I am the captain of my fate
I am the master of my soul
~William Earnest Henley
About 2.5 years ago, I decided to move to Belize. I just couldn't stand to wait any longer. Having been in love with this beautiful country for so many years, I felt I was just wasting away in a rat race in a toxic concrete jungle. I felt my kids were being poisoned by busyness and a culture immersed in hatred and violence. I needed out.
Ah, that's better.
I live now in the most beautiful place on earth. I wake up when I want, and I spend my days with my kids. I get in the car once or twice a week. People say I'm lucky. People don't believe they can do this. They think I'm crazy or incredibly strong. While both those things are true, anyone can live this life. I truly believe that. You just gotta make a plan.
If you've been following me for a while, you know that we came down with an overly ambitious plan. I want to tell you a little more about that so we can contrast it with what actually went down. I wrote an extensive business plan with my then 16 yo son. It was incredibly detailed and thorough. He's basically a genius and a brilliant writer. We wanted to start an eco resort that was focused on families and play. I mean play in the largest sense of the word. At some point I'll write a blog on play and how important it is.
Seriously, does it get more beautiful?
We were largely planning to crowdfund the venture. We had a bit of cash from the sale of our house but not a lot. I was super confident that this was such a wonderful idea that would bless so many people that it would just take off like wildfire. That's not what happened. I don't want to get stuck again on why (I spent a lot of months there). I just want to share that so you don't end up in a similar predicament. If you have a lot of money or a secure and reliable funding source, by all means go big! If not, don't just leap into the dark. There are definitely other ways to do this. I hope others can learn from the mistakes I made because, while we live in an amazingly beautiful place, we also live in a one room shack. We're gonna make it, but it's been touch and go.
Seriously, I'm standing in one corner taking a picture of the other corner. It's so tiny. There are 5 of us.
Sorry that's such shitty quality. It's getting dark, and I want to get this out tonight. No one said I was patient.
The work world is changing dramatically. More and more companies are offering telecommute options for a wide variety of jobs. More and more people are able to work as freelancers or consultants. Why pay for office space for an accountant when you can have a freelancer do it? Companies are realizing the benefits for them, and employees have long realized the benefits of a flexible work situation.
There are tons of online teaching jobs available, and that industry is very likely to grow. Of course, Steemit offers yet another opportunity for location independent income, and part of what makes it so brilliant is that people are making money sharing knowledge and ideas and beautiful creations. That's revolutionary. A growing interest in slow made, hand crafted everything is providing a variety of artists an opportunity to have flexible work. Artists creating everything from cake to guitars to paintings are finding that making their art and selling it on the Internet is a real option. Graphic design, writing, editing, mundane office tasks, and of course sales are all easily possible telecommute options.
Me, happily working from home
Once your income is location independent, you have a whole new host of options. You can work while your kids are in school and spend the rest of the day with them. You can trade work hours with your partner and homeschool or unschool. You can Airbnb your house and travel with your family. There are families who have been on the road slow traveling for years. They're called worldschoolers, and if you're unfamiliar with them, check it out. Many have discovered they can pay a month of rent in one country as well as any other. If you can work from your computer or phone, the possibilities are endless. You can even move to your own little paradise.
What do you think? Do you believe you can? I'm happy to help you figure it out! In part II, we'll talk more about how to find your own jam!
Your story is an inspirational one. Ive had a similar experience 😉Great writing and content. Resteemed and upvoted.
Haha. Very funny. I should say a similar experience. Eerily similar, perhaps?
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You are right, ideas are great- but many things aren't rainbows. The bigger the dream, the harder to execute. What your story tells me is that no matter how much I prepare, walk into it knowing I could fail but I also could succeed.
I wrote a piece the other month telling about how a lot of people try to drop everything and move to Hawai'i but it doesn't work like that. Everyone here has known each other for most of our lives, so if you come from somewhere else- you can wind up homeless pretty easily.
I know that boat, I'm also in a single room with two other people Im not related to, but we are close friends. I have a beutiful 31 story view, free electric, and other perks, but it does come at a price/trade for other things.
It's good to go big, but not wise to give up everything in pursuit of it when there's a lack of contingency plans.
You are right that telecommuting and non localized work is the way to go. That's one of my goals when I graduate, to be able to work from anywhere. I'm two years in, but that was the plan from the start. These are the things a person should consider when thinking about moving abroad in the future.
I think anything is possible. I really do, but my mindset wasn't right to accomplish such an enormous task. I was under a lot of stress. It would have been better to take one bite at a time. Perhaps move down with an easy online job lined up and then try to start the business one piece at a time.
I feel you're not at fault as we are all our worst critic. Many people jump at their dreams face first, and although securing stable income beforehand would have eased the burden some, your dream still happened. A lot of people don't get that far.
It's true. I definitely have balls. I can always turn things around. Much happier doing that here than I would have been there.
Being able to adapt to change and ammend plans is a skill in itself, because you were able to move already, you can focus more effort on working towards a telecommute job. You got this!
Thanks for the encouragement. Confidence is everything!
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STOPThank you! I really appreciate you reading my stuff! I'm trying to get my groove going!
That would be awesome. I'm enjoying the writing, and cash money would also be fabulous.