sadu
03-14-2009, 12:25 PM
Hi All,
I have just moved from New Zealand to Ireland, and thought I would share a few experiences and tips.
What's a bit different about this move is that things are a lot cheaper in New Zealand (everything in Ireland is 2.5x more expensive) - so it does go against the principles of 4HWW in that I'm earning in a cheap currency and spending in an expensive one. Consequently, I'm still working a 40 hour week and the extra efficiency I have gained is lost in living costs, but I'm working on that still. I'll try and get the wife to agree to moving to Thailand next time, but I don't see it happening.
I run a web development business which mainly has a NZ client base. Before i left, I got clients trained on the 'check email 2-3 times a day' concept, which has worked brilliantly. I also told people that if they used the word 'urgent' in the subject line of an email, it would send me a SMS and I would respond immediately (I wrote some software to do this for me). Since doing this about 3 months ago, I have had less than 10 'urgent' messages, which were all genuinely urgent. Oddly enough, me checking email less often has resulted in much faster email response times for clients, especially for urgent issues.
In terms of phone calls, I have been using VoIP for about a year, and shifting phone numbers from NZ to Ireland was trivial, I just packed my phones on the plane with me and plugged them in. My NZ clients can reach me on the same phone numbers as before, 0c per minute for both of us. My cellphone wasn't so portable however, but I'm hardly ever out and about when NZers need to call me so it's just not an issue. Business hours in NZ equates to approx 8pm - 4am in Ireland, so basically I'm available to answer calls in the morning (NZ Time) and let it go to answerphone for the afternoon (NZ time). The key for me is to make sure there is a system to get hold of me, or someone, 24x7 if there is a genuine emergency, and I have this in place.
The timezone thing is amazing. I get no email and no phone calls during Irish business hours, when I'm working. It's all purely productive time. I simply work through my list in order of importance, and spend the last hour emailing prople to let them know progress. I make sure that I ask them to reply before noon as I'll be "out" (aka asleep) for the afternoon - that way I can get them a same day response to their reply. In the evening, I get a couple of phone calls and emails, and I'll make notes based on these for actioning the next day.
I explained the move to a lot of the clients, and they were generally fine with the concept but concerned about my availability. I have been working hard to make sure everyone gets a fast and proper response so they can be confident that I'm not skiving off on a big long holiday - which EVERYONE assumes by default. I explain that it's not a holiday, and that I simply feel like going to Ireland for several months and I'll be working just the same as before. People don't get this concept - people associate going overseas with a holiday or a business trip, of which this is neither.
Many clients have no idea that I'm working remotely, and have been a bit shocked when they call on an Auckland number asking for a meeting and I say I'm in Ireland. It's a damn good excuse for not coming to meetings, no need to make up stories etc.
Before I left, I outsourced the shipping of my muse products through some friends for a set fee per product. The muse income was covering my rent in NZ nicely, but doesn't go so far over here - so I'm looking to repeat the formulas in Ireland and see if I can get some similar streams going.
Settling in here was hard work, and very stressful - Tim made this sound quite trivial in the book, but with 2 small kids in tow it's bloody hard work. You have less hours in the day to get things done (they get grumpy and need breaks), and you can't just sleep on a friend's couch or buy budget backpackers accommodation. Getting a house on a short-term contract was extremely hard and we had to compromise big time to get anything at all. Finding a car was unpleasant, but getting car insurance was even harder because insurance companies don't recognise a NZ driver's license. They were quoting up to 3200 euro pa to insure a 1000 euro car, literally about 15 times what we paid in NZ. Before you leave, call insurance companies for quotes and find out what licenses are valid.
I would highly recommend getting a VoIP phone number for the country you intend to move to BEFORE you leave home. We did this and used the number to make a few appointments before we left which was handy, but should have done more things like arrange insurance, tax numbers etc. Being able to give out a local number makes it much easier to make appointments with people.
Also, make sure you have references from everyone you can. Being a foreigner, the locals won't trust you 100%, so good references are essential. Get them from your employers, landlords, your bank, and customers. Print out 5 copies of each before you go, and scan a digital copy as well. Some people are quite happy with scanned digital copies but will often want to see the original.
In terms of money, we organised a Travelcard before we left. This is like a credit card, but the currency conversion is done up front rather than every time you buy something. Much much cheaper fees. Make sure you get some cash out as well, not everyone accepts credit cards.
We bought a local prepay simcard at the airport and stuck this into our existing phones. Get the person at the shop to configure the internet for you - I did this myself and it took me a few days to get sorted. This should work out cheaper than paying the local wireless hotspots, which we found to be unreasonably expensive. We simply connected the cellphone to the laptop and used it as a modem. Works good, and very portable.
We have been here 3 weeks now and are starting to get settled. I'm back into work again and are loving it, clients are happy too. There isn't much for kids to do here so we are looking at what options are available. If one of us can pick up a bit of local work that pays in euro, we should be living a bit more comfortably. We are taking it 1 day at a time, but overall it's been everything I expected from the mini retirement really.
I have just moved from New Zealand to Ireland, and thought I would share a few experiences and tips.
What's a bit different about this move is that things are a lot cheaper in New Zealand (everything in Ireland is 2.5x more expensive) - so it does go against the principles of 4HWW in that I'm earning in a cheap currency and spending in an expensive one. Consequently, I'm still working a 40 hour week and the extra efficiency I have gained is lost in living costs, but I'm working on that still. I'll try and get the wife to agree to moving to Thailand next time, but I don't see it happening.
I run a web development business which mainly has a NZ client base. Before i left, I got clients trained on the 'check email 2-3 times a day' concept, which has worked brilliantly. I also told people that if they used the word 'urgent' in the subject line of an email, it would send me a SMS and I would respond immediately (I wrote some software to do this for me). Since doing this about 3 months ago, I have had less than 10 'urgent' messages, which were all genuinely urgent. Oddly enough, me checking email less often has resulted in much faster email response times for clients, especially for urgent issues.
In terms of phone calls, I have been using VoIP for about a year, and shifting phone numbers from NZ to Ireland was trivial, I just packed my phones on the plane with me and plugged them in. My NZ clients can reach me on the same phone numbers as before, 0c per minute for both of us. My cellphone wasn't so portable however, but I'm hardly ever out and about when NZers need to call me so it's just not an issue. Business hours in NZ equates to approx 8pm - 4am in Ireland, so basically I'm available to answer calls in the morning (NZ Time) and let it go to answerphone for the afternoon (NZ time). The key for me is to make sure there is a system to get hold of me, or someone, 24x7 if there is a genuine emergency, and I have this in place.
The timezone thing is amazing. I get no email and no phone calls during Irish business hours, when I'm working. It's all purely productive time. I simply work through my list in order of importance, and spend the last hour emailing prople to let them know progress. I make sure that I ask them to reply before noon as I'll be "out" (aka asleep) for the afternoon - that way I can get them a same day response to their reply. In the evening, I get a couple of phone calls and emails, and I'll make notes based on these for actioning the next day.
I explained the move to a lot of the clients, and they were generally fine with the concept but concerned about my availability. I have been working hard to make sure everyone gets a fast and proper response so they can be confident that I'm not skiving off on a big long holiday - which EVERYONE assumes by default. I explain that it's not a holiday, and that I simply feel like going to Ireland for several months and I'll be working just the same as before. People don't get this concept - people associate going overseas with a holiday or a business trip, of which this is neither.
Many clients have no idea that I'm working remotely, and have been a bit shocked when they call on an Auckland number asking for a meeting and I say I'm in Ireland. It's a damn good excuse for not coming to meetings, no need to make up stories etc.
Before I left, I outsourced the shipping of my muse products through some friends for a set fee per product. The muse income was covering my rent in NZ nicely, but doesn't go so far over here - so I'm looking to repeat the formulas in Ireland and see if I can get some similar streams going.
Settling in here was hard work, and very stressful - Tim made this sound quite trivial in the book, but with 2 small kids in tow it's bloody hard work. You have less hours in the day to get things done (they get grumpy and need breaks), and you can't just sleep on a friend's couch or buy budget backpackers accommodation. Getting a house on a short-term contract was extremely hard and we had to compromise big time to get anything at all. Finding a car was unpleasant, but getting car insurance was even harder because insurance companies don't recognise a NZ driver's license. They were quoting up to 3200 euro pa to insure a 1000 euro car, literally about 15 times what we paid in NZ. Before you leave, call insurance companies for quotes and find out what licenses are valid.
I would highly recommend getting a VoIP phone number for the country you intend to move to BEFORE you leave home. We did this and used the number to make a few appointments before we left which was handy, but should have done more things like arrange insurance, tax numbers etc. Being able to give out a local number makes it much easier to make appointments with people.
Also, make sure you have references from everyone you can. Being a foreigner, the locals won't trust you 100%, so good references are essential. Get them from your employers, landlords, your bank, and customers. Print out 5 copies of each before you go, and scan a digital copy as well. Some people are quite happy with scanned digital copies but will often want to see the original.
In terms of money, we organised a Travelcard before we left. This is like a credit card, but the currency conversion is done up front rather than every time you buy something. Much much cheaper fees. Make sure you get some cash out as well, not everyone accepts credit cards.
We bought a local prepay simcard at the airport and stuck this into our existing phones. Get the person at the shop to configure the internet for you - I did this myself and it took me a few days to get sorted. This should work out cheaper than paying the local wireless hotspots, which we found to be unreasonably expensive. We simply connected the cellphone to the laptop and used it as a modem. Works good, and very portable.
We have been here 3 weeks now and are starting to get settled. I'm back into work again and are loving it, clients are happy too. There isn't much for kids to do here so we are looking at what options are available. If one of us can pick up a bit of local work that pays in euro, we should be living a bit more comfortably. We are taking it 1 day at a time, but overall it's been everything I expected from the mini retirement really.