I've made a decision. As of December 2018, I'll be leaving Beijing (at least temporarily) to live somewhere else for a while and focus exclusively on new income streams. I've made a lot of decisions already to move myself closer to being able to pursue this, but haven't until recently felt entirely free to commit to an entire new course of action.
Product development is a long process. My larger goal is to have a strong catalogue of products, with a company built around them, but I've come to realize that earning enough money to live in Beijing and having time and cash free to develop products are a challenging combination. As such, I need to realign my life with my goals and freeing myself to live somewhere other than one of the most expensive cities in the world is step one.
Of course, I have more student debt than savings, so I do need to continue generating an income, so what I'm committing to do, is earn an income from sources compatible with living somewhere cheaper and specifically sources that are not just inside of one city.
To sum it up simply, I'll be focusing on the consulting side of the business equation, rather than the product side initially. I can't post them here, but I've identified a good number of services that I am prepared and qualified to offer clients in my industry. These are services that would be booked in advance and be custom enough that no one would expect me to be able to immediately deliver the service, so I can test the waters on by advertising widely over the summer and fall seasons. This way, I'll ideally already have clients lined up and have money coming in by December, not to mention, having a strong sense of what level of demand there is for each of my offerings.
My housing lease is until December and that's also when weather starts to really suck in Beijing, so that's why I've made the decision to make the official move at that point. There's also the option to go see family over the Christmas season (not my preferred choice, but a possibility) and get a running start by not having to pay rent for about the first month (as I'd be staying with a series of family members who would be more than happy to shelter and feed me, although some of the food might include disgusting fried onions).
First task at hand is to get a website up advertising the services I intend to offer. I'll then spend six months promoting the website and my service offerings. I also hope to finish a few of my nearly finished products before December so that I also have that as one revenue source as well.
Product development is a long process. My larger goal is to have a strong catalogue of products, with a company built around them, but I've come to realize that earning enough money to live in Beijing and having time and cash free to develop products are a challenging combination. As such, I need to realign my life with my goals and freeing myself to live somewhere other than one of the most expensive cities in the world is step one.
Of course, I have more student debt than savings, so I do need to continue generating an income, so what I'm committing to do, is earn an income from sources compatible with living somewhere cheaper and specifically sources that are not just inside of one city.
To sum it up simply, I'll be focusing on the consulting side of the business equation, rather than the product side initially. I can't post them here, but I've identified a good number of services that I am prepared and qualified to offer clients in my industry. These are services that would be booked in advance and be custom enough that no one would expect me to be able to immediately deliver the service, so I can test the waters on by advertising widely over the summer and fall seasons. This way, I'll ideally already have clients lined up and have money coming in by December, not to mention, having a strong sense of what level of demand there is for each of my offerings.
My housing lease is until December and that's also when weather starts to really suck in Beijing, so that's why I've made the decision to make the official move at that point. There's also the option to go see family over the Christmas season (not my preferred choice, but a possibility) and get a running start by not having to pay rent for about the first month (as I'd be staying with a series of family members who would be more than happy to shelter and feed me, although some of the food might include disgusting fried onions).
First task at hand is to get a website up advertising the services I intend to offer. I'll then spend six months promoting the website and my service offerings. I also hope to finish a few of my nearly finished products before December so that I also have that as one revenue source as well.
I'm the King of Beijing!