A Zen student came to Bankei and complained: “Master, I have an ungovernable temper. How can I cure it?”
“You have something very strange,” replied Bankei. “Let me see what you have.”
“Just now I cannot show it to you,” replied the other.
“When can you show it to me?” asked Bankei.
“It arises unexpectedly,” replied the student.
“Then,” concluded Bankei, “it must not be your own true nature. If it were, you could show it to me at any time. When you were born you did not have it, and your parents did not give it to you. Think that over.”
The last few weeks have been hectic. Figuring out my next move was my top priority. I’m fully diseased with the travel bug and everyday thoughts of going to a far away land comes to my mind. Money is well, was one of the issues. I say was because I figured out my next move.
I’ve always said I was going back to Asia and I made the decision to do whatever it takes to make it happen. When I’m fully determined to want something, I make it possible. China was one of my favorite destinations so it’s to no surprise then that is where I’ll be going. With low money, the only option was to work in China. With a ton of Google searches, I came across a position to teach English at a University in Xi’an. I’ve been to Xi’an before and I absolutely loved it. With just a simple Resume that explains my determination, I received an email the very next day. A few emails and several papers have already been filled out, signed, and sent. Next move is to simply apply for the work visa itself and book the flight. I leave end of August and return beginning of July. A full school year. Excited? VERY! More details as things come up.
ArtofBackpacking.com
I cannot explain how hard I work to keep this website going. My income surprisingly increasing every single day. Traffic has hit to about 400 visits a day. And Twitter has become my best friend. I’ve been invited to host a travel meet-up Meet, Plan, Go in Philly but unfortunately cannot make it since I’ll be in China. Then I get at least over a dozen emails per day about guest posts, link exchanges, contests, and just about anything. Hope to keep it just as alive while I’m in China. The next few weeks I have plans to expand it further with a bigger community.
Film
When it comes to film, I’m an amateur. But I’ve gotten a huge interest in it lately and thought for my next trip to bring along a professional camcorder to tape the experience and have something to put together later. Still researching possible camcorder’s but the Canon Vixia is on the list. A professional camcorder is what I’m ultimately looking for. Hopefully I can get enough cash together for it.
Last week I contacted a temp agency in search for a job, they were able to get me a job quickly despite the fear of less job opportunities. My interview was set for tomorrow and I was pretty excited for the income but wasn’t excited for the type of job it was going to be. It was yet another cubicle office job doing nearly the same thing I had once left. I put a lot of thought on what I’m going to do in regards to money and how I’m going to travel again so this decision wasn’t out of the blue. I called the temp agency back rejecting tomorrows interview although it was near guarantee that I was going to have this job. It was for $16USD/hr so not exactly a money maker and nowhere near enough to actually save (at least in New Jersey). Why did I do this? Well… I left the robot life to live the life I now have so why go backwards? I can’t imagine myself back in the routine. I’m much better then that and I know I can do much better. I’m giving myself one month and review how much progress I’ve made with this website. If all else fails, I’ll need to work a bit in an office job to pay off a few things.
So now there’s the issue of income. I’ve maxed out a credit card that I wasn’t suppose to use but ended up using it during my last month of travels. Not good. It’s really the only reason I was even going to get the boring job. Here are the bills I need to pay per month
Credit Card: $120
School Loan: $100
Car Insurance: $100
When I do get my cell activated again, that’s another $100.
That’s a total of $300 to $400 a month. Nothing crazy but still quite a bit for someone who doesn’t make much. I need to make at least $100 a week to break even. Here’s what I’m doing to resolve this: Art of Backpacking has shown more growth then ever. I’ve worked 12 hour days every single day since I’ve been back. Articles have been published nearly everyday, at least 20 emails are sent each day, hawking twitter, and networking with as many people as possible. It’s honestly not easy and there really isn’t enough hours in a day to do all the things I do for the website. My eyes any day now will pop out of my head. But I love it! It’s work that I honestly love to do. On Monday night I went to a SoSauce.com meet-up in NYC to meet several other travel writers and travel industry people, I couldn’t have felt I fit in more. It was my type of crowd. Met tons of other people just networking along.
I’ve contacted at least 30 or so Craigslist ads looking for website work, DJ’s, or anything else that I was able to do. I’m on of this nearly everyday looking for as much freelance work as possible. The work is out there, just need to a bit of homework and search for it. And the pay is pretty good.
In the last post I mentioned I’d be contacting everyone else more instead of waiting for them to contact me and believe me it’s help a lot!
Aprils Stats and Progress
- Found out through all the clothing and book reviews that I’ve had a good sum in my Amazon account.
- Google Adsense wasn’t much of a progress at all for April.
- Bought a ticket to TBEX in NYC – A way to network with ours and hopefully expand even further at the conference in two months.
- I’m a bit surprised how well Amazon worked out. The unexpected revenue was great and I think I’ll be pushing a bit more on Amazon since I never really payed much attention to it earlier.
- Some redesigns on Art of Backpacking. I like the footer widgets I’ve added. Cleaned up the interface a bit.
- Made a unbelievable deal with TripFilms.com. AOB will be featuring a weekly video in a post and they’ll be making a special mention of us on their website. We’re even working on a very awesome contest with a pretty big prize set for Mid-May, more details to come. I’ve been interviewed and could be making a few articles on there as well.
Projects for May
- I just received an eBook from Kirsty at nerdynomad so a review should be coming once I finish.
- Make a new design for the top sidebar where the social buttons and subscribe email link is. I’ve always hated that area but I’m always having a hard time designing it.
- Create loads and loads of advertising graphics to spread around the internet. Banners, buttons, etc.
- Try to get a few more advertisers
- More frequent posts as always.
So there it is. My life officially as a travel writer, web developer, and entrepreneur.
