Introduction
Around 2016 while I was living in the Twin Cities in Minnesota where I had experienced a job loss the year before, I started to Youtube and podcast-binge for both entertainment and inspiration.
That’s when I came across a guy named Johnny FD, an Asian-American entrepreneur in his thirties, living in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Living the digital nomad life in Thailand.
Through his blog, Youtube channel, and Travel Like a Boss podcast, Johnny was public about his “rags to riches” story of how he ventured off to Thailand to indulge in scuba diving and Thai boxing and eventually building a million-dollar personal brand.
Johnny became a well-known digital nomad who put Chiang Mai, Thailand on the map as the world’s digital nomad capital.
Johnny’s online content inspired me to eventually become a digital nomad in Asia in 2017, give dropshipping a try, and most importantly, taught me about brandbuilding and content creation.
Johnny became world-famous through his blog and content putting Chiang Mai on the digital nomad capital map.
Who is Johnny FD
Johnny FD grew up in San Francisco and was raised by his Taiwanese parents, where he attended the University of California-Irvine.
After college graduation and around 2006, he was working for a typical large corporation but quickly got bored.
On a whim, along with his cousin, he decided to take a trip to Thailand but since he was working could only afford a two-week vacation.
That taste of Thailand inspired him to return home to California, sell all of his belongings and buy a one-way ticket back to Thailand to live out his dreams indulging in scuba diving and Thai kick boxing.
Johnny initially came to Thailand to dabble in Thail boxing and working as a scuba instructor.
Not before long he was running out of money, desperate for options and stuck in Thailand’s northern city of Chiang Mai.
That’s when he came across Anton Kraly, founder of Dropship Lifestyle, who reached out to Johnny on a whim on Facebook asking for Chiang Mai travel tips.
Anton and Johnny met in Chiang Mai which would later change Johnny's life.
Anton Kraly founded Drop Ship Lifestyle, the on-line ecommerce course that would make him a multi-millionaire.
Anton and Johnny eventually became friends, and Anton taught Johnny a popular online ecommerce business model called dropshipping where one builds an ecommerce site and, leveraging wholesalers, sells large ticket items while the importer fulfills orders.
To Johnny’s surprise, he was able to build up a profitable drop ship store within months averaging $2,000-$5,000/month in profit.
He finally was able to get out of his financial hole, and because his Thailand living expenses were so cheap ($500-600/month), he was able to stock away cash quickly.
Johnny started to document his dropshipping journey through his www.JohnnyFD.com blog often showcasing his monthly income and, what seemed, a lavish and exotic never ending lifestyle abroad surrounded by bikini-clad women.
By 2016, Johnny became the face of the digital nomad community by establishing Nomad Summit where free lancers, online business owners, and travelers around the world descend on Chiang Mai for three days to learn and to be inspired about making money online and traveling the world.
Founded by Johnny, Nomad Summit operates to this day under new owneship.
Multiple online income streams
Aside from eventually selling his three dropshipping stores, Johnny started creating courses, writing a couple of travel adventure books, dabbling in affiliate marketing, and monetizing his Youtube channel and Invest Like a Boss podcast.
By 2019, Johnny, by his own admission, had only about a $500,000 self-worth but eventually reached million-dollar status living cheaply abroad while letting his money compound.
When Covid-19 set in in 2020, Johnny found himself locked down in Sri Lanka and eventually landing in the Ukraine just before the war with Russia broke out where he remained.
Now, with Ukraine as a home base, he continues to travel throughout Europe and Asia where he enjoys his money and time freedoms.
Not a bad life if you ask me: Sure beats the corporate 9-5.
Conclusion
Johnny has come a long way from his desperate days living in Chiang Mai broke and not knowing what the future would hold or how he would be able to get out of his predicament.
Through content creation and leveraging social media, he was able to tell his story, inspiring others, including myself, along his journey.
Because of his vulnerabilities, successes as well as his life struggles, I have become what Kevin Kelly calls one of his “1,000 true fans,” happily buying up whatever content Johnny offers for sale.
I met up with Johnny at the Drop Ship Lifestyle Retreat in 2018 in Bali, Indonesia.
In 2017, I eventually launched my digital nomad journey in Chiang Mai where I befriended Johnny and got to know him more intimately through his drop shipping boot camp in 2019.
Though my ecommerce stores never took off like Johnny’s, his one-person brand had a lasting impact and is the catalyst to starting my own million dollar one-person personal brand.
This One-Person newsletter documents the tools, software, and strategies of building your own personal brand---teaching what you know.
Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/PzKqQpMlbII
Listen to podcast: https://www.podbean.com/pw/pbblog-an7by-25a8be
Sign up for the LinkedIn One-Person Business Newsletter:
https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/one-person-business-7416577188860157952
0 comments