Making a living abroad for a few years (in my case Ukraine)

Ask questions and get advice. Disclaimer: Any advice you take here is at your own risk. We are not liable for any consequences you might incur from following advice here. Note: Before posting your question, do a search for it in the Google Search box at the top to see if it's been addressed.
Post Reply
craigrmeyer
Freshman Poster
Posts: 6
Joined: May 6th, 2010, 5:35 pm

Making a living abroad for a few years (in my case Ukraine)

Post by craigrmeyer »

I have an interest in moving to the Eastern Europe (Kiev Ukraine, maybe) for a few years (or maybe to stay, who knows). To me, this seems like a much safer way to find a foreign wife, for a number of reasons.

But of course I'll need to pay the bills when I'm out there. I'd very much appreciate your sharing with me any advice or anecdotes you can about how people do this.

Of course there's teaching the English language, and I'm sure I'd do a fine job, but man the pay looks crummy. I have a very decent Engineering and high-tech sales background, so I would sure like to exploit that instead (but of course I don't speak a word of Ukrainian, and as a 35-year-old I'll never be fluent).

(If I had to guess at a plan, I'd land by teaching English, and then hustle up something better-paying once I was there. But that's just a guess.)

Etc.

Any advice and anecdotes you can share will be very much appreciated. Thank you


Meet Loads of Foreign Women in Person! Join Our Happier Abroad ROMANCE TOURS to Many Overseas Countries!

Meet Foreign Women Now! Post your FREE profile on Happier Abroad Personals and start receiving messages from gorgeous Foreign Women today!

ladislav
Elite Upper Class Poster
Posts: 4040
Joined: September 6th, 2007, 11:30 am

Post by ladislav »

Almost half of Ukraine cannot speak Ukrainian, so do not worry about that. Present day politicians had to go to school and take classes to learn to speak it.

Hmm, two + avenues:

Teaching English either there or online would be nice. I can give you some schools where you would be able to teach online and make some $1200 +/- a month which is surviving wages there. Otherwise, google ESL teacher Ukraine wanted.

Then, you can network through various online expat clubs/boards. Get ready to listen to a lot of naysayers and sarcastic jealous expats who do not want competition. Fellow Americans in particular are notorious for that. They think they are homesteading and they want to shoot the stranger coming into town who is out to get their women and horses. If you find 2-4 good Americans who will help you, consider yourself lucky

At the same time you could be applying for engineering jobs through again overseas job boards. Just search with the keywords.

I have found that if you spend 7-10 hours online a day searching for something like that really hard, within one month you either get it or you get solid leads which will take you there.

Also think of what consulting services you can offer online. I have found that to be the best way to make a living.

The disadvantage to working online only is that you will now have to worry about visa extensions and doing those yourself. In case of being hired by a company, they will take care of visas for you.

Ukraine is a corrupt and lawless land founded by viking thugs and Cossack outlaws. Neither I nor my father who both had been born there could make a living or get a permanent permit to live there. Hope you have better luck!
A brain is a terrible thing to wash!
craigrmeyer
Freshman Poster
Posts: 6
Joined: May 6th, 2010, 5:35 pm

Post by craigrmeyer »

Thank you, Ladislav.

The "consulting services" option is certainly interesting. If I can get $30/hour for something, and if $1200/month is living wage, then we're talking ten hours per week here. Wow.

So just to help get my brain working, can you list a few consulting services that you've heard of other people providing from Ukraine/Russia/etc?

Thank you for your help so far.
ladislav
Elite Upper Class Poster
Posts: 4040
Joined: September 6th, 2007, 11:30 am

Post by ladislav »

No, I do not mean you are providing the services out of Ukraine, unless you mean just physically being there. You are an engineer right? So think where you can consult worldwide. Then you just do it online. It matters little whether you are in Ukraine or in New Caledonia. I knew one guy who was a doctor and he was giving consultations online related to oncology out of the Philippines to medical labs in the US. You know your field, you just need to sit down and really think how you plan on doing it. The Internet can be milked for money if you work hard enough.
Then, there is English teaching, always.
Just google: ESL online native English teacher wanted
Last edited by ladislav on January 5th, 2011, 5:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
A brain is a terrible thing to wash!
MatureDJ
Junior Poster
Posts: 637
Joined: January 7th, 2008, 11:08 am

Post by MatureDJ »

I am in Ukraine now. There are plenty of schools that will hire a native speaking teacher. However, you should have some type of certification, like CELTA. I am trying to get a stable of independent client.
User avatar
have2fly
Junior Poster
Posts: 742
Joined: July 21st, 2010, 6:42 am

Post by have2fly »

I am good to go in case I want to go live in Ukraine for a few years since I have TEFL from a decent school, it costs about 2,500 for a month session. I totally loved the place and people. Here is their website:

https://www.mttp.com/mttp.html
gsjackson
Elite Upper Class Poster
Posts: 3759
Joined: June 12th, 2010, 7:08 am
Location: New Orleans, LA USA
Contact:

Post by gsjackson »

have2fly wrote:I am good to go in case I want to go live in Ukraine for a few years since I have TEFL from a decent school, it costs about 2,500 for a month session. I totally loved the place and people. Here is their website:

https://www.mttp.com/mttp.html
You can get a CELTA certificate from the International House in Kiev for about $1,200.
The_Adventurer
Experienced Poster
Posts: 1383
Joined: August 23rd, 2007, 9:17 am

Post by The_Adventurer »

I made my living almost exclusively online since I have been traveling for the past almost 3 years. One key to online is education. People are willing to pay money for something that will be of great benefit to themselves in the long run. This means that information based products can sell well online. I have also had some luck with entertainment products, but aside from casual games, which I cannot create by myself, it seems that only in Japan do people pay for entertainment products online (meaning digital download comics and animation).

There are a few things you might consider with your high tech background. Online consulting has already been mentioned. You can also create your own information products, ebooks or training videos, based on your knowledge and skill set. You may also build an information packed website and sell advertising on it. These things may take some time to build up, but it can be done with enough effort.
“Booty is so strong that there are dudes willing to blow themselves up for the highly unlikely possibility of booty in another dimension." -- Joe Rogan
YoucancallmeAl
Freshman Poster
Posts: 126
Joined: November 3rd, 2010, 9:50 pm

Post by YoucancallmeAl »

ladislav wrote: I can give you some schools where you would be able to teach online and make some $1200 +/- a month which is surviving wages there.
What about Philippines? I think $1200 would be plenty to live on there. I know you mentioned online English teaching in another thread and I'm looking into it now. I'll be arriving in PI in about 10 days and I want to be able to get my online biz up and running so I'll be able to stay permanently and/or move around the world w/o having to come crawling back to the US.
globetrotter
Experienced Poster
Posts: 1023
Joined: November 20th, 2009, 11:45 am
Location: Someplace Other Than This Forum

Post by globetrotter »

gsjackson wrote:
have2fly wrote:I am good to go in case I want to go live in Ukraine for a few years since I have TEFL from a decent school, it costs about 2,500 for a month session. I totally loved the place and people. Here is their website:

https://www.mttp.com/mttp.html
You can get a CELTA certificate from the International House in Kiev for about $1,200.
True.

But all of the cheap CELTA's happen to be a $1,500 long distance jet flight from most Anglo nations, and then another long flight to where the jobs are.

It's a wash on the cost.

About $4,000 all told with food, rent, room, board, travel and tuition.

You want a place 15 minutes from the center. It's a full time gig and you will be on it every spare moment. No time to play.
i_want_a_hot_white_chick
Freshman Poster
Posts: 51
Joined: January 15th, 2011, 3:40 pm
Location: USA

Re: Making a living abroad for a few years (in my case Ukrai

Post by i_want_a_hot_white_chick »

craigrmeyer wrote:I have an interest in moving to the Eastern Europe (Kiev Ukraine, maybe) for a few years (or maybe to stay, who knows). To me, this seems like a much safer way to find a foreign wife, for a number of reasons.

But of course I'll need to pay the bills when I'm out there. I'd very much appreciate your sharing with me any advice or anecdotes you can about how people do this.

Of course there's teaching the English language, and I'm sure I'd do a fine job, but man the pay looks crummy. I have a very decent Engineering and high-tech sales background, so I would sure like to exploit that instead (but of course I don't speak a word of Ukrainian, and as a 35-year-old I'll never be fluent).

(If I had to guess at a plan, I'd land by teaching English, and then hustle up something better-paying once I was there. But that's just a guess.)

Etc.

Any advice and anecdotes you can share will be very much appreciated. Thank you
Hi Craig,

You might want to take a look at sites like:
vworker.com and odesk.com that allow you to work on projects from anywhere that you have internet access.

Another idea you might want to try is to find a job in the US that can be done over the internet, develop a good personal relationship with that employer, and show him that you can do the work from home using logmein or some other remote access service. Later, you might be able to convince that employer to let you work from overseas. This might take some time but in the end if you had a first world salary in a third world country you would be very well off.
Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “Questions and Advice”