Serve No Master: How to Escape the 9-5, Start up an Online Business, Fire Your Boss and Become a Lifestyle Entrepreneur or Digital Nomad

by Jonathan Green

  You can also look for a larger airport near you. You may need to book that first flight locally, but there are usually a ton of great options from the larger hub. The great thing about the lifestyle we are building is that your travel dates aren’t chiseled in stone. I often look for flights throughout the month. Certain dates have high prices, and certain other dates have low prices. Just to fly from my island to the nearest hub, flights fluctuate from twenty-five dollars a flight up to one hundred and fifty. I often sit next to someone who paid six times more money for the same ticket because they didn’t research properly.

  Getting great discounts is often more about time than it is about knowledge. That’s why this is a great task to delegate to your kids. Put them in charge of looking for great travel deals. Instead of screwing around online with social media, they can help your family cut down costs. This helps pass along solid financial principles, and they can think of it as a game. There are also some great sites that let you set fare alerts when a significant discount opens up.

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  Thinking Outside the Box

  Whenever I want to go somewhere new, I start a barrage of online searches. I learn about the culture and the place, but also I compare costs extensively. In some locales, renting a house is the best option. In others, a hotel is the right move.

  For each place, the value will be squirreled away in a different place. No perfect method applies to every country. Even one option – say, renting a house – will have a dozen listings for the same property.

  The first place I look is a site that is targeted at locals. It’s an easy way to avoid those foreigner rates that seem to be present everywhere in this part of the world.

  Approaching travel with an open mind can cut your costs down dramatically. People who come to my island without doing any research pay three to four times more than I do for a single night in a hotel. You want to email people and get on the phone with them. They don’t want their property empty, so negotiate and take advantage.

  You don’t have to travel the world and take massive trips like I do. The last time I was in New York, I rented a luxury apartment that was the size of a small house for twenty percent of the cost of a terrible hotel room. Saving money doesn’t mean you have to schlub it. Even planning a short vacation, you can benefit from a little bit of strategy.

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  Dealing in Person

  Last piece of travel wisdom here, and it’s going to save you piles of stress. Only book the first day or two in a new location before you arrive. Sometimes you get to a hotel, and the place is in shambles. The manager quit, the hotel is in a nosedive, and you want to get out of there. But you paid for two weeks in advance, so you’re trapped in a bad situation.

  Just booking for the first day or two, depending on how far you’ve traveled, gives you great flexibility. Now you might think that you are going to get hit with higher hotel prices. But it’s the opposite. When you go in person, and the hotel has rooms, which they almost always do, you can negotiate to pay a LOT less than the published rate. I see this every single day, all over the world. You have an incredible advantage if you ask for it.

  You can always book a room at the standard rate online after you arrive. There is no risk on your part. Just a little adventure with a big chance at an upside. Along this adventure, you’ll run into some people that don’t understand business and won’t negotiate with you. That happens. At some hotels near me, it’s cheaper to book online, where the website takes a cut than to pay in person and pay the hotel directly. But that’s the exception, not the rule. Those hotels always end up in financial straits and slash the prices eventually.

  A few years ago I wanted to rent a unit in a hotel long-term. They told me they weren’t interested in that. They told me that if I paid cash for an entire year in advance, they would give me a five percent discount over paying day to day. Five percent! They were so greedy that I walked right out of there.

  I drove past this hotel a few months ago. They are now offering long-term rentals at about forty percent of my original offer. And about ninety-percent off the offer they insulted me with. People always eventually realize there is a significant advantage in having the secure income of a long-term rental.

  I’ve lived in several different places on this island. We moved around and negotiated until I got the deal I was looking for. That’s why I got such a great deal. You can do well in email, but even better in person. You can walk around the hotel and get a feel for the place before you negotiate. We make a lot of assumptions when booking online, and you can avoid that just by handling a little business in person.

  XXII

  Happy and Free

  Happiness is the freedom of choice. The freedom to choose where to live, what to do, what to buy, what to sell, from whom, to whom, when and how.

  - Eleni Zaude Gabre-Madhin

  144

  Confidence

  Right now, I’m asking you to take the first step over a chasm. You can’t see the bridge below you, so it takes a little faith. I believe in building confidence one step at a time. You might get excited about this book and what I’ve shared with you, but you’ll feel a lot more when you make that first dollar; when fiction becomes reality.

  We live in a world where we are truly quite powerless. Most of us don’t own our homes. The landlord or the bank can kick you out on a whim. If you can’t pay your taxes, you can lose your house or worse. Your job can go up in smoke in a single moment. All of these vital aspects of security are all just an illusion in our society. It’s hard to feel confident when you have control over so little.

  The path to freedom starts with just one tiny step. When you write that first blog post or record that first video, something amazing happens. You move this book from your mind to your reality. It’s very easy to get excited about a book that promises freedom. But that emotional energy will wane over time. When you start taking action, however, you begin a powerful habit. Your body and your mind move into alignment. Now your actions start to match your thoughts.

  Often we get excited about an idea and even talk about it with our friends, but we take no action. When we fail to take action, a part of our minds begins to realize that we don’t believe our words. Only reality affects reality. Reading this book won’t change your life if you take no action. Honestly, I don’t care what action you choose to take. You may decide that you hate my style of teaching and grab a book on running Facebook ads. That’s fine as long as you go out there and start running those ads. Whatever path you choose won’t feel real until you start doing it.

  Those little steps that start the process might seem small, but they are crucial if you want to get to the bigger steps. Everything I have shared with you is designed to help you on multiple levels. Writing things down and taking action is how you begin a true habit, but they also help to connect ideas with reality. Until our thoughts affect the real world, they are just dreams without a deadline.

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  Don't Be Me

  You don’t need to replicate my lifestyle. Simply replicating my mindset will put you in a position to achieve your personal dreams. You can certainly follow my method and hop over to another country. That’s exactly what I’ve done, and I couldn’t be happier. But you are your person. I’m not trying to clone myself here. You can achieve greatness by moving towards your goal. If your dream life is a house with your family, then I support that fully. You have the ability to begin to secure your children’s future in a powerful way.

  Whatever your goals in life are, it’s time to take control of your destiny. You deserve to remove the shackles and have more control over what is going to happen to you today and tomorrow. The world out there might seem scary, but as you take these first steps that fear is going to transition into an incredible sense of power.

  You have all the tools and the knowledge that you need to create the life you’ve always wanted. The education system has spent decades killing that spark, but it’s still within you. With a little
bit of attention, your life can burn brightly again.

  Follow your path, and I can’t wait to hear about your amazing success.

  XXIII

  Work With Me

  Unity is strength... when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.

  - Mattie Stepanek

  146

  Do Not Serve me

  I’m always looking for amazing people to connect with personally. The best ways to connect with me are to leave awesome reviews of this book on Amazon or even Goodreads. Without those reviews, this book might lose momentum. I want to help many people just like you achieve greatness in their lives.

  You can find all my social media profiles on my main site, which I’m sure you know by now is ServeNoMaster.com. I love communicating with people directly. If you want to email me, just grab the awesome free gift from the start of this book. You will get an email from my personal address that you can immediately reply to. You could be talking to me later today!

  I’m not looking to turn you into my employee. That’s not what this book is about. I don’t want you to work for me. But if you have a great idea and want to jam on something together I’m always happy to listen to ideas. Twice a year I take on an intern to help them explode into success. You can reach out to me about mentorship opportunities, but I’m usually booked.

  The more you connect with me online, the more we can accomplish together. This book is not a one-way street - it’s the start of a conversation. I read all the comments on my blog posts and respond on social media as much as I can. It’s your chance to let me know what you thought and what you’d like to know more about. If you thought something was missing from this book, just let me know, and I’ll make a new blog post just for you!

  We live in a digital age where books are no longer written in stone. We can connect, we can create, and we can grow amazing things. And ‘we’ is the operative word in that sentence. There are always little situations in business that are unique and apply only to you. Come tackle them as part of a community!

  147

  Pull the Trigger

  I read a lot of books about the military. Books about soldiers and generals fascinate me. I want to analyze them and figure out what separates the great ones from the crowd. Successful politicians don’t interest me because I know they are just good at lying. Great soldiers risk their lives as a part of their career, so the selfishness of politics doesn’t interfere as much.

  The greatest soldiers are action takers. They’re the ones who don’t see obstacles, just opportunity. I just fought my way through an eight-hundred-page monster about General Patton. That was a tough read, but it was amazing.

  When he started barreling through France, the English freaked out. Their general wanted all the credit and did everything in his power to stop Patton. Most English people think their guy was a hero. They haven’t ready any history books, though. It took this English general over a year to accomplish his goal for the FIRST DAY. He was three hundred and sixty-five days late, but he still wanted the credit for rolling into Berlin.

  They tried everything they could to stop Patton. They ordered him to stop advancing. They cut off his supply lines. By the end of the operation, he was leading an army of tanks with no gas. They thought that would stop him. They were dead wrong.

  He kept pressing forward, capturing gasoline along the way, and leaving tanks behind when there wasn’t enough fuel. At one point his entire division consisted of just three tanks with fuel. He kept tearing through Europe. He was unstoppable. All because he didn’t consider quitting to be an option.

  That is the mindset that I look for in people I work with and the students that I get excited about. I recently got an email from a sixteen-year-old kid who wanted to learn from me. I emailed him and offered him a shot at being an intern with me. I would give him access to my most premium material and all I wanted in return was for him to make excellent notes that I could include with my courses.

  He emailed me back with five problems. He sent a list of obstacles. Why would I help someone for free and have to overcome the obstacles they created? That mindset cost him a great opportunity. And people do it all the time.

  Don’t look for excuses for inaction. That will destroy you. Look for a way to adapt and overcome no matter the challenge. If you’re British, and you read what I just wrote about Patton, you might hate me right now. Read a biography before you tell me I’m wrong. ;)

  At least you’ll finally be taking some action.

  XXIV

  BONUS: Let Me Pay For Your Book

  The most fun is getting paid to learn things.

  - Diane Sawyer

  148

  Get Your Money Back

  I know that this book was a small investment for many people. But for some people, a few bucks is a really big deal. For that reason, I have two ways that you can make back five bucks in the next five minutes. You can do it twice and make ten bucks. In full disclosure, when you do either of these I make five bucks too. If that bothers you, then skip over this section.

  These are the two fastest ways I know to make money instantly. If I knew a way to make you ten bucks while I made nothing, I’d have that here instead. But I don’t know of anything like that right now. If you do, please feel free to email me and I’ll change this section of the book.

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  Acorns

  This little program is great, especially if you’re younger. When you move money around in your account, it rounds up to the nearest dollar and puts that into an investment account. You can choose how conservative or aggressive you want to be with your account, which makes it perfect for putting money away for the kids. It only takes about five minutes to sign up, and I’ve had great experiences working with these guys.

  ServeNoMaster.com/acorns

  Just for signing up using my link, they put five bucks in each of our accounts. You know that I have an active account with them. Otherwise, my link wouldn’t even work. That’s the fastest way you can earn five bucks that I know about. It’s a win for both of us and means that you get to start your business out knowing you’ve already earned back the cost of this book. You don’t have to start out in the red!

  I like Acorns because I’m not that great with investing. I honestly am so focused on the skill of just generating money from online businesses that I’ve never dabbled in the stock market, foreign exchange games or bonds. Acorns lets me manage a small investment account without a lot of complexity. You can pull your money out anytime you want, so it’s never stuck.

  I like having some money working on my behalf out in the world. It’s a little soldier venturing out to do battle and bring home the little soldiers it captures. You may be a whiz at investing. We all have strengths and weaknesses. But if you haven’t started investing yet, or you want your kids to start young, then I recommend this software. You don’t notice the money going out, but it’ll be there when you need it later on.

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  Digit

  If you don’t want to mess around with investing, I have a second way for you to grab a few bucks.

  Digit is a program that monitors your checking account and puts a little bit into a savings account for you here and there. It texts you every time it does something, and it’s very interactive. Even though I’m living in a foreign country, I have an app on my phone that gives me a US number. So Digit can text me and let me know what’s going on. Just like Acorns, they give each of us five bucks if you sign up using my link.

  ServeNoMaster.com/digit

  My Acorns account is something that I just have socked away for my kids. It’s earning a little passive money for them. My Digit account is just a little savings account for me. My income is irregular. I don’t get a direct deposit from an employer twice a month. I get transfers from Paypal, several other merchants, direct deposits, checks and income from dozens of different sources every month. This program is pretty good at adapting to that irregularity. I like that. I’ve always wa
nted to set up a savings account that was intelligent like this.

  If you go into the bank and ask them to transfer a percentage of each paycheck into a savings account, they will look at you with pure confusion in their eyes. They will have no idea what you are saying or how to implement it. I hate manually moving money into a savings account. I like that I don’t track it or move money there manually. When I do it manually, I’m tempted to pull money out of it all the time. This is a nice firewall for me.

  This program is automatic; it runs itself, and you can pull the money back anytime you need. This is another tool that’s great for younger people who haven’t learned anything about banking or savings accounts in college.

  Digit sends me texts about my bank account every day. It notifies me of different transfers and my balance each day. I like knowing in real time when my account gets hit with a bill. I think the notifications might just be my favorite feature.