I’ve now spent 3 months in Thailand and am visiting Siem Reap in Cambodia for a week, so it’s time for a bit of accountability!
Weightloss
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here we go:
I’ve lost 10 kg in the last 3 months, training at Tiger Muay Thai and Crossfit Phuket, eating properly, supplementing properly and not really drinking! Clothes that were previously too small, that I bought with me, now fit and I have a good routine going now. In another 6 months I should have easily met my goal.
Reading
I’ve read 6 books in the 3 months, which is about 6 more than in the last year. My reading list is growing faster than I can keep up though.
Business
I’ve abandoned all my previous drop shipping sites as the margins were either super low or the cost of buying traffic was super high. Not good. I’ve also abandoned the drop ship ride along I started as I am making good money selling on Amazon and didn’t want to spread myself too thinly.
I’ve grown sales considerably since I’ve left the UK but they have started taking a dip before Christmas, a little because my niche is slightly seasonal but a lot because Amazon have started to enforce a number of their advertising policies which have started to effect my sales technique. I now have 4 products available on Amazon instead of 1 and have put in a lot of work on a 5th which should launch in a few weeks. I think the Amazon profit alone is enough to cover all my expenses so far.
The other sites I started several years ago also have done very well, also by themselves enough to cover all my costs so far, but I would like to grow the Amazon side of the business to the point where I can sell my old sites. 80/20 rule for life yo!
I’m also developing my own SaaS application, all be it slowly, which should generate some good passive income when it launches.
Education
I’ve gained my PADI Open Water Advanced certification, but not done much else. I haven’t done much work towards the Matador travel writing and travel photography modules, I completely failed to complete a 4 week course about underwater archaeology but I have just enrolled in an online TEFL Masters course as it was only £29 on Amazon (instead of £399).
I think I need some better time management skills!
Blood Pressure
This is a late edit as I’ve forgotten to monitor my blood pressure over the past few months until a friend asked about it earlier today!
My blood pressure today was 137/93 which is tons better from 151/103, which I originally started with 3 months ago, but still counts as Stage 1 Hypertension. Hopefully my new life style will continue to improve my health and overall quality of life and I will get to the Normal range shortly!
That’s a shame to hear drop shipping isn’t a goer.
Do you think that applies to drop shipping in general or just the products/niches you chose?
Are you importing products to sell on Amazon or are they some other kind of product?
Good luck with the TEFL course, hopefully your sites will start to earn enough so you don’t have to teach English though.
Good luck.
Hey Joe, it was just the products and niches I chose as well as the suppliers I chose. I started the stores when I was in the UK and chose the niches badly. I could sell low end items quite easily, but that meant more work, more customer service, etc. and doesn’t really follow Anton’s method of sell only expensive things!
Anton’s drop shipping method definitely works, I’ve helped one of my UK friends set up a store over the last 3 months targeting the US market, he’s sourced suppliers in Canada and America and is already making great sales. Didn’t even need to register a US company!
So far all the Amazon products are sourced from America though I’m in talks with some Chinese suppliers about different niche areas and thinking about the Canton Fair in China next year.
I think In total I’ve done about $6k profit this month, the TEFL is more about getting some life experience in and meeting people 🙂
That sounds good. I’m looking at importing some products to see what the process is.
The Canton Fair seems interesting. I listened to a podcast about it and it sounds pretty hectic!
Would be a great goal for next year.
Are you planning on heading back up to Chiangmai?
Cheers,
Joe
I’ve been chatting with Kai and he’s successfully imported some stuff from China, in fact yesterday he placed his second order as he was about to run out of stock so definitely have a word with him!
The Canton Fair looks MASSIVE and will probably be rammed with people, some of the stuff they’ve had this year is super interesting though, especially some of the functional clothes, waterproof coats for cyclists with embedded LEDs for signalling to traffic and all sorts.
I will be popping up to Chiang Mai on 23rd Dec for 2 weeks to catch up with everyone! Aaron’s supposed to be putting together a crew for Christmas dinner if you fancy it 😀
That’s great. I’m in Australia for Christmas but will try to make it up to CM sometime next year for sure.
Cheers,
Joe