This is by far the best quarterly income and expense report we have ever posted, and the first one to ever break six figures in profits. However, before you dive into it, we want you to know that 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.”
However, 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 3 of 2019
I don’t like to brag. That’s not why I started writing these reports. They actually get harder and harder to publish as we continue to make more money, but If I’m being completely honest, I’m really proud to get to publish this report.
Just two and a half years ago, we were still digging into our personal savings and spending that money to continue traveling and make these videos. It’s incredible to look back at how much things have changed financially in such a short amount of time.
I definitely didn’t expect to be writing this back in July when the quarter started. However, thanks to a semi-viral video that lead to substantial channel growth, and two of the biggest sponsorships we have ever received, we broke six figures in profit for the first time this quarter.
Grab a cup of coffee, and dive into the report below to read all the details.
Income Report
1. YouTube Ad Revenue – $50,707.67 (Change from Q2 +$18,192.12)
In last month’s report, I mentioned how consistent our channel growth and ad revenue had been for the first half of the year. It seemed like no matter what we did (for better or for worse) our channel continued to grow at the same rate, and our ad revenue hovered right around $10,000 per month.
This quarter, we saw a major jump in channel growth and ad revenue for the first time in 2019. It’s crazy how much a difference one video can make. In mid-August we published a video called “Our Tiny Home in the Swiss Alps” and within a week, the video had hit 1 million views.
The best part for us about a video like this going semi-viral is not the ad revenue we receive from that specific video. Instead, it’s the number of new people it brings to our channel who stick around, watch more videos, and become subscribers.
As you can see in the image below, the video has now been up for almost 2 months, and we’ve made almost $3,000 in ad revenue just from this video alone (which is awesome).
However, because this video attracted new people to our channel who stuck around and watched more videos, our ad revenue for the quarter increased by almost $15,000!
I think we secretly hope every video we upload will hit 1 million views in a week, but the reality is, it rarely happens. And for the most part, it’s out of our control. So, having this video do so well this quarter was a great surprise!
2. Patreon & PayPal – $10,748.52 (Change from Q2 -$215.33)
It can be scary to build a business on top of a platform that you don’t own (especially in the beginning). If you read the section above, you can see how much control YouTube has over our monthly ad revenue. This month, we were blessed by the algorithm, but it could just as quickly go in the other direction.
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 – $8,889.00 (Change from Q2 +$684)
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. These took a ton of upfront work to create, but they have continued to be a great source of passive income over the last couple of years even with very little promotion. If you don’t know what online courses I’m talking about…
- 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 – $28,642.53 (Change from Q2 +$7,101.98)
- Amazon – $1,266.30
- Epidemic Sound – $3,960
- Creditcards.com – $22,346
- Audible – $105
- ConvertKit – $71.10
- Adobe – $338.89
- TubeBuddy – $30.83
- TravelCon – $337.12
- Wandrd – $187.29
The majority of our affiliate income comes from the ongoing promotion of companies and products we love, such as banks with great travel credit cards, Epidemic Sound, and travel gear. It’s an awesome feeling to get rewarded for doing something we are already doing for free: recommending products we use and love.
This quarter, we saw a substantial increase in our affiliate income. We didn’t do anything differently this month, but the channel growth we experienced led to more people checking out affiliate links which ultimately generated more commissions.
The major driver of our affiliate income this year has been credit card referrals. The data we receive around these referrals isn’t very detailed, but I’m pretty sure the major driver of referrals is from our free credit card consultation service. This is where we help people find the best travel credit card(s) that will help them achieve their travel goals.
It is a manual and time consuming task to talk with each person about their specific situation and make sure we’re recommending the right card(s). So, it’s awesome that we’re able to offer this 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 – $50,100 (Change from Q2 -$34,800)
As our channel grows, we continue getting more and more opportunities to include sponsorships 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?
We keep a list of brands we’d love to work with, but we do not proactively reach out to companies to set up sponsorships. We’ve just learned that this usually doesn’t work out. In fact, 100% of the money we’ve made from working with brands this year has come from companies approaching us wanting to work together.
This month, we finally had the opportunity to work with a brand who has been at the top of our list for a very long time. We have been living out of our Away luggage for the last 2 years. We love these bags so much that we have been approached by other luggage brands who have offered to pay us, but we have turned them down because we wanted to continue traveling with our Away luggage.
So, when Away reached out to us earlier this quarter, we were super excited to finally have the opportunity to work with them. Together, we came up with the concept of incorporating their brand into a series of videos where we helped a loved one mark something off their bucket list, which lead to us bring Kara’s dad to Vietnam 🙂
Normally when we get approached by a brand, it’s because they want us to promote a product to our audience, but this quarter OnePlus reached out to us with a different idea. They gave us the opportunity to shoot part of a video for the launch of their new OnePlus 7T. It was a fun challenge to create a video completely different from the videos that we normally upload to YouTube. If you want to check it out, you can do so here.
These were the two big projects that lead to a big boost in our sponsored content revenue this quarter.
Total Q3 Income – $149,087.72 (Change from Q2 +$60,562.77)
The pie chart above gives you a quick breakdown of how each revenue stream is contributing to our total income.
Expense Report
Transportation Expenses – $5,831.75
Normally we’ll travel really fast for a few months and get super behind on content before finally making ourselves take a long break to catch up. However, we want our videos and our real-life to be as close as possible as we reach our goal of visiting 100 countries. So, we’ve tried to do a better job of taking breaks between trips to edit and post.
We actually did a decent job at finding a balance this quarter (which is rare), and since we traveled slower than usual, we didn’t have to spend a ton on transportation. Especially if you exclude the three flights we bought to Vietnam to make the Away project a reality. They are included in this category because even though they were paying us to make a video, we still had to cover all of the travel costs.
| Origin | Destination | Transport | USD | Misc. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | $5,831.75 | |||
| Hanoi | Venice | Plane | $1251.08 | |
| Tutto Doppoi | Zurich | Train | $0 | CitizenM Project |
| Zurich | St. Moritz | Train | $0 | CitizenM Project |
| St. Moritz | Zermatt | Train | $594 | Glacier Express |
| Zermatt | Interlaken | Train | $83.37 | |
| Interlaken | Liechtenstein | Train | $95.27 | |
| Liechtenstien | Zurich | Train | $38.31 | |
| Zurich | Kiev | Plane | $550.66 | |
| Kiev | Lviv | Overnight Train | $107.13 | |
| Lviv | Barcelona | Plane | $716.80 | |
| Barcelona | Vietnam | Plane | $2,395.21 | Me, Kara, and Kevin |
Accommodation Expenses – $3,784.49
Thanks to Airbnb referral credits, good friends, and a few complimentary accommodations for work projects, our accommodation expenses averaged out to just over $1,200 per month. That’s not exactly cheap, but it’s also not bad considering we spent 2 weeks in Switzerland, and we booked really nice Airbnbs by local standards in Ukraine and Vietnam.
CLICK HERE to save $40+ on your first Airbnb
| Location | Accommodations | Nights | Cost | Misc. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $3,784.49 | ||||
| Hanoi | Hotel | 3 | $0 | Marriott Points |
| Hanoi | Airbnb | 23 | $0 | Redeemed Airbnb Referral Credits |
| Venice | Airbnb | 2 | $150 | |
| Tutto Doppio | B&G's | 19 | $0 | Thanks B&G |
| Zurich | Hotel | 3 | $453.16 | |
| St. Moritz | Airbnb | 3 | $0 | Redeemed Airbnb Referral Credits |
| Zermatt | Hotel | 3 | $451.99 | |
| Monte Rosa | Mountain Hut | 1 | $195.74 | |
| Interlaken | Airbnb | 2 | $0 | Redeemed Airbnb Referral Credits |
| Liechtenstein | Hotel | 2 | $287.03 | |
| Kiev | Airbnb | 11 | $255.29 | Redeemed Airbnb Referral Credits |
| Lviv | Airbnb | 9 | $412 | |
| Hanoi | Hotel | 4 | $489.28 | |
| Ha Long Bay | Cruise | 1 | $610 | |
| Ninh Binh | Hotel | 2 | $113 | |
| Hanoi | Hotel | 8 | $367 |
Destination Expenses – $4,672.30
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 | $4,672.30 | |
| Hanoi | July 1 - 8 | $242.13 |
| Venice | July 9 -31 | $354.40 |
| Tutto Doppio | July 11 - 31 | $736.86 |
| Switzerland | July 31 - August 16 | $685.75 |
| Kiev | August 16 - 28 | $686.94 |
| Lviv | August 29 - Sept 8 | $685.42 |
| Barcelona | September 8 - 14 | $450.60 |
| Vietnam | September 14 - 30 | $830.28 |
Business Expenses – $9,382.80
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 going strong as our channel and business continue to grow and evolve.
Travel Hacking Wingman -$3,880
If you’ve 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 to 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 – $1,800
We currently work with one part-time editor who helps rough-cut almost every video. The original goal of hiring an editor was to help save Kara time in the editing process. At this point, that’s still debatable, but it’s definitely increased the quality of our videos which we’re really happy about!
Assistant – $570
This is our first full quarter with a part-time assistant, she only works a few hours per week (as you can tell from the pay), but she has really helped free us from some of the repetitive tasks that were taking up too much of our time.
Convert Kit – $0 (we paid upfront for the year)
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 (Adobe) – $263.64
The program Kara uses to edit our videos.
Google Service – $62.99
This is the money we pay Google for our email address every month so that we can look semi-professional.
Touchnote Postcard – $719.80
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 – $446.37
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 – $0
This is the service we used to host our giveaways.
Motion Array – $87
I could have sworn we unsubscribed from this service…
VideoBlocks – $199
This was a service we used for stock footage to help us tell a better story in one of our videos. We went ahead and paid for a year upfront to get a discount.
OptinMonster – $0 (we paid upfront for the year)
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.
Affiliate payout – $450
We have an affiliate program for our online courses. This is the commission we paid out to affiliates who helped us make sales.
New Gear – $593
We purchased several miscellaneous pieces of this gear this quarter, but nothing noteworthy. Just small things we needed to keep things running smoothly.
Fixed Costs – $797.77
T-Mobile Phone Plan – $279.52
Google Fi – $296.49
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 on my android because it’s a lot faster than T-Mobile’s international service. Having separate carriers slightly increases our overall phone bill, but both of us are happy with our current setup.
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 – $494.75
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 Q3 Expenses – $26,896.95
Summary
| Total Profit | $123,530.77 | |
|---|---|---|
| Income | ||
| YouTube Ad Revenue | $50,707.67 | |
| Patreon | $10,748.52 | |
| Courses | $8,889.00 | |
| Affiliate Income | $28,642.53 | |
| Video Sponsorship | $50,100.00 | |
| Total Income | $149,087.72 | |
| Expenses | ||
| Transportation | -$5,831.75 |
|
| Accommodations | -$3,784.49 | |
| Destination Expenses | -$4,672.39 | |
| Business Expenses | -$9,382.80 | |
| New Gear | -$593 |
|
| Fixed Cost | -$797.77 |
|
| Miscellaneous | -$494.75 | |
| Total Expenses | -$26,896.95 |
That’s a wrap for our Quarter 3 income and expense report. 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!
That’s amazing how this turned into a full time career. You guys are awesome. We love watching your videos. Our family watches you guys about 2 times a week or so. Started going back and watching your old videos. Thank you for your hard work!
Seriously inspirational. Will forever keep reading as long as you keep publishing. Thank you for sharing this!
Ok but where’s that Fare drop revenue lol.
Been watching you guys since you were making nothing, and I can’t be more proud of you two. Love you guys!
Hiya. I was thinking all that, too. Lol. Maybe it’s too early for Faredrop. All the best to you.
I was wondering the same thing.
Nate said that they won’t be including FareDrop because they have a partner in that venture.
In a previous income report post, they said they had to keep faredrop earnings confidential in order to respect the privacy of the developer they are working with. I am also curious how much extra they are making from that venture. Kara and Nate inspire me to start my own business.
Kara and Nate,
This report is very inspirational!
Neat! And congratulations. You bring so much joy so I am happy you are earning money for future life endeavors.
Could you post what the average profit/net versus gross has been for each year, versus overall? Might give folks some idea of how long it took you to get here, or to get to a certain point.
Thanks!
Great job (on the report) & fantastic job at solving one of life’s great challenges: getting it to ask you the questions you want to answer. Love your videos. Now what is the date for your hundredth party? Still January 10th? Need to hack travel for that date!
Chad & Kate
Palm City, Fl
Amazing, and it shows in your videos that both of you are much more relaxed and happier, and you both well deserve to be.
Best wishes keep it up
Thanks for sharing the ride and for shining bright so that others can see! Congratulations!!
This is downright amazing. Seriously hope that you guys keep making such inspirational videos. I can honestly tell you how much they cheer me up every time I’m feeling down in the dumps. Kudos to you ❤️
Way to go Kara & Nate! I could not be happier for you guys. You are such a pleasure to watch as you explore the world. And you’re crushing it financially: $125K profit in 3 months while living out your travel dreams. Keep up the great work.
John
Those numbers are brilliant! Thanks for sharing as a lot of people would learn the economics of how to live doing what you love!
Thanks for continuing to post this. I’ve seen all your videos from the beginning and am impressed and inspired by you content. I have been the video business for over 35 years and can appreciate the amount of work and talent that go into your videos.
Keep up the good work.
As someone who is studying business & marketing I love these reports. It’s so interesting to see the real numbers and figures.
This is incredible! Thank you all for being so transparent and insightful with your reports. Keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing the rest of your travel videos!
So happy to see you guys are beginning to make “big bucks”! You both deserve it. Wishing you both the best!
Congrats!! So happy for y’all!!
Well done both of you! I admire your transparency in your income reports. That’s why I’m a patron! Xx
I love reading these, congrats on the continued success and thank you for taking the time to create these reports. How does FareDrop fit in here? I know it’s not directly related to your videos, but I think many would be curious to know how much time you have to devote to that side business and if it is affecting your profits in a big way?
Hi Nate & Kara!
Thanks so much for posting. I think this is so interesting and I agree that your reports are serving a different purpose now, but just as important 🙂 Case studies are so great. I know this takes so much work to produce, so thank you for taking the time to do it! Keep on living your best life and inspiring others to do the same!
Mahalo Nui Loa
Are you finding it harder to travel “rough” on an overnight train or bus when you’re now in a position to fly/splurge in many places you weren’t able to before? I appreciate that you guys continue to keep it “real”, but also I want you guys to live large and enjoy your spoils!!!
I find this so inspirational! Thank you for sharing. One question I do have though is how y’all feel about accepting patreon donations from folks even though your quarterly income from other sources is higher than many individuals yearly income. This is meant respectfully and I hope it isn’t taken offensively – I know folks have a choice whether they want to be a patron or not. But, the line about “not needing to worry where your next meal is coming from” seems a little off when you’re making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, no?
I totally agree
That’s wonderful! You two deserve it. Your videos have given me hours of entertainment.
Ah guys , fantastic achievement . Keep going . I know your families are rightly proud of you but as a viewer I am too . xx
Wow this is awesome. Congratulations for all your hard work. Its paying off. My wife and I have watched every video you have produced and enjoy them immensely. I think that the reason you have become so popular is because you talk to us in the videos like we are family. You two are quite special.
Regards
Wow. If anyone deserves that, it is you! Filming and editing is hard work. Kudos to you – What an inspiration you have been to us. Cecilie & Glenn.
Love to see these reports. I am blown away by the way you have such detail in the reports that show how you are actually making an excellent living (and saving, hopefully, for when you move on to having a family) doing something so awesome and that you love. I so look forward to each and every video, I am traveling the world vicariously through you with every vlog! Both of you are so vivacious and make everything fun. I also love that you find the most interesting and out of the ordinary experiences. I lived 1 hour from NYC for over 50 years and never heard of most of the places you visited recently! Thank you so much for taking me along you with every videoed adventure. You guys rock!
Always love to read these! I know they’re time-consuming to create, so I really appreciate the effort and your all’s willingness to share. 🙂 My partner and I are 2 years into starting our own company and even though it’s is a entirely different industry, I still love to read the ins and outs of another growing business. PS. So happy for you/proud of what you two have created – well done!!
Congrats! You guys made some great videos this quarter! I love it when you get off the beaten path in where you stay and what you do. Your video quality has gotten so so good as well– I can’t imagine that more brands won’t want to jump on board.
Amazing, good job 😀
Amazing ! You are worth every penny !
I would love to have a YouTube channel with more than 2 subscribers. But I don’t have camera and all that you need!
But 3 years ago I stated living life ‘outside my bubble’ met a girl at work went to a gig changed my life she inspired me, I always wanted to travel and so on the back of hanging out with this girl for a few months I went and did it travelling.
The late high on life guys and girls you may know of them also inspire me every day Instagram stares and then none and found out the died hit me hard. But I move on with them in mind and the people I’ve met in the last 3 years coming across your channel does inspire me.
Me and my girlfriend spend every night trying to get up to date as we started watching from the beginning!
It started with Street food lol
Australia at the moment plenty more to watch to catch up but we will.
And maybe one day we could meet you both?
All the best I’m living now and not just existing like in my mind I was.
Travel
outside the bubble
Most people would think it’s easy money. But you guys are rock! It’s not easy, Good Job! #inspirationoverload
Great insight
Where are Faredrop in this report or is this kept separate?
Your enthusiasm and high spirits are no less assets than the marvelous adventures that you bring to us from your always dynamic videos. At ages 72 and 67, our travels ‘back in the day,’ required a guide book and a list of museums and churches to visit, nothing wrong of course with those options but you’ve put fun into traveling, no matter your hardships.
Keep on going…Steve in Tucson, Arizona, USA
Such an inspirational report. It might be long but worth reading. I might not afford to travel but your videos and your says always inspires me. Thank you Kara and Nate for sharing this! Wish you always stay healthy and safe travel 🙂
Wow you guys are killing it. I’ve been watching for a long time so love seeing you both succeed.
Thanks for sharing Nate. I’m sure this gets scarier as the $ amounts go up haha.
fantastic that you share this with us.
Thankyou
Thanks for publishing! I feel like you should be earning more from sponsorships.
Do you have any plans on what to do with your retained profit?
I got choked up when I saw the final numbers! I found your channel when you did the trans siberian and with a newborn went back and watched every video you did and have seen every step of this journey. From when you wouldn’t let Kara ride the Ferris wheel because it was too expensive, to this is just amazing!! Your videos are actually what I still put on when I try to put my now 2 1/2 year old to sleep. The music and your voices still calm her down lol
Hoping I can come to the 100 country party – I feel like we are besties lol
I’m so happy for your success!!! Congratulations! You deserve all this and much more. I always look forward to these reports, I read them since day 1 🙂
You guys earn every penny! Love the videos. Thank you and safe travels!
You have a brain for business. Thank you for sharing with us. Be safe, keep traveling, and have fun!
I think it’s really admirable that ye publish ye’re profits and expenses.
Being a bug fan of ye’re vlogs,I find it really interesting to hear about ye’re journey and know this aspect not ye’re travel lives also.
Good for ye that ye have had such a successful quarter-ye deserve it!
You guys are the bomb!! Congrats on everything.. and yes you are getting me thinking of what I have always wanted to do…. hmmmm getting a little closer perhaps.
I have watched all your travel videos more than 2x. I am a solo traveller myself.
Cheers!!
Here I am at age 67 wondering how much of what you do could be achieved by me (with dodgy knees). Very impressed with your devotion to the task in hand and, of course, to each other. Question is, will I fly over to the States for the 100 party? Think I’ll start my channel, “Fat Old Man goes flying”!!! Good fortune to you both, such an inspiration.
You are doing great! Congratulations! I always read your reports and follow your adventures. You inspire me a lot and I can say that I had the honor of meeting you at TravelCon!
The Kara and Nate One Million Subscriber “Vespa Giveaway”; do you pay for that or is the Vespa Promotions Dept. picking up the tab? LOL
Best Wishes for your continued success. Paul
I love seeing your expense report because it’s interesting. If you elect to stop, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings. I also think you guys work very hard and you deserve all the greatness that’s coming to you. You are both amazing people and I will continue to watch as long as you continue to bless us all with your creativity. May this be the smallest of your income reports going forward!
Keep up the good work Nate & Kara! Congrats on your success! My wife & I discovered your channel about 6 months ago and we have been watching every video in order. We hope to catch up with you before you get to 100 countries. Just started travel hacking because of your inspiration in addition to the Choose FI podcast.
Kara and Nate,
I’ve been following you for sometime now and i’ve been able to see the changes from video to video in a good sense.
Now regarding the way you have shown us with honesty and the specifics is just great. It shows us the potential there is for future and current content creators and how one can make this YouTube magic work as a business. These reports are gold and the data you show us and the way you explain is great.
Congratulations and keep up the outstanding work.
Blessings for you and Kara,
A fellow adventurer.
Very inspiring. I really appreciate you sharing. Makes me want to work harder.
Congratulations! You both deserve this. keep dreaming, keep inspiring and keep smiling.
Hi Kara and Nate!
You’ve covered a bit about the tax situation you both deal with and making sure you only spend a certain number of days in the US per year, but have you ever considered doing a bit of blogging or vlogging about what you’re doing to save for the future/retirement? It’s especially interesting now that you are making a significant profit from your various ventures.
Maybe an “investing/retirement planning as a full-time traveler” video filmed in the next lounge you’re enjoying?
Thanks for all the great content you make! You’ve helped us plan more trips than you know!
-Ryan
Very inspiring and motivating! Both of you are hardworking and simple people. Yet please know that you have made a lot of people happy and inspired and that includes myself. Please continue to travel and post. Thank you for sharing.
How do I become another assistant? I hate my job and would love to help out. If I help enough people part time, eventually I can make it a full time gig and I can become a traveling nomad. I would not be mad about that. 🙂 Seriously…
With regard to your channel’s growth, I’ve been watching since I stumbled upon the episode where you stay in a glass dome on the side of a mountain. I haven’t missed an episode since, and I started to watch from the beginning. You’re both so inspiring. I hope that one day I can do what you’re doing. I know if I work harder and save smarter, I can at least travel more in general. Thank you for being some of the people who showed me that.
Much love from Illinois,
Shauna
Hi Nate, these reports is why I even more love what you and Kara are doing , I have been following you for the last 3 years and seen the changes , but what i appreciate the most is your openness and transperancy – great stuff 🙂
Blessings to you both, I am so happy to see how your dedication is starting to return to you. I hope your hard work continues to bloom and that you prosper exponentially both financially and in all aspects of your lives. Keep spreading your smiles around the globe, I wish you all the best. Randy H
Thanks Nate! Your channel and your report actually inspired me to get serious about my credit and start getting travel cards to travel! It’s still a work in progress but I appreciate some being transparent about finances. It helps to know the details and how I can apply to my own situation.
Amazing! I’m watching the videos from the beginning as I was introduced to you guys somewhere in the middle and it’s so fun to watch the “30K Giveaway” video and then see you guys made 6 figures this quarter. You guys are so inspirational and the life you live seems to be SO MUCH FUN. Thanks Kara and Nate 🙂
You pair got my wife and I travelling again, Bangkok, London, New York, Hawaii, etc. Your Vlogs have really inspired us to see the world, good to see that your adventures are paying you an income.
We are really waiting in anticipation for your big announcement-
To travel to every Country on the a Planet (195 countries), should be fun 😉
Hey Kara and Nate 🙂
I noticed on your main financial summary page you have this down as quarter 2 when it should be quarter 3 so it is showing you have two quarter 2 summaries.
Congrats to you both this is amazing earnings.
Sam x
Just to let you know, google fi now works with iPhones! Seamlessly! And you can add a line on to your existing account to lower the cost a bit!
What an incredible quarter! Inspiring. Always appreciate reading these updates. Keep killing it!
Hi Kara and Nate,
It’s very inspiring to see what you’ve accomplished. I just watched you video from Jerusalem. I hope you get to visit the Palestinian areas before you leave. Thanks for providing all the details on how you are able to maintain your travel lifestyle.
Wow, super impressed with all the stats and how efficient it all runs!
While we have been watching you for quite a while, you now have a new distinction, which is being “binge-watch” worthy. My wife actually laid in bed and watched you 10+ hours in a row over Christmas, even though we had already seen many many episodes. You can analyze all you want, but I think its important to point out that the key to your success is not only your obvious hard work but that you both are nice people, which comes through with your enthusiasm (except Kara before coffee).
We’ve watched a lot of other travel vloggers, but you guys have the secret sauce (your personalities shine through). Most of the others are lacking.
I’m reasonably well traveled, with 50 Pacific and more (lost count) Atlantic crossings, and 6 languages, arguably a savvy consumer with first hand knowledge of a lot of your content. I’ve hung off the back of a truck in Laos, and stayed at the Tokyo Ritz. I was shamelessly milking credit card offers before I found you guys. But, I’ve learned even more from you.
Keep going. And thanks for deconstructing the cash flows. And staying credibly true to your values in promotions.
Kim (59) & Stella (49) in CA
Nate,
You and Kara are doing a wonderful job and I hope you continue after you reach country 100. There are 95 more to go to per the UN. It amazes me how YouTubers don’t see what they do as a job. I want to travel and you and Kara have been a total inspiration to me. But I would never want to do what you do it’s too much work. But I plan to walk in your footsteps. Starting with Japan! You deserve all the financial benefits of your job for working so hard. Thank you, your neighbor in Bowling Green. Rebekah
Really genuine. After reading the post and looking after your graphs, now many people will get motivated to be a Youtuber.