Bootstrapping Your Business While Living Abroad

Watch Cody’s exclusive 4HWW Berlin presentation titled “How to Make Friends and Money Around the World: Bootstrapping Your Business While Living Abroad”

Here’s your FREE behind-closed-doors ticket to the 4 Hour Workweek Berlin conference, where I spoke about how nearly anyone can start a side hustle to create more freedom and flexibility, and bootstrap their fledgling lifestyle business into something bigger, even while you travel and live abroad (I’ve been doing it since 2008 now)

Sadly, my silly dad jokes didn’t get many laughs since it was a room full of 130 (mostly) Germans hehe.

If you like this video, subscribe to my YouTube channel for much more great video content about building your own lifestyle business and traveling the world digital nomad style!

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Adventurous Entrepreneur Interview: Living a Heroic Lifestyle with Cody McKibben

Here, Emily Utter interviews Cody for her Adventurous Entrepreneur seminar series in July 2014. Here’s Emily:

I’m super excited to share with you my interview with world-traveler and digital nomad extraordinaire, Cody McKibben. Cody is the real deal. He’s always galavanting around the globe with just a backpack full of belongings. In this interview he shares how all he really needs is his laptop and an iPhone to grow a business that has allowed him to live all over the globe.

Cody’s been at this for several years now, so if you want to learn from a pro, don’t miss this one. We talked about what to consider when looking for a new city/country/continent to call home, as well as what it really takes to be successful.

I was super inspired by Cody’s story and I think you will be too!

In this call Emily Utter interviews Cody McKibben to talk about:

  • What he’s currently doing in London, far away from his usual stomping grounds
  • The exact moment he realized he absolutely had to be an entrepreneur
  • His decision to forego business school at Stanford to build his business instead
  • How Thrilling Heroics got its start in 2006 and what it’s grown into since
  • Mentioned: The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss
  • The eye-opening experience learning about leveraging geo-arbitrage
  • His continually evolving interest in Thailand
  • How he chooses where to travel and what that process might look like for others
  • His “slow travel” habits that allow him to soak up his surroundings
  • The massive part that your community or network plays in your success
  • His tools and strategies for success as a location independent entrepreneur
  • His bad luck when it comes to iPhones
  • How money in the bank (or lack thereof) affects your drive
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Turning Knowledge into Products with Scott Britton

Scott Britton has a long track record in sales and business development, he worked on the start-up team with Single Platform (sold for $100 million). In September 2013, he left the New York tech scene and moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he lives with a group of entrepreneurs all building out their lifestyle businesses. He’s now focused on scaling up his information product business, and he’s a master of creating fantastic, highly successful Udemy courses including Sleep Hacking, Cold Emailing for Startups, and Gmail Hacking.

You can learn all about Scott on his personal website where he talks about business, personal development, and many more topics! You can also take a look at all his amazing online courses there as well!

In this call Scott Britton joins us from his flat in Rio de Janeiro and we discuss: 

  • What he’s been doing recently
  • His path from working for an athlete representation agency to breaking into New York’s start-up scene
  • How you can provide an astonishing amount of value to people through curation
  • The hard decision to make the leap from the “bubble” in New York City down to Brazil
  • His daily routine for self-improvement now that he’s living in Rio de Janeiro
  • The many benefits of surrounding yourself with like-minded people and how it helps elevate you and your goals
  • Mentioned: Charisma on Command, the project being worked on by one of his flatmates in Rio de Janeiro
  • The positive aspects of travel and living abroad with the right people
  • How he got started crafting highly successful information products
  • His Lifehacks book, BD Playbook, and Break into Biz Dev products…
  • Mentioned: Skillshare and Udemy
  • His thought process behind crafting and digitizing courses that continue to earn passive income from information you already know
  • About his Udemy courses – Sleep Hacking, Master Gmail, Cold Emailing for Startups, and Land a Startup Job…
  • Strategies for utilizing Udemy effectively and utilizing it for lead generation
  • The Bandage Email Framework and straightforward tactics for “cold emailing” contacts that are often overlooked
  • His personal goals and tools and systems for progressing towards and tracking goals
  • Best practices for juggling multiple goals and personal experiments at once
  • How you handle cold emails that require a sales call to close
  • And much, much more…
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From Struggling Musician to Multi-Millionaire — with Derek Sivers

Derek Sivers, who I first met in Singapore in 2011, is a fascinating person who I really look up to — a hugely successful writer, entrepreneur, programmer, and ex-musician who founded CD Baby, and in 2008 sold it for $22 million.

Derek is hugely passionate about learning and teaching, he’s a frequent TED speaker, and writes extensively at Sivers.org. He’s also the author of Anything You Want and the Wood Egg startup guide series.

Below is my 2014 mentor call with him just for members, perhaps the best guest we’ve ever had! Watch to learn how Derek transitioned from overworked running a huge multimillion dollar business with 85 employees to resetting his operating system, how he then sold his $22 million dollar enterprise without paying anything in taxes, and his philosophies on how to have FUN doing business:

In this call, Derek joins us from his home in New Zealand and we discuss:

You can learn much more about Derek on his site, read his latest articles, and watch his great videos from the Anything You Want book and Uncommon Sense series.

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Vagabonding After 10 Years — with Rolf Potts

Rolf Potts VagabondingRolf is a high-profile proponent of independent travel and acclaimed author of the book Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel — one of the two books, alongside Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek, that inspired my nomadic lifestyle. He also authored Marco Polo Didn’t Go There: Stories and Revelations from One Decade as a Postmodern Travel Writer and is an accomplished travel journalist who’s reported from over 60 countries and written for National Geographic Traveler, The New Yorker, Slate, Lonely Planet, Outside, The Guardian, the Travel Channel and much more, he’s an explorer who’s adventures have taken him across 6 continents.

You can learn much more about Rolf on his bio site and at Vagablogging, and get your hands on his exclusive bundle of free content from BitTorrent to celebrate the release of the new audiobook.

In this call, Rolf phoned in from his family farm in Kansas and we discuss:

  • Find out the one continent he hasn’t been to yet.
  • The similarities between a travel lifestyle and entrepreneurship…
  • Learn how living out of a van in 1994 helped give him the long-term travel itch.
  • The idea of “home” for a long-term perpetual traveler, and places we love to live.
  • Why it’s important to take control of your circumstances rather than being passive in life.
  • What it means to develop an “uncommon way of looking at life” and how you choose to use your time…
  • How travel has changed Rolf’s worldview and what he’s capable of…
  • How much time he recommends people take off for a RTW trip or a sabbatical…
  • The challenges of re-assimilating back into ordinary life.
  • Mentioned: Vagabonding resources and Rolf’s favorite travel quotes
  • What is a “Postmodern Travel Writer”? and we talk about some of the writers of the past who he admires most.
  • What value does travel have to the student of life as opposed to a traditional educational experience?
  • About working with Tim Ferriss to release the audiobook version of Vagabonding for the first time…
  • and much much more…

Find Rolf at rolfpotts.com and vagabonding.net and if you have questions for him, email [email protected]

Also be sure to listen to our past interview with Rolf Potts, in which we dig deep into the ins and outs of becoming a successful travel writer.

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Higher Education, Lifelong Learning and Entrepreneurship – with Carlos Miceli and Skinner Layne

Cody McKibben hosts a discussion with Skinner Layne and Carlos Miceli, co-founders of Exosphere, about the state of higher education and entrepreneurship, emphasizing the need for lifelong learning and community-driven support for entrepreneurs. They introduce an upcoming entrepreneurship bootcamp in Santiago, Chile, which aims to provide participating startup founders with practical skills, mentorship, and a strong community to foster personal and professional growth. The conversation also touches on the importance of self-directed education, the challenges of traditional educational systems, and the value of creating new opportunities for learning and entrepreneurship.

Listen in to this enlightening call to learn:

  • Do you think traditional higher education is broken??
  • The importance of lifelong, self-directed education
  • Why the You that you can create is much more interesting than the You that you believe you can discover…
  • About the Exosphere idea lab, lean startup classes and events
  • Benefits of Entrepreneurship – self-reliance, resourcefulness, adapt to change, expand your sphere of influence…
  • Mentioned: The Fourth Economy, The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck, Antifragile, The Start Up of You by Reid Hoffman, The Personal MBA
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The Art of Long-Term World Travel — with Rolf Potts, author of “Vagabonding”

Rolf Potts VagabondingRolf is one of the most accomplished travel journalists of our time, having reported from over 60 countries for major venues like National Geographic Traveler, The New Yorker, Outside, and the Travel Channel. He is a high-profile proponent of independent travel. His book Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel was one of only four “fundamental books” Tim Ferriss mentioned in The 4-Hour Workweek, and was one of the two main sources of inspiration behind my nomadic lifestyle. His second book, Marco Polo Didn’t Go There, details personal anecdotes from 10 years of traveling and travel writing. With his extensive experience traveling on a shoestring, Rolf shows how nearly anyone can achieve the dream of extended overseas travel.

You can learn much more about Rolf on his bio site and at Vagablogging.

In this call, Rolf phoned in from Philadelphia (where he’s currently a writer-in-residence at University of Pennsylvania) and we discuss:

  • Rolf’s past life prior to writing two acclaimed books
  • His 2 years spent teaching English in Korea
  • The impetus for writing Vagabonding and his philosophy behind the book
  • Mentioned: Walt Whitman, other favorite books and sources of inspiration: vagabonding.net/resources
  • How living out of a van, traveling around the US in 1994 helped give him the long-term travel itch
  • How Rolf went from first published article to his first book deal in less than 2 years, and his advice for those seeking to get a book deal and agent
  • Mentioned: Rick Steves, also Travel Writing 2.0 by Tim Leffel
  • Great places for generating online buzz: The Guardian, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times, and networking in the travel & lifestyle design blogging community. Make yourself very accessible on your blog…
  • “To become a good travel writer,  you need expertise.” Rolf recommends travel blogging, infusing your writing with personality, being as engaging as possible, and wise use of free content online to get your name out there. Listen in for much more…
  • How to avoid being a walking dollar sign when you travel in developing countries
  • Is there a rule-of-thumb for avoiding the typical tourist route and traveling to places that are not full of tourists, where you can find a more non-commercialized or unique experience?
  • All about Rolf’s workflow, how he finds the motivation to keep working even after becoming a stunning success (and being featured in interviews and media all over the internet and the world), and how to maintain discipline as a freelancer
  • About the sacrifice of traditional stability, home & family, and how to tell your family you’re going off to travel long term (note: it wouldn’t hurt to give them a copy of Vagabonding)
  • How Rolf started the No Baggage Challenge in 2010—traveling light to 12 countries on 5 continents
  • Mentioned: luggage-less traveler Jonathan Yevin
  • Lessons learned in hyper-minimalism: don’t weigh yourself down with things. And what items does Rolf now travel with and consider essential?
  • About the writing workshop Rolf runs in France every July at the Paris American Academy
  • Why he loves Bangkok and why revisiting Khao San Road feels like going back to kindergarten
  • and much much more…

This was a great one, so make sure you give it a listen! Find Rolf at rolfpotts.com and vagabonding.net and if you have questions for him, email [email protected]

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