Tagged: escape

As promised in our last post, this is the first in a series of case studies highlighting other 20-somethings who have escaped the 9-5 corporate culture and are pursuing their career and lifestyle goals.

Emily Belyea is my best friend from high school and has recently written off the ‘real world’ to pursue her own location-independent web design company. If you’re wondering if it’s really possible to break free, then read on.

{r}: Tell me about your first post-grad year. What did you do after you graduated? Did you have a plan? How did things pan out?

E: When I graduated in May 2008, I continued as a Marketing Assistant for a guitar company in Boston that I was already interning for. It was only a temporary position, but I told myself it would be permanent. I figured if I thought it was a perfect match, then so would they. At the end of the day, they didn’t have it in their budget to hire me full time and let me go.

With three weeks notice, I eagerly applied for positions in advertising, getting the same answer every time; “Sorry, we’re on a hiring freeze.” Aside from my frustration, I didn’t sense the natural adrenaline in myself that I normally get when applying for jobs, so I knew something wasn’t right.

My friend Shannon had been in Australia for about three weeks by the time I had left my job. Our emails back and forth were “I miss you.” “I’m having a blast!” “I’m miserable at home.” “I love everything about my life!” “I can’t find a job.” “I get paid $17 an hour to bartend!” The decision was right there in front of me. I had no job, no lease, no car and no boyfriend, so I booked a one way flight to Sydney.

{r}: Were you worried about missing out on climbing the corporate ladder and doing what everyone else said you ‘should’ do?

E: After I booked my flight to Sydney, an overwhelming peacefulness came over me. The irony was that while I was booking my flight, I was sitting in a hospital bed next to my mother, just a few hours before she went into quadruple bypass surgery.

I wasn’t worried about missing out on corporate culture because I was already starting to think it was a load of crap from my experience in interviewing-for-jobs-that-didn’t-exist. I wasn’t worried about finances, because I’m always worried about finances, so it was no different from any other day. My future plans to return home scared me a bit, because I was already thinking about what I was going to do with my life when I returned home from traveling.

{r}: Did you have any student loans? How did you pay them and other expenses while you were living in Australia for a year? What do you do for health benefits?

E: From the day I decided to go traveling, I had about three months to save money. I waitressed and worked as a spa receptionist, day and night, all the time, to save the money. Knowing that I could work in Australia meant that I could help supplement my living expenses once I got there, but Shannon and I were planning a big trip to New Zealand and Fiji, so I wouldn’t have an income for a month. I had to plan living and traveling expenses, student loans for a year, and a little extra money for padding.

I always make my student loans my first priority. Since I have to pay $160 a month, I stuck the first $2,000 I made in a savings account and set up an automatic monthly payment for the next 12 months. Once that was done, I could start saving for my trip. My goal was $3,000 and I ended up saving about $2,700 total.

{r}: What was your life like when you returned from Australia? What plans did you make?

E: I returned home in December of 2009 and was able to get my receptionist job back at the spa. My boyfriend, who I met in Australia, lives in England, and we were trying to figure out how to continue our relationship, while re-aggregating ourselves into the “real world.” I saved up enough money to visit him a few months later, and while I was there I scored an marketing internship in Central London. I was so excited that there was finally a solution to us being together again. Then I learned that I couldn’t accept it because Americans aren’t allowed to do any work, paid or unpaid, in the UK without a visa or work sponsorship. As the efficient ways of the corporate world go, they kind of apologized profusely as they shut their door in my face.

{r}: How did you turn such a huge disappointment into something positive? What plans did you make to allow yourself to still go to England?

E: From my understanding of the UK visa process, I realized that I couldn’t work there unless I found an employer who thought I was better at the job than any other person residing in the UK. This, similar to the interviewing-for-jobs-that-didn’t-exist experience, served as a turning point.

In Australia, Shannon and I always talked about how there must be a way to dodge the 9 to 5, and to travel and be happy all the time. I’ve always had a love for design, and I’m inherently creative but had no useful skills to apply. Additionally, I had some experience with HTML code from an internship in college and knew that if I had enough practice, I too, could learn to design websites. I decided to hire a web tutor for 10 weeks for $300 and save up three months of living expenses to move to London. I could be with my boyfriend and devote time to setting up my own web design company.

{r}: How are you funding your lifestyle in London if you don’t have an income?

E: Since I can’t work to supplement my living expenses, I have to live very simply and cost effectively. I set aside $450 for my loans and an additional $3,500 for living and spending. I share the rent with my boyfriend in a neighborhood just outside of Central London ($100 p/week), grocery shop and cook ($40 p/week), use a pay as you go phone ($25 p/month), take public transport ($40 p/week), go to libraries instead of cafes to work (free), and then beer, coffee, curries ($50 p/week max). Additionally, I write articles for an online travel company, and that gives me an extra $100 p/month.

{r}: Tell us a little bit about your web design company, Emily Belyea Creative.

E: It’s a bit of a lifestyle and website design combination. I want to build sites for people who are trying to do the same thing we are. It’s great there are sites that provide free access to building a blog, but the free options don’t always do what you need them to do. When trying to build a brand and an online presence, you need to be able to put your logo where you want it, put photos where you want them, and use a color scheme that enlivens your brand. While most entrepreneurs and bloggers can’t afford the outrageous prices of design firms, I want to be a reasonably priced, creative option for them. We’re all in the same boat here, so why not help each other out?

{r}: What are your plans for returning to the States after your three months expire?

E: My plan for when I leave England is to dodge the Boston winter and continue to work towards my professional goals with Emily Belyea Creative. I’m going to need to work a waitressing or bartending job for a while until I can do this full time, but I’m excited about working towards that point. The nice thing is that I’m location independent, so I can live anywhere with Wi-Fi.

{r}: What are your hopes for your new business and what advice do you have for other aspiring small business entrepreneurs?

E: For right now, I just want to get my get my name out there. I want bloggers, entrepreneurs, and anyone who’s trying to create an online portfolio to know that there are options besides using a free template and hiring a big design company.

Now that the hovering “real world” job is out of my future completely, I can see things a lot more clearly. My advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is to just do it. Sitting on decisions until you’re absolutely positive it will work out, is just a waste of time. You’ll breathe easy knowing that you’re already on your way, and you’ll be surprised at how things work themselves out.

{r}: And finally, how do you overcome the fear of following the normal path that society has laid out and instead, following a path of your own? What can you say to people who are in the 9-5  and desperately want to get out?

E: I’d say do it, and bring a friend. It’s a lot easier to follow your own path when you have a group of supporters cheering you on, and it’s a lot more fun when you have people walking beside you. If you don’t find support from within your own community, don’t let it discourage you, because people won’t always understand and that’s just how it is. Instead, find the people out there that believe in this path and keep motivating yourself through their blogs and their projects. Since you’re here reading All Of Us, you’re already on your way :)

Emily launched Emily Belyea Creative on October 18th. To visit her website, go to www.emilybelyea.com You can also follow her on Twitter at @belyeadesignco {r}