Yes... Sailing takes MONEY....

Hi all.   Capt'n John here again. 

Yes, this blog has that name for a reason.  Sailing and how to afford it.  Well - You know about Stone Age and a bit on where she has sailed from... Now - Hoe does it all get paid for???    By making money online.  

Every sailboat has expenses. A big hole in the water you just throw money into is one of the jokes of the day.  Yet, it's no joke really.  It is a floating chamber with various systems on it that are ALL subject to the second law of thermodynamics...  Everything deteriorates.  And so must be maintained. 

Add salt water - the most corrosive substance on the planet - and things just get worse.  Put a 110v electrical system and a generator on board and down the hole with some more.  Then add a 12V system and a large battery system.  Bound for failure.  And faster than anything I've ever seen. Even faster in the tropics.  Keeping up with all this takes money.  And as a sailor - making money online is the way to go. 

There you have it -  It takes money to be able to live any lifestyle..  Boat, RV, house, apartment - anything.  We have to have money to be able to pay for the things we need. In whatever form that money is.  It sure is nice we can have these ways of earning online.  

What I have found over the past 10 years is a huge increase in the ability to earn money on line.  Yes, I had been doing some of it before, little bits here and there.  Was too busy doing other things in life.  Sailing can really be time consuming :-).  But alas - there are times when we must hunker down and do something that will fill our pocket books.  Have to keep sailing somehow.   Best way I have found is  through various internet businesses.  Making money online is simple.    

Why Internet Marketing?  Because it is available almost everywhere on the planet. If the boat is anchored close to or even tied up to a marina with a WiFi signal we can usually go in and make arrangements to use it.  Sometimes it's even free :-) - Just be sure an patronize said marina facilities.  One hand washes the other, so to speak.  

In other places - Heck - even global satellite internet is getting affordable. Ha..  Well, cheaper anyway.  And when you earn on line - it can be worth it to have.  BUT - Be sure you are earning an extra $500 a month in order to make it worth while, because that is what it will cost you for the bare minimum of mid pacific daily internet connection at 450 Kb/S up and download speeds.  And that will only get you about 2 Mb data per day.  Decent equipment costs are about $1,6 - 1,800 USD.  

So - What ways are there to earn money online?  I'll be going over several as the posts go on.  So let's get started. 

You can sell stuff.  

Highest paid profession on the planet is sales.  But no one wants to "BE" the salesman...   Well, there are many sites on line where one can open a store, add some products and advertise your wares across the 'net.  Then all you need do is get some traffic in front of it and hope people come to your on line store and buy from you.  Several T-shirt and towel printers that will put any message on just about anything and send it out for you as well.  It's a great gig.  This is one avenue the Boating Educational and Sail Training Center in Belize uses to help out the junior sailing programs in Belize.  

I have also done the auction thing on E-Bay for many things.  One neat way is to use products that are listed on places like Amazon and Ali Express.  The e-bay customer wins the auction and pays.  Then the E-Bay seller sends his cost for the item to the seller on the wholesale platform and instructs the item be shipped to whoever just bought it.  Pocketing the difference.   Drop shipping is a great way to earn money.  

It's fairly easy and you never have to touch a product.  The promotions are mainly copy and paste.  Does take some setup time, product sourcing and promotion along with daily monitoring.  But can be extremely lucrative if the time and effort is put in.  If you want to have that kind of on line business that may be for you.  I know several people that spend about 4 - 5 hours a day with this method and earn thousands a month.  

There you have a couple of things you can investigate for making money online, on the boat.  Nice thing is you can do these and many more from pretty much anywhere on the planet.  I love this technology.  

I will be going over some more ways to earn money on line through the next few posts along with some sailing stories mixed in.  So stay Tuned for more ways to be able to earn money online.  More coming soon.   And really, with the world the way it is...   We need to be looking more at these at home earning systems.  There are many of them and I will be sharing a lot here with you.  

Until Next Time, This is Capt'n John saying fair winds and cooperative seas, From the Stone Age.