Working on affiliate marketing while travelling, realistic?

**FindNetwork** · 06-02-12

Hi guys,

I've decided to take some time out and go travelling. I'm in the process of getting my AM earnings to a consistently good level which can fund my travel and allow me to grow my websites. While i'm travelling i would really like to take half my time working on the AM business but this will require a reliable internet connection and preferably a quiet place to work. My question is doe's this seem feasible and has anyone done it? I will be staying in hostels (some of which advertise free wifi) and doing major cities which i guess will have many bars and cafes with free wifi too. I presume these are harder to come by in more rural or poor countries though. What have others done in a similar position? Is this possible? If i find i decent area which can provide this I may take a few weeks out of travel to settle there so i can churn some work out.

Cheers.

**Iskander** · 06-02-12

It's definitely possible!

When I started doing this sort of thing (2003-2004) WiFi barely existed, netbooks didn't exist and Apple etc. had not yet even dreamt of touchphones. This necessitated finding internet cafes on a near-daily basis to keep up with email etc. These days I regularly travel with an 'office-in-a-backpack' (laptop + touchphone + cables) and I can certainly get some work done while I am travelling. But, to be honest... it's usually less than I'd like.

The consequence of this shortfall is usually either:

i) When I'm abroad, I work fewer days than I'd originally intended to, meaning that when I come back from my trip I have more to get on with than I initially anticipated; or

ii) I travel fewer days than I'd originally intended to, because in an effort to get all the work done I meant to, I end up spending many more hours (and sometimes days!) in the hostel / hotel / internet cafe / wifi lounge, while I'm abroad (which seems a bit senseless).

Obviously i) is more desirable than ii).

But my point is: it's harder than you might think to strike a successful balance.

The most successful strategy I've found to counter the opposing forces of travel-creep or work-creep is to SCHEDULE IN ADVANCE specific windows for enjoying yourself abroad, travelling exploring, meeting people etc. and scheduling other specific windows during your week for work. Getting a balance right without scheduling in advance is, I've found, very, very tricky.

I presume these are harder to come by in more rural or poor countries though.

Quite the opposite. Internet cafes with wifi are more prevalent and easier to find in more rural and poor countries. Why? Because fewer people have computers at home.

**FindNetwork** · 06-02-12

Thanks guys, there's some great advice in your posts!

What sort of prices do you pay per hour in internet cafes? I dont want to have to be spending to much per day in these. Also is it actually safe to take a laptop in and sit down, maybe im being overcautious but i imagine someone just walking in and threatening i hand it over! At the moment it seems a good plan to specifically look out for hostels with free wifi and if i come across one with some quieter space bunking down for awhile. I have bought a specific laptop for this travelling (definatley not taking a macbook!) and will have about 3x usb drives that ill be backing everything up on.

In terms of free hotspots and wifi areas is there an easy way to find these?

**scriptmonkey** · 06-02-12

In Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Georgia, Armenia and Bulgaria, you'll be amazed to find that the most common wi-fi password is AAAAAAAA or 11111111

**Iskander** · 06-02-12

What sort of prices do you pay per hour in internet cafes?

It varies depending on where you are, but usually falls between 30 pence and £2 an hour.

To be honest I rarely use internet cafes very much at all these days - WiFi is pretty ubiquitous.

Also is it actually safe to take a laptop in and sit down, maybe im being overcautious but i imagine someone just walking in and threatening i hand it over!

Most people the world over are not cruel and stupid. This is a pretty unlikely scenario in the vast majority of the world. And you weren't planning on going to Somalia or the Democratic Republic of Congo or Guatemala City, were you?

At the moment it seems a good plan to specifically look out for hostels with free wifi and if i come across one with some quieter space bunking down for awhile.

Yes, that's a very good plan.

**max99** · 06-02-12

I went travelling around SE asia for 3 months, that quickly turned to 6 months and I bought a laptop in the 3rd month to do some aff work .... i did hardly any ... its too much fun out there (well in Asia anyway) even though wifi was everywhere its hard to work when your mates/people you meet want go out and do stuff.
Imagine your in a hostel and people are like 'we going to bar ... we going to beach' it'll be damn hard to say no!

(If i were you, go travelling and aim to do like a few hours a week and have an amazing time, the 6 months I went travelling were best months my life, did everything from paradise beaches to sky scrapers on Hong kong!)

Where are you planning on going ?

**Deeps2365** · 06-02-12

I went travelling around the world, got back in August. We went for 7 months through SE asia, Australia, NZ, Fiji and South America. It was amazing and I got lots of work done. I would only book hostels that had a wifi connection and and in the end almost every hostel I stayed in had a free wifi connection.

Use hostelbookers.com and hostelworld.com to find the best reviewed hostels in each town/city. Make sure it has good reviews and free wifi.

We used to go exploring all day, and then I would come home have dinner and get 3-4 hours work done before bed.

Living the dream really!

**FindNetwork** · 06-02-12

Originally Posted by max99

Imagine your in a hostel and people are like 'we going to bar ... we going to beach' it'll be damn hard to say no!

(If i were you, go travelling and aim to do like a few hours a week and have an amazing time, the 6 months I went travelling were best months my life, did everything from paradise beaches to sky scrapers on Hong kong!)

Where are you planning on going ?

This is my main concern however i have set this year as the year i have to make it in AM (if i can crack it travelling then i can do it when im settled somewhere) so i really dont want to throw it away however friends who have travelled have said the exact same thing so its really going to take some set timetables of when work is and when play is! I may deliberatley have to organise some weeks now and again in quieter towns away from the hectic nightlife and entertainment to achieve this.

The plan is to see the world so hopefully everywaah! (gap yaah style)

**FindNetwork** · 06-02-12

Originally Posted by Deeps2365

I went travelling around the world, got back in August. We went for 7 months through SE asia, Australia, NZ, Fiji and South America. It was amazing and I got lots of work done. I would only book hostels that had a wifi connection and and in the end almost every hostel I stayed in had a free wifi connection.

Use hostelbookers.com and hostelworld.com to find the best reviewed hostels in each town/city. Make sure it has good reviews and free wifi.

That sounds exactly like what im hoping to do, should be living that dream soon!

How did you find working in hostels? Did you work in bed? In common rooms? Did you just have to zone out and ignore people around you?

**giveasyouget** · 07-02-12

One of the best things you can do if you plan to travel while affiliate marketing is find some freelancers before you leave

It is far less of a burden on your time and enjoyment if your work consists of directing blog writers and link builders with the odd email and catching up on your stats rather than desperately thrashing out copy from your beach hut at 2 am. It also frees you up to think longer term about the aims of your sites while being confident there is still some progress being made in the background.

The other option that hasn't been mentioned here is stopping in a new place for a month or two along the way and getting an apartment - there is nothing like working from your own place for peace and quiet, and there are plenty of exciting cities around the world to keep you entertained, with low rents and cheap street food and restaurants. I also think living somewhere for a bit allows you to get to grips with what a country or city is really like and leave with a better understanding of the place - not to mention the opportunity to build a base of friends rather than constantly moving on and leaving people behind as a backpacker. I once rented a flat in a town by the seaside for £180 per month and worked with a panoramic view of the bay, watching windsurfers and kitesurfers whizz back and forth - and whenever I got bored I'd run down and join them. Blissful!

**Deeps2365** · 07-02-12

Each hostel had common rooms, and most hostels had powerpoints by the bed. The good ones at least.

People would occasionally start conversations with me, but when I tell them what i'm doing they are fascinated! Making money whilst travelling sounds unreal.

When travelling through SE Asia we spent £2,500 in 3 months (which includes food, accommodation, travel, lots of alcohol ect). So as long as you can make £700-800 per month from Affiliate marketing then you travelling the world for free

Originally Posted by FindNetwork

That sounds exactly like what im hoping to do, should be living that dream soon!

How did you find working in hostels? Did you work in bed? In common rooms? Did you just have to zone out and ignore people around you?

**FindNetwork** · 08-02-12

Originally Posted by giveasyouget

I once rented a flat in a town by the seaside for £180 per month and worked with a panoramic view of the bay, watching windsurfers and kitesurfers whizz back and forth - and whenever I got bored I'd run down and join them. Blissful!

Sounds amazing - where abouts in the world were you for that price? Is it quite easy to just rent a place for a month spur of the moment or did you have to organize in advance?

Originally Posted by Deeps2365

When travelling through SE Asia we spent £2,500 in 3 months (which includes food, accommodation, travel, lots of alcohol ect). So as long as you can make £700-800 per month from Affiliate marketing then you travelling the world for free

Currently make that as a minimum so thats reassuring although I expect Europe may be more expensive than that. Suppose AM will be a good ice breaker if anyone asks, just hope i dont have to repeat myself hundreds of times if people start asking if they can do it and how etc!

**Steved** · 09-02-12

My partner and I travelled around the world for 3 years doing AM from 2008-2011. We took the view of "the world is our office" rather than we're just going to travel. This meant working long hours but taking some time to see the sights in each place. It all depends on how serious you are about your business and how much work it needs to maintain. With ours we were doing extremely well and didn’t want to throw it all away Our sites are pretty labour intensive so required a lot of updating.

We’d usually divide the day into two – go out during the day and then work until the wee hours or vice versa. We'd sometimes work almost solidly for a week or a month and then take a couple of weeks off to go and enjoy things, just depended on where we were and what the Internet connection is like. Sometimes it’s easier to base yourself in a town or city for a week at a time to get work done, then go have fun for a few days. We’d also rent apartments for up to 3 months at a time when we got tired of moving around and just crack on with work while going out at night. It sooo good to be able to cook for yourself and chill in your ‘own’ lounge after being on the road for a while.

In many cases we'd go online, check emails and get all the materials we needed, then go offline, do all the work and reupload when we got to a good connection again.
On the whole finding a good connection was not too hard but you’ll need to get used to working wherever you can and it’s often noisy. We’d work in hostels, hotels, Internet cafes, bars, restaurants etc. If you get a 3G dongle with sim slot you can get a sim card in some countries but it’s not always reliable. In USA and Canada Virgin offers prepaid 3G dongles.

We travelled mostly in SE Asia, USA, Canada, Micronesia, Australia Some Europe, South Africa. I’ve heard South America is pretty cheap too and easy to find connections. Almost everywhere besides Asia and South America is probably going to be quite expensive and you can expect to budget around $50-100 a day or more for food and accommodation alone. SE Asia was $10 a night on average for a basic but perfectly good private room.

Some of our most spectacular ‘offices’ were in the mountains and beaches in the Philippines, on the beaches and rivers in Cambodia, in a game park in South Africa, stunning villa in Portugal’s old city, on a dive boat in Australia’s barrier reef.

Everyone WILL ask you how you’re doing it. 90% of people won’t have a clue what you’re talking about though so keep your explanation short if you don’t feel like explaining it properly or you’ll just keep repeating yourself. I used to say “I sell software on the Internet”, that puts off most people right away. Those that are really interested will ask more and you can get into a discussion.

**Shimrit** · 11-02-12

I would suggest doing research on mobile Internet where you think you might be going and getting yourself an unlocked dongle to use in your laptop. In places like India, Thailand, Laos, etc. mobile Internet can actually be fast and reliable enough in many places to do your work, even in small towns and the beaches I travelled and worked around India using an Airtel sim and even though I tried to stay in places that had Wifi, I often ended up using my sim because it was more reliable. I would say spend some time reading about the different networks, though, and maybe get a bunch of sims and plans from different networks if you need to. In many places you can get cheap unlimited mobile Internet deals, but in the Philippines, for example, some networks work only in cities and are pretty crap once you go anywhere else.

**FindNetwork** · 08-03-12

Thanks to all who gave suggestions their suggestions. I head off next week to start my travels in Spain.

I have added functionality to my blog so you can see where i am.