What would your life look like if money wasn’t an issue? That was one of the key questions I asked myself when I arrived in Malta almost four years ago.
I had already tried to do the same kind of visualization while living in Finland, but I always struggled to paint a clear picture of what an ideal life would look like there. Everything changed when I arrived in Malta in September 2019.
I knew that I loved sunshine, which was one of the reasons I left Finland in the first place, but I could never have realized how easy the transition to a new country would be and how much I would love Malta.
I have written countless posts about the pros and cons of living in Malta, and I will put up curated versions of these posts in the near future. My friends always tell me I’m the biggest Malta lover they’ve ever met, so expect a love letter to Malta. 🙂
Why Clear Goals And Strategies Are So Important
To return to the question at the beginning, I immediately set up a goal to make the most of the beautiful weather daily here in Malta. I visualized how I would live in a nice apartment and be able to set up my life according to my own schedule. I came here as a self-employed, but I still needed to improve my earnings to live the life I wanted.
Therefore I took a job at an Affiliate Company to learn everything about SEO (Search engine optimization) to use my skills on my own websites and push the affiliate earnings to new levels. The goal was that most of the revenue would be in the form of affiliate revenue.
I didn’t care about the salary; it was also about half of what I earned back in Finland. There I had a decent job as a Company Analyst – a job that I quit in 2016. Although my life looked good from the outside, with a secure job and benefits, I was never really happy. I always longed away from life as an employee and a job that meant working from 8-16.
That takes us to one of the most important steps if you want to be truly happy. Never listen to other people’s opinions of how your life should look like. The only thing that matters is your perception of life. When you are at a place in life where you are truly happy, everything else will fall into place.
That was also what happened to me when I arrived in Malta. Suddenly everything felt easier. I knew that this was the place I wanted to live in, and happiness wasn’t anything I had to fight for.
Time To Focus And Build For The Future
I had only worked for about six months as an employee when the pandemic hit the world in March 2020, and we were forced to go into isolation. Instead of looking at the problems of being forced to stay at home, I saw this as the perfect opportunity to build exactly the future I wanted without distractions.
Now I no longer had to spend time getting to and from work and could spend that time building my business.
My first goal was to become number one in Men’s Fashion in Sweden. I immediately set about the task by working around 15 hours a day, with a couple of hours working at my own company before the “real” work day began and then a few more hours in the evening. A typical day usually started around 5 in the morning, either with work or training, and ended around 11 in the evening.
This was a schedule I ran, whether it was a weekday or weekend. I managed to reach my goal of becoming number one (on Google) in Men’s Fashion in August 2020, and it was a position I held until I sold the site just over two years later (more on that later)
I worked for about two years as an employee, and when my company earnings were about five times higher than my salary in my daytime job, I decided to quit and work full-time as a self-employed from January 2022.
Mission Completed
Mission completed – I had finally achieved the goal I had set for myself when I arrived in Malta, and I could finally enjoy life here every day. Working on my biggest interests and setting the day according to my schedule is the ultimate luxury for me, and now it was time to reap the rewards of all the hard work I had put in over a few years.
2022 was also one of the best years of my life so far. A year full of experiences and time to enjoy life to the fullest. Since the site had a good position in the market, I could live on previously published articles through affiliate income and focus mainly on minor adjustments.
But at the same time, I also felt that I needed to set new goals in life. I’ve lived long enough to know that continuous development is the only way to go if you don’t want to lose your position. There will always be new challengers, and you can’t afford to get too comfortable if you want to evolve and reach new heights.
The Next Step In My Life
It was also one of the reasons why I decided to put the site up for sale. I felt that I had done my part to take it to the position it was in and that others could do a better job of developing the site and taking it to the next level.
In October 2022, I sold the site and it was transferred to the new owner. I am very proud of what I achieved, and in one way, it was a bit sad to hand over a site I had owned for 12 years to someone else. But at the same time, life is about constant development, and now I felt like it was time to embark on entirely new projects.
My plan was to take it easy for a while and read a lot. But just a few weeks after the sale, new opportunities came up that I couldn’t turn down. I was introduced to people with complementary skills, creating opportunities to develop something I could never do myself. It’s still early days, but the goals are ambitious for this project.
Most importantly, I love what I do, and waking up every day to new challenges feels motivating.
I will continue to write about my interests and what I like to do during my days here in Malta. This includes exercise, reading and a lot of other things. Welcome to follow my life here in Malta!
