I May Be Going Back Home Soon - Am I Getting the Job Offer? - Future of the Channel

Introduction and Interview Update

0:13 Yeah, that's that's better. Hey, what's up? Yeah, that color looks a lot better. Wow, how's everybody doing tonight? We'll uh get a second for the first person to chime in. And uh, yeah, as you can tell, I'm had my fifth round interview. And yeah, it's a tough one, Tony. Um, it's with a heavy heart that I may be going. I may be booking my flight home soon, uh, home to California. So, not my hometown, but um, yeah, so I wanted to do this stream. I'm one of those people that I want to just confront things head-on. I'm not here to, to uh, lie or to finesse people. You're not going to see me go back and then pretend, oh, I'm not really back in the United States.

1:09 I look at it like this: I turned 32 in two weeks, two weeks from tonight, actually. And uh, I'm early. You know, most of the guys that I meet over here, they're in their 50s, they're in their 60s. They put in a lot of time, they had lengthy careers. Um, they were business people, they were in the medical field, they, uh, maybe they had a trade, maybe they had a small business. And I, I admire that and I respect that sacrifice. And I realize it makes more sense, generally speaking, for me to, uh, hey, what's up, Trucker? I'm excited to see.

1:53 Trucker is an awesome YouTuber, guys. If you haven't already, whether you're watching this on playback, you're watching this live, check out Captain Trucker. He's, uh, I just like his attitude, you know. He's got this, he's a really level-headed guy, he's a self-aware guy. Uh, I think that he's a really a long-term thinker as far as just like the way he talks about the Philippines. He seems to have a lot of respect, uh, and kindness. And of course, he's got a Filipino son, so he's got this really, I would say, big stake, you know, here. And, uh, anyway, I love his channel, his content's great. He talks about a lot of different things. It's, uh, it's not just about trucking, it's not just about the Philippines. But shout out to Captain Trucker. Hope we can cross paths one day, actually get to meet up and chat.

Job Offer Prospects and YouTube Strategy

2:48 Um, but yeah, so just wanted to give everybody an update. So I actually had my fifth round interview last night at about 2 AM here in the Philippines. And, uh, it went very well. This was with a leader in the financial company that I've been interviewing with. And it went really well. I mean, he seemed to be very pleased with the conversation that we had. Uh, I have looked at his resume. His resume is incredible. I mean, he's got a lot of experience, just a really sharp guy. Somebody I think that is, yeah, somebody that's got a lot of strong leadership skills, somebody I'd be happy to work for based on my preliminary, uh, observations.

3:30 And so, actually, I got a follow-up email. Uh, and so they're going to set up a call with me tomorrow night, well, tomorrow night at 1:00 AM. So technically Saturday morning at 1:00 AM, I believe that I'll be getting the job offer at that point. Um, I've found that if I get rejected in an interview process, I tend to just get an email saying, hey, you weren't selected, uh, sorry, you know, sorry. But this time, the fact that they're setting up a call, they're going to be calling me on my personal, uh, soft phone. So I have a soft phone through Google. I expect to be getting it.

4:05 And some people might be wondering, why put all this work into YouTube just to go back and work? Well, just like Captain Trucker said in the description, you can grow the channel wherever you are. Don't worry about that. Compare and contrast cultures when you're back in the US. I have so much to talk about. I have enough ideas and things to cover. I could talk for probably a year minimum, putting out a video every week without running out of ideas. There's so many things that I want to cover. There's so many different directions I could go in. Uh, I have so much to share with the audience, and I plan to come back. This isn't a situation where I'm getting booted out. This isn't a situation where I run into some kind of issue. I'm not even broke.

4:47 So technically, financially speaking, if I wanted to roll the dice on YouTube and just grind it out for multiple years, I certainly could. Uh, but YouTube is not a guarantee. Uh, unlike a career where if, you know, something happens in my job, I can just go get another job. Uh, YouTube to me is more supplementary. You could call it a side hustle. It's not guaranteed. There's a YouTuber I watch a lot, Andrew Taylor. Uh, he's based in Koal Lur, and he says, you know, he's around the 20K sub mark. He says it works out for him at about $5 an hour.

Financial Planning and US Relocation

5:22 Um, so if I compare $5 an hour to my, uh, income potential in the US, it's a fraction of what I could make in the US. In one year, I could save enough money to live here for several years. So it doesn't make a lot of sense for me to say, okay, I'm just gonna go fully in on YouTube, uh, and basically ignore this potential, uh, you know, back in the US. And I look at it too, like back in the US, I can do planning, I can get rid of stuff. I've got a storage unit in the US that I'm paying for every month. I'd like to get rid of that. Um, I'd also like to downsize. I'd eventually like to sell my car in the US. These are all things that if you're thinking about moving to Southeast Asia, you really got to consider.

6:10 Um, do you have a place to park a car? And do you want to, uh, maintain the car? You know, there's a lot that goes into this that, um, I'm, this is why I plug Discovery trips. You're never going to tell me, just drop everything and move. I think you could plan for several years and can make decisions every step of the way to line things up to be able to do it. Um, because you're moving halfway around the world. I mean, you got to think about what a person goes through and say the immigration process to go to the US or to go to Canada.

6:47 Uh, to, uh, you know, to go to these Western countries. Yeah, exactly. Um, so yeah, I just wanted to be transparent. If I get this offer, I'm going to try to set it up to get like a month runway. I'd like at least three more weeks here in the Philippines, uh, and then to go back and have a week to get over the jet lag, um, to go ahead and get into my apartment. I've already talked to the manager of the building I lived in in the San Francisco area. I've lived there multiple times, uh, as I've needed for jobs, for business, and that and so forth. And they're welcome to have me back. I always pay my rent on time, have a fantastic credit score. Uh, so that's, that's kind of what I'm looking at if I get this offer.

California Lifestyle and Filipino Communities

7:33 Of course, I don't have it in hand. Certainly could fall through. That phone call could basically be a, thanks for trying, maybe next time. Uh, but I just have confidence that that's, that's what the result is going to be. And, um, you know, I'm a, I'm a financial kind of nerd in some ways. I'm a payments nerd. Um, and it's, you know, I know a lot of people, you know, California doesn't necessarily always elicit a positive response, but I like it. To me, it's the closest thing to living out of the country that there is in the United States. You've got, uh, different architecture, you've got an international kind of scene. You've got a lot of interesting and eclectic characters. I've met some of the best friends in my life in California, even though I'm not from there. I've been very accepted when feeling very accepted when I am in California.

8:30 Uh, and you know, just I like the weather in California. I like the food there. There's some interesting Filipino communities there that, uh, I'd, um, I'd love to connect with. There's what, there's a community in San Francisco, there's a community in Hayward. Um, I also have now a Filipino friend in Chicago that's invited me to come out there. There's a lot of different directions I could go with my content. Uh, and yeah, so I'm going to get caught up on comments and then I'm going to continue to talk about this because it's not, you know, uh, by the way, everybody, if you're watching this, if you're enjoying it, please give us a thumbs up. It helps with the algorithm. Uh, but yeah, I just, you know, I want to share this because, you know, I think some people will bounce back and forth. Some people will find, hey, you know what, this city, uh, wasn't for me, or maybe I want to discover this city.

9:22 Or I love Dumaguete. Uh, this city has treated me very well. I've had tons of positive experiences here. I feel like I have more friends here than I ever had in my life. It's a place that I will be coming back to. If I move to the Philippines long-term, I could see myself being based here. It is one of my favorite cities in the world, alongside Cusco, Peru, and Chiang Mai, Thailand. It's among those three. I don't say which one is my favorite. I think they're all interesting and unique ways, but, uh, Dumaguete is fantastic. The hype to me is well-deserved. It's just got that small town feeling. You run into people all the time.

10:00 I ran into a really big YouTuber today, somebody I'm a fan of. I'm not going to name drop them, but, uh, somebody that I should be working on a collab with them this weekend. We'll see. It's not, once again, it hasn't happened yet, so I'm not going to name drop. Uh, but it's just been a really interesting place and an interesting time. And it's just, yeah, it's a wonderful city. So let me get caught up. Uh, Trucker says thanks. Yeah, everybody check out Trucker. Gerard says, best wishes in any event.

Channel Philosophy and Career Realities

10:30 Um, thank you so much, Gerard. I really appreciate the kind words. Great to see you in here. Tony says, yes, the name is Eastern Dreamer. So talking about the dream, your future is in line with the channel's philosophy. Getting there is half the dream. Yeah, I mean, it is not an overnight process to move halfway around the world. I do not want to crash and burn. I want to be set up such that when I make my permanent move, the only reason I'm coming back to the US is to see people I care about, to see friends that I care about, not because, uh, oh, I've run down to zero. Not to say there's anything wrong with that, but just kind of the way I am. Uh, I, I want to make it, um, long term, you know.

11:10 Uh, Channel Tony says, I see the channel about being the journey, not the destination. Yeah, I mean, I think the destination is super important. I wish I could make it permanent, but, uh, today, but...

11:23 A lot of people are in various stages of their journey. Some guys are finding out today, 'Hey, the Philippines looks cool.' They're watching today their first video on the Philippines. They might have seen 'Trucker' pop up in their feed, or 'Becoming Filipino' pop up in their feed, and they're thinking, 'Man, what is this? This place looks beautiful. What is it about?' They don't know anything about the culture, maybe they've never met a person from the Philippines or a Filipino descent.

11:54 So this channel is definitely part of it. Tony, the reason is that it's about showcasing the journey because I am way premature to be making a permanent move there. I have not met a single person that is under the age of, I maybe met one person, and he was close to 40, under the age of 40, that's made it their permanent home. So most guys are just not there financially and also just planning and wrapping up things back home.

12:20 Captain Trucker says, depending on monetization, you need about 100,000 long-form views per day to make a decent income. Yeah, that's great to know, Captain Trucker. For me, I'm getting around 25,000 views per month, so I would have to do Forex and then 30 to 120 times the views I'm getting right now, long-form per month, to do that.

12:48 Now, I do believe that there's rapid growth in my channel. I've added almost a thousand subscribers, but there's a difference between even getting 100,000 views in a month and getting 100,000 views a day. I believe it's attainable. I think I'll hit it, I'll get there in the long term, but it's not something I'm going to roll the dice and count on.

13:07 I certainly don't want to be going back in a couple years without any immediately relevant work experience. I'm not in a field like, uh, trucker, that's much more conducive to stop and go. 'Hey, I want to work this contract,' or 'Hey, I'm gonna go travel for a while and come back for what I'm doing.' Because, uh, I don't know, it's just the tech industry, there's some ageism in it. Let's be honest, here in tech, they want, uh, you know, that's just their expectation.

13:40 And sales too, because sales is a grind. I mean, it's very demanding physically and mentally. And not to say I'm not here to be critical of this, it's just like, I mean, in my last role, let's put it this way, my last role, let me rephrase that, in a recent role, I started in my late 20s, and I was told, 'Hey, you're old.' And so that was just in my 20s. So that's just kind of the dynamic there.

Travel and Living Abroad Experiences

14:12 But, uh, yeah, you know, it was there's a great opportunity in a lot of other ways. Not here to complain or to be too negative, but yeah, there's just some solid opportunities. So Captain Trucker says, 'I used to live in Berkeley.' Very cool, Trucker. I've been in your old stomping grounds. Very cool. Yeah, I like Berkeley a lot. It's just such an eclectic place, it's a historical place. You got a lot of interesting people coming through there, you got the beautiful hills, you got down by the water, you got a lot of interesting people. I like Berkeley a lot. It's a city that's treated me very well.

14:53 Chris says, 'Hey Alex.' Yeah, great to see you, Chris. Daily City, okay. Yeah, I'm familiar with Daily City. Never lived out there, but I did go to a robot hamburger place out there. And, you know, like if I ever decided to get out of tech, I would look at getting into driving. I like some of the aspects of driving. I've talked to a few drivers, and I'm more of an introvert. I know that may sound strange for me being on YouTube, but yeah, I mean, you got the open roads, you got these beautiful landscapes, you have time to think. Certainly, it's friendly to content creation, as you can tell with Trucker.

15:36 Bets Friends just jumped in, listening in, won't contribute much, as trading US markets from Australia. You're a great guy, hopefully meet up when I'm back in the Philippines. Already subscribed. Yeah, Duma is good. Wonderful. Yeah, I know you must be busy, especially with the interest rate drop. That half a percent drop in interest rates is really definitely going to cause the market to hopefully warm up a bit. Of course, it's also a sign of some damage.

16:07 But, um, yeah, Richard says, 'Duma is a good base camp in Asia.' It's, let's see, Duma is a good base camp in Asia. Yeah, I absolutely agree, Richard. By the way, guys, I want to mention, I only slept about five hours last night, so if I'm a bit all over the place, that's why. I got to sleep close to 4:00 AM and then woke up around 9:00 AM and just went out into town to edit. I'm working on a video, should be coming out tomorrow. I'm about halfway through editing it.

16:41 But yeah, it's a little bit different one. This one is with a local fisherman that I met down on the boulevard. Yeah, Richard, I think Duma is an awesome base camp in Asia. You can fly to, well, you can get up to Cebu or to Manila, and then you've got access to all over Asia. From Manila, you can fly to Bangkok, you can fly to Hoi An City, Hanoi, Da Nang, you can fly to Australia. I know Australia is not technically part of Asia, but you've got a lot of variety out of the Philippines. You can also go back to the West Coast, the US.

17:21 I mean, you know, I think Duma is fantastic because you're what, like an hour and a half from Manila, and then Manila all over Asia. You can get to Japan. Last time I left the Philippines, I flew up to Japan, and that was about four hours from, I think it was from Cebu. I think I flew out of Cebu, and it was about a four-hour flight. Really not that bad.

Personal Growth and Audience Support

17:39 Tony says, 'No need to apologize or explain. Building your career and finances are your number one priority at this stage while planning the dream.' Yeah, I absolutely agree, Tony. I'm overly apologetic. I think maybe it's just, you know, I grew up kind of a people pleaser, right? I mean, if I'm going to be fully transparent, that's just kind of the way I was raised. I think just coming from a troubled background, you want people to like you, you're worried about rejection.

18:09 It's, as much as I try to work through it, you know, working in sales, that's something I got to work through. And some of my good friends here have dealt with some of the same struggles. So, yeah, sometimes I can be too apologetic. I think that's a great point, Tony. I appreciate your support, Tony. For those who don't know, I just want to give a shout-out to Tony. Back when I first started doing these streams, Tony was the one and only viewer, and so it is me having a conversation one-on-one with Tony. And, yeah, we've come a long way.

18:44 Yeah, I really appreciate Tony's belief in me before I really had that social proof of having the channel growing. Tony said, Richard says, 'Having been to Asia over 60 times since 1999, I endorse your rational and realistic approach to life and balance.' Thank you so much, Richard. You know, something that I respect is that you've had over five dozen trips here. You've probably seen many different parts of Asia, many different Asian countries, and I know that you've talked a bit about your love for the Philippines. And so a guy like you could really pick anywhere over here, and yet you choose the Philippines. I think that's just a really strong vote of confidence, and I can relate to that.

19:36 I knew I would like the Philippines. I've been here five years ago, but I wanted to try everything. I wanted to get like almost like a buffet or a sampler of all of what's out there and make a determination for me. And then be able to explain that, 'Well, I really like Thailand, but I struggle with the language barrier.' Um, I really have enjoyed some other places, but the language barrier is really something to think about, right? Because if you're not solid at learning languages, then it's going to be a hoop to jump through.

20:10 And some of these languages, they're only viable to use in one country. So are you really going to learn a language that you can only use in one country? I don't know. I'm happy to learn the basics, but to actually invest the time to get a fluent understanding, that's a pretty big ask. So, thank you so much, Tony, for your generosity. I really appreciate the support. It really just helps me to, you know, just keep moving forward. I'll definitely be buying a coffee, maybe even two coffees with that tomorrow, Tony. I'll need some coffee tomorrow. I'm actually meeting up with a subscriber and a friend of mine who watched my interview with Paul, and he and I are going to sit down, and he's got a lot of material.

Future Content and Normalizing Expat Life

20:57 Together, one sec guys, I got to plug in my charger. It's should be good tonight. Let's there we go. Okay, good. So the charger is working tonight. But so tomorrow, I'll give you a bit of a sneak preview of the content I'll be making tomorrow, but we're going to talk about X-stats with different kinds of disabilities. So this is something I just don't see covered a whole lot, and it's something I do want to cover. I think it's valuable. It may be relevant to some audience members that they're struggling with a physical disability or visual impairment, and I myself, you can see, I've always had issues with my eyes. So it's something that I think is valuable.

21:41 I don't know how quickly it's going to get, it's I'm gonna be able to turn it around because I've got five or six in the tank that need editing. But yeah, I'm looking forward to it. And it's something that's an interesting perspective. I think this individual really wants to be helpful to his community. Let me get caught up here. But yeah, thank you so much, Tony. I really appreciate that. It was very generous of you.

22:11 And just to tie in Richard, I look at it like being a realist. You know, some people, they only want to sell the positive. Some people...

22:17 Some people only want to sell the positive, some people only want to sell the negative. I look at it like when you're living over here, there's simply not as many ups and downs. In my personal opinion, are there normal ups and downs of life? Sure, but it's not this wild vacation, and it's not this catastrophe every day.

22:34 I know some people for vlogging, they want to capture attention. I'd be lying if I didn't say attention was somewhat important in this space, but I'm trying to just normalize it. That's one of my goals with this channel: just normalizing living abroad, destigmatizing it.

22:52 I'm talking about how it's like, yeah, today I rode to town, went to the shopping mall, had some coffee, met up with some friends, got some dinner, ran into some other friends, and then came home. It wasn't this wild adventure.

23:10 To me, it's similar to my life in the States. There are some similarities there, but with more socializing. That's really one of the things that if I were to try to normalize it, I'd get a lot more socializing here.

Social Connections and Exploring the Philippines

23:23 In my sales roles back in the US, there was a lot of socializing, but it was business. It wasn't, 'I'm sitting down for coffee, we're just going to chat.'

23:33 I met one of my subscribers the other day, and we hung out for 4 hours. He didn't want to be on camera, I respected that. I didn't even bring it up to him; he let me know, and we didn't record anything. We just hung out and had fun.

23:46 That's one of the things that I think a lot of people don't talk enough about: the social life, the possibility to connect with like-minded people here. YouTube is a vehicle for that, right?

23:56 I figure if somebody watches my videos and then they approach me in public, they have a strong sense of who I am. Nobody's, at least up to this point, knock on wood, nobody's been rude.

24:09 Best friend, I'm 44, hoping to move there next year. Yeah, check it out. Best friend, I'm not sure how much time you've spent here, or if you've maybe... I think you mentioned you've been to Duma, so yeah, you probably are experienced here.

24:24 If you're talking about moving here, then yeah, it's a nice place. It's just... Duma is a nice place in a nice country. The people are super nice here.

24:41 I think you probably have a strong idea of the right place for you. Best friend, I've been to four islands so far, so I've just barely scratched the surface of the Philippines.

24:54 Some of the places that are high on my list are Apo Island, near here in Dumaguete. Another high on my priority list is Luzon, Baguio in particular.

25:13 It's a big island, so it's insufficient to just say I've been to Luzon. Well, Luzon's huge. I have been to Mindanao, but I've only been to a small piece of Mindanao.

25:24 So, there's so much to see here. It's really spread out too. But yeah, I definitely would love to catch up, best friend, when you make the move and hear more about how it's treating you.

Living Abroad vs. Visiting

25:39 How is it different for you to visit here versus to live here? Because this is the most time I've spent in the Philippines. Last time I came for a month, I spent it between three different locations here. I've been here for five weeks, all in the same city.

25:57 So I'm getting more of a sense of what it would be like to live here as opposed to vacation mode. Daily City is the best place in the area to find Korean produce and markets.

26:09 I'll keep that in mind. It makes sense because I... yeah, that definitely makes sense that Daily City has a Korean community.

26:18 John says, 'I think you can grow your channel. Great person, friendly. You remind me of Chad Foster. Chad's awesome.'

26:25 Shout out to Chad Foster. That guy has been so generous to me with his time, with his insight. Shout out to Chad. I mean, Chad's been good to me. I appreciate Chad's input.

26:43 He's taught me a lot in a very short time. He's just got this friendly demeanor. He's a guy that, like, you can just tell he's happy, at least from my perspective. Maybe I'm off base here, but...

26:56 I want to work with people that are more successful than me, and I want to be friends with people who are happier than me. I'm not going to speak to Chad's success; it's obvious he's got a large channel.

27:09 But as far as just his attitude and his vibe, like, I could just tell he's living his best life, and I admire the heck out of that. And I respect that a lot because I think happiness is a skill.

27:18 I think it's something that people consciously work on. I think it's something that people try to develop, and some people ignore it. And some people, like Chad, they consciously have honed that.

27:35 Shout out to Chad. Gerard says, 'When was the last time you've been back in San Francisco?' So it's been about a year and a half, Gerard. Last time I was in San Francisco was April 2023, something like that.

27:53 So it's been about a year and a half. Nicholas, let's see here. Oh, Tony, we'll catch you next time. Thanks so much for chiming in.

28:09 Nicholas says, 'Direct flights from Cebu to Bangkok daily.' Yeah, you can hop out for a week or weekend. It's very easy to get over to Bangkok, mix it up, and have something a little bit different.

28:24 Of course, you want to have the delicious Thai food, you want to have some interesting experiences. I haven't spent time in Manila, so I can't really speak to Manila, but as far as Bangkok goes, it's just such an energetic, electric city.

28:45 You've got the neon lights, you've got the neighborhoods, you've got the Sukhumvit line where you just have so much. In Bangkok, I've lived there for a total of four or five months, and I still feel like I've really scratched the surface.

28:59 I feel like I would need another probably six to seven months in Bangkok to fully feel like, okay, yeah, I've got a sense of it. And this time, I will admit, the last stint in Bangkok for me was about three months.

29:14 I got out to the western suburbs, which I hadn't seen before. I got to see a lot of the northern part of the city, some of the southern part of the city. But it's a little tougher to navigate because of the river.

29:27 And because up until that, most of my experience had been just on the Sukhumvit line and in the eastern suburbs near Suvarnabhumi Airport. So being able to see all these different corners of the city, walk like I would walk five, 10 miles each day in Bangkok...

29:45 Just trying to see every corner and crevice of the city. Let me see what this street looks like, let me see what that soi looks like. And it's one of those cities too that's very safe. I've walked around Bangkok at 3 or 4 in the morning with no issues.

30:01 So yeah, huge fan of Bangkok. Would be thrilled to go back again in the future.

Accountability and Financial Independence

30:06 Richard says, 'I'm all in with Tony.' Yeah, thank you so much, Richard. Richard says, 'Your future in security is all on you.' I absolutely agree, Richard. We have to take accountability if we want success.

30:18 We have to own the result, and it would be terrible for me and terrible for my audience if in two years I said, 'Oh man, guys, my channel isn't where it needs to be or it's not producing the income I need to live.'

30:33 'Okay, I'm going to have to go back for an indefinite amount of time. Hang in there with me.' I like to control what I can control. That's something I learned in sales: control what you can control.

30:46 I'd rather control things in the sense of, like, 'Okay, I go back, I work say a year.' Maybe if I get promoted, to work a few years. But I expect to take a vacation at the six-month mark, maybe the eight-month mark. Who knows?

31:01 Tech can be volatile. And, you know, just move things in the right direction. Live below my means. The apartment I'm going to be renting in Berkeley, I've already looked it up. It's going to run about $1,000 a month.

31:15 So it's setting me up. That includes also electric, so I'm not going to have an electric bill. That includes water, I'm not going to have a water bill. And it's right above a train line.

31:25 So actually, I won't even have to worry about a car this time. This in the San Francisco area, I don't think I'll be bringing my car. So I have my car, it's actually back in the Midwest or in the Southeast where I'm from.

31:37 But I was paying $120 a month in parking fees. I had my window smashed, $180 to repair it. Those expenses aren't going to be an issue this time.

31:48 In each way, I'll have to commute a couple days a week, 10 bucks each day, so 20 bucks a week on my commute versus probably several hundred a month just in parking fees. I didn't even drive that much.

32:01 I didn't have time to drive during the week, I only drove on the weekends. Is it worth it to own a car to drive it two or three times a month to pay all that? I don't know.

32:10 I saw some cool stuff, but there's a lot that you can see in San Francisco without having a car. Right? You've got Muni, you've got BART, you've got the buses. You can rent a bike.

32:20 And yeah, I have a few friends in San Francisco that tell me the car is like an albatross. It's this thing that you're going to struggle to park. Even if you want to take it out, okay, so you have parking, where are you going to park it when you go to the other side of the city?

32:37 It just becomes this thing that you can't store easily, you can't move it easily. You're running into parking tickets, you may get a boot, you may get broken into. It's just a major hassle to have a car in San Francisco.

San Francisco Living and Bangkok Comparisons

32:50 Not too different from Manhattan. I will say there's a lot of nature I'd be missing out on, but I've got my spots. I've got my spots around San Francisco that I enjoy spending time in.

33:05 I can just kind of move things around. I've also got friends that do have cars.

33:10 I've also got friends that do have cars, and so if they want to go out, I could just take an Uber over to their house and we go out and have fun. At the amount of money I was spending, I could just take Ubers a couple of times a month to enjoy that.

33:33 If you ever choose to come to Australia for a visit, let me know. Happy for you to stay at my place. That's so generous. I've always wanted to go to Australia. I've never actually been to Australia, but it's been high on my list. I've had great experiences with the Australians that I've met in Southeast Asia.

33:48 Actually, one of my new friends, Tony, I did an interview with him, you can check it out. Tony is a Philippine experience, super nice guy. He was one of the first people I met in Chiang Mai that wasn't in my immediate friends group, and he was from Australia. He was a really nice guy I met outside of an afterparty club, and he was just really eclectic.

34:12 Then one of my favorite people I've ever worked with was from Australia. I don't want to name him, but he was a really great guy. He knew that I was totally clueless and didn't hold it against me. He took me under his wing; he was just a really, really thoughtful, brilliant, very successful guy. He was super humble and did not brag at all. This guy's resume is impeccable; people were shoving each other out of the way to offer him a job. And yet, he was very approachable. He was somebody that taught me that you can be successful and you don't have to brag about it.

35:03 Let me get caught up here though. I know you guys have provided me with a lot of wonderful comments. Bangkok, can you get by with English easily? My girlfriend speaks good English; she was learning since junior high school. My friends in Bangkok all speak great English; they work corporate jobs. I would say they live a lifestyle somewhat similar to a Western lifestyle in some ways. They do work a lot of hours; they do commute a lot, but it would not be that different than working in like a Los Angeles or a London. It's just a global city; it's got all kinds of mega businesses. So, I would agree with you, Nicholas, that the English in Bangkok is underrated.

Family Planning and US vs. Philippines

35:47 Have you met a special girl yet? I'm wondering if you're considering bringing a Filipina to the US and starting a family. So, no, I don't see that being within the cards. I don't have any family support in the US. If you haven't already, I recommend checking out my videos on a Strang and also my interview with Paul. One of the central problems with having a family in the US, not for everybody, but for a lot of people, is that you have no extended family support. Their extended family works all the time, or maybe they're dysfunctional, as is the case in my family. You cannot lean on other people, and so it's very hard on relationships and very hard on the nuclear family because society doesn't care. Society is not geared toward helping people to start families. You're seeing this with the declining birth rates in the United States. You're just not going to get that support.

36:48 Most people I know, some people, they're in this special circumstance; they've got wonderful extended family, people they could lean on, community support. They live in a special, high-trust community. None of those apply to me. So, I don't think I would ever consider bringing a Filipina to the US to start a family. I would rather make my money in the US, get to a financially solid point, and then start a family over here where we have the support of extended family, where the cost of living isn't crazy, where their work-life balance is better. For me personally, moving from an employee to an investor and a YouTuber would be more manageable.

37:27 My personal opinion is the Philippines is much more conducive to having a family. I have several friends who have moved here from the US and started families in their 40s. They are typically married to a woman who's younger than themselves, maybe in the range of 20 to 30, and she's perfectly happy to be married to a gentleman that's say 40, 45, who's already made the money. I believe this is just my opinion; it could be controversial, but I just don't see the US as being conducive for many people to be able to do that. Once again, not criticizing people who have done that, not saying that they're not legitimate or there's something wrong with the way that they've been able to pull things off. If you could do that, I commend you. I commend anybody who has successfully started a family in the US, but I look at my generation: very few of my peers and classmates are married with children.

38:25 Very few. And some people will say, 'Oh, what about this person? What about that person?' Okay, that's fantastic. They're certainly not the majority. So yeah, I would never do that. I just don't think it's a good plan. I've seen a number of people within my own family think, 'Oh, that's not going to apply to me,' and now they're going through serious financial hardship. They're talking about splitting up because the money is just simply not there. Not only is the money not there, but the time and attention is also not there, and the community doesn't care. There's nobody that's going to step in and try to help you out; they're just going to say you should have known better. That's often the response if you see a struggling family in the US, particularly among working-class backgrounds: 'Should have planned better.'

39:08 I don't want to be one of those people that's struggling to take care of my family and then getting this kind of condescension or this negative attitude from the general public.

Philippines as a Base Camp and Discovery Trips

39:30 Richard says, 'I was very close to selecting Thailand, but not only the language barrier, but the sea. Even though I love the landscape, I felt a bit isolated. As a Catholic, I at a tribe that fits.' Yeah, Richard, if you're a Catholic gentleman, I think that the Philippines is a great opportunity for you. You've got Mass services all over the country. I know you've talked about Dumaguete; you've got Valencia; you've got one in the city. I'm sure there's a Catholic Church in here in Baguio. So, you've got that support from the community, you've got that presence. I think it's a fair point. Right in Thailand, there's simply not the same presence there. There's some, but it's just not going to be to the same extent that you'll have here in the Philippines. Thailand is much more, of course, Buddhist, and so it's a bit different as far as cultural presentation.

40:32 Jose Rodriguez, I'm actually going to Roxas City to go to the Canadian Beaver in two weeks. I'm from New York and we'll be landing in Manila next Saturday morning. Very cool, Jose. I need to make it up there at some point. That's, yeah, I'm familiar with... I can't think of his name, that Philippines life. My brain's kind of foggy right now, but yeah, let me know how that goes when you get up there. I was hoping to squeeze a trip into Roxas on this visit; I don't know if it'll happen now that I'm getting this offer. I want to spend the next couple weeks in Dumaguete because every time I'm like, 'Okay, now it's time to leave Dumaguete,' something else comes up that's like, 'No, dude, stay in Dumaguete.' So that's kind of what I've run into now is yet another thing that has popped up and is telling me, 'Okay, you need to stay another couple weeks here.' So I may just run out of time and fly out of Dumaguete to Manila. But please let me know how that goes, Jose, because I think what that guy's doing is really interesting. I want to see him succeed. I think it's also brilliant to promote it on the channel because some people are saying, 'Oh, don't start a bar.' Which I get it, it's a risky bet, but he's got this massive channel to drive traffic there. He's got an interesting theme. There's a lot of back and forth between the Philippines and Canada; a lot of Filipinos living in Canada, a lot of Canadians living in the Philippines. So yeah, more power to the gentleman in Roxas.

42:17 Chattam Mantium, hello Eastern Dreamer. Hey Chattam Mantium, welcome. I think this may be the first time I'm seeing your screen name pop up in here.

Learning from Others and Southeast Asia Opportunities

42:29 Welcome, welcome, best friends. I spent 10 days, about seven in Cebu, three in Dumaguete, just wanted to get a sense of boots-on-the-ground experience before moving over. Yeah, I think that's a great idea, best friends. I'm always telling people, do a discovery trip. Some people, they move here sight unseen. I'm like, it may not be for you. You may pick a certain city, and that city may be perfectly fine for a guy like me, but maybe for you, you want something different. I'm all about the discovery trip. I think guys should invest the time and money if you're going to commit to moving here. Invest the time and money to do a discovery trip, explore, get a little taste, try some restaurants, go to the grocery store, see if they have the things that you want to meet your dietary requirements. Some people, they don't have pork, so they want to know they can get chicken or beef easily. Other people, maybe they're vegan, they want to know. I'm hearing a lot that in the Philippines, they're eating a lot of meat and rice. Can I have a vegetable-heavy diet here? So, these are small things. There's a lot that goes into it, and you never know what's right for you until you get boots on the ground.

43:38 You get boots on the ground and you figure out if this is meeting my expectations. Tony, I was about to leave, and Alex drops a great thought: "I want to work with people more successful than me and be friends with people happier than me. Happiness is a skill." Yeah, I absolutely agree with that, Tony. It's, you know, I look at it like there's something that there's a lot for me to learn as a guy in his early 30s. There's a whole lot for me to learn, and I can learn that by being around people that are smarter than myself. I'm not too good to do any job, there's no work I'm too good to do. I haven't figured out happiness perfectly; there's always going to be something else for me to learn about happiness and pursuing my own happiness.

44:30 Great point, Tony. And yeah, some of these things that I get, I want to be transparent with Tony, but also the audience. I've heard from other thinkers, I borrowed it from them. I'm like, "Wow, that's really insightful. That makes total sense to me. I need to share with my audience." And you'll hear me name-drop. So, somebody I'm a fan of is Naval Ravikant. I'm going to drop his name in the chat. He's the founder of AngelList, he's really big in the tech space. I've learned a lot from Naval. I actually have emailed him, and he got back to me. He's somebody that I really admire his work. He really focuses on the three pillars that he talks about: health, wealth, and happiness. His book is free; he doesn't need to make money from selling a book. You can get his ebook for free.

45:24 And, you know, it's I think there's something in his content for everyone. Let's see, Orion, have you looked for any US tech jobs? It requires some representation in Southeast Asia. So, a previous employer of mine actually has a sizable presence in Manila, and I left them for different opportunities. It's interesting to me, it's intriguing to me. You know, it's something I should explore more, Orion, to be honest with you. It's something I should explore more. It's something that I should put more time into. I appreciate you calling that out.

46:10 If you have any connections, you know, just kind of throwing it out there in the water, please email me at [email protected] because I'd love to chat with a recruiter. Maybe there's a recruiter that, based on my experiences and credentials, they'd be willing to send something my way. I wouldn't expect to make a US income, but if it's a situation where I could stay here in Southeast Asia, work on my channel after work and on the weekends, then that would be a really nice solution. But yeah, I do know somebody, a friend of a friend, who's been doing that for a while now. I don't know if that individual is still doing that job. I don't know if maybe they came back to the States, or maybe they promoted up and needed to move to say, Europe or somewhere else. But there are people working for US tech companies here in Asia, not just through a contractor capacity. But these tech companies do want to provide services to rapidly growing economies like the Philippines, like Thailand.

Bangkok's Evolution and Cost of Living

47:16 And, yeah, certainly a great point. That's friends, you're so right about Bangkok. You feel like you know it, and then you realize you don't know it at all. Yeah, it's just such an ever-evolving city. It's like every time I go back, I just turn over a new leaf there, and I see something new. I visit a new shopping mall. ICONSIAM is gorgeous, one of the nicest shopping malls I've ever seen in the world. Every time you think Bangkok has outdone itself, it outdoes itself again. It's just an incredible city. I love it, can't get enough of it. It definitely caught my heart.

47:52 Chatam, Mantium, Berkeley for 1K? I've never heard of that being possible. Yeah, you know, it's an old building. I'll be honest with you, Chad, it's an old building. It's a single room occupancy style, which they do have a negative reputation in San Francisco. But yeah, I mean, if you want to email me, I'm not opposed to sharing a link with you. They have, I think, probably half a dozen units open right now, and that rent price has actually come down. I was paying $1,200 six years ago for that same building. But now, just because a lot of people have left San Francisco, left the Bay Area, the rental prices have come down a bit.

48:32 Is it fancy? No, not at all. It's the opposite of fancy, but it's a community. I know some people that have lived in that building for 30, 40 years. It helps me to keep my costs low. It's, you know, for a bachelor, it's a great option. It's not something a lot of people will be comfortable with, but for me, as a single guy looking to maximize my savings and investments, it just makes a lot more sense than, you know, renting some fancy place and having a much lower savings rate. When I'm paying $1,000 per month in the San Francisco area, I'm able to save something like two-thirds of my income, which is just incredible.

49:13 I mean, I took it for granted when I was doing that last year. But when I tell people that, they're really blown away. Something that might be helpful is for me to do a vlog where I actually, and this could be an ongoing vlog, this could be more of an Excel sheet, literally tracking and showing, "This is what I brought in, and this is what I spent, dollar for dollar. This is exactly what I spent to live here." And this is exactly what I brought in from my tech sales job. And these are the equities I'm buying, or these are the investments that I'm making. And that provides an extra layer of accountability. If I make a bad decision, it's right there for everybody to see. But that could be kind of a way to show some younger guys who, they're far from Social Security, but maybe they're getting some promotion at work, maybe they're a skilled tradesperson, maybe their business is taking off, they're getting some extra capital. And if they were like me when I was younger, they might be tempted to blow it all. That's how I was when I was younger; I'd make a lot of money and then I'd spend it all. I don't want to do that anymore.

Financial Discipline and Investment Strategies

50:19 I see where I want to live, I see the way that I want to live, that requires a lot of discipline, careful decision-making over an extended period of time. So yeah, it's uh, oh Lenny, great to see. What did I miss? Not sure. Lenny, I'll be honest, I'm not sure what you missed, but let me oh sweet, okay, cool, cool. Yeah, be very happy to collaborate, economics Ethan. So let me get caught up here. Richard says, "I have not owned a vehicle since 2006, as I have negotiated a company truck package as part of employment pay me less, get tax less, but take over my transportation burden." Do that. That's genius, Richard.

51:01 It's not a controversy to say that the Philippines is not the culture to support and raise a successful and happy family. Yeah, Richard, absolutely. If you are able to offset that where your company truck is maintained, they're paying for the tires, they're paying for your oil change, they're, you know, if you get a flat tire, they've got AAA or another service to come out and fix that, then that's the smart way to do it. I mean, I'm sure you sat down and did the math. This is what it would cost me to own a private truck. This is what it would cost if they're going to provide it for me. I absolutely agree. Yeah, you're going to have a lower tax burden, and then you don't have to deal with the transportation. And then when you're done with the job, you just turn it in. Yeah, that's a solid deal for sure.

51:50 Jose Rodriguez says, "Mike, I will definitely let you know how it goes." Very good, thank you, Jose. Jesper says, "If I had the option, I definitely prefer to live in Southeast Asia because I'd be way more happy over there. Problem for me is getting a job there to live comfortably and being able to save up a bit." Yeah, the savings rate is the challenge. A lot of people think it's making money here that's a challenge. The greater challenge to me is contributing to my investment accounts, being able to save up the cash to go travel.

52:25 I mean, I say this a lot, it's pretty cheap to exist in Southeast Asia if you're simply talking about very basic shelter, you know, a very basic food budget. You could really live very modestly. But if you're talking about having some nice meals, if you're talking about dating, if you're talking about jetting off for the weekend to actually live a life like, you know, we're all the way over here in these beautiful countries with these tropical vibes and these islands and these jungles and forests and wildlife, that's what really costs. And so it can be, I don't know if disheartening is the right word, but it's not always fun to be on a hardcore budget over here when you see some of the things that for a little bit of money, or what would be a little bit of money in the West, that you could really go off and enjoy yourself.

53:27 You could be doing something really cool or interesting that's not necessarily the cheapest, but it's something that you always wanted to do. Maybe you could take an experience to the next level. So maybe there's a certain site that you want to go to, and if you're on a lower budget, you just go and look at it. But you got a little bit more money, maybe you could hire a guide to break it down for you. Another example would be, like maybe you're a foodie, I'm a foodie as you could tell by my belly. Maybe you know, you have to go out to that food district and try the restaurants, or maybe you hire a guide and he knows the chef and he's able to introduce you to some dish you've never heard of.

54:13 It's not like you have to have a lot of money to exist over here. You want to enjoy yourself, or maybe you want to live a modest life but maximize your savings. You want to prepare for a time in your life where you can't just work. If that's the case, it's definitely a bit more complex.

The Value of Hard Work and Essential Services

54:33 Economics Ethan recommends checking out his channel; he's an interesting guy for sure. He's really putting himself out there, and I respect the hustle. Also, part of it is that we're both South Asian. He mentioned he's South Asian, and I'm South Asian. I enjoy his channel for sure.

55:14 Isaac says, "I'd like to visit up there one day. It looks charming in its own way." I'm not sure exactly where you're talking about, but best friends, never worry about what others think of you in regards to work. I was in mid-management banking but got burnt out amongst investing and doing options trading. I also do food delivery; the income just doesn't discriminate. A dollar from food delivery is the same as a dollar from being a school teacher.

55:47 Best friends, that's really like that takes a lot of humility to say you're working in banking but also doing food delivery. I want to give credit to Ethan as well about that, because Ethan said the same. He's working in sales trading on the floor in banking, and yet he's saying he was also looking to pick up food delivery gigs at one time. That takes a lot of guts to say that because there are a lot of high-status people in the business world that would turn their nose up and say, "Oh, I'm not going to deliver food, I'm too good for that."

56:21 To say, "Hey, you know, I've got this great career, but I want to maximize my investments, I want to create some unique opportunities, I want to get out of the house." Like sometimes we just want to get out of the house, and work is an excuse to do it. So yeah, I give Ethan credit for that, and I give you that credit for that as well.

56:36 Best friends, to be able to say, "I've got this high-status job," a lot of people would dream of working in these fields, but I'm also willing to deliver. I mean, you guys remind me of my friend's uncle, who worked as an engineer for IBM and later went on to start his own business. He's got a cleaning business; it cleans a lot of different government buildings. I asked him, "Uncle, tell me about your success because you're on this really successful business." He said, "I clean toilets." I was like, "What do you mean?" He said, "I made my money by cleaning toilets. I literally went and scrubbed toilets to start this cleaning business."

57:27 Now I've grown into this massive business, and we have hundreds of employees. So, just the ability to say, "I'm an engineer and I'm also cleaning toilets," like it just, you know, growing up in an Asian-American household, I was always taught, you know, my grandma would be nice to the garbage truck driver. She'd be nice, she'd offer them soda, she'd be friendly to him. And as soon as they were out of earshot, she'd say, "You need to go to college, not be like that."

57:55 Now as an adult, I'm like, these guys have job security, these guys get government benefits, they're probably paying into some kind of pension plan. Okay, no, it's not glamorous. I'm never going to sit here and tell you, "Oh, the glamour of working on a garbage truck." But like, they've got job security in a time where a lot of people are getting laid off. They've got benefits in a time where a lot of independent contractors don't get benefits.

58:20 It's not the worst thing in the world. I mean, you're living in a developed country where the wages are really quite high, even for basic jobs. And they're providing a much-needed service. Like, I mean, should I have fired back? Like, do you want to live without their service? If you think we're better than them, do you want to live without their service? Because I think the garbage is going to pile up in our driveway, and it's going to be really nasty.

58:48 So anyway, not to get off too much on a personal note, but I respect anybody that does hard work, is honest, and is trying to better themselves. They're contributing to society, and it's not a job where the value to society is vague. It's readily apparent that people who work in the waste management industry are providing a much-needed service. I like the service that they provide. I have gratitude that they're willing to deal with inclement weather, perhaps some disrespectful people, you know, just all that stuff.

Geoarbitrage and Real Estate Investment

59:23 It ain't glamorous, but it's something our society definitely benefits from. Best friends, yeah, never okay. Yeah, we got that covered. Nicholas says, "I'm living in a high-end two-bedroom condo in Bangkok. I'm paying 850 per month. I went out, my average one-bedroom London rent out my average one-bed London apartment for 3,000 per month."

59:46 Nicholas, the arbitrage there, I mean, you're doing well for yourself. Now, I'm not sure what it cost you to own your London apartment, but like, you know, 2150 a month, you're living comfortably in Bangkok, in my opinion. I mean, I would live comfortably on that amount, maybe not frivolously or luxuriously, but you're living in a nice place, you're eating good food, you're able to jet around town, you can go on some dates. That's a solid, healthy amount of money to enjoy Bangkok on. I lived in Bangkok for less than that, so yeah, you're doing well for yourself.

1:00:23 Nicholas, wish I was still there. Well, I'm very happy in the Philippines, but it would be cool to be there, to be able to meet up, grab some coffee or something if you come over here to the Philippines. Nicholas would be happy to grab coffee with you.

1:00:38 Richard says, "As a guy in my 60s, there's still many more things to learn." That's refreshing as well, Richard. Like, that's just such a positive attitude. I think having a learning mindset is so important in the modern world.

1:01:04 Nicholas rented out my London apartment and moved to Bangkok in December 2023. I was planning my Brexit since the start of COVID. Yeah, I don't blame you there. It's interesting; London is one of the cities that I have a lot of viewers in, and I think that's super cool because I like London in some ways. I mean, I visited there about a year and a half ago, but in other ways, I could see why you would not want to live there. The weather is pretty rough.

1:01:32 The cost was insane. I mean, I spent like 150 pounds in 24 hours, and it was one of the few cities I've been to where I thought, "Wow, this city's expensive." Because when you're in San Francisco, it's so expensive, everything seems cheap. Many places seem cheap by comparison. Just to go out and get a pizza, you could easily spend $50. I used to go to this one pizza place and get two slices for like eight bucks, and that was like a cheap meal out for me. So yeah, London, very expensive.

1:02:05 I liked it though. The tube was super comfortable. I like the walkability factor. I like that I could just walk around London. I liked the organization. Of course, this is going to be a very redundant statement, but I liked the English, right? I like being able to just talk to people and be able to communicate with people effectively. There's a lot to like there.

1:02:27 That being said, the prices were insane, the weather was not good. The people in the service industry were nice to me, but the people at some facilities were very rude, very, not very welcoming. I guess they just get in their heads that it's London, so we can just treat people however we want, and they're going to come back. I don't know. Maybe for a short visit. I don't know.

1:03:02 My London apartment expenses total, including mortgage, is 1,000. Yeah, you're doing well. I think that's a solid geoarbitrage opportunity. And yeah, if I stay in sales for a couple years, I'm going to get a property, probably back in Tennessee, my home state, and rent it out and then have some additional income there as well. I just have like some spotty job history as far as my background goes because I started off doing online stores, moved into sales, have tried many different kinds of sales.

1:03:34 But I think that's a great option to have some real estate that's pulling in revenue every month in a place where the population is growing and people have to commute, right? I mean, people have to commute to work, especially with the return-to-work mandates. So it's a solid option for sure.

The Nature of Sales and Personal Development

1:03:54 But yeah, guys, feel free to chime in with any questions or thoughts you have. I'm going to try to go for at least another half hour, maybe an hour, and then I've got to get to bed because I do have a lunch appointment tomorrow. May keep it to a half hour; I really got to finish this edit tonight because tomorrow, what I'm afraid of happening is I do this lunch appointment, and then that just goes into the afternoon, and then I start socializing in the afternoon, and then it doesn't pop up. And then Saturday, I've got more stuff to do. And then Sunday, I've got more stuff to do. So maybe I'll keep it to a half hour, but we'll see. I'll go for at least another half hour.

1:04:49 Jesper says, "If you get your new job, will it be in sales as well?" Uh, yes. So this is a sales role. Sales is just what I've always done. It can be stressful for sure, but it's also provided me with a lot of opportunities. It's helped me to develop social skills. I grew up in kind of a socially stunted environment, and so it helped me to learn how to communicate.

1:05:16 It helped me to learn how to communicate effectively with people. It helped me to learn that there are a lot of people I enjoy being around, and it helped me to understand people. It helped me to empathize better and relate to other people. It helped me make friends and in my travels. It's helped me in every facet of my life.

1:05:37 I think sales is a fantastic vehicle for personal development. Is it a grind in the moment? Absolutely, but that's why salespeople get paid.

1:05:53 I have encountered some jealousy from some people who say, "I don't know why you people get paid so much." It's like, "Try the sales job, and you'll find out quickly why sales people get paid."

1:06:08 I also frame it this way: everybody's in sales. If you're in a relationship, you're selling to your significant other that you're a good partner. You want to help navigate that relationship effectively. You may not be thinking of it as sales, but there's an element of that.

1:06:23 You go and meet your significant other's family, and you're trying to sell to their family, especially here in Asia where family is very, very important. "Hey, I'm a good partner for your loved one."

1:06:35 That's the other thing: people think of when they think of sales, they think of someone trying to sell a used car. I have nothing against used car sales, but that's their assumption. Their assumption is this kind of sleazy guy.

1:06:53 Sales comes in many different forms. First off, many businesses need a salesperson. Second off, salespeople help to negotiate. There's a lot of work they do to educate the customer.

1:07:05 That's a big part of my sales work in the technology space: simply educating customers about what's out there, helping them to understand, "Hey, you know about this solution? What are you trying to accomplish? What are your business goals?" trying to make those connections.

1:07:20 It's not me sitting here trying to hustle something. If I were that, I would monetize this YouTube channel in 10 different directions. I'm slowly but surely adding options to that because I believe in making offers as a salesperson.

1:07:44 If I wasn't making offers, then you would have no reason to believe me as far as having a sales or business background. But you get feedback, you get pushback, you get people telling you, "I think it's nonsense."

Career Planning and Sales Skills

1:07:55 And then it's on me to kind of deliver. But yeah, let me get to the rest of your question, Jesper. How long do you plan on working there and saving up before moving to Southeast Asia long-term?

1:08:08 There's a couple of directions I could take this in, Jasper. One direction is that, unfortunately, the needs of the business change. Tech is volatile, layoffs happen. Let's say for whatever reason, they wanted to go in a different direction after a year. It does happen sometimes in sales.

1:08:25 It's not something I want to happen, and I don't enter that opportunity thinking that. But it's also just business; it's not about hard feelings. A lot of people get really upset about some of this stuff.

1:08:39 I'm thrilled for the opportunity. I also accept it when things don't go my way. In that scenario, I'd come back over. If things didn't line up after a year, I'd come right back over and be hunting for my next job.

1:08:57 If the market's better, I might have an opportunity in mind. The other direction is I get promoted and promote into a higher-up role, more of what I would call a full-cycle sales role where I'm not just top of funnel but actually leading the deal through each stage to completion.

1:09:19 You hear the term closer, or you talk about sales where I'm actually closing deals, getting deals inked. Those tend to be more lucrative opportunities. They also tend to be more stressful and competitive.

1:09:33 Doing this kind of work for a few years would put me at the point where I'm financially independent. I know the income I can expect to make, I know the savings rate I intend to maintain.

1:09:50 So it's either I come back in a year to live, or I come back in a year to visit, go back and keep stacking that money, making my investments, and continuing to plan, getting rid of things. So those are kind of the two directions: come back in a year for a while, or come back in a year for a visit with still moving toward that direction of a more permanent move.

1:10:19 I'll continue to work on my YouTube channel on the weekends. After work is iffy because with sales, you're socializing so much that some days after work, you just want to be alone because you've had these high-level business conversations over and over again, and your brain is just fried.

1:10:43 You don't necessarily have the gas in the tank to put out something you could be proud of. I want to help the audience, and I want to respect the audience's time. Part of that is putting out something every single time that I could be proud of.

1:11:07 I know I gave it my all. These streams do take some energy and focus from me. If I'm really burnt out, like if I've made a hundred telephone calls that day, sent 60-80 emails, had seven or eight back-to-back half-hour meetings, those days I just want to get some food and lay down.

1:11:41 I've been usually staring at a screen for eight to 10 hours and just decompress. Sometimes YouTube can provide that for me, but I don't count on it.

1:12:00 I hope that answers your question, Jesper. This would be a sales opportunity; it's just what I'm qualified for. I kind of just ended up in sales because it's what I've always done.

1:12:11 Coding and sales are two of the most lucrative professions you could be in because you get massive leverage. With coding, you build a nice piece of code that has a great business function. With sales, you sell something really expensive and get a piece of that.

1:12:34 Typically, by the time you're negotiating really big deals, you've got experience, you know what you're worth, and you're getting compensated for the amount of stress you're going to go through to earn it, because salespeople earn their money for sure.

1:12:49 Often, some salespeople luck out; they get in a green field, blue ocean territory. But I don't count on it. I'm wanting to learn and better my skill set. Selling in a down market makes you sharp; it really sharpens you up.

1:13:06 You really push hard to control everything you can control, become more articulate, write more effective emails, and just be like have that... One of the things people compliment me on with my live streams is that I'm go, go, go, go, go. That's not natural for me; that's something I learned in sales.

1:13:26 People will put you on the spot, and you're having to negotiate and pull the conversation back and forth. You're having to control the conversation, and often in sales, when you're working with another high-powered business professional, you're almost wrestling with them verbally.

1:13:45 You have to be just like you can't pause; they're going to look at you like, "What are you wasting my time for?" So you have to be willing to, on the fly, come up with the response.

Learning and Growth Mindset

1:13:56 It's exhilarating. It can be stressful. I've definitely had some stressful days in sales. Nicholas says, "Do you learn NLP and is it effective?" I haven't learned much about it; I'll look into it. It's just not something I'm super familiar with.

1:14:15 Richard says, "I am shipping whole beans, grinder, and French press, so caffeine will never be compromised." You're going to enjoy that. I swear the Philippines runs on caffeine and coffee. Definitely nice to have your own for home use.

1:14:32 For me, there are days where I'm like, "Ugh, I don't want to run to town, but I need my caffeine." Sometimes I'm thinking, "I wish I could just pour a cup here." Now, I can technically go to my host family; she's got coffee, but sometimes she's got other things going on.

1:14:51 She's taking care of the grandkids, she's doing laundry, she's got some priority, and I don't want to interrupt her. I also don't want to be messing around with her equipment. So, yeah, I think having your own to provide your own caffeine is a great option, Richard.

1:15:08 Nicholas, I worked as management consulting for one of the big four firms. I really admire and respect high-level sales guys; amazing work ethic. Thank you, Nicholas. Yeah, I mean, what I did when I was working in a recent role, I learned a lot. Every sales role I had, I learned a lot.

1:15:28 I have nothing negative to say about the companies that I worked for. I feel like nobody from Tennessee, like me, from a no-name university, coming from the background that I came from, they blessed me with opportunities that I never imagined having in my life.

1:15:46 To get prepared, I would work on Sundays to prepare for the week. I would be doing all kinds of admin and prep work. How am I going to lay out my week to be successful? How do I set myself up so I come in Monday, I've got everything in line, I'm not scrambling around, I know exactly what I'm going to be doing?

1:16:06 I try to fill up my calendar the week before, so you kind of just build up a funnel, basically. But it...

1:16:11 It's a grind and it can be unforgiving. It can be frustrating; you're having to deal with scheduling sometimes, scheduling people whose schedules are packed, people who are very, very busy. Things come up, not just in their personal life, but even professionally. Like, you know, I went through the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, and that caused a lot of scheduling headaches. Some of you may be familiar with the collapse of SVB, but that hit the tech industry hard and really threw a wrench in my scheduling for at least a month, maybe multiple months. It was really a stressful circumstance for a lot of people.

1:17:02 Family of five from New Jersey, hi! I hope you're doing well. Jesper says, "Thanks for the insight. I definitely know how you feel. I teach for a living and I'm just tired after work." Absolutely. Teaching, especially if you're an introverted person, can really drain you a lot. You have to be on, right?

1:17:26 Especially if you care. Some of my favorite people in the world that I've had in my professional life were teachers who believed in me, invested time into me, and encouraged me in spite of my challenging background. I owe a great deal of gratitude to some really awesome teachers, principals, admin, faculty, and some of the schools that I went to growing up that looked past my background and really believed in me. They're part of the reason I am where I am today.

Multiple Income Streams and Expat Life

1:18:07 Metch said, "Oh, hey Metch! I've recognized your tag. I think this is your first time joining us, or one of your first times. I've seen you in a number of other Philippines channels, so great to have you in here. Welcome!" I repair vehicles, tow, roadside service, and scrap vehicles. Self-employment often requires multiple streams of income.

1:18:27 Absolutely. One of my buddies, Ron, actually does something similar. I need to reach out to Ron because he's going through some stuff right now. He's an individual I'd love to interview and talk to. He's a Filipino American guy with an interesting story for sure. I met him through a group I was in, through a mutual acquaintance of ours.

1:18:59 Yeah, I agree with you, you need multiple streams of income. My ideal, and I'm happy to open it up with you guys, is one, have investment income, passive income, coming in from investments. And then stack YouTube on top of that, such that my food, transportation, and shelter are paid for with my investment income. And then everything on top of that is YouTube income contributing to my investments, stacking more into my investments, building up extra income streams.

1:19:36 Like building on top of YouTube, like doing memberships, consults. I definitely want to get more into the consult side of things, not something that's probably necessary for a lot of the guys watching this who are probably very experienced. But there's going to be more and more people that want to live this lifestyle, people that are unhappy with their life in the US. The cost of living ain't going down in our lifetimes, as far as I can tell.

1:20:09 They're stressed out, maybe they've been through difficult relationship issues, maybe they've had some job insecurity, maybe they just don't like the weather. I want to sit down with these guys and be able to provide them with some insight and some questions to help them figure out what they want. For a lot of agreeable guys, guys that tend to be more want to go along to get along, they don't know what they want. They know they just don't know what they want.

1:20:36 They have the sense they want to live in Southeast Asia, but they don't know what that looks like. They don't know where in Southeast Asia is right for them. Some people think of it as one big monolith, and they need to talk to somebody that's been boots on the ground in almost all of these countries, that can really help to dig into what they want. Do you want island life? Do you want to live in the mountains? Do you have certain dietary restrictions?

1:21:04 I know a fair amount through experimentation, so there's a lot to dig into there, and I think it's valuable. Let's see, C teach, te NLP is an approach to communication that some sales and marketing people use. Yeah, I'll take a look at it, Nicholas. Richard says, "Teachers like parenting is very high energy as well as exhausting." Yeah, teaching can be very difficult.

1:21:29 Craig says, "I'm from North Georgia. I currently work in IT. It's hectic sometimes and I'm getting tired of it. That's why I'm teaching myself how to day trade. The goal is to become a digital nomad." Very interesting, Craig. Yeah, so I actually have a friend from North Georgia as well. I'm not going to name drop him, but he also had a career in IT. Where I'm from, not too far, about two and a half hours away from North Georgia.

1:21:55 And it's true, you're having to constantly learn new things, constantly develop your skill set. It's a corporate grind for sure. Craig says, "Dollars to move to the Philippines in retirement, if not before." Yeah, it's definitely a solid option. I think it's increasingly interesting to a lot of guys.

1:22:21 People were telling me, "You're nuts to go there. That doesn't make any sense." I'm like, "Look, I've watched hundreds, probably thousands of hours of content on the Philippines, and I've traveled here now multiple times and I have friends here, Filipino friends and local friends." It's a great option for some people, it's not for everyone. There's going to be guys that come here and decide, "Ah, the weather ain't for me, the traffic is a bit much," whatever it may be. But I think giving it a shot is worth it for a lot of guys.

Investment Strategies and Risk Assessment

1:22:54 Bets friends, investment income is good via YieldMax, Roundhill, and Defiance ETFs. And yeah, I'll take a look at those. Bets friends, Medtech, I own two large commercial buildings, so my plan is to prepare the better building for lease, thus I may be able to achieve a rental income. Solid advice, solid insight.

1:23:17 Medtech, to have some investment income and to help to supplement your income. I'm not sure what age Medtech is. I definitely have seen you on Philippines info channel streams. But yeah, that's a solid example. Like the United States, a very industrial country. It's, I don't see that changing anytime soon. Some would argue that it's actually going through a reindustrialization process, that industry is being reshorred or near-shored. Rehoring is probably the better, more accurate phrase.

1:23:49 But yeah, I know in Tennessee they're building a number of plants to produce, I think, electric vehicles. Go, not dollars. Metch says, "Day trading seems dangerous. Plan, why not value invest for longer term?" So I can't speak for other people. This is simply how I assess risk. I lean toward value investing.

1:24:11 Medtech, for myself, I won't discount other people's strategies, but for me personally, Medtech, I'm more of a value investor at this point. That's just what my risk appetite is. I'd rather focus on building like some online businesses because that's just what I've seen more success in, that's what I think I'm better at, that's what my skill set is suited for. But there's a lot of different ways. Each person has to assess their risk appetite, what they're good at, what their goals are, their timeline.

1:24:45 But that's a fair point. And of course, nothing on this channel is investing advice. I will never provide investing advice ever. Nothing I ever say should ever be misconstrued as investing advice. Invest at your own risk. And yeah, I just want to make that very clear. This is not investing advice. I'm happy to talk about what I do. I will never suggest you to do anything in that arena. It's just simply not something I'm licensed to do. I'm not qualified or licensed to do.

Retirement Destinations: Philippines vs. Colombia

1:25:20 Malik, hey Alex Malik. Oh yeah, your name sounds super familiar, Malik. I think you've been watching for a long time and you're an early subscriber. I think you were subscribed to me like back three years ago when I started to get more into YouTube. Thank you for sticking with us here through this very slow journey. I'm 50 years old and my plan is to retire either in Colombia or the Philippines. Do you have any insights on the pros and cons between the two? Which would you pick between the two?

1:25:55 So, this is going to be super high level, Malik, because there's a lot of similarities and there's a lot of differences. The biggest factor for me is safety. When I was in Colombia, my friends were always warning me about safety. I personally didn't have any major incidents as far as theft or danger. I did have one instance where I had a bunch of random teenagers surround me and try to convince me to go off with them somewhere, and I said no. They kept following me. We walked into an auto repair shop, and I was like, "No, no." They started cursing me out and then eventually left. I don't know what they wanted. This was in Medellin.

1:26:38 In fact, I could pull up the neighborhood because I'm not going to go back to that neighborhood. But let me go and pull up that neighborhood so you guys can get a sense of where I'm talking about. Let me see, Medellin, Colombia. Okay, no Mediterranean restaurant. Here we go. Okay, now I've got this pulled up. Let me just screenshare.

1:27:05 Sir, so I was in this neighborhood and I crossed over. I was actually living over on this side of...

1:27:17 Actually, living over on this side of the stadium, I was on Avenida Colombia, and I ended up walking over here to film. That was not a good decision. I ended up in this place, maybe that's not it. It was in this neighborhood, SE Americana. It was somewhere around here, maybe over on this side. But yeah, it was sketchy and not a situation I want to repeat.

1:27:46 That's really the central issue. When I was in Bangkok, I went to a Peruvian restaurant. I asked a gentleman who was from Peru why he was there in Bangkok. I've been to Peru, I love it, and he told me it's the safety issue. So, do a lot of research into safety in Colombia.

1:28:13 Can you live there safely? Sure. I have friends that have lived there and are from there, but when I was there, numerous different people in both Medellin and Bogota warned me, 'Be careful.' The hotel I stayed in in Medellin for a couple of months kept the door locked. When you left the hotel, they had to let you out by unlocking the door. When you came back, they looked behind you to see if someone was following. So, it can be kind of a tense vibe.

1:28:58 I love Colombia in spite of all that. It's a beautiful country. I never had any major extreme problems, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that safety is a concern there. Now, in the Philippines, I haven't had any major safety concerns, so I lean towards the Philippines. Part of that is being Asian-American; I'm just more accustomed to Asian cultures. Broadly speaking, it's more similar to what I grew up in.

1:29:30 I love Colombia. It's the most biodiverse country in the world. You've got a lot in a small country. You've got beautiful beaches, tropical vibes, and cities in the mountains like Medellin and Bogota. Bogota has rainy, Seattle-style weather, while Medellin is more like the city of eternal spring.

1:29:51 That's a really hard decision. It comes down to whether you need access to the US. If you need to go back and forth to the US, Colombia is going to be a lot closer. You fly three or four hours up to Miami, and then you fly under to your final destination. If you have rental property in the US that you need to be checking on, Colombia is going to be a bit closer.

1:30:12 Also, the Latin vibe. The Philippines isn't really Latin; it gets called that because of the Spanish influence, but it feels more Asian to me. It also feels more Americanized than Colombia. But Colombia, the weather is nice. I personally prefer some of the weather in Colombia because it can be milder in some places.

1:30:46 For me, the big deciding factor is safety. I just feel safer here in the Philippines overall. That's what it comes down to for me. But I would happily visit Colombia again in the future. Part of it for me is the social life; my social life was decent in Colombia. It's very strong here.

Cambodia and Travel Safety Tips

1:31:12 Malik says it's been great to watch you grow over the years. Thank you so much, Malik. I really appreciate your subscription. Metch says, '54 Cambodia is my favorite Southeast Asian country.' Cambodia is underrated. I've had a great time every time I've been to Cambodia. I've been twice and had a fantastic time.

1:31:33 I enjoy it a lot. Phnom Penh is surprisingly international; you see expats from all over the world. It's rapidly developing; you see new buildings everywhere. It's a cool vibe. By the way, guys, I am going to wind down here shortly because I'm starting to lose my voice, and I've got a lot of talking to do tomorrow. So, I do want to give my voice a break.

1:31:54 But yeah, Metch, I agree. Cambodia is awesome, and I would love to go back. I have some friends there still, one friend in particular who owns a guest house next to the airport. I'd like to see her at some point. She's just a really warm and welcoming person, and doesn't speak English, but just one of those people I had a good connection with.

1:32:25 Family of five, I'm a boring investor: S&P index, large-cap tech, rentals. That's it. Family of five, that's much more my style as well. Nicholas, I was in Medellin for three weeks in January this year and had zero problems. I really enjoyed it. I stayed in hostels. I loved the food in Medellin. People were telling me the food in Colombia is so-so, but I thought everything was super fresh.

1:32:50 The ingredients were super fresh. I really liked some of the what I would call farm-to-table style restaurants. People were super nice, like the owner of the hotel I stayed in was telling me about his family's property up in the mountains and was trying to invite me up there. I was a little bit nervous just based on what I've heard.

1:33:04 But the Colombians that I met and spent time with were super nice, super inviting, super friendly. They treated me like family. Really warm people, but also cautioning me, right? They're always telling me, 'Be cautious here.' Like, 'No dar papaya,' don't show your valuables. Even if you think it looks safe, be very cautious.

Concluding Remarks and Audience Engagement

1:33:26 So, what I do to offset that, and you'll see this, I don't wear fancy clothes. This is, I think, Hanes. I got it on Amazon. I don't mind wearing some beat-up shoes. I don't wear any fancy Apple Watch. This is a cheap iPhone. I don't use a lot of valuables when I'm traveling. And I also can pull off the Latin look, so maybe it's just me.

1:33:55 But yeah, if my DTV application gets declined, my plan is to be in Duma. That sounds great, Nicholas. Keep us posted. Richard says, 'I need to leave. As always, I enjoyed the time. Sleep well and see you next time.' Thank you so much, Richard.

1:34:08 Well, everybody, I am going to call it. It's been wonderful to meet the long-term subscribers and the new subscribers. Shout out to Tony for being a long-term subscriber. This channel wouldn't be possible without Tony. He helped me to get through the early days when I wasn't sure what I was doing and helped me to better understand why I was doing this.

1:34:30 If you're watching this on replay, please subscribe to the channel down below. Give us a thumbs up; it helps with the YouTube algorithm. And finally, comment down below if you have any feedback for me. It's a gift to me; it's always appreciated. I learn something new every time from my subscribers, my commenters, and my viewers.

1:34:54 Oh, thank you so much, Nicholas. I'm glad you enjoyed it. So yeah, until next time, I hope everybody has a great weekend, and we'll chat with you soon.