For the second quarter in a row, we brought in $100,000 from our YouTube channel and other related income streams! Yes, it still feels just as crazy as it did last quarter. However, it hasn’t always been this way. If this is your first time ever reading one of our income and expense reports, I suggest starting with the first one we ever published in July of 2016 (our total income was $603.26)
Now that we’re making what feels like a crazy amount of money from this business, I feel like it’s important to tell you why we started writing these reports in the first place – and why I am continuing to write them (at least until we hit our goal of 100 countries).
When we first made these reports in our 6th month of full-time travel, the goal was to make enough money to cover our travel expenses so we could continue traveling. The purpose was to document that journey. We thought that if we were successful, maybe we could inspire some other people along the way to go after a crazy dream of their own.
When Kara and I used to tell people we traveled full-time, we’d almost always get the same response: “I wish I could do that.” At that point in the conversation, I would usually just bite my tongue. I realize that, for some, full-time travel truly isn’t possible. But for most of the people who say, “I wish I could do that,” they could if they really wanted to. Yes, some people would have to work harder than others, but most people could make it happen if they were willing to make travel a priority.
One of the selfish reasons we started these reports was to show people that we weren’t trust fund kids, and to prove to them that travel doesn’t have to be expensive. We were sharing the exact numbers behind how 2 normal people could travel the world for a year for $35,000. The hope was that, down the road, we could also show how it was possible to start a business while traveling that would continue to fund our travels, but it was just a dream at that point.
Fast forward 3 years, and we can’t believe where that dream has taken us!
Because of this path we’ve found ourselves on, I feel like the purpose of these income and expense reports have shifted. When we started, I felt like the numbers we were sharing were very relatable to the average person who wanted to go and travel. We were writing as 2 broke newlyweds, and the reports proved that you didn’t need a lot of money to go travel.
Now, I feel like these reports have become much less relatable from a travel expense standpoint, and they aren’t serving their original purpose. For a long time, I went back and forth on whether or not to continue publishing these reports, but I ultimately realized that they are now serving a different purpose that I never intended them to serve.
Based on the feedback I’ve started receiving, these reports are inspiring others outside of the realm of travel to pursue whatever they’re passionate about. This is really special to me. I’ve known from the beginning that it’s not everyone’s dream to travel (I have family and friends who would hate living a week in our shoes). That’s why I’ve never wanted to preach “everyone should travel full-time or you aren’t living life to the fullest.”
I don’t believe that, but I do believe far too many people get swept up in the current of life and just end up wherever it takes them. Then, they look up one day and wonder how they got there. If I can inspire people to at least think about what they really want in life, and encourage them to start pursuing it some way, I consider that a success.
So I am going to continue writing these reports (at least until we hit 100 countries) to show people a real-life case study about two people who went against the grain to pursue something they were really passionate about. And it worked out better than they ever could have imagined.
I think most people believe you have to make a choice between pursuing your passion or making money. We’re proof that it doesn’t have to be one or the other. We didn’t go into this thinking we were going to start a successful business. We just wanted to have enough money to continue traveling. But because we started doing what we really enjoyed and worked really hard at it, we’ve found ourselves somewhere we never dreamed of being.
Thoughts on Quarter 1 of 2019
During Q4 of last year, our YouTube channel experienced a ton of growth, and our revenue shot up in areas we weren’t expecting at the beginning of the quarter. For example, we went from making $15,000 in YouTube ad revenue to $45,000 in ad revenue (due to the holidays). Then, at the last minute, we decided to offer a Black Friday discount on our online courses, and we did a surprising $15,000 in sales in 3 days.
All of this to say, we had some extreme things happen during Q4 that led us to $100,000 in revenue. Looking forward to Q1 of this year, I didn’t see how we could possibly top Q4. But once again, to my surprise, we did it.
As expected, we saw a large drop in YouTube ad revenue and course sales, but a few unexpected sponsorship opportunities and steady growth in affiliate income made up the difference. Let’s dive into the report, and I’ll explain in more detail.
Income Report
1. YouTube Ad Revenue – $31,649.68 (Change from Q4 -13,999.32)
During Q4 of last year there was a perfect storm that took our ad revenue to $45,000. We had a video go semi-viral in early November, and we gained a lot of new subscribers. Plus, advertisers were increasing their ad rates around the holidays so this lead to a huge increase in ad revenue. However, by the end of the quarter, our new subscribers were starting to level out again, and ad rates started dropping the day after Christmas. We knew we’d need something crazy to happen to maintain a similar level of ad revenue in Q1.
Unfortunately, nothing crazy happened during Q1, and our ad revenue dropped by almost $14,000. However, you can see from the chart above that our ad revenue was consistent throughout the quarter. So while it always hurts to see a decrease in revenue of any income stream, we are both very happy with where it has leveled out.
2. Patreon & PayPal – $10,285.51 (Change from Q4 -$1,285.15)
It’s scary to build a business on top of a platform that you don’t own (if you read the section above, $14,000 can be given or taken away pretty much overnight). So much of our success/failure is tied to the growth of our YouTube channel, and we have very little control over that growth. This is why we’re so grateful for our patrons! Thanks to their support, we know that no matter what YouTube decides, this is one consistent source of income that we can count on every month!
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Patreon, it’s an online platform that allows you to support the work of your favorite creators giving them a chance to continue working on their creations without having to worry about where their next meal is going to come from!
CLICK HERE to learn more about becoming a patron!
3. Course Sales – $9,758 (Change from Q4 -$13,153)
As I said in the introduction, last month our Black Friday Sale brought in $15,000 in 3 days. During Q1, we didn’t do any promotions for our courses outside of including the links in our videos and on our website. Due to the lack of intentional advertising, the drop in revenue was expected.
If you don’t know what online courses I’m talking about… We’ve each created a course to teach others the subjects where we have the most expertise. For me, that’s travel hacking, and for Kara, it’s video editing.
- 30 Days to Becoming a Travel hacker is a course I created to teach others the strategies I use to save thousands of dollars on flights and hotels.
- Kara’s Behind the Scenes Guide to Creating a Vlog is the course Kara created to let you watch over her shoulder and learn the exact methods she uses to create one of our travel vlogs.
4. Affiliate Income – $21,530.62 (Change from Q4 +$6,779.03)
- Amazon – $1,566.69
- Epidemic Sound – $3,660
- Creditcards.com – $16,303.93
- Audible – $90
- ConvertKit – $44.10
- Adobe – $205.17
- TubeBuddy – $22.80
The majority of our affiliate income comes from the ongoing promotion of companies and products we love such as Amazon, banks with awesome travel credit cards, and Epidemic Sound. It’s an awesome feeling to get rewarded for doing something we are already doing for free: recommending products we use and love.
The major driver of our affiliate income this quarter was credit card referrals. This was our first full quarter offering free credit card consultations and consistently publishing our “Top 10” blog post every month. Based on the feedback we’ve received, people are getting a lot of value out of these personal consultations. So it’s awesome that we’re able to offer this time-consuming service for free thanks to the commissions we receive from the banks.
If you’d like help figuring out which travel credit card(s) to sign up for to maximize your rewards and savings, you can request a FREE consultation by clicking the button below!
Or you can check out our Top 10 Travel Credit Cards post that we update every month!
Our second largest source of affiliate income is Epidemic Sound. We get all the music for our YouTube videos through this service. It’s hard to find good music for YouTube videos. Kara used to waste hours of her life searching for music, and now she has a huge library of royalty-free songs to choose from! She loves this service, promotes it at the end of all of our videos, and we get paid anytime someone signs up for a free trial.
If you need music for YouTube videos, click here to check out Epidemic Sound!
Last but not least, Amazon also brought in a decent amount of affiliate income. The majority of our Amazon affiliate income is generated by people who visit the following pages where we recommend gear we use and love.
Our Vlogging Gear
Our Packing List
Keep Us on the Road
5. Sponsored Content – $42,670 (Change from Q4 +$33,670)
As our channel grows, we’re getting more and more opportunities to include sponsors in our videos. It seems like every day someone sends me an email asking us to review their product on our channel. We turn down the majority of these offers, but if the product/company meets our 3 criteria, then we entertain the idea of adding them as a sponsor:
- Can we get genuinely excited about the product/company?
- Is this something we think our viewers would be interested in knowing more about?
- Does the company value our platform, and are they willing to pay us enough money?
This is where we saw a major growth in our income this quarter! Normally when a company wants to work with us, they will reach out and ask how much we would charge for _ (fill in the blank). This quarter, we were approached by a couple of companies with upfront offers that were bigger than any we had ever received. These offers allowed us to see that we had been undervaluing ourselves in sponsorship deals in the past.
We did a few more sponsorships than usual this quarter because a couple were too good to turn down. However, we expected to see a sustained increase in revenue in this category by increasing our rates and still keeping our sponsored videos to a minimum.
Total Q1 Income – $115,893.81 (Change from Q4 +$12,011.56)
The pie chart above gives you a quick breakdown of how each revenue stream is contributing to our total income.
Expense Report
Transportation Expenses – $1,984.79
Normally, we save money on our transportation expenses using miles and points that we’ve saved up by applying for the best travel credit cards. However, this quarter, the majority of our savings were thanks to sponsored trips.
For as much as we bounced around the globe this quarter, we spent surprisingly little on flights. During Q1 of this year, we traveled to 15 different countries, but we spent what most couples would for round trip flights to from the U.S. to Europe. This is because we planned our travel around a few key sponsorships in order to make sure most of our long-haul flights were covered. We also visited 5 of the 15 countries on a cruise ship, so that helped cut down our “transportation” costs as well.
| Origin | Destination | Transport | USD | Misc. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | $1,984.79 | |||
| Cancun | Havana | Plane | $392.88 | |
| Havana | St. Maarten | Plane | $0 | MSC Project |
| St. Maarten | Costa Rica | Ship | $0 | MSC Project |
| Costa Rica | Mexico | Plane | $0 | Iberostar Project |
| Mexico | Jordan | Plane | $0 | Iberostar Project |
| Jordan | Lebanon | Plane | $400.79 | |
| Lebanon | Iraq | Plane | $543.74 | |
| Iraq | Turkey | Plane | $454.48 | |
| Turkey | Finland | Plane | $0 | Tesla Project |
| Finland | India | Plane | $192.90 | OnePlus Project |
| India | Finland | Plane | $0 | OnePlus Project |
| Finland | Copenhagen | Plane | $0 | Tesla Project |
Accommodation Expenses – $4,357.51
In the past, we have saved a lot of money on accommodations thanks to Airbnb credits that we have accumulated through people signing up for the service through our link. However, in the last report, I told you we had abruptly stopped receiving credits from Airbnb. We reached out to Airbnb about our links not working, but they said everything looked fine.
After a lot of internet research, I finally learned that Airbnb has a $5,000 credit limit cap. Since we had received $5,000 in credits, they quit giving us additional credits even though we were still referring new members. That alone is frustrating enough, but it’s even more frustrating that they didn’t tell us about the cap when we reached out, and instead told us our link seemed to be working fine. I digress.
To get around the cap, we have created a new account that is still offering you the same savings as our old account. So, if you’ve never signed up for Airbnb, and you want to save $40+, help us save money on our accommodations in the future by signing-up using our link below:
CLICK HERE to save $40+ on your first Airbnb
| Location | Accommodations | Nights | Cost | Misc. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $4,357.51 | ||||
| Cuba | Airbnb | 8 | $318.87 | |
| St. Maarten | Cabin | 3 | $696.60 | |
| Caribbean Cruise | Cruise | 13 | $0 | Project with MSC |
| Costa Rica | Hotel | 1 | $97.71 | |
| Cancun | Resort | 7 | $0 | Project with Iberostar |
| Amman | Airbnb | 9 | $880.62 | |
| Jordan | Hotel | 7 | $168.76 | Project with Jordan Tourism |
| Beruit | Hotel | 11 | $585.81 | |
| Iraq | Hotel | 2 | $135 | |
| Turkey | Hotel | 3 | $255.84 | |
| Finland | Hotel | 3 | $61.82 | Project with Tesla |
| India | Hotel | 4 | $0 | Project with OnePlus |
| Helsinki | Hotel | 1 | $107.91 | |
| Kemi | Hotel | 2 | $245.04 | |
| Rovaniemi | Hotel | 3 | $0 | Project with Hotels |
| Copenhagen | Hotel/Airbnb | 8 | 803.53 |
Destination Expenses – $4,135.79
This category is the money we spent while on the ground at each destination. This includes things like food, local transportation, and entertainment.
| Destination | Dates | Expenses |
|---|---|---|
| Total | $4,135.79 | |
| Cuba | January 1 - 9 | $600 |
| St. Maarten | January 9 - 13 | $247.44 |
| Caribbean Cruise | January 13 - 27 | $43.07 |
| Mexico | January 27 - Feb. 4 | $0 |
| Jordan | February 5 - 22 | $695.12 |
| Lebanon | February 22 - Mar. 5 | $635.44 |
| Iraq | March 5 - 8 | $264.29 |
| Turkey | March 8 - 11 | $824.24 |
| Finland | March 11 - 14 | $77.24 |
| India | March 14 - 19 | $160.22 |
| Finland | March 19 - 24 | $400.22 |
| Denmark | March 24 - 31 | $1,406.51 |
Business Expenses – $8,402.70
Each month we pay for several online subscriptions and other things to keep the vlog, blog, online courses, and email list running smoothly. We have also hired a few independent contractors to make sure we can keep things running smoothly as our channel and business continue to grow and evolve.
Travel Hacking Wingman -$3,297.50
If you submitted a credit card consultation or signed up for my travel hacking course, you probably know Benji. He helps manage our travel hacking Facebook group for the students of my 30 Days to Becoming a Travel Hacker Course. He also helps me write travel hacking blog posts and give credit card consultations. I tried to do this alone for a long time, but I realized I needed help to ensure that we could help as many people as possible travel cheaper using my travel hacking strategies. So, I’m super thankful I’ve found a fellow travel hacker I trust to help me with the mission.
Video Editor – $2,290
At the moment we have two different editors who split time to help rough cut our footage. This is supposed to be saving Kara time and increasing the quality of our videos, but in all honesty, we’re still perfecting this process. It’s been a challenge to figure out how to transfer huge files around the world, coordinate schedules, and still be able to determine if this is actually saving us time. With that said, I think we’re getting close to a good process.
Convert Kit – $911.83
The great email platform that we use to send emails to our list of 50,000+ people. It’s great!
Teachable – $297
The platform where we host our courses – 30 Days to Becoming a Travel Hacker and Kara’s Behind the Scenes Guide to Editing a Vlog.
Premiere Pro – $123.41
The program Kara uses to edit our videos.
Google Service – $59.70
This is the money we pay Google for our email address every month so that we can look semi-professional.
Touchnote Postcard – $179.95
This is the service we’re using to send postcards to our patrons!
Epidemic Sound – $45
This is where we get all of our royalty free music for our YouTube videos!
TubeBuddy – $57
This service allows us to bulk edit the cards and end screens across all of our videos on YouTube. Basically, we pay $19 to avoid spending hours of our lives monotonously changing small details on our channel.
Godaddy – $107.67
This is the service we use to pay for our website, hosting, and SSL certificates. Plus, all of the other domains I buy when I think of a good business idea 😉
Gleam.io – $49
This is the service we used to host our 500k Giveaway.
Click Funnels – $291
“I’m trying to get more sophisticated with our landing pages and sales funnels, but so far I’m just wasting money with this complicated service.” I wrote this in last quarter, but it’s still true.
Shipping – $56.66
We couldn’t take the drone to Cuba so we had to ship it to St. Maarten.
StoryBlocks – $117
We were really excited to start including more stock video in our vlogs to help tell a better story, but so far we’ve been disappointed with the selection.
Motion Array – $87
This was a service we tried out for animated text and maps. It didn’t work out.
Misc – $11.98
This was a charge on my credit card… I was pretty sure it was business related, but I didn’t know what it was.
OptinMonster – $197
If you’ve been to our website, you may recognize we have a few popups on different pages. This is the service we’re using to generate more email subscribers.
WeTransfer – $24
This is the service we used to allow everyone to send in videos for Kara’s birthday surprise.
Accountant – $200
New Camera Gear – $7,623.16
We upgraded almost all of gear this quarter! If you watched our video from Turkey, you know we struggled with the decision. However, after using the gear for a few months, we are very happy with the investment we made this quarter. The new drone and the new camera set up have lead to a noticeable difference in our video quality (in our opinion).
Fixed Costs – $663.02
T-Mobile Phone Plan – $220.07
Google Fi – $221.19
Kara stuck with the T-Mobile Unlimited International plan because she can’t give up her iPhone. However, I decided to switch to Google Fi because it’s a lot faster than T-Mobile’s international service. Having separate carriers is increasing our overall phone bill, but neither of us are willing to budge from our position.
Health Insurance – $221.76
We switched to a new international health insurance plan this year: it’s called Safety Wing. It’s cheaper, but we haven’t actually had to use it, so I can’t tell you whether or not we recommend it.
Miscellaneous – $1040.31
This category is made up of expenses that didn’t fit into any of the categories above. Some little things like Spotify and Netflix, and a few bigger things like credit card annual fees.
Total Q4 Expenses – $28,207.28
Summary
| Total Profit | $87,686.53 | |
|---|---|---|
| Income | ||
| YouTube Ad Revenue | $31,649.68 | |
| Patreon | $10,285.51 | |
| Courses | $9,758.00 | |
| Affiliate Income | $21,530.62 | |
| Video Sponsorship | $42.670 | |
| Total Income | $115,893.81 | |
| Expenses | ||
| Transportation | -$1,984.79 | |
| Accommodations | -$4,357.51 | |
| Destination Expenses | -$4,135.79 | |
| Business Expenses | -$8,402.70 | |
| New Gear | -$7,623.16 | |
| Fixed Cost | -$663.02 | |
| Miscellaneous | -$1040.31 | |
| Total Expenses | -$28,207.28 |
That’s a wrap for our Quarter 1 income and expense report. These numbers continue to surprise us every quarter when I type them into the computer. If you find it hard to believe that we’re making this much money while traveling the world, you’re not alone. We pinch ourselves from time to time!
Thank you for all of your support. We couldn’t do it without you. I’d love to hear what you think about this report in the comments below!
I just want to say how I am constantly impressed with your openness. I look forward to each video and wish you the greatest success. It is nice to see good people get ahead.
Thanks for sharing Nate! Very cool!
Well done Kara and Nate! Very inspiring watching you follow your dreams and create a business out of it!
Ugh this is one of the 100 reasons that you guys are my favorite travel vloggers 🙂
All I can say is WOW, and it could not happen to a nicer couple! Congrats on your continued success!
Sue & Steve
Thanks so much for sharing this information! As someone who has purchased several of your products (and ordered several CC’s through your link), I’m fascinated how you/the channel has grown! Can’t wait to see Faredrop (another purchase of mine) added in.
Excited to see “where” you go after 100.
Thanks for sharing.
Ann
Eye-opening for behind the scenes of a full time traveller. Thank you! Do you guys also pay for travel insurance?
Nate this was really detailed and I appreciate the time you took to make all of this. I love to see this stuff, being a financial guy, and you are one of the few people that actually shows YouTube income which is really cool ! Thanks
Thank you for continuing to share. While I haven’t taken the plunge yet, these reports do inspire me to consider jumping in and finally start the business I’ve been thinking about for years. Your success is inspirational!
Looking great Nate! I’m curious if you’ll be putting in the income from FareDrop into your reports in the future?
Awesome job guys! Keep up the good work!
Love how transparent you too are! Thank you for inspiring more worldwide travel and for making it look fun because it IS fun! 🙂
Your honesty and transparency speaks a lot about your character! So many people on the internet that try and paint a skewed picture of themselves. Thanks for being great. Very interesting to read!
Just wanted to say, as an accountant, I appreciate this so much and read through all the detail. I admire your level of accountability and visibility to your followers, something you don’t owe us at all! This is fascinating and thank you!!!
I love how open you both are! This is awesome! Congrats on all the success!!
By far the most transparent people on YouTube. Our family has thoroughly enjoyed your content. May God continue to bless you and keep you safe on your journey.
I love reading these! You guys are a true inspiration!! Thanks for sharing!
Really informative and easy to read. Thank you for being open enough to share.
Keep up the great work ?
Thank you again for sharing. My family have followed your travels for 2 years now and we are so happy that the hard work is paying off. We are proud of the positive energy and content coming from our fellow Volunteers to make the world a little nicer place every day.
Wow. Absolutely amazing. So interesting to see the logistics behind your travel. God bless you both.
Thanks for sharing and giving honest feedback on the companies you’re trying. For the record…also not huge fans of the stock footage – you guys don’t need it?
Thank you for sharing
Thanks for being so open’
Thank you Nate! Love the detail you put into the report. This really inspires us to keep working towards our own dreams!
These are always so fun to read! My husband and I are also 3 or so years into our passion project and it is SO fun to watch other couples experiencing fun, abundance and growth doing what they love, too!! Thanks. 🙂
Looks great Nate! Just curious if you’ll be adding your income from FareDrop into this?
My husband and I travel often. I have been a subscriber for a while and love your videos. We use a lot of the same cards and never bothered to really know our perks untill watching your videos. It has make travel days a lot better and faster. I love reading your quarterly reports. They inspire me to travel more because it shows the reality of what you do and how you spend. Thank you for sharing it means a lot.
congrats on the excellent numbers, as an accountant, that 11.98 would drive me crazy haha. can’t wait to see how well faredrop “drop” did in Q2!! also, it’s all about googlefi and android, best switch ever after being a 10 year+ iphone user….you can do it kara!
Are they planning on sharing FareDrop financial data?
Thank you, Nate! That is so many details. Very appreciated.
Speaking of Airbnb, I am wondering if in the future you may choose to be a bit more selective between Airbnb and hotels? Or you already have been selective with your Airbnb rentals? During my recent trip to Japan, I don’t feel that Airbnb would have given me much a discount. We stayed at a “business hotel” in Tokyo where there was a hot plate in the room and I could cook. There was a laundry machine in the room. I still like staying at an Airbnb in a small town in North America, where I may have to pay a lot for not a decent room at perhaps the one and only motel in town. But I’ve found that many hotels in major cities have upped their games in terms of price and amenities. Also, I’m not so fond of staying in those so-called “ghost hotel”.
I usually don’t have the attention span to read anything this long in full but I read these from top to bottom. This is so smart, responsible and transparent and as an avid follower of your journey, I appreciate it and it feels almost…thoughtful and considerate for you to share. I have aspirations of creating content and to see how you all do it and how it financially functions from the back end, is so educational and awesome! You are so very inspiring to me and after years of saying I’m going to do it, I’m finally putting things in motion to live my dreams, be my own boss and start my own channel. This helps me tremendously. So much love from Brooklyn, NY!
I love this and I love how transparent you are with your income and expenses. Thank you for sharing!
I cringe every time I see that you released your quarterly report. It’s against every fiber in my body to see you expose all your figures (which I feel should be kept private). But, what I am learning from you, Nate, is exactly how to manage large sums of money and the rationale behind most of your financial decisions. You probably don’t think of yourselves as rich, but most rich people wouldn’t share exactly what they are doing and the services they are using to generate their income. Using your travel hacking course, my husband and I traveled to Europe in Feburary for 10 days for only
about $2,500! And, now I use Mint.com to track our expenses like you track yours. Thank-you for sharing your lives with us. Travel safe and God Bless.
What happens when you reach 100 countries??????
Hi Kara and Nate., I think the summary report has a typing mistake. The video sponsoring shows $42.670 (that is 42 dollars and 67 cents.
it should be $42,670.00
Regards
Kara can use Googlefi with her iPhone. I switched a few months ago with my iPhone 6 and it works great even though its an older model. Just a heads up in case you want to use the same plan 🙂
I’m going to be starting my own YouTube channel soon thanks in large part to your inspiring story.
Thanks for sharing Nate! Google Fi now takes iPhone. Not sure if you’ve heard 🙂
I always find these so interesting! I really appreciate how transparent you guys are about how much money you make and how you use it. It makes your viewers feel like they’re truly along for the ride and that is invaluable when building a community, brand, channel. Keep up the great work!
Hey Nate – congrats on the growth you guys deserve it! FYI, for Clickfunnels definitely downgrade to the $97/mo level. You don’t need their Edison suite especially since you are using ConvertKit. You still get all the page builder and cart options just not the email and affiliate stuff (which sucks anyway).
So interesting to read the financial reports. Love your channel – I just found it in late May when I was home sick for a week. Keep having fun!
This is the first time I’ve seen this and I agree this is very cool. Now I want to go back and see how it has evolved since you first started when you didn’t have patrons and sponsorships. I’m hoping I can learn something that will help me see if I can incorporate more travel in my life. Thanks!
Another awesome report, congrats guys!
Two things:
1)I’ve heard some horror stories about Safety Wing, be careful there!
2)I am currently traveling with Google Fi and an iPhone. It’s still technically in “beta” but I’ve used it in 8 countries so far and it has worked amazingly well! Kara should look into this 🙂
Thanks for sharing . Really cool . Good read has well man .
Yours is the only income and expense report that I look forward to reading! Also, thanks for being so transparent.
Thanks for sharing. So happy you can live your dream!
It’s wonderful to see you and Kara doing so well. When traveling as you do, I wonder about taxes. Can you provide a general sense of how you pay taxes given your global travel lifestyle?
Thanks for sharing, Nate. You are one in a million and so is Kara.
I noticed that you moved to Fi. Fi is now available to iPhone users. I recently tried the service on an iPhone, as a test, on a business trip to Manila. It worked like a charm. The only difference in Fi versus my AT&T service is that visual voice mail is in the Fi app — not a major hinderance. In short, Kara can keep her iPhone and have Fi with all its advantages. I will say that the Fi signal bounced from edge to 3G to 4G depending on where I was in Manila, but that probably has more to do with Manila than any Fi limitation.
Thanks for posting. Good for you guys and you certainly know what you are doing! Also thanks for mentioning your US tax situation in your vlog. I had been wondering what you were doing about that since I never saw taxes listed.
i love seeing this. its a big improvement from 3 years ago.. keep on doing it even after 100 countries.
I remember in the early going, seeing your reports and wondering whether you’d go broke before you got anywhere close to 100. Now I worry you’ll quit once you get there. I hope instead that you pick out a list of 100 great things you wish you could have enjoyed more, or things you wanted to do but couldn’t, or places you just love, and return to them. If today’s (7/3/19) video says anything, it is clear you both LOVE doing this…
I love reading your budgets and watching your videos! I hope one day you make it to Antarctica as you’d love it and it’s often not too cold in the summer. So many penguins, seals and whales! Plus another chance to go in freezing cold water which Kara seems to love ? I noticed that you were having trouble transferring big files and it seems like you’ve worked it out but I thought I’d suggest a program that might help in case you haven’t heard of it. It’s called GitHub and it’s used in the video game industry (and by a lot of big companies outside of the industry) to store the working files for games. Basically you have the program on several computers and you can add/delete things to the GitHub folder and then you submit the changes and when everyone syncs the new files are there. I’m not sure if there’s size limits but it could be worth a look if you haven’t heard of it. I don’t know how hard it is to set up but once it’s set up it’s really easy to use 🙂
Love the transparency. You two work hard and are super talented, and deserve all you’ve accomplished and earned. Keep up the great work!
This report is probably one of the only ones that I read carefully from top to bottom.
Thank you Nate, we totally appreciate your journey and inspiring some of us to pursue our dreams.
I have only recently joined your newsletter service. I am very impressed with your report and earnings. Your honesty is brilliant and how you both want to encourage others to travel. You are certainly an amazing couple and your achievements are amazing. ?
These reports are very interesting to see each quarter of the year! Keep up the great work you two
As an Accountant I always love seeing these numbers! Keep up the great work! Love your video’s!
I am truely happy for you guys that you can save/invest so much money while traveling the world
Thank you for continuing to share until you hit 100 countries. It is incredibly interesting to see where you started from to where you’ve gone. This is true both in terms of your videos and the behind the scenes changes that these reports give us a look into. Keep doing what you’re doing. I will be a bit sad when you hit a 100 and this journey ends, but I’m also super excited to see what you guys decide to do next when this story ends.
As always very impressive and informative, Nate! Happy 4th! Thank you for posting!
I was find this very fascinating. Thanks Nate for putting this together. It remains a mystery how are YouTube page and the impact of US versus non-US viewers on your CPM. I want to double down on the zero stock footage. You guys do a great job and Should be selling your footage as stock footage. Maybe your editors can put together clip packages and that can be another business for you!
I really look forward to these reports and am cheering all the good news! So happy you have been able to make more and more income. Thank you so much and I am really loving your videos. The new equipment has improved the quality, and of course Kara continues to get better and better. Have loved the longer format of the last few posted. Anyway, thank you for sharing this detailed information. Super interesting!
Great report Nate and Kara: Now start saving for retirement. Open a solo 401k the next time you’re in the US.
Hey guys – Reading this is New Zealand. I just love watching your videos. We have a mean woodfired oven, so if you are back in New Zealand come to Christchurch and we will cook you a fantastic meal and treat you to some great Kiwi wine. We would love to host. Great income breakdown – you both deserve all of it. Well done.
Mark and Melissa Elliott
Thank you so much for continuing to post your expense reports, even after you feel a little uncomfortable doing so because of the amount you are making. It truly does inspire wanna-be full time travelers like myself, and proves that it is possible to make full time travel more than a temporary thing.
I am very pleased you are making money from a dream…. it must be very fulfilling to you both. Please carry on past the 100 country goal, I love your videos as well as many other people do. For me, it would be a shame to miss out on the future. Good luck and best wishes to you both!
Great report. Clear and well-written. Congratulations on your success! I don’t know where your next journey will take you once you’ve hit 100 but I don’t doubt you’ll make a success of it. Nice work!
I’m pretty sure Google Fi now accepts iPhones in beta?
I love your videos and how honest you guys are about everything!! Definitely feel more connected to this channel than any other channel I watch. Thanks for sharing your memories and adventures with all of us!! <3
Thanks for continuing to post these! It’s so cool to read about your success and to get inspired to continue chasing my own entrepreneurial pursuits.
Dear Kara & Nate,
I SO love your vlogs – you are the only travel vloggers I follow! My career goal (at 58 – HAH!) is to do what you do only paced toward an older, *slightly* slower, demographic – those flights would kill me! LOL My husband and I still work full time and travel as much as we can using a couple of travel credit cards.
Best of luck for continued health, success and fun-filled adventures!
Drop us a line if you’re ever in South Florida!!
Insta: lisajinfla
I must say that your content is very impressive. You both are an inspiration to me. I am a new subscriber but I can say I will be one for as long as you guys are on YouTube and other socials. Never get discouraged, you have given me hope that I to can work hard on my life and Passions and get payed for it. God bless you both. Cheers to A long happy marriage and professional success that will make you shout for joy!
Hey Kara and Nate,
I have never read anything like this blog ever before. Firstly, I love the way you summarized everything. This blog gives an insight into the business side of your blog. Secondly, it takes courage to be this open in public eyes. I love your content, blog posts and travel videos.
That’s how hard work and consistency looks like. and its a good example of ” If you want something, go get it.”
You guys are amazing!
Love,
Supriya
We’re planning long term travel next and this budget is a great template to use. I like the general “destination expenses”. Keeps everything streamlined. Thanks for sharing Nate!
Very, very helpful. ?