Taking A Break Helps Grow The Business
After taking a break for a week down the coast I am back and revived and ready to take lots of action! I was away from my computer and had no Internet access, which felt great. I find that just taking a week off with no distractions of emails, client issues and other business related tasks allows me to just sit back and reflect on life. So you might be wondering what did I do for a week? Let me share with you some highlights of my week away.
A Relaxing Trip Down To The South Coast
My partner and I drove 2 hours south into a small town called Gerringong. It was a quaint little town that had a population of around 4,000 people and the neighboring town of Gerroa had about 500 people. (The reason why I knew this, was I could remember a sign that said “Welcome to Gerroa. Population: 500 people”)
I think we were also the only Asian couple in town, so we really stood out when we walked down the street to buy food. From experience I love coming to these quiet towns because the pace of life is much slower and it allows me to wind back. We made sure that we also visited different places and checked out the lovely scenery.
For the first day when we drove down the coast we stopped over at the following places: Fitzroy Falls, Kangaroo Valley and Berry. Overall the whole journey took around 4 hours before we arrived at Gerringong. We took some amazing photos and amongst the cold it was well worth the time to stop over.
The beautiful Fitzroy Falls
Tyrone’s First Affiliate Cheque
Just a few days ago I received a cheque in the post from Hostmonster for referring people to their hosting services. I was very happy to see my first affiliate cheque this month and hopefully there will be more coming in soon. As I start to grow this blog, I will begin to start sharing some of my insights, so keep coming back to have a look!
If you want to find out more and start receiving cheques like this from Hostmonster, they have an affiliate program that is very easy to join and setup. Anyway here is a photo of me holding the cheque:
Tyrone Shum
Hostmonster Affiliate Partner
Delicious Buffet Dinner And Breakfast
Over the weekend, my partner and I celebrated our anniversary at the Sheraton and Hilton Hotels in Sydney. We are very fortunate to have time and share special moments together during the week. I woke up this morning looking out the window over George Street and saw how busy the streets were with people rushing off to work, whilst we lay in bed watching TV. (This is what an Internet business allows you to do).
For our anniversary yesterday, we treated ourselves staying the night at the Hilton hotel. Then for dinner we had a delicious buffet at Sheraton On The Park. Being only five minutes walk from the Hilton hotel we strolled up the street to the Sheraton to take our 7pm booking. We enjoyed a huge selection of fresh seafood: lots of prawns and oysters, hot food including Barramundi, roast pork and turkey, a selection of cheeses, and the most scrumptious desserts.
After dinner we went back to the Hilton hotel to enjoy a bottle of champagne that was given to us complimentary from the staff at the Hilton. Before we knew it, after having a relaxing shower and rolling down the electric blinds, we fell asleep on the comfortable King size bed and slept like babies.
As part of the package included in our stay, the Hilton included a complimentary breakfast buffet on level 2. I felt like a king when one of the waiters gave us his full attention and provided excellent service. Thank you Gordon! I could not have asked for more this morning enjoying a gourmet cooked breakfast of ham and mushroom omelette, hash browns, pork sausages, Belgian waffles and grilled tomatoes. It was the most memorable breakfast dining experience I have ever had.
I would love to hear your comments below of excellent places you have been to dine at.
Tyrone Shum
Living Like A King
Mini Retirement Ideas From Darling Harbour Travel Expo
On Saturday I went to check out the Travel Expo with my partner to get some ideas on places to go for a mini retirement. There were a lot people in the expo and lots of different stands offering travel packages to multiple travel destinations. Normally entry fees were $15 per person, though we were lucky to have found a special voucher that was printed off from the Internet so we entered for free. We also entered a few competitions to have a chance at winning a holiday and saw Natalie Gruzlewski at the Getaway booth promoting a stay at the Hilton hotel in Sydney valued at $900 for two nights. I knew these competitions were marketing tactics to get your email address and contact details for them to market more products to you later on, but I didn’t think too much and did it for fun.
We searched for tropical island destinations and some interesting sight seeing places that we could travel to. One place that caught our eyes were to Cook Islands. It looks like a beautiful destination and a romantic location to have our future wedding and possibly mini retirement. I love dreaming of nice places to go to! Another location that we have talked about going to is Japan is to see the snow monkeys at Yamanouchi-town. Since it is snowing in the area I can’t miss any opportunity to go snowboard as well. Japan is a surreal place from what I have heard and many of my friends have mentioned to go during the Spring time where we could see the flowers blossom. I could definitely stay in Japan for a few months to capture both.
Why A Mini Retirement, Not A Holiday?
I’ve been reading a book called The 4-Hour Work Week written by Timothy Ferriss. It has had a huge impact on my perspective of life and work leading to the changes I am gradually implementing into my business. What has really struck me the most is taking mini retirements in life, rather than working really hard now and saving for the day when I can retire. So you must be wondering what is a mini retirement and how does it sound different to a holiday? The biggest difference is, mini retirements allows you to take time off ranging from a month to as long as 15 months, or however long you fancy. It also allows you to develop new hobbies, interests, travel and live in different locations for that period of time with the freedom to pursue whatever you want without having to think about work. Whereas a holiday would last for a few weeks and when you come home, work would be ready to start again.
What my goal is within the next 12 months is to set up the systems for this business to allow me to travel to another country and live there for a period of time. I will not have to worry whether or not my business continues to run without me because it will be automated and provide the income needed to live a lifestyle in another country. I know it sounds very far fetched to some people, I believe it’s achievable!
Tyrone Shum
Aspiring For More Mini Retirements
Tyrone’s Favourite Movies
One of my favourite past times is to watch movies with my partner. We love to just lounge on our couch in the evenings and let our minds relax whilst enjoying a thrilling movie. Here are some of my favourite movies I love:
- Slumdog Millionaire
- The Green Mile
- Mr. Brooks
- Rescue Dawn
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
- The Prestige
- Lord Of The Rings
- Surf’s Up
Tyrone Shum
Cinema Fan
