Sawatdee Krap!

My name is Nate and I am a former corporate-dude from Australia on a quest for freedom. I’ve worked for some of the biggest names in the world, in senior roles; but like many others in Australia right now - I’m done with corporate and Australia’s holes and homes economy which punishes productivity and rewards rent-seeking.  

So I’m moving to Thailand with a $40k bag of cash (not a literal bag) and I’m going to try and launch a business, to fund a new life with more freedom around my time and the projects I work on. Instead of working ~50 hours a week to may the rich, richer. I’m going to work on things that interest me and appeal to my values.

One thing the lock-down period taught me is that the most important currency on earth is time.

Being able to spend it how you see fit, on things that matter most to you, that is true wealth. Unfortunately, the high cost of living in Australia means getting ahead requires giving up your best years to corporate, subjecting yourself to scummy-cultures that run HR psych-ops, and taking on obscene amounts of debt to enter both University and the property market.

We’re now at the point where over 1,600 Aussies are becoming homeless every month and most cities have no affordable homes to rent for people on minimum wage (as of May 2024). While we have some of the most profitable banks in the world and a class of billionaires who doubled their wealth during the pandemic. This outrages me and it’s not a society that reflects my values, so I’m leaving it behind.

I’m very fortunate to have big business experience with global companies at senior levels. I got to see how different models for business operations, got to experience start-ups become large companies, and saw many organisations fail and was part of the retrospectives where we got to learn what went wrong and how the mistakes could have been avoided. So now, instead of using these skills to enrich shareholders of my employers, I’m going to use them to create a nice little lifestyle for myself that reflects my values.

During the series you’ll learn why I picked Thailand, why I think it will give me more freedom over my time, and why I’m doing something so drastic like this. I’m hoping to give practical advice to people who may want to do something similar, but I also want to focus on the emotional side. It takes confidence to place a bet on yourself and follow a dream. I want people to see failures and see that they’re not so bad. You can just pick yourself up and try again.

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FAQ

  • I use uppbeat. If you sign up with this link (which contains a referral code), let me know using my contact form. Please include your email.

    I’ll give you a little plug in my credits as a thank you :)

  • This is a long story and I’ll address this in future episodes, but the short version is:

    I studied Commerce and did Accounting. I enjoyed learning how businesses operated and strategies they undertook to grow, but in these roles I really disliked the micro-management culture and Partners - rude is too polite a word to describe them. Once I got enough experience, I opened my own bookkeeping and accounting business. It was very successful, so I used it to fund a second degree, which was Computer Science.

    I graduated and my first role was in research; focused on a data science specialisation. It was a great experience, but I preferred building things more than exploratory research. So I did a long stint thereafter as a software engineer. I climbed the ladder (as you do) and found myself enjoying customer facing roles more-and-more. This lead me to roles like technical lead and solutions architect. At my career-peak I was Director-level where my hours were just insane and I was too tired to enjoy the pay.

    In tech, I’ve worked in research, delivery, sales, and operations. Looking back on my career, it’s clear to me now that learning is what I enjoy. Once I am comfortable with how something works, I don’t want to be focused on it anymore. I want to find the next challenge. And my next challenge is working for myself in the pursuit of happiness.