Sunrise in Poipu at the Grand Hyatt Kauai
My recent vacation to Hawaii reinforced two things: I love to travel and I really enjoy what I do working online. 90% of my 5 day trip was spent doing normal Hawaii stuff: hiking, visiting local landmarks and relaxing. But the other 10% of the time, I was busy responding to comments on my blog, dealing with advertisers and working on new articles.
Most mornings I would wake up around 7 am as the sun was rising(seen above) and lay in bed checking e-mails until I was ready to bust out my computer and get some real work done on our ocean view lanai(free upgrade of course!). Accompanying me on this journey was my cup of coffee and light breakfast(usually fruit and/or pastries). I’m not going to lie, it was a pretty awesome office to work out of for 5 days and it barely felt like work when I was working.
There was something about my ocean view office that calmed my nerves and made what I was doing seem a lot more fun than it should have been. It didn’t seem like work at all.
The Best Jobs Don’t Seem Like Work
These past few days in paradise reminded me of the good ol’ days. When I was working from home for a living and before I chose to give up my freedom for a soul-sucking day job. Even though my return to a day job hasn’t been all that bad, I still miss the freedom that working for yourself full-time allows for. While I was away I didn’t even bother to check my work e-mail and I probably would have ignored any work-related calls if anyone dared to call.
But when it came to blogging and working online, I didn’t mind responding to e-mails, negotiating deals with advertisers and doing a little writing here and there. I guess that’s the best situation to be in: when you can ‘work’ and it doesn’t seem like you’re doing work at all. You’re willing to ‘work’ whether you’re on an island in Hawaii or sitting comfortably on your couch at home.
I consider myself very lucky to have found a passion that allows me to work from anywhere on the globe(and make decent money while I’m at it). And although I only do it part time right now, it’s a huge benefit to be able to work regardless of your location. In fact, as I write this article I’m actually 40,000 feet in the air somewhere over the Pacific Ocean.
Flexibility is My Favorite
If you can find a day job that lets you work remotely while you’re on vacation or work from home then you should take advantage while it lasts. I think the optimal work day is four hours anyways(hence the name of the blog) and that can easily be done in the morning before your day even really gets going. In fact, that’s what my friend over at the Financial Samurai does. Think about all the BS meetings, chatting and internet browsing you do on a typical day. I know that I’d rather replace all that with a hike up the Na Pali coast(seen below) after putting in my four hours of work or tennis and lunch with a friend.
Na Pali Coast
I started working for myself online because I don’t think my career in engineering will ever allow me the flexibility that I want when it comes to my work-life balance. There are definitely some careers out there that will allow it but mine is not one of them. I have a friend who recently moved to Singapore for 6 months to be with his girlfriend and his boss was actually ok with him working remotely! Now that’s my kind of job.
Lack of Flex for now
Right now, I don’t have much flexibility when it comes to my day job. I have to be in around 7-8 am and work 8 hours(plus lunch) before I get to go home. That also doesn’t leave me much time when it comes to my online work since I have to squeeze that in when I get home. But for now, I don’t mind the extra work. I know that if I keep growing my online businesses, one day the income from my part-time work will equal my income from the day job. And that’s when I’ll really find out how much I need/want the money from my day job.
When you no longer depend on the income from your day job, work can be a lot more fun. I’m not sure how my day job career will pan out but I’m not going to wait around and hope everything will work out the way I want it to. I’m going to do something about it.
Readers, do you have the flexibility that you would like with your job? If you could work from home or work remotely would you spend more time away from work or on vacation?
-Harry @ the Four Hour Work Day
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My job allows me to make my own hours, essentially, but it isn’t flexible where I can work from home. I would ideally love to find something like that or get to where I am freelancing more and more.
Making your own hours is nice but I think being able to work from home is the real benefit. If you can be more efficient with your time, then 4 hours at home might be the same as working 8 hours from your desk.
In the perfect world I would live in Thailand 3 months a year, Australia 6 months of the year and I guess I should throw in a snow town for 3 months to keep the husband happy!
Well if you plan on working online that is definitely doable and in fact I know a few people who do just that. Nothing like making the same US salary in a cheaper country!
Back so soon! I forgot you went. That’s a nice view you had there.
Even though California is mild compared to the rest of North America right now, I had a real tough time coming back after 4 weeks in Oahu. I’ve made up my mind that I want to relocate there for 6 months a year.
I want to always be warm. 70 degrees at night is perfect!
Haha yea it was a quick one since I had to be back for work! 🙁 But the weather was seriously amazing, we got pretty lucky I think. I really like the idea of living in Hawaii or somewhere warm during winter and living here the other part of the year. But then how would I go boarding – don’t think there’s any snow in Hawaii..
You’re gonna like my long post about Hawaii then. It will be published within an hour.
Hi Harry, I agree that flexibility makes us happy! I left my full time, high salaried job because I have income streams from rental properties and direct sales, but a funny thing happened… I missed going into ‘the office’. Like you, I am also an engineer and now I have a part time consulting job, at 40. I love the work I do and I love having flexibility while working in a professional field. I couldn’t ask for a better arrangement.
Can you ask your employer if you can work part time or hourly? Do you really need a full time income if you live simply? I guarantee that the same exact job will be so much more enjoyable if you just had flexibility. You will also be more engaged and productive, which is a benefit to the employer.
I am very passionate about helping employees and employers see that part time work is good for people, profit and planet!
That’s really cool. I don’t think I’m in a position yet where I can ask to work hours like that but I think it could be a possibility down the road. I honestly don’t need the money that comes from a full time job since like you mention, I have other sources of income(real estate, blogging, writing, etc). I think part time workers can be a huge benefit since you get the best four hours of the day from them but I haven’t seen any businesses shift towards this model.
Harry, I’m truly impressed at the age of 26 you no longer need your day job to survive. It took my a full 7 years longer than that to start thinking about exiting 2 years later.
Do you have a post detailing your various incomes and expenses and how you got there?
Cheers,
Sam
Thanks Sam, I don’t need the day job to survive but I can easily do it on top of everything else and nearly double my income(also have a wedding coming up and a fiancee in med school). So for now, I don’t mind working a little extra/harder – I’m young and full of energy. I think I would also feel weird to quit my day job/retire since I’ve only done it for 5 years haha. Most people work 45 years before they retire.
As for incomes/expenses post, no I don’t, I like to be a stealth wealth ninja as you put it I think haha. But shoot me an e-mail sometime and we can discuss it or next time I’m up in SF 🙂
No worries man! Having a fiancé be a doctor is a gold mine! You will soon really face the temptation of not having to work. Well, I guess it depends what type of doctor and how much debt she’s got and when she gets out of residency! 🙂
If you can become financially independent in four years, why do you think the media drones on about under savings, social security crisis,
Etc? If people get 40 years and you did it in 4, I don’t get the disconnect?
Haha trust me I know, already working out deals with her so that I can semi-retire early. I’m hoping to match her debt with my extra income and even though it’s only been one quarter, so far so good.
I don’t know that I’m quite FI yet but I’ve also gotten lucky here and there and picked a major with good opportunity and pay. Engineers tend to start off at very high salary’s but after 5-10 years, others start catching up. That’s why I’m expanding my income streams right now to stay ahead of the game.
Hi Sam, I know what you mean about the disconnect of what people are told they should do, versus what is most effective. Most people don’t want to take risks, so they stick with just saving until they are 65 and hope they have enough. My philosophy is to put your money towards businesses and investments that will give you residual income. This is really the only way to semi-retire early for the average person.
You are spot on that with part time workers, you get the most productive time. It is too bad that we aren’t seeing businesses shift this way. I hope they see the light!
I at least have the flexibility to work a compressed work week. So instead of killing 5 days by being in the office, I only have to kill 4. Granted, it gives me even less time to work with on those 4 days but I think the trade off is well worth it. That’s one less day I spend commuting to work and the time use is much more efficient. I’m already at the office for 8 hours, what’s another 2?
Nice, that’s a pretty good set up. In my industry, there are lots of companies that do 9/80’s where you work 9 hour days Mon-Thurs, 8 hours on first Friday of the pay period and then you get the second Friday off. I think this is great for employees but probably not the best thing for employers since if you’re like me your productivity rate is not the same in your 1st and 9th hours of work 🙂
I have zero flexibility right now. My day job is with a government funded organization so it’s incredibly rigid. I do have a fair amount of vacation time which is nice. One day I hope to have flexibility like you’ve described!
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Well government has its benefits too: mainly job security and retirement/pension funds so I don’t feel too bad for ya haha. Either way, it’s perfectly fine to work a day job while still working on the side to achieve whatever personal goals you have. I recommend it in fact.