≡ Menu

The Best Passive Income Sources For The Traveler

Putting together the foundation of any travel money strategy.

Support VBJ’s writing on this blog:

ASTORIA, NYC- I can remember in my early days of travel living with the constant threat of going broke. This wasn’t a hypothetical … it actually happened sometimes.

My financial strategy at that time was to work on various archaeology projects around the USA for a few months and then go abroad for as long as my funds would last. Sometimes I pushed it. When I would inevitably go belly up I would either return to the USA for work, return to university (where I could study in some foreign land and live off of financial aid), or find a job wherever I was.

That realization that I could spend all of my money was always there, and the opportunity to make more on the spot was never a given. I lived and traveled dirt cheap then. Oftentimes, I couldn’t even afford to sit back at the end of the day and enjoy a couple bottles of beers … or if I did I’d feel guilty about it. I was obsessed with the perceived value of life-time, and ironically ended up strangling that very resource while trying to preserve it.

I didn’t really know what passive income was then. My mindset was oriented around active income: work, spend, work, spend, work, spend. My bank account flow was binary: it would go through periods of filling up and then periods of depletion. The idea that I could do some work and get paid for it in perpetuity or that I could invest some cash and get paid back for it forever were foreign to me. The idea of using present travel funds to invest in future travels would have been discarded as ridiculous.

But then I began this blog in 2005 and my mentality started shifting:

So I can work today, publish a webpage or two, and then I can make small amounts of money from it forever?

What would happen if I published 100 webpages? Or 5,000? I liked the sound of that. So I published and published and published. I started making videos for YouTube. I wrote a book. All three of these produce revenue indefinitely. If I continue working on them, I get money; if I do nothing, I get money.

At the time, this was a risky fiscal move — I could make WAY more money doing archaeology or another active income job. I didn’t really understand the proper balance between active and passive income, and tried to make all my money off of a strategy that should have been viewed as a generator of passive, long-term income. I went from one extreme to the other when I should of shot for 50/50

While this was a rather irresponsible move, it did enable me to produce a massive amount of content which eventually grew mountainous enough to produce decent returns … ten years later.

As with most passive income strategies, the money dribbled in at first. But nickles eventually turned into dimes, which turned into quarters, which became dollars. Few passive income strategies produces significant returns overnight … or even over the first year(s). But this is exactly why they’re important to start up as soon as possible …

… and to always be starting up new ones as you go.

I’m still working on this today. I have multiple streams of income coming in each and every month whether I do any work or not, but I still want to develop more.

Dividend paying stocks

Dividends are perhaps the purest form of passive income. You put your money in stocks that pay good yields and then do nothing — each month or quarter money will be deposited in your account that you can choose to pocket or reinvest.

I’m currently a little aggressive with my dividend strategy — aiming for a 10%-12% annual yield average across my portfolio — so I need to monitor things a little more closely than if I was only investing in steady blue chips that pay out at a paltry 2.5% clip.

But that’s the case with any kind of investment: bigger potential gains generally come with bigger potential risks … and the risks here are, relatively speaking, not very extreme. If it’s looking like a company will significantly cut their dividend I move my money or just ride it out in hopes that the next cycle is better. If a company rapidly goes to zero — possible, though unlikely given what I’m investing in — then I have dozens other positions across an array of sectors that are still generating income.

What I stand to lose depends on the P/L at the time of sale + the dividends that were paid out. One quarterly payout on a stock with an 18% yield is worth a year and a half of a 3%’er.

As of now, I’m up to $4,513.37 in annual estimated dividend income. I’m aiming to be over $6,500 by the end of the year.

$6,500 per year for doing nothing. That’s almost half of what I used to make each year working my ass off in archaeology, and once I spent that money it was gone. If I spend my dividend earnings they will just replenish themselves in one to three months … and such is the beauty of passive income.

My five-year goal is $100 per day in dividend earnings. Then the financial pressure is off my day-to-day endeavors … and I can go back to writing books and filming documentaries.

Sometimes I wonder what my position would be if I began this passive income strategy when I first started traveling in 1999. What if instead of working three months per year I worked four and invested one month of earnings? What if I invested $100 per month when I was living off of VBJ? What if I wrote a couple more articles per month when I was working as a journalist over the past few years …

What you need:

  1. A brokerage account, which you can get for free from just about everywhere now. Choose one that doesn’t change commissions on trades, which many now don’t. I use Ameritrade for investing and Tastyworks for trading.

  2. You don’t really need much money to start. $100 would do it. Add more money to your account when you can, reinvest your dividends, watch it grow.

  3. Knowledge of how to trade and how markets work. Use online resources to learn the lingo / culture, use books to gain a deep understanding of the underlying mechanics.

Expectations:

You’re not going to make squat until your account gets up beyond $20,000. Even then you’re still not going to make much. To make $30,000 per year at a 10% yield you’d need to have a $300,000 portfolio. But don’t let this be daunting: add to it a little by little, reinvested dividends, compound, compound, compound.

Timeline:

If you don’t have a large clutch of cash to get started with and you make a working class income, you’re probably looking at five to ten years of dumping in funds until you’re making any real returns. As with any passive income strategy, building dividends take time, so the earlier you start the better.

Books

This is going to be a tough sell for the audience here, as you all know that while my first book Ghost Cities of China sold well, I didn’t make much from it. I went the academic publisher route with this one, as the authority gained was more valuable than what I could make from the direct sale of books (I’ve banked tens of thousands from speaking engagements alone, not to mention opportunities in journalism). However, I also sell this book myself, which results in a $5 profit per book, which isn’t that bad. (Get a signed copy here).

Theoretically, writing a book can be a good source of passive income. The paradox is that self-publishing often makes it more viable as a financial strategy. The reason for this is simple: if you self-publish you cut out the middleman. Let’s say it costs $5 to print and ship each book and you sell them for $15 each. That’s a $10 per unit profit, and you’d only need to sell 1,000 to make $10,000. But even if you only sell 100 per year, that’s still $1,000 extra dollars coming in that you don’t have to do much additional work for — that’s two months of living on the beach in Mexico.

What you need:

1. A good, saleable topic. A book about your life or, ESPECIALLY, your travels probably isn’t going to do it because nobody cares. The greatest story on earth is now worth about as much as a bunch of bananas. A book about something that you think is cool probably isn’t going to do it either. Travel books still can work, but make sure you’re traveling in search of something more saleable.

To find a topic, answer the question: What do people want to know that will make their lives better?

Ask yourself: Why would they be willing to pay for this information? Will it make them money? Will it make them happier? How will it equip them to better perform in life?

Choose a topic that’s going to help someone achieve something. You’re doing this for money, not to create a beautiful piece of art. Make art on your own time — passive income is about making money (to give you the time to make art).

How-to books work well … especially when they pivot around lifestyles, making money, or high-value hobbies.

2. Get an editor. No exceptions. Pay for this.

3. A willingness to invest time and money into promoting the book. Just putting a book up on Amazon is going to result in zero sales … if you don’t count your mom. You need to go out and give talks about your topic, get media attention, get people talking about you. This takes legwork and elbow grease.

Expectations:

Keep your expectations tempered: most books don’t sell well. Shoot for selling 100-1,000 copies a year that can bring in a continuous dribble of small amounts of income. Don’t plan on writing one book; plan on writing five. Write multiple books allows you to scale this passive income stream. Shoot for making $500 per month as your ultimate goal — anymore than this and you’re in the 99th percentile.

Timeline:

This is completely up to you, but, realistically, plan on one book per year for five years.

Websites / blogging

My main source of passive income comes from this blog — it’s passive income because once a page is published it will generate income in perpetuity without requiring additional labor. Last year, VBJ made $25,000.

Picking a profitable niche rather than having a generalist site is advisable. I didn’t do this here, so my model probably shouldn’t serve as an example. Rather, like with writing a book, focus on a high value topic that’s going to pay. Teach someone how to do something or operate in a hobby niche.

However, if you want to do a generalist travel site, go for it — you’re just going to have to work 10x as hard.

Remember: cools shit is cool, but being useful sells. Focus on creating pages that answer questions:

How to ___

Why ___

What is ___

These are all good ways to structure headlines and content. Keep it simple.

Be prolific. When first getting started blogging is a numbers game. Increasing the incidents of publication is the most important thing that you can do — in the beginning, quantity trumps quality. I don’t mean that you should go out and publish crap, but just be aware that five pages a day is going to get you a lot farther than one high quality, time consuming page a week. A voluminous publication strategy results in more pages for ads to run on; it increases your reach, which increases the chances of getting in front of people, which increases your readership …

Use services like Substack and Medium as auxiliary platforms for additional reach and earnings.

What you need:

  1. You’re own url and web hosting package. Be sure your content management system is hosted on your own server. Self-hosted WordPress is good. There are others that are good too. Don’t use sites like Weebly … and only use Medium, Substack, etc… to republish content for additional reach and revenue or if already have an audience and aim to run a subscription site.

  2. A laptop, a good camera, and a robust, modern smartphone. Don’t cut corners here.

  3. Spend more time producing content than promoting content. Social media can be a good way to get your blog in front of people, but it’s not as good as additional content. You publish a blog post and it can last forever (or at least as long as the site); you publish on Twitter and it’s gone in five minutes. Many bloggers overestimate the importance of social media and they spend all their time tweeting, liking, and scrolling rather than creating content. It becomes a distraction rather than a tool. When it comes to blog promotion, social media is 90% a waste of time.

Expectations:

If you don’t love blogging then it’s not worth doing as a passive income strategy. While you can generate respectable earnings from blogging, it takes a massive amount of time and the rise to success is slow. If you go this route, pair your blog with other revenue streams — sell products and services to your audience.

Timeline:

It took five years of full-time work before VBJ started making much of anything, and even then earnings were generally under $1,000 per month. Now, 15 years after we began, we’re doing a little better. But let this timeline sink in for a moment. As with most passive income streams, this is about the farthest thing from a get rich quick strategy.

Videos

Even though I haven’t published a video on YouTube in over a year I still get $100 a month from them. It’s not much, but I take it.

I once tested the YouTube publishing route to find if it could be a viable full-time income strategy. For a year I published videos regularly. I put a massive amount of time, effort, and money into it, and after that year I sat down and did the math. I found that even though I had over 25,000 subscribers and would attract hundred of thousands of views per month, it wasn’t adding up. YouTube simply does not pay enough for the niche I was publishing in. It would take too many YEARS (if ever) to get to where I wanted to be.

However, my niche was general travel / current events. Like with writing books and publishing a website, topic is king when it comes to making money. Some topics attract more interest and higher ad revs than others. If you’re niche is built around something that can be sold, then you’re good. If you’re niche is built around something that people want to learn, that could work. If you’re niche is about how to do something, then you’re golden. If you’re topic is you traveling the world … unless you’re Insta-hot and traveling in luxury it’s probably not going to work out.

What you need:

  1. High quality gear. Get a good camera (not a smartphone), a good shotgun mic, and a lav mic. High quality video is important, but clean audio is vastly more important. Get a laptop that can edit high resolution video. Your startup costs are going to be $2,000 minimum.

  2. A willingness to put thousands of hours into studying and practicing. Filming and editing is way more complex that it at first seems.

  3. Good editing software. I use Davinci Resolve, but Final Cut is good too. Avoid Adobe Premiere.

Expectations:

If vlogging, you’re expectations should be appropriately matched to who you are and what you look like. Are you an attractive 20-something woman? Are you a fit, educated white or black guy in his 20s or 30s? Are you from the United States, Canada, Europe, or Australia? Do you speak fluent English? Do you have money / know how to make money? Are you at the cutting edge of consumer tech? While many people will counter me and say that this is all superficial, the proof is in the data.

If you’re making other types of videos, then it is very possible to make good money from them if you choose a high-value niche.

Timeline:

Don’t expect to make much the first couple of years. While there is a chance that your channel will take off, you’re more than likely going to have to stack thousands and thousands of videos get the amount of traffic and revenue that would make this a viable passive income strategy.

Courses / Webinars

Video Powerpoint presentations are making some people a lot of money right now. It’s almost ridiculous. I’ve watched a few of these lately and I am often left in disbelief how lo-fi and barebones many tend to be. This is truly a passive income strategy where content is king.

What you have to do here is to teach people how to do something that you’re an expert at. Just put together a Powerpoint, put a camera and mic on you, record your screen, give your presentation, edit it all together, and then upload the course to a site like Gumroad and promote it.

As with most of the other strategies here, your topic is going to determine how successful you can be. Courses about making money or improving your life seem to work well. Take what you know and then spin it into something that can be sold.

What you need:

  1. Knowledge of something that people are hungry to learn.

  2. A following of people who want to be like you.

  3. A laptop and a camera.

Expectations:

From what I’ve observed, the amount of money that you can make from this is pretty surprising. However, it is very much contingent upon how much you’re willing to promote it and how popular you are on social media. I’d say if you have a decent following, a good topic, and a small advertising budget, you could aim to make around $5,000 per year. If you have a large social media following, what you can make from this is virtually unlimited.

Timeline:

If you’re already a master at your topic you can put a course together and have it ready to ship in a matter of days. This is one passive income strategy that doesn’t have a long runway.

Rental Properties

While a little top heavy, owning rental properties is another excellent way to generate passive income. There are plenty of travelers out there moving through the world living off of other people’s rent. A few rental properties would probably pay 100% for your travels, and on top of that you still have an ever-appreciating asset that you should, theoretically, be able to sell for a profit if you ever want a way out.

Now, there are some obvious caveats here. First, you need some startup capital. Then there’s property taxes. Then there’s maintenance costs. Then there’s dealing with tenants.

Do you really want to be calling the plumber for some prick who keeps clogging the toilet when you’re floating down a river in Cambodia? Do you really want to be dealing with a potential eviction when you’re sipping a beer on a Caribbean beach? Do you really want to be tethered by such illiquid assents when you could otherwise be freely traveling the world? There is an ugly side to landlording, but $500 to $5,000+ per month of pure passive income is pretty attractive.

What you need:

  1. Startup capital and / or credit. Some say that the minimum is $20,000 but I tend to think it will actually be double or triple that. You’re probably going to have to take out a loan unless you have a big bag of money laying around somewhere.

  2. Knowledge about what to look out for when purchasing a house and a sense of rental markets.

  3. A willingness to find and deal with tenants.

Expectations:

The range of expectations varies too much to give an estimate. Some travelers make thousands every month, but I don’t believe this should be taken as a given. If you come out $500 ahead per month, per property I’d say you’re doing pretty well.

Timeline:

I’m not sure, but I imagine that you could get a rental property set up in a month or two. However, mileage varies according to how much you need to fix the place up / how long it takes to rent out.

Conclusion

Passive income is essential for the traveler. It’s not just a form of revenue, but a safety net. It takes the pressure off your day-to-day financial forays, it gives you the opportunity to take chances, to dive into big projects, to occasionally swing and miss, to take a break, to do the things you otherwise would be hard pressed to do if all you had was a limited amount cash in a rapidly depleting bank account. If you’re aiming to travel long-term, start cultivating passive income now.

Filed under: Make Money, Make Money for Travel

About the Author:

I am the founder and editor of Vagabond Journey. I’ve been traveling the world since 1999, through 91 countries. I am the author of the book, Ghost Cities of China and have written for The Guardian, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Diplomat, the South China Morning Post, and other publications. has written 3694 posts on Vagabond Journey. Contact the author.

Support VBJ’s writing on this blog:

VBJ is currently in: New York City

36 comments… add one

Leave a Comment

  • Sarah BB October 1, 2020, 2:53 pm

    Food for thought. Not sure I have the skill set for the first four, nor money for the fifth yet. Been trying to get my husband to do a Udemy course for a while now, a lot of work up front but good passive income to be had afterwards, if you plan a few at a time.

    Link Reply
  • Jack October 1, 2020, 4:29 pm

    Your advice about vlogging is mostly spot-on, especially the demographics questions. Outside of the travel niche, those demographics are not as important, but they are a factor in your success. And speaking of the travel niche, no one should really get into it. Choose a different topic that can help people earn money, save money, or the other areas you mentioned.

    I think your $2000 minimum budget for doing videos is too low. I disagree with the amount of equipment, but in reality it is going to be pricey. If I went with a phone camera, I wouldn’t go any less than a iphone 11 Pro. That’s $1150 for the smallest memory option I’d go with the 256 gb one. At that price, you are approaching the Sony A6400 camera with a decent kit lens. You need a basic gimbal for it also….I think for camera(or iphone) and gimbal you are already at $1500. Now you need something to record sound. You can use external mics and figure at least $100 or more, even on the cheap. So now you are at a min of $1600 and you don’t even have anything to edit on.

    I’ll diverge here with you. I’m very happy video editing with my iPad Pro 12.9 2020 ($1100) and Lumafusion. Surprisingly, my 7 year old daughter taught herself using Lumafusion to have A roll, B roll, and a separate sound track on her 7th gen iPad. I’d like to say my daughter is advanced, but maybe she is, but Lumafusion is easy and powerful. I taught her how to do basic color grading with Lumafusion. You should check out the videos by Everyday Dad and what he is doing with iPads for editing. He is doing 4k editing on even the new 8th gen iPad($299).

    Anyways, back to cost. I don’t think you can realistically do what you want on videos with ease with anything less than an iPad Pro 11 inch with 256gb. That’s $900. Add in a pencil for $130. And a case and it’s easily $1000. Boom, your total is $2600 and that’s a barebones setup and since you need to set aside money to replace things, you need income of at least $150 a month just to break even and keep your equipment. And that’s not even touching the other things any good vlogger needs like a Drone($1000+). Multiple lenses for their camera($$$$). Storage devices like portable SSDs($$$). And then you try to make money on a saturated Youtube.

    Link Reply
    • VBJ October 2, 2020, 4:09 pm

      “speaking of the travel niche, no one should really get into it. Choose a different topic that can help people earn money, save money, or the other areas you mentioned.”

      I agree. It’s a crowded niche that’s not nearly as profitable as you’d imagine it should be … and is also oriented towards commercial travel, which readers of sites like this are more than likely not very interested in.

      I remember when I finally realized that publishing content about how not to spend money wasn’t really the best strategy to make money haha.

      “I think your $2000 minimum budget for doing videos is too low. I disagree with the amount of equipment, but in reality it is going to be pricey.”

      I can remember us taking the exact opposite sides of this issue last year haha! I believe $2,000 is adequate. You can get a completely viable used (or even new) camera with lens used for $600 to $800. If you’re plan is to publish content for YouTube, you don’t even need 4k. A mic can be had for $100. I hate gimbals for vlogging or in-situ filming. A laptop is probably going to cost you $1,000 … although I’m not sure if I’d include a laptop as a videography expense, as you can use it for other endeavors as well. I guess technically it should be … but who besides Trevor doesn’t have a laptop?

      I never edited on an iPad, but have nothing against them. I just don’t know why someone would by an iPad when they can get a Macbook Air for just a little more money … but that’s just my opinion.

      “And that’s not even touching the other things any good vlogger needs like a Drone($1000+). Multiple lenses for their camera($$$$). Storage devices like portable SSDs($$$).”

      SSDs, yes! When I was actively filming I’d spend over $100 per month just for storage. But for the other stuff, I don’t think they’re needed. It’s the story that sells. If you choose your topics well and tell the story well, I don’t think the additional tech stuff matters.

      “And then you try to make money on a saturated Youtube.”

      Yeah, have fun with that! But it’s not just the saturation but the fact that YouTube chooses these “brand ambassadors” in each niche that they put in everyone’s faces. The algorithms are not fair. They select people they want to promote, and if you’re not one of these people getting traffic is always going to be an uphill struggle.

      Link Reply
      • Jack October 3, 2020, 9:08 am

        Dude, I thought you would have figured it out already, I just like to disagree lol

        So all we really need is an Iphone Se 2020 for $399. 🙂 Don’t laugh, if you can deal with the small screen, you can edit 4k video on it.

        Going with a Macbook Air over an iPad Pro is like going with a 1986 Yugo over a 2020 Toyota Sienna to transport a family my size in style. LOL

        The 2020 iPad Pro 12.9 Geekbench 5 scores are single core 1119, multi-core 4644.

        The 2020 Macbook Air base i3 Geekbench 5 scores are single core 996, multicore 1961.

        The 2020 Macbook Pro 13 (i-5/i-7) Geekbench 5 scores are single core 1146/1241, multi-core 4248/4527.

        The 2020 Macbook Pro 16 i7 Geekbench 5 scores are single core 1019, multicore 5351.

        In other words, the 2020 iPad Pro blows the the Macbook Air out of the water in processor performance for a similar price, and it has similar performance to the the Macbook Pro 13 at a lower price. The thing is that you could get into the iPad Pro line(same processor performance) for just $799 with the 128 gb 11 inch model.

        But if money is a concern, you could just go with the 8th gen iPad that goes for $299 at Walmart. It’s single core is 1118, multicore 2775. It blows the Macbook Air out of the water.

        Looking at the numbers on the iPad line really drives home the point of why Apple is moving all of their Macs to Apple Silicon. The performance gains are there and they can be had at a lower price than Intel and avoid heat issues.

        Back to iPads, really if income is the goal (and this is what this thread is about), I think that going with a regular iPad is probably the best way to go. An iPad for $299, stand for $20, Logitech bluetooth keyboard for $30 and Logitech bluetooth mouse for $20. Add in a case to hold it all together for $20 and you are under $500 for a device that can be used for blogging, vlogging(limited to 1080p), book writing, and more.

        Link Reply
        • Georgiy Romanov October 3, 2020, 2:08 pm

          It took me about 2 years to assemble the videographer’s kit. But I’m glad that at the very beginning I chose the iPad as the main workstation. Hundreds of video clips, photos and texts were produced on the tablet. Now I recommend this kit to everyone. You still need a computer, but then the iPad was cheaper than a MacBook. The only thing, I’m not sure if the tablet will live longer than the laptop… But I think I double my profit to that time.

          Link Reply
          • Jack October 3, 2020, 6:48 pm

            Tell me more about your kit! I think with iOS 14, you can now avoid a computer if you get a dongle or two.

            Link Reply
            • Georgiy Romanov October 4, 2020, 12:40 am

              I’m working on IPad Pro 2018 model 10.5 256gb with IPhone SE (1) as a pair. Main camera Fujifilm X-T200 with KIT lens and some M42 manual lenses. For sound I bought RODE Wireless GO with smartlav+ and RODE VideoMic NTG Gun type mic. SSD My Passport Wi-Fi 512GB for storage some files. The only thing which I complain after one year working with IPad is about internal free space. I need 1TB version for my projects 🙂

              But even with 256gb I did full documentary film on it, short feature film, a lot of small commercial videos including wedding videography. All in LumaFusion. Yes, limitations of Lumafusion regarding of color grading, Visual FX for titles and automatic sync for different sound source is sometimes angry me, but for 80/20 rule IPad can’t be beaten.

              PS I talked about it on my YT https://youtu.be/v6X5QyhElO4

              Link Reply
              • Jack October 6, 2020, 12:15 pm

                That’s a good kit. I’m sure the 10.5 serves you well. It’s still lightning(my how fast things change!) so when it’s time to replace, you will see a good bump in connectivity, especially if you go with the 1 tb version.

                I have the 12.9 2020 Pro and a 2018 11 inch Pro. Both have USB C so I can connect them with a dongle and regular USB 3.0 and HDMI out. The 12.9 is just too big. I prefer the 11 inch but since I gave it to my wife….

                I have Sony cameras so I don’t really have the issue in getting the videos out. It seems to handle the codecs well, but most of my video is recorded with my iPhone so there’s that.

                Link Reply
        • Trevor Warman October 3, 2020, 3:03 pm

          @Jack love those Yugos and Ladas

          I need a sponsor .. but having a 2000$ bag of equipment for making blogs and videos which no one reads (man i can live for 5 months of that kindda cash) renders me a flashpacker and not a (low) budget backpacker… plus i can’t walk 20km with 10kg of vlogging equipment… and @Wade am loathe to give up Weebly – PP ARNOLD no further comment

          Link Reply
          • Jack October 4, 2020, 12:39 am

            Flashpacker, I love that word.

            Yugos are kind of cool. I actually met a couple in Vegas in the mid-1990s who had tricked out their Yugo. They taken out the back seats and welded a frame on top and they could haul a lot of stuff in it. The guy was able to work on it and keep it running well.

            Link Reply
            • Trevor Warman October 4, 2020, 1:08 am

              I hate that word kids running around the world on daddy’s credit card… no idea about the value of anything…. met some dudes in Kyrgyzstan who wanted to hitchhike in a country with little HH culture We are poor students from **** and they whip put their mac books wtf i told em so as well…

              Link Reply
          • VBJ October 4, 2020, 10:03 am

            “but having a 2000$ bag of equipment for making blogs and videos which no one reads”

            Man, it seems like you could use a mindset shift. People like what you’re doing and you work hard at it. Go all in.

            You’re call on videos, man, but I’ve made over $9,000 from YouTube videos, not to mention the downstream opportunities that they’ve created. That $2,000 is an investment — which I believe could actually be less if you want it to be (you can get a Sony a6000 for like nothing) — and will pay for itself and then some in the long run.

            As for Weebly, all I will say is that search engines can read code, and the last I knew they were discrediting blogs on sites like that. It’s not just about the URL but the actual coding of the pages. By not going self-hosted you’re limiting the possibility of success. However, how much of a change this would be in real numbers is debatable. I’d say migrate and try it. It would take a day to set up and cost less than $10 per month. I don’t imagine it would hurt.

            However, if you’re happy doing what you’re doing that’s cool. But you try hard at this and I want you to succeed!

            Link Reply
            • Trevor Warman October 4, 2020, 11:53 am

              Thanks for the endless encouragement..

              I feel the need to do things ‘my way’ at least for a bit longer. The videos are doing ok. Am happy with the quality for the time being.. yes., I took your word on board re twitter comment. About posting videos.

              My words about “who nobody reads” was more a comment about doing all this is an over saturated travel blog market… and these vlogs, i just don’t have that kindda dedication or talent

              Got a post to do from Ohrid

              Laters

              Link Reply
              • VBJ October 5, 2020, 11:02 am

                Anytime, man!

                It just seems like you’re trying to run a race against champion sprinters with your legs tied together.

                “My words about “who nobody reads” was more a comment about doing all this is an over saturated travel blog market… and these vlogs, i just don’t have that kindda dedication or talent”

                Hmm … do things different. Everyone is playing for social traffic — which is uber competitive and ever dwindling (the platforms don’t like people leaving their sites) — so start playing for search. Sure, the deck is still stacked against you but there is a massive amount of long tail traffic out there that nobody is going for. I don’t mean using SEO plugins (which generally don’t have much of an impact anymore) but the topics of your posts. Answer questions that people are searching for. Who? What? Where? Why? When? How? Steer away from travel info (i.e. how to get from point A to point B), as it changes too fast to keep updated and there are big sites already doing this that you are not going to be able to compete with. I’m talking things like “What do people eat in ___?” “How do people dress in ___?” Sure, the sophistication level is rock bottom but that’s the kind of info people are after.

                Other than that, keep on doing your thing!

                Link Reply
            • Trevor Warman October 5, 2020, 1:30 am

              Oh i do have a proper camera lol lumix TZ 70 fully manual set up. ;))

              Re LapTop ill think about it during the up coming winter

              Link Reply
              • VBJ October 5, 2020, 11:14 am

                Treat it like an investment. I have no problem spending all kinds of money on gear as I know I will make it all back and then some. The question for me is mostly centered around paying more for increased performance and finding where the threshold is of diminishing returns.

                Usually, when I spend more I make more — either through increased productivity or the fact that better quality gear tends to last longer (I’ve had the same MacBook for two years now, which is more than double the time that my cheaper PCs would last). But there is a limit … or so I imagine.

                Link Reply
        • VBJ October 4, 2020, 9:30 am

          Man, I had no idea that iPads were so powerful. They’re like actually computers.Maybe I will consider getting one at some point. It would really lighten the load, and if it can do the same thing then it’s probably a good way to go.

          Link Reply
          • Georgiy Romanov October 4, 2020, 9:44 am

            Yes, they are. There is only one big issue for your workflow. iPad accept only H.264 and H.265 codecs (and some XAVCs). This limitation cut a lot of cameras for pro use…

            Link Reply
            • VBJ October 4, 2020, 10:07 am

              Yes, having to convert codecs all the time is a pain in the ass. But is there an app that can do that quickly?

              Link Reply
              • Georgiy Romanov October 4, 2020, 1:46 pm

                As fas as I know the proper app still not exist. But this platform evolve with speed of lightning. Only one year ago IPad users can only imagine to work with regular files (copy, safe and transfer ) like on a regular computer even if file not comparable with IOS system.

                Link Reply
          • Jack October 6, 2020, 12:22 pm

            Apple has a 14 day return policy. You can go to the store and pick up an iPad Pro and try it out for 14 days. Put it through the paces, do some editing and whatever. I’d get a pencil as well since it enhances the experience, especially when editing. Before the 14 days is up, just return it and get your money back.

            Link Reply
            • VBJ October 7, 2020, 11:09 am

              Good call! May try it.

              Link Reply
              • Jack October 12, 2020, 12:10 pm

                Watch this video about the iPad Pro 2020. I think he does a pretty good video about what it can do.
                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0giLOGVtgqY&t=629s

                Anyways I am excited for Apple Silicon Macs to come out.

                Link Reply
                • VBJ October 12, 2020, 2:40 pm

                  I will check it out. I had no idea they were so powerful.

                  Link Reply
  • Vagabond Elmer October 2, 2020, 12:32 pm

    Excellent article! Read every word of it, TWICE! This is one of the best articles I’ve ever read on the subject of passive income. Wade, the way you explain the mindset and the way to look at how to develop a strategy is one of the best I’ve seen. You also hit the nail on the head on how to invest your time and resources based on how you want to develop your strategy. Thanks for sharing man.

    Link Reply
    • VBJ October 2, 2020, 4:12 pm

      Hello Elmer,

      Thank you. Very much appreciated!

      Link Reply
  • Georgiy Romanov October 3, 2020, 2:17 pm

    Very informative material. I remember when I started reading your site 3 years ago. I read articles to holes on how to save money for travel ))) They are useless for earning money, but invaluable as a source of information.

    After 3 years of traveling on the principle of work work work – travel, I want to build a new system. I left my main job and now I will earn less, but I will help my brother build his business so that there will be more money and less work in future. Extra cash will save on a dividend account. This summer I started experimenting with a small amount of money and realized that this is one of the most effective methods of passive earnings in the long term.

    Link Reply
    • VBJ October 4, 2020, 9:32 am

      Sounds good, man. Where exactly are you investing that money for the dividends? Are you investing in US stocks or Russian?

      Link Reply
      • Georgiy Romanov October 4, 2020, 1:52 pm

        Only in Russian… Started investing money couples months ago and I did a lot of trial and errors. Still learning. US market is much more volatile and interesting. Also the American Dollar far more stable if comparing to national currency. However, owning US stocks creates difficulties with tax payments.

        Link Reply
        • VBJ October 5, 2020, 11:10 am

          Cool, man! That’s a start. Have you ever thought about trying to get citizen ship somewhere else, such as Israel or somewhere else in Europe? Your arbitrage potential in Russia isn’t the best.

          Link Reply
          • Georgiy Romanov October 6, 2020, 1:04 am

            Don’t think about it seriously due to lack of information, but I don’t exclude this possibility In the future. Have a friend who in his 40s start a new life with family in Israel.

            Link Reply
            • VBJ October 7, 2020, 11:08 am

              Lots of Russians in Israel, man. Don’t know how they manage to pull it off, but it would give you better leverage opportunities in the ballpark of 3 months of work and 9 months of travel. I’d at least look into getting working credentials for Israel or another high income country.

              Link Reply
  • Trevor Warman October 19, 2020, 10:27 am

    Hope everyone is OK

    Will have new material for a post soon for VBJ

    Link Reply
    • VBJ October 20, 2020, 9:05 am

      Sweet! Looking forward to it.

      Link Reply
      • Trevor Warman October 21, 2020, 6:59 am

        Sent to your Gmail But using a different email address.

        You’ll love it. Hopepfully

        Link Reply