[Ask] Should I save up money or follow my dreams
I'm 28, an ordinary engineer (don't know how to do business) from an average family (nothing to inherit). I've been working for 6 years but saving only the last 2 (before that I had to pay my master degree school fee myself).
Now, everything seems to be hang somewhere in the middle for me. I have money but not enough to buy house and settle down. That means I'll need to continue working and saving as much as I can.
Yet the youth part in me still wants to study further, learn new things, explore new places, meet new people, visit as many countries as possible.. That is usually not cheap and difficult to save money.
I can't decide which desire is stronger.
Is anyone in the same situation? and what would you do?
4 comments
Fortunately, because of the internets, you can do your job from anywhere.You can have it both ways, but you need to learn the business side.
You don't know the business side probably because you have never attempted it. Though some people seem to shoot off faster and more successfully than others, everyone has to start off with those same stumbling first steps. You might be surprised with what you can do on that side.
The most simple and direct way to start a business which will enable you to uproot yourself is to do freelance development. This is relatively easy as starting businesses goes, but it's not as easy as showing up to your job and punching a clock. If this is something you would like to explore, then start today. Always be building your professional network through social media (Twitter and G+ are great) and look for people who need your skills. Let people know that you are looking to do independent and you might get some responses. You can also look through freelance sites like Elance and Odesk, which are easy ways to gst started if you have difficulty finding clients elsewhere.
Elance and Odesk have a reputation for being markets with horrible projects and worse pay, but that's because most of these people haven't even tried to look for work there. I routinely find projects which pay as well or better than my regular freelance rates. You need to comb through the listings to find the diamonds in the rough. In your areas of development, you will find listings where people don't know what they are bidding on and bid up crazy prices. You will see projects where you know exactly what the client is looking for and you may even be able to make a killing on it at less than what the competition is bidding for. You are a native English speaker, you know exactly what the client needs and you can give them a fair rate. Sold! This is also a good place to build up your network.
Traveling can be cheaper than you think. For example, you can live in much of S.E. Asia on less than 1K / month. In the Philippines, I have yet to live in a house / apartment which costs more than $200 / month. Utilities (internet, electric, water) are around $120 / month for me and that's high. The visa is another $60 / month. That's just $400 / month for base living expenses. Add another $200 / month for food and you are taking care of all the basics for $600 / month. Feel free to add whatever budget you like for going out on the town and travel.
Another perk of living in S.E. Asia is that flights to other areas are cheap. I can get a round trip ticket to the capital from where I live for less than $100. I haven't checked prices lately but when I first got here I could get a one way ticket to Hong Kong and Singapore for $60. There are specials like these all the time. You could pick one place as your base and use that as a jumping point to explore the rest of the region. Knock out a project, take a vacation (or work on that vacation) and then come back and get started on the next project. This is S.E. Asia, but you will find similar opportunities in S. America, Africa and even Europe. Once you have had your fill of one base, then uproot again and plant your flag in a new region.
If at some point you decide that you want to go "coding cave" and work on your own project or learn a new platform, then you could do that rather than go on vacation. Looking at the prices I gave you above, it would be easy to knock out month long project which would sustain you for 3 - 4 months of doing nothing but your own projects.
Don't like working with a bunch of clients? Get a remote job. I have had gigs which were basically long term jobs where I could put in as little as a half day and have the rest of the day to myself. These usually aren't as flexible though, and the pay usually doesn't have as much top side potential.
You can have it all, but you need to learn how to bring in client work.Start now, but don't overwork yourself. Take on little gigs. Get in touch with as many people as you can. Every new contact is a potential source of work down the road. I never run out of work. As soon as I start seeing a possible end point, a client I haven't talked to in months, maybe years comes out of the blue and asks about my availability. Once you see that you can start possibly hit larger projects (which you can't do now because of your job) and clients are contacting you enough that you believe you can stay busy, then go ahead and take the leap.
One thing that really helps is that you have savings. To do all this, you should have about six months of savings. The more the merrier. If you get beyond that then you start to get to the danger point where you get desperate for cash flow and take on jobs you otherwise wouldn't. You can do it with three months of savings, but anything less than that is danger zone. Personally, I went full backpack mode and left with just one month of savings!
Also, don't wait for the perfect moment. Start the above now to build up some clients, but set a date where you will buy your ticket. Or buy your ticket now for something like 6 to 8 months out. I was in a situation where I was waiting, waiting, waiting, but then my roommate sold his house and I had to move. Rather than find a new place, I pulled the trigger and bought my ticket. Otherwise I probably would never have left.
There are a ton of stories on HN about this sort of thing and about freelancing in general. The stuff I have posted above has been repeated here (and much more golden information) many times.
You are filling your head with incorrect info because you have never actually tried this. Take the leap and you will see it's not that hard. You will probably even wonder why you didn't do it earlier!
You don't know the business side probably because you have never attempted it. Though some people seem to shoot off faster and more successfully than others, everyone has to start off with those same stumbling first steps. You might be surprised with what you can do on that side.
The most simple and direct way to start a business which will enable you to uproot yourself is to do freelance development. This is relatively easy as starting businesses goes, but it's not as easy as showing up to your job and punching a clock. If this is something you would like to explore, then start today. Always be building your professional network through social media (Twitter and G+ are great) and look for people who need your skills. Let people know that you are looking to do independent and you might get some responses. You can also look through freelance sites like Elance and Odesk, which are easy ways to gst started if you have difficulty finding clients elsewhere.
Elance and Odesk have a reputation for being markets with horrible projects and worse pay, but that's because most of these people haven't even tried to look for work there. I routinely find projects which pay as well or better than my regular freelance rates. You need to comb through the listings to find the diamonds in the rough. In your areas of development, you will find listings where people don't know what they are bidding on and bid up crazy prices. You will see projects where you know exactly what the client is looking for and you may even be able to make a killing on it at less than what the competition is bidding for. You are a native English speaker, you know exactly what the client needs and you can give them a fair rate. Sold! This is also a good place to build up your network.
Traveling can be cheaper than you think. For example, you can live in much of S.E. Asia on less than 1K / month. In the Philippines, I have yet to live in a house / apartment which costs more than $200 / month. Utilities (internet, electric, water) are around $120 / month for me and that's high. The visa is another $60 / month. That's just $400 / month for base living expenses. Add another $200 / month for food and you are taking care of all the basics for $600 / month. Feel free to add whatever budget you like for going out on the town and travel.
Another perk of living in S.E. Asia is that flights to other areas are cheap. I can get a round trip ticket to the capital from where I live for less than $100. I haven't checked prices lately but when I first got here I could get a one way ticket to Hong Kong and Singapore for $60. There are specials like these all the time. You could pick one place as your base and use that as a jumping point to explore the rest of the region. Knock out a project, take a vacation (or work on that vacation) and then come back and get started on the next project. This is S.E. Asia, but you will find similar opportunities in S. America, Africa and even Europe. Once you have had your fill of one base, then uproot again and plant your flag in a new region.
If at some point you decide that you want to go "coding cave" and work on your own project or learn a new platform, then you could do that rather than go on vacation. Looking at the prices I gave you above, it would be easy to knock out month long project which would sustain you for 3 - 4 months of doing nothing but your own projects.
Don't like working with a bunch of clients? Get a remote job. I have had gigs which were basically long term jobs where I could put in as little as a half day and have the rest of the day to myself. These usually aren't as flexible though, and the pay usually doesn't have as much top side potential.
You can have it all, but you need to learn how to bring in client work.Start now, but don't overwork yourself. Take on little gigs. Get in touch with as many people as you can. Every new contact is a potential source of work down the road. I never run out of work. As soon as I start seeing a possible end point, a client I haven't talked to in months, maybe years comes out of the blue and asks about my availability. Once you see that you can start possibly hit larger projects (which you can't do now because of your job) and clients are contacting you enough that you believe you can stay busy, then go ahead and take the leap.
One thing that really helps is that you have savings. To do all this, you should have about six months of savings. The more the merrier. If you get beyond that then you start to get to the danger point where you get desperate for cash flow and take on jobs you otherwise wouldn't. You can do it with three months of savings, but anything less than that is danger zone. Personally, I went full backpack mode and left with just one month of savings!
Also, don't wait for the perfect moment. Start the above now to build up some clients, but set a date where you will buy your ticket. Or buy your ticket now for something like 6 to 8 months out. I was in a situation where I was waiting, waiting, waiting, but then my roommate sold his house and I had to move. Rather than find a new place, I pulled the trigger and bought my ticket. Otherwise I probably would never have left.
There are a ton of stories on HN about this sort of thing and about freelancing in general. The stuff I have posted above has been repeated here (and much more golden information) many times.
You are filling your head with incorrect info because you have never actually tried this. Take the leap and you will see it's not that hard. You will probably even wonder why you didn't do it earlier!
Hi, I'm certainly not a life expert (and you should maybe question anyone who claims to be), but here's what I think:
-You're doing pretty well (in this economy that is chewing people up and spitting people out), if you have time to think in broad strokes about your future this way. Reflect & be grateful for that, I am similar, and try to often
-Whether you should settle down or not is really more about family/relationship progression right? If you've found the right person and you feel like you're ready to settle down, then settle down. If that isn't the case for you yet, and you're single, then there's nothing holding you to physical location other than family, which is certainly an advantage when it comes to traveling spontaneously or taking less-than-stable actions.
-The youthful part in you shouldn't be held back by anything. With the vast expanse of the internet, there is SO MUCH that you can learn. To address them in order
1. Study further - Depends on what you want to study, but enroll in some of the open courseware stuff, and learn away! Or just pick a thing, and start actively learning about it
2. Learn new things - Similar to 1, pick a new thing, start learning it, and actually utilize it to change yourself (like if you decide to pick up cooking, start actually cooking daily -- that'll make lasting change)
3. Explore new places -- This is tied into travel, if you want to travel, then start using those vacation days! You can even do 1-2 day trips (weekend) to places like Canada over the weekend to start out, little mini vacations.If you want to uproot yourself (of course this depends on #1) -- do it! I would first try moving with the company you're with now (see if they do overseas or placements/rotational stuff) -- or try and find a new job abroad. It would be great to have something set up BEFORE you leap, but if it's really killing you to not be out there experiencing the world, then just go, and try and apply for jobs or get work when you get there
4. Meeting new people - This one is hard once you get out of college/high school. Usually (unfortunately), work is the easiest way to really get to know someone (spend a large amount of time around them), but outside of that, you have to take to hobbies. Pick up a hobby (maybe bowling? something more active?), go to a wine-tasting class (something over long periods of time, so that you really get a chance to socially interact), join a church, etc.
Also you might want to cater to that youth-urges while you're still young.
-You're doing pretty well (in this economy that is chewing people up and spitting people out), if you have time to think in broad strokes about your future this way. Reflect & be grateful for that, I am similar, and try to often
-Whether you should settle down or not is really more about family/relationship progression right? If you've found the right person and you feel like you're ready to settle down, then settle down. If that isn't the case for you yet, and you're single, then there's nothing holding you to physical location other than family, which is certainly an advantage when it comes to traveling spontaneously or taking less-than-stable actions.
-The youthful part in you shouldn't be held back by anything. With the vast expanse of the internet, there is SO MUCH that you can learn. To address them in order
1. Study further - Depends on what you want to study, but enroll in some of the open courseware stuff, and learn away! Or just pick a thing, and start actively learning about it
2. Learn new things - Similar to 1, pick a new thing, start learning it, and actually utilize it to change yourself (like if you decide to pick up cooking, start actually cooking daily -- that'll make lasting change)
3. Explore new places -- This is tied into travel, if you want to travel, then start using those vacation days! You can even do 1-2 day trips (weekend) to places like Canada over the weekend to start out, little mini vacations.If you want to uproot yourself (of course this depends on #1) -- do it! I would first try moving with the company you're with now (see if they do overseas or placements/rotational stuff) -- or try and find a new job abroad. It would be great to have something set up BEFORE you leap, but if it's really killing you to not be out there experiencing the world, then just go, and try and apply for jobs or get work when you get there
4. Meeting new people - This one is hard once you get out of college/high school. Usually (unfortunately), work is the easiest way to really get to know someone (spend a large amount of time around them), but outside of that, you have to take to hobbies. Pick up a hobby (maybe bowling? something more active?), go to a wine-tasting class (something over long periods of time, so that you really get a chance to socially interact), join a church, etc.
Also you might want to cater to that youth-urges while you're still young.
Your details muddy the line a bit, but I'm hoping your original question is boiled to its simplest form: "Save money or follow dreams?"
You already know the answer. Dreams, every time.
You already know the answer. Dreams, every time.
Learn a language where you would like to go. Find a job for a US company that has an office there. Best of both worlds.