Mr. Scott Eddy is no-stop business man. When he was young he thought he was going to be a cop like his father, but when he lost his father he jumped ship. Now he is a self-made entrepreneur and a social media guru.
1. How many different languages can you speak?
None. I have a basic understanding Thai.
2. What happened when you visited Thailand all those years ago that caused you to pursue a complete shift in your life? How did a foreign land become your home?
I tried my first Thai food, absolutely fell in love with it. I didn’t know there could be a city in the world that was as big as New York where everybody was nice. When you watch the news, there’s no home invasion or police shootouts like the shit we see on the news everyday. People are warm and willing to give you the shirt off their back even though they have nothing. Plus, it’s a developing country, there are opportunities everywhere, and you being a foreigner you’re like god, you walk on water, so I knew I was never going to leave, it’s like Disneyland for adults. On top of that, the [US] dollar was king there because the currency wasn’t great. I fell in love with the country, the food, the culture, everything.
Social Media was invented when I was overseas, so most of my friends and following are overseas. I like to go out a lot and meet people. I meet some of the best connections in my life while out.
Traveling is like gasoline for entrepreneurs. It makes your creativity explode, puts it in hyper drive. Motion creates emotion.
There’s no room in life for negativity. Whatever you surround yourself with, that’s what’s going to be output. So if you surround yourself with people who are going to complain about the current state of life every single day, guess what your life’s going to be like, a big pile of shit.
3. What is your favorite place to frequent in Bangkok?
Believe it or not, my favorite or second favorite Italian restaurant is in Bangkok. Antonio’s. It’s a guy whose lived in Bangkok over 20 years, this Australian guy, but he has these Italian grandparents. It’s known and busy, though. You can’t get a table if you just walk in.
I also eat Thai street food every single day. It is the greatest food in the world. Street food in Thailand is off the chart. It tastes like it’s six star dining and you’re paying 50 cents for it on the street. My favorite dish is som tam (spicy papaya salad). It’s really good and really spicy.
4. If you had to live anywhere else in the world, where would it be?
Nobody has ever asked me that. Other than Bangkok, somewhere in Europe. I love Spain, but I don’t know if I ever see myself living full time there again. It’s a fun place, was very difficult to make money, but now their economy is in the low, their banks are dragging down the whole EU, and that is great for an entrepreneur. So I’d have to say Barcelona, actually.
5. Is there any aspect of your life that you keep separate from business? Do ever feel the need to have something that is liberated from your work?
No. There is not a person on this Earth that combines business and play more than I do. There is no aspect of my life that’s not super public because I start off everything in business as a friend.
I don’t give a shit what people think about me. I’ll upload a picture of me spraying champagne and then one of me walking with my girlfriend.
People who follow me are interested in travel, sarcastic remarks, humor, and being positive. Just the other day I really started getting aggressive and following the wine industry because over in Portugal I’m getting involved with these people who are in it.
6. What adventures have you had on your travels? Have you ever found yourself in a dangerous or thrilling place?
I’ve never been in a dangerous situation, thank God, but I’ve done cool shit. I’ve taken a ferry from Tarifa to Morocco, the boat stops in the middle, and hundreds of dolphins swim by. Then I went to Marrakesh for the day and rode camels. I also ride elephants in Thailand, and in Thailand there are place where the water is so blue it’s like a cartoon.
7. If you had to give up one of your five senses, which would it be?
Sense of touch. I’m a listener more than talker and I love music so I wouldn’t want to give up hearing. I love food so I wouldn’t want to give up smell or taste. And it’s kind of strange, but I kind of want to see where I’m going, so I don’t want to be Ray Charles.
8. What limitations do you come across in your goals? Have you ever had an idea that was difficult to actualize because of limitations in the digital and/or physical world?
Most of my limitations come from—I’m an amazing idea man, but I have ADHD and OCHD, I use them to my advantage, but with those my focus is so hardcore but not for that long—I need to do 4 or 5 things to get 1 thing done. I need to create the infrastructure and then have the perfect person to take over, and then I oversee things. I’ll have great ideas, but I don’t have that perfect person. And this happens a lot.
The problem is with most people don’t recognize [their problems], with me, I know my limitations. I’m good at very few thing, but those few things I’m very good at. That’s why the wealthiest people in the world didn’t get there on their own, they surrounded themselves with smarter people than them. I need smarter people than me along side me, I can’t do it on my own, I was a C student, I never went college, I hated school. What do I need to know algebra for? I’m still trying to learn algebra.
9. How can people on an adventure use the digital world to benefit the physical experience of their adventure and not subtract from it?
First, read my blog post.
I talk to older people who tell me I need to experience this, but I’m going to experience this for the rest of my life because I can review the pictures and the video, I can share it with my family and people who aren’t able to travel, I can communicate with them and comment; my whole life is about sharing experiences whether it’s with strangers who I don’t know yet, or people who are in my circle of friends.
Obviously it’s going to be much more of a headache if you’re traveling with a 70 year old person who doesn’t have Facebook account and you where you have “everything account,” and you’re going to be butting heads every single day. But if you’re with like-minded individuals, obviously if you’re with a girlfriend or wife you need some private time so you need to delegate that and segregate some kind of privacy, but if you’re open about sharing your digital and social media, it absolutely helps. How can it not help, enhance it if you go Scuba Diving and you have your GoPro and you make a cool video?
Whether they want to admit or not, that’s the majority of the public. The majority of the public is nosey and they want to know what’s going on in other peoples’ lives and that’s why social media is so good. That’s why it makes money.
10. What do you find interesting on social media?
I’m so addicted to watching other peoples’ content about different places to travel. It’s crazy because I was so addicted to magazines, and I picked one up the other day and it felt so strange in my hands. I used to buy 20 a month and stack them under the TV. But now, I read an article in a magazine, and I already saw it a week ago on Facebook, twitter, google, or whatever it is.
For me, I use social media like a magazine. The humor section is seeing all the people complaining about the traffic this morning, or something else happening to them; and my travel following, which is the biggest, is all about different cultures, and visa restrictions, and this one ate this, and this one took a cruise. It’s amazing. You sit down and you really realize that the world is like “this” (holds up thumb and finger close together), and it’s always been like “this,” it’s just social media mae us realize it’s like “this.” I love it. Social media is like a big magazine or newspaper 24 hours a day refreshing itself.
11. How do you see traveling and the travelling lifestyle changing in the next 20 years, or in an even more distant future?
I’ll put it this way, I wish I was I was born right now, because the future is going to be fucking cool. In twenty years we’re going to be living in the era of The Jettsons or Battlestar Galactica or Star Wars. You’re going to see Cruiseships turn into submarines. You’re going to see one stop flight from Bangkok to LA at half the time and crazy fuel-efficient. As soon as it comes out it’s going to be crazy expensive and then it’s going to be pennies on the dollar. Cities are going to have Wi-Fi everywhere. I think that the whole world should have Wi-Fi. I think every travel mechanism should have it. What is the downside? Don’t you want people potentially tweeting while using your service? It’s free advertising.
12. Which is your greatest achievement in life?
Waking up every morning and thinking positive about anything, looking for the silver lining in anything. Learned it from my father.
13. Do you ever see yourself retiring?
No. I hope there’s Wi-Fi in my tombstone. I’m going to schedule tweets for like a month after I’m dead. If you’re doing something that you love, it’s not work.
14. How would you define adventure?
It’s getting involved with an entrepreneur startup that is in an industry that I don’t know about. Going to a country where you only know one person.
Scott Eddy had a lot more to say. I wish I could transcribe everything we talked about in this article, but I’m not writing a novel here. However, if there’s anything else you want to know from the man, just ask him @MrScottEddy. It’s what he lives for.
