I started this blog, TheProfessionalVagabond.com, with a very specific goal in mind. I want to show one million people how to automate their income and become full-time global adventurers (professional vagabonds). In my opinion, the biggest obstacle that we face in our pursuit of freedom isn’t our lack of time, money, or connections. It’s our belief system. If you believe that it is impossible to automate your income, then you’ll prove yourself right. Fortunately, I’ve found the opposite to be equally true.
The good news is, once you realize that it’s possible, automating your income is far easier to achieve than you probably realize. Thousands of ordinary people, from all walks of life, achieve this goal every year. I’ve spent a great deal of time studying these individuals, and I’m yet to find one with an extra arm, an extra brain, or a super power. For the most part, they are regular folks, just like you and me. The only difference between them and the rest of humanity is insight; they’ve taken the time to master an income generation strategy. The simplest and most common of these strategies is the creation of an online business.
Setting up an automated online business is a learnable skill, just like any other. In May of 2014, I made a firm decision to apply and develop this skill for myself. To my surprise, it took me just eight weeks to build an automated online business, BuyCycleSafety.com, which generated in excess of $1000 per day. Amazingly, the process that I followed to achieve this result was so straightforward that it left me wondering why I hadn’t done it sooner. As I’m sure you can imagine, this business and the subsequent businesses that I have modeled after it, have radically altered my life. I now spend nine months out of every year traveling the world, having adventures, or working on other items on my bucket list.
You can read my full story here: How I Became a Professional Vagabond.
I’m not here to brag. My goal in sharing this story is simply to help you overcome the one big obstacle mentioned above. I want you to believe that it’s possible, through deliberate action, to redesign your daily life. Even more than this, though, I want to show you how to take your first step. I want to show you how to take your passions, interests, or hobbies and turn them into profitable online businesses.
Take Your Pick
Ok, so I’m a little obsessed with professional vagabonds. I love meeting people who share my lifestyle and finding out how they fund it. Over the past year, I’ve had several opportunities to meet such people and I’ve researched even more. I’m constantly amazed by their creative solutions to the problem of income automation. By studying those who have already succeeded in this endeavor, the budding professional vagabond has his pick when it comes to online business ideas.
I know people who earn six and seven figures selling training webinars, membership website access, premium blog subscriptions, downloadable courses, eBooks, t-shirts, gadgets, and more. Most of these businesses are set up in a matter of days for less than $100. Also, they are often completely automated and carry little-to-no fixed overheads.
Really, with a bit of insight, anybody can set up a profitable online business. When done right, these businesses require a nominal financial investment and can be developed in one’s free time. The biggest cost is the time involved in learning the ropes. Of course, there is no need to learn this from personal experience. Observing those who’ve gone before you, and then implementing their strategies in a market of your own can radically reduce the learning curve.
I know that this website gives high-quality content and information. Are there any other sites which provide this kind of quality information?
Hello Ryan,
My name is Robert. I just found your website and it’s really amazing and interesting! Thank you for sharing.
Greets and best wishes,
Robert
Hi Ryan,
Thank you very much for all this helpful information and those advices, it is truly inspiring!
I have one question though. Usually when you find a product that fills a niche, you can find it on websites like eBay (like in your own case), amazon, famous wholesale websites or huge online warehouses. How did you do to face the competition from those websites? In some cases it’s hard to beat the prices of such websites because they directly buy big quantities to the producer.
Another question: do you work with one provider only? Could that business model be working with different providers that would be gathered as potential competitors on the same website?
Thank you very much for your tips!
Kind regards,
Audrey.
Hi Ryan
Do you set up direct payment to the sellers? Can you perhaps give a bit of insight as to how the whole payment process works, such as:
– when the buyer purchases from my site, is there a tool that allows me to make my cut while the payment to the seller also gets his along with the shipping price requirement, and if so, which tool would I use?
– when you say “move operation to a drop shipper” – would this now mean I would be investing in stock?
Hi Ryan,
I also have some questions about the relationship and agreement with the seller. Was your payments to the seller manual in the starting weeks of the business? As I imagine it takes some time to gain your seller’s trust to a point where he ships first and you pay after? And how do your payments work now, regarding taking your profit before paying the seller?
I also noticed on ebay that most sellers only ship to a paypal verified address, so I assume he wants to receive proof of payment through paypal ? How do you get past this if you are making the payments?
Thank you for your articles and help. If your goal was to inspire, it worked!
Regards,
Willem
I came across your site couple of days ago. I’ve read most of your articles on business side of all this lifestyle. I gotta say your story is inspiring! Have been trying to set up a lifestyle as your own for couple of months now.
I also wonder how you’re dealing with PayPal verified address requirement? It would be a great help if you could elaborate on your relationships with suppliers since it seems to be a confusing part of this whole process not only for me.
Thanks and looking forward to meet you one sunny day and have a chat wherever our paths may cross.
Hi Ryan,
I was trying to download your book, but the link doesn’t seem to work?
Hi, Charles.
Here is a direct link to the download page: http://www.theprofessionalvagabond.com/value/vagabond-business-case-study
I don’t know if I quite get the whole dealing with the manufacturer of the item but how does he get a notification when an item is purchased or do you send him an email every time someone buys something in your website?
Hey, Ariel.
Most eCommerce systems come with the ability to automatically notify suppliers when orders are created. If you’re using Shopify or BigCommerce, you can use a plugin called “Ordoro” to achieve this. It works like a bomb!
Hi Ryan,
I have some somewhat similar questions as Benjamin, mainly relating to the partnership with the original seller / product owner. In most cases, I imagine the product owner will run their own online store, and there will be minimal incentive for them to offer a wholesale reselling arrangement with another party – how do you get around this part, or find products where there is no established store / outlet?
Thanks for the information and tips.
Kind regards,
Christian
Hi, Christian.
I used the term “wholesale” loosely to describe a bulk purchasing agreement. I was the best retail customer that he’s ever had, so he gave me a very good price.
The purpose of arbitrage is to test products before investing in stock. Once the store is doing well, you may want to move your operation to a professional drop shipper.
Hi Ryan,
I had a couple questions about the agreement you had with the supplier. Im assuming that the supplier, was the creator of the product, or they had the re-sale rights? And was also wondering how returns ect worked. If the supplier gave you a wholesale price, you receive x amount for the item, and the shipping, pay the supplier for the shipping and the wholesale price, and keep whats left, but does the purchaser deal with the supplier for returns/faulty products or dissatisfaction, or as you are the seller, have to deal with this?
Kind Regards,
Benjamin
Hi, Benjamin. Great question!
I sold the products at a retail price, then bought them from my supplier at a wholesale price. If the customer wanted to return a product, they would ship it back to my “warehouse”, and I would issue them with a refund. At the same time, I would contact the eBay seller and arrange a refund of my own.
Dealing with returns is a manual process. Because my goal was automation, I quickly outsourced this role to a freelancer on Upwork.com.