These are my Momentos, short personal diary entries I write daily – since 2013 – and publish monthly. Some links are affiliate links.
1
Averaging less than 6 hours of sleep this week, less than 5 last night. It ain’t healthy or sustainable to be spending significantly more hours in front of my laptop every day than I spend sleeping. But it’s a trade-off I’m willing to accept for a while.
2
Two ways to build a 4-hour-workweek business: put in a crazy amount of hard work up-front, then reap the rewards for many years; or, find and exploit some loophole few people know about, and hope it stays secret. Which of those businesses would you rather have?
3
Reading Katharine Graham’s autobio. She writes about her parents and the influence they had on her, the good and the bad. Imagine if you could read about any given life like that, learn how people became who they are. We’d probably judge much less, empathize much more.
4
Yet another disappointing affiliate marketing course. How can there be 30+ lessons and barely any mention of SEO? How can the content be so generic? How can the lady who created this course have made so few updates since 2016 and still be earning $1000 a day from it?
5
Might be an opportunity to speak at a digital nomad conference next year but I’m not even going to try for it. My last few speaking gigs took a lot of time and I can’t point to anything significant that came from them. I’d be doing it more for vanity than anything else.
6
Signs of aging: the cultural icons of your youth are passing away regularly; your parents attend more funerals than weddings; both you and your wingman from seven years ago are now in long-term committed relationships, double-dating in Ubud.
7
Early morning, still dark. I let the kettle boil in blue flame, spend a few minutes watching geckos hunt termites, stalking across walls and windows. The big gecko is back living in the kitchen. He was away for a few days, returned home with no tail between his legs.
8
All these folks are heading out for the night, been drinking for a few hours. Just not my scene anymore. There’s nothing I’d like LESS than to head to a bar right now. Get me home to bed and a good book.
9
Been a miserable day, had a banging headache and a sore throat earlier. But at least it’s ending well. Feeling better now as we lounge on the beach with some fruity drinks, watching the sun sink, listening to a podcast hug.
10
Subscribers starting to pick up. Gained about 100 all of last month, and now 50 in the last week. I feel good about the newsletter. Solid content, positive feedback, and it forces me to stay in the loop and learn new things each week.
11
A few aches and pains now… back’s been at me for a couple of weeks, the sore throat still lingering. I should really get some rest, but instead I threw almost ten hours at the work stuff today. Trying to get ahead before flying to Thailand tomorrow.
12
On the way to the airport and a blip on the phone tell me it’s a thousand dollar day. This should end up being my best month yet for affiliate income. Grateful, but not too much. I’ll try treat this like an average day. Because that’s what I want it to be, the level I’m looking to get to.
13
There are two types of authority site builders: those who reveal their sites, and those who don’t. I’m obviously the former. Makes it easier at meetups like this, on a Chiang Mai rooftop. You can talk specifics. But there are advantages to keeping your site to yourself.
14
First day of the conference proper. Had several people recognize me and compliment my work. That felt good. I’m less than a year into this SEO and affiliate marketing game, yet my content might already be on par with the seasoned pros.
15
Published that review. Spent 30 hours on it, ended up being about 7000 words, few of them positive. Might actually be some blowback from this one. The lady who created the course has many fans. Hopefully they’ll see fit to tell me I’m wrong.
16
Breakfast with a man who runs ultramarathons and climbs the world’s highest mountains. Lunch with a guy who built a successful SaaS from scratch. Dinner with a whole bunch of baller SEO types. Hard to beat Chiang Mai for this kind of thing.
17
The past two months I’ve been averaging less than 7 hours of sleep. Thought that was rough, until I met a couple who sleep 2-3 hours per night. I don’t know how they function, but they do. You think you have it bad but there’s always someone out there with a bigger struggle.
18
What’s worse: physical illness or mental illness? I’d argue the latter. Phil Graham had manic depression. Hurt the people he loved most. Couldn’t help himself. No effective treatment available back then, his only solution was to eat a shotgun.
19
Back to Bali. Time it right and it’s a spectacular place to fly into, volcanos at sunset filling the window frame. It was a good trip to Chiang Mai, and I’d be happy enough staying there, too. But, for now at least, Bali feels like home.
20
Email from a stranger tells me I’m doing affiliate marketing right:
“Just used your link for TASS. You were the first person I came across that seemed completely honest and gave sufficient information unlike the hoard of Wealthy Affiliates trying to get a quick cash grab. Go spend some of that referral money on a nice massage and enjoy your travels in Asia.”
21
Not sure what to do with the Freedom Business Builder group. Keep it as is? Pour more time and energy into it to add more value? Increase the price of entry? Make it free? Or donation-based? Brainstorming ideas with members.
22
Walking the loop in Ubud after dark. It’s low season now. The town is quiet, more humid. But you’ll still find the occasional busy bar with live music, still hear frequent calls of taxi and massage. Everything’s pretty much the same, but less white people.
23
Met a lady today who quit her corporate job five months ago and has been traveling the world since. It’s been eye-opening for her. And a good reminder for me. Easy to take the freedom for granted these days, almost ten years deep.
24
Cruising some back roads in Bali, taking in the countryside. We pass through one village with a whiff of coffee beans. Cross a bridge with a man pointing a rifle to the sky. Give and get waves from several children. See a truck run a red light and almost kill some folks.
25
Another internet marketing person whose work I admire signed up to my mailing list today, sent along some kind words. My newsletter is still relatively unknown, but it seems to be catching the attention of some key people. Must be a good sign.
26
My goal for the end of the year was to be earning $3-4k per month from affiliate marketing. Got a payment today that puts me over $4k for November. Delighted. It hasn’t been a smooth road, but this bus is definitely moving in the right direction.
27
Every piece of content we publish should be something we’re proud of. There’s too much thin, bullshit content out there online. Some of it earns good money, but that can’t be the sole measure of success. If you’re going to make something, make it excellent.
28
We don’t interact much with the locals here. Or the foreigners, for that matter. Pretty much keep to ourselves, focused on work, doing our own introverted thing. That’s a conscious choice, but there’s a part of me that feels we’re missing out on some of that important human stuff.
29
I like those first moments coming down the steps, sleep still in my eyes, horizon starting to glow, sounds of sweeping, sometimes a smell of incense, glimpse of a spectacular landscape half-painted by the neighbors, soon to be sold.
30
A little after six in the morning, walking by some rice fields, thinking: when you reach a new level, you tend to believe that’s your new default, that you’ll either maintain or keep growing. You never really consider that you might fall back down. But, of course, you can. Tokugawa Ieyasu must have been thinking similar when he said:
“At the moment of victory, tighten the straps of your helmet.”