One of the Cheapest Ways to Start Your Online Business

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I love the idea of baselining your expenses and going into hardcore “start-up” mode. My whole business could blow up in my face and I could stay in a place like this for years before having to get a job. That would give me plenty of time to build another business that could fund a great lifestyle.

If you get settled into a place like Puerto Galera, you could set yourself and your team (!) with nice chairs, double monitors, and really knock-it out.

For $1000.00 US a month you could really live a super lifestyle (if you have a little extra cash) and for $1500.00 a month you could go 100% jet set, flying around to other locations and being semi-nomadic.

My resort owner friend let me know after I recorded my video that my included estimates are very high. He offered another scenario:

  • High end home fully furnished with air con $300
  • Maid/cook/shopping: $200-250.

If you stay for a while you’d want to invest in a really nice chair too!

If you like to listen to radio, you should check out my podcast, the Lifestyle Business Podcast, where I talk a lot overlapping issues.

Here is the iTunes feed.

Some related and recent episodes you might find interesting:

I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday season, I’m really glad you stopped by to say hi.

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  • http://www.nomadicneil.com NomadicNeil

    This is what my friends are doing right now.

  • http://www.nomadicneil.com NomadicNeil

    Oh yes… and myself as well!

  • http://www.nomadicneil.com NomadicNeil

    Dan: Sorry to be posting several times… you can merge the previous ones if you want.

    Here’s a list of things I no longer have to do (since like Dan I live in SE Asia), saving me lots of time.

    1. Commute to work
    2. Grocery shopping
    3. Cooking
    4. Cleaning my room / apartment
    5. Laundry
    6. Travel far to have fun

    I can easily work more than 8 hours a day if I want to since I have nothing else to think or worry about. What could be better for making the transition?

  • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

    Neil, thanks for dropping by… your list is really interesting because a lot of these “housekeeping” type tasks take a lot of time away from what really matters to us, especially in a start-up phase. I think considering very few distractions as a benefit to this lifestyle is often overlooked.

  • http://www.maverickwil.com Maverick Wil

    Living in SE Asia is super affordable when you compare it to namely Europe and the US. For someone who is just starting out and need the extra resources to build their business, an individual’s monthly expenses can be kept under $500 and that would still be living comfortably. Consider my own sample personal budget per month as an early 20′s bachelor living in KL when I first started building my online business:Shared Accommodation + Utilities in a very nice 3 bedroom 1200sq ft condo : $120Transport : $20Food : $200Entertainment : $80Personal Supplies + Misc : $50—Total $470.00In geo-arbitrage terms for someone from a location that has a significantly higher currency value than SE Asia, that kind of living cost is a huge advantage to make it through the start-up phase. I am a Malaysian by the way so geo-arbitraging did not apply to me.

    I just stumbled on to your blog from Sean Ogle’s latest video post from Ko Phi Phi. Your Tropical MBA idea is fantastic. I haven’t figured out your income method yet as I’ve just started reading through the blog. Would love to learn more. ;)

  • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

    Hey Wilson, thanks for dropping by. That’s a killer budget, and it certainly helps if you are a local, but I do know some dedicated souls who have really dug in to a foreign place and achieved a burn rate of less than 500USD. Very cool stuff. No income generation stuff on the blog yet, some more over @ The Lifestyle Business Podcast. I own a company that produces and sells hard goods products. I also provide digital marketing consulting services with the help of an awesome team of employees here in Asia.

  • http://www.lifestylebusinessdesign.com John Paul Grant

    dude, just update your related episode links or redirect the domain if you own it as they are currently broken ;)

    Have not read / watched your early stuff until now … great stuff. Starting to feel like a tool for staying in my J-O-B so long.

  • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

    Ah thanks for that John I’ll make the updates now! I think using a job to get off the ground is a great move it just takes somebody with more tolerance for pain than me :D

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  • http://www.facebook.com/kevin.batdorf Kevin Batdorf

    Love your blog. I’ve spend the last four years getting my degree online from my college back home. Kind of “outsourcing” my living expenses. I spent six months in Tokyo, a year and a half in the Philippines, and about the same in Thailand. The rest was just traveling around. Currently I am in Thailand (Globe and Smart were just too slow for my live video needs), but when I finish my degree, I want to go back to the Philippines. I just have no idea what I can do online to make enough money. Anyway, it would be cool to meet up with you guys sometime and shoot the shit. Take care.

  • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

    Cheers man, sounds good to me! Really appreciate you reading the blog. I’d be so curious to hear about why you’d chose the Fils over Thailand, not many people seem to be making that choice. Curious about your lifestyle there. 

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