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Quitting my job for christmas ?

Lumyo

New Contributor
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Aug 31, 2015
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Hello everybody !

Im a 24yo french CG Artist living as an expat in Hong Kong since 2 years, and working on an animated feature film. I love my job, the people Im working with, our project and the city where Im living, but Im getting tired of working 50h a week and to have only 7 days holiday per year, for a pay quite small, half used to pay my rent (rents are very expensive here in Hong Kong). I know thats not the life that I want. Even if coming here has been a formidable experience for me, and helped me to get a bit less introvert, there is too many thing I want to do in my life to stay stuck like that so many time in an office !

2 weeks ago I came back from a trip in Bali where spent a week with a local friend. That trip has been mind-opener for me ! By spending time there with local people, far from my daily routine, I realized that it would be a great place to take a new start. I loved the people, and I loved the place !

At the end of december, the contract of my current flat will expire and I will need to choose between leave my job and move to Bali to take a new start, or find another flat and stay stuck here for at least one more year.
I'm now spending all my free time reading, finding a way to build an income that I could have from anywhere to make me able to move there (because I dont have big savings), and thats how I arrived on this forum where I already learned a lot !

For now, my goal is to get freelance jobs and build a base of regular customers.
The cheap life in Bali would make me able to free lots of my time compared to the amount of hours Im working now, and would make me able to focus on other projects aside to find a way to keep growing my income.
 
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BKMoney

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Feb 18, 2014
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First start freelancing right away. Make a profile on Upwork, PPH and Freelancer.com and secure some clients. That way you will be able to replace your day job income right away.
Second start working on your big idea cause freelancing will only help you to pay your bills but won't make you rich. If your aim is building a passive income I know there are some online marketplaces out there where you can create CG content for and you get payed for each sale. And I know that there are companies that sell graphic packs with precreated models and they are making tons of money so that might not be a bad business model. Some food for thought...
 

Lumyo

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
33%
Aug 31, 2015
6
2
32
First start freelancing right away. Make a profile on Upwork, PPH and Freelancer.com and secure some clients. That way you will be able to replace your day job income right away.
Second start working on your big idea cause freelancing will only help you to pay your bills but won't make you rich. If your aim is building a passive income I know there are some online marketplaces out there where you can create CG content for and you get payed for each sale. And I know that there are companies that sell graphic packs with precreated models and they are making tons of money so that might not be a bad business model. Some food for thought...

I already opened my profile on Upwork and started sending applications ! No result for the moment but I'll keep doing it until I get some !
I guess the first jobs are the most difficult to get because I dont have any review yet on my profile !
I start thinking already about what I'll do next, but for the moment my first goal is to be able to leave my job to free more time ! Once I'll have more time, I'll spend some of my time working on other projects, because I have already some ideas ! =)
 
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BKMoney

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Feb 18, 2014
53
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I already opened my profile on Upwork and started sending applications ! No result for the moment but I'll keep doing it until I get some !
I guess the first jobs are the most difficult to get because I dont have any review yet on my profile !
I start thinking already about what I'll do next, but for the moment my first goal is to be able to leave my job to free more time ! Once I'll have more time, I'll spend some of my time working on other projects, because I have already some ideas ! =)

Ask a friend to hire you on Upwork and leave you your first feedback. As a person who is hiring people on Upwork on a regular basis I can tell you that having positive feedback (even a single one) makes a huge difference. Also a clean cover letter right on point increases your chances of being hired a lot.
And if you are aiming to replace your day job income by freelancing realistically you will have to work more, not less. Cause with your day job you have your weekends and evenings off, but when freelancing clients expect you to be available all the time and you must do whatever it takes to make them happy and that usually means working late and working on the weekends. So my advice would be to start looking for ways to build passive income instead of selling your time for money.
 

Lumyo

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
33%
Aug 31, 2015
6
2
32
Ask a friend to hire you on Upwork and leave you your first feedback. As a person who is hiring people on Upwork on a regular basis I can tell you that having positive feedback (even a single one) makes a huge difference. Also a clean cover letter right on point increases your chances of being hired a lot.
And if you are aiming to replace your day job income by freelancing realistically you will have to work more, not less. Cause with your day job you have your weekends and evenings off, but when freelancing clients expect you to be available all the time and you must do whatever it takes to make them happy and that usually means working late and working on the weekends. So my advice would be to start looking for ways to build passive income instead of selling your time for money.

Thanks for the advice ! Will probably do what you said and ask a friend to do that for me !

When I say I will have more free time, Im quite confident about it, because I dont expect to make lots of cash with freelancing, thats just the step 1 of my actual goals : Have enough to live in Bali (And I wont need that much to do it) .
As long as I have enough to live, I'll prefer refuse some works and keep some free time to work on my next step projects aside.
With my current job, if I calculate my hourly rate with my current pay, I earn about 10usd per hour. Im very confident in the fact that I can earn more that this rate quite fast.
So thats why in the short term Im expecting to have more free time that I can use to work on my next step projects.
Because Im expecting to earn more per hour and I will live in less expensive city.
 

HAL

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Speedway Pass
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Jul 23, 2015
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I also worked in film post (not a cg artist though) and spent some time working in Hong Kong also. When I was living in LA a good friend of mine who was in her 50's and working in the entertainment industry took me aside and said, 'Get out now." It's probably the best advice I've ever gotten. This type of work will suck the life out of you and is not sustainable when you get into your 30's, especially with everything going on with the visual effects industry.

I think you're smart to get out, but keep in mind that freelancing specifically for post-production really is a time suck as mentioned and it's hard to juggle even a few clients as there are only so many hours in a day and everyone wants a fast turnaround.
 
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Lumyo

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
33%
Aug 31, 2015
6
2
32
I also worked in film post (not a cg artist though) and spent some time working in Hong Kong also. When I was living in LA a good friend of mine who was in her 50's and working in the entertainment industry took me aside and said, 'Get out now." It's probably the best advice I've ever gotten. This type of work will suck the life out of you and is not sustainable when you get into your 30's, especially with everything going on with the visual effects industry.

I think you're smart to get out, but keep in mind that freelancing specifically for post-production really is a time suck as mentioned and it's hard to juggle even a few clients as there are only so many hours in a day and everyone wants a fast turnaround.

Oh really you worked in Hong Kong in the film industry too ! Thats cool ! =)
So how did it goes for you ? Did you followed her advice and left your job ? What are you doing now ?

Yay I dont expect to do freelance work forever ! As I said its just my first step to freedom !
 

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