In this episode I’m going to reveal 3 scams I was exposed to in Vancouver Canada including the Wedding Video QuickBooks Scam, Fake Google Rep scam, and the spam government calls. In my 9 years providing video services internationally I’ve never been scammed until in December 2019.
I think various locations outside Vancouver are targeting our province because of the wealth in this city. As a videographer I’m going to expose them as I ended up losing $200 through a fake wedding where I was encourage to sign up for quickbooks.
I grew up in Vancouver beginning in 1991 in Richmond and then moved to Vancouver Island before returning in 1995. I’ve seen how Vancouver has changed very quickly most notably after gaining global attention after the olympics.
Vancouver attracted global attention and started ranking as one of the top cities to live in. This attracted foreign investors to purchase a lot of property. Many locals (myself included) that had property at the time cashed in, but now prices in 2019 have become still affordable for most locals. There has been a trickle down effect from this property market. Locals with families have been forced to move further outside of Vancouver and make long commutes for work. Restaurants are close and younger talent are moving out of the city because its just too expensive. Salaries have not increased along with the property prices.
In this context is there still a future in Vancouver for new residents, university graduates, and locals that for whatever reason don’t own property post 2010 olympics. I explore this topic in this podcast.
What is culture? Have you lived in multiple countries as an expat or digital nomad. You will realize the first month you are back to a city or country how apeople behave. The language they use, the different slang words, pedestrian rights etc and more will be explored in this episode contrasting malaysia and thailand.
Marijuana weed or Cannabis as it is known in Canada is legal since Oct 17 2018. It has a long history in Canada if you google it, but today we are going to be talking about what is it like to access marijuana in Vancouver in October 2019. Many digital nomads spend time in Asia where as this time you don’t even bother trying to smoke it as it is difficult and penalities can be severe. We spend our time in Asia not smoking about it, but we talk about it a lot maybe because we cannot access it. Craft beer is a luxury item in Asia, but is a commodity in Vancouver Canada. We want what we cannot have.
When I was in Vancouver in December 2018 a lot of dispensaries were still operating and offering marijuana for sale like lotus land. However, when I returned in October 2019 I found many of them were closed. In it’s place there are online options that you will find on google map, and there are a few shops like Cannabis Co and Hobo where you can buy. Check out my interview with Chris from Asia to share my Vancouver Marijuana Report.
You can check a directory of marijuana dispensaries from this page
In 2020 I will be offering an opportunity for Videographers and Creators to take a unique workation experiences with me through Taiwan and Malaysia. These are 2 overlooked country hotspots for digital nomads. At the end of the journey you will have a good understanding of video editing, stock footage, creating your own youtube channel, marketing, and building your own website
In January we will begin in Taipei , which is where I started my working holidays. Let me show you around, teach you some chinese, and learn to get to know you and your goals. We will eat delicious Taiwanese food and shoot some footage.
We will then travel to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia where we will have everything we need to focus on building your future skills and assets.
We will then get down to business in Malaysia. We will travel to the city capital to get setup for a month in your apartment. I will then set you up in a co-work space where will spend the next several weeks on your online business.
For those of you that want to create your own course we will take a trip to Hua hin Thailand to film our courses. We will set up the studio for recording and over the course of the week we will film and edit our courses.
The Workation 2020 – Creators Camp (Content Creation, Video Editing)
Benefit: A Remote Working Experience, Learn Skills in Video and Audio Production, Produce a Youtube Channel, Podcast, Website, and learn other essential marketing and business skills
Website and Seo
Learn the importance of owning a website
Form
Create your own wordpress site, choose a theme
Learn about popular plugins and how to manage them
Learn to Create Posts and Pages and Manage your media
Using your site to promote your services
Using your site to gain leads
Setttig up google analytics
Creating a Post to rank on google
Selling a Digital Product using gumroad
Youtube Channel
Learn why you need a channel for your business
Learn to Create a channel
Thumbnail game
Keywords, Titles
How to use the description
End screen and cards
Monitoring your channel using Creator Studio
Graphic Design
Adobe photoshop
Canva
Cloud Storage: Google Drive & Dropbox
Learn to use cloud storage for business
Client Videos
Backup and share footage
Backup, and store Online Courses
Gumroad Platform for selling Digital Products
What is it and why use it
Integration with Convert Kit
Creating a new product
Creating a Coupon
Creating a Lead Magnet
What type of products can you sell
Teachable for Self Hosting
Creating a Course
Which Plan
Free Versus Paid
Bundling your courses
Integration with Email Marketing
Course Creation
Deciding on a course topic
Structuring your course outline
Recording the Course
Gear
Editing the Course
Sales copy, Covert
Partnering
Where to host your course: Udemy, Skillshare
How to deal with 3rd part course hosts: Skillwise, photowhoa
Launch and reviews
Email Marketing: convert Kit
Creating a form or landing page
Automations with other platforms: Gumroad, Teachable
Creating a Sequence
Creating a Broadcast
Patreon Page
Payments
Learning Paypal
Transferwise
Podcasting
Finding Guests
Gear
Find Guests and topics
Workflow for editing and publishing a podcast
Stock Footage
What content to shoot
What settings do you use
Cutting footage from your batch
Workflow
Which agency or use Blackbox
Affiliate Marketing
DJI
Amazon Associates
Invoicing
Template
Terms
Pricing
Structuring a deal
Video Editing: Imovie, Final Cut Pro X, Adobe Premiere
Where is the Big Money
Licensing to business
Freelancing: Editing and Producing
Course Sales
We will run various workshop over the course of the month that will arm you with the neccessary skills. In between workshops you will have access to the workspace to spend time working on your business. I will be available to help and answer questions
I had a recent visit to Taipei Taiwan in 2019 & 2020. Is it still a great place to visit? Who is this destination for? This city changes fast. There are new places to stay, eat, and even get around. For example you can take the MRT from the Airport direct to the city. Let me help you get an Expat local insider view into Taipei.
Taipei is a great spot if you’re not too price sensitive, you want a blend of nature and the big city, great food, fast internet, and cultural experience.
Taipei is a destination for digital nomads or travelers that are looking for a safe, convenient, a relatively affordable food paradise. The locals are friendly and there is lots to see and it’s easy to get around on public transport. Internet is never an issue with their fast 4g unlimited data plans.
Check out Digital Nomads in Asia Course for in depth guides on destinations I’ve lived as a Digital nomad
There are lots of nice little pockets in Taipei. Some areas I enjoy are Daan especially near the Daan Park station, dongmen mrt, Xinyi Anhe, Songshan, and zhongshan just to name a few. If you want the ultimate convenience you can stay near Taipei main station, beimen, or ximen stations. The airport mrt goes directly to beimen and taipei main giving you less transfers to go through if you carry a lot of luggage.
The time is ripe to be a digital nomad in Asia. You may have heard of the remote year that organizes groups year round in Asia and around the world to remote work. They organize accomodation, co-work space, and logistics for you. However, it is quite expensive and sometimes you may want to organize your own trips, but need some inspiration and information to do so.
Filming the Hua hin video guide
I’ve been working Remote since 2013 and invested time to live and experience the laptop lifestyle from Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Bali, And South Korea and more. There’s a lot this side of the world has to offer: Fast Internet, Cowork spaces, Community, Food, Cheap Travel witin the region, good hot sunny weather, and cost of living that are about 1/3 of the cost of Vancouver Canada. h
If you were interested in arming yourself with essential info like survival guide, co-working, and developing production skills. Click to check out some of the free lessons in the course which is set to launch soon
#remotework#coworking#asia#onlinecourse
The Digital Nomad Course was designed for Remote Workers, Digital Nomads, and Freelancers that want to start their entrepreneurial journey and do a workation or working holiday in Asia. Included in the course are living guides that contain essential information for the digital nomad in locations such as Bangkok, Chiang Mai Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cebu and Bali. There is deep information on locations such as Taiwan, Malaysia, Taiwan, and South Korea. You are also going to get some additional tips that you may encounter living this lifestyle on a long term basis. Some examples are the lifestyle design, productivity, and time management tips.
Digital Nomad in Asia Free Lessons
You are going to learn more than just the guides though.
As a Digital Nomad Videographer of 7 years I share tips for producing Video and Audio Content. I also share some Business and Marketing tips I’ve learned that any freelancer or entrepreneur could apply to their business. You can join the course here
Podcasting is a mature platform and a great way to reach a new audience on itunes, spotify, google music, stitcher and more. I’ve been podcasting since 2015 and have since published 40 episodes. Here I share why you should podcast and tips for doing it.
I study a Social Media Videographer Influencer called the full-time filmmaker with over 700k subscribers on Youtube. I study how he is used social media, his business model, and other keys to his success. My Podcast on itunes https://t.ly/28DGO Fulltime filmaker Youtube https://www.youtube.com/user/pawalbeck
South Korea has a lot to offer for digital nomads. Great food, fast internet, modern infrastructure, yes local craft beer, 6 month visas, and more. In the past couple of years I had a chance to visit Seoul and Busan several times over the years.
Who is Seoul For?
I think Seoul is for a Digital nomad that is more established and that loves the big city vibes. I found Seoul to be a bit overwhelming, but it’s great to experience. There are many co-work spaces, it’s modern, fast internet, easy to get around, and there are lot of difference areas you could base yourself or just transit through. Seoul has the incheon airport, which connects it to Malaysia as well as Vancouver Canada.
Who is Busan For?
Busan is the second largest city and it has several awesome beaches like gwangalli beach . I prefer Busan as it is more chill, and the city feels more manageable, and you still get a lot of the perks of South korea like fast internet, modern city, and safety. Busan also connects to Kuala Lumpur and Nagasaki Japan. If you want to find out more about Busan check out this article.
More about Seoul
Seoul has amazing food for the soul like pork rib bone soup, dumplings, bugolgi beef bbq, bim bam bop and more. I decided to make a visit to film and sample the food and use Seoul to fly to Vancouver. South Korea has potential for Digital nomads despiet the higher cost. We will be exploring some of the info that digital nomads want to here.
Getting in, getting connected, and Where to Stay
I booked a 6 hour flight from Kuala Lumpur, but you can find cheap flights from Bangkok or Taipei. Unfortunately Ubers’s are expensive so I took an airport limo bus ($9 us) to the Ramada hotel in Dongdaemun. The bus pretty much stopped in front of the hotel. I decided to rent a mobile router as it would give me 4g Internet unlimited data up to 3 devices. This cost me $42 us for the 5 days. They also had single sim packages.
Where did I stay
I stayed at the Ramada Encore hotel in Dongdaemun. I did plenty of research between my friends, airbnb, and trip advisor. I found the airbnb’s more on the high end, and the Ramada had the right combination of value, convenience, location, good reviews, and it was a modern hotel. As I said I got dropped off right in front of the hotel. There is a starbucks, convenience store, bus stops, and the Shinseoldong Subway station within a 2 minute walk radius. This subway is on line 1 and goes directly to city hall station. The lobby has a decent work area and local coffee shop and nearby starbucks was spacious and featured a fast Internet connection. I got a good room on the corner of the 16th floor. The was room was relatively spacious for Seoul, everything was clean, modern, and I had a decent view. The wifi wasn’t as fast as I wanted, but I just used my mobile router. The staff spoke a decent level of English to help me get around.
What did I eat and drink
I ate everything from noodle soups, dumplings, fried chicken, beef bulgolgi, jap chae potato noodles, bim bam bop, and pork rib hangover soup to name a few. I marked some pins for the restaurants I went to. You could find a good meal for about 7000 won $6.2 US. The portions were large, and fresh kim chi and side dishes seemed to come standard. I tried the local beer Cass and also some craft beer in Hong dae and Itaewon areas. I recommend trying out the Magpie Ipa in Hongdae. It comes from Jeju island and goes for about 7000 won. Coffee’s ranged from 3000 to 4000 won and offered free wifi.
I took some pov footage from the bus and airport limos using DJI Osmo to capture that unique perspective. If you’re interesting in filming with this camera check out my course. I know its hard to unpack to get out the camera after a long trip, but I made an extra effort because I knew taxis would be expensive. I used the DJI osmo to capture some unique angles at Gangnam and Itaewon areas. I brought out the Canon SLR with the 50mm F 1.4 to capture some nice nightlife footage as well. I explored the hotel and discovered they had rooftop access. I took full advantage of this to get some aerials around Dongdaemun. I brought my drone, but from my research it seemed like if I didn’t fly at the designated drone park at Hangang park Seoul, then I might be at risk for a fine. From my research the footage from there wasn’t particularly scenic and it was at least 1.5 hours in transit just to get there. Instead I went to the DJI Flagship store in Hongdae area. I understand that there are only some official flagship stores worldwide so I made the visit. It was worthwhile as I got to see pretty much all the current gear and get some hands-on with the DJI goggles connected to DJI Mavic and touch the latest small drone dji spark. I ended up partnering with my local friend to complete filming of a Digital nomad guide to Seoul Korea.
I decided to switch my workflow to less laptop work and more content producing footage. This is always more fun and makes more sense on a short expensive trip. I rather do the laptop work from a location that I’m going to be more settled in. I worked at some cafe’s like Starbucks, the Ramada Encore lobby, my room, and the Noah Co-work space. I tried to make a visit to the free Dcamp cowork space, and Hive Arena and Wework at Gangnam They were closed due to holiday. Dcamp is free and the latter 2 are paid co-work spaces, which are not cheap The cafe Internet speeds were fast enough to get some work done.
A post shared by Greg Hung (@greghungshowdotcom) on
Summary
4 days is just scratching the surface of Seoul. It is a large city and although there is good public transport it takes a long time to get around to the different areas. I didn’t really explore the main tourist attractions nor did I visit many co-work spaces, nor did I visit Jeju island. If I did return to Seoul I would bring some company and might try out Gangnam or Hongdae areas. Seoul is not as expensive as you would think once you have taken care of your accomodation. It will just take time to fully expore what it has to offer.
What is the Next Step?
I recommend you enroll in my Digital Nomad in Asia course for a deeper dive into South Korea as well as other destinations in Asia I’ve liked in like Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, Taipei Taiwan, and Chiang Mai Thailand. You can check out the course as well as some free lessons here.
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