One of the benefits of living an expat lifestyle is that you can save a fortune living in some wonderful countries that offer a high quality of life for cents on the dollar compared to the western world. But who says you have to sacrifice income and live on the smell of an oily rag? Today’s guest has combined the best of lifestyle with building an online business that last month provided him with over $22000 in largely passive income.

Johnny FD (the FD stands for fighting and diving - his two Thai passions) left Los Angeles and a corporate job with Honeywell to enjoy an overseas holiday in Thailand. Loving the experience he returned to his cubicle intent on relocating – after all he knew he could live on $600 per month while there. Depending on savings for the first twelve months he took a dive course to be an instructor but knew he needed an alternative if he didn’t want to turn his passion into a chore. He investigated online income options and created an e-book that generated sales but a coffee meeting with an entrepreneur who made money from drop shipping convinced Johnny that there were more opportunities on the internet than he had investigated.

Three years on and he now has several successful online stores but is earning just over half of his money from affiliate marketing. He hasn’t lost his passion for work but now focuses on building his income rather than trading time for money – his income occurs whether he works or not

In this interview Johnny shares the story of how he got started and some tips on how to determine an online income that works for you. You can follow his exact recipe via his blog http://www.johnnyfd.com

What I learned from talking with Johnny:

1. Living an expat lifestyle doesn’t mean doing without. Johnny still lives comfortably on considerably less than he’d spend back in the US but his strong income gives him peace of mind and the chance to build investment savings while he relaxes on the beach.
2. Online income can be erratic – you can’t guarantee it’s consistency but it pays to have more than one string to your bow. Johnny had initially built his income from drop shipping (the process of selling online where the manufacturer sends the goods direct to the buyer and you don’t have to handle it) but now gets just over half his income from affiliate marketing (promoting other people’s products)
3. Johnny does much of his own work because he enjoys it with limited use of outsourcers. His income however is largely not connected to the time he puts in – most of the time he does spend is on growing his business and adding other forms of income.
4. Get help from others. When he was learning he would regularly take entrepreneurs out for coffee and pick their brains and he doesn’t stop learning now just because he has achieved success.