Last weekend to take a break from training and have a bit of an adventure I arranged a snorkling trip so the Similan Islands through Phuket Dive Tours. There was an offer on at the time and the cost of the trip was 2700 Baht (£53) and included transfer to the boat to the Similans, breakfast and lunch! Snorkles were supplied and fins were 100baht (£2) to rent, I bought my own though, as did a few others, but the gear they supplied was good enough and also in great condition.

The road Tiger Muay Thai and Signature Phuket are on is having extensive roadworks today, with power and water outages. This means no training, as I can’t shower afterwards and no Internet as there’s no electricity, so I’ve headed out to a co-working space to get some work done.

Yesterday was the last day of the Drop Ship Lifestyle Retreat in Chiang Mai with more amazing presentations and fantastic entertainment.

Drop Ship Lifestyle 2014 Retreat Schedule

Friday, October 10th

• 8:00am – 9:00 – Open office with coffee (Optional)
• 9:00am – 9:45 – Content Marketing for eCommerce and Q&A with Brandon Nolte
• 10:00am – 10:30 – Facebook Ads Session and Q&A with Jill and Josh Stanton
• 10:30am – 11:15 – Outsourcing your Life and Q&A with Vince Wong
• 11:45pm – Meet out front of Ibis for transportation to the Elephant Nature Park
• 12:30pm – 5:00 – Elephant Nature Park
• 5:00pm – Meet at drop off point for return transportation to Ibis
• 5:45pm – 6:45 – Free time
• 6:45pm – Meet out front of Ibis for transportation to the Closing Party
• 7:00pm – 9:00 – Closing party / Buffet dinner and open bar included at 90’s Bar

The presentations in the morning were cut down and a little rushed to fit the afternoon and evening in. The Outsourcing You Life presentation should have probably been scrapped to allow the others some extra time.

We’ve just done day 3 of the Drop Ship Lifestyle Retreat in Chiang Mai! Justin and Joe from Empire Flippers gave a fantastic talk about creating SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) and the monetary potential of selling a profitable website! (Who knew you can sell a profitable website for 20 times it’s averagely monthly profit!)

Drop Ship Lifestyle 2014 Retreat Schedule

Thursday, October 9th

• 8:00am – 9:00 – Open office with coffee (Optional)
  • 9:00am – 12:00 – Empire Workshop with Justin Cooke and Joe Magnotti
    • 12:00pm – 1:00 – Buffet lunch at Ibis Styles
      • 1:00pm – 2:00 – Empire Workshop conclusion
        • 2:00pm – Meet out front of Ibis for transportation to the Sticky Waterfalls

          • 2:45pm – 5:45 – Explore the Sticky Waterfalls

Yesterday was day 2 of the Drop Ship Lifestyle Retreat in Chiang Mai, with some amazing and inspiring talks. The most interesting one for me was a surprise talk by Ben Brandes about the potential of Amazon FBA, one of the methods I’m using to make money online currently.

Drop Ship Lifestyle 2014 Retreat Schedule

Wednesday, October 8th

• 8:00am – 9:00 – Open office with coffee (Optional)
• 9:00am – 9:45 – Email Marketing for eCommerce talk and Q&A with John McIntyre
• 10:00am – 10:45 – Easy eCommerce Wins and Q&A with Brendan Tully
• 10:45am – 11:00 – Coffee and snack break
• 11:00am – 11:45 – Pinterest for eCommerce and Q&A with Nate Ginsburg
• 12:00pm – 1:00 – Buffet lunch at Ibis Styles
• 1:00pm – 2:00 – Open office
• 2:00pm – Meet out front of Ibis for transportation to Tiger Kingdom
• 2:30pm – 6:00 – Tiger Kingdom
• 6:00pm – Meet at drop off point for return transportation to Ibis
• 7:30pm – Buffet dinner at Kantary Hills (Optional)

Tiger Kingdom

After a morning of talks and then lunch in the Ibis, it was off to Tiger Kingdom to spank some tigers. Despite their peaceful nature and the fact there were no incidents, these tigers were huge and very intimidating. They were also ripped. Knowing that they could disembowel me in under a second was kind of freaky.

Yesterday was the first day of the Drop Ship Lifestyle Retreat in Chiang Mai, primarily featuring Johnny talking about optimisation and a trip to the Doi Suthep temple.

Drop Ship Lifestyle 2014 Retreat Schedule

Tuesday, October 7th

• 9:00am – 9:45 – Registration on the 8th floor of Ibis Styles
• 9:45am – 10:15 – Retreat introduction from Anton
• 10:15am – 10:30 – Member introductions
• 10:30am – 11:00 – eCommerce conversion tips from Johnny FD
• 11:00am – 1:00 – Open office sessions focusing on design, traffic, and conversions
• 1:00pm – 2:00 – Buffet lunch at Ibis Styles
• 2:00pm – Meet out front of Ibis for transportation to Doi Suthep
• 2:30pm – 4:30 – Explore Doi Suthep Temple
• 4:30pm – Meet at drop off point for return transportation to Ibis
• 5:00pm – 6:30 – Free time
• 6:30pm – Meet out front of Ibis for transportation to the Coffee Monster Party
• 7:00pm – 10:00 – Coffee Monster Party
• 10:30pm – Transportation to Ibis Styles from Coffee Monster ends

Anton has sorted out a complete day of events, with work in the morning and fun in the afternoon and evening. That’s a lifestyle I can certainly get with!

This week has been pretty interesting. Now that I’m settled in to an actual routine and have made some friends I’ve been capitalising on the free time I have and making more of it. At least when we’re not in the middle of a torrential rain storm.

How To Properly Clean Boxing Gloves

The guys at the gym are pretty paranoid about Staph infections and advise cleaning everything in Dettol, including boxing gloves and shin guards. After every session I’ve been filling a sink full of water and Dettol, dumping my shorts and hand wraps in to soak and then dipping my gloves in to also soak them in the Dettol solution.

The Taled Kaset Phuket Night Market is the largest night market in Phuket, loaded with food from different cultures as well as hilariously cheap knock off goods.

The first part of the market was rows and rows of little stalls and cubby holes selling either cheap Thai or tourist clothing, or cheap knock off sunglasses or other random things. e.g. the Beats by Dre Pill is £170 or you can buy something that looks exactly the same for about £17. For some reason Beats by Dre is HUGE over here and fake/cheap stuff is everywhere, even in the normal more expensive shopping malls. You can even buy fake Beats branded speakers in styles that even Beats by Dre don’t make!

Today I took action and booked flights out to Phuket, Thailand and made arrangements for my first week out there.

Most People In Life Don’t Show Up

Technically I started making arrangements last year, when I handed in my notice at work, only to ask for it back and change role.

I also booked a trip to Turkey over Christmas which I didn’t go on as I wasn’t feeling it.