I’m A Kid In A Money-Making Candy Store!
November 11, 2013 by admin
What’s even better than traveling the world, spending money right and left to get where you’re going; eating every culture’s delicious cooking… sampling their wine…. right in the valley where it was harvested?
Far better than that is to sit in a room with a hundred others of your “somewhat advanced” generation, and know that the world is right at your fingertips, just waiting to be plucked and plonked into your own personal future. We, wanna-be expats here at this International Living conference, are all such enthusiastic optimists! Preparing to start over in a foreign-speaking country of our choosing, trying to decide which money-making opportunity to zero in on, and how much time we wish to devote to our new career. As opposed to how much hammock therapy is necessary. The beauty of it is that we truly can choose the outlines of a new life abroad and, for the next two days, will have so many experts and such great resources to draw upon.
It’s 6 a.m., here in Phoenix at the Fund Your Life Overseas Conference sponsored by International Living Magazine, and I’m bouncing with new ideas. Expect to see more frequent postings on this site as I try to capture the flavour of what it’s like to Start Over Again, as opposed to the many years that I spent thinking about it on the world trail, trying to figure out where I wanted to live when I grew up. Last month, I realized that it was time to cut to the question, pick a country…”Eeenie, meenie, minie, moe!” and just up and do it! I bought a one-way ticket to Montevideo, Uruguay. Why not?
Suddenly, this is me in motion, already so excited I can hardly sleep. Plus, I’m auditioning for a new job that gobsmacked me as I walked across the hotel lobby last night. Imagine that!? I merely reported to a conference official that the restroom doors were still locked in our networking area, and in the course of our solving that, she invited me to write for IL’s new publication, Income Stream, a column called “The First Year,” giving the fresh perspective of a newbie expat. Wow, I can do that because it’s what this blog and my Hey Boomers book has been about all along: how it feels to throw yourself out on an unsuspecting world and to survive most grandly.
The new ingredient to the expat angle is that you don’t have to go broke doing it. In fact, money is at the root of our decision to leave home in the first place. It just doesn’t stretch as far in this country any more, so most of us must become creative and proactive while we wake up and harvest the roses somewhere else. And boy, are there a whole lot of good possibilities waiting to be plucked up:
There’s a franchise called Tutor Doctor where you build and manage a network of tutors anywhere in the world; as well as programs for six-figure copywriting, travel writing and other ways to generate a living from your keyboard. Turnkey ecommerce businesses in a box, selling all sorts of drop-ship items, can be custom-designed or bought readymade with expert mentoring throughout. There are also careers in niche tour leading; international real estate investments, which you can now learn about just as they appear on the market; stock photography websites creating ongoing cash flow for your best vacation shots. And there’s always English teaching jobs, worldwide. Any one of these exciting ways to earn money can give you autonomy and freedom to make a moveable feast of your life.
Retirement could be the best job you ever had! And possibly, the busiest. But only if you want it that way. Hammock time is important too.
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