How I Visited 24 States, 10 Countries, And Made $250,000 Before I Turned 28

Four years ago, I got the nastiest comments I’ve ever received as a writer. Here’s a short excerpt:

“You lack the sales and marketing skills to find clients paying fair market rates. So, you write whiney articles on quitting and how this is ‘choosing yourself.’

Choosing yourself, means growing up, knuckling down and doing the things you don’t like very much to push your business forward. Choosing to be an ostrich is quitting and taking all your toys home.”

Ouch.

Three years ago, a guy named Nicholas Barang wrote that beneath one of my articles.

I never forgot his comment.

I screenshot it, saved it on my computer, and wrote him back..

That was back in August of 2017. I made it to Bali by May of the following year.

I wanted to lead with this story for one simple reason.

Most of why I was able to travel, build a 6-figure business, and pay off over $50,000 of student loan debt was because I believed I could do it.

In 2017 I was making $400 a week as a freelancer. Hardly enough money to buy a 4-figure plane ticket to Bali. It was ridiculous for me to say I would be in Bali by next year.

How did it happen?

Well, keep reading. This is how I visited 24 States, 10 Countries, and made $250,000 before I turned 28.

I Failed At Travel Blogging (2016)

“To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only obligation.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Five years ago I read a blog written by Adventurous Kate. She was this badass blogger who made money while traveling the world.

From the first sentence I was fascinated.

You see, I began freelance writing a year before that on sites like Upwork and Craigslist, and actually made about $300-$400 weekly.

Writing about craft beer, though, was getting pretty exhausting, and I wanted to go on my own adventure.

I wanted to be like Kate. I wanted to be a travel blogger. I wanted to stop writing about crap I didn’t care about, but I knew if I didn’t TRAVEL, I couldn’t be a travel blogger.

So I traveled.

From Orlando to San Francisco. Coast to coast. Then I drove from San Francisco all the way back to Maryland, stopping in Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado on the way back.

The whole drive was like 12,000 miles or something.

It was the gnarliest trip I’ve ever been on, and I did it all alone.

The problem was, I failed at travel blogging. I posted once per month, gained only 30 email subscribers, and never got more than 500 views in a 30-day period.

However, I did make progress in other areas. I pitched my road trip story to the Huffington Post, AND ACTUALLY GOT IN!

I was also featured in a NowThis video that got a million views, and my trip taught me so many life lessons that I still write about to this day.

Even though the trip didn’t pay immediate dividends, it paid exponential dividends well into the future.

I’m writing about it right now, aren’t I?

Travel Tips For The United States

• Hostels are your best friend. How else can you stay in New Orleans for $13 per night?
• Do you have friends in other states? Now is the perfect time to see them. They might even offer you a place to crash.
• See as many National Parks as possible.

I Made Good Progress As A Blogger (2017)

“Making a decision was only the beginning of things. When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

When I got back from my road trip, I started a publication called the Post-Grad Survival Guide.

The mission? To inspire young people. To tell them they could travel and freelance and be free.

My goal was to write daily, and after 30 days of doing that, my publication started gaining 20 followers per day on Medium for no apparent reason.

Medium was good to me.

Above were my stats for Month 1.

Below were my stats for Month 8.

I got into more big publications like Thought Catalog and Elite Daily, and I felt I had a pretty good grasp of how to write great blog posts. By month 12 I was averaging 30,000 monthly views as a writer.

Tips For Becoming A Blogger

• Write at least five times per week.
• Try to get into the best publications.
• Stay consistent and use data to figure out what you audience wants more of.

I Created An Online Course (2018)

“People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don’t deserve them, or that they’ll be unable to achieve them.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

In late 2017 I lost a major freelancing client that made me over $400 weekly. I was burned out as a freelancer and didn’t have the strength to carry on writing about craft beer and coffee clubs. Defeated, I went to my local pizza shop and guzzled down Pepsi while stress-eating gigantic slimy slices of cheese pizza.

I was just a mess.

At the restaurant, though, I suddenly had this crazy idea.

What if I create an online course? The fear in my head didn’t want any of it. I didn’t want to throw this last hail mary and have it not work. This was the only thing I was hanging onto — that I’d be able to someday create a course as a blogger. That my blogging wasn’t for nothing. My whole identity rested on this working.

I didn’t have much of a choice either way. Readers were asking me how they could grow a blog of their own on Medium left and right, so there MUST have been an opportunity there, right?

So I decided to pre-sell an online course about Medium blogging. Thankfully I got 10 sign ups on my initial webinar and made my first $2,000 in 60 minutes.

It felt like a million dollars.

“Medium Mastery” has since been the cash cow for me. I perfected it in 2018 after my initial pre-sale, and it’s generated over $190,000 so far.

More Traveling, More Blogging, And A Vlog! (2018–2021)

After I monetized my first online course, I suddenly had the funds to travel around the world. I booked a ticket to the Philippines in 2018, started a vlog on my birthday (March 30), and thought I’d become the next Casey Neistat or something.

To make a long story short, I did pretty well with my vlogging.

As far as traveling goes, I’ve spent 85% of my time in the Philippines the last few years. I’ve also been able to visit beautiful countries like Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland.

It’s been a hell of a life with lots of ups and downs.

A Few Closing Secrets To My Success

“Before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream. That’s the point at which most people give up. It’s the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one ‘dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

4 years ago Nicholas Barang told me I didn’t have marketing or sales skills.

I’ve sold close to $200,000 worth of online courses.

4 years ago Nicholas Barang told me “Choosing yourself, means growing up, knuckling down and doing the things you don’t like very much to push your business forward.”

Well, I quite liked quitting freelancing to pursue blogging.

He also called me an ostrich and mocked me for “quitting and taking all my toys home.”

Shit, I’m so happy I did.

People like Nicholas Barang gave me immense fire to achieve.

Back when Nicholas made that initial comment, I had maybe 3,000 followers on Medium. Now I have 50,000.

Rule #1: Take what the haters give you. Use it as fuel.

I turn 28 next month. I started this writing journey when I was 22 years old. That’s six years of my life that I’ve been writing words on the internet.

Rule #2: This ain’t gonna take days. It’s gonna take years.

Belief in yourself is hard to cultivate. I empathize with that. I grew up in a wonderful home with supportive parents. I want you to know, though, that nothing in life can conquer time. Nothing.

Success will ultimately bow down at the feet of Father Time.

It’s like fucking Ragnarok or something. It’s unstoppable.

I knew that if I kept at it, eventually I’d succeed. I was willing to play the long game and challenge success to a chicken fight.

I ended up winning for now.

Here is my third rule.

Rule #3: Consistency destroys all obstacles.

In 2015 my Mom told me it was a bad decision to freelance online.

In 2016 my best friend told me I should stay away from that girl I met from the Philippines.

In 2017 Nicholas Barang told me I had no marketing or sales skills.

In 2018 Jonathan Greene told me Medium was destined for failure.

The point is, I’ve fucking heard it all.

Rule #4: Don’t listen to fucking anybody.

I hope these rules will help you on your journey.

Get my free 5-day Medium writing course right here. It’ll teach you how to write five posts per week and become a top writer on Medium. :)