The pursuit of becoming location independent is daunting if only because there are so many options: Choosing between working for yourself or working for someone else and deciding on what that work will entail when there are so many possibilities. As you look into the various possibilities some of them tend to weed themselves out. Maybe your company won’t sponsor you, maybe you’ve never been an entrepreneur or a contractor, maybe the pay isn’t sufficient to support your budget. (We’ll get into budgeting later, but you will want a budget.)
In my next several posts, I hope to detail some of the options that we specifically targeted to examine the possibilities and why they didn’t work out for us. The first idea that we explored was to find international work for my current employer. This would not support our ultimate goal to become location independent, but it would allow us to spread our wings and live overseas, to truly allow ourselves to assimilate into a new culture.
Considering relocating with my current employer seemed fairly attractive because I work for an international food manufacturing company, there are expatriates working at this company and I would have a corporate sponsor for a work visa. So, I applied for a job in Arras, France and was soon informed that they would only consider international placement for VP or director level employees. I am an I.T. professional with no managerial aspirations, so I do not qualify.
This stance makes sense from the business perspective, considering the relocation expense and the tax penalties which can make an expatriate cost two to three times what they would pay for a domestic hire. But this realization basically meant that I would need to begin looking for other possibilities, seemingly eliminating my current employer.
One option down, on to idea number two…
It didn’t work for me, but maybe it’ll work for you.
If you work for an international corporation:
-Make your intentions known to your manager, they can help you
-Keep an eye out for positions with your company overseas
-Setup meetings with managers of international people in your department to express interest and see what you can do to make yourself a favorable candidate for openings
-Consider learning or improving upon your knowledge of another language
-Prepare by downsizing your possessions and getting in the relocation state-of-mind