Location Independent Poverty

26th February, 2010 at 12:54 | Posted in ESL Teaching, Location Independent, Personal Development | 11 Comments
Tags: Building Revenue, ESL Teaching, Goals, Location Independent, Travel

My hiatus from the Blogging Blueprint series has not been self-imposed. I want to be writing, I want to be working on the online development stuff, I want to be achieving something that I’m passionate for but the reality of my life is that I’m poor. I cannot afford to sit at a cafe using wifi any more. I can barely afford to feed myself and if it weren’t for my boyfriend or my dear girlfriend Brittany Sims I would have no where to live.

What’s truly frightening about this is that I am living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The last anyone heard I was still travelling around Thailand and Cambodia, volunteering in Phnom Penh and loving the city because I was sure that I was returning to China, I was sure that I would be relocating to Guangzhou to work at a major university and creating a new life there but then life happened. Life that has nothing to do with being online.

In the week before I was due to return I fell in love and made a dramatic choice to relocate to Phnom Penh permanently. I had already fallen in love with the city, the new man simply gave me enough fuel to find a way to make it happen but love doesn’t pay the bills and love doesn’t sustain your body. The truth of things for me are dismal and quite scary, getting work has been the greatest challenge in perseverance and endurance.

To be clear, this is all my own doing because of my last minute decision to follow my heart and my lack of funds after travelling for so long so it’s important to understand that a normal rational person probably wouldn’t do this. I’m spontaneous and I believe in instinct, I believe in love and I believe that China wasn’t a place that would give me happiness.

This is the no-bullshit account of the realities of living location independent and how truly difficult it can be. If I want to be honest in my success I must also acknowledge the down sides. For me, it’s not simply a case of returning to Australia, back to the real world to get work and save up my money to travel again. This is my lifestyle, these choices, these impromptu moves are what my life is made of, being a foundation traveller means going through these trials and overcoming the tribulations that come with living in foreign countries.

Cambodia has no infrastructure for English teaching employment. The majority of schools do not offer visas, accommodation or living adjustment support and finding work at a reputable school is next to impossible without first knowing someone.You literally fly blind hoping that you won’t be scammed. In many ways China has set me up with the right tools to read between the lines but anyone on the outside would have no hope. This is not a country to come to looking for work unless you’re cashed up and willing to play the waiting game.

The primary reason stems directly from the huge number of NGO’s who recruit volunteers from the world over. Because so many people actually pay to work for free very few schools are willing to pay a salary or provide any kind of support. It makes my kind of foundation travelling extremely difficult. I am lucky that I do have a friend here helping me and I am versatile in finding work by door-knocking or web-searching but the going’s slow and the opportunities few and far between.

Throughout the last few weeks, as the depression ebbed and flowed, what I’ve been aware of is how difficult maintaining an online stream of income is when you can’t get access to the internet. It is extremely difficult to work when a lack of money prevents you from splurging on the luxury of working online. If I had already achieved an income stream online I think I would be telling a different story; I’m still trying to build it and without money to live from I cannot achieve what I want.

It’s a catch 22. I can’t afford to spend money working online but I can’t afford not to if I ever hope to prevent this from happening again!

My vision is to get work, get accommodation and begin again; building, working, writing, and keeping my spirits elevating trusting that I will progress at the rate natural for my progression. As my boyfriend, Sanni, kindly reminded me: “Without these lows times we’d never appreciate the value in the high times.”

11 Comments

JM, thanks for your comment and I welcome you to From Whoa to Go!
I agree that I should’ve had all this sorted before I embarked on my change in plans but the whole point to who I am is that I was already travelling before I began looking at passive streams of income and wanted to incorporate them into my present lifestyle of foundation travelling. This move has taught me to see just how vital they are now but I am not without resources. At least I can teach. I appreciate your tips to getting my work uploaded from free, the realities of doing that aren’t quite as easy here but they have given me some ideas. I certainly do feel that an ebook is possible…

Comment by Caron Margarete— 27th February, 2010 #
Hey Kirsty! Welcome to From Whoa to Go! Spontaneity is definitely what I’m all about, it’s the voice of our instincts screaming loud and clear and I’ve never been one to shy away from a challenge. Thanks for your well wishes!

Comment by Caron Margarete— 27th February, 2010 #
Thanks Joel, welcome to From Whoa to Go! I’m glad you’re able to benefit from the insights I have expressed. Nothing is easy about what I’m experiencing but I’m learning every day how resilient I am!

Comment by Caron Margarete— 27th February, 2010 #
Erin, welcome to From Whoa to Go!
I certainly hope that you don’t let this put you off, use it to fuel knowledge and preparation and always make sure you keep funds aside for spontaneity, when you’re finally on the road I promise you everything is more expensive than you could imagine, and the purchase of all the little things really do add up!
Good luck, I trust that you will be successful as will I in finding work!

Comment by Caron Margarete— 27th February, 2010 #
Ah my girl, where would I be without your loving support?! Certainly at a loss for sure! Thank you! xo

Comment by Caron Margarete— 27th February, 2010 #
Thank you for sharing such an honest account of your personal situation. Very brave of you to allow others to learn about the realities and hardships of this life/career path as you experience them. Looking forward to seeing how it all unfolds, and I have every confidence in you.
Good luck, and keep your chin up. You are always welcome on my couch

Comment by Brittany Sims— 27th February, 2010 #
Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by CaronMargarete: Location Independent Poverty: when it’s not smooth sailing! New post: #FromWhoatoGo http://ow.ly/1bttd…

Trackback by uberVU - social comments— 26th February, 2010 #
We are just about to start a new nomadic life where we aim to make an income on the road ourselves, so I’m trying not to let your post put me off too much =) We have decent savings to get us started and actually, it could be that it isn’t until you actually run out of money that you make things happen.

Well done on following your heart and taking a risk though -I’m sure it’ll work out in the end. Good luck with finding teaching work- keep hunting, and try to get online somehow!

Comment by Erin— 26th February, 2010 #
Glad to find your site. It’s a good reminder about some of the realities of being location-independent. Best of luck and looking forward to reading how things progress.

Comment by Joel— 26th February, 2010 #
Hey, just found your log and I like it. I love doing the stuff that doesn’t make any sense… it usually makes for the best stories later and the biggests opportunities to grow and challenge yourself. Good luck finding work in PP and keep at it with the online income stuff.

Comment by Kirsty— 26th February, 2010 #
What’s usual when you plan to be location-independent is to have a passive income stream, usually made by your blog or selling a book or something. In this case, I think you were too risky going with no way to sustain yourself. My advice is to work as much as you can being offline, and then go online to upload all that info. Try to “borrow” some wifi signal so you are able to upload info for free, and look for more work with no cost. Be smart, you can take advantage of this situation, you can write about the experience and publish an e-book. It may not give you money but it will give you visibility.

Is easy to say all that in the confort of an office though. Hope you have luck!

JMLeon.-

Comment by Travelling Lost— 26th February, 2010 #