My first 4-Hour WorkWeek Expedition – 6 Weeks of South-East Asia

Work less to achieve more & party my ass off in the process. That’s the plan…

“Fuck it, I am outta here!”

Those were the exact words I used just prior to purchasing my tickets to Bangkok (Thailand) about a week ago. I have been dreaming of taking such a vacation for years, but the timing always seemed “off”. At least I thought it was. I was always caught up in the “excuse for excuses sake” circle, so the problem was studying, work, financial problems or just a girlfriend who doesn’t like traveling at all.

I have managed to unleash all of the shackles that were holding me back, thanks to a couple of inspirational people and some inspirational books I`ve read in the past. I am done with academics and care little about my degree in “there will be no jobs for you in the next 30 years” economics. I believe “street smarts” are way more important these days. The entrepreneurial road is way more fun and way more profitable, than the “please somebody stick a fork in my eye cause I don’t wanna go to my” 9-17 job.

One of the most influential books I have ever read was “The 4-hour workweek” by Tim Ferriss. It was a real slap on the back of the head, which got me moving in the right direction. I started my first company soon after finishing the book. I set up a business with my own brand of martial arts equipment, which I was selling online on a local scale. I incorporated many of the 4hww tactics, but in the end I realized the market size was just too low and the business was not sustainable without a brick and mortar business model. I stayed with the latter for about 2 years, but it was not the idea I envisioned.

I knew people were making thousands, if not millions of $ online, but never knew what exactly their business models were like. What did they do? What did they sell? Where did the money come from?

So without any knowledge whatsoever, I dug in and started an almost yearlong exploration of the online business world. The results were staggering. I have spent more time and read more books on this subject, than all my courses at the university put together…5 times over!

The result of all this is the lifestyle I have always imagined and the ability to go on a 6 week backpacking trip across south-east Asia (Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore) whilst my business grows. I will spend no more than 4 hours a week in front of my mini laptop, which I am bringing, just to check if everything is running smoothly and if there are any critical (and I do mean critical) questions that need answering.

How is this possible?

My business model is simple. I create sites/blogs which rank high in the search engines (SEO expertize comes in handy here). I get tons of traffic to those sites which offer valuable information to the searchers. I monetize the sites with either ads (pay per click), cpa offers (cost per action) or affiliate sales of products and services related to the topics on the site.

That’s basically it in a nut shell. How to achieve the first part, which is ranking high in the search engines, is a science in itself and I will have dozens if not hundreds of posts on this subject in the near future, so stay tuned.

The biggest edge I possess (excluding my knowledge of SEO) is the ability to work wherever and whenever as long as there is internet access available. I will not be creating new sites on this trip, but will only supervise the work from freelancers (people you hire to do things for you, but are not your employees) and from companies providing online services (usually software based).

Yes, I will only be spending 4 hours on this (if not less), but there is usually a problem (which most of you will not recognize as a problem at first) with the spare time you have, when you are not working. In this case I will be traveling through Thailand, island hopping via Koh Lanta, Koh PhiPhi, Koh Samui, Koh Phangan (Full moon party) and Koh Tao. I will be hopping over to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as well as Singapore (I bought a plane ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore for 3.90€!!!). Hopefully I will meet a lot of people on the way, since I am traveling alone. I am quite the talkative kind, so I believe meeting new people will not be all that difficult.

If I was to stay at home for 6 weeks, I would however continue to work for works sake. The misconception of working harder is embedded in our minds (mostly from our old-school parents teachings and from the culture itself). I prefer working smarter not harder (there is a huge emphasis on this in Tim`s book).

“Life doesn’t have to be so freaking hard!”

The other “funny” thing to focus on is also the cost of it all. I have just moved out of my rental apartment where I was paying roughly 650-700€ per month just for rent and expenses. Add food and gasoline to get to my office and around and we are in the 1000€ (1350$ at the time) mark. Thanks, but no thanks. Even though I can afford it, it doesn’t make any sense. I will go half way around the world to a tropical destination and enjoy myself for far less. I could theoretically stay there forever, but I have friends and family which I cherish more than any retreat. I believe Ljubljana, Slovenia has an optimal geographical location for accessing any endeavors I might think of in the future.

To summarize     

Working 4 hours a week whilst growing an online business is possible. Focusing on the most important things, which bring the most results is key. Eliminating time consuming tasks and outsourcing them to freelancers is a must. Enjoying yourself and not thinking about work, and not doing work for works sake is critical!

I will hopefully write more posts on the Thailand trip prior to going, especially about the minimalistic approach to packing (taking as little luggage as possible) and also have some reports and videos ready when I come back.

Feel free to post any questions in the comment section.

Have fun and enjoy. I know I will

To your online success, Igor Buyseech