[yankeetravels]

Gents, I haven't found this topic yet on the forum but I think it's an important one for beginners and veteran nomads alike. One topic that has hit close to home for me the last couple of years is death. I lost a close loved one a few years ago before I took a trip for a few months abroad. When I got back, one of my close friends ended up losing a parent, so our friend group basically had to be there for him as best we could.

Even on the forum, we have seen terrible and unfortunate death unfold from the Private Man losing his battle to Roosh shockingly losing his sister. These things along with a near death experience of my own have caused me to reflect on who I really gave a shit about in my life.

After my near death experience, coming home, and thinking about who I would miss the most if I went back abroad long-term, I came up with less than 10 names of people that I would deeply and truly miss. Basically people that I would go to battle for. I'm not exactly a social butterfly but I realized despite me being a more introverted person, this list was a lot shorter than I expected.

The close loved one was one of them. Only about half of those were family, so I figure the only ones I'd probably have to make a serious choice about coming back or staying around for were my parents if they got sick with the other spouse already gone or they were on their death bed.

I have older relatives that are probably on their last chapter and have questioned if I would come back for some of their funerals if I was away. So, the question I ask the forum, particularly for those that have been away from home for a while, is if a relative or close friend was sick, had some horrible event go down back home, or was on their death bed, or even dies, would you go back home for them? It can be anything from short to long term for that answer.

[the-dream]

Yes, for all of my close friends and family.

On a slightly related topic, my dream is to have a successful business abroad and hire my friends from back home in their areas of expertise and let them live the dream with me. Has anybody here ever attempted this and what was the outcome?

[RoastBeefCurtains4Me]

(12-10-2018 02:00 PM)the-dream Wrote:  

Yes, for all of my close friends and family.

On a slightly related topic, my dream is to have a successful business abroad and hire my friends from back home in their areas of expertise and let them live the dream with me. Has anybody here ever attempted this and what was the outcome?

Once you hire a few friends, you will like the idea less. It's very hard to mix business and friends or family. They almost never have the same attitude towards working hard and minimizing costs as you do as the business owner. They are looking to take it easy and get as much pay as possible, and start viewing you as stingy. It gets worse from there.

I would only have a family member or friend as a business partner if they had money at stake themselves, and even then it's hard. It's best to keep business and personal relationships separate.

[MongolianAbroad]

(12-10-2018 07:01 PM)RoastBeefCurtains4Me Wrote:  

(12-10-2018 02:00 PM)the-dream Wrote:  

Yes, for all of my close friends and family.

On a slightly related topic, my dream is to have a successful business abroad and hire my friends from back home in their areas of expertise and let them live the dream with me. Has anybody here ever attempted this and what was the outcome?

Once you hire a few friends, you will like the idea less. It's very hard to mix business and friends or family. They almost never have the same attitude towards working hard and minimizing costs as you do as the business owner. They are looking to take it easy and get as much pay as possible, and start viewing you as stingy. It gets worse from there.

I would only have a family member or friend as a business partner if they had money at stake themselves, and even then it's hard. It's best to keep business and personal relationships separate.

Agreed.

Definitely would not hire friends or give them any perks related to business. You can end up hurting your business and losing friends on top of that. Upside on the other hand, is limited.

Regarding family, maybe, but only if your sibling is on the same page, you both have ownerships stakes/skin in the game, and there is a written out, expressly spelled out division of responsibilities. Otherwise, you end up duplicating tasks and some tasks won't get done, through no particular person's fault really, but simply due to a lack of organization on the part of everyone. Also, one person needs to own 51% and the other person, in addition to owning 49%, needs to acknowledge the 51% owner as being the one who calls the shots (but takes input from the other party). You could also do a 50%/50% split, but in that case as well, it needs to be understood between the two of you that one of you is the final decision maker, and this informal agreement is dangerous unless your maturity is high and your bonds are ultra close.

The upside has to be there, though, in order to include family. Don't include them either if the upside just isn't there for everyone. Everyone's strengths should contribute to the business.

[MongolianAbroad]

Regarding the original topic of the thread, I'm hoping this doesn't happen...and that I can make it back to the States without anything like this occurring.

I don't think there's much I could do if something happened, but yes, I'd go back for any of my immediate family members.

That's it.

[LookingForEurope]

(12-10-2018 01:09 PM)yankeetravels Wrote:  

So, the question I ask the forum, particularly for those that have been away from home for a while, is if a relative or close friend was sick, had some horrible event go down back home, or was on their death bed, or even dies, would you go back home for them? It can be anything from short to long term for that answer.

Only for direct family members, until things are settled for my part. Having to go back home is a disgrace for any european man. We should be on top of the world and instead we are begging for scraps while we are being invaded. I'm out of the west, if I only had the money I would leave Europe today in the early morning, but I'm poor so I have to stay for now. Of course, God gives bread to the toothless.

(12-10-2018 02:00 PM)the-dream Wrote:  

On a slightly related topic, my dream is to have a successful business abroad and hire my friends from back home in their areas of expertise and let them live the dream with me.

I thought about that many times, and I think it is a very poor choice. They will drag you down and you will have to make decisions. At least you don't have the ominous idea of hiring family members, which would ensure a catastrophic drama.