Dear international travelers: Are you a self-help junkie or a switched-on executor?

Lorna Jane is a well-known businesswoman who famously said, “It takes everything to run a successful business.” Similarly, Gary Vaynerchuk once said, “Entrepreneurship is lonely, difficult and stressful. Your employees are not working for you. You are working for your employees.” Having a successful business that allows you to be an international traveler while working on your laptop isn’t an overnight thing. It takes a tremendous amount of time, effort, and resources. It’s hard work. Period.

international traveler

  • Which type are you?

There are many people who want to start their own businesses, so they attend business development seminars, read business books and hire business mentors. There is nothing wrong with those activities because there is a time and a place for all of them. Yet there are two types of people who are involved in those activities:

  1. Self-help junkies: These people attend every business coaching webinar and buy every course about business development, but they don’t really take action. Everything they do is an avoidance activity.
  1. Switched-on executors: These individuals diligently learn from every opportunity that is available; more importantly, these people always think about how to implement what they’ve learned in their reality.

What’s more, when you are building your brand, you probably need enough funds to survive and operate for at least two years because, at the very beginning, you oftentimes can’t expect your business to generate sufficient money for you.

Many established gurus tell you that you just need to rock up and make consistent content and you’ll be successful. Nevertheless, that’s not the reality. In truth, established gurus have been established for 15-20 years; they are giving world-class content for free; they have massive marketing budgets; they have money and fame already.

Hence, listening to very established gurus isn’t a good idea because they are usually too far away from your reality. Ideally, you would be well-advised to find a role model who is just a few steps ahead of you because this person’s reality is closer to your reality and it’s significantly easier to learn from someone whose resources are similar to yours.

international traveler

  • Followers don’t dictate your revenue.

These days most people assume a large social media following means a lot of business revenue. Realistically, that’s a myth because I’ve personally witnessed the following:

  1. Martin is an artist who has more than 20,000 followers on Facebook. Sadly, he doesn’t make any money from his Facebook page at all.
  1. Marilyn is a writer who has 2,500 followers on Facebook. She makes approximately US$110,000 a year.

That is to say, the number of followers on social media doesn’t dictate your revenue; in fact, your business model dictates your revenue.

The real difference between Martin and Marilyn is their business models.

Martin doesn’t have a real business model. His followers are not buying his art because they can enjoy his art on his Facebook page – why would they pay him?

Marilyn’s business model is mature. She not only sells eBooks to her community but also edits her followers’ books. In addition, she has an online program that teaches people how to publish their own eBooks on Amazon. That means she monetizes her followers by selling both products and services.

Tim Ferriss even said, “Having more than 3,000 followers on social media often brings more problems than benefits because fame is actually a burden that most people are not aware of. If someone only has 1,500 – 3,000 followers on social media, they can basically do whatever they want and make enough money – they get all the benefits of having a social media presence without the stress.”

By the way, not every business needs a social media presence. Yes, having a professional and credible social media presence can help because it’s just like a shop window, yet some businesses become wildly successful simply by leveraging their network!

“Dear international travelers and ambitious entrepreneurs, do you know the untold stories of starting businesses and the unknown truth about running businesses?”

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