Back From Business

[moustache]

2014 the recovery

After the disappointments of the previous year we decided we were going to really focus on ourselves, doing stuff that makes us happy and being self sufficient as much as possible. I was doing casual work, some manual labour, some driving vans, some placing bets for sports betting/promo people that I know. We took up martial arts again and we started to dance salsa. Dancing is a wonderful hobby and I'd highly recommend anyone, single or in a couple, male or female take it up immediately! We decided we wanted to move out of Mansfield so renovated our house and put it on the market for sale. It took around 7 months for it to be completed and sold, we had considered doing this as a money making venture but it was hard and unsatisfying work for us so that idea got in the fucking sea. We didn't make a profit because id bought in 2007 at the height of the boom but released a decent chunk of equity to find our next adventure, we moved in to a friend's spare room and waited to see what was around the corner...

[RED-DOG]

 

[moustache]

2015 Uruguay
We decided to make decisions based on experiences so spent a month in Uruguay (Mrs tache is from South America) and a month in Hong Kong (where I'm from) to see what work and business options there were for us before comparing them to the UK and choosing how the next few years are going to look. We stayed at a farm around an hour outside Montevideo and it was amazing! Beautiful countryside, very safe, weather was top notch, people were friendly although almost no one spoke any English so I was in at the deep end with my Spanish. Wood fire for heating in the evenings and cooking so the first thing I did was learnt how to say 'I want to buy an axe please' and went to the local hardware store and got one! Several hours of sweating later I wished I'd learnt 'chainsaw' instead! 😉 We got to talking to a couple of people I had been introduced to and looked in to a few business options, vehicle rental, opening a gym, online estate agency, building and selling houses. They all seemed sort of viable but it would have taken so long to set up and would have needed a pa full time to help with translation issues that we would likely have ran out of money by the time we got started so it was kind of a no go. I played a little poker and won the $100 rebuy in the local casino much to the disgust of the locals so that paid for a few great nights out. The food, beer and wine  in Uruguay is second to none, and I have eaten and drank in some great places in my time. All locally produced, all organic (in fact they don't have a word for organic because no form of farming uses chemical fertiliser or pesticide because they just don't need it) to sum it up, beautiful amazing country and we will defo go back but it wasn't right for us to start the kind of business we want so we moved on...

[Killerkilsby]

Enjoying this more and more!

[bookiebasher]

Just caught up with this diary , an excellent read.

Thanks for sharing your experiences on Blonde. 

[moustache]

It's my pleasure to tell these stories!

[strak33]

Really loving this diary aswell.

[verndog158]

Really loving this diary aswell.

[DungBeetle]

2015 Uruguay
We decided to make decisions based on experiences so spent a month in Uruguay (Mrs tache is from South America) and a month in Hong Kong (where I'm from) to see what work and business options there were for us before comparing them to the UK and choosing how the next few years are going to look. We stayed at a farm around an hour outside Montevideo and it was amazing! Beautiful countryside, very safe, weather was top notch, people were friendly although almost no one spoke any English so I was in at the deep end with my Spanish. Wood fire for heating in the evenings and cooking so the first thing I did was learnt how to say 'I want to buy an axe please' and went to the local hardware store and got one! Several hours of sweating later I wished I'd learnt 'chainsaw' instead! 😉 We got to talking to a couple of people I had been introduced to and looked in to a few business options, vehicle rental, opening a gym, online estate agency, building and selling houses. They all seemed sort of viable but it would have taken so long to set up and would have needed a pa full time to help with translation issues that we would likely have ran out of money by the time we got started so it was kind of a no go. I played a little poker and won the $100 rebuy in the local casino much to the disgust of the locals so that paid for a few great nights out. The food, beer and wine  in Uruguay is second to none, and I have eaten and drank in some great places in my time. All locally produced, all organic (in fact they don't have a word for organic because no form of farming uses chemical fertiliser or pesticide because they just don't need it) to sum it up, beautiful amazing country and we will defo go back but it wasn't right for us to start the kind of business we want so we moved on...

Really gripped by your life tale.  Thanks for sharing this stuff (good and bad).

[moustache]

2015 part 2 Hongkong

We flew straight from Uruguay to Hongkong, well I say straight, we flew Montevideo-Sao Paulo-Chicago-Hongkong, one of the worst flights Iv ever done, and Iv been on some catastrophic flights! Transferring through Chicago they recommend that you give at least 5 hours to make your next flight and even then people often miss them. We did check and that is the least painful way to fly that far in that direction but I'd be hesitant to do it again unless it was really necessary. Much worse than London-Hongkong-Sydney and that is a notoriously bad journey. Anyway, we landed in exhausted after a month in the South American winter in the countryside in to the stinking heat and humidity of the city. I love this city as my original home but it was still rather a shock. Our small serviced apartment we rented for the month was right over a 24h busy main road and the noise and heat was relentless. Hadn't heard a siren for a month and then didn't go 10 mins without hearing one! I met up with some people I hadn't seen for ages and looked for work and business options. Business was a no go for us, there is just too much competition in every field I have any experience in. There is plenty of work but the ethic there requires very long hours and the reward isn't great because of how expensive rent is. 1500-2000 per month for a tiny studio in the worse areas of town, and lots more if you want deprecate bedrooms or a modern building with clubhouse or a central location. I went to Macau (obv) and had a great time, enjoyed the food more than the poker, the standard has got better since I was last there and the rake is still redic so it's not really a long term option either. Loved my time there but not for work at the moment. Next stop UK...

[RED-DOG]

 

[moustache]

Merry Christmas all, hope you had a good holiday and hope it's still ongoing! I'm back at work, unfortunately had a couple of unexpected expenses so have been putting in the hours at work and pokers on the back burner a bit until Feb, still got the same plans more or less but adding and removing bits as my plans and interests for the next few years develop. Poker is looking like it's going to play more of a support role as a second job or even maybe a hobby that happens to bring in some money, I'm wanting to invest my time and hard earned cash in something as future proof as possible and I'm trying to take in as many options as possible. If anyone has any ideas about growing markets and industries then post them up please. 👍

It's hard living on the boat in winter, have to have your wits about you to make sure we don't run out of water, all the outdoor taps get turned off to prevent damage when it gets below 0, keeping the fire going because when it goes out the temp drops really quickly and it's harder to restart due to cold air pressure coming down the chimney. One night I climbed on the roof with the Hoover and stuck it down the chimney to get a draw going because the boat was filling with smoke! Worked a treat but quite dangerous I suppose. It's very satisfying when it's all going well and after problems are solved and I love it, hard work though! I'm used to flicking a switch for all my needs and can't anymore...

[tikay]

What a life you have had, remarkable stuff, but the stand out headline is you mentioned you were in "reinforced concrete & construction".

Your readers need more detail on that. Rebar, shuttering, that sort of thing?

[RED-DOG]

Merry Christmas all, hope you had a good holiday and hope it's still ongoing! I'm back at work, unfortunately had a couple of unexpected expenses so have been putting in the hours at work and pokers on the back burner a bit until Feb, still got the same plans more or less but adding and removing bits as my plans and interests for the next few years develop. Poker is looking like it's going to play more of a support role as a second job or even maybe a hobby that happens to bring in some money, I'm wanting to invest my time and hard earned cash in something as future proof as possible and I'm trying to take in as many options as possible. If anyone has any ideas about growing markets and industries then post them up please. 👍

It's hard living on the boat in winter, have to have your wits about you to make sure we don't run out of water, all the outdoor taps get turned off to prevent damage when it gets below 0, keeping the fire going because when it goes out the temp drops really quickly and it's harder to restart due to cold air pressure coming down the chimney. One night I climbed on the roof with the Hoover and stuck it down the chimney to get a draw going because the boat was filling with smoke! Worked a treat but quite dangerous I suppose. It's very satisfying when it's all going well and after problems are solved and I love it, hard work though! I'm used to flicking a switch for all my needs and can't anymore...

Fire lighting tip. Light a few loosely crumpled sheets of newspaper on top of your smoldering fire. It will draw in air from the bottom (and consequently through your kindling) and force hot air up the chimney creating a draw.

[moustache]

What a life you have had, remarkable stuff, but the stand out headline is you mentioned you were in "reinforced concrete & construction".

Your readers need more detail on that. Rebar, shuttering, that sort of thing?

My time in construction was rather boring to me, I wasn't very heavily involved at ground level, I spent most of my time in offices learning about the marketing and plans for building cheap social housing for the future, we were working with 2 products, lite steel which starts off in 3mm sheets and a single machine shapes, stamps rivet holes and cuts it in to all the I bars required for a build and this can be done on site. Typically less than a tonne of steel is required for a 2 bed detached house. The finish was a concrete and expanded polystyrene mixture that is applied to the steel frame with huge spray guns and smoothed before it dries. Quick and cheap to build with and has good insulative properties. I would have much preferred the practical side of construction than sitting in an office with people who really shouldn't have been there and have them routinely ignore my suggestions and then watch the business struggle as a result. The majority of the successful projects were in disaster relief areas like Thailand, Haiti, St Lucia to rebuild whole villages after storms, earthquakes etc.. I would defo go to someone else if you require advice for building your own homes, my knowledge is rather limited. Although I would love to build my own house in the future I am much more likely to use straw bales and lime mortar, that's my idea of luxury!