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Working remotely and having more control over my schedule (they don't always come together) allowed me to work on my side project until it was making enough mon

Working remotely and having more control over my schedule (they don't always come together) allowed me to work on my side project until it was making enough money to cover my living expenses. The only problem is that now, after running my own business for a few years, I cannot phantom the idea of going back to a regular job. In that sense, my career as an employee is over.

mrhappyunhappy 9y ago
Same here. I was remote for some years then went freelance. Now, I can never imagine going back to a regular job. Being on my own time has allowed me to spend as much time as I like with my newborn son. Did it hurt my career prospecs? Most likely. Would I change anything I'd I could do it again? Absolutely not. For some people their work is their life, for me, family is everything.
- osrec 9y ago
  Great stuff! I commend your attitude and wish more people adopted it. Do you have any side projects cooking away as well? I just ask, because there's a chance you may end up with a big win late in your career which evens out the finances against a regular day job.
  - mrhappyunhappy 9y ago
    I dable in crypto (trading). I should probably not mention that here as HN will be down my throat in a jiffy haha.
sshagent 9y ago
sounds about right. I've been remote for coming up to 10 years. I've had numerous offers for more than double my current salary, and meh I like the 4+ hours a day extra i have free. Thats glorious, but "first world problems" i want to change jobs :(
wsc981 9y ago
Starting next year, I plan on living in Thailand with girlfriend and daughter. From then on I plan to work remotely. We are currently building our house there and hopefully it will be finished around March. The house is pretty cheap and therefore will be paid for in full (no mortgage or loan). While I work remotely I will try to make savings of at least 300.000 USD in the next few years. These savings will be, for the most part, be invested in index-funds. An average profit of 7% per year should be more than enough to cover our lives expenses. In reality we should be able to live while spending much less, so the index-funds should still increase in value year-on-year. So in some way I hope to 'retire' before I reach my 40 years of age. So there will be little concern if I will stay employable. At the same time I hope that from then on I can focus on my own projects, just for fun and hopefully some profit.
- Roritharr 9y ago
  This sounds like bliss to me. How did you get the citizenship of Thailand?
  - pretentiousPear 9y ago
    +1 it does sound great :)
  - wsc981 9y ago
    In order to apply for citizenship I would have to live there for at least 5 or 10 years or so. So for now that is not in the cards and I'll just use a visa. I am considering a Thai Elite paid visa. A marriage visa would also work of course.
  - himlion 9y ago
    You can't but there are some options for a long term visa, easiest is an elite visa where you pay a few thousand dollars for 5 years of stay. Cheaper is a visa to take lessons in Thai language, that way you can get a visa for a few years.
    - clw8 9y ago
cyberferret 9y ago
After working for myself for > 30 years, and the last 10 remote - I think I am basically unemployable now. In the sense that, similar to yourself, I don't think I could ever work for someone again. All the niggly details about office work in a big organisation now horrifies me. I had to assist a colleague with a government tender he was submitting last month, and even after one meeting with a government committee, I had to tell him I was out. Just spending a couple of hours in a meeting room with people that had no idea about anything going back and forth and playing politics and power broking almost had me running, screaming out of the room. Its very similar to another scenario I am in. I haven't had television in our house for nearly 10 years, and every time I go to a friend's place and they have it on, I am astounded by the sheer volume and regularity of nonsense and ads being blared at you. When you are immersed in the situation day to day, it is easy to become numb to it and just accept it - but when you take an extended break from it and then come back, you really notice it. And don't talk to me about commuting. I have friends that still regularly commute 2 hours each way every day for work. My commute is walking downstairs to my home office. I think of all that time people spend sitting in cars and public transport, and wonder about all the lost creative time they could be spending doing something with.
- isostatic 9y ago
  You're lucky. My office is upstairs, meaning the commute is downstairs to the kettle, then back upstairs to the desk, twice as long as yours!
  - cyberferret 9y ago
    Haha - My kettle is upstairs!! But then again, my wife (who also works part time from home) brings me my cups of tea...
    - mrhappyunhappy 9y ago
      You two made my day. My office is down the hallway but I'm rarely in it, wife thinks working from home means I have all day every day free to help her do x and y.
goldfeld 9y ago
ahem.. fathom.

mrhappyunhappy 9y ago

Same here. I was remote for some years then went freelance. Now, I can never imagine going back to a regular job. Being on my own time has allowed me to spend as much time as I like with my newborn son. Did it hurt my career prospecs? Most likely. Would I change anything I'd I could do it again? Absolutely not. For some people their work is their life, for me, family is everything.

osrec 9y ago
Great stuff! I commend your attitude and wish more people adopted it. Do you have any side projects cooking away as well? I just ask, because there's a chance you may end up with a big win late in your career which evens out the finances against a regular day job.
- mrhappyunhappy 9y ago
  I dable in crypto (trading). I should probably not mention that here as HN will be down my throat in a jiffy haha.

sshagent 9y ago

sounds about right. I've been remote for coming up to 10 years. I've had numerous offers for more than double my current salary, and meh I like the 4+ hours a day extra i have free. Thats glorious, but "first world problems" i want to change jobs :(

wsc981 9y ago

Starting next year, I plan on living in Thailand with girlfriend and daughter. From then on I plan to work remotely. We are currently building our house there and hopefully it will be finished around March. The house is pretty cheap and therefore will be paid for in full (no mortgage or loan). While I work remotely I will try to make savings of at least 300.000 USD in the next few years. These savings will be, for the most part, be invested in index-funds. An average profit of 7% per year should be more than enough to cover our lives expenses. In reality we should be able to live while spending much less, so the index-funds should still increase in value year-on-year. So in some way I hope to 'retire' before I reach my 40 years of age. So there will be little concern if I will stay employable. At the same time I hope that from then on I can focus on my own projects, just for fun and hopefully some profit.

Roritharr 9y ago
This sounds like bliss to me. How did you get the citizenship of Thailand?
- pretentiousPear 9y ago
  +1 it does sound great :)
- wsc981 9y ago
  In order to apply for citizenship I would have to live there for at least 5 or 10 years or so. So for now that is not in the cards and I'll just use a visa. I am considering a Thai Elite paid visa. A marriage visa would also work of course.
- himlion 9y ago
  You can't but there are some options for a long term visa, easiest is an elite visa where you pay a few thousand dollars for 5 years of stay. Cheaper is a visa to take lessons in Thai language, that way you can get a visa for a few years.
  - clw8 9y ago

cyberferret 9y ago

After working for myself for > 30 years, and the last 10 remote - I think I am basically unemployable now. In the sense that, similar to yourself, I don't think I could ever work for someone again. All the niggly details about office work in a big organisation now horrifies me. I had to assist a colleague with a government tender he was submitting last month, and even after one meeting with a government committee, I had to tell him I was out. Just spending a couple of hours in a meeting room with people that had no idea about anything going back and forth and playing politics and power broking almost had me running, screaming out of the room. Its very similar to another scenario I am in. I haven't had television in our house for nearly 10 years, and every time I go to a friend's place and they have it on, I am astounded by the sheer volume and regularity of nonsense and ads being blared at you. When you are immersed in the situation day to day, it is easy to become numb to it and just accept it - but when you take an extended break from it and then come back, you really notice it. And don't talk to me about commuting. I have friends that still regularly commute 2 hours each way every day for work. My commute is walking downstairs to my home office. I think of all that time people spend sitting in cars and public transport, and wonder about all the lost creative time they could be spending doing something with.

isostatic 9y ago
You're lucky. My office is upstairs, meaning the commute is downstairs to the kettle, then back upstairs to the desk, twice as long as yours!
- cyberferret 9y ago
  Haha - My kettle is upstairs!! But then again, my wife (who also works part time from home) brings me my cups of tea...
  - mrhappyunhappy 9y ago
    You two made my day. My office is down the hallway but I'm rarely in it, wife thinks working from home means I have all day every day free to help her do x and y.

goldfeld 9y ago

ahem.. fathom.