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Q: How do you get your spouse to understand the benefits of freelance work while traveling?
I've been traveling for 3 years now and I've supported myself through freelance work. I'm currently doing freelance work and have been supporting my wife and myself with it. My wife wants to start traveling more but is afraid to depend on freelance work because she feels it's not stable. She isn't working right now and really wants a job but doesn't want to find a permanent one because we'll be traveling. Most jobs here require some sort of commitment and it doesn't work for her. So, how do i get my wife to understand that working on a skill like translating, graphic design, writing, photography, web design, etc are good ways to make money on the road and that she should start working on one of those skills?
9 years 30 weeks ago in Business & Jobs - China
care to share your work? freelance work in which field?
ScotsAlan:
Yes indeed.
It's not as if you can just say to anyone " Go learn photography so we can travel and make money by selling your photos".
The job examples given require an aptitude and a certain passion.
:
I do web design and writing. I'm using websites like freelancer.com so technically the work is not inside China. It is legal.
Time and baby steps 
Most people here are quite insecure, due to the education style, and will push stability over everything else. The notion of coherence between one's actions and wishes seems a fuzzy concept. If your wife understands that freelance jobs is more compatible with the life you guys are wishing for, that's a major step already.
She will need encouragement, and you will need a lot of patience to debunk again and again her doubts and fears. I once suggested my wife that teaching Mandarin was more in line with her skill set, her own taste, our lifestyle and our future plans. So she took a class for that, got a teaching license. She took classes to improve her English writing, and so on. Almost every week she would say it's hard, what if she fails, etc... Yet I gently (...grumpily some days too...) reminded what is the whole point of this, why it makes sense, again and again.
In the end, it worked ! She have a job that she likes, that means something to her, and that works well with out future plans. Courage
There are different considerations for a National to think about. Chinese employers will make you wait until the next month to receive your pay. And if they know you are traveling 90% will screw you over. There is no rule of law in China, so there is nothing she'll be able to do.
Traveling expats are 'less' likely to be screwed over because we can spread the word to other expats.
If I were in her shoes I wouldn't risk getting screwed out of my time.
You are aware, presumably, that just landing in China and gaining freelance employment is illegal? At best, you can expect to get screwed over. At worst, you may face criminal charges, deportation and/or future visa restrictions.
laowaigentleman:
Is that just english teaching, or any other profession?
Kaiwen:
It applies to all freelance work regardless of whether it is paid or unpaid.
:
I'm doing web design and writing on websites like freelancer.com. I've also got friends from all over the world who get me jobs. Advertising with Google as an Adword consultant is something I used to do too.
How do you get your spouse to understand that you've been jailed and deported (assuming she can afford the airfair) for illegal working?
Maybe you can point out the 5-to-1 rule I learned from TropicalMBA podcast: a $20,000 freelance location independent is worth yearly income $100,000 for a physical job. The difference is due to (1) the fact that the time (our most valuable resource) is in your control, (2) the fact that the location is in your control, (3) it is more expensive to settle down permanently than to move around slowly, oddly enough, but experience confirms (4) probably other reasons as well. But maybe tell her about the 5-to-1 rule if she is concerned about it. Maybe won't work since it seems many Chinese prefer security to independence, but I thought I'd put it out there.
