The past 18 months were the most amazing moments of my life…
Wow… 2017 was quite an adventure! After spending the first six months outside of the comfort of my house, I spent the last six building my business after I quit my 6 figure paying job. And this is only the beginning. But, before I tell you what is happening next year, I want to quickly come back tell you about 2017…
The most amazing month of my life
In March 2017, I went through the most crazy-incredible-marvelous 30 days of my life. In this short period, I checked off many “bucket list items”:
- I learned how to surf with my 2 oldest kids in El Salvador (during this incredible week we surfed each morning and I walked around barefoot in the sand with a cold beer during the afternoon)
- I spent three days with locals in a small village in Nicaragua (we ate their food, swam in the Laguna Apoyo, visited Granada with a crazy taxi ride and we explored the village and the valley at night)
- I played hide & seek in Tikal ruins in Guatemala (imagine running throughout the jungles and going from one ruin to another listening to the sounds of the howler monkeys while playing hide & seek with your children!)
- I swam in a Canyon in Nicaragua (this was a 11km hike/swim throughout the Somoto Canyon. We stayed with locals on that night and had a birthday party for an 8 years old girl, with a piñata)
- I lived on an island in Belize for 4 days (the island was the size of 2 football fields, we kayaked, paddle boarded and snorkeled each day)
- I went deep sea fishing in El Salvador (we almost caught 2 fish, but came back with nothing. However, the view of the coast from our boat was worth the trip!)
I actually did a lot more things during this month, but if you want to read about my adventure, I suggest you start here. What I wanted to highlight is that life is not about saving money and retiring early. Life is about getting shivers during the day and having a smile before you go to sleep.
After this incredible month, I made a promise to myself to “kill it” day after day and live that kind of life until I die. The very first thing I did when I came back home was to quit my job and get the tools I needed to accomplish this challenging mission.
Quit my job, build a business, live the dream… again!
Over the past 6 months, I’ve worked on building a business that will allow me to keep traveling. I’m not there yet (man, money doesn’t come that easy!), but it is going well. I decided to work full time on my blogs and my membership website for two reasons:
#1 I truly enjoy helping others with investing.
#2 This business model is scalable and will allow me to work from anywhere in the world.
What’s better than combining your passion with the lifestyle you want and earning money in the process? Wow… I get excited just by writing this line!
Once I came back to Quebec, I thought I was done with long term travels. I have two children in elementary school and one just starting high school. They won’t want to leave their life behind to follow their crazy parents, or will they? Funny fact; the three of them are ready for a new adventure! I will discuss my 2018 goals in another post, but you can guess that there will be a point about traveling!
Next time I leave my house, I will be able to keep working and earn as much money as I do when I’m home. No need to take vacations anymore, I can work and be on vacation at the same time. I experienced this when I learned surfing in El Salvador and it felt like the perfect life. In the meantime, I have several projects for The Dividend Guy Blog and my business for 2018. Here’s a quick peak of what is coming…
A new design and a Facebook page!
Over the Holidays, I’ll be implementing a new design and we will also start to be present on social media (welcome to the 21st century, Mike!). I never had enough time to take care of this aspect before, but now it’s time to be “everywhere”. My goal with the new design is to offer a better way to navigate through the site and make the best posts accessible. This is a big problem with any blog; the good stuff gets buried very fast under a ton of weekly articles. My goal with the Facebook page is to get to know you better. I truly enjoy discussing the stock market and connecting with my readers. I do it often through emails, but I think it’s time to reach out to you on a more active and frequent manner.
More webinars, more videos
Since September, I’ve done about 10 webinars. I’m learning this new technology and I truly enjoy it! It gives me a unique opportunity to have discussions with many investors and to help them with their investment process. If you want to find out when my next webinar will be, I will announce all of them in my newsletter. You just have to sign-up!
On top of my free webinars, I will also start doing exclusive webinars for Dividend Stock Rocks subscribers. This will offer a unique opportunity to all DSR members to ask questions and get privileged information.
Finally, I also want to do free clips about companies I like. I think video is a more accessible way to consume information. You can watch them on your mobile device while you wait at the bus station and you can easily share them. We are almost ready to produce them. This should happen sometime in the beginning of 2018.
Continuous improvements on Dividend Stocks Rock
It’s only been 6 months since I started working full time and here are the things we have done for our subscribers:
- Made a fully upgraded platform so that it is user friendly.
- DSR Stocks Ranking completely changed with upside potential.
- DSR Stock Cards updated into 2 pagers reports
- DSR portfolios reviewed and a 100% Canadian one added.
On top of providing exclusive webinars, we are also working on adding more features. We will provide additional videos with full analysis of stocks we follow. We are also working on a video course to build and manage a dividend growth portfolio. I think this will be a great series for all investors! Finally, we are also exploring the idea of giving quarterly follow-up on subscriber’s portfolios. I’m telling you, DSR will become the most complete and efficient dividend investing tool you will ever see! As the platform grows, prices will go up but we grandfather in all existing members to keep their original sign-up price. Maybe you should consider joining before the next increase!
A new investing site for 2018!
Yes! I don’t have enough to write on this blog, The Dividend Monk and DSR. I’m working on another project that will reach out to some investors that haven’t been well served lately. I’ll tell you more in a few weeks! Stay tuned!
Gary George
I often read/enjoy your newsletters and am familiar (81 intl cycling trips) with the Central American places you reference, except El Salvador. I’m 74 and now my investment income (2/3s in US etfs) is almost double my last 6 figure salary, in 2002. What I regret is that for far too long I thought 1% advisers was the way to go,… it’s fun to do yourself, and 80% of advisers can’t beat the index. I’m a 5th generation anglo Quebecer, originally from Georgeville QC area, now Ottawa.
Highlight: Cycled Istanbul-Beijing 11,800 km, 4 months in 2007
DivGuy
Hello Gary!
Congratulations on your cycling trips, this must have been incredible!
What matters most is to stick with a strong investment plan. But yes, if you have the interest in managing your money yourself, it is a lot of fun!
Cheers,
Mike
Pellrider
Wow!!! Great achievement! Congratulations! good luck in 2018. You are doing a great job! I have added this site to my blog’s page.