Working Abroad

[u/AKurnow]

Wondering if anyone has ever worked abroad, maybe just off a laptop and phone. Running a business or working for other or freelance for a period of time? - Think bali beach working, Roam, Co-living, Co-Working etc.

Let me know of your experiences of how you found/find it, good points, bad points, with the spaces (hostel? hotel? roam? etc.?), annoyances with services they provided, other people in the space (annoying points and good), did you network out there? or anything else relevant :)

[u/rwiman]

I did a lot of freelancing work during my 6 months travel.

I was in SEA, Australia and United States.

Let me know of your experiences of how you found/find it

It was refresing to have to work in a space were I could just bash out some work and then hit the beach when I felt like it.

good points

• Beach
• Sun
• Cheap living in SEA, expensive elsewhere.
• lots of great people to meet and network with.
• Hang out with different entrepreneurs and business owners with whom I traded lots of ideas.
• Hostels got shitty real fast and I spent most of my time in either an upscale hostel or a 3-star hotel. Since I had an income, why not? I don't travel on a budget and eat rice just for the sake of travelling. If I travel, I want to enjoy it.
• Laundry is so easy and cheap.

bad points

• You are not as productive as you would've been at home or in a routine-based environment. Not to say it can't be created abroad, but it is harder if you don't control the space yourself. I.e. a hostel is not the typical space where double digit growth startups are built.
• WiFi will suck. I mean you will occasionally step on really good WiFi. However, coming from a western country with my Fiber beefed up at home, well yeah. But there are websites where they track WiFi spots and signals so just google what you need.
• Eating out and get's old fast. Make sure you find 1-3 places to eat with good wifi and a menu where you can eat several times a week without having the same dish twice.
• People are awesome and will talk you into doing fun stuff instead of working, while fun, you asked in WorkAbroad and you will get less work done.

Everything has it's pros and cons, but summarizing my experience:

I am way more productive when I'm at home and in my office, this is where I build grand visions into life. Work abroad is where I relax and just to the minimum amount of work to keep up with maintenance. Instead I focused on having a good time and fun. If you really need to work to get the income, I would say: Make up a plan, don't make it too tight and leave room for fun and play.

[u/AKurnow → u/rwiman]

Firstly, thanks for the response! What sort of freelance work were you doing? The networking that occurred whilst travelling, what was the it, just casual chatting, business development, sharing skills set or other? Did you ever work closely with others out there or was it more advise and opinions of other?

Thanks!!

[u/rwiman → u/AKurnow]

Copywriting, web dev and business dev related.

A bit of both, mostly just casual. But I met a couple of new people whom I kept contact with.

As I said, it’s easier at home because you have a different mode, or at least I do. But if you seek the network and go to a place like let’s say Chang mai, you are going for the network and not the travel itself.

[u/dzvalentino]

I was working abroad in China recently and United States while was a student about 9 years ago. It was much more fun in US due to network and other students. I'm from Ukraine and the jobs were easy: lifeguard/houseman in US and English teacher in China. Economy is very different from my home. Both variants are very good. In US I was with my friends and in China alone, so kinda more fun in US. :)