the goose

So we’ve moved somewhere, where

• the average temperature is about 20 degrees C warmer than Dublin
• cut our living costs by 2/3rds
• allowed us to focus all our time on building our own wealth
• avoided having to go to work (unless we’d like to)

But it can’t all be good.  And here are a few gotcha’s. In a week when its been too hot to walk down here, I thought I’d put a few down for posterity.  Lets see if I can mitigate them.

1. Motivation: “Millions long for immortality who don’t know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon” writes  Susan Ertz.  Now imagine having a Sunday afternoon every day of the week.  We’re not the worst at this – and being honest – we can’t afford to put our feet up completely but there is a lot to be said for having to turn up for work on a Monday morning.  We’ve mitigated this by trying to stick to our 5 tasks a day (do five things then stop).   We’ve recently engaged a coach who will help crack the whip and keep us on track.  I guess there is a bit of a stigma (especially in Ireland) with having a ‘coach’ but I’m willing to bet pretty-much anyone could benefit from being called to book now and again.  It works in the gym and we’ve found it to work for building our cash-flow.
2. Weather: “hold on – its bloody georgeous down there”  - yes, yes  - it is in general, but when it tops 40 degrees, there isn’t much to be done about it.  Productivity goes down the toilet.  If we had our way we’d probably leave Argentina for a few months while the hottest of the summer passes.  This year we did that by going back to Ireland for a bit but we should have stayed until the end of Feb to really miss out on the heat.  Mendoza is actually not so bad as the humidity is low, but Buenos Aires is a killer.
3. Networking: I’m someone who did a lot of networking back in Dublin.  As well as joining local business networking groups and attending various nerd events such as Ruby Ireland and Bizcamp’s, I really enjoyed getting out and meeting people.  Watching the twitter feed I am a little envious of some of the great events which are being organised.  I’ve met some great entrepreneurs down here but there aren’t as many as I’d like.  We should probably move back to Buenos Aires where there is a much greater concentration.  Having said that, I probably we over-doing the meet-and greats a little and there is something to be said for just getting my head down.  Listening to Pegram Harrison’s Evaluating a Venture Idea lecture, I do get the sense that perhaps it might be a better idea to move to Silicon Valley rather than Dublin if networking is really the name of the game.  Perhaps a few months there might do it. Pegram posits in his talk that the greatest entrepreneur in the world can’t survive without the right environment in which to flourish.  Granted, he is talking about ‘big bang’ ideas rather than simply earning more than you spend without having to sell hours.
4. So what? Its all very nice not having a day job.  I guess the next step would be to avoid having customers (eg:  sell Piehole and live off the interest) but at the end of the day you do need a challenge.  We took August off to spend on the personal and ‘giving back’ type projects which were thoroughly enjoyable.  It was a month more than we could spend on these projects in Dublin, but at the same time, in order to hit the top run of Maslow’s over quoted hierarchy of needs, doing something ‘big’ starts to look more attractive.
5. Security: Stuff happens.  Accidents, long forgotten tax returns, emergency trips to visit sick relatives.  We can’t really afford to flit around the globe at will and while this provide motivation – at the same time – a life abroad does feel a little unsettled.  Going home for Christmas felt good and it might be a little time yet before Argentina or wherever we will be next year feels like home.  Part of what is contributing to this is the fact we don’t have a plan for where we will be past getting hitched in January 2011.  A 5 year plan always sounded ludicrous to me, but perhaps there is some sense in it.

So there you have it – some catches with this whole geoarbitrage thingy.   That is not to say there not considerable upsides, but its not all milk and honey in the land of steak and red wine.