Suggest Me Some Non 9-5, Non Office Ways To Make A Living.

[stephaniee]

What is your skill set?

From the jobs you wannabe - I have the impression that you consider those 'jobs' are without a skills.

If that were the case you would be ebaying poker training videos while selling your book rights and doing the screenplay for the movie release.

There are easy ways to make money - but each has it's own special element of risk?

What is your attitude to risk?

can u give us some example of the ez ways to make money!

[Cuban]

can u give us some example of the ez ways to make money!

As the OP has not responded to requests for their skill set so more focused replies that might be of some real help culd be offered, one can only assume that the thread is more to do with wasting our free time than finding work time. But I have time in my day to waste on such a folly. Examples of easy money you want?

The problem with easy money is that in almost every case what appears as easy money is not easy.

Some make a career counting other people's money, generally this is called robbery. Consider most crimes: An interesting fact is that when most criminals are arrested for a crime (i'm talking about robbery and theft not J-Walking or unpaid parking fines) it is revealed that they have comitted crimes before, that they were not connected with. Lesson, if you consider such a route for easy money - do it once and then go straight. The stupid ones get caught - these days DNA traces and CCTV etc. make the perfect crime difficult - you have to be smart to get away with it. If you need to look at a public forum like this for guidance in crimes then you are not smart.

While looking at the other side of the law, drugs are good earners for a few, but the people selling nickel & dime bags make little real money in return for the huge risks that come from their peer groups and customers. Producing bulk product has it's own risks, again from people in the same line of business but more so from the law enforcement agencies. I don't think this is easy money unless you are making enough to purchase the real tools of the trade, personal army, helicopters with pilots, submarines with crew and political power on an international level.

Picking up money from the ground is probably the best return for risk 'profession', but as many people do this part-time as they go about their business it is difficult to carry out this vocation in built up areas. Better to seek gold in it's natural state, low skills required when you learn how to dig and tell gold from iron pyrite, South Africa's a good place to do this - oh - we are back to risk again.

Buying and selling is a trade that earns many easy money, the secret here is buy low and sell high. Pretty easy I would think. Best to avoid anything food related as it goes off and you have to store it or ship it. Anything electronic or mechanical as again it generally needs transporting and you have to pay people to haul it and they steal some, see earlier paragraph on theft.

Stock market can be fun, no product to handle, just electronic money and a phone or computer connecting you to your broker/dealer - as long as you are a good guesser - are you good at guessing games?

In real life people do trade the market based on positions of stars and reading chicken entrails (which is called 'haruspicy' by the way) but the best way to to have a real time feed of news and market prices (not delayed 15 minutes with Bloomberg TV etc.) and then IME an understanding of technical analysis and primary news. When set up you can buy orange juice (frozen in bulk) in the morning, sell coffee (2nd contract) in the afternoon and wonder why you are living on the street by the close of markets.

BTW, in my experiance haruspicy nornally tells me I am about to eat liver and bacon.

Oh - you could be a writer - easy 'job' just sit back - have ideas - write them down?

Maybe not an easy task for a one line poster with paw spelling !

Edited September 12, 2008 by Cuban

[london]

Wonderful post Cuban !!

[stanny]

Hi guys, need some suggestions on non-office, non 9-5 way of living. Next year, I am going to leave my job, throw out my clock and anything to do with alarms and live the way I want.

Some example of "jobs" that would suit my style of living are:

Novelist, not too realistic for me, I am no writer but can give it a shot.

Freelance journalist, maybe take a gig once in a while to pay rent?

Online poker player, tried this for a while, I am no good at all and I don't really want to depend on good internet connection

Private tutor, I hear Korea pays private tutors big bucks per hour. I can put in like 10 hours a week and still have time to live the way I want.

Ebayer, too competetive.

Okay, these are just examples. Basically if you have any suggestions that would fit my lifestyle that would be awesome. I don't believe in proper office fixed time jobs, they are creations of the modern society. No offense if that's what you want, we all have our own way of living.

Stanny,

IF (and its a BIG "IF") you are serious about this, you must have had some thoughts about what you are going to do, or how you are going to live next year?

You have a list that is predominantly made up of "intellectual" pursuits: novelist; journalist; tutor. You must have a reason for this based on some past experience....at least I hope you have.

The questions I would ask you are:

how old are you?

work experience (as in FULL-Time paid employment)?

education level?

amount of money you envisage needing per week/month/year?

your level of health?

your interests?

Without any of these, how can anyone give you an idea that is either realistic or practical ?

Please let us know, then perhaps you may get a relevant response.

Alright, since you guys need some basic info to get started on the suggestion. Here goes.

Age:23

Work experience: 2 years IT stuff

Education level: Bachelors in IT

Amount of money needed per week: I can live very minimally, general rule of thumb = a local's spendings + 30-40% extra (for a nice room).

Level of health: Pretty fit, I do alot of walking and don't smoke.

Interest: Reading (mostly Asian authors), playing online poker occasionally, traveling however not tourist style traveling but rather living in a place medium to long term and understand the way of living there. Also, listening to Bill Evans and Chopin on a rainy day while having a cold beer and contemplating what to cook for dinner.

That's it. No more 9-5, no more office, no more being bounded to one location. Also, no illegal stuff (thx anyway Cuban). What can I do?

Edited September 12, 2008 by stanny

[Soutpeel]

Hi guys, need some suggestions on non-office, non 9-5 way of living. Next year, I am going to leave my job, throw out my clock and anything to do with alarms and live the way I want.

Some example of "jobs" that would suit my style of living are:

Novelist, not too realistic for me, I am no writer but can give it a shot.

Freelance journalist, maybe take a gig once in a while to pay rent?

Online poker player, tried this for a while, I am no good at all and I don't really want to depend on good internet connection

Private tutor, I hear Korea pays private tutors big bucks per hour. I can put in like 10 hours a week and still have time to live the way I want.

Ebayer, too competetive.

Okay, these are just examples. Basically if you have any suggestions that would fit my lifestyle that would be awesome. I don't believe in proper office fixed time jobs, they are creations of the modern society. No offense if that's what you want, we all have our own way of living.

Stanny,

IF (and its a BIG "IF") you are serious about this, you must have had some thoughts about what you are going to do, or how you are going to live next year?

You have a list that is predominantly made up of "intellectual" pursuits: novelist; journalist; tutor. You must have a reason for this based on some past experience....at least I hope you have.

The questions I would ask you are:

how old are you?

work experience (as in FULL-Time paid employment)?

education level?

amount of money you envisage needing per week/month/year?

your level of health?

your interests?

Without any of these, how can anyone give you an idea that is either realistic or practical ?

Please let us know, then perhaps you may get a relevant response.

Alright, since you guys need some basic info to get started on the suggestion. Here goes.

Age:23

Work experience: 2 years IT stuff

Education level: Bachelors in IT

Amount of money needed per week: I can live very minimally, general rule of thumb = a local's spendings + 30-40% extra (for a nice room).

Level of health: Pretty fit, I do alot of walking and don't smoke.

Interest: Reading (mostly Asian authors), playing online poker occasionally, traveling however not tourist style traveling but rather living in a place medium to long term and understand the way of living there. Also, listening to Bill Evans and Chopin on a rainy day while having a cold beer and contemplating what to cook for dinner.

That's it. No more 9-5, no more office, no more being bounded to one location. Also, no illegal stuff (thx anyway Cuban). What can I do?

.....depends which locals you are taking about....My Mrs (a local) can do THB 40,000 a week shopping - + your 40%THB 56000/week...THB 224,000 month...not asking for much are you !!!!

[Merlin]

In the same vein as Rockspider, a term from the Anglo-Boer war used by the Brits to describe Afrikaners (comes from the guerrilla-style warfare they used, moving around in the hills). Neither is an expletive or downright derogatory term.

"rockspider" means something VERY different in Oz...

And yes, it's VERY derogatory and highly offensive.

[Jamie]

You are 23 and you are already saying "no more 9 to 5...no more office"? I think you need to be a bit more realistic. You have 2 years of IT experience. Most people here have more time in the bathroom than you have in work experience. Unless you plan on working in a low paying teaching job or marrying a 90 year old woman who is wealthy, then I think your options are limited. Work in your home country and get experience.

[london]

Alright, since you guys need some basic info to get started on the suggestion. Here goes.

Age:23

Work experience: 2 years IT stuff

Education level: Bachelors in IT

Amount of money needed per week: I can live very minimally, general rule of thumb = a local's spendings + 30-40% extra (for a nice room).

Level of health: Pretty fit, I do alot of walking and don't smoke.

Interest: Reading (mostly Asian authors), playing online poker occasionally, traveling however not tourist style traveling but rather living in a place medium to long term and understand the way of living there. Also, listening to Bill Evans and Chopin on a rainy day while having a cold beer and contemplating what to cook for dinner.

That's it. No more 9-5, no more office, no more being bounded to one location. Also, no illegal stuff (thx anyway Cuban). What can I do?

Thanks for the info.

From my perspective, I would pack up your bags and travel the world. At 23, with a qualification behind you and some IT experience, hey, you can get part-time or base level consulting work anywhere....and that will most likely be hours that YOU want to work.

IF you can truly "live minimally", then really there is nothing holding you back.

Why not?

Edited September 13, 2008 by london

[Sir Burr]

If you are of Chinese descent and can speak Mandarin; how about teaching westerners basic Mandarin that would be helpful in business? You could chuck in Chinese business ettiquette, too.

[JSixpack]

IF you can truly "live minimally", then really there is nothing holding you back.

Unless perchance it is the thought of "dying minimally" at an early age for lack of means for needed medical care.

Plans change. In the real world, you see, as opposed to the Peter Pan world of dreams, we (cough) age. And we tend to want different things as we do, like a good school for a kid, a car, a house, a competent doctor . . . .

Lazy young men with limited funds had best stay out of The Third World and not waste their time and future. There's a reason all these poor people want to migrate to the West. Take advantage of the opportunities there.

Edited September 13, 2008 by JSixpack

[maccaroni man]

I can't give you any ideas of what to do but what I can say is, you can do what you want. The most important thing is to change your frame of thinking from an hourly employee to a selfemployment. if you want to be independent and free from the 9to5 pay day then you must look towards the results of your labor rather than the work clock. what I am saying is working for yourself is a lifestyle it is not a job and in doing what it is you choose to do you may spend 70hrs per week tooling your trade and still be free to work when you please, travel, relax etc.... the way you spend your time will be up to you and if you can play and work and keep a roof over your head, food in your belly and live the life you want then you are on track if you can not meet your needs then you need to adjust, at the end of the day no matter what type of work you choose you will need to do the time. "there is only one way to coast; down hill"

[Cuban]

OK - something to work with....

Age:23 - Work experience: 2 years IT stuff - Education level: Bachelors in IT

Sounds like a case profile on Cheaters!Young enough to fail a few times on your path to easy money, but lack credibility to go it alone in big business - your questions here re-enforce this. IT skills are useful in many fields and my first thought is that you need to identify what you want to do using IT - but not IT in the terms of support or a 'systems' department. With two years experiance you should know that one job you did - it takes 18 months or so to know a job inside out. Contracting should be a fall back that is your get out of s@#$ option so maintain your CV - if this period of your life is a career hole I suggest you fill it with something. Indian call center springs to mind, not 9-5, well not in the Indian time zone.

Amount of money needed per week: I can live very minimally, general rule of thumb = a local's spendings + 30-40% extra (for a nice room).

If you set out to earn 1,000 Baht an hour you are likely to make 800 Baht and then have to pay taxes on that. I suggest you aim to earn more - then cut your lifestyle to suit when you know your disposable income.

I suggest you do some more self-study on your career choices moving forward, the good news is that you are not the first to question your path and there are books and web sites that will be of more practical use than a forum about Thailand. Try this book and this web site for starters.

Understanding your personality will help you place your face in the right job. Myers-Briggs. There are on-line versions of this test. Some employers run you through a few questions to get a feel for your type - if you can spot this and respond directly it shows you have a brain.

Level of health: Pretty fit, I do alot of walking and don't smoke.

Look at older people - health changes over time - either prepare for it or plan to die when you start to wear out, remember that the natural life span for the human animal was about 40 years. In the US there is an estimate that 20% of retirement income is spent on 'health', if you are looking to retire on 70% of your working income you need to start saving now. Take a look at a long term chart of stock market movements and tell me if you think such an investment for your retirement is a good idea or not. Savings for retirement are not part of disposable income.

Interest: Reading (mostly Asian authors), playing online poker occasionally,

Earn some easy money then you can loose play more often and read proper books.

....traveling however not tourist style traveling but rather living in a place medium to long term and understand the way of living there.

All very noble and 'Lonely Planet' of you but most of us here have been doing that a while now. Unless you have been travelling on other people's money (trust fund?) at 23 years with two years of work I seriously doubt you have travelled enough for this to be anything more that something to talk or blog about. Not enough for a book, but maybe a travel article for a lifestyle magazine. There are so many publications these days they will publish any old carp.

.....contemplating what to cook for dinner.

Cook books and cooking shows (hahahaha!) are popular - if you have a new angle. I understand that a bloke in Bangkok called Samak is looking for a new job - you might be able to tie up with him?

That's it. No more 9-5, no more office, no more being bounded to one location.

Night shift street sweeper?

Also, no illegal stuff (thx anyway Cuban). What can I do?

We await to hear how you progress.

HTH

[johnnyk]

Buy a beer bar.

Free beer

Free women

Sleep in in the mornings

Lots of friends.

That should work for a few weeks.

[bloody tiger]

land mine clearance on the thai/laos border in uttaradit province. Pays 45 baht per mine cleared. definately not office work!

If this doesn't suit you maybe you could film your own suicide...but be sure to make it unique or you'll never make any money.

[andyc2006]

I don't want people defining my reality.

The way I see it, you don't have a choice.

You have no capital, no time to devote to work, no skills, and no ambition (other than to avoid anything that might be difficult, such as waking up to an alarm clock).

That always leads to 1 of 2 realities:

1. starvation

or

2. capitulation, eventually accepting that you need to work for a living.

Up to you.

[andyc2006]

You have 2 years of IT experience. Most people here have more time in the bathroom than you have in work experience.

That's not fair.

I worked 15 years in the IT industry, yet still think I have more time in the bathroom than work experience.

I've been practicing that every day since I was born! How can you have more work experience than dumping experience (unless you're talking a "core dump" in IT)?

[stanny]

Private investigator? Provide detective services for farangs returning home to spy on their Thai gfs? Take some photos, follow her around, etc.

It seems from all the comments given, there is no escape from proper office jobs. At least, on a realistic level. But it's not that bad I guess, proper income for healthcare, savings, etc. I don't want to wake up at 30+ without any assets or proper savings. Maybe I should just accept the fact that this is it. It's just that sometimes I feel there's so much more to do outside. I always admired the people who could use a skill to make a living. The writers, concert pianists, poker players, etc. And here I am stuck in a similar traditional job my folks wanted me to have, the bankers, lawyers, and insurance agents.

I might just have to give Thailand a pass and find a casino job in Macau. Sure, it's fixed timing but at least it's one of my main interest areas and I'll be where all the action is. Thanks all!

[memkuk]

Collecting rent and interest works for me. You only have to "work" for about 30-40 minutes a day... and most of that is spent telling someone else to call your tenants or debtors for you.

Right on, Heng! That's exactly what I do, except that I don't even have to spend the 30-40 minutes a day: I let my wife do that. After being married for 28 years there is this element of trust. Besides that, we put the properties on the name of the kids, who are grown up and live their own lifes, so we don't even needed to set up a company. The only thing I did was write a computer program that can run in either Thai or English, and which calculates and tracks everything. With 100K plus per month in return from this setup, I'm a happy camper.

[stephaniee]

op needs to grow up......................!

[Merlin]

Collecting rent and interest works for me. You only have to "work" for about 30-40 minutes a day... and most of that is spent telling someone else to call your tenants or debtors for you.

Right on, Heng! That's exactly what I do, except that I don't even have to spend the 30-40 minutes a day: I let my wife do that. After being married for 28 years there is this element of trust. Besides that, we put the properties on the name of the kids, who are grown up and live their own lifes, so we don't even needed to set up a company. The only thing I did was write a computer program that can run in either Thai or English, and which calculates and tracks everything. With 100K plus per month in return from this setup, I'm a happy camper.

to Memkuk and Heng:

but you must have worked your <deleted> off for years to get those properties in the first place?

yes?

[DegenFarang]

"Online poker player, tried this for a while, I am no good at all and I don't really want to depend on good internet connection"

Can make more per hour doing this than any of the other options, realistically speaking. Have you looked into rakeback and bonus whoring?

[Heng]

Collecting rent and interest works for me. You only have to "work" for about 30-40 minutes a day... and most of that is spent telling someone else to call your tenants or debtors for you.

Right on, Heng! That's exactly what I do, except that I don't even have to spend the 30-40 minutes a day: I let my wife do that. After being married for 28 years there is this element of trust. Besides that, we put the properties on the name of the kids, who are grown up and live their own lifes, so we don't even needed to set up a company. The only thing I did was write a computer program that can run in either Thai or English, and which calculates and tracks everything. With 100K plus per month in return from this setup, I'm a happy camper.

A toast to happy camping!

[Heng]

Collecting rent and interest works for me. You only have to "work" for about 30-40 minutes a day... and most of that is spent telling someone else to call your tenants or debtors for you.

Right on, Heng! That's exactly what I do, except that I don't even have to spend the 30-40 minutes a day: I let my wife do that. After being married for 28 years there is this element of trust. Besides that, we put the properties on the name of the kids, who are grown up and live their own lifes, so we don't even needed to set up a company. The only thing I did was write a computer program that can run in either Thai or English, and which calculates and tracks everything. With 100K plus per month in return from this setup, I'm a happy camper.

to Memkuk and Heng:

but you must have worked your <deleted> off for years to get those properties in the first place?

yes?

Yes, and with more than a little luck as well, not to mention a solid foundation to build on. Years but hardly a lifetime... about a decade from riding the bus and living at home to being driven and well, living at home in a different house (with a small stack of chanotes in the safe).

[OldenAtwoody]

Hi guys, need some suggestions on non-office, non 9-5 way of living. Next year, I am going to leave my job, throw out my clock and anything to do with alarms and live the way I want.

Some example of "jobs" that would suit my style of living are:

Novelist, not too realistic for me, I am no writer but can give it a shot.

Freelance journalist, maybe take a gig once in a while to pay rent?

Online poker player, tried this for a while, I am no good at all and I don't really want to depend on good internet connection

Private tutor, I hear Korea pays private tutors big bucks per hour. I can put in like 10 hours a week and still have time to live the way I want.

Ebayer, too competetive.

Okay, these are just examples. Basically if you have any suggestions that would fit my lifestyle that would be awesome. I don't believe in proper office fixed time jobs, they are creations of the modern society. No offense if that's what you want, we all have our own way of living.

You did not describe your qualifications, but if you are a 19 year-old girl with a good figure, living in BKK, I'm sure you can get all the part-time employment you desire....

Nor did you mention age, supplemental income, etc. - Are you seeking additional income or sole income. Be prepared for immigration issues if you are the free spirit selling t-shirts on the beach.

Realize, that any successful business venture requires a modicum of experience, and your survival during the training period (years?) depends on your frugality and dedication.

However, what ever you do, whether it's freelance baseball or freelance blow-jobs, the work ethic of the 9-5 office is merely time-shifted to a different set of hours. And the skill-set, physical training and expertise required to excel at baseball or blow-jobs is no mean feat.

There are no easy answers, otherwise we'd all be doing it (baseball)

Edited September 14, 2008 by OldenAtwoody

[OldenAtwoody]

Ok guys i never said I will just work for 10 hours max. In that example I said I COULD work 10 hours and still get by good. But it's not a good example because perhaps thats not the case. Stop basing my requirements on that. So far the best suggestion I got is porno actor which is kinda out because I don't have the looks and it's not really much of a long term plan. Private tutoring Thai students sound ok as well, I'll learn some Thai first to give me an edge. However, I'm of Chinese descent, perhaps they would rather take a western tutor. Some really good examples by brahmburgers. Keep em coming.

"So far the best suggestion I got is porno actor which is kinda out because I don't have the looks and it's not really much of a long term plan."

You can break into this business without experience if you are willing to receive. I'm sure there's a group of good-loking, well-hung guys with theri own long term plans for you. OJT provided. :-)

Still interested?

[OldenAtwoody]

Hi guys, need some suggestions on non-office, non 9-5 way of living. Next year, I am going to leave my job, throw out my clock and anything to do with alarms and live the way I want.

Some example of "jobs" that would suit my style of living are:

Novelist, not too realistic for me, I am no writer but can give it a shot.

Freelance journalist, maybe take a gig once in a while to pay rent?

Online poker player, tried this for a while, I am no good at all and I don't really want to depend on good internet connection

Private tutor, I hear Korea pays private tutors big bucks per hour. I can put in like 10 hours a week and still have time to live the way I want.

Ebayer, too competetive.

Okay, these are just examples. Basically if you have any suggestions that would fit my lifestyle that would be awesome. I don't believe in proper office fixed time jobs, they are creations of the modern society. No offense if that's what you want, we all have our own way of living.

Stanny,

IF (and its a BIG "IF") you are serious about this, you must have had some thoughts about what you are going to do, or how you are going to live next year?

You have a list that is predominantly made up of "intellectual" pursuits: novelist; journalist; tutor. You must have a reason for this based on some past experience....at least I hope you have.

The questions I would ask you are:

how old are you?

work experience (as in FULL-Time paid employment)?

education level?

amount of money you envisage needing per week/month/year?

your level of health?

your interests?

Without any of these, how can anyone give you an idea that is either realistic or practical ?

Please let us know, then perhaps you may get a relevant response.

Alright, since you guys need some basic info to get started on the suggestion. Here goes.

Age:23

Work experience: 2 years IT stuff

Education level: Bachelors in IT

Amount of money needed per week: I can live very minimally, general rule of thumb = a local's spendings + 30-40% extra (for a nice room).

Level of health: Pretty fit, I do alot of walking and don't smoke.

Interest: Reading (mostly Asian authors), playing online poker occasionally, traveling however not tourist style traveling but rather living in a place medium to long term and understand the way of living there. Also, listening to Bill Evans and Chopin on a rainy day while having a cold beer and contemplating what to cook for dinner.

That's it. No more 9-5, no more office, no more being bounded to one location. Also, no illegal stuff (thx anyway Cuban). What can I do?

Move back in with your parents?