“I had no idea how to blog, some would argue I still don’t!” Johnny Ward, an Irish national come millionaire itinerant blogger, tells SiliconANGLE. Ward, who has now visited 154 countries, had zero technical experience when he started blogging five years ago. What he did have is drive, and enthusiasm, which, he says, is the richest ingredient for success. “I come from a small, quiet town on the coast, grew up in a single parent family, not much money, no holidays,” he says, and despite having a great childhood he was, “determined to avoid the poverty.”

And that he did. He started a travel blog called Onestep4ward after finding “a Filipino guy online to build my blog for a hundred bucks,” who taught him how to publish. Some years later he’s not only made a substantial amount of money but is en route to seeing every country in the world.

Ward had been working as an English teacher in Chiang Mai,Thailand (recently voted best place to be a digital nomad around the globe) when he heard about people monetizing blogs. “If they could do it, so could I,” he says, although it took him around nine months before he figured out that blogging could be a very lucrative venture. Now he doesn’t pay for his travels, which he says still feels a bit weird. “It’s a strange thought to think that probably for the rest of my life I’ll never have to pay for a hotel again – ridiculous concept, but a very nice one at that,” he says.

How to make a million 

He says it was in Chiang Mai, driving his scooter down the street that he could never return to what he calls the “real world.” But starting off he wasn’t offered free luxury hotels for writing a 500 word blog. He first started making money writing online, and being able to write in English is what he calls the first step to success. After that, he says, make a blog. “It’s not technical,” he says, but to stand out, “write a lot, especially in the early days – find your niche and find your voice.”

Now he owns more than two hundred health, fashion, lifestyle, travel blogs, all following the same model. He will be starting an edu-startup in Hong Kong next month, as well as designing a course to teach others how to do exactly what he did. Concerning making a million dollars he adds that investing in property, and playing the stock market has also helped to keep things steady. He’s also under no impression that the money will keep coming, so investments are the safety net under the hammock where he often lies.

He’s now making somewhere between $6,000-40,000 a month, yet his revenue has not been coming from advertising. Rather, he provides SEO services to companies. “Companies need to outsource their SEO services,” he says. “They don’t have the expertise in-house. So they need people to create content, manage social media, create their corporate voice and build external links. We fill the gap.”

It’s not all about the money

For his confidence and business savvy he’s earned the greatest of prizes, not just cash, but freedom. Ward goes where he likes, wakes up when he wants, and travels where his heart desires. The travel bug, he says, is still what attracts him most. He’ll be returning for a visit to Thailand at some point, but he’s committed to seeing every country on this planet. “It’s one of the few things that still gives me the buzz I need every day. The experiences, the scenery, the confusion, even the uncomfortable nature of a lot of scenarios.” This, he says, is what, “Makes you feel alive.”

When you intend to ‘do’ the entire globe it’s not always going to be five stars and warm welcomes. “Horrific, wonderful things happen every day in every country,” says Ward. While two cases of food poisoning almost killed him, and only recently he had to spend five hours naked in an outdoor toilet in Xi’an, China, the wonderful aspects of travel are always around the corner. Testament to this: “Just last week I had coffee with the former Prime Minister of the Central African Republic who granted me my visa because he’d once studied in Ireland; despite me having none of the required paperwork.”

Ward had no idea when figuring out how to actually make a blog that he’d have any kind of success. He’s still not sure whether his good fortune will last. Of the future he says he’s determined to hold on to the freedom – “no boss to ask for holidays, no Monday mornings, no sick note from a doctor” – he’s earned, but at the same time he says that he won’t deny the possibility of ending up, “Broke in a hole somewhere after failed start up and failed startup!”

If you’re reading this and thinking of doing the same, Ward recommends doing it. As he writes on his blog, the first part of success is just following your heart. His advice to all: “People create obstacles in their mind because society tells us a certain way to behave, we need to stop that. We can do what we want. There are no rules. Go out and take your dream life.”

This comes with a small caveat. As soon as you can afford it, he recommends, outsource. “Save your time for the things you wanna do, and for a more holistic approach. Details don’t make you money.”

Photo credit: Onestep4ward