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Location independent work
#26

Location independent work

While e-books most likely won't make you rich, they are a great way to dip into the world of online marketing, since they don't require much money and everyone can publish ebooks on Amazon nowadays.

Five months ago I published my first e-book on Amazon. Total cost of production: 20$ for the book cover + 40 hours of my time.

I also threw up a website with plenty of content (most of the content is already in the book) in the same niche, including a few articles that contain affiliate links. Total cost of production: 60$ for a professional theme + ~60 hours of my time

The website doesn't get much traffic (I totally underestimated my competition in terms of SEO) but book sales + affiliate sales is making me about 150$ per month. That's almost 100% passive income and I needed to invest about 100 hours of work for the whole thing.

What's much more valuable though, are the skills I learned during the process. Before I started the whole thing, I only had theoretical knowledge about typical online marketing skills. All my knowledge came from books, podcasts and blogposts but I never really applied anything. Now, almost 5 months later, I am actually charging small companies for my services. I charge them to:

- build professionally looking websites with online shops and monitor them
- run ad campaigns in the 4-figure per month range on Facebook and Google
- build their e-mail lists and manage their newsletters
- automate and grow their Instagram/Facebook to raise brand awareness
- arrange and manage partnerships with social influencers on Youtube and Instagram
- do anything else I can to improve their businesses and increase sales

Am I an expert in those skills after 5 months of applying them? Not really. Will I be an expert one day? I hope so. But for now it doesn't really matter. As long as I can help my clients make more money, I can also charge them accordingly.
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#27

Location independent work

I'll leave this here. It may be useful to some people :

Rework PDF : http://www2.arnes.si/~egrmad/knjige/FRIE...Rework.pdf
Rework Audiobook : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhF0WcoOc4Q

It's a good idea to listen to it while reading it.

That's not how we do things in Russia, comrade.

http://inspiredentrepreneur.weebly.com/
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#28

Location independent work

Quote: (09-19-2017 11:45 AM)Suits Wrote:  

I've become increasingly convinced that creativity is the rarest of gifts.

I'm not talking about fucking throwing paint on a canvas creativity. That's a skill. Artists who are genuinely creative are incredibly rare.

The problem with pursuit of income (outside of working for another person) is that unless you are a creative person capable of seeing a problem, devising a solution, developing that new idea into a finished product and then creating a successful sales and marketing plan, you're unlikely to ever succeed at anything other than working for other people (who have a combination of those skills or money to afford to hire people who do).

I think that is largely true for a majority of people. Most people are more comfortable being told what to do, rather than sitting down with a blank slate and completely using their own logic and creativity to devise something that previously was never in existence. Engineers, programmers, artists, product designers, writers, etc. all have to use different methods to will nothing into something.

Quote:Quote:

I am a creative person. I didn't really begin to tap into this feature of who I am until about three years ago.

Question: Was there any particular step(s) you took to discover and apply your creativity? A book? A course? Some observation(s) you made about the world? I'm always curious as to how people find their creative muse.

Quote:Quote:

Since then, I've realized that I'm not sure if I've ever met anyone who actually does create. I know those people are out there (watch enough Shark Tank episodes and you'll see a few), but they seem incredibly uncommon. My best guess is that there are far more people capable of noting a business opportunity and who have the drive to see it through.

When it comes to businesses, there are four general flavors in my experience as an entrepreneur, listed from hardest to least hard:

1. Original concept. That is when a whole new product space is developed. The Telegraph for communication would be an example. This brings to mind your example of Shark Tank people creating a whole new product/market space where one did not previously exist.

2. Iterative concept. That is when existing technology or a business concept is updated. For instance, landline telephones to cell phones. Dumb cell phones to smartphones.

3. Efficiency concept. That is where existing technology is taken but modified to be much cheaper or more efficient, even if the underlying tech didn't change that much. Uber is the prime example of taking existing infrastructure that was being under-utilized and put those cars/drivers to work.

4. Copycat concept. This is where you launch a coffee shop because you know people like drinking coffee. There's no total creativity because you know people will want comfy chairs, fast wifi and good coffee. You can pattern your store off successful coffee shops. Taking this concept even further, if you don't want any creativity, you open a franchise, as you discard all notions of creativity instead of having guaranteed corporate mandates on what you should and shouldn't do. You've outsourced your creativity.

Quote:Quote:

My current work largely involves creation. I create new things that have never existed before, both in concept and finished product. I meet people all the time in my industry (language education), but I've never met a single one who has created a new tool that they use for their work. They simply recycle existing concepts that they've either been trained in, read about or are so blatantly obvious that everyone seems to use them. Every language textbook I've ever seen absolutely sucks. To an untrained eye, many of them seem excellent, but with experience in the classroom, you'll quickly learn that they all offer little utility for contributing to successful learning.

Interesting observations. I don't have any experience in your space, but might I wager a guess that those people who often create language textbooks are often masters/PHD's degrees in language, but have little experience acting as a language teacher for beginner and intermediate students in an actual classroom environment? Learning is a concept that fascinates me. You can have a textbook that is factually correct, but if the lessons are dry, boring and do not engage the students, then retention of the topic will go way down. Student engagement is very important if you want them to internalize your teaching, otherwise they will simply recite what is necessary to pass an exam, but they haven't genuinely mastered the lessons. That is where creativity looks to apply original concepts, modify them as they are field tested (or in this case, classroom-tested) and adjust the program accordingly based upon real-world feedback.

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I don't write all this just to brag, but rather to point out why you're unlikely to create a revenue stream that makes it easy to be location independent. Unless you are capable of creating that which has rarely been imagined and never been created, you're going to struggle.

Being creative is hard. Being creative for an extended period of time is even much harder. Most people overestimate their ability to sustain creativity, even if it is something as "easy" as writing a daily blog. Creativity burnout is real for many people, which is why most people can't and won't be location independent through creative means. There are people who can do drop-shipping and consulting services over Skype, etc., but to be long-term creative takes some SERIOUS discipline and a desire to find new muses for your creativity.

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The second best option (to creating a business based around a line of original, problem solving products) is to learn a skill that can be done from anywhere with a reliable Internet connection.

The problem with this option is that (a) you have to learn a skills and (b) you have to become good enough at that skill to earn a decent living despite competing with literally everyone who has an Internet connection and an ounce of ambition.

Part of the challenge of exchanging time for money, instead of time for the creation of new products that are eventually sold for much more money, is that the non-creative route (working for others in trained skill) will always have some cheaper worker who can compete on price, especially in the 3rd world. Being in a field isn't good enough. If you want to make money, you need to be at least in the top 25% of workers in your industry. Be MUCH BETTER than your cheaper competition, that way you don't have to compete on price. Charge a premium value, but learn mastery-level skills. This a long game. You have to be willing to invest in teaching yourself the skills to command a premium price.

Quote:Quote:

I'm not kidding when I suggest that you talk to CleanSlate.

I'll strongly second that suggestion. CS has been very helpful in bouncing ideas off of for a new consulting business I'm starting up. Talk to him and get a list of questions together.

Quote:Quote:

But unless you are creative, motivated and selective enough to envision and create a product that will generate revenue (enough to justify the time, money and energy you've committed) or capable and driven enough to follow through with learning an in-demand location independent skill, you're best bet is teaching English online.

A lot of creativity is not necessarily having original thoughts (though that is important) it is that you must have a SYSTEM of self-discipline that encourages creativity. Can you wake up early in the morning? Can you turn off your cell phone and put it on Airplane mode when you need to write at least 10 pages of content today? Can you decline the invite from friends to go hang out? Being creative is often about self-sacrifice long enough to focus the mind, putting aside the distractions and attaining the mental space necessary to discover new ideas.

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The other options are just really poor. For example, writing e-books won't earn you money no matter how good or useful your books are if you don't have the platform in place to drive sales. If you want to earn income selling books, either be a famous celebrity or spend five years providing value via a blog first. Same goes for online courses, etc.

Most e-book sectors are already played out at this point. There's too much noise to break through the crowd for most people. It might provide you a small stream of income, but for most, it can't be considered primary income to life off of. Online courses, if they are for a very valuable market sector that you have unique insight to, might have room for growth. A class on investing, for instance, if you have experience working as a financial trader is an example of a high-priced, low-volume product that can sell. People are always willing to pay money to make more money. This is best done when you already have experience in an industry where you can prove you know how to make money. The best marketing strategy is results if you're going after an online course. Can you show your prospective students that you can deliver?

John Michael Kane's Datasheets: Master The Credit Game: Save & Make Money By Being Credit Savvy
Boycott these companies that hate men: King's Wiki Boycott List

Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value. -Albert Einstein
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#29

Location independent work

"Ebooks" is just a packaging of information.

If you've been reading about selling ebooks, you're likely reading the wrong places. And even those internet marketing hucksters and their "sell an ebook" courses, will still tell you that the product isn't what matters, it's the problem-solution-marketing combo.

Ebook is information marketing.

That's a very common issue with most who want to earn "online monies" and who only learn online. They become focused on methods and goals and not nearly enough on skill.

Don't learn to sell an ebook, instead learn:

1. How to create a highly converting landing page (Conversion Rate Optimization)

2. Writing ad copy that sells, so you can get visitors to your landing page (Display Marketing and Search Engine Marketing)

3. Creating an information website and/or blog around your product (Webmaster/Content Manager)

4. Engaging customers and prospective customers on social media (Social Media Marketing)

5. Creating shareable and engaging content (Outreach Marketing)

The above are real job positions in real businesses and agencies.

Instead of learning "how to make and sell a $7 ebook", you would be much better served approaching it from the angle of trying to be the best at one of the above fields.

I would recommend interning or getting a student job at a digital agency. It really helps to see how real businesses break down the digital marketing process.

The real entrepreneurs, who Suits write about, that's another ballgame. For every 1 of those, there 100 who make a living being digital marketers. Many times the two overlap. Usually associates team up and create some kind of product and market the hell out of it with combined efforts. This can be everything from a fad product to creating video courses. If you're a marketing wiz, you can make almost everything work.
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#30

Location independent work

Quote: (09-21-2017 11:18 AM)John Michael Kane Wrote:  

Engineers, programmers, artists, product designers, writers, etc. all have to use different methods to will nothing into something.

These careers all combine a degree of skill and creativity. Some people in these fields lean heavily towards the skill side and only a small number really engage in creativity as a large part of their job. For example, an engineer that spends his days crunching the numbers to ensure that the next bridge his team builds doesn't collapse isn't creating anything new. He's putting his knowledge and skills to use to help with the building of a fairly routine structure.

My brother is an electrical engineer and I'd estimate that his work is about 5% creative. The other 95% is participating in meetings (to share from his knowledge of what is possible and impossible, recommended and not recommended, affordable and cost-prohibitive)putting the actual pieces of a design together and then testing finished products to make sure that they work. Only a small portion of his work day goes into devising solutions that are not repetitive and routine in nature.

Product designers are generally going to fall much more into the creative zone for their day to day work, which is why you'll rarely meet a professional product designer.

Product design usually involves investing a ton of time and usually money into something that is completely unproven.

Of the companies that are large enough to sustain this type of development, this work is generally done through their R&D department, which I'm guessing mostly employees people who are there to practice a specific skill, not create. They'll spend a lot of time research potential market demands, testing ideas out, and building prototypes, which are all skills more so than creative functions.

I'm guessing that even in a big company, there are at best only a handful of people who are actually tasked with thinking about the next big idea (if any at all). I think it's far more likely for a company to empower people who come up with an idea (despite what their real job tasks are) and help them develop that idea than specifically assign people to trying to think something up, as creativity tends to happen on its own schedule and is hard to do as a job.

Artists, if they are creating logos, for example, a high degree of creativity goes into their work, as each product needs to express a certain uniqueness. Watercolour artists, on the other hand, practice the skill of turning a real world scene in a finished painting. Not much creativity there. It's 99% skill.

Writing is also more of a skill than a creative function, especially if doing non-fiction. Good fiction will be good because of the ability of the writer to create a story that doesn't bore you because it's new and therefore interesting.

Non-fiction is far more about practicing the skill of doing good research and then clearly communicating concepts and information concisely.

Quote: (09-21-2017 11:18 AM)John Michael Kane Wrote:  

Quote:Suits Wrote:

I am a creative person. I didn't really begin to tap into this feature of who I am until about three years ago.

Question: Was there any particular step(s) you took to discover and apply your creativity? A book? A course? Some observation(s) you made about the world? I'm always curious as to how people find their creative muse.

I spent my whole life probably giving many people the impression that I was a guy who simply complained about everything.

In reality, I was using people as sounding boards to try to solve the problems I saw in the world.

But due to a lack of skills in the requisite areas, I was unable to actually solve any problems most of my life.

In university, I attended the same school as my older sister and she suggested that I come work at the on-campus dining hall where she was the lead student manager. Working there annoyed the fuck out of me, because I was highly aware of a great number of efficiencies that should have been easy to correct.

I also viewed myself as a talented person whose true abilities were being wasted, which resulted in no lack of frustration.

Around the second semester there, I volunteered to write up a report detailing areas that could be improved upon for the dining hall. I later found out that the next year (after my sister graduated and was replaced as lead student manager) that nearly every one my suggestions had been acted on that following year and with good success.

I learned a valuable lesson from that experience. First of all, the best way to get promoted and be in a position to solve problems was to shut the fuck up, demonstrate serious people skills and be the model employee that senior management would feel comfortable putting in a position of minor authority.

Unlike my sister (who is one of those people that is organized and precious and is good at school, but not much else) I lacked the ability to do any of those things. My biggest area of lacking was socially. Eight years of homeschooling and having a high enough IQ that my head was nearly permanently stuck in the clouds made it hard (and to some degree, continues to make it hard) for me to relate to other people, especially ordinary every day people.

I recognized this deficiency and worked hard to improve upon it, but as recently as 2013, my personality and limited growth in the requisite leadership skills to succeed in a management role continued to trip me up.

I realized that my best shot to find satisfaction in work was not to wait for someone else to hire me for a job that I would enjoy doing, but rather to create an ideal job for myself.

Discovering my ability to create within the educational industry was more fluke than anything else.

I finally got tired of doing teaching jobs where I was handed curriculum that didn't work, didn't fill class time and seemed to be created by people who'd never spent any time in a classroom themselves.

I told myself, "I can do better than this" and set out to do just that.

In that process, I learned to take an idea through several cycles of testing and create a product that not only worked well, but could be easily explained to and understood by other teachers.

Initially, I simply planned to create some methods for my own use as a teacher, but after seeing the success of some of my ideas when I implemented them in the classroom, I soon realized that I had a gift that would be best utilized by creating products to share with other teachers, rather than limiting myself to simply producing materials for my own personal use.

My main source of inspiration is having my own time wasted in various useless language classes I've taken over the years and also by just a handful of language learning experiences that happened outside of the classroom that were fundamental in helping me make quickly language acquisition progress.

Once I determined and proved that you can have 90% of students communicating with confidence in a new language after only 22.5-45 classroom hours, I decided that it was a crime for any student to spend a semester in a language class that achieved anything less than the ability to speak the language. (Note that it takes much longer for a person to memorize the necessary vocabulary to speak fluently in all situations, but students over the age of 7 can learn enough to function in a new language in well under 50 hours of classroom time).

Quote: (09-21-2017 11:18 AM)John Michael Kane Wrote:  

Quote:Suits Wrote:

Since then, I've realized that I'm not sure if I've ever met anyone who actually does create. I know those people are out there (watch enough Shark Tank episodes and you'll see a few), but they seem incredibly uncommon. My best guess is that there are far more people capable of noting a business opportunity and who have the drive to see it through.

When it comes to businesses, there are four general flavors in my experience as an entrepreneur, listed from hardest to least hard:

1. Original concept. That is when a whole new product space is developed. The Telegraph for communication would be an example. This brings to mind your example of Shark Tank people creating a whole new product/market space where one did not previously exist.

2. Iterative concept. That is when existing technology or a business concept is updated. For instance, landline telephones to cell phones. Dumb cell phones to smartphones.

3. Efficiency concept. That is where existing technology is taken but modified to be much cheaper or more efficient, even if the underlying tech didn't change that much. Uber is the prime example of taking existing infrastructure that was being under-utilized and put those cars/drivers to work.

4. Copycat concept. This is where you launch a coffee shop because you know people like drinking coffee. There's no total creativity because you know people will want comfy chairs, fast wifi and good coffee. You can pattern your store off successful coffee shops. Taking this concept even further, if you don't want any creativity, you open a franchise, as you discard all notions of creativity instead of having guaranteed corporate mandates on what you should and shouldn't do. You've outsourced your creativity.

I love the film The Founder because it shows a real creative process better than any movie I've ever watched. Two brothers set out to create a highly efficient kitchen service.




This is what creativity looks like. Notice, that unlike slapping watercolours on a canvass, it's a process of trial and error. You don't exactly go into it with a clear solution in mind. Rather, you come into it with a problem and you test hypotheses as to what could be a possible solution.

This particular scene shows a 6 hour process, which I would consider a very quick turn round time. The solutions I work on involve months of turn around from idea, through prototype building and testing, which is a multi-cycle process unless you get it perfect the first time. The creative process for many things can stretch out much longer, years or even decades.

There are two more points that stand out from that film, but the first contains spoilers, so only read the bold if you've already seen the film or don't care about spoilers.

In the film (and the real life story on which it is based), the man who is ultimately successful is not a creative person. He's simply a man capable of recognizing a good idea when he sees one. You see several times in the film that other people bring him new ideas that he chooses to implement, but you never see him invent anything himself.

The creative guys who came up with the business concept that Kroc turns into the biggest fast-food chain in the world got screwed in the end because while they had the creative ability, they lacked the drive and business savvy to grow their small business into a national chain and couldn't handle the stress of fighting to maintain control of the business they'd poured all their passion into.


The second point is that the McDonalds business went against many business assumptions throughout it's history. Instead of introducing better, more comfortable chairs, they actually innovated uncomfortable chairs to reduce the time people stayed camped out at a table.

In reference to the point above about creating a coffee shop that is better run and more responsive to customer needs than its competition, sometimes the money is in not responding to customer needs (at least not entirely), but rather finding ways to minimize costs while retaining customers. The drive-through window is genius, as it allows restaurants to sell food at regular prices without having to pay rent for a larger dining area or delivery drivers and allows fast-food joints to continue selling at a point in the evening where it's unprofitable to keep the dining room open (but still profitable to keep the kitchen open).

It's a perfect example of going against the grain (taking away the dining room experience and table service from customers), but making more money because the benefits being able to pick up dinner quickly on the way home was something that kept customers coming back, despite the departure from conventional wisdom on how to run a restaurant.

Tim Hortons in Canada has been very successful by offering a drive-through window as a coffee shop, since coffee costs almost nothing to brew and a coffee-shop's biggest liability is customers who sip a $1 coffee for 5 hours while they take up valuable real estate inside the venue.

There's a reason why there are far more Tim Horton locations in Canada than Starbucks. It's not because people don't like $7 sugar bombs. It's because Tim Horton's has a superior business model (in my opinion).

Quote: (09-21-2017 11:18 AM)John Michael Kane Wrote:  

Creativity looks to apply original concepts, modify them as they are field tested (or in this case, classroom-tested) and adjust the program accordingly based upon real-world feedback.

Exactly.

Quote: (09-21-2017 11:18 AM)John Michael Kane Wrote:  

Being creative is hard. Being creative for an extended period of time is even much harder. Most people overestimate their ability to sustain creativity, even if it is something as "easy" as writing a daily blog. Creativity burnout is real for many people, which is why most people can't and won't be location independent through creative means.

That's why I approach it with the expectation that it will happen at it's own speed. I just maintain a product testing regiment and allow the ideas to come to me when they want to. Due to the slow pace of product testing, I always have a backlog of ideas to work on when I'm in the mood to create, when I'm not, I just rest up or go out to enjoy some socializing or otherwise keep myself healthy.

Nothing will kill off the creative juices faster than not living a balance lifestyle and failing to take good care of myself.

For me, the best recipe for having a productive day is getting started with a good protein heavy breakfast.

I'm the King of Beijing!
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#31

Location independent work

Suits that post above was gold. I repped you for it.
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#32

Location independent work

Do you think teaming up with someone is a good idea? Or do you think it's hard enough as it is to make enough money before splitting profits?
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#33

Location independent work

Quote: (09-13-2017 09:18 AM)Shimmy Wrote:  

There is a huge demand for people to write articles / web content.

please school me. how? where do you start?
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#34

Location independent work

Quote: (09-23-2017 10:47 AM)the chef Wrote:  

Quote: (09-13-2017 09:18 AM)Shimmy Wrote:  

There is a huge demand for people to write articles / web content.

please school me. how? where do you start?

PM Cleanslate and politely request some suggestions and points. This is his domain.

I'm the King of Beijing!
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#35

Location independent work

Quote: (09-23-2017 10:47 AM)the chef Wrote:  

Quote: (09-13-2017 09:18 AM)Shimmy Wrote:  

There is a huge demand for people to write articles / web content.

please school me. how? where do you start?

Begin with capitalizing your sentences.

I'm serious.

You will never make it if you can't even be bothered to do that.
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#36

Location independent work

Suits hit the nail on the head.
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#37

Location independent work

From OP's first post, I'm unsure if he wants to go the self-employed route or a location-independent job working for someone else, but if it's the latter there are job boards where you can find remote and work-from-home jobs:

remote.co
workingnomads.com
https://angel.co
weworkremotely.com
http://remoteok.io

Quote: (08-18-2016 12:05 PM)dicknixon72 Wrote:  
...and nothing quite surprises me anymore. If I looked out my showroom window and saw a fully-nude woman force-fucking an alligator with a strap-on while snorting xanex on the roof of her rental car with her three children locked inside with the windows rolled up, I wouldn't be entirely amazed.
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#38

Location independent work

Thanks for the links Goldin Boy, i'll check them out. I'm open to both really it depends what is the best option out of the two for my knowledge and skill set. Another question here, what about bookkeeping? is this something people do remotely? At first glance i thought it wouldn't be but then i have read a few things that suggest it's possible.
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#39

Location independent work

One final question. What IT Skill is the best for working remotely? This could be a vague question but i'm looking at a few things and wondering what courses to do which would suit working remotely.
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#40

Location independent work

Quote: (10-07-2017 11:37 PM)benji Wrote:  

One final question. What IT Skill is the best for working remotely? This could be a vague question but i'm looking at a few things and wondering what courses to do which would suit working remotely.

I'm not sure there is a "best" one for working remotely.

Still, server administration and monitoring, network admin where you remote monitor instead of deal with connections on-site, web development and so forth can all be done remotely. The only real challenge to doing remote I.T. work is if you have a really crappy home or traveling internet connection where it is so bad that you can't get work done.

My internet was so awful in Manila at the hotels and malls, that I had to camp out at Burger King to get any work done and it was still awfully slow. Make sure you plan for reliable connections so you don't lose your job due to downtime!

John Michael Kane's Datasheets: Master The Credit Game: Save & Make Money By Being Credit Savvy
Boycott these companies that hate men: King's Wiki Boycott List

Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value. -Albert Einstein
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#41

Location independent work

Quote: (10-07-2017 11:44 PM)John Michael Kane Wrote:  

Quote: (10-07-2017 11:37 PM)benji Wrote:  

One final question. What IT Skill is the best for working remotely? This could be a vague question but i'm looking at a few things and wondering what courses to do which would suit working remotely.

I'm not sure there is a "best" one for working remotely.

Still, server administration and monitoring, network admin where you remote monitor instead of deal with connections on-site, web development and so forth can all be done remotely. The only real challenge to doing remote I.T. work is if you have a really crappy home or traveling internet connection where it is so bad that you can't get work done.

My internet was so awful in Manila at the hotels and malls, that I had to camp out at Burger King to get any work done and it was still awfully slow. Make sure you plan for reliable connections so you don't lose your job due to downtime!

Thanks for the reply John Michael Kane, is doing this type of work remotely hard to come by in your opinion?
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#42

Location independent work

It depends upon your skill level and connections, like any job. If you search on Youtube, there's a host of videos explaining jobs that can be remotely, with links to websites that promote remote work. I would personally apply for and get hired at one of these types of jobs BEFORE traveling so that you're not running out of bankroll, traveling in a foreign country and trying to find a job all at the same time. Now would be the time to start your search prior to hopping on a plane IMHO.

John Michael Kane's Datasheets: Master The Credit Game: Save & Make Money By Being Credit Savvy
Boycott these companies that hate men: King's Wiki Boycott List

Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value. -Albert Einstein
Reply
#43

Location independent work

Quote: (09-19-2017 11:45 AM)Suits Wrote:  

The problem with pursuit of income (outside of working for another person) is that unless you are a creative person capable of seeing a problem, devising a solution, developing that new idea into a finished product and then creating a successful sales and marketing plan, you're unlikely to ever succeed at anything other than working for other people (who have a combination of those skills or money to afford to hire people who do).

This is a very good point. I see it at myself. After some time I see many patterns in a system and how to operate inside it or make it more smooth for me. In some cases I see improvement to the system trough some experience from other fields I have. But that's it, its an improvement.
I'm great with people, that's why I work in sales and I catch up things very good. Sometimes a little bit slow but then I go deeper then most - goes back to the pattern thing.

So I know the how to do but not what to do. There is my question for you. If I'm correct you did develop your idea since you went to China as a teacher. How do you think change your environment did help you to improve those skills of be creative?
When I look at German / Austrian society compare to others, we are well organised but we lack fresh and new ideas. Because the people are to scared and keepers of the things they have. So when you change the country / culture you maybe have more opportunities to see that you mostly hold back or just don't see in an over used environment.

We will stand tall in the sunshine
With the truth upon our side
And if we have to go alone
We'll go alone with pride


For us, these conflicts can be resolved by appeal to the deeply ingrained higher principle embodied in the law, that individuals have the right (within defined limits) to choose how to live. But this Western notion of individualism and tolerance is by no means a conception in all cultures. - Theodore Dalrymple
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#44

Location independent work

Quote: (10-08-2017 10:46 AM)Parzival Wrote:  

There is my question for you. If I'm correct you did develop your idea since you went to China as a teacher. How do you think change your environment did help you to improve those skills of be creative?

I've actually spent about half of the last 12 years living in China, so it's the environment that seems most normal to me at the moment.

Solving problems is simply in my DNA and its what I'd want to do no matter where I lived. I don't think my location has anything to do with my level of creativity. Often when you travel to a new place, you have a burst of focus where you have a million new ideas, but that doesn't mean that any of them are valuable.

Rather, I've simply spent my life looking at things and thinking, "I could make this better."

Of course, most of the time, you don't have the opportunity to prove it (for example, even if you think you could improve public transport, its unlikely that anyone in an actual position of decision-making is going to implement your ideas.

Fortunately, in my very last 20's, I identified a niche that I did have the power to make better.

I'm the King of Beijing!
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#45

Location independent work

OP, start applying to any and all job that is remote, pays you enough to get by and helps you develop valuable skills. There are many job offers on the “digital nomad” boards.

Don’t start a business without working experience, unless you have a high IQ, high discipline and high money management skills. Realize that most nomads fail to thrive financially. The obvious reason is that they overestimate the value they have to offer, their self discipline or how well they can handle money.

If you just want to have a remote job that pays minimum wage so you can go abroad for a year and have some fun, by all means. If you want a future as an international playboy, focus on getting valuable skills and salesmanship - and than realize that for every success story you’ve read 100 people have failed.

The overwhelming majority of people who try lack some skill or talent they need to make it work. Don’t let this be you. Play it smart.

Worst case scenario: find a shitty remote job that pays a lot and build savings to fund your travels.
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