January 2019: Monthly Report, Travel, Income, and Expenses from Chiang Mai, Thailand

It's strange that it's already February 2019 as this month went by so quickly and in a blurr. This was the month of co-hosting both the Invest Like a Boss event and the Nomad Summit in Chiang Mai as well as both starting and ending the month on the island of Koh Lanta. It was exhausting, but also one of the most fulfilling months I've ever had. One thing that most people don't know is that I started the month with a crazy flu that felt like dengue fever and even today I'm still walking with a bit of a limp from my muscles in my foot being inflamed and not quite 100% yet. With so many responsibilities and travel, I haven't had time to properly rest or take care of myself or my health this month. So regardless of how much money I earned or how many cool places I traveled to, it's already a net negative as health and well being should have been on top of my list.

However, I'm glad to say that now that the month is over, it was well worth it. Both events went extremely well and people overwhelming loved it. So in some strange altruistic way, self sacrificing my own health and well being paid off as we've helped inspire hundreds of people to take positive action in their own financial lives. Even though money isn't everything and shouldn't matter as much as it does, trust me when I say that if it wasn't for being financially free, I'd be a lot more stressed than I am now. Knowing that I am my own boss, have streams of passive and semi-passive online income coming in, I'm able to relax knowing that I don't need to be at a 9 to 5 job and that I can take off as much time as I need to take care of myself. It's been an epic journey, and it's just the first 31 days of 2019, here's everything that happened, how much I spent, earned, saved, and how it all went.

Where I Traveled

I started the month on Koh Lanta kicking off the New Years and 2019 at a beach bar called Pangea which was named after the supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. It's well named as even though the world is now divided up into 7 continents separated by oceans, with technology we're now connected even more than ever. 

Even though I would have loved to of laid of the beach to relax longer down on the islands as I was exhausted from all of the traveling I had done the weeks before, I had to be back in Chiang Mai by January 3rd to help co-host the first ever Invest Like a Boss event. I had gone down to the islands because the German girl that I had met in Chiang Mai a few months prior was traveling there, but what I didn't realize was that we would be hoping from island to island, going to Full Moon Parties and beach bars and then from the far east to the south west on long bus rides and overnight ferries. It was from all of the fast travel that my immune system was low and both of us ended up getting sick by the time the 10 days was over. 

She thought we had dengue fever, but since we had both mostly recovered after just four days, it had to have been something else as dengue normally takes weeks to get better from. Luckily, I was mostly better during the Nomad Summit weekend but I'm sure all of the partying, meetups, social events and then traveling made it worse. It was a blast though, we went to the sticky waterfalls as a group, then scuba diving down on the islands.

Lessons Learned and Plans 

This is a new section of the blog that I'm adding for 2019 as it's super important and vital to start thinking about these things monthly and not just on January 1st when you sit down to think about your New Year's resolutions and reflect on the previous year like I do in my year end review posts. So this month, I learned that even though I could get away from hard core traveling, drinking and partying when I was 19 or even 25, now I really need to chill out and respect my body's limits, especially when I'm already a bit out of shape or recovering. One thing that I know would be helpful for my immune system and health in general is cutting out all of the things that I know are bad for me including alcohol, sugar, gluten and being overweight and not in great shape in general.

I can't believe it's been 5 years now since I was at peak fitness and feeling great. I let too many things like a rough breakup, work stress, and other things get in the way of me getting back to it. Honestly, a lot of it has been laziness, being content, and wanting to indulge in instant satisfaction instead of long term happiness. I know that when I'm in great shape I feel better, have more energy, am more fun to be around, am more attractive, and actually make more money. It's silly that I didn't just bite the bullet and get back in shape earlier, but I had excuses and kept putting it off.

Part of it was knowing how much effort it took when I was in shape and how many sacrifices I had to make it stay on the diet. I knew that I would have to completely give up things that would give me instant joy and satisfaction like burgers, fries, pizza, ice cream or even just eating bread. I knew that it would be a pain in the ass ordering custom meals at restaurants that only served carb heavy foods and that I would have to be that annoying person asking the chef if they could alter the dish to suit my needs.

But the biggest part was knowing that once I committed that it would be for the long run again. I kept telling myself, just a few more months, one more trip to Europe, or one more Pad Thai then i'll watch the video again and get back on the diet. But it's crazy how quickly 5 years can pass without taking action. So finally, today, after all of this time, I've forced myself to watch the video I recorded when I was in peak shape, energy levels and health again and have rededicated to getting back on the diet that has worked for me so well and focusing again. Here it is.

Expenses for January 

This month I got back into a great routine in Chiang Mai starting with having a cheap, simple Thai breakfast every morning which would only cost me 40 baht ($1.28) followed by a few hours of coworking and coffee, lunch, then the afternoons free or to work from home. I ended up spending a lot less going out as I was mostly at home resting and recovering and eating mostly Thai food when I would go out. The only thing that was a waste of money was for the second month in a row, I didn't use the gym. I was at least in the same city this time, but because I've been ill, I only managed to go maybe 4 times the whole month.

The trip to the sticky waterfalls, islands, scuba diving, and all of that fun stuff was mostly written off as a business expense as I was leading the attendees so I had a blast without bumping up the budget. It was a lot of exhausting work organizing everything though, but it was well worth it at the end. Below is a video of a some of the Nomad Summit attendees going down to the islands together with us the week after to do some snorkeling and scuba diving.


Hotels on Lanta - $30
Flight Krabi to Chiang Mai - $114.20
Rent in Chiang Mai - $450
Electricity Bill: $21.80
Water Bill: $7
Propane/Gas: $0
Drinking Water Delivery: $5.32
Food/Restaurants: $338
Coffee: $58.06
Gas for Scooter: $3
Maintenance/Repairs: $0
Ubers/Grab Taxi: $40
Home Internet: $13 (SiNet 35down/15up)
Netflix: $11
Travel Insurance: $15 (insurance blog post)
Cell Phone Plan: $14.51 (5GB + SuperWifi by AIS)
Gym Membership: $37.50
Miscellaneous Spending: $50 (estimated)
Donation to Isaan Muay Thai: $15
Money to my Parents: $1,000 (Mother's retirement)

Total Expenses: $1,195.32 (not including donations)

*decrease from $1,506 last month.

Income Earned for January

Overall I had a really great month income wise as I still had all of my normal income streams including book sales, affiliate partnerships, youtube advertising, udemy courses, my own online courses, investment income as well as other passive income streams. Also this was the month of the annual live event, the Nomad Summit which even with all of the ticket sales, comes with a ton of expenses leaving the actual amount I end up getting paid from it more of a gamble paid off than a steady stream of income. Not only did we have to pay for the venue, food, coffee, drinks, and everything else that comes along with hosting a conference including photographers, videographers, etc, but also a huge part is the non-refundable deposit for the next year's event.  

Luckily on top of everything else I earn money from I also starting making money from the dropshipping stores I started with partners just a few months ago. Below are screen shots from two of my new stores, as well as screen shots of some of the various income streams I have as well as a summary of how much of my income came from what source for the month.

Total Income for January: $12,795.99

*increase from last month's income of $6,892.69

Sales from one of my dropshipping stores for January

Sales from a 2nd store also following Anton's Method 

Affiliate income from Amazon: Example Hypath Luggage Review

Income from my Udemy Courses: Search Johnny FD 

Income from Youtube Ads: JohnnyFD

Income from my Yieldstreet investment

My January 2019 Income Streams

Monthly Wrap Up

It's been a great month and a fantastic start to a new year. I'm excited to rededicate to my diet and health and really think that it's time again to get back on track. Seeing that it's been five years since I recorded that video was a huge wake up call and since I'm not getting any younger, it's either now or never and I chose now. So this year's main priority and plan is to focus on my health first and everything else second. That includes making money, travel and even relationships. If it's bad for my health or will take me off course, I won't do it.

Burning season is starting in a month so by February 20th, 2019 I'm going to be out of Chiang Mai and onto my next travel destination. Honestly I wish I could just stay here for another month as it'd be so much easier but Burning Season in Chiang Mai is real and really sucks. Normally I'd just go to down to the islands but as of this year Thailand's Immigration is really cracking on people staying on tourist visas for more than 6 months of the year and since I arrived September 18th this year, I don't want to push my lunch by staying longer, especially when I have the option of going elsewhere.

So keep an eye out for next month's updates for where I'll end up in March as I'm still not sure on where I'll be for the month. But I have committed to doing a keynote and being one of the speaker's aboard the next Nomad Cruise April 6th leaving from Gran Canaria and going to Lisbon. So if you'd like to join, check them out and use the coupon code NOMADSUMMIT for €50 off and see you there.







Warm Regards,


Johnny FD


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