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Should I rent, go travel, buy a home - or something else? (While building a business)

FastNAwesome

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Hello fastlaners. Having some hard time - would really appreciate your advice.

Recently, I've been shaken from comfort due to landlord's argument with contractors and new neighbors, which broke over my back. I've been told to leave the place I paid for on a 1-day notice (or live in a flat that's under construction!)

Yeah, they can't do that, but I naively thought "the sooner it's started, the sooner it will be finished".

Now contractors spite them by dragging on for weeks, all the while I'm overstaying my welcomes at friend's places.
To add to this, I should be recovering from muscle tearing, not dragging my things around.

So I'm having a "F**k this" moment, and need a solution.

What I came up with:

1) I need to get busy increasing my income asap. It's been growing slow and steady but that won't do now. If I was earning as low as $6-8k/mth, the issue would not exist. I'd rent a really nice place, or even go to a hotel for a month until I figure what next. I'd also be able to finance buying my own place.

So yeah, time to stop tinkering with "just enough", and get busy building a business.

2) While I do this, I need to stay somewhere with decent working conditions. This is where I need your advice or point of view. Should I:

- Look to rent another place. Prices have soared so I'll be paying about 50%-100% more. But if I'm really serious about building a business, that should become chump change rather quickly, right?

- Go travel the world. It's what I always wanted to do anyway. How conductive is it to building a business? Is it a distraction? Or it's irrelevant when you're really focused?

- Look to buy my own place? Almost everyone is telling me to do this. I've been renting for over a decade, could have purchased my own place by now. But is it a slowlane thing to do now, while my income is "just enough"? Isn't it better to invest the monthly pay into ad spend or something else productive? And I could barely afford this, so buying a house that pays itself off is not an option.

- Go on a month long holiday and hope the contractors finish by then. Stay where I am, but work so hard as if I'm homeless and hopefully by the end of the year be able to move wherever I want.

- Another idea that didn't cross my mind?

Thanks for any response.
 
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Patrick Jones

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"Digital nomad" is the label for those that work remotely while travelling. I did that for 3 years.

Throughout Southeast Asia you have locations like Chiang Mai, Bangkok or Ubud where heaps of them spend their time and you can very easily find co-working spaces and accommodation. Going from one hotspot to the next, you'd be walking on the "digital nomad trail".

Those locations won't give you the most intense travel experience ever, but they are a good starting point because they are so accessible. Once you've got your basic Thai down and bought a local 4G SIM card, you can also prop your laptop up next to a rice paddy in the most remote area of the country.

For a start you just pick any location on the Banana Pancake Trail that provides good working conditions (i.e. not the Full Moon Party on Ko Pha Ngan).
 
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floridaman

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Sounds like an opportunity to turn shit into sugar. I feel like there's certain times in life when you're staring at the open door to traveling long term, going on an adventure. It sounds like life has thrown you one of those opportunities.

What do you do for work? And how old are you? If you work online like I do, and you feel this deep need to see the world and go on a quest, go get it out of your system. I did a month long Euro trip when I hit 30, and it was incredible. I work as a UI/UX designer, and I've been considering working overseas for 6 mo-1 year just because... why not? I want to have that experience.

I know a lot of people will say that you're avoiding life by traveling, it's a waste of time, etc. But I think if you do it right, and you plan it out, it can be REALLY constructive and life changing. I think the major key is to still work and study and stay on top of your game while you're galavanting about.
 

FastNAwesome

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What do you do for work?

Internet marketing and web development. So I would like to have my own place to come back to, but yes, other than that I'm a pretty adventurous type. And can work from anywhere with internet.

and you feel this deep need to see the world and go on a quest

I absolutely do, and always think about it. If I was younger, I'd go backpacker style for sure.

But now I'd prefer some more comfort, so I keep postponing it until I'm earning "enough". And also concerned that enjoying travel before my business is established would be like buying a car I can barely afford.

But...since living in my home city is getting expensive anyway, I might just as well do it.

Thank you especially for this - it got me thinking:

Sounds like an opportunity to turn shit into sugar. I feel like there's certain times in life when you're staring at the open door to traveling long term, going on an adventure. It sounds like life has thrown you one of those opportunities.
 
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Patrick Jones

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But now I'd prefer some more comfort, so I keep postponing it until I'm earning "enough".

A guy from the US once told me: "People back home ask me how I can afford to travel all the time. I tell them I can't afford not to travel."

Southeast Asia is a region where a bowl of steaming hot noodles or a plate of curry will cost you a dollar or less. Granted, you might need 3-4 per day because of the smaller portions, but still, that's your basic food intake covered for $5 a day. And it's good fresh food.

With little effort you'll find a place to stay for under $500 a month. Add on top of that some money for visas, travel and your vice of choice (beer, weed, hookers, ...) and you're still under $1000 a month. What's your current rent?
 

floridaman

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I always thought one of the attractive things about working online while traveling is the arbitrage opportunity. If you aren't paying rent, car payment, car insurance, utilities, cable, etc etc etc and you could sell a lot of your stuff, while living in a cheap place and making $USD... why the hell not?
 

Soder

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It is clear that you want to travel and the decision has already been made by your subconscious, or so it seems.

But think about the balance between traveling / working: You can go somewhere and work 100% focus for a while or you can be traveling continuously which will take away the focus of work.

There are incredible sites and very very cheap, ie:
 
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FastNAwesome

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But think about the balance between traveling / working: You can go somewhere and work 100% focus for a while or you can be traveling continuously which will take away the focus of work.

Thank you, a great point to keep in mind.
 
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floridaman

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As an update to this... thanks to COVID, I was able to live/work in Mexico for a few months, and Miami Beach for a month.

What did you end up doing @FastNAwesome ?
 

Johnny boy

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Go find a nice and cheap place in Mexico near the water and build websites and make 5 grand a month.

Swim, tan, rent a scooter, hit the gym, learn to play the guitarron, mess around with the local chicas and work a few hours a day.



I built websites when I was vacationing last year in Thailand. Me and my girlfriend would sit out by the ocean while the restaurant owner's dog, Laté, would sit by us and wag his tail while we sipped mojitos and worked online before hopping on a rented scooter and exploring the island. One of the best times of my life. And I made money while doing it.
 
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peterb0yd

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Go find a nice and cheap place in Mexico near the water and build websites and make 5 grand a month.

Swim, tan, rent a scooter, hit the gym, learn to play the guitarron, mess around with the local chicas and work a few hours a day.



I built websites when I was vacationing last year in Thailand. Me and my girlfriend would sit out by the ocean while the restaurant owner's dog, Laté, would sit by us and wag his tail while we sipped mojitos and worked online before hopping on a rented scooter and exploring the island. One of the best times of my life. And I made money while doing it.

Funny you mentioned this, I was honestly considering this as an option a little over a year ago.

My options were:
  1. Go to Playa Del Carmen and freelance
  2. Move to Santa Monica in LA and work a full-time software job
I ended up with option two. In hindsight, taking a full-time job and living here for a year has definitely introduced some lifestyle creep into my life. However, I love all the beautiful women here too much to leave just yet. It's ridiculous how attractive the women here. Kinda unreal. I figured the opportunity to network was also better here than in Playa Del Carmen. I can't say whether that is true or not as I have never been to Playa Del Carmen, but I'm still enjoying life and have met some really cool people.

However I will say this, building a business on the side of my full-time software job has been a long and arduous process. I've tested several business models that I ended up discontinuing. Each one took about 2-4 months to see through. It's so much faster to test a business model when you can dedicate 5-7 hours a day on it versus 2-3 hours. I say 5-7 hours because I always have had to freelance a few hours a day in order to pay bills.
 
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FastNAwesome

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Hey @floridaman , I didn't login in a while. Well, I've been here and there, and then finally returned to the old flat when works were finished.

Thanks for asking, as this thread reminded me that I should be pursuing owning my own place. Or at least traveling and enjoying since I pay the rent anyway.
 

Private Witt

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Funny you mentioned this, I was honestly considering this as an option a little over a year ago.

My options were:
  1. Go to Playa Del Carmen and freelance
  2. Move to Santa Monica in LA and work a full-time software job
I ended up with option two. In hindsight, taking a full-time job and living here for a year has definitely introduced some lifestyle creep into my life. However, I love all the beautiful women here too much to leave just yet. It's ridiculous how attractive the women here. Kinda unreal. I figured the opportunity to network was also better here than in Playa Del Carmen. I can't say whether that is true or not as I have never been to Playa Del Carmen, but I'm still enjoying life and have met some really cool people.

However I will say this, building a business on the side of my full-time software job has been a long and arduous process. I've tested several business models that I ended up discontinuing. Each one took about 2-4 months to see through. It's so much faster to test a business model when you can dedicate 5-7 hours a day on it versus 2-3 hours. I say 5-7 hours because I always have had to freelance a few hours a day in order

How is the Santa Monica area during Covid times? I'm pondering moving down that way in a few months but will first chill out in the desert of NE San Diego county for a few months. In my industry events are being held in the LA area still which I need, total ghostville up in Portland and Washington where I'm based now.
 
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peterb0yd

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How is the Santa Monica area during Covid times? I'm pondering moving down that way in a few months but will first chill out in the desert of NE San Diego county for a few months. In my industry events are being held in the LA area still which I need, total ghostville up in Portland and Washington where I'm based now.

No in-person events that I know of, but the beach and pathways up and down the coast always have people walking around so it's been easy to stay social. That has been a life-saver for me.
 

Kevin88660

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Hello fastlaners. Having some hard time - would really appreciate your advice.

Recently, I've been shaken from comfort due to landlord's argument with contractors and new neighbors, which broke over my back. I've been told to leave the place I paid for on a 1-day notice (or live in a flat that's under construction!)

Yeah, they can't do that, but I naively thought "the sooner it's started, the sooner it will be finished".

Now contractors spite them by dragging on for weeks, all the while I'm overstaying my welcomes at friend's places.
To add to this, I should be recovering from muscle tearing, not dragging my things around.

So I'm having a "F**k this" moment, and need a solution.

What I came up with:

1) I need to get busy increasing my income asap. It's been growing slow and steady but that won't do now. If I was earning as low as $6-8k/mth, the issue would not exist. I'd rent a really nice place, or even go to a hotel for a month until I figure what next. I'd also be able to finance buying my own place.

So yeah, time to stop tinkering with "just enough", and get busy building a business.

2) While I do this, I need to stay somewhere with decent working conditions. This is where I need your advice or point of view. Should I:

- Look to rent another place. Prices have soared so I'll be paying about 50%-100% more. But if I'm really serious about building a business, that should become chump change rather quickly, right?

- Go travel the world. It's what I always wanted to do anyway. How conductive is it to building a business? Is it a distraction? Or it's irrelevant when you're really focused?

- Look to buy my own place? Almost everyone is telling me to do this. I've been renting for over a decade, could have purchased my own place by now. But is it a slowlane thing to do now, while my income is "just enough"? Isn't it better to invest the monthly pay into ad spend or something else productive? And I could barely afford this, so buying a house that pays itself off is not an option.

- Go on a month long holiday and hope the contractors finish by then. Stay where I am, but work so hard as if I'm homeless and hopefully by the end of the year be able to move wherever I want.

- Another idea that didn't cross my mind?

Thanks for any response.
Rent another place.

You need some stability to move things forward.

Avoid huge commitment like buying a house until you make it.

You cannot reverse the decision of buying a house easily, versus renting a place that is bad. Always choose the option that cost you the least assuming that it will go wrong.

Do not travel and then build a business to suit the lifestyle. Try your best to build a location independent business first, and then decide if you want to travel based on how it will affect the business.

Prioritize on the business first before it pays you to buy other areas of personal freedom later.
 

BD64

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Buy a home, rent out your extra rooms/units. Life-changing.
 
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