Coffee Shop Entrepreneurs

!
!
COFFEE SHOP ENTREPRENEURS 
!
Wake up and smell the location independent economy
!
!
RICHARD PATEY
!
!
!
!
www.richardpatey.com 
!
!
!
Published by Richard Patey from Boulder, CO
!
Copyright © 2013 by Richard Patey. All rights reserved but
feel free to use the odd paragraph or two in print or online if
you link back to www.richardpatey.com. If you would like to
use more please email me at richard@richardpatey.com.
!
ISBN-10: 1490925686
ISBN-13: 978-1490925684
WC: 16,280
!
Cover design by Lis Dingjan from www.theidentity.me
Formatted in Norwich, UK and Boulder, CO
Printed by Amazon
Typeset in Adobe Garamond Pro
!
Publisher info:
Website: www.richardpatey.com
Email: richard@richardpatey.com
Twitter: @richardpatey
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
Wake up and smell the
location independent economy!
!
!
!
CONTENTS
!
Preface
!
1. First principle: Learn to trust your gut
1. Interview with Mish & Rob
2. Second principle: Switch your thinking from scarcity to
abundance
3. Interview with Lis Dingjan
4. hird principle: Find and reach out to people living the life you
want
5. Interview with Chris Osborne
6. Fourth principle: Start by making money from your efforts (and
not your passions)
7. Interview with Erika Degoute
9. Fifth principle: Choose the people you want to do business with
10. Interview with Alastair Cameron
11. Sixth principle: Realise the game is social
12. Interview with Sam Title
!
Afterword 
Coffee Shop Entrepreneurs - Richard Patey
!
!
PREFACE
!
!
Wake up and smell the new economy. Old scripts, such as
getting a mortgage based on a job for life in a ixed
location, no longer apply. In order to thrive you need to
lip yourself into an entrepreneurial mindset.
!
It took me over three years to become location
independent. Back at the end of 2009 when I quit my job,
I regarded working from a laptop anywhere in the world as
a lifestyle choice, as a cool thing to do. Now, as a Brit
writing this preface from Ozo Coffee Co, Boulder,
Colorado, surrounded by other laptop workers, my
opinion has changed; it’s inevitable and the best way to
thrive.
!
In his book Choose Yourself, James Altucher talks about the
fact that there are no more booms coming anytime soon
and that the jobs that have been ‘lost’ in recent years are
not coming back. I share the view that the era of the full-
time job is ending due to companies outsourcing as much
as possible (to cheaper / higher value regions) and
"1
therefore not needing as many people, or buildings, to be

as productive.
!
he job I left back in 2009 was as a bid-writer for a charity
where I was winning six igure grants and contracts.
Myself and fellow anti-corporate colleague Sean, who quit
just before me, had built the charity over the previous year
from £1MM income to over £2MM and from 40 people
up to over 70 people. Four years later and I’ve recently
received an email from an ex-colleague saying that she, as
one of a literal handful of ‘survivors’ has just been made
redundant and what to do. he funding that supported
the work and her job - all their jobs - has gone and it’s not
coming back. My advice to her is the same advice as set
out in this book - focus on the life you want and work
back. Money is still out there but it’s being distributed
differently and the old rulebook no longer applies.
!
Job security (followed closely by the value of non-scientiic
university education) for me is the biggest fraud going and
having one income stream that someone else can turn off
is, in my opinion, irresponsible. Dan Andrews from
Tropical MBA considers the job skill set as a “system of
security that has a single point of failure” and considers the
entrepreneurship skill set as a lot less risky as we have
"2
control of our cashlows through creating “intelligent,

adaptive assets” with exponential potential / upside.
!
Sean Ogle, from Location 180, talks about job security 2.0
- about creating lots of different income streams so that no
one external factor (or person) can bring you down. Tim
Ferriss in the epic Four Hour Work Week states that to be
rich you need both money and mobility. If you are earning
a lot but the income is based on a ixed location this is
now neither sustainable nor an enviable position. Dan
Andrews goes further by talking about building businesses
that generate a wider range of currencies including time,
personal freedom, access to information and excitement.
hat last one is critical for me as I will trade off a lot of
cash for excitement - it’s my compass for life.
!
his book gives 6 principles or more accurately heuristics
(enabling someone to discover, learn and solve problems
for themselves) for thriving in the new location
independent economy. I back up each principle with
events and life lessons that happened to me as well as
interviews with other coffee shop entrepreneurs about
their lifestyles and how they became location independent.
It’s hard to keep yourself motivated when you take all
structure out of your life. Whenever I need to kick my
"3
own ass I just need to remind myself that the alternative is

far worse - a life as a wage slave.
!
Lifestyle design, for me, is the ultimate thing to work at - I
regard achieving (and keeping) inancial and location
independence as the ultimate state of self actualisation and
the most worthy win. his lifestyle has only been
achievable to the masses over the last decade. I am truly
thankful to be alive and productive in this digital and
social age - we’ve never had it so good. Screw anyone who’s
negative or who talks about the recession; there’s no
personal recession when you only need to get to 1000 true
fans, 100 customers or 10 clients (as Dan and Ian from the
Lifestyle Business Podcast eloquently put it) from all over
the world to love your work and buy your ideas.
!
---
!
I irst wrote this book for me: if I could only give my 30
year old self, who was just about to hand in his notice, one
book in order to learn the conidence and ability to set up
sustainable income streams and be able to work from a
laptop anywhere in the world - to be location independent
- what principles would I need to internalise? I then
rewrote this book for my friends and ex-colleagues who
"4
would ask advice on how to get their irst client or price

their skills.
!
I then rewrote it a third time for you - for the person who
seeks a better life outside the conines of employment and
the office - and I am massively thankful and humbled that
you purchased this, my irst book.
!
he aim of the book is to create an additional 1000 coffee
shop entrepreneurs all around the globe who are living
their ideal lifestyle. I irmly believe that if I’d had this book
when I’d started I’d have shaved a year off my journey to
location independence. Let’s get you there even sooner.
!
!
!
!
"5
Coffee Shop Entrepreneurs - Richard Patey
1. FIRST PRINCIPLE:
LEARN TO TRUST YOUR GUT
!
!
Do you recognise any of these scenarios? Feeling stressed
and worried Sunday evenings. An even worse sick feeling
deep down in your gut whenever you sit down at your
office desk / cubicle? How about this one: drinking more
water than is necessary just to have more genuine toilet
breaks where you spend at least 10 minutes in a private
cubicle on your phone?!
!
I’ve done and felt all this and it sucks.
!
I was ridiculously stressed out from the last 6 months of
going insane at my office ‘pod’ where I had ended up
being the only one left working at a charity I had helped
build, after it got taken over by a corporate-styled housing
association which was seemingly intent on letting it all fall
apart. One-by-one, management either walked or were
pushed, until it was just me, the only pea in the pod. On
the day my request for lexible working to go down to 4
days a week was being considered at board level and the
day where I had been asked to put together a presentation
on how I could be more motivated at work (seriously) I
"1
had enough. I paid £50 to set up a company online and

handed in my notice. (Note: this is deinitely not the best
way of starting out; validate your business products or
services by getting paid customers irst!).
!
Your brain will always try to rationalise your current
predicament, no matter how much you hate it, as we are
inherently risk-averse beings. he good news is that the
hypothalamus can kick your nervous system into gear and
generate a light or ight out of there.
!
You need to become fully aware of your feelings in order
to thrive in the location independent economy - there are
limited rules for your conscious to apply so you need to
listen to your subconscious which can manifest the correct
answer through your body. Should you take on a
potentially difficult or dull new client who could piss you
off and kill your creativity even though you could use the
money? You have to trust your gut feeling and if
something is wrong then listen to your body; it can let you
know (by unsettling my sleep in my case).
!
I have really learned to trust my gut on business and life
matters. Rather than previously spending days thinking
and trying to rationalise a ‘critical’ business decision, I now
"2
try to spend no more than a few seconds and go with my

gut. Should I outsource this client to this person or
agency? Do I trust them? What’s the downside? What’s the
upside? I’ve learned to make this call very quickly and to
own the decision, even if it’s ultimately the wrong one. As
a solopreneur you have to make countless decisions like
this a day. If I gave it any more (conscious) thought I
wouldn’t be able to get any of my own work done; whilst
opportunity is abundant, attention is a inite daily
resource.
!
---
!
We’re led to believe that logical thinking is more reliable
than emotions or hunches as it happens in the neocortex,
the newest part of the cerebral cortex (which plays a key
role in memory, awareness, thought, language, and
consciousness) to evolve.
!
However it’s the more incorrectly labelled ‘primitive’ areas
of the brain, such as the cerebellum, that are equally
important in human intelligence and have up to now been
underestimated.
!
"3
Serge Prengel, from proactivechange.com, states that the

cerebellum is responsible for ine-tuned muscle
movements, balance, implicit memories and ‘street smarts’
- for getting a very quick ‘sense’ of a situation which we
call a ‘gut reaction’ from emotions rather than our
intellect. Our cognitive brain processes this feeling as
thinking which means that our ‘rational’ decisions are
built from our gut feelings whether we recognise them or
not. herefore learning to tap into our gut feelings before
they manifest sometimes days later in rational thought is a
more direct and faster way to make a good call. If you let
yourself make decision from your gut then over time these
decisions will become more reliable.
!
he cerebellum is always on guard to protect your body
from danger and prepare you for 'ight-or-light'. It is only
10% of your brain but holds over 50% of your neurons
and is directly linked to a feedback loop with what is
called the vagus nerve which keeps heart rate slow and
gives you grace under pressure (practicing mindfulness
meditation puts the cerebellum at peace).
!
he vagus nerve is constantly sending sensory information
about the state of the body's organs ‘upstream’ to your
brain. When people say ‘trust your gut’ they are in many
"4
ways saying, ‘trust your vagus nerve.’ Gut-instincts are

literally emotional intuitions transferred up to your brain
via the vagus nerve.
!
In mind-body feedback loops, messages also travel
‘downstream’ from your conscious mind through the vagus
nerve signaling your organs to create an inner-calm so you
can ‘rest-and-digest’ during times of safety or to prepare
your body for ‘ight-or-light’ in dangerous situations.
!
Christopher Bergland on psychologytoday.com states that
the vagus nerve’s relexive responses can backire and turn
it from comrade into saboteur. Anytime you psyche
yourself out before an important event, feel intimidated,
or insecure, your vagus nerve interprets that you are in real
danger which exacerbates these negative responses.
!
he way to achieve in business and life is to practice until
you feel conident. When you practice something you
create a non-thinking state of automatic muscle memory;
these implicit memories are stored in the cerebellum. I’ve
recently been learning ‘slacklining’ which is a lat rope you
ratchet between two trees and balance on. To start with
you can’t even keep one foot on as the rope manically
twitches side to side; however after a few days you can
"5
balance and make a number of steps. Indeed physical

exercise can actually exercise the cerebellum and speed up
the processing of information, making it much easier to
learn and remember skills.
!
Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Blink, states that the
legendary investor George Soros relied on his gut for
important decisions. His son is quoted as saying that his
father made decisions to change his positions in the
market when his back started to spasm; his subconscious
gave him a warning sign that manifested in his body.
!
I’ve learned that my body can make me ill to tell me to
stop doing something; I either quickly come down with a
fever or I wake up with luid in my ears and have to
meditate and recalibrate to feel ok again. his has
happened from being with both the wrong clients, friends
or girlfriend.
!
Learn to trust your gut; it’s not perfect but in a brave new
post-employment world it’s all we’ve got and over time
your decisions will improve.
!
!
!
"6
2. INTERVIEW WITH MISH AND ROB

!
!
Mish and Rob are from www.makingitanywhere.com
!
What do you say when someone asks you what you do?
!
We tend to look at each other in a panicked way for a
while, because for some reason we ind it hard to explain.
We’re getting better at it though: we usually say that we
run a brand consulting and copywriting business called
Mortiied Cow (www.mortiiedcow.com), and we run it
while we travel the world with our laptops. hen after a
while we might drop in that we also write a blog called
Making It Anywhere, in which we discuss the experiences
we have while working and travelling.
!
And then we might also talk about our real estate stuff (we
own and rent out a few properties in the UK), as well as
some of the weird books that we’ve written.
!
What activities are currently making most of your income?
!
he vast majority of our income comes from our client
work with Mortiied Cow. Essentially, we help small
"1
businesses and solopreneurs to make their businesses less

boring and more proitable – all while having more fun.
We do that through copywriting, web design and
branding.
!
We also have some books for sale on Amazon, which make
us a bit of money. And then we also make some money
through our properties in the UK.
!
When and why did you become location independent? What
were you doing previously?
!
In March 2012 we both quit our jobs and moved to NYC
for six months – just to escape the UK for a while and
igure out what we wanted to do with our lives (we knew
we didn’t want to be in those jobs forever). Rob had his
own music PR company and Mish worked for a digital
agency.
!
he original plan was to return to London after six
months and either start freelancing or set up a small
business together. But while away we realised we didn’t
really want to go back to London! We started reading and
hearing more and more about digital nomads, so we began
"2
trying to igure out how we could make that lifestyle work

for ourselves.
!
What makes a great coffee shop to work from?
!
he key ingredients are:
!
Wii
Power outlets
Good coffee
Good music
Busy but not too busy
Comfortable chairs
!
hey don’t mind you sitting there for hours, working away
(in return for buying new drinks at least every hour)
!
It’s a rare thing when you get all those things in one place!
!
What’s the best piece of advice you would give your former
selves at the point of leaving the 9-5?
!
Don’t worry so much! We probably missed out on so
much fun and excitement in NYC because we spent so
much time worrying and overworking to compensate for
"3
the fact that we weren’t yet sure of our business model or

how we’d make regular income.
!
Yes, you do have to work hard, but there’s a balance to be
achieved – and no one can be productive working the sorts
of hours we were doing to begin with.
!
What are the tools or resources you just couldn’t live without
for your business?
!
For work and productivity:
Evernote for just about everything
Dropbox and Cubby to store our iles in the cloud and
access them wherever we are
Trello for staying organised
Gmail: essential
!
For travel:
Tripit for keeping track of our travel plans
World Time Buddy, which allows you to schedule
meetings across time zones and send people a link to show
them what time the meeting will be in their particular
time zone
"4
Airbnb – we use it for practically all our accommodation.

Without it, we’d be stuck in hostels or couchsuring –
which would be a nightmare for getting work done
!
he best and/or worst bit about running your business from
your laptop is?
!
Best: almost everything! But if we had to pick one it’d be
the freedom – to be anywhere, and to work at any time we
like. For example, we like having the freedom to work for
half of a Sunday and then take a big chunk of Tuesday off,
to go on an excursion or do touristy things when it’s not
the busiest tourist day/time. It’s also amazing to have the
freedom to go to the supermarket at a time of day when
no one else is around!
!
Worst: there’s always the temptation to do more and more
work. he laptop is always there, inviting you to do more.
here’s no end to what we can do to improve our business
– which is great, but it means we spend too much
thinking about work.
!
What does your average day look like (where in the world you
may be from morning to night)?
!
"5
People are surprised by how predictable most of our days

are! And all the digital nomads we know have really set
routines too.
!
Our goes a bit like this:
!
We get up at 6am and each do separate exercise. We’ll then
come back and work until 1 or 2pm – either in our
apartment or in a cafe. hen we’ll go out for the afternoon
and explore wherever we are or meet up with friends. In
the evening we’ll probably do another stint of work before
having dinner or going out for a drink with friends.
!
Every day is pretty much like that, unless there’s a day trip
or something else we particularly we want to do.
!
One of your funniest travel stories / dramas is
!
Erm... how about the time a deer slowly ambled towards
us?!
We’re pretty darn boring! We’re just doing a regular job
while travelling slowly around the world – which doesn’t
lend itself to many great anecdotes, unfortunately.
!
"6
Lots of digital nomads are way more adventurous than us,

by the way! While our afternoon excursion might involve a
massage and a swim (hailand), a trip to a museum
(Berlin) or a bus tour (Budapest), theirs might involve an
elephant trek or a trip through the jungle!
!
If you had all the money and time in the world (with all your
ingenious ideas) what would you start on right now?
!
We’re not sure if we’d do anything that differently. We’re
slowly testing all the business ideas we have, and we don’t
really need much money because we purposely have low
overheads and have nothing we’d really spend the extra
money on.
!
Our biggest “want” was to be in control of our time, and
that’s exactly what we’ve achieved.
!
We also like to have a balance of client work and pet
projects (which could make money in the future). We love
both types of work, and we like how diverse it is.
So yeah... we really don’t think we’d do that much
differently, which is a great endorsement of the lifestyle!
!
"7
Oh, one thing actually: we hate the time, energy and

patience that we lose on travel days. If money were no
object, we’d give up on low-cost airlines and get private
jets everywhere.
!
!
!
"8
!
!
3. SECOND PRINCIPLE:
SWITCH YOUR THINKING FROM
SCARCITY TO ABUNDANCE
!
!
I irst learned about the concept of paradigms on my
undergraduate business management degree which
subsequently turned me anti-business for the next decade,
hence ending up working for a charity.
!
Paradigms are distinct models of viewing the world within
which ‘good’ knowledge is produced through shared
beliefs and assumptions. hese shared beliefs are
institutionalised in us through university, government and
corporations. For a paradigm to exist - for conventional
thinking to be conventional - other paradigms or coherent
ways of viewing the world such as ‘radical’ must also exist
so that they can be compared to each other. Revolutionary
ways of viewing the world can displace conventional
thinking to become the new normal.
!
As such I believe that viewing and choosing a job as the
best way to achieve security is currently under attack by
"9
the new location independent economy paradigm and will

be replaced by an understanding that becoming
entrepreneurial and having multiple income streams not
reliant on any one person is the best way to thrive.
!
You can either believe in an externally objective shared real
world, existing independently of people and available to
everyone’s observation or (and this is where it gets fun):
!
View that the world is socially constructed, a product
of individual meanings and, therefore, subjectively real,
and that we gain knowledge of the world through our
experience of it, so that, potentially, everyone’s
knowledge of it is different.
!
(Rethinking Organisational Behaviour: Norman Jackson
and Pippa Carter).
!
If you experience the world differently and embrace
randomness and uncertainty, then the knowledge you
accumulate will be different to other people’s reality.
!
he author Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his book Antifragile:
hings hat Gain from Disorder makes the argument that
things beneit from shocks. People and businesses can
"10
thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness

and chaos. He argues that you want to use and not hide
from adventure, risk and uncertainty and this is the type
of behaviour and response you need to become location
independent. He states that there is no word for the exact
opposite of fragile and so calls this state antifragile which is
beyond resilience or robustness:
!
he resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the
antifragile gets better.
!
he author coincidently also works from coffee shops due
to ‘stochastic resonance’ which is the idea that a weak
signal becomes easier to detect by adding white noise in
the background; that it is easier to maintain a train of
thought in the presence of a certain amount of random
background activity rather than silence.
!
In Gareth Morgan’s book Images of Organisations he
describes the ‘radical humanist’ paradigm, in relation to
businesses, as ‘the psychic prison’. Corporations and
governments are socially constructed; however we tend to
treat them as if they are real, independent of our
awareness. We learn to experience them as oppressive and
accept this repression as necessary and inevitable when in
"11
fact it is us that creates the (self ) repression. If we move

outside of the panopticon then we can start to see shared
assumptions of the working world for what they are -
other people’s memetics.
!
An existing model of reality such as “I need a job, jobs give
security” can be replaced with an equally valid paradigm of
“I need a life that’s not tied to just one income stream”.
!
How we think, view and experience matters, creates our
own reality and manifests people and events. If you can
replace fear with excitement and scarcity with abundance
as your starting point then remarkable things can happen.
!
For example I did online dating when I thought it was
hard to meet women. Good friends helped me to remove
my blindspots and make me realise that women - both
beautiful and interesting - are in fact everywhere (in coffee
shops, supermarkets etc) and that you are actually allowed
to talk to them (if you allow yourself ). his realisation
changes your perspective from scarcity to abundance and
changes your reality and how you feel.
!
his process starts the second you do something outside of
your current reality, such as opening up a conversation
"12
with a guy or a girl in the queue behind you, as awkward

as this irst is. Again practice becomes memories stored in
the cerebellum until, eventually, it is the most natural
thing to do; it becomes the new normal, the new you.
!
Your personality, like your beliefs are not ixed - you
choose them.
!
---
!
Everything is vibration, your thoughts, feelings and
actions. What you signal is mostly unconscious which
comes from what you’re feeling and thinking.
!
A hilarious example is the YouTube video with Russell
Brand on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ who reduces the female
co-hosts to nerves and acting from a state of feeling and
desire. One calls him “Willy Brand” and with the other
Russell remarks: “What do you think that gesture means,
the way you’re touching that bottle? What does that
indicate? What’s the subtext of that?”!
!
Belief that you will achieve something coupled with action
generates success; dwelling on negative thoughts
compounds your current reality. here will be so many
"13
setbacks and people that will piss you off in your irst few
years of business, that if you react negatively to such events
you will become a negative person. And when you
instinctively react negatively to events then you become
closed to potential positive interactions. You may end up
swearing on your laptop in a coffee shop just as the man or
women of your dreams or ideal customer sits next to you.
!
Resonance is the natural frequency of a system. In order to
resonate with people you have to resound the same note
and when you do there’s a transfer of energy between you.
A surfer has to swim hard enough in order to catch a wave
but if too slow or too fast they will miss the energy of the
wave and stay in the same spot rather than picking up
vibrational energy and ripping it.
!
Our vibrations do not end at our bodies but emanate out
and we both attract and repel things that we are in
vibrational resonance with. he human body generates an
electromagnetic ield which is affected by our moods when
you are happier, your ield is said to act at a higher state of
vibration, a higher speed of motion or energy. We are both
a transmitter and a receiver of energy.
!
"14
When you resonate with someone, the waves combine and

become several times higher than the sum of their parts -
this is called constructive interference. You can create
something that is bigger than yourself; now I’m in Boulder
I’m on the lookout for a potential business partner to
build great products with. Likewise if you are not on the
same wavelength you can destructively interfere with each
other.
!
---
!
We manifest and attract what we want (people,
experiences) by our frequencies which are a result of our
thoughts and our feelings. he more positive feelings you
have about yourself and what you want to achieve, the
higher your vibration and the quicker you will achieve and
experience what you want.
!
his is why it’s important to be conscious of what you are
feeling (as in the previous chapter) so you can choose to be
positive through thought. Engage in activities that enable
you to feel how you would feel when you’re achieving your
goals.
!
"15
Excitement is said to be the highest vibration and fear is

said to be the lowest; vibrations attract like for like. If you
continue to surround yourself with signals that reinforce
your current state, i.e. people who do not have the lifestyle
you want, then that state will persist indeinitely.
!
Focus on excitement which is an abundant source whereas
fear is more of a zero-sum game. And if you can’t ind
excitement, it’s up to you to create it. here is opportunity
everywhere if you remove the blinkers and social
conditioning. Be the 1% that stands out and does
different. Say hi to everyone in the street, approach that
guy or girl you like the look of. Swing the bat as Gary
Vaynerchuk says:
!
I beg you to take a shot. Roll up on that hot chick in
the bar, and ask her out. On that good looking dude,
and ask him to get a coffee. On that business idea, and
make it happen. Because being 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 and
having regrets that you didn’t swing that bat? hat’s the
worst of them all. Our at bat is in front of us. Take a
swing.
!
As Dan Andrews states, the entrepreneurial, location
independent people in the Dynamite Circle community
"16
have an abundance mindset. his is not by accident or a

genetic disposition - it is crafted through necessity in order
to do and be what most people are not.
!
If necessary you can do neuro-linguistic programming on
yourself. NLP is about manipulating one’s thoughts,
feelings and behaviour through words, images and physical
gestures designed to inluence the subconscious. If you did
not get a good outcome from an activity, focus on how it
should have felt and come up with different words you’d
use next time. Use images that represent your ideal life to
make your subconscious believe you can attain dreams
that were previously thought impossible. If the skills of
successful people, such as the ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective
People’ by Steven Covey, can be modeled using NLP
methodology, then anyone can acquire them through
effort and reframing events and actions in your mind. he
second habit states that if you don't make a conscious
effort to visualize what you want in life then you empower
others to shape you, similar to the lyrics from the Incubus
song ‘Make Yourself ’:
!
If I hadn't made me, I would've been made somehow. If
I hadn't assembled myself, I'd have fallen apart by now.
If I hadn't made me, I'd be more inclined to bow.
"17
Powers that be, would have swallowed me up. But

that's more than I can allow.
!
---
!
he successful internet marketing entrepreneur Clay
Collins wrote an awesome post about the concept of
‘abundance 2.0’ which is ‘the kind of abundance that
doesn’t produce megalomaniacs’! It is about leading a
‘radically authentic life’, where you get paid for being you,
quit the things that hold you back and have enough
materials possessions to be happy. He argues, and I agree,
that there is a cult around the concept of abundance put
out by vehement proponents of he Secret’s interpretation
of the law of attraction.
!
he phrase ‘positive thinking’ is linked to Norman
Vincent Peale, author of he Power of Positive hinking
who states that it’s about training yourself to see the world
from a whole new perspective and creating your desired
outcomes from focussing on positive thoughts. He states
that it’s scientiically-proven that thoughts have a direct
effect on feeling which, in turn, has a direct effect on
behavior and performance; if you think positively you will
get positive results.
"18
!
For the blogger Dave Navarro, positive thinking is more
simply choosing thoughts that create positive feelings that
make you take action. He states that when you believe
your actions can make a difference, you're more likely to
act and that ‘looking on the bright side’ is simply using
NLP to reframe a situation in your mind so that it makes
you want to take action.
!
For the writer Jonathan Fields, for us to take action
towards attaining a goal, we need to believe we can achieve
the goal. He believes that repeatedly visualising
accomplishing a goal has a profound effect; that repetition
creates belief and the momentum to act.
!
When you believe in your potential and see an abundance
of opportunities to achieve your goals you will start to
interact differently with people. he conidence you give
off will mean that people respond to you differently and be
attracted by your energy. You then have to learn the ifth
principle in actively choosing who you do business with. 
"19
!
!
4. INTERVIEW WITH LIS DINGJAN
!
!
Lis Dingjan is the founder of www.theidentity.me
!
!
I take a big, deep breath and then say one hundred things
at once! I'm a multi-passionate kind of gal so I've always
got a lot going on. Generally my one liner is that I'm a
business brander and website designer/developer with a
few fun side projects, a dash of legal consulting, inancial
analysis and a dollop of international development thrown
in.
!
!
Website design, development and branding is currently
making up the bulk of my income. his is slowly
diversifying through side projects and some legal
contracting work, and hopefully in the future will be
further expanded through the addition of products,
courses, speaking engagements and workshops.
"20
!
here's no roof to making money when you're in business
for yourself so there's a million things you can do.
!
!
I've always wanted to be location independent so I could
schedule my own life, I just didn't know how. I worked for
several years in the corporate world and was constantly in
the office working far too many hours, dreaming of exotic
cultures, promptly quitting and taking off into the
unknown only to do it all again. Over and over just
skipping between continents. On a trip to Cambodia early
2012, after I had quit yet another job, a friend suggested I
set up a blog rather than write my usual behemoth emails
to keep everyone updated. I discovered people actually
earned money outside of the office (woah!) and the rest has
been one huge learning curve full of tear your hair out
moments, celebratory raw peanut butter and chocolate
tarts and a lot of fun.
!
!
"21
I'm a little alternative so I love, love, love kooky cafes.

With music from the 70s and 80s beating melodically in
the background. I'm also a sucker for recycled furniture
mixed with eclectic, vintage and retro, clashed with some
modern clean lines. Bonus points if the café stocks fruity
tea. You won't be able to get rid of me. Of course fast wii
is a must and a comfy chair and lounge would be lovely.
Sometimes I steal the pillows to build up the comfort
levels. Very sad, I know.
!
What’s the best piece of advice you would give your former self
at the point of leaving the 9-5?
!
Stop stressing about money. I'm a doer when I kick down
the doubt so I just jumped, but that irst year was illed
with anxiety and stress about inances (I have an
accounting background so I hate when it's not under
control). I would tell myself to loosen up and go with it,
and that hustling and determination will eventually get
you there. I would also tell myself to have a few more days
off and enjoy the ride. At one point I went about 6
months without a day off. hat's not the best way to
breathe fresh air, move your muscles and remember there's
a world out there waiting to be explored!
!
"22
for your biz?
!
Oooh so many. Bufferapp to schedule all my social media
posts. Wunderlist to keep track of the one million items
on my to-do list. Filezilla as the best FTP application ever.
My life wouldn't be complete without Photoshop.
Dropbox to store all my iles. Skype for client meetings.
Camtasia to chop and edit videos. Mailchimp for mailing
lists (you just can't beat the delicious user interface they're
rocking). Self Control App to ban me from getting on
anything other than strictly what I'm coding at that very
moment!
!
your laptop is?
!
he best: I get to control my own life. I'm in charge of my
time and although I work my butt off, nobody says I have
to be in an office for 50 hours a week to work for a
company conlicting with most of my morals. I wake up
every day knowing I can jump into something I love and
shape my own life. If I need a yoga session at 3pm I can do
that. If I need Wednesday off, it's done. If I want to work
at 11pm and see my friends new baby during the day, it's
"23
a-ok. If I have a great idea, I can just start on it. Plus I get
to take my work with me wherever I go so I'm no longer
tied to any place.
!
he worst: It can get freaking lonely. he one thing I miss
most about the corporate world is the 'water cooler chats'.
he fun we'd try and infuse amongst the grey petitions
and artiicial lights (my 3pm karaoke rocked…badly!).
Some days I go a little stir crazy so I'm incredibly thankful
co-working spaces and beautiful, independent cafes are
popping up all over the world! Switching off from work,
because it's always there and there's always more to do, is
incredibly difficult unlike leaving an office every evening
too.
!
may be from morning to night)?
!
I jam pack my life in and even though I imagine relaxing
on the beach, I wouldn't have it any other way (though
Bora Bora does look inviting). My days change all the time
depending on where I am but I usually get up at around
5.30 in the morning, get dressed and pretend to play nice
with my hair. I'll likely sit with the laptop for a couple of
hours either at home or at a cafe. Depending on what city
"24
I'm in I'll have a few catch up's with friends during the
day and in between I'll work. Often I'll go for a walk in
the afternoon to stretch my legs and ind some sun. I've
been horrendous with the exercise of late but I'd normally
try to hit the gym a few times a week or add in some latin
dancing or spin. When I'm in Cambodia I'll spend
mornings at charity projects, exercise during lunch and
then work the rest of the day before catching up with
friends in the late evening.
!
One of your funniest travel stories / dramas is?
!
I've travelled through over 50 countries so I've got so
many and apparently I tend to only remember the good
things about travelling and block the bad! Join me on a
trip and you'll wonder how I'm still alive (though I'm
oblivious). I got detained in Vietnam once which was
fun…on hindsight (I laughed for quite a long time before
I realised they were deadly serious). It was made all the
funnier because it's the only country I've ever gone out of
my way for to obtain a visa through the embassy which
was an effort in itself because I was in New York at the
time during the UN Assembly.
!
"25
I've also walked with lions in Zimbabwe and upon

relecting on the photos noticed that I was wearing lip
lops through the mud next to the beautiful (but um,
mane shaking, teeth baring) beasts. What was I thinking?!
In the same continent, I trekked the mountains in Uganda
(the impenetrable forest no less) for a good 10 hours
whilst falling haplessly into stinging nettle, sinking in mud
and sliding all over the place with my zero balancing skills
(believe me you never want to see my skiing either). I was
very grateful to have a friend who helped me, who I'm
sure never wants to hold my hand again after I nearly
squeezed off every inger and ended up resembling far too
closely our ancestral apes.
!
I once turned up at the airport to ly to Ukraine only to
discover that my Dutch passport had expired and I
wouldn't be able to ly there on my Australian one without
a visa. I looked up at the light board and quickly changed
course to Poland! Ahh the beneits of having two passports
(plus Poland was incredible!).
!
here was also once a now infamous 17 hour public bus
ride from Nairobi, Kenya to Dar es Salam, Tanzania…I
could write a whole book on travel bizarreness!
!
"26
ingenious ideas) what would you start on right now?
!
Oh gosh I'm one of those people that have 1,307 ideas
(approximately) at any given time. Right now I would set
up an organisation to revolutionize the education system
around the developed world. I would do up the
orphanages in every developing country so they become
brighter, happier places full of play equipment and
educational materials. I would campaign for better,
compassionate and more humane asylum seeker policies in
Australia. I would set up a team to action against the abuse
of workers in developing countries and initiate the
enhancement of their work environment. Build a
company to create bubble bath retreat rooms all over
major cities in the world so you can soak that aching body
for 20 minutes during the day (yeah, this one might be
just for me!). Figure out the best way (or rather, hire
someone smarter) to spend millions on saving endangered
species and blocking businesses from destroying
environments. Create a team to make every page on the
internet far prettier and functional. Deploy the best EU
Law policies around the world. Solve the homelessness
problem with the best moral, ethical and economical
outcome. Oh did I not get super powers too?! Oh and I
"27
would try and get somebody to put me in contact with

Leonard Cohen. I beg of you!
!
!
!
!
"28
5. THIRD PRINCIPLE:
FIND AND REACH OUT TO PEOPLE
LIVING THE LIFE YOU WANT
!
!
I’ve grown up and lived in Norwich, a slightly isolated city
on the east coast of England, for most of my life. he
trouble I’ve had since quitting my job and going it alone is
that I’ve not met one person locally whose life I wanted
and I’ve been told I’m a good networker.
!
I’ve found people setting up and growing agencies for the
big win that I ind inspiring and respect, but no-one who
isn’t doing the ‘deferred life plan’ by creating and living the
lifestyle they want now rather than in the future.
!
Fortunately we have Twitter - the best medium for both
discovering awesome people and reaching out to them.
Living in Boulder, CO I’ve met up with so many positive,
entrepreneurial and creative people that I’ve created
context with, to coin a Gary Vaynerchuk phrase, through
conversations on twitter, Facebook, Skype and
communities such as the Dynamite Circle: in fact a
member met me from the bus station, took me out and
connected me with other entrepreneurs.
"29
!
If you feel stuck in your life, it’s likely due to the fact that
the closest people to you who you spend the most time
with are also stuck. If you surround yourself with
successful, happy, healthy, positive, creative,
entrepreneurial people then you will naturally develop
these abilities and mindset. It was impossible for me to
achieve this in my hometown.
!
For example the person who has massively inspired me to
grow and work on my business (rather than in my
business) is Dan Andrew from Tropical MBA. His and co-
host / business partner’s podcast is my go to source for
motivation and inspiration and so I reached out and asked
the following question which he kindly answered:
Me: What advice would you give to inding a partner like Ian
who shares your ambition / direction? I've done my 1,000
days myself and have built my biznass to over $5k/m mainly
through SEO and now want to build something meaningful
and think it would be way more productive with another one
of me. Or perhaps it's better to ind an opposite that
complements? Cheers, Richard
!
"30
Dan: In general I recommend against partnering for

skill sets or resources for people who are bootstrapping
into new businesses. here was a great interview on
Mixergy a while back where the founder described
starting a new business as "going to war" and as a
process that requires total focus. To that end, Ian and I
have zero side projects (and if we demand one, like this
blog for example, it gets rolled up into our primary
holding company). "Going to war" generally requires
some deep level of personal or professional affinity and
that's tough to ind. Partnerships are like relationships,
so it helps to put yourself in an environment where you
are bumping into other entrepreneurs regularly,
whether that's something like DC or getting on a
conference circuit etc. When you do decide to get down
to biznass, I recommend a limited contract with clear
timelines spelled out if you still have side projects or
other businesses.
!
Equally only take advice from people whose lives you
actually want. Don’t talk about business to your family if
none of them are entrepreneurs and don’t sit there whilst
being given unsolicited advice from friends which often
happens when you’re unsure of your next move.
!
"31
his book wouldn’t be anywhere near as interesting and

useful if I hadn’t reached out to other coffee shop
entrepreneurs to get their stories.
!
!
!
"32
!
!
6. INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS OSBORNE
!
!
Chris Osborne created www.foundersgrid.com - a
community dedicated to location independence, offshore
business and international living.
!
What do you say when people ask you what you do?
!
his all depends who I’m talking to. If a taxi driver asks, I
work in marketing (short, simple and straight to the
point). However for others, I’ll evaluate my answer based
on what would be of interest to them. For example, if I
meet business founders or location independent folks, I’ll
talk about Founders Grid, if I meet a local business owner
I’ll mention I design websites, take photos and create
videos.
!
I see you’ve been travelling non-stop for the last 8 years – what
did you do previously?
!
Out of school I worked in an apprenticeship scheme in the
real estate industry. It was super boring but it made my
"33
mum proud so I stuck it out. After that I went to work in

telecoms.
!
How did you achieve location independence?
!
I was pretty lucky. Before I knew I wanted to work and
travel full time, I already had passive income streams that
could be managed from anywhere with a internet
connection. When I made the decision, it was fairly easy. I
sold my car, let go of my apartment and quit my well paid
job all within 5 days. Looking back this was a bit extreme,
but thankfully it worked out.
!
Did you have a preexisting online business or did you create
income streams as you travelled?
!
I had preexisting, but I did spend a lot of time growing
those revenue streams to build a better foundation for
myself.
!
Was there a tipping point?
!
he tipping point happened before I made the choice to
become location independent. I quickly igured out I
didn’t like coding, but I had an eye for design and was
"34
good at managing people and projects. his is when I

discovered outsourcing, way back before outsourcing was
cool and hip. After working with some freelancers in India
I found online, I went over to Delhi to start networking
with more freelancers I could potentially work with. I
made the mistake of going to the North of India, as most
of the developers are in the south.
!
What does your income proile look like in terms of active /
passive income, client work vs products & affiliates etc?
!
I recently sold my affiliate business I had built up over 10
years, and I’m now focusing on building Founders Grid
and from time to time work with clients who need
photography, websites and/or videos.
!
Did you choose a location independent lifestyle or did it
choose you?
!
It didn’t choose me. I’ve always loved to travel, dining out
and meeting new people. I feel like this was bound to
happen sooner or later.
!
!
"35
he attributes of a great coffee shop to work from for me

include good tables and chairs (especially the height ratio),
low ambient noise, good coffee and fast/reliable internet.
It's extremely difficult to ind a coffee shop who get all
these right.
!
What’s the most important piece of business advice you have
learned / would give?
!
1. Focus and simplify. 
2. Never stop learning. 
3. Ask customers what they want. 
4. Connect and build relationships with people smarter
than you.
!
Where are you currently and where are you off to next?
!
I’m currently in hailand, but have plans to spend some
time in Europe followed by a visit to Africa (my friend has
just built a huge house in SA) at the end of the year.
!
!
!
"36
!
!
7. FOURTH PRINCIPLE:
START BY MAKING MONEY FROM YOUR
EFFORTS (AND NOT PASSIONS)
!
!
Neil Strauss, on an interview with Tim Ferris, said if you
want to live your passion you have to be willing to not
make money out of it to start with: “You either choose
money or passion”. I agree which is why I advocate
starting with what makes money.
!
Your passions by default are very active in terms of
consuming time and it will be hard (unless you are one of
the best in the world at something) to instantly monetise
to make a good living. I think the initial goal should be to
create as many income streams as possible to free up your
time to then pursue your passions. And ironically the
fastest way to achieving a lifestyle built on passive income
(either websites converting traffic or outsourcing others to
do your work) is through starting with the most active of
income streams by trading time for money doing what
you’re best at.
!
"37
Marc Cuban is famous for saying that following your

dreams is “horseshit” and instead you should follow your
efforts as what you’re good at will make you happy. I
totally agree with this - I’ve found out I’m good at
understanding search engine optimisation (SEO) and that
getting results for clients is very motivating. But it’s not
my passion. My passion is living a location independent
coffee shop lifestyle and SEO client work has helped create
that for me.
!
I did a ski season in Whistler, Canada back in 05/06 as
was super passionate about snowboarding. I considered
training to be an instructor but decided instead to make
money in a ski shop; my thinking was that turning my
passion into a job could kill the enjoyment fast.
!
hen for the next three years I was super passionate about
poker which I learned playing every night in the condo in
Canada: I was in fact ‘all-in’. I decided I was going to
make a living being an online professional poker player. I
read every book, was on the forums for 6 hours a day,
studied the math working out expected value calculations
and tracked every hand. I ended up playing 30k hands a
month over 6 tables a time and knew what my win rate
needed to be to replace my salary. However I ran terribly
"38
(way below expected value) and lost my bankroll (the

amount you have to play with; the asset to generate
income from).
!
When you are losing in poker but playing ok the only
thing you can do is to keep going - things theoretically will
even out, over an ininite number of hands. Unfortunately,
as my favourite economist John Maynard Keynes famously
said, “In the long run we are all dead.” I wrote a blog post
called ‘Choose your passions wisely’ and have been living
this advice since.
!
To start making money online, start by offering services
for other people’s businesses based on what you’re best at
or most interested in improving in. I also totally advocate
getting paid to learn a new skill, however this takes
conidence in your ability to learn quickly and deliver
when you say. I’ve been paid to learn and deliver for clients
print publications (In Design), logo design (Illustrator)
and web design (Photoshop). You get 30 days free trial
with Adobe Creative Suite so you don’t even need to shell
out on software irst.
!
Make the most of these free trial opportunities to igure
out 1) what you’re best at, 2) what makes the best money
"39
and 3) what is the least hassle. I no longer do web design

as I’m not great and although it may pay ok it’s a major
hassle dealing with clients changing their mind
throughout the process; I would much rather deliver
objective results such as SEO.
!
For me, faking it until you make it is a key skill and major
part of transitioning from the 9 to 5 to a location
independent lifestyle. he conidence being able to do this
gives you can transfer into other aspects of your life such
as approaching women if you are an ‘average frustrated
chump’ like I used to be. In order to win over clients and
potential partners, you need to be completely sincere in
your ability to succeed, even if you are not completely
conident in your abilities at that given moment.
!
---
!
So how do you actually get your irst paying client? Well
irst up you’re likely going to have to do a few projects for
free to build up your portfolio (as well as conidence). I
created my irst client website for a local coffee shop for
free (it was far from great but they were happy as didn’t
have one). Once you have some examples you can point to
and talk about, then it’s time to create your own business
"40
site and create some leads. Your own site doesn’t have to
look great, it just needs to be designed ok and have good
enough content so that a potential client would feel
conident giving you money. As Noah Kagan from
AppSumo says, you need to validate your business idea,
your service in this case, before you spend any money or
invest much time.
!
I don’t want this to be a ‘how-to startup an online
business’ book as there are too many of those and Google
has all the answers anyway (check out the great post by
Sean Ogle titled he ive most essential online skills for
starting your irst business online such as copywriting,
wordpress, SEO, design, and coding) but a lot of friends
ask me how to get started and this is my advice:
!
1) B u y y o u r o w n n a m e d o m a i n , s u c h a s
www.richardpatey.com - I use www.123-reg.co.uk
2) Get a low cost web hosting company with the ability to
do one-click wordpress installations and point your
domain at their nameservers - I use
www.dreamhost.com
3) Install Wordpress and then setup Gmail on your
domain - Google how to set up the DNS, in particular
"41
MX records (not easy irst time but you need to know

how if you offer this service to others).
4) Purchase a decent drag and drop wordpress framework
where you don’t need to do any coding other than basic
CSS and copy & pasting HTML - I use
headwaythemes.com
5) On the homepage, put a decent photo of yourself with
a short bio linking to an about you page where you list
your expertise. An expert is someone who knows
slightly more than someone else so don’t get hung up
on the fact that you don’t think you’re good enough.
6) Read the Moz.com beginners guide to SEO and use the
google keyword tool to ind exact match search phrases
that you can target and promote to your audience such
as skill+location i.e. [seo norwich] which my friends at
Square Social are currently crushing. You won’t need to
rank for now (it will be unlikely you’ll get your irst
client that way) you just need to know the basics.
7) Spend the day walking around your home city going to
all your favourite businesses. Check out the coffee
shop’s website, does it suck? Do you think your
favourite restaurant’s logo could be better aligned with
the brand / experience? Does your local clothing shop
use social media? Does your local snowboard shop
"42
which also sells on its site target the best keywords for
search traffic?
8) Come up with a list of 5 businesses that could beneit
from design / online marketing improvements.
9) Come up with 5 bullet points for what you would do
to improve their ability to reach and convert more
customers. You need to present your work in money
terms - i.e. by paying you £500/m you believe you will
bring them an additional £2000 per month.
10) Email them and make the tone warm. Make it sound
as if you really don’t need the money, you just wanted
to help them.
!
he cold emails I sent below converted into an initial £500
a month retainer:
!
his was the irst email (I’ve since got a ton better at
writing copy and think this is actually pretty poor but still
worked):
!
Dear Graham / Rachael
!
I'm currently emailing from the Warings Café which I have
been frequenting / working from with my MacBook (great
chai latte!). I offer digital marketing services for small
"43
businesses with a focus on search engine optimisation as well

as creating and sharing content through social media to direct
targeted traffic to websites that convert into sales.
!
I have taken a look at your site and notice a number of ways
which content could be altered and created to pull in more
visitors through search engines and social media.
!
It would be great to meet with you both (apparently you are
in the café early most days?) and to have a brief chat about
your website and whether you have Google Analytics running
to track traffic and what keywords you want to appear for in
search. For example I could create content to generate
backlinks so that when people typed 'contract
furniture' (which gets over 12,000 searches a month in the
UK) into Google your site would appear on the irst page.
Please take a look at the attached screenshot of where the site
currently ranks for a number of keywords.
!
Best wishes
!
Richard
Director
Reasonably Social
www.reasonably.so
"44
!
I didn’t hear back so exactly one month later I sent a
follow up:
!
Hi Rachael / Graham
!
I'm currently sitting in your café (another chai latté!) and
thought I'd just send a friendly reminder to the email I sent
last month about SEO on your site.
!
I really think I could add a lot of value through search and
social and make you more money. From doing further analysis
I can see that your highest value back link is from http://
www.channel5.com/shows/the-hotel-inspector/suppliers/
series-8-suppliers-bodkin-house that most sites link to you
with the word 'restaurant furniture' and that your homepage
has had 8 shares on Facebook.
!
It would be great to meet with you.
!
Best wishes
!
Richard
!
"45
his got a meeting with the directors where I closed a

monthly retainer at £500/m which I got up to £800/m
four months later after upselling additional services. So
how did that go down? At the meeting I talked about the
services I offered, they asked about my career to date and
existing clients and whether I had the time and resource to
take them on (yes and yes). I brought my MacBook and
showed them the aspects of their site I recommended
improving, where they currently ranked for search terms
and how much additional traffic I thought I could
generate.
!
You need to build rapport and trust quickly and also
impress on the potential client that it’s actually more of a
risk not to take you on than to take you on, that the
upside is so much greater than the potential downside that
you may not do what you say. You also need to know
when to show your hand, i.e. your price. his was only
discussed at the very end of the meeting and is based on a
gut feeling of the most they would be comfortable to pay. I
said £500 a month and they said yes. If this were
Groundhog Day I’d start with £750 next time and so on.
Gary Vaynerchuk has a great video on YouTube from a
keynote called ‘Supply and Demand’ about how to price
your services using this approach!
"46
!
As soon as you get your irst client you’re making money.
It’s not like building up passive income from ad or affiliate
revenue which can take 6-12 months of creating content;
it can be the case that just 3 clients can replace your
previous income from a job. It’s the quickest way I know
to start and build an income.
!
When starting up it’s critical to manage your cashlows, to
get payment up front and not to be paid on results at the
beginning, rather on your efforts. Some things are just out
of your control. New Google search algorithms can
destroy online businesses overnight. Don’t promise irst
page Google or let your initial income be dependent on if
you can get a client site to rank. Don’t offer a ixed price
web design with unlimited changes that can run for
months and be a time sink that crushes your cashlow.
When you’re trading time for income you need to make
sure you do it effectively, especially at the start of your
journey.
!
Having said this, in order to start picking up clients an
effective strategy is to offer a guarantee, if you need to, by
saying something like ‘in the event you feel I am not
meeting the standards described in this agreements /
"47
based on our mutual conversations and agreements, I will

refund your entire months fee upon such notiication’
which is adapted from the successful search & social
agency Square Social who I partnered with, outsourced and
sold my clients to (more detail in next section).
!
Only when you’re able to make a living from online
business would I recommend iguring out how to make a
living from your passions. Right now for me it’s this book.
!
"48
!
!
8. INTERVIEW WITH ERIKA DEGOUTE
!
!
Erika Degoute is the founder of www.atworkcafe.com
!
!
Basically I answer that I am a web content manager
working freelance for foreign clients. Most people I met
ask me if I am working OR travelling (they know by my
accent that I am not a local) and I love their surprised
looks when I say that I do both at the same time. hen I
have to fully explain what I am exactly doing and it
usually takes a couple of minutes and is followed by a long
conversation on how they could do something similar. A
lot of people aspire to location independence!
!
!
Most of my income comes from my work as web content
manager. I currently only have a couple of loyal clients and
I could not handle more, because the rest of my income
comes actually from my way of living and what I am not
"49
spending... Indeed I am also a full time house sitter - pet

sitter, which means I usually have a large house, most of
the time with a large garden and a bunch of pets - often
dog(s). his means I do not pay any rent, any utility fees,
any Internet fees, any car insurance and car maintenance
(owners let me use their car) or any other expense you
usually pay when you own and rent a house. But this also
means I need to spend at least a couple of hours per day to
take care of all this. And because I love dogs, I always do
my best to give them back to their owners itter, healthier
and sometimes more ‘’trained’’. I sometimes spent up to 4
hours per day training and exercising their dog(s) beside
my other working activities. I am totally using the best of
the ‘’sharing economy’’ and it is wonderful. Always owning
more things do not make me richer or happier, it only
prevents me to move freely. Which began as a way to save
money became a kind of life philosophy!
!
!
I have the travel bug for as far as I can remember and this
is why I decided to become location independent. It has
been only a year that I have this speciic lifestyle though.
After having graduated in 2011 from a French university,
"50
I got a position as a web-marketing intern at a fast growing

corporate housing company leader in Montreal. At this
moment, their marketing department was only made of a
few trainees myself included. hen by the end of my
internship I was employed with a proper full time position
and soon became their MarCom manager. But I already
had the travel bug deeply within me and after a year and a
half of service in their headquarters I decided to go on
travelling again. I was lucky enough to keep my position
and work remotely for the same company, but as a
freelance. I lived in New-Zealand and Australia since then,
and this is how I realized how important wii-cafes are
when you are a travelling freelance...
!
!
Some people refer to their favorite wii cafe as their
‘’coffice’’ - it says a lot about our expectations. In my
opinion, a good wii connection is the most important
thing, along with a decent number of outlets. hen if the
chairs are comfy, the staff friendly with a kick ass barista
and some tasty food, we reach the perfection... I also fully
detail what would be the best work-cafe on my blog -
atworkcafe.com !
!
"51
What’s the best piece of advice you would give your former
selves at the point of leaving the 9-5?
!
I would give myself ‘’Breaking the Time Barrier’’ a free
ebook from Freshbooks which is great to read before
starting a freelance activity. To realize that being freelance
is not always about charging hours for fastidious work
done for greedy clients is much more motivating! http://
breakingthetimebarrier.freshbooks.com/
!
for your biz
!
I use all the following, devices and softwares, at least once
a day:
- Internet !! Of course.
- My laptop, which is powerful enough to run a few
softwares at a time: Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver,
and XnView for easy fast picture batch processing.
A few cloud services: Freshbooks, Basecamp, Gmail and
most Google apps (Drive, Hangouts, Voice..) Evernote,
Hootsuite, wetransfer.com.
- My smartphone (I have a nexus 4) and a bunch of apps
that are actually the cloud services I use the most use while
working on my laptop too .
"52
!
may be from morning to night)
!
My average day schedule is arranged to mind the time
difference with my clients. Being in Australia at the
moment and my clients being in Western Europe and
North America, It is not really easy!!
!
Here is my actual average schedule:
!
First thing in the morning: monitoring my emails from
my favorite wii cafe in town , being online to chat with
my canadian team who are inishing their work’s day.
!
hen going for a 2 hours walk on the beach (currently
living in a beautiful setting in Coolum beach,
Queensland). Having a brunch or lunch on my terrace,
reading a book.
!
Spend a few hours working either on my blog and its
social medias, invoicing, running personal errands online
or in real life.
!
"53
Going for a walk again, enjoying the surroundings,

thinking a lot. Come back home and spend a couple of
hours working for my clients. Have (a vegan) dinner.
Enjoying my evening with friends or on my laptop reading
news from my Feedly and sharing them within
@workcafes or @Erika_D_ on Twitter!
!
One of your funniest travel stories / dramas is
!
Cape Reinga, North Island, New Zealand. I went for a
very long day walk and being an enthusiast photographer I
stopped too many times for too long. It was dark when I
inished the track and there was not mobile network in the
area. 3 kilometers before the carpark, I ended up in a
middle of a ield with sheep and cows and all their lovely
blood sucker companions. And I had to cross another ield
in the dark with in bonus a terrifying big black bull in heat
inside... I am terriied of bulls and this one was something.
I don’t know how I found the courage to jump the fence
and ignore the bull and followed some truck tracks to get
out of here but I inally did (probably after getting
attacked by a thousand mosquitoes I thought it would be
better to move on)...Hopefully the bull was totally focused
on the cows in the neighbour’s ield.
"54
It was the best and the worst thing I did in New Zealand!
Sounds silly now but that was pretty scary at the moment.
!
ingenious ideas) what would you start right now?
!
Help wildlife conservation NGOs make this world a better
place (inancially and in person) and open a real Work
Cafe in Montreal, Canada. A perfect one!
!
!
"55
!
!
9. FIFTH PRINCIPLE:
CHOOSE THE PEOPLE YOU WANT TO DO
BUSINESS WITH
!
!
After you get your irst few clients or customers you will
need to actively choose what opportunities you convert
and which people you deal with both in business and in
life.
!
You will have problems with clients, you cannot imagine.
After an initial meeting, a new client asked to be my friend
on Facebook, but because I have a policy of only having
actual friends on Facebook; (through regular culling and
by capping it at 100 to get the ticker) I didn’t accept him.
He then followed me (previously called subscribing) and
left a negative comment on one of my posts. I didn’t
respond, so to then get my attention he followed up by
saying he wasn’t happy with the amount of work I’d done
in the irst month and that I needed to make it up before
he would pay me any more money. I replied, breaking
down the value I had given, and said I would not be able
to do anything else on the SEO / social campaign until I
"56
received all of the next month’s money up front. He

agreed. After reading he Game by Neil Strauss, I’m aware
that the pick up community would call this a ‘congruence
test’ - a test to see whether you are aligned with the value
you are representing. I would have walked away, and this
emotional detachment is necessary in business, as it is in
poker and in life, to achieve the outcome you want.
!
For your irst (anchor) client you will likely be happy with
almost anyone (as you are starting from a scarce position)
but over time you need to weed out the ones who don’t
value your work, don’t pay on time (or up front) and who
are just plain needy, by focussing on your ideal client and
putting ilters in place to prevent the bad ones from
reaching you. I’ve previously allowed bad clients to burn
me out and make me ill; to be the last thing I thought
about lying in bed and the irst thing in the morning. hat
state is almost worse than working a job.
!
You need to avoid anxious people as anxiety is contagious;
your vagus nerve can pick up on uptight vibes. As the
athlete and son of a neurosurgeon, Christopher Bergland
states that because anxiety is catching, he will remove
himself from proximity to people who are ‘negative,
cynical or doubtful of my ability to hit-it-out-of-the-park
"57
in a high stakes situation.’ (he Neurobiology of Grace

Under Pressure | Psychology Today). Look out for warning
signs that a potential client may struggle to pay or may be
too needy. he best clients are business-like; are willing to
pay good money for good results. 
!
When you build your conidence in picking up client
work, you start to see opportunities everywhere. It does
not matter whether you believe you create these new
opportunities or whether it’s just that you’re more
observant; what you need to start doing is to actively be
selective in choosing the ones you convert or close.
!
If you deal with people as they come to you, it can and
will often be overwhelming, especially when you’re used to
coming from a scarce / desperate mindset that is more
familiar. You need to learn to say no to opportunities as
tempting as they may appear; you only have so much time
and attention and you may miss out on far better
opportunities more aligned with who you are and what
you want to achieve.
!
Great entrepreneurs always focus on the product and not
the money. As a solopreneur your product is yourself, your
brand, so focus on what you want rather than what other
"58
people want. his is completely different from saying hold

out for the ideal client or partner - it is about actively
choosing rather than taking what comes next or holding
out for perfection that will never arrive.
!
You need to be aware of, and understand, your behaviours
and tendencies. Playing online poker was destructive for
me as I could not moderate my behaviour - I got so
absorbed that everything else just didn’t seem as
important. My thinking was that every hour I wasn’t
playing to make money was an hour wasted. I’ve had this
same feeling after reading he Game by Neil Strauss and
inally understanding the signals that women put out
when they are attracted. I was previously clueless and
actually thought it was rude and uncomfortable to
maintain eye contact; however it was me that was
uncomfortable internally.
!
After working on myself, my natural state is to now look
out for all opportunities, be that friendships, business
opportunities, relationships and I do this by being in the
present (meditation has helped massively). When you
remove the blinkers on life you need to moderate your
own behaviour otherwise the opportunities that present
themselves everywhere can consume you.
"59
!
Rather than it being a complement, or feeling like a
positive thing, getting indicators of interest from an
attractive girl (who I would never have normally noticed
or not normally received having previously walked around
with my eyes averted) has made me feel as if the only thing
that matters is getting a phone number, and that if I don’t
it’s not only a loss but that I am also the loser. As Clay
Collins says in his excellent post about the ‘goal auto
immune disorder’, our goals can be our worst enemies and
the goal of seeking attraction started to own me like poker
did and led me to an unbalanced internal state.
!
As Clay states, after we free ourselves from the 9 to 5 or
repressive relationships we often fail to ind true freedom
due to the repressive nature of the ego-driven structure
that we replace this with:
!
‘A goal that was supposed to empower you made you
feel like a loser, it became a little tyrant running your
life. All this really has everything to do with the
screwed up tactics of…he Goal Goblin’
!
Developing awareness, being in the present and having a
positive outlook (from feeling positive inside) really is
"60
powerful stuff and traditional institutions don’t teach you

how to handle this new reality as they don’t help you
create it in the irst place.
!
Often the only thing holding you back is your perspective.
Once you switch this you have to learn far more self-
discipline than before. As Natalie Sisson says about her
book ‘he Suitcase Entrepreneur:
!
“Develop the freedom based mindset to truly live life
on your own times. If you’re prepared to put in the
work, hustle and commitment it takes then there is no
better time than now to choose your own adventure and
make it a reality”
!
As a solopreneur, you will reach a point when you have
taken on too much work than you can personally do. his
happened when I took on my sixth client and
subsequently had so much correspondence that I had little
time to actually work on the SEO campaigns which
resulted in me becoming too stressed to cope. I was
incredibly anxious in even looking at my client email, so
something big had to change.
!
---
"61
!
he simple act of paying someone else money to do your
work for you can be a big stumbling block for
solopreneurs. You feel that you could do the work better
than others (not necessarily true at all) and it feels as if you
would be just donating money away that would otherwise
be in your pocket. But going back to the concept of
having multiple currencies, getting more time back has a
cost.
!
Once you start paying to get your time back, you just may
continue until you have outsourced everything; the time
you free up can be spent on your passion projects such as
writing this book.
!
It’s hard paying someone for the irst time; up to that
point, other than dabbling in ecommerce and Adsense, I
had spent my whole life being paid to trade time for
money in jobs and from clients. I was used to being the
employee: I’m even an employee of the company that I
own!
!
Moving from an employee mindset to an owner mindset is
a necessary transition to be able to thrive in the location
independent economy. Once you remove yourself from
"62
being the bottleneck in your business, from being the

person that limits capacity, that is the single point of
failure, you really start to be in business. You can focus on
bringing in new clients which are serviced by others.
!
Right now, for me, I don’t see taking on employees as
congruent with my deinition of freedom. he path I took
was to outsource and then ultimately sell.
!
A local agency in my home city of Norwich, UK, Square
Social was set up by a four hungry university graduates
looking to build a big SEO and social agency and go for
the big exit. Whilst this approach is not for me or the
classic location independent way (as it’s deferring
obtaining your ideal lifestyle) I have massive respect for
anyone growing a business and it’s great to be able to work
with others who are ambitious in different ways. he
agency was looking to pick up as many new clients as
possible and knew that I had a number of clients on
monthly retainers and so offered to do all the work for me,
and do the client management (be the contact for the
client) for just half of what I was being paid.
!
his was a super attractive offer as it meant that I could
free up all of my time to work on creating other income
"63
streams, albeit on half the income: a great trade! However

I had to trust them before I gave them my client contacts,
so we started for a couple of months with them doing all
the work and me continuing to be the client liaison and
get paid directly. After I felt (again all I had was my gut)
that these guys were winners and trustworthy, I then gave
them the client contacts to run everything and take me
out of the equation - I had outsourced the outcome.
!
I knew, however, that they would prefer to have the clients
themselves and would be better motivated receiving 100%
of the money to produce the best results, and I wanted to
build my cash runway (a concept Dan Andrews talks
about which is how many months cash you have as an
entrepreneur before you have to get a job!) so I proposed
that they purchase my clients from me.
!
We agreed that I would get paid 1x, 2x or 3x monthly
multiples dependent on whether we could get my clients
into 3, 6 or 12 month contracts with them. I set up
meetings with the clients where I brought the guys in and
explained the proposed transition and amazingly every
single one agreed. I ended up with an additional £5k to
my cash runway and am now their international business
development guy, where I bring in new SEO clients for
"64
them from the States. Real life interactions have the best
affiliate deals!
!
!
!
"65
10. INTERVIEW WITH ALASTAIR CAMERON

!
!
Alastair Cameron is the co-founder of www.startacus.net
!
!
his can be a tough one - sometimes the longer you talk
the more confused people can get. When you’re in a
startup, you can wear many hats after all - so it’s best to
keep the answer simple and succinct. After all, if you are
Teacher or a Mechanic, you don’t have to explain in detail
what you teach or ix when someone asks what job you
have!
!
!
As soon as I made the decision to become self-employed
and to start my business, location was really a secondary
matter. I work from home some days, I work in a co-
working space other days. I work in coffee shops, I work
everywhere really! Having this lexibility is great and it also
means that you can be more adept at dealing with issues as
and when they arise, no matter where you may be. hat
"66
said, you really need to ind the discipline to still keep

your work life at ‘work’ (wherever that may be) and home
life at home.
!
!
he smell and the overall ambience. he feeling that you
are welcome to sit there all day and work (and drink coffee
too) and that you aren’t being a nuisance and taking up
their space by doing that. Good WiFi is also essential! A
busy atmosphere too - but not so busy that you can’t ind a
seat!  
!
he best and/or worst bit about running your business
from your laptop is
!
Best bit is the ability to manage and deal with something
immediately and not having to get dressed up in work
clothes to be at work! Worst bit is being in areas with poor
WiFi coverage.
!
"67
!
!
11. SIXTH PRINCIPLE:
REALISE THE GAME IS SOCIAL
!
!
he mobile lifestyle can be a lonely existence, so you need
to develop your social muscle.
!
he Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test is a questionnaire
designed to measure psychological preferences in how
people perceive the world and make decisions. I was forced
to complete this a number of times in jobs I’ve done (and
therefore thought it was bullshit) but always came out the
same; interestingly after being in business for over 1000
days my makeup has not changed. I am apparently more
extroverted (E) than introverted, I act on intuition (N)
more than sensing, I act on feelings (F) more than
thinking and I go with what I perceive (P) (and with the
low) more than I judge.
!
Apparently people who prefer extraversion draw energy
from others, which is certainly a big reason why I need to
work from coffee shops, and they tend to act rather than
relect which is the essence of entrepreneurship. As the
"68
previous chapters show, I truly believe you can change

your personality (as well as your reality), however,
according to the psychiatrist and psychotherapist Carl
Jung, one type of attitude (feeling or thinking) is
inherently used in a more conscious or conident way.
!
You need to understand and be aware of who you are, how
you act and what thoughts you focus on in order to start
rewiring and optimising yourself to play the social game.
Remember, opportunities are everywhere, and rather than
being detached in an office, your customers can be sitting
right next to you in coffee shops.
!
Equally, becoming social is critical to achieving your own
passion projects and thriving in the new economy, such as
writing your irst book. You need to build a community
who cares about you and the best way to do that is to
genuinely care about and become interested in others:
about the people around you in the coffee shop, at the
supermarket etc. You need to build interactions and reach
out everywhere; you need to approach people and open up
as many conversations as possible.
!
"69
If you can become fully relaxed in your own skin and can
look someone in the eye with warmth rather than fear, you
will become incredibly attractive and interesting to people.
!
People will start to approach you as you become more
approachable; you become interesting by being interested.
!
Building community can, initially, be most effective offline
and starts with where you are. Build off the positive and
curious energy of others you are attracting, i.e. why is this
dude looking so happy working off his laptop?!
Recommend to others content on your site they may ind
useful and encourage them to like your Facebook page.
!
Back in the online world, if someone reaches out to you
for advice, you should feel obligated to respond, more
from a business sense than moral. If someone asks you to
guest post or interview for their site or review their book
on Amazon, this actually becomes a priority. You have to
pay it forward when starting out and build your network
by being as helpful as possible. Come across someone you
respect and see how they could improve their operation?
Reach out and ask for nothing in return. As Dan Andrews
says, in the Tropical MBA podcast, it takes a lot of time (x-
axis) before the hockey stick of success kicks off. And as
"70
Gary Vaynerchuk says you need to stay patient and

humble.
!
Outside business you need to connect with people that
build you up and move you towards optimal performance
in life. I’ve spent the last six months going deep on itness
and nutrition. I’ve been on the Tim Ferriss slow carb diet,
the ketogenic diet and I’ve been working on putting useful
muscle on and becoming more supple. As the awesome
Kelly Starrett from MobilityWOD states, you can’t break
down the tissue in your bicep or tricep by yourself, you
need a partner and you need to reciprocate to keep it at a
friendly level (clue: it’s painful).
!
---
!
Be sociable in your new office environment: the coffee
shop. As a solopreneur I’ve tried co-working spaces and
considered renting space a couple of times, but the allure
of espresso and the social dynamics of coffee shops wins
every time.
!
Unfortunately, members of this new mobile community
(and I would hope it’s more remote job workers than
entrepreneurs) have not been playing nicely. he terms
"71
‘laptop hobo’ and ‘laptop squatter’ are now frequently

used on news sites and blogs; coffee shop owners are
having to take action, through limiting wii and power
outlets, against people who take up space all day and only
buy a coffee.
!
I'm never at coffee shops during lunchtime, not so much
out of respect, but as it’s a busier and less productive
environment to work in. he strap line of the ingenious
startup coffitivity.com is ‘increase your creativity’. his site
plays background coffee shop noise whilst you work from
your laptop at home, as it’s scientiically proven that a
certain level of background noise can aid concentration
and creativity.
!
Chris Ward, in his ebook Out Of Office, states that he likes
to be immersed in the buzz of people in coffee shops and
advocates the concept of ‘low’: moments where there is no
distinction between work and play. Since reducing client
work to a bare minimum, the whole process of writing this
book and researching the publishing process has been a
state of low for me. Long may it continue.
!
!
!
"72
!
!
12. INTERVIEW WITH SAM TITLE
!
!
Sam Title is the founder of www.thecoffice.biz
!
!
Here’s how this conversation typically goes:
!
You: So, Sam…What do you do?
Me: I’m working on an Internet startup.
You: (blank stare) …ah. So…what is it?
Me: It’s an online community for professionals who work
from coffee shops.
You: (blank stare)
Me: You know when you walk into a coffee shop and see a
row of laptops lining a wall?
You: OH! Yeah…Okay. hat’s interesting. here are plenty
of those people in the world. I can see that being pretty
useful now that I think about it…
Me: Yup!
!
"73

!
Before dedicating myself to building he Coffice
community, I was working in public relations/marketing
communications. My last full-time, in-office position was
with a Canadian consumer packaged goods manufacturer.
!
After getting laid off from that role, I decided to put my
marketing communications skills to work as a consultant
and went back to school to formalize my Internet savvy
with a web master certiicate. I was working on my
consulting projects from coffee shops, and the inspiration
for he Coffice came shortly thereafter as a result of a
conversation with a friend about careers and workstyles.
He saw the obvious value in creating a dedicated online
network of business professionals like me.
!
he idea was born that very night. he name “Coffice” –
the marriage of coffee and office – was an “ah ha” moment
during one of my many sleepless nights.
!
!
"74
he greatest thing about he Coffice workstyle is its

diverse offering. What might make a great Coffice to one
Cofficer might not be on the radar of another. However,
the most common qualities people look for in an ideal
Coffice are (in no particular order):
!
Location
Space
Power
Wireless Internet access (speed/consistency)
Great staff
(Coffee and food sometimes make the list too.)
!
!
What’s the best piece of advice you would give your former self
at the point of leaving the 9-5?
!
If your job looks good on paper but never quite feels like
the right it then you should probably get off the hamster
wheel and igure out what isn’t working for you. For me it
had a lot to do with workstyle. It took circumstances to
drive me to that realization. In retrospect I would have
preferred arriving there sooner, but strategically and at my
own pace.
!
"75
for your biz?
!
Laptop
Smartphone
Coffee shops
Supportive family/friends
Cofficers! <~ THE most important!
!
your laptop is
!
…my tendency to wander online or into a piece of the
business I’m developing on any given day. I’ll lose track of
time and space; some days I’ll come up for air and it’s the
end of the day…or I’ll see my phone buzzing with my wife
reminding me I’m on carpool duty.
!
I’d say that’s both the best and the worst part…
!
What does your average day look like (where in the world
you may be from morning to night?
!
I don’t often have an average day. I enjoy the diversity of
what I’m working on. I think that’s what keeps me focused
"76
on he Coffice. But on any given day you’ll ind me in a

Coffice near home or in an area of the city where I need to
be that day. I’ve had days where I’ve been to 4 or 5
different Coffices in the course of work.
!
One of your funniest stories / dramas is
!
I often work from a Coffice close to my kids’ school, so
during the school year I’ll see their teachers come in and
they will sometimes come by my table to say hello and
volunteer an informal status update on how the kids are
doing.
!
My youngest child’s teacher came in one afternoon and
after getting her coffee came up to me smiling. She said
they were talking about what their parents do. My
daughter’s response was: “My daddy works at Starbucks!”
!
I’ve since explained to her the difference between “at” and
“in”...and what daddy's really doing at that Starbucks.
!
ingenious ideas) what would you start on right now.
!
"77
I would be completely devoted to this endeavor...but from

a sunny, sandy and/or faraway location of my choosing
from week to week.
!
And then I would do all the other things I’ve wanted to do
but couldn’t because of limited resources.
!
"78
AFTERWORD
!
Quitting your job, especially if it’s your irst time, is not
easy but it means that you’re wanting to get to a better,
more fulilled place.
!
My happiest and most stress free time was back in January
2006 when I was doing a ski season in Whistler, Canada. I
had prepaid a sick condo, a season pass and had a great
group of people to go boarding with and hang out every
day. Plus an average of 15cm of fresh snow every day for
the month was the icing on the cake.
!
But I wasn’t content. I didn’t have an income stream; I had
saved up a few months of freedom from a charity job that
I no longer found fulilling and I knew that this lifestyle
was on a timer and I would be forced to get a job that I
wasn’t into again.
!
It’s now 2013, I’m 34 and can honestly say I’m truly
content. I wasn’t sure what that word actually meant, my
subconsious just picked it, so had to look it up: ‘a state of
satisfaction’. I don’t think you can be truly happy until you
are satisied with who you are and how you’re living your
life. At least I know I wasn’t.
"79
!
For me, right now, that’s being location independent and
the six principles in the book are all I know about how to
get there. If you’ve read this far then my hope is that they
have helped you too; please reach out, I’d love to hear
from you.
!
Richard.
richard@richardpatey.com
!
!
!
 
"80
!
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
!
!
To my grandfather ‘Mac’ who encouraged me to follow
my passions. To my parents for instilling in me the love
and conidence necessary to go against the grain and for
letting me boomerang back when entrepreneurial times
were tough; to my mother for helping to edit the book. To
my friend Louise for helping me structure the book and
feeding me over the years. To my friend AJ for enabling
me to take off the blinkers and choose my own reality. For
those location independents before me such as Dan
Andrews, Colin Wright, Natalie Sissons and Sean Ogle for
showing me it could be done. To the great people who we
happy to be interviewed for this book, one of which is the
talented Lis Dingjan who also did the cover design.
!
!
"81
!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
!
Richard Patey is an entrepreneur, writer and online

marketer from Norwich, UK.
!
More at www.richardpatey.com
"82

Coffee Shop Entrepreneurs

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Coffee Shop Entrepreneurs

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

!

therefore not needing as many people, or buildings, to be

control of our cashlows through creating “intelligent,

own ass I just need to remind myself that the alternative is

would ask advice on how to get their irst client or price

had enough. I paid £50 to set up a company online and

try to spend no more than a few seconds and go with my

Serge Prengel, from proactivechange.com, states that the

ways saying, ‘trust your vagus nerve.’ Gut-instincts are

balance and make a number of steps. Indeed physical

2. INTERVIEW WITH MISH AND ROB

businesses and solopreneurs to make their businesses less

trying to igure out how we could make that lifestyle work

the fact that we weren’t yet sure of our business model or

Airbnb – we use it for practically all our accommodation.

People are surprised by how predictable most of our days

Lots of digital nomads are way more adventurous than us,

Oh, one thing actually: we hate the time, energy and

the new location independent economy paradigm and will

thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness

fact it is us that creates the (self ) repression. If we move

with a guy or a girl in the queue behind you, as awkward

When you resonate with someone, the waves combine and

Excitement is said to be the highest vibration and fear is

have an abundance mindset. his is not by accident or a

Powers that be, would have swallowed me up. But

I'm a little alternative so I love, love, love kooky cafes.

I've also walked with lions in Zimbabwe and upon

would try and get somebody to put me in contact with

Dan: In general I recommend against partnering for

his book wouldn’t be anywhere near as interesting and

mum proud so I stuck it out. After that I went to work in

good at managing people and projects. his is when I

he attributes of a great coﬀee shop to work from for me

Marc Cuban is famous for saying that following your

(way below expected value) and lost my bankroll (the

and 3) what is the least hassle. I no longer do web design

MX records (not easy irst time but you need to know

businesses with a focus on search engine optimisation as well

his got a meeting with the directors where I closed a

based on our mutual conversations and agreements, I will

spending... Indeed I am also a full time house sitter - pet

I got a position as a web-marketing intern at a fast growing

Going for a walk again, enjoying the surroundings,

received all of the next month’s money up front. He

in a high stakes situation.’ (he Neurobiology of Grace

people want. his is completely diﬀerent from saying hold

powerful stuﬀ and traditional institutions don’t teach you

being the bottleneck in your business, from being the

streams, albeit on half the income: a great trade! However

10. INTERVIEW WITH ALASTAIR CAMERON

said, you really need to ind the discipline to still keep

previous chapters show, I truly believe you can change

Gary Vaynerchuk says you need to stay patient and

‘laptop hobo’ and ‘laptop squatter’ are now frequently

When and why did you become location independent? What

he greatest thing about he Coﬃce workstyle is its

on he Coﬃce. But on any given day you’ll ind me in a

I would be completely devoted to this endeavor...but from

Richard Patey is an entrepreneur, writer and online

You might also like