As I write this to you, I have been living in Manila, the Philippines for almost five years.
I am here considering some potential business options. The cost of living is ridiculously low if you can make $1,500 monthly. I work remotely, all of my clients are in the USA, and every dollar I make converts to 50 units of the local currency, the peso.
I don’t want to pretend it has been easy. Many times, I have woken up asking myself “what are you doing?” Learning the local language has been frustrating. Getting used to a developing world social infrastructure has been hard to used to as well.
I came here for business aspirations, and I will try to realize them. I am working on a production company that I hope to launch soon. It’s been a long road getting here and giving up would mean that the last decade has been a waste.
Before I left the USA in 2017, I was unemployed for almost a decade. And I had applied to several jobs I would have never considered before since I previously worked in academia.
I applied for over a dozen janitor jobs. Most didn’t answer, but one responded and said I was overqualified, and my type wants too much money for such work.
I worked as a janitor before. I worked with a cleaning crew that cleaned small boutique hotels. I’m not against such work, but there is a stigma held against people in those positions.
I am writing this to tell you that there are always jobs that are available, it’s just that demand for such vacancies is not always high. You need to ask yourself what you are willing to do to get what you want in life.
I do that every day.
Farmer
I have multiple friends who are farmers or who work for international conglomerates who rent farms here in the Philippines. I want to work on a farm here to get some experience. And one of my business ideas is to launch a vermiculture business.
Vermiculture is a kind of nutrient-rich compost made from the dropping of worms after they eat pure organic waste.
One of my farmer friends is a middle-aged woman with four kids. She is beautiful but she has a hard life working from sunup to sundown. She showed me pictures of her farm which featured dead mice and rats that drowned in recent floods.
And she sent me another pic of a mound of dead baby ducklings and a cute dog that was inspecting it. She also sent me pics of her small farm which tended, but she worked long hours for a nearby corporate rice farm.
It’s made me rethink a warm invitation she extended to me.
You can get work as a farmer in the USA, but if I were you, I’d get started, since automation is overtaking the industry.
It’s dirty work. Farmers have to collect the waste of the collected animals on their land and collect it in a manure pit. That manure composts into fertilizer over time which is a cheap way to fertilize their own lands.
Farmers have to castrate animals to control populations and aggression. Or they have to help pregnant animals give birth. Farmers have to deal with pests like rats, mice, snakes, mosquitoes, and numerous other pests that destroy.
And all of that work is aside from the 12-hour to 16-hour shifts tending to land.
Crime Scene Cleanup Crew
I have thought about doing this kind of work for a long time when I lived in the United States. But I think I will work on a farm first.
Crime scene clean crews use more advanced cleaning solutions and equipment than the average janitor. In the aftermath of a violent crime, human bodily fluids become a health hazard. And getting a mop, detergent, and bleach won’t do the job.
It takes special training and equipment to clean up a crime scene contaminated with bodily fluids and human decomposition.
Similar cleaners are meth lab cleanup teams. They are called into locations that were formerly meth labs, to test the building, begin the cleanup process, and assist with restoration. Chemicals used in making the drug are numerous, so the cleanup team ensures the complete elimination of all chemicals that could otherwise present health risks to those exposed to them.
Crime scene cleaners are always in high demand. Someone has to clean up residential or commercial properties where the crime occurred in a professional manner that benefits the public good so life can get back to normal.
But it is hard, grueling, and stomach-churning work. If you can handle wearing hazmat suits often and cleaning the aftermath of death and violence.
The average crime scene cleaner makes $60,000 to $88,000 because demand is always high.
Plumber
I guess I am not man enough for this job. But it is a job that pays modestly well if you live near high population areas.
Plumbers will always be in demand. Plumbers are trained to install, repair, and replace a variety of utility piping systems. But plumbing is a notorious profession where plumbers are expected to unclog pipes and repair or replace broken toilets.
Plumbers must have a strong stomach because they have to clean sink, shower, and toilet drains and remove obstructions when necessary. And when you have to fix or replace a toilet, you must get used to dealing with the unpleasant smells and sights of human waste.
Depending on where you live the average plumber can make $56,000 to $88,000 annually. And demand for plumbing is always high because old piping systems always need maintenance and new buildings always need piping systems installed.
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Allen Francis was an academic advisor, librarian, and college adjunct for many years with no money, no financial literacy, and no responsibility when he had money. To him, the phrase “personal finance,” contains the power that anyone has to grow their own wealth. Allen is an advocate of best personal financial practices including focusing on your needs instead of your wants, asking for help when you need it, saving and investing in your own small business.