[Ternarydemonite]

Hello all, I am almost always a lurker, but I finally found time to make this thread and tell my story. First of all, thanks to Roosh and many other posters, whose posts and knowledge helped to transform my life. Short story, I am 32, a lawyer, born and living in a large city in a large Latin-American country. I hated law since the beginning, hated working for lawyers, and have nothing in common with the guild. Now, a location independent business is the opposite of almost every lawyer in the world.

I have a very good legal English, only do transactional work, have no debt, no children, no family and no assets. I saved enough money in the bank to survive for 1 year, ended my lease and returned to live with my parents. I gamed for 2 years when I found the Red Pill, then got into a LTR with a nice girl. I knew I was not going to spend money on logistics to game women for 1-2 years, so my girlfriend provides support, along with steady sex. I quit in February of 2015.

Results after 1 year of freelancing via various platforms:

- All clients come from freelance platforms, no referrals.
- I had very bad social skills during college and my career; none of my past bosses or colleagues have ever called me for business. I don’t network (my main weakness).
- Most clients need only one job (a trademark, a contract, legals for website) and do not need to return.
- First six months I averaged 300-600 USD, now average 600-1k USD a month.
- Almost no latin-american clients, most clients are freelancers and small startups from US, Canada and Europe. No UK clients, strong barriers to enter market.
- I charge usd$25 per hour, not bad in Brasil / Argentina.

I could theoretically travel and live now in Thailand or Colombia, but one bad month can leave me in the red, my savings are untouchable unless for mayor emergencies, and my target is Western Europe. I calculate that I need 1.5k usd of steady income per month to live there comfortably.

My plan for year 2:

#1 Continue freelancing and have good feedback and jobs. This will provide half of my income and, importantly, us currency.
#2 Build my website targeted to my local market. Now, I know shit about programming, design or digital marketing, but am learning. I will promote myself via Twitter, Facebook, and paid local campaigns at Bing and Google. I don’t need anything fancy, just a way for people to find me, call me / send emails to me.

People here don't even know what a freelancer is, much less hiring a lawyer though Twitter or Google. My target market is expats and online entrepreneurs. Most of them are as limited in money as me, but I only need X number of guys a month to pay me $150 usd for remote work, and then I can take a plane to Poland.

For a guy like me, stealing work from US attorneys while charging 10 times less is a reasonable way to earn some income. If I double my income by providing remote legal services to small niches in my local market, I calculate that I can earn 2-3k usd per month, while saving 1k per month, ideally. I will only serve small clients, not wealthy individuals or corporations, but that would allow me to not be tied to one city/state. My ideal lifestyle is to travel for periods of 4-6 months per year, then return to my country, which is overall a good place to live, and I don’t really want to live abroad full time for now. I just need a lifestyle of semi-location independent income.

Now, your take please. Please be sure to point out my mistakes, successes, areas where I can improve and, overall how realistic it would for a guy like me to begin to live (and game) in Western Europe / Asia at 33/34 years.

[lavidaloca]

if your advising related to US law I'm going to assume you need to be bar certified and insured.

I can tell you in Canada just between insurance and law society fees and professional training requirements it costs me easily 6k+ a year. That would take a huge chunk out of your expected income.

If your trying to niche related to transactions by US citizens in the region in which you are licensed that is likely a different case all together.

I think $1,500 is also way too low for Western Europe.

[GlobalMan]

You said you are born/raised/living in Latin America and a lawyer there, and your clients online are mostly or all from U.S., Canada etc. What are they having you do? Do you mean these are expat clients seeking an expert in your country, or do you mean that you are drawing up contracts bound by U.S. / Canadian / European law?

If it's the later, I'm surprised that there are U.S. companies/people hiring a freelance lawyer who does not have any experience in law in their country. I can't think of many things more foolish than doing that.

Part of the reason lawyers here in the U.S. would charge more is because they are licensed to practice law here, and are well versed in the pertinent U.S. law. There is some protection/assurance that the client can rely on.

As far as your goal of living in Western Europe, that is very low estimate. Not impossible, but definitely impractical and bare bones, especially if you plan to meet and entertain girls. I think 2k/month would be a better goal.

I'd suggest you should be making the desired/sufficient amount of money for at least a few/6 months consistently before you can consider it reliable, and only then consider taking off to Europe

[Ternarydemonite]

Sorry, I mistype, I meant Eastern Europe.

I draft and revise license and service agreements, privacy policies and such. I did that for a decade at various firms that always dealt with US clients. My services are considered paralegal services in the US, not attorney services. Besides, I do not undertake, nor need to actually perform the services within the US or at any fixed location, which is more or less he idea behind freelancing that attracted me.

I only draft and amend documents, not provide legal opinions or represent anyone before any authority.

[samsamsam]

A lot of US forms like company formation (LLC, Corporations), corporate minutes, etc don't require a lawyer. The forms are pretty routine.


1) Before making a move - build a nest egg
2) Don't leave on terrible terms - in case you have to go back
3) Do these routine forms that you are doing
----3a) But - learn some more value added services that allow you to earn a better income
4) While you may be able to create steady income - take some of that nest egg and put it into something not related to your work - i.e stocks with dividends (I know also some risk).

There is more that could be written - but this is a start.

I don't think your idea is bad at all - just need to make sure you continue to do GOOD work and continue to market.