HI EVERYONE 👋 !

My name is Peter, aka @LiveNowandWow.

UPDATE: Want to know why I chose this username? Then check out my most recent post:

How My Cute Little Niece Norah Taught me to Say WOW to Life (TIP: Learn How You Can do Too!)

I joined a few weeks ago, and spent a lot of time getting to know Steemit.

Before I start, I want to give a big shoutout to:

• My good friend @robcubbon, with whom I discuss Steemit on a daily basis.
• @tuck-fheman for his hard work on setting up the Steem Poker League. Do you ever sleep?
• Witness @timcliff. I’m following your stuff, and really appreciate all that you do for us!
• Fellow minnow @chiefmappster, for being so positive and sharing your life-changing story in an epic post.

Now it’s time that you learn a bit more about me!

First Things First: Are You Real?

This is me. Look, I’m holding a piece of paper:

It has the Steemit logo, my Steemit nickname and the date on it.

So I must be real.

Not convinced yet?

I am making a cup of coffee.

Bots don’t drink coffee.

Gotta have my caffeine...my precious...

Who Are You?

Glad you asked!

I have worked as a lawyer for 8 years at a top law firm, in the Netherlands (fellow Dutchies: hoe gaat het? Leuk dat jullie hier ook zijn!).

Look, here I am at my desk, all serious:

Then I called it quits, after a burnout knocked me off my feet for some time. I packed my stuff and moved to South-East Asia. This is 4 years ago, and I haven’t looked back!

My original plan was to travel for 1 year and then go back home.

Along the way that changed into finding a new home.

Around Christmas, we would always get a Merry Christmas card from this firm on Mauritius, a tropical island in the Indian Ocean. We never worked with them. We did not even know anybody there. I'd like to imagine that they just sent out a bunch of 'Christmas on the beach' cards around the world to show off and make us all JEALOUS!

Well, in case you are working at this firm and are reading this:

But hey, fast forward a few years and I found myself living on the tropical island of Koh Phangan, Thailand for one year.

And I didn’t even have to practice law. Win!

On Koh Phangan, I did over 900 hours of different yoga teacher trainings, and then was faced with the question: do I really want to teach yoga for a living?

I realized that – for now – I missed doing business too much.

The adrenaline of deadlines, the satisfaction of accomplishing what I set out to do.

What I did not miss though was the corporate world, working for the man.

What I wanted was – and is – a truly location-independent lifestyle, where I can support myself and live wherever I choose.

So I started to learn how I could make money online.

And I moved to Chiang Mai, in Northern Thailand. Recently, Chiang Mai has gotten a bit of a bad rep among some, because it attracts its fair share of people starting out on a budget. Personally, I don’t understand the bashing: didn’t we all start by taking our first step on the path?

I myself learned a lot, with trial and error. I tried different things:

• drop shipping
• blogging
• creating video courses

I picked up valuable skills along the way, and met amazing people!

But I was trying too many different things, with not enough synergy between them.

There’s a story about a farmer who set out to dig a well to water his land.

After digging a few feet deep, he gave up. No water here! The next day, he tried another spot. Same thing: he dug only a few feet deep, found no water, gave up.

After he had done this about 10 times, his neighbor – who had been watching from afar all this time – couldn't stand it anymore and said: “What are you doing? You are never going to find water by digging all those different holes. Instead, find the most promising spot. Start digging there. And keep digging: 20, 30, even 40 feet deep. That’s when you will find water!"

The farmer realized his mistake. The next day he picked one spot and started digging, deeper and deeper. He didn't stop. And lo and behold, he found water, in abundance!

Perhaps this quote from Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, explains it best:

"Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus."

Focus on the ONE thing, as Gary Keller says.

For the last 1.5 years, that has been selling on Amazon for me:

• I have worked at a SaaS company for Amazon sellers for 1 year
• I am a successful Kindle publisher, and
• I am working for an Amazon FBA business. Eventually I also plan to sell FBA products myself.

This focus has really helped me in setting priorities as I grew my business.

However, life is not all business. Enter Steemit!

What Will You Bring to Steemit?

This is the sunrise at Phu Chi Fa, deep in the mountains of Northern Thailand, at the Laos border:

It may have been the most spectacular view I have ever seen.

Visiting Phu Chi Fa was the highlight of a recent road trip I did in the mountains of Northern Thailand.

For the last few years, I have focused a lot on work. Still, I have also made time to go on amazing trips.

I have so many cool travel stories and photos to share! Yet they are just sitting there, in the waiting room.

Time to call out their number, one by one.

I was just waiting for the right place to share my travel stories, and Steemit is gonna be it. I love how positive everyone at Steemit is, and I want to be a part of it. I already am. And I’m getting more and more enthusiastic every day!

I have started two series:

1. TravelNowandWow: follow me as I travel around the world
2. YummyNowandWow: let me introduce you to lots of delicious nomnom food!

Here are the posts I have written so far:

• TravelNowandWow #1 - Did You Know You Can ⛷️ Ski on Cyprus?!
• TravelNowandWow #2 – Touching the ️ Clouds ☁️ in the Mountains of Northern Thailand
• TravelNowandWow #3: Wat Chedi Luang, the Amazing Elephant 🐘 Temple Ruin (Temples of Chiang Mai part 1)

• YummyNowandWow #1 - 5 🍚 Dishes 🍲 You HAVE to Try in Vietnam!
• YummyNowandWow #2: DELICIOUS Coconut Ice Cream 🍨. How Did I Ever Live Without It?!
• YummyNowandWow #3: Pad Thai Mustache Style – Hands on THE BEST 👍 Pad Thai 🍚 in Chiang Mai (Thailand)
• YummyNowandWow #4 – Mango Sticky Rice : the MOST Incredible Dessert You Never Tried!
• YummyNowandWow #5: Barefoot, Chiang Mai's Hidden Pasta Gem

And in this post I explain why I chose @LiveNowandWow as my username:

• How My Cute Little Niece Norah Taught me to Say WOW to Life (TIP: Learn How You Can do Too!)

And many more posts will follow, STEEM ON!

So that's me in a nutshell: @LiveNowandWow.

I’m excited. Will you join me on this journey?

Can’t wait to connect with all of you!

Please don't forget to upvote, comment, resteem, and follow.

You wouldn't want to upset Big Mike, now would you? 😉