Tag Archives: nomadpreneur 101

The Reconstruction Crisis, toxic people and taking advice from Donald Trump…yes!

Here is an interview from the archives shortly after my 6-months in China! I explain the Passion-to-Profit phenomenon I refer to as the “Reconstruction Crisis,” I talk about how to “manage” toxic people and you’ll want to hear what I say about taking advice from Donald Trump (This was in 2012! Who knew?), and more in this (a favorites) interview hosted by Lisa Bullard of Blogtalkradio’s A Ripple Effect!

 

 

A Skype interview during my 6 months in China

My buddy, Winston Wu, founder of www.happierabroad.com, suggested I post my archived radio and skype interviews for the Youtube audience. Great idea, Winston!

Several years ago, as part of my 6-month adventure through China and beyond (Beijing, Kunming, Hainan, Laos, Singapore), I found myself in a small hotel room in China, Xishuangbanna, being interviewed via Skype by KY of the KYShow Podcast. We talked about turning passion into profit, the nomadpreneuring lifestyle and much more! It’s one of my favorite interviews from that time! Check it out here as part of the Passion Prophet channel’s “Turn Your Pandemic into Profits” series!

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Everyone has a passion.
Every passion has value.
You CAN make money doing what you love!

Take the Personality Test: https://www.passionprofit.com/itest

____________________________________

WHO IS WALT?

Who is Walt: https://www.waltgoodridge.com

Media Kit & CV: https://www.passionprofit.com/cgi-bin/new/redirect.pl?LL=mediakit

Amazon Author Profile: https://www.amazon.com/author/waltgoodridge

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1. PandemicProfits-1: https://youtube.com/watch?v=EpsNndvFU-0
2. PandemicProfits-2: https://youtube.com/watch v=yP3WGmKTdsA
3. PandemicProfits-3: https://youtube.com/watch?v=QQSDf8F8Kgg
4. PandemicProfits-4: Radio Interview-When I was in China https://youtube.com/watch?v=sSYfGIl7YvU

The short happy tale of the 42 Americans, Canadians and Germans and the Jamaican on Saipan

October 2015. Well, it’s happened again! Back on Oct 12, the island of Saipan was visited by the Holland America cruise ship, the Statendam, and some of their passengers got treated to a personalized Jamaican on Saipan tour experience! Here are some photos from the day!

In years past, I’ve had singer and entertainer Gus Kaipat, Carolinian elder Lino Olopai, Humanities Council director Scott Russell as special guest guides for my tours!

Unlike any other tour available that day, we could boast that we had Robert Hunter, the director of the CNMI museum, as the special guest guide for our clients! Thanks, Robert!


Picking up vans in the morning.


The Statendam docks!


Entering the port with Statendam in the background


Getting through the chaos in the parking lot

Click here to watch and listen to the welcome at Memorial Park


Touring the Memorial Park grounds


Robert Hunter keeps ’em enthralled at the Carolinian Village Utt


A light moment while spam shopping!


Okay, let’s roll!


Entering the Bomb Magazine at As Lito


Inside the Bomb Magazine

 


We had four vans rolling convoy style around the island!


At Lao Lao Bay golf course

 


Posing with the Ladies of the Statendam!

 


Overlooking the Statendam


Banzai Cliff


Revealing secrets


Driver/Guide Catherine confers with Robert


“I think it’s THAT way!”

 


The Last Command Post


Robert shares some history


My troopers were willing to brave the elements muddy water and all to get inside and experience a bit of history


Inside the Command Post


Bird Island

Of course, there was a whole lot more we shared during the day, but you’ll have to book your own personalized tour to get the full experience!

Special thanks to photographer, Ferdinand Ramos of facebook.com/paradisesaipan, and also to Willy from Fiji, Microl Toyota, Hertz, Kathy Odle, Cathie Slota and to all the guests who made the day special!  To book your own tour, visit www.discoversaipan.com!

Financing the lifestyle

The reason I share with you the cost of airline tickets and other expenses is to show how relatively inexpensive it is to do what I’m doing. It costs $197 to fly from New York to Jamaica. $157 from Kingston to Miami, etc. I stay at hostels, couchsurfers, or with friends. While not for everyone, it’s a lifestyle that is within financial reach of many people. All you need is the freedom.

Yes, the freedom comes first–at least it did for me. I’d like to suggest to you that freedom is not dependent on money. Money provides options, sure, but freedom is something you can claim at any time depending on your level of courage, and freedom is something you can maintain as long as you wish, depending on your level of discipline.

Between the Sunday that I decided to quit my civil engineering job, and the Tuesday when I actually handed in my resignation letter, nothing changed as far as my financial status. I was still broke! What changed was my level of commitment to live my dream. That’s what made the difference.

It’s not all “perfect” yet. The tides of revenue ebb and flow. The pendulum of profitability swings back and forth. There were ups and downs, and there continue to be ups and downs. However, the freedom is still there. The freedom is still there because I have the discipline to weather the tides of outrageous fortune.

My journey has been chronicled and made into a step-by-step guid in the books I’ve written:

I quit my job even before I had my Ducks in a Row

I was therefore able to execute and develop a Turn Your Passion Into Profit philosophy and formula,

and set an example of what Living True To Your Self means, that others can follow.

So, when you share my adventures as the Jamaican in Wherever, know that anyone can do this. I’m just an bordinary guy who simply wanted freedom bad enough.

With that said, here are some scenes from the past few days of freedom hanging out with Heru, a friend and fellow rat race escapee and nomadpreneur on the island of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

st thomas virgin islands
Heru takes me to THE coconut vendor on the road by First Car Rental, Wayne who also sells irish moss, coconut oil and other coconut-derived drinks and products

And special thanks to Wayne’s son, Eli (pronounced ALLI), who reminded his dad to make me a special batch of honey-sweetened “coconut moss” (irish moss seaweed and coconut water)!
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st thomas virgin islands
It’s a four-cruise-ship day!
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st thomas virgin islands
Ital Glory sidewalk cafe!
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st thomas virgin islands
I am now officially addicted to Judy’s cooking! Clay pots, square dumplings and moringa juice $10 for a large plate with HUGE portions!
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st thomas virgin islands
Health Food Store
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st thomas virgin islands
Blurry shot inside health food store
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st thomas virgin islands
Heru is “The Whole Body Consultant” on island and has a “Lunchtime at Livity” workshop at Natural Livity Kulcha Shop & Juice Bar every second Thursday of the month
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st thomas virgin islands
Hanging with Al, Heru’s Tai Chi instructor
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st thomas virgin islands
Heru also does two radio programs on WUVI 1090 AM, “Avenues of Healing” which airs Thursdays from 4-5:30pm Eastern Time, and “The Music & Culture Experience,” which airs Friday mornings 10:00am to 11:45. Stream live at: https://wuvi.am
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st thomas virgin islands
Being interviewed. (on both programs)
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st thomas virgin islands
A new friend on the University of Virgin Islands campus
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st thomas virgin islands
Did I mention I’m a cat person?
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st thomas virgin islands
View from the hills
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Where’s your savings, man????

Here’s a question I answered one of my newsletters

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Section 3: Freedom to Escape: Saving money???
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WINSTON THE DEBUNKER IN TAIWAN ASKS: Btw, in your interview, you said that when you first started running your own business, you had no savings to depend on. But if you were a civil engineer with a professional salary for 7 years, wouldn’t you have a huge savings account from such a salary? I don’t get it. I’m able to save money even with a small salary, by simply learning to not waste money, and using budgeting apps from sites such as SoFi.

THE SHORT ANSWER:
Great question. I absolutely believe this is a cultural thing. Living on Saipan, dating girls, speaking with fellows who also had girlfriends/wives, and also when was writing Chicken Feathers & Garlic Skin: Diary of a Chinese Garment Factory Girl on Saipan, with Chun Yu Wang, I learned of many of the girls who were earning $3.00/hour who had been working on Saipan for years and who had bank account balances of $70,000, $80,000 and more!

At the same time, what I learned when I was involved in network marketing in the US, was that many of the doctors and lawyers and engineers who were striving for success, were in debt up to their ears, paying off car notes and mortgages and living the “American Dream” living from paycheck to paycheck. The situation to even obtain a mortgage or some sort of loan to improve our lives also depends largely on the banks and lending institutions that are supposed to be helpful with it. While most processes can generally be cumbersome, the exasperating part is that taking out a loan can even go to the point of having to contact a credit report lawyer for report falsification cases. The mental burden of drowning in all of this can really become problematic.

That’s why (or, at least one reason why) I’m not impressed by fancy cars, big houses and so-called status. In America, when you see someone “richer” than you, it simply means in most cases, that they’re simply living at a richer level of debt! Most of these people living paycheck to paycheck and living with high amounts of debt to keep up the image of “living the American Dream” won’t even look into helpful aids such as a debt consolidation calculator to see if they’re even able to get out of debt, they keep piling more on.

Donald Trump declared bankruptcy a few years ago. Sears is going out of business. American Airlines is in Chapter 11. The whole financial system and society are founded on consumerism and debt.

Now, being the minimalist I am, I don’t consider myself party to the whole immediate gratification, buy-all-you-can mindset. And I was fortunate enough to get a scholarship to Columbia, so I didn’t have any school loans to pay once I graduated. However, I did spend practically every penny in my attempt to grow my business (financing music videos, traveling to music industry conventions, etc.) in an effort to free myself from corporate America.

So, regarding saving money:

1. It’s easier for people to save if they dont’ have a business to bootstrap and finance.

2. When I have it, I tend to give it away to friends/family.

3. I believe the saving esthetic is a cultural thing and is prevalent in other cultures Asian (or specifically, from my experience, Chinese) culture, and of course, in the frugal, simpler societies and lifestyle that my grandmother in Jamaica lived, for example. (Unfortunately, I didn’t pick up that particular talent or gene when I lived with her….:-) )

4. Saving can be made much easier by using a reputable bank or credit union. My friend told me that he was using North Coast Credit Union which made it easier for him to save money because he was able to choose which savings account would work best for him, and he was able to create different accounts for each thing he was saving for. He claims that really helped him with saving because he wasn’t tempted to spend that money if he saw what he was supposed to be saving for.

In other words, saving can be done. It’s just not that easy, especially in a consumerist, debt-leveraged society! However, if you live somewhere like America, saving money is made much easier with the help of banks and saving plans.

To listen to the interview of me that Winston is referring to, visit www.waltgoodridge.com/interviews then find, “KY Show Interview”

The Funny Things That Customers Do: I reserve the right to refuse…

As a nomadpreneur, I conduct a large portion of my business on the internet. I have websites through which I offer products and services to a wide range of markets.

I was listening, the other day, to a radio broadcast that was discussing the effect that technology has had on human interaction. A fascinating phenomenon of the internet is how it has changed many people’s communication styles. With no need to meet and interact face to face with the person they are emailing, many people have devolved to very crass, rude, inappropriate and offensive ways of speaking to each other. With their identities masked by anonymity, many people feel empowered to insult,  ridicule, curse and assume a combative postures in their communications with other human beings–in ways that would be unthinkable were they actually in the physical presence of the person with whom they are communicating.

Case in point. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I own and maintain a website called FreeSummerConcerts.com, through which–as the name suggests–I offer listings of all the free concerts happening in New York City each summer. Registration to the site is free.

Yesterday, a visitor to my site (“Rbish”) used the online form to sign up for the listings and added the following comment:

You guys suck big time! You post some corny ass ethiopian concert but you dont post the Nas/Damien Marley concert? You suck!

You should note, for the record, that the Nas/Damien Marley concerts he’s referring to are NOT free concerts but part of a national tour.*

Here is my reply to “Rbish”

 

Dear Rbish,

While I’m thankful for your feedback about my site, you should be aware that your style of communication and choice of words is unacceptable. I only serve adults who know how to conduct themselves according to commonly agreed-upon standards of polite behavior.

Despite what you’ve been led to believe about your rights of free speech, your CHOICE to speak in the way you choose DOES have consequences. You do not have the option of acting rudely AND also expect to be served graciously–if at all.

Therefore, you will not be added to my freesummerconcerts list. Unless you register under a different email account (which, of course, you are free to do unless I block your IP address too), you will not receive my weekly listings of concerts because your current email address has been flagged and banned from my system.

 

Walt Goodridge

owner of the FreeSummerConcerts.com site
*********

*It is my own adherence to certain rules of polite interaction that prevented me from responding to Rbish “what part of “FREE summer concerts” is giving you difficulty?”  (I thought it, but I didn’t write it!)

So, the bottom line is this: When you are in my domain (pun intended), you will behave yourself according to rules of common decency.

 

p.s. To read more of the funny things that customers do, and my responses, see these archived articles:

https://www.saipanpreneur.com/archives?LL=206&ref=98750

https://www.saipanpreneur.com/archives?LL=215&ref=100526

https://www.saipanpreneur.com/archives?LL=216&ref=100748

As you read these three accounts above–specifically #2 and #3–you may encounter what appears to be a contradiction as pointed out by a faithful reader. The story in item #3 recounts one of my very first forays into doing business in the music industry. I hadn’t developed my set of standard practices. It turned out that in this case, that having a contract proved fortuitous since the fellow in question was a “ne’er do well” who needed state court encouragement to “do well.” As I grew, both in experience, and in personal philosophical conviction, I developed the avoidance of contracts.

 

The short happy tale of 41 Australians and the Jamaican on Saipan!

Now it can be told!  One of the reasons I returned to Saipan from China specifically when I did was to arrange a special tour for a group of visiting Australians to the island of Saipan. Way back in October of 2010, while I was in Beijing, China, I received a request through my DiscoverSaipan site from Narelle M., one of the activity organizers on a 45-day Sun Princess Cruise Lines tour originating in Sydney, and then continuing to Hong Kong to Japan, a few Pacific Islands and back to Australia. (One of the beautiful benefits of running internet-based businesses is the ability to do so from any location on earth with internet access).

Narelle and I continued our communication throughout my China adventure and we built the  excitement as the date approached. However, by the time the cruise kicked off in early March, Narelle was not able to be physically present on the cruise, so I continued organizing with Gaye H. As things progressed, the “Cherry Blossom Tour,” as it had been billed, had to cancel its stops in Japan due to the recent events there. However, the Pacific island leg of the tour was still on!

Most of the arrangements for transportation were made back in November (Thanks for the assist, Miki!), and as the number of interested cruise passengers increased,  I had to add more and more vans to handle the ever-increasing group.

Once I returned to Saipan, I met with Scott Russell and Merced Alda of the Mariana Council for the Humanities, as well as local saipanpreneur, Catherine Perry, and Gordon Marciano of PDI, who graciously helped pull things together in the few days before the ship was to arrive.

I wanted to offer our visitors a Saipan experience unlike the standard “big bus, big guns” tour most visitors receive. I wanted to show them the Saipan I fell in love with: the fantastic scenery, the local culture, the warm-hearted residents, and simple daily lifestyle that make Saipan a secret paradise and coveted escape from the ills of modern living. For that, I would need to assemble a special team.

Both Catherine and Scott suggested “Uncle” Lino Olapai as a representative of Saipan Carolinian culture (Lino is author of a book entitled The Rope of Tradition, which can be ordered here; Saipan residents may purchase at Bestseller Books), and John Castro as a representative of things Chamorro.


John (left), Lino and I meet at Java Joe’s a few days before to discuss the tour

My friend, Norman Xing, suggested a Chinese NMC liberal arts student and former tour bus driver who would also be part of the team.

And, to add some feminine energy to the team, John recruited Catherine Shai, homemaker and former cultural dancer.

I awoke on the morning of Tuesday, March 5, 2011, to an auspicious Saipan sunrise. The past three days had seen rain and overcast weather which, if it continued, would threaten the fun and excitement of my Saipan in a Day Tour.


The sunrise on the actual morning of the tour.

We learned a day or two before that, due to an issue with a faulty engine, the ocean liner was delayed and scheduled to arrive at 11:45am.


Vans are picked up…Thanks, Cheryl and Jenny at Microl Toyota!


More vans are picked up…Thanks Layer and Monica at Hertz!

The team met, vans were picked up, logistics were arranged, and all was proceeding well.

The A team: Chamorro Korean Catherine, Chamorro John, Carolinian Lino, Chinese Tom, Jamaican Walt. Thanks Doug! Great Photo!


By 11:00am, the ship could be seen making its final approach to Saipan

We arrived at the dock, and as  the members of our 3-van/1-SUV caravan waited for our turn to enter the restricted area, a torrential downpour began at about 12 noon!

Storm clouds gather ominously

After about half hour of rain, the clouds began to pass and we were able to see breaks of blue sky coming in from the south. I knew this would be a good day!


By the time the passengers started to alight, the sky over Saipan was a stunning blue!

We met our group, headed out to my favorite spot, did our special welcome, and did our thing!

Lino leads the group of visitors towards our vans


Welcome, introductions, flowers, mwars and the fun begins!

As I told the visiting Aussies (and New Zealanders and at least two Americans): There is only ONE Lino Olopai  on Saipan, and we’ve got him! If you want local expertise on Chamorro culture, there’s only ONE John Castro, and we’ve got him on our tour too! I assured them, that once they returned to the ship and compared notes with the other passengers, they would have had an experience like no other!


Looking on intently

I’ll have to keep some of our Secret Saipan tour, well… a secret, you understand, but I’ll just say that based on the feedback we received, as well as the happy goodbyes, a good time was had by most!


An adventurous ten took Walt’s trek to the best scenic spot on Saipan


Sacred spots and more!


As it was requested by some of our guests, we decided to incorporate some of the big guns into their experience


Next to a big bus….”Ok, where do we go next?”


Bird island


Lino holds court at the Micro Beach Pavilion….history, culture and more!

As the evening drew to a close, I noted to myself that the cloudy evening sky obscured one of Saipan’s greatest assets: the famous Saipan sunset. However, almost on cue, even with an invisible sun, some streaks of hot pink emerged to color the sky and water in front of Micro Beach seemingly just for the benefit of our guests. It lasted no more than 5 minutes, but was enough to elicit some oohs and ahhs from the crowd, and provide a nice end to a special day!


Sunset makes a special brief appearance just for us.


We dropped our visitors back at the dock and said our goodbyes….You should have been there!

And thus concludes The Short Happy Tale of the 41 Australians, the two Chamorros, the Carolinian, the Chinese, and the Jamaican on Saipan!

 

From Harlem to Hainan!

What do the free Summer concerts in New York City for 2011 have to do with me in China???

So, here I sit on a beach on a tropical island off the coast of The People’s Republic of China. Meanwhile, 8,361 miles (13,455k) away on another island in the United States of America, people are looking forward to what they’ll do for their 2011 summer in New York. I know this because one of my websites, www.FreeSummerConcerts.com has started to receive a marked increase in visits starting a few days ago.

Back in the summer of 2005, shortly before I left Harlem, New York, for Saipan, I started the site to provide a compilation of all the free music events throughout the five boroughs of New York City. The site was an instant success (“free” always works online), and as you can see from the tracker snapshot below, the interest and sign-ups begin as early as January each year even though the site won’t actually resume until the first day of Summer, June 21, 2011.

So, every summer, from wherever I happen to be (last year I was on Saipan), I research and compile the free music events throughout the city, and (1)post them to the website, (2) email them twice weekly to a mailing list of tens of thousands. The site generates money if/when visitors click on the Google ads on the site.

 I promote the site thusly:

Never miss a free concert
in NYC’s parks, piers, plazas and pathways!

Every summer, New York’s parks, piers, plazas and pathways host some of best musical entertainment in the world! From Rock, Reggae, Jazz, European Classical, R&B, Electronic, Hip Hop, Country, Salsa, Folk and more– it’s all absolutely free! Wouldn’t it be convenient to know what’s going on and when so you don’t miss out? Let FreeSummerConcerts.com notify you by email of practically every morning-time, lunch hour, after work and weekend concert well in advance to make your plans!

400+ free events each year!

A Partial List of Events We Cover:

Central Park Summerstage | City Parks Events | River to River Concert Series| Martin Luther King Concert Series at Wingate Field | Seaside Concert Series Summer in The (Union) Square | Music at the (Chelsea) Piers | Harlem Meer Events| Lincoln Center Out of Doors| Charlie Parker Jazz Festival | JazzMobile Celebrate Brooklyn | 47th Annual Washington Square Music Festival | JVC Jazz Festival Namburg Orchestral Concerts | Jones Beach Ampitheater | Madison Square Park | Siren Festival | World Financial Center Concerts | NBC Today Show

Here’s what happened over the past 20 days

Here is what happened over the past 20 weeks.

And what happened over the past 20 months.

I find these tracker details fascinating. I have no idea what happened on January 14 to have visits jump from a daily average of about 5 or 6, to suddenly 32. But, once the tipping point occurs, it continues and grows.

Just another secret lesson in “Nomadpreneuring 101!” From The Jamaican on the island of Hainan, China, to you wherever you are!

shhhh….Secret behind the Secret: This particular post also serves as a promotional tool. Once the search engines record this post, it will show up in people’s google alerts, and also higher in the google listings for searches.

You can check out the ever-changing stats of my site yourself by visiting the site, scrolling all the way down and clicking on this little icon: Free Summer Concerts

Dollar-a-day Nomad

For those of you who think it’s expensive to do what I do, here’s a little info:

As I do my travels to various cities in China, I’m able to establish a routine, norms and requirements for my happiness and comfort. Depending upon how “furnished” my accommodations are, I may need to purchase a few items at each destination. At my first villa in Xishuangbanna I didn’t have to purchase much. However, the second place I stayed was an empty hotel room which the owner equipped with a single-burner stove, a small gas-tank to allow me to cook, so I had to buy everything else except toilet tissue.

Here’s what I ended up buying, and which now constitutes my standard shopping list for new nomad destinations.

 

Item RMB USD
sponges 1.20 0.17
bleach 13.00 1.91
mop 29.00 4.26
plastic wash basin 22.00 3.23
hooks 8.97 1.32
manual water pump 15.00 2.22
dustpan/broom 9.00 1.32
dish washing liquid 9.00 1.32
hangers(12) 5.90 0.87
stove adjustor 2.90 0.42
small pot (rice) 9.95 1.46
bulbs (3@0.97each) 2.91 0.42
cutting board 9.95 1.46
3 floor mats 15.00 2.20

Total cost in US $23.31!

See? It’s not that expensive at all–particularly if you’re on a US-based/derived income. Of course it helps if you’re low maintenance minimalist, willing to shop where the local people shop, but the fact is, your dollar can go much further in many destinations overseas.

Notes:

– I get a mop and broom as I prefer to clean my own room (have you seen the mops and dirty bucket water in most hotels?)

– the “stove adjustor” is that metal ring that sets atop the stove burner for accommodating smaller pots

– the “hooks” are a paste-on 5-hook thingy on which I can place utensils (spoon, strainer, etc.) that I use for cooking

cost of living in China, china hotels
all the purchases in my Xishuangbanna mansion

cost of living in China, china hotels

I’ll compare the above prices to those on Hainan in a future post (rumor has it things are much more expensive here)
So, my point is, when you think to yourself that traveling around the world is something you could never do, remember the dollar-a-day nomad and Jamaican in China!

Guess what I’VE been doing?

From: walt@jamaicaninchina.com

Subject: Jamaican in China!-Guess what I’VE been doing???

Date: September 24, 2010 3:52:10 PM GMT+08:00

I suppose you might be wondering what I’ve been doing, and why you haven’t heard from me in a bit. Well, I HAVEN’T BEEN gallivanting on the Great Wall of China. I HAVEN’T been loitering in Lintong, Xian, Shaanxi Province, home of the Terra Cotta Warriors, NOR have I been encouraging shy girls to “Say Hello To Me!”

So, WHAT, you ponder, have I been doing? Well, I’ve spent the last three days sequestered in a 10 x 20 hotel room debugging a software program. That’s right! It’s as exciting as it sounds! This process largely involved automation testing. When developing software you need to make sure that everything is working properly, and carrying out tests is a fundamental part of this. I haven’t left the room for three days, and fasted for two of them, all in an effort to get a software program working correctly.

Based on recent feedback from customers and friends, I now realize that the order process for my online products has way too many steps. Sign in, billing address, shipping address, confirmation, shipping confirmation, credit card information, and finally checkout. Wasn’t an issue before, but as people get more impatient, and as other online vendors streamline their own order process, the bar is set higher for my own sites.

One customer, in particular, included the following comment when she placed her order (teachable moment, here, so pay attention all you potential internet entrepreneurs and future nomadpreneurs):

“The ordering process is too long…too many screen before the order is complete. I really need this information so I was determined to complete this order. Otherwise, I would have given up.”

 

A good friend had said pretty much the same thing a few days earlier. So, not being one to ignore messages from the universe, I set about finding a better shopping cart and found one with a one-page/one step checkout process! Once implemented, it would streamline the order process, encourage sales, and improve cash flow. There was only one little challenge….it didn’t work!!!

Well, actually, it DID work very well, except for one feature that didn’t seamlessly mesh with my existing checkout system. So, I set about debugging the PHP software to get it to work. My last three days in China have gone pretty much like this:

    • Get up in the morning
    • Stare at php code
    • Teach myself php code
    • isolate which file out of 6008 program files is causing the error
    • Deduce a fix
    • change a line of code
    • save the file
    • upload the file
    • Place a sample order with a sample product (enter my billing address, credit card information, click submit)
    • Receive an error message
    • Stare at php code
    • Teach myself php code
    • isolate which file out of 6008 program files is causing the error
    • Deduce a fix
    • change another line of code
    • save the file
    • upload the file
    • Place a sample order with a sample product (enter my billing address, credit card information, click submit) to test if my fix worked
    • Receive an error message,
    • Stare at php code

You get the idea…At the same time, I’m submitting requests to the tech support department of the vendor, searching the online forum of current users of the software to discover if others have experienced and solved similar issues, posting to the forums, waiting for responses, implementing suggestions from experienced users…. As a last resort, I purchased vendor support and got a “patch” to fix the bug. However, the patch didn’t work. In frustration, I contacted the vendor, cancelled my order and requested a refund, and went to bed (now day two of my fast).However, I love a challenge! Never let it be said that I was bested by a software program.So, I got up today (Friday, and went at it again.) It would be a few hours until the vendor responded to my refund request, so I would attempt to get this thing to work one more time.

Long story short (guess it’s already too late for that), at about 12 noon today, after practically rewriting the code of the errant file…..SUCCESS! Order complete! Features performed seamlessly!

So, to celebrate, I went out into a cool Autumn day and treated myself to some fresh-squeezed carrot/apple juice, then some cucumber/celery juice, a little outing on the subway, and then on to my favorite restaurant!

I’m still not finished, though. I’m back in the hotel room, and now that I’ve got the back end working (the important order-completion part), I still have to input all the products from all my websites, configure a few more features, customize the look of the cart and do some final tests. So, that should be another day or two here in the hotel, but there’s a light at the end of the PHP tunnel! See you on the other side, at which time, I’ll do my best to show you some more interesting things than the inside of a hotel room!


Nomadpreneur in Beijing

Nomadpreneuring 101–Question of the Day

Hey Walt, You’re actually living the life I’ve always wanted…to be anywhere in the world with my computer and still be making money…
So tell me, how are you able to travel around from country to country…how do you work your business? I’m curious because I’m thinking about making a move myself…Roy

Roy is a college friend now living in California, whom I see every few years. Before I share my answer to his question of the day, let me first say that while this is a blog about my personal adventures and the lifestyle I choose to live, I’ve come to understand (and you should, too this about me) that everything I am and everything I do serves my life’s purpose.

Before I was the Jamaican in China, I was (and continue to be) a business author known as “the Passion Prophet.” My life’s purpose through my books is to “share what I know, so that others may grow.”

The overall theme of my writings is to help people discover, develop and profit from the pursuit of their passions. This current year’s theme is “Reclaim Your Power! Break Free! Live True to Your Self!”

So when I share my Jamaican in China adventure, it’s not just to tell a story, but to show what is possible, to help people break free from limiting beliefs and habits. I’m here to prove a point. And that point is: you can create the lifestyle of your dreams, and here is someone (me) who is doing it, so this is just one way it can be done.

With that said, here’s how I replied to Roy…..

Hey Roy,

Thanks for the question.

Right now I’m sitting outside of the Apple store in Beijing, China, using their wi fi access.

Yesterday I had to endure the incessant jiggling at Hooters while I used the access at their restaurant. I know. Life can be tough sometimes.

Anyway, later today, a technician is scheduled to configure my mac to access the wi-fi where I’m currently staying, and things should be back on track.

I’ve spent the last several years creating streams of income that don’t require my constant presence. The basis of all of the ventures is the Philosophy and Formula I shared in my book, Turn Your Passion Into Profit (Sign up online to receive some free gifts and free chapter)

At this point, most everything is on auto-pilot. The sites are up and running 24-hours a day, people order my products, and all I need to do is respond to an occasional customer service issue and send out weekly emails. Essentially, all I need is internet access to keep track of things and “work my business.”

I use Skype to if I have to make calls if I need to take orders or speak to customers or vendors directly.

Even the tourism business I started in Saipan can be run all by email with the help of the vendors on island with whom I have relationships.


You can get all the intimate details of every aspect of how I’ve structured my nomadpreneur business in the 48-Hour Quickstart Manual and learn tips on creating Websites That Sell

Visit the PassionProfit.com site, sign up and receive access to view the products, plus a free online course…..and when my nomad schedule allows, I also do a little one-on-one coaching

Most of my products are also available on this special page on Amazon.com.

Beijing Hooters girl dance break! Do you mind? I’m trying to work over here!