Goodbye Rat Race Part 2

Continued From: Goodbye Rat Race Part 1

Making A Go Of It…

A few doors down from my office there was a company that sold fresh fish to many of the restaurants in the local area.  I was friends with one of the guys who worked there and he had taken several trips to Thailand and Indonesia. We would take long lunches once or twice a week and discuss what life abroad would be like. He had spent several months in Indonesia and returned with more money than he left with so I was always keen to hear what he had to say. It was at this time when I first started to think it was truly possible to live in an exotic destination like Thailand or Indonesia.

My life changed rapidly – it was a month between the time I made the decision to travel abroad and the time did so. One day I woke up and thought, “Why not? What’s stopping me?”

It wasn’t so difficult, really. I would sell my business, stash some of the money for my eventual return and live happily ever after. Two weeks later, a business in the area made an offer. Within a few days, the owner cut a check for thirty grand. In addition to the lump sum payment, I’d receive $1200 a month for three years. Not a bad pay off considering my initial investment was under a grand.

Some people might plan and plan and plan until they can plan no more but my time was limited. So I hawked and gave away most of my belongings, packed up what was left, said goodbye to my soon-to-be ex-girlfriend and bought a plane ticket to Thailand. Three days later, I was on a plane and on my way to the Land of Smiles.

My initial plan was to take a year spending the time getting to know myself again. Free from the stress of day-to-day life, bills and work, I’d finally have plenty of time to enjoy life. Things don’t always turn out how you expect them to, though.

For the first six months, I traveled around the country, making it my mission to sleep with as many brown-skinned girls as humanly possible while taking in the sights and entrenching myself in the culture. I was excited and had enough money to last for a year or two. I loved the freedom of waking up when I wanted, doing what I wanted, when I wanted and traveling where to places people only dream about or see in the movies.

Months of partying and sleeping with whores has its disadvantages though (not really), especially when you‘re not earning. The daily ATM withdrawals to pay for my travels and satisfying my whoring desires was starting to dent my savings and the first pangs of worry began to set in. I was having so much fun; I actually forgot the day would eventually come when I would need to work again.

After nearly a dozen years, I could easily get by on the $1200 a month I was being paid. But when I first came to Thailand, I was on a rampage and money wasn’t important. If I knew then what I know now…


It was at the nine-month point when my monthly payment stopped coming. I checked and rechecked with the bank to make certain there wasn’t a mix-up but there was none. So, at 4AM, laying in bad with a girl I scarcely knew, I called the buyer.

Me: ”Hey, I haven’t received my payment for this month. What’s going on?”

Buyer: “We’re having some problems. Some of the customers don’t want to do business with us and some are pissed off that you left.”

Me: “Well, that’s not my problem – it’s yours. You knew this would happen. A deal is a deal and I want my money.”

Buyer: “I’ve got a wife and a new baby. I’m really sorry but we don’t have the money to continue paying you.

Me.: “All is know is you better transfer this months payment. If you’ve got problems maybe we can work something out but I want my money. I need my money!”

My payment was transferred – it was the last I received. Gone was my cushion of $1200 a month to cover the bare necessities.

What I didn’t know was that I could have had easily had his bank guarantee payment for the business. I thought about going back home to sue for what was owed but I didn’t want to go back home and I knew it could take years to reach a settlement. Even then there was no guarantee I was going to receive any money. You can’t squeeze blood from a turnip…

I promised myself I wouldn’t tap into my savings so I began teaching English to pay the bills. I did this for three months; the most I made in any one month was a paltry $750. Teaching English in Thailand is a joke and while I liked interacting with the Thai students, the pay was barely livable. When a friend offered a job paying $1000 a month plus a studio apartment, I jumped at it and quit immediately.

The job lasted for six months and then there was no more work. Just like that, I was out of work, once again.

I had begun tapping into my savings and felt the time was right to go back to the US and regroup before I ended up with nothing left. I was bummed but knew that coming home was for the best.

The trip home was a blessing in disguise. I quickly found a temporary job in a union warehouse making $600 a week so at least I was making money again. I did this for two weeks and was offered a position in the companies Portland division. I turned it down. I had every intention of going back to Thailand and Portland was the last place I wanted to be.

During the time I was working in the warehouse, I learned about working in Alaska in the fishing industry.

“It’s hard work,” I was told. But you can make some good money in a short period of time.”

I quickly applied for the position and three days later, I was on a boat in Alaska working as a deckhand. I knew absolutely nothing about commercial fishing. This was a good thing.

I worked 16-20 hour shifts, seven days a week with virtually no down time. I constantly stunk of fish and had to contend with 20-40 foot waves. Not exactly my idea of a dream job but after 10 weeks I had $15,000 in my pocket.

The morning after I returned, I bought a ticket to Thailand.

While working on the ship, I became friends with a kid who was a bit of a computer nerd. He asked if I had ever considered using the internet to make money. For some reason, the thought never crossed my mind – but this time around, I knew that I was going to need something to keep me going.

Upon returning to Thailand, instead of partying and blowing cash like I did in the past, I lived on the cheap. I found a small, one-bedroom apartment for $90 a month, stocked up on cheap food and scoured the internet for ways to make money. I tried selling on Ebay, Amazon, Yahoo and a plethora of other websites. Eventually the hard work paid off.

It took three months before I got an order. I dedicated myself to making money instead of spending it and slowly but surely, I made a respectable income. It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t always fun but I’m now reaping the benefits I travel throughout Asia; sometimes for business, sometimes for pleasure and work when I choose to.

There are those who have ideas and can follow through with them and there are those who ask “how do I do this, how can I do that, will this work?” You have to take chances and be smart about things. With a bit of luck and the right marketing, you can turn an idea into something profitable while at the same time enjoying life abroad.


Nick Gatsby has lived in Bangkok for nearly ten years. He has done everything from teaching English to exporting Thai goods to his current love, photographing and writing about Southeast Asia .

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