Something important happened a month ago that some of you on Facebook could have possibly deduced from the fact that I was taking a Wednesday afternoon off here, going to town midday on a Thursday, and getting up late — the amazing proofreading contract that I’ve had since last summer came to a very abrupt end.
It wasn’t the end of the world.
I would have loved to have done it for another six months, but I knew that every shift had been a precious gift. So I had a the money to cover a couple of months’ worth of expenses stashed away in my emergency fund (thanks to the low cost of living here in Mexico!). I’d still want to work hard at making up the lost income to touch those saving as little as possible, but the contract ending wasn’t the bottom dropping out event a similar situation had been the fall of 2014 when I first got to Mexico.
Well, to my surprise, in addition to a reference, they gave me a severance payment! What a gift! My being let go was a business decision that I could understand and this generosity made that decision all the more easy to swallow.
So instead of having to work myself to the bone in January to make sure I could cover February expenses and the lack of income from my Mérida holiday without touching my savings, I could take it easy somewhat easy…. but still remembering that I have a trip home and a flight to Europe to pay for in the next few months!
I’d been granted the gift of time I’d been looking for for so long — time to learn new skills (coding apps for iOS and doing WordPress development!) and to find new clients without the nagging voice at the back of my mind counting all the money I wasn’t making.
The very next day, I was taking the first steps to signing on with a new transcription client. And just a few days after that, after beginning a training program that revealed some ugly truths, I told the client that they were paying slave wages and I wasn’t interested in working for them after all!
That was scary… and liberating! The thing is, I haven’t been living paycheque-to-paycheque for the last year or so and I’ve gotten used to having a better than subsistence level of income. Transcription was the wrong field to get into because it tends to pay slave wages, but I’m now in a position to wait for the better clients to come along.
And sure enough, one did. Her rates aren’t amazing, but they’re fair, and it’s the kind of transcription work I want to be doing. If I had clung to the first opportunity that came along, I would never have bothered to keep looking and therefore found this one.
And then, something else came along, another proofreading contract that pays well and for which the client is hoping to build a long-term relationship!
I am absolutely slammed with work right now after several quiet weeks of getting myself sorted and it is fantastic! I have a good mix of tasks, I haven’t had to make any budgetary adjustments (Mexico being so inexpensive helps, of course!), and I’ll be able to enjoy my time off in Mérida. So far it looks like it’ll be ten days off. I had planned to do proofreading there for the old contract, so if I have to do a little proofreading for the new one, it won’t be a problem. 🙂
Yep, when one door closes another will open.
I always hope that & in this case, for you, it did!
Ok, when is the trip to Merida, again? Ten whole days with little to no real work to stop & do. A vacation!
Looking forward to the trip & I’m excited for you about the new jobs you picked up & didn’t miss a beat.
Congratulations!
The same thing happens to you. It’s all about attitude, isn’t it?
Mérida is Feb 19th to the 28th. I have eight full days there. I was supposed to do three shifts and have five days off, but now it looks like the whole time there will be mine. If so, I probably *will* go explore outside the city, maybe even go to Cancún for a day just to boast that I did. 🙂
It will be mostly a vacation, but I’m staying in an apartment, so I’ll still have chores to do. I bet it won’t feel as vacationy as my weekend in Durango in a hotel did. 🙂
Thank you!
One thing I’ve learned over the last 30 years working for myself is that if you do a good job, you’re consistent, make friends and respect your customer base, you’ll never have to worry about work.
It appears to be what you do. Good on ya! There is always that little voice in the back, but in the end you know what you do and how well you do it.
It’s all about networking, that’s for sure! I’ve only been doing this seriously for 4.5 years (will be 5 in July) and full-time for a little less than 3.5 years (will be 4 in the fall) so I think I’m doing pretty well even if there were times I thought about filing for bankruptcy!
What good news. Looking forward to hearing about Merida. I read at least three blogs by people who live there, and it sounds like it is a very different environment than Mazatlan. And I don’t mean better or worse, just different. 🙂
I’m really looking forward to it and glad that I’m being smart and renting an apartment in the neighbourhood where I think I’ll want to live. Eight days and nine nights there will give me a really good idea of the noise levels and ambiance.
Congrats! We are so happy for you. Enjoy it all.
We are doing GREAT! and should have done this years ago. Let us know when you will be doing your mad state-side dash and we will try to meet you somewhere along the way.
Yay, so glad you’re happy! Don’t mourn the lost years, just celebrate that you eventually made it!
I don’t know yet if I’m doing a mad state-side dash or a leisurely one yet, but it’s unlikely… I don’t really want to get home at the start of May and as long as I’m working, it doesn’t really cost me more to dash or meander. I’ll know more once I have firmer plans for Europe! I’ll keep you posted.
You landed on your feet! Good for you! I missed all the ‘hints’ but am glad to be up to date on your fortunes and near misfortunes. Extra free time in Merida will be nice But there is so much to do there other than a trip to Cancun, the Meca for drunk, loud North American tourists. A bus ride to the beach at Progresso, a trip and shared boat ride to see the wild flamingos at Celestun and a bus to the spectacular pyramids at Chichen Itza would IMHO be better use of your precious time. Cancun must be seen at some point but better to wait until you are in Merida for an extended period and able to combine it with a boat trip and a night of two on Isla Mujeres which is more like Cancun was a few decades ago. Just my opinion.
Don’t forget that the plan is to move to Mérida long-term so I will have PLENTY of time to do all of that stuff. I’m not going to Chichen Itza on this trip. That’s an overnight adventure.
The main reason to do the Cancún run is to see what the bus trip would be like for family and friends landing in Cancún to come visit me in Mérida.
I really don’t know if I’ll be getting out of Mérida on this trip anyway. Eight days sounds like a lot, but I have a feeling it will fly by. I’d rather make sure that I know where I’m moving to first before worrying about tourist things.
Rae,
I copied your message from the Bulgarian Forum and sent it to the few contacts that I still have in Bulgaria. Don’t know if anything will come of it but you may get a reply from one of them. He has a company that offers hiking tours in Bulgaria so will be the most likely to respond.
Happy hunting and Good Luck!
Thank you!
Hiking tours in Bulgaria sound like fun…
He sent his reply to me. I no nothing about the places that he is recommending other than they are in the Rila/Rhodope mountains which would be much cooler than Sofia. When I was there those towns would have had VERY poor internet service but a LOT of time has passed since then.
Velingrad is closer to Plovdiv which I would recommend over Sofia. It may not be true now but when I was there Sofia was like an entirely different country from the rest of Bulgaria; Plovdiv was second largest city but did not cause me to feel the same way about it.
——————————————————————————————————–
Dear Ed,
I read in details the message you sent me about the lady Rae. As I
understood she knows how to find the corresponding appartment/ house (via Airbnb), bur she needs advise WHERE tofind the corresponding conditions. My advise is as follows: Samokov, in
Rila mountains (about 70 km from Sofia) or Velingrad, in the Rhodope
mountains (about 135 km from Sofia).
Best regards!
Alex (+ Svetla)
Thanks, Ed! I’m starting to think I’m going to want to stay in a couple of different locations — a month in Sofia (or in another city with a trip to Sofia…), a month in the country, a few weeks by the beach, perhaps. I will research the places mentioned.
Internet access is actually one of the reasons I picked Bulgaria. It is rated as being much faster and having deeper penetration in rural regions than what exists in Canada. I found a housesit assignment (unfortunately, the dates don’t work for me) in a rural village deep in the mountains that had broadband internet. So I’m not toooo stressed about that end of things.
I’ve been looking on Airbnb, but the prices are quite a bit higher than market rent. I’m not discounting it, though, because it would allow me line things up ahead of time with a certain amount of guarantee.
Everything in Bulgaria runs on the same time schedule as in Mexico. I asked my friend there if he could recommend a real estate agent and received this reply today. Maybe this will help OR maybe not.
__________________________________________________________________
Dear Ed,
About a travel agent – I would propose the following one:
<<<<<<<<<<<<
SATELLITE TRAVEL AGENCY
BULGARIA
4003 Plovdiv
6, Iglika str.
Tel: ++359 32 968811
Fax: ++359 32 968822
Mobile: ++359 888 770 900
++359 887 953 966
++359 898 330 022
E-mail: satellite@evrocom.net
E-mail: satellite_es@abv.bg
http://www.satellite-bg.com/
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
You can ask for Evgeni or Snezhana and mention my name.
At any additional questions you have please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best regards!
Alex (+ Svetla)
***********************************************
Alexander Georgiev
Lucky Tours Co.
I’ll take all the resources I can get. Thank you!