than ever, and it’s become increasingly easy to live our dreams, whatever they may be.

But many people are still stuck in caste age thinking, limited only by their beliefs. Some fear that our society is on the brink of disaster. Fiat currency is being devalued in every corner of the globe, and further inflation is inevitable. Employees are losing jobs and many businesses are failing. Our planet is being polluted and its natural resources used up. Health care in the United States is so expensive that insurance is required to get even the most basic care. Some of our freedoms are even being eroded, from unwarranted property seizures, to the illegality of selling raw milk, to the inconvenient and useless “security” procedures at airports.

It seems we have no control over these events and circumstances. Are we doomed, as the pauper of old, to play out our lives with the cards we’ve been dealt and never aspire to do or become more? I say No! With each challenge comes an opportunity to rise above it. Further, I believe that the “New World” that was once America, now encompasses the entire globe. The Land of Opportunity is all around us. With the advent of the Internet, it also sits right in our lap.

People will always be willing to give you something in exchange for something else of equal or greater value. I’ve created an online business that provides value to music teachers, and they gladly pay me each month for the service I provide. Most of these teachers live in the United States, but many of them live in other countries including Australia, Singapore, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Ireland, Panama, Brazil, France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, and dozens more.

This business has allowed me to live my American Dream, which at some point may include a big house and fancy car, but for right now, it’s international travel, time to pursue my passions, improve myself, spend time with my family, and help others achieve their dreams. I’m hoping that the book I’m currently writing about how to create an online business will help accomplish that last one.

People everywhere are looking for valuable solutions to their problems. Do you have a solution that could help someone — anyone — somewhere in the world? If so, then you may have an opportunity to start living your American Dream. There is no need to limit yourself to your country of birth, nor to the social class in which you were raised. Borders between countries are imaginary lines, not much different from the lines that stand in between our dreams and our living reality. You can cross those lines and start living your dreams today. No passport required.

———

Note: I wrote this article to be published at the same time as several other bloggers who all decided to write about the topic of the “American Dream.” Please see the other posts on this topic below.

• Nancy from Family on Bikes – What is the American Dream?
• Lisa from Around the World in Easy Ways – An American Dream Fairy Tale
• A King’s Life (hers) – Redefining an American Dream
• A King’s Life (his) — Livin’ the not-so-American Dream
• Talon from 1 Dad, 1 Kid, 1 Crazy Adventure – The American Dream
• Lisa Wood from New Life on the Road – Living the Australian Dream
• Lainie from Raising Miro – Erosion of the American Dream
• Bohemian Mom — The Illusion of the American Dream
• Kimberly from Fulltime Families — Trapped in the American Dream
• Family Travel Bucket List — Bye Bye Miss American Dream
• The Great Family Escape — The Real American Dream
• Melissa from Break Out of Bushwick — Good Morning, America, Let’s Occupy Wall Street!
• Livin On The Road – To dream a little dream of … travel

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Don’t Hire a Programmer for Non-Programming Tasks

First, if you just need a basic content-only website, like a blog or a website to tell about your upcoming product, or even a shopping cart site, there’s no need to hire a programmer. You can get a free website at WordPress.com, or get your own domain name and install the WordPress software yourself with one click. There are even free plugins for shopping carts if you want one.

If you want a nicer theme than the free WordPress themes, you can buy one for under $25 from themeforest.net. Or if you want a custom design, host a contest at 99designs.com, and then pay a slicing company like psd2html.com to turn it into an html site or WordPress theme for you. If you’re not sure how to buy a domain name or setup hosting on your website, you can learn how in under an hour by searching for tutorials on Google or YouTube. GoDaddy has an all in one solution that I’ve heard is pretty easy. Or you could probably hire someone on oDesk to set it all up for you for under $20. It’s simple, and just about anyone who says they can do it, will be able to.

5 Tips for Hiring a Programmer

Now, if you’re ready to create your actual online product, such as a web application to help real estate investors track their properties, or a scheduling tool for family therapists, this is where you’ll need a real programmer. I don’t recommend taking this step until you’ve actually tested your idea, and done a little research and number crunching to make sure your business has a good chance at being successful. I’ll talk more about that in my book. But assuming you’re ready to move forward, here are some tips for finding a good web application programmer:

1. Don’t use one guy to do everything

It’s rare to find someone who’s both a good programmer and a good designer. If you need a good design, hire a designer (or find a good template). If you need someone to slice up the design and turn it into html and css code, then use ones of the hundreds of slicing sites out there (google “html slicing” or “psd to html”). Don’t make your programmer do this stuff. Let them focus on the type of programming they’re good at. Having one guy doing both programming and database management is usually fine, though, depending on their experience.

2. Hire your programmer full-time

Hiring someone on a temporary basis just to complete the project can work, but you’ll pay a lot more, lose out on loyalty, and months after the project is “done”, you’ll find bugs or realize you need some different features. If the project is ”over”, then your freelancer may have already moved onto other projects and no longer have time to help you. It’s hard to ever call web-based software “finished” if you want to keep growing. So hire a programmer full-time and permanently. They will appreciate it, and so will you.

3. Hire a programmer who has experience with frameworks

A programming framework is like a set of tools that makes it faster and easier to write software with consistent code. Rather than hiring someone who knows “PHP” to write your site from scratch, hire a programmer who has experience in a framework, such as CakePHP, Ruby on Rails, or Django. These are usually the more experienced programmers. You’ll save a lot of time in development, and have less headache in maintenance. Using the framework will also make it easier to hand off the code to other programmers down the road, because they will be able to understand the code and where things are at, almost instantly.

4. Avoid India and the Middle East. Seek Filipinos.

I don’t like to put stereotypes on an entire country, but I have had a poor experience every time I’ve outsourced programming to India. I don’t know if it’s simply the language barrier, or if they don’t train their programmers well, but the project either doesn’t get done correctly or it is abandoned, and I know other entrepreneurs who have had the same experience. So now I do most of my outsourcing to the Philippines and have had far fewer problems. Most of the Filipinos I’ve worked with have had near perfect English, and are honest, hard-working people who do quality work. I’d also recommend not hiring programmers in the U.S. The quality in the Philippines is just as good, and 10 times cheaper. Besides, many firms in the U.S. just outsource to other countries anyway, and make a killing off you doing so.

5. Advertise on multiple sites

When outsourcing, you may first think to post your ad on elance or oDesk. These can be a great way to find programmers. But along with the built-in billing and screen monitoring benefits comes a higher cost, and many of these programmers only want short-term gigs. I’ve found fabulous programmers through oDesk, but I also recommend you post your ad on local job sites, like onlinejobs.ph or webgeekph.com/jobs to attract a different kind of crowd.

Once you have a few applicants, then comes the trick of determining who to hire. Look at their past work, email them back and forth several times and make sure there won’t be any language barriers. You may even consider hiring two or three programmers at once for a “testing period”, and assigning them each a task to see who does it best or fastest, then keeping that programmer.

What tips have you found helpful when hiring a programmer, or when outsourcing other tasks?

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A few years ago, Chris made a goal to travel to every country in the world (that’s 192 countries) by his 35th birthday, and he’s almost finished! He also spent several years volunteering in Africa, has supported himself financially through a myriad of different businesses and self-employment, and is a master of creativity and living a meaningful and fulfilling life.

Several of the topics he covered are ones I’m addressing in my book as well, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by a little overlap. At least now I have someone else I can quote. :)

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1. I believe it’s wise to have multiple sources of income, from multiple types of sources. I love my on-line business. But it’s just one source of income. Creating a new business, in a completely different industry means that I’ll continue making money no matter what happens to my other business, or to the Internet in general. Also, there will always be a need for food.
2. For fun! Part of the joy of life is learning new things and continuing to expand your skills. I want to see how farming works, how the business side operates, and determine if it’s a potentially lucrative business. So far, from the numbers I’ve seen, it certainly can be. I also like the idea of being a contributor of healthy, high quality food that is produced in an environmentally conscious way.

Organic Pineapple

Picking Pineapple

About a week ago, I toured one of the largest organic pineapple farms in the world, where I probably ate 2 whole pineapples over the course of an hour (my mouth was pretty sore). I learned some interesting facts about pineapple, such as:

• It takes 16 months for a pineapple to grow to maturity
• Pineapples don’t have a natural growing season (at least not in Costa Rica), so they are sprayed with a gas that helps them all grow at the same time.
• You can grow 22,000 pineapples in an acre
• There are LOTS of things that can go wrong, especially bugs and fungus.
• It costs $16,000/acre to plant, care for, and harvest the pineapple. In 16 months, you should be able to double your money.
• Growing pineapple successfully is a pretty exact science.

Hydroponic Lettuce

Hydroponic Lettuce Farm

Later, I visited a hydroponic lettuce farm (hydroponics is where you use only mineral-rich water and no soil to grow crops). I went with a friend of mine, and we talked directly to the farm owner, who basically shared with us his entire business plan, and how he operates. Here are some things I learned:

• Lettuce takes 5-6 weeks to grow to maturity
• Using this farmer’s methods, you can harvest 20,000 heads of lettuce per hectare (2.5 acres) every week
• Each hectare requires four employees
• There are few problems with bugs and fungus because of how they’re grown
• It costs about $30,000 to build a block (1/4 hectare)
• With a hectare of lettuce, you should be making about $17,000/month after profits (provided you can find distributors for that much lettuce)

Of course, there is so much more to it, and prices will vary based on a number of factors, including where in the world you’re at and who you export to. There is a lot to know, and a lot that can go wrong. But like anything else, it’s something that can be learned.

Thinking of Starting a Business?

I meet many people who dream of starting a on-line business, but they know very little about how to do it, and because they’re afraid of failure, they don’t start. Yes, in any endeavor, there are things that can go wrong. But that’s really okay. You can mitigate a lot of risks by doing research upfront, and that’s definitely a good idea. But no matter how much research you do, you can’t anticipate every problem. There will come a time where you just need to work through issues, think up even better solutions, and just keep moving forward. You only fail if you quit.

As for being tied down, I certainly don’t intend to be. I am not interested in starting a business that will require my constant attention. I will only do this if I can put systems in place to automate as many processes as possible, and hire help to handle the rest. After sufficient research has been done (including a little test run), I may decide that this type of business isn’t for me after all. And that’s okay, too. It will have been fun to learn, and I will have even more experience to apply to whatever I take on next. Either way, I win.

If you’re interested in starting a business, don’t let fear hold you back. Just take the first step, and see where it leads. It could change your life. :)

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Now that we’ve made the move abroad, my businesses are more automated than ever, and I’m more used to my 4-hour workweek lifestyle, I wanted to do it again and see how things have changed. I’ll share the results with you here.

A lot of people seem to think that if you only have to work a few hours per week, you must be spending the rest of your time relaxing in a hammock drinking piña coladas. I mean, what else is there to do? Actually, everything!

I do spend my fair share of time relaxing, being with family and friends, and even doing “nothing”. But I can’t do “nothing” for very long before I get restless and want to do something more productive. I’ve found that tracking my time really helps me be aware of what I’m doing in the moment, and feel less pressured doing tasks I don’t enjoy. I also realize that time will keep moving on, no matter what I do. As long as I’m enjoying life, growing, and helping others where I can, I feel like I’m living my life well.

Disclaimer: Even though I have these tasks recorded to the minute, they’re not always accurate to the minute. Sometimes I forgot to switch my timer right when I switched tasks, so had to modify it later with a little guess work. Being off by a few minutes for several things has led to being off by a couple hours overall. But it will have to do. For this exercise, I used SlimTimer, a free on-line time tracking tool.

Work Time

I define “work” as activities done specifically to help produce income. This week I “worked” a little more than usual because I was getting some video tutorials written for one product, and launched a special offer with another. I also planned some important new features to work on next. For me, it’s normal for this category to be under 5 hours per week total.

• Music Teacher’s Helper: 5 Hours, 18 minutes. This includes advertising/marketing (1:35), checking programmer’s work (1:30), customer support (0:48), and the rest in business planning, finances, and checking stats.
• Studio Helper: 2 hours, 1 minute. This includes working on video tutorials (1:27), business planning (24 min), and the rest dealing with feature requests and checking stats.
• Other: 33 minutes. This week, I started researching a new business idea, and that’s what this time was.

Total Work Hours: 7 Hours, 52 Minutes

Family Time

One of the things I like most about my lifestyle is that I have so much time to spend with my family. We’re together pretty much all day, even if we’re not doing the same thing. I’ve only included my personal time with my family here, so this doesn’t include the time my wife homeschools the kids, or the time they spend playing together. Driving them to their art class should probably be included here, but I put all driving under Personal.

• Playing with kids: 11 hours, 32 minutes. I try to play with my kids a little every day. A lot of this is computer or iPad games with one daughter while my wife is doing homeschool with the other one. But it also includes reading to them, playing hide and seek, “restaurant” and other imagination games.
• Watching Movies: 6 hours, 51 minutes. We watched a few movies with the kids this week, in the evenings, including the 1969 Doctor Dolittle, and Tarzan in Spanish.
• Family Outings: 5 hours, 15 minutes. This includes a little hike up the mountains behind our house, and a trip to the park to ride ponies and bicycles. We also spent time together with our friends, which I’ve included in the Personal: Visiting with Friends section.
• Talking with Jen: 3 hours, 56 minutes. Jen and I enjoy just sitting and talking, as well as reading together. We want to make even more time for it this coming week.

Total Family Time: 27 hours, 34 minutes

Personal Time

Even though it looks like I have a lot of time left over for myself, I don’t really feel like I have much “free time”. I guess that’s because I try to fill my time up with things that I like to do and am passionate about. I still have a full to-do list, and do spend time on things I’d rather not, but I try to work on the most important items first each day. Overall, I’m doing what I love with the majority of my time.

• Sleep: 57 hours, 21 minutes. That’s just over 8 hours per night. This week, we’ve been sleeping in a different room where the sun hits us warmly every morning around 6:30 through the windows. It’s not conducive to sleeping in, but is a very relaxing way to get up.
• Visiting with friends: 11 hours, 22 minutes. We had some friends over for a late lunch one day this week, and we spent an afternoon out with another friend.
• Meals: 11 hours, 2 minutes. We ate out a lot this week (almost every day), and took time to enjoy our food. The meal with our friends is included under “Visiting with friends”.
• Reading: 9 hours, 8 minutes. I have some really interesting books I’m reading right now, although half of this time was spent reading articles and blogs on-line.
• Personal Email: 8 hours, 13 minutes. I had a LOT more time-consuming e-mail than usual this week. I’ve been getting a lot of e-mails from people starting businesses who want advice. I’ve really enjoyed being able to help people in this regard. Maybe soon I will have to start charging for consulting and move this into the “Work” category. :)
• Writing: 4 hours, 31 minutes. This was time I spent working on my new book about how to create an on-line business. I suppose this could also be considered “Work” since I will eventually sell the book, but that’s not my main purpose in writing it.
• Daily Hygiene: 3 hours, 27 minutes. It’s amazing how much time this takes. But I do love a hot shower.
• Sex: 3 hours, 9 minutes. Ahh… Having a pregnant wife has some nice hormonal advantages.
• Meditating and spiritual time: 2 hours, 41 minutes. I have a great place to sit for my morning meditation overlooking the hills and the city view. Very relaxing.
• Finances: 2 hours, 3 minutes. This is higher than normal because I’ve been working a lot with my accountant trying to figure out taxes, and have been looking at other investment opportunities.
• Exercise: 1 hour, 47 minutes. This includes my daily stretching and tai chi, and a little weight lifting. This doesn’t include all the hiking and walking we did as a family this week.
• And I spent anywhere from 10 minutes to 1 hour, 30 minutes on each of the following: cleaning and organizing, house maintenance, driving, facebook, games (pool, and angry birds), journal, playing the piano, shopping, time tracking, vacation planning, writing on my blog, and selling stuff on Craigslist.

Total Personal Time: 128 hours, 52 minutes

Now that I’ve gone through all the effort of tracking my time for a week, it would be a shame to simply write a blog post about it and not use the data to see where I can improve. In the weeks ahead, I would like to make the following changes:

• More time with my wife, especially reading and talking with her.
• More family time together with the kids at home. We spend a lot of time together outside the home, but when we’re inside, we tend to do our own thing. I also want to take a more active role in homeschool, helping the kids with their blogs, music, as well as math and reading, etc.
• More time working on my book. I’m excited to complete this project and hopefully it will help a lot of people looking to create a business.
• Less time reading on-line. I want most of my reading time to be focused and intentional, not jumping from item to item.
• Less time on e-mail. I had built up a practice of checking e-mail just twice a day and leaving it alone the rest of the time. But I didn’t follow that so well this week, and found my productivity waver because of it.

Have you ever tracked your time? If you’ve ever charged per hour, chances are you’ve tracked your time working, but have you ever measured what you’re doing with the rest of your time? Yeah, maybe it is a bit fanatical. But I think there is value in it at least every once in a while.

I’m interested to hear your thoughts below, and what changes you’d like to make in how you spend your time.

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We arrived the day after a big snowstorm, so the kids enjoyed playing in the snow (in their dresses and flip flops), and we made a little snowman and had a short snowball fight without gloves. Snow is one thing the kids have really missed living in Costa Rica. It did look really beautiful on the mountains, and I was glad I didn’t have to drive in it.

Tragedy in Japan

While there, I heard about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. My heart went out to those who are suffering, and I spent some time researching organizations to donate through, so I could feel like I was contributing in some way. I looked up several charities on CharityNavigator.com and decided on Americares, which puts 99% of its revenue toward program expenses.

What I’d really like from a charity, though, is to be able to see how my money helped specific individuals. On such a grand scale, it’s probably difficult to do this, but SeeYourImpact.com is the closest thing I have found, and I donate to them ocassionally. Unfortunately, they’re not setup to take donations for Japan at the moment, so I went with Americares this time.

A few people have asked me if this earthquake will deter us from traveling there later this or next year. My answer is absolutely not! First of all, we never really planned to go up north to the affected areas. But second, I believe that Japan will recover very quickly from this disaster. If any country is prepared for earthquakes and tsunamis, and knows how to handle itself in a crisis, it’s Japan.

Progress on my book

Since my business was highlighted by Tim Ferriss on his popular blog, I’ve received over a dozen e-mails from people who are thinking about or are in the process of creating their own businesses. It’s been fun hearing their stories and answering their questions. And it’s made me realize that there are a lot of people out there who are trying to do what I have done, and who want some guidance. There are also a lot of people who are considering creating a business, but have no idea where to even start.

Of course, it sounds like a dream to some that you could earn over $25,000/month working just 5 hours per week, but I really do. In fact, I expect to be making about double that by the end of this year, with no increase in my work hours. But please understand – it has taken a HUGE amount of work to get to this point, over a period of about 5 years. I also believe that it’s possible for anyone to create a successful business if they’re willing to put forth the effort and go about it in a smart way.

There’s a rumor going around that 90% of businesses fail, or only 10% succeed. I have made three attempts at creating businesses, and have succeeded at all three – a 100% success rate. My advice is, ignore statistics and don’t follow the 90% who are doing it wrong.

As you may know, I’ve been working on a book about how to create a self-sustaining on-line business. It’s been a slow process, and I’ve stopped and started a few times, wondering if the world really needs another business book. But with the encouragement I’ve received, I realize that I do have something unique to offer, even if it’s just sharing my experience in how I created my business and lifestyle, and what I’ve learned in the process.

So I’m picking up the pace again with my book. I think I’m about 70% finished with my first major draft. I can’t really tell at this point exactly when I’ll be done, and I have no idea how long the editing process will take, but I hope to have it completely finished and available by the end of this year (2011).

Your Questions Answered – I Need Your Help

In the book, I’m trying to write about the topics that would have helped me the most as I created my business, and I want to make sure I cover the most common questions of new entrepreneurs. However, since I’m only one person, and everyone is starting from a different place, I need some help knowing what those questions are.

So far, I’m planning to address issues like how to come up with an idea, how to know if your idea is a good one, how to outsource effectively, how to get the word out about your product, how to structure your business legally, and more, including some chapters on finance and productivity. But I want to make sure I don’t forget anything important, or leave out little details that would make a big difference to someone.

So, if you are thinking about starting a business, or are interested in reading my book, I would really appreciate it if you’d take a minute to post in the comments below (or send me an e-mail), telling me what questions or issues you’d like the book to address. I want this book to be as thorough as it can be, so it can help as many people as possible. Thanks in advance for taking the time to help with your feedback.

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy

Of course, this isn’t a comprehensive list (that would be impossible – can you imagine, “I breathed, then blinked, then ate a strawberry…”), but I tried to pick some of the year’s highlights, and have listed them below in no particular order. Enjoy!

1. Moved my family to Costa Rica with only 1 carry-on suitcase, and one small backpack each
2. Became comfortably fluent in Spanish
3. Visited the incredible ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru
4. Went paragliding for the first time
5. Bought a car in Costa Rica
6. Changed my diet to more natural, wholesome foods, including more fruit and vegetables
7. Took up the daily practice of meditation
8. Hosted fun visits from family and friends
9. Almost doubled my monthly income
10. Visited 8 different countries: United States, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Guatemala
11. Lived in a dream home with a gorgeous view for just $900/month
12. Met several new friends including some native Costa Ricans who have become some of my closest friends EVER!
13. Turned 30
14. Tried and enjoyed some delicious new fruit – guanabana, cas, chirimoya, naranjilla, mamón chino, and water apples
15. Got pulled over by corrupt traffic cops asking for bribes in Panama
16. Worked an average of 8 hours per week on income producing activities (ie. “work”)
17. Was interviewed by JetSetCitizen and ExpatAlley
18. Watched Emily learn how to read well
19. Became more open minded about religion and different belief systems
20. Experienced intense Costa Rican lightning and rainstorms/downpours (and a couple earthquakes)
21. Visited the ancient Mayan ruins of Tikal in Guatemala
22. Bought 2 iPads, 1 iPhone, 1 Macbook Pro, and 2 PCs. Sold one old computer, and gave one away. One of the new PC’s already broke. I will buy no more PC’s.
23. Helped my kids each start their own blog: EmilyInTheJungle.com and RidingAButterfly.com
24. Started writing a book about how to create an on-line business
25. Attended my first “Spiritual” conference (Celebrate Your Life)
26. Read over a dozen non-fiction books (mostly on the iPad), 3 fiction books, and lots of small e-books. I’ll be reviewing some on my blog shortly.
27. Ate an ostrich burger in Ecuador
28. Awoke every morning with the sun to the sound of bird songs, and NO alarm clock
29. Took my family to Disney World and sang on “American Idol” in Hollywood Studios
30. Learned how to really play foosball with proper technique
31. Homeschooled my kids without a set curriculum
32. Saw a man getting beat up in the streets of Quito, Ecuador, and the police standing around doing nothing about it
33. Played in the warm ocean waves with my family
34. Composed several piano and vocal arrangements and recorded them
35. Saw the giant tortoises on the Galapagos Islands
36. Grew a beard
37. Saw how chocolate is made and tasted it fresh from the farm
38. Served as a 1st counselor in a branch presidency
39. Took steps to purchase my first real estate investment property
40. Watched nesting sea turtles lay their eggs on the beach at night
41. Made some great friends while volunteering at a school in Peru
42. Grew my business to over 1,000 paying customers
43. Decided to get my Costa Rican residency
44. Visited the largest water fountain park in the world in Lima, Peru
45. Saw three different types of monkeys, as well as iguanas, coati, sea lions, crabs, blue-footed boobies, sharks, scorpions, llama, alpaca, large beetles and spiders, cane toads, and many more animals – all in the wild
46. Finally got my tongue to properly pronounce “yigüirro” – the national bird of Costa Rica
47. Got a stomach bug in Peru and threw up for several days in a row. Also got photo bombed by an old woman picking her nose.
48. Hand-fed carrots to a giraffe, ostrich, dromedary, and deer
49. Survived Ecuador police strikes and political riots
50. Saw lots of ancient American ruins and artifacts
51. Had the best cinnamon roll I’ve ever had at Cafe Delicias in Grecia, Costa Rica
52. Hiked to several beautiful waterfalls
53. Lived with my Grandma for two weeks while visiting family back in my hometown
54. Continued practicing Tai Chi as part of my morning routine
55. Got a free yellow fever vaccination in Colombia
56. Straddled the equator line in Ecuador
57. Stopped programming and fixing programming errors. It’s now 100% outsourced.
58. Realized I still don’t miss not having lots of “stuff”. But I do like to live near nice restaurants. :)
59. Held a sloth, toucan, poison dart frog, rainbow boa, blue morpho butterfly (and its caterpillar equivalent), and a red-eyed tree frog
60. Changed a flat tire on the highway in Guatemala
61. Looked into the craters of two active volcanos
62. Watched as our kids gradually taught themselves how to swim
63. Met people who moved to Costa Rica because they had read my blog
64. Saw a pair of scarlet macaws in flight and in the wild. Also saw blue crowned mot mots, toucans, toucanets, bananaquits, several varieties of hummingbird, and other beautiful birds in the wild, many in my own backyard
65. Visited organic farms and ate some of the freshest produce I’ve ever had, and honey right out of the hive
66. Enjoyed the hot springs near the Arenal volcano in Costa Rica
67. Celebrated 8 years of marriage
68. Volunteered at an animal rescue center in Costa Rica
69. Discovered we’re pregnant with our third child
70. Zip-lined through the jungle – several times
71. Played with my kids almost every day
72. Toured an old fort in Old Town Cartagena, Colombia
73. Lived out of a small school-sized backpack for 2 1/2 months while traveling through South America
74. Ate dinner with friends once a week.
75. Hiked through the Monteverde cloud forest and saw the rainforest canopy from hanging bridges.
76. Went surfing for the first time
77. Ate lots and lots and lots of rice and beans

It’s so fun to look back and see all that we’ve done this year, and I’m excited to see what 2011 brings. In the mean time, I’m going to try and enjoy whatever I’m doing at the moment and make the most of my life right now.

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy

Hiring a Personal Assistant

However, since September is less than two weeks away, this doesn’t give us a lot of time to plan the trip. And with how I tend to plan (ie. way too much web research), I knew I’d need some help. So I decided to hire an assistant. I chose not to go with a tour company because of the high costs, and because we want a fairly flexible itinerary, including some free volunteering and maybe even couchsurfing. So I went to my favorite outsourcing site, oDesk.com (affiliate link) and was able to find an awesome virtual assistant (Cindy) in Australia for just $5.56/hour.

This is the first time I’ve ever hired a personal assistant or outsourced personal tasks. In my business, I outsource programming, customer service, blogging, SEO, and more. And I love it! I couldn’t run my business without the help I receive every day from my team. But personal tasks? Isn’t that too…personal to outsource? Would I just be a control freak and end up doing the work all over again myself anyway? While I’m still not quite ready to have someone answer all my e-mail (when my family writes, I’d like to respond personally, for example), I thought it wouldn’t hurt to get someone to at least help with coordinating multi-country flights, and finding good accommodations and activities.

The Details of the Trip

Galapagos Tortoise

I posted my project on oDesk, including a detailed description of exactly what I wanted, including:

• Finding the cheapest flights and buses for a trip to Colombia, Ecuador (including the Galapagos islands), Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil
• The best accommodation in several categories (free/couchsurfing, hostel/B&B, mid-range hotel, and vacation rental)
• A list of activities and volunteer opportunities in each area with prices and details
• A list of average high and low temperatures in each area at that time of year, etc.

My entire project description was actually about 3 pages long, with a lot more detail about what I was looking for in each of these areas, including some tips on how to find cheap flights and what activities and accommodations to rule out. (I have learned to be very detailed when outsourcing in order to get the results I want.)

I had about 30 people apply for the job, some for as low as $2.22/hour, but Cindy impressed me the most with her prompt communication demonstrating that she truly understood what I wanted. It’s great working with a native English speaker who understands every nuance and comes from a similar cultural background. She finished putting together the initial flight itinerary the next day, and I quickly realized that I had overbooked us. We weren’t getting enough time in each location, and would probably feel rushed. Plus, the many flights across South America really drove the cost up – I wasn’t about to pay $14,000 in airfare! Buses are an alternative, but I didn’t realize how big South America is! It’s a 30-50+ hour bus ride in between most countries, often through winding mountain roads. I shudder to think how our 5 and 7-year old kids (not to mention their parents) would hold up on a journey like that. But it might be fun to try once; I hear the buses are quite nice.

In the end, we decided to cut out Chile, and save Colombia until the end of the trip, flying directly from there to Orlando through Jet Blue Buddy passes. We’ll get to spend more than a week in each country, sometimes 2, and hopefully have plenty of days “off” to just relax or catch up on work. This is really just long enough to give us a taste of these countries, but we can always come back if we fall in love with a place. Cindy did take longer than I expected on the project, but this is partly because I kept changing my mind about what I wanted. I think I’m going to have her continue helping me with other tasks, too, if she’s willing.

Update (Aug 19, 2010): Cindy just informed me that we need to apply for a visa to Brazil in advance in order to get in. Unfortunately, we don’t have to time to put all the documents together and wait for the consulate to prepare the visa before we leave on our trip, so we’re going to have to cut Brazil out of the itinerary. At least we hadn’t bought any plane tickets yet! We’ll be back to Brazil another time when we came spend longer there and actually learn a little Portuguese.

Update2: Okay, now we’re cutting out Argentina and Brazil to save on airfaire, and to give those two countries the time they deserve on a later trip. This will be a slower-paced trip now, just Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

More than a fun vacation

Children in Peru

We’re not planning out what we’re doing every hour, or even every day of this trip. For a lot of activities, I think we’ll wait until we get there and see what feels most appealing at the moment, after talking to the locals. But we have a good list of things to do in each place, and we’ll make sure we get to the major attractions like Machu Picchu and Iguazu Falls. We’re also really excited to volunteer for a week at a school in Peru, Aldea Yanapay!

I hope this will be a great adventure for our family, something more than just a “fun” vacation, although I’m sure it will be fun. I want to meet new people and make new friends, stand in awe of some the world’s natural and man-made wonders, experience new cultures, foods, and sounds, open my eyes to new ways of living and thinking, learn more about the history, language, and life of the people and countries I’m visiting, grow closer to my wife and kids, and hopefully make a positive difference in someone’s life along the way. It’s a tall order, but for some reason, I have no doubt this trip will meet every one of my expectations. And I like to think that I will be made better in the process, too. Oh! How I love to travel!

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy

He asked questions about everything from what life is like in Costa Rica, to how I run my business, and how I educate my kids. I hope that my story can be an inspiration to those looking to do something similar in their lives.

Check out the interview at the link below.

http://www.jetsetcitizen.com/work-anywhere/interview-brandon-pearce/

You can also follow JetSetCitizen on twitter at @jetsetcitizen.

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy