One Paycheck Is a Leash
I used to be a cog in the corporate machine. Engineering background, worked at a company that makes private jets. And my whole life sat in one employer's hands. They could apply pressure any time, and I couldn't really move, because I was dependent on them.
There's a book, The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene. One of the laws is to make other people dependent on you. That's the game your company is quietly running. You depend on them to keep liking you, so you take fewer risks and swallow more nonsense than you'd ever put up with otherwise.
And in today's world, that leash is shorter than ever. Layoffs, AI automation, jobs outsourced overseas for a fraction of what they pay you. It's usually not even personal. It's just the numbers. If the math says cut you, they cut you.
You Don't Need 20 Streams. You Need Two or Three.
The fix is obvious: don't depend on one source of income. But people overcomplicate it. You see guys on the internet in rented Lamborghinis telling you that you need 20 income streams. You don't. Two or three is plenty.
They don't have to be flashy either. Content creation. Affiliate stuff. A product. I've run a bunch over the years: travel content, my own travel products, I even sold paintings in the Chinese market for a while, and now I help guys relocate. The point isn't the specific hustle. It's that you're not standing on one leg.
Why It's Easier Overseas (the Real Reason)
Here's the part most people miss. Building income streams in America is hard, because each new stream has to clear a high bar just to matter. If your cost of living is a few thousand a month, a side project has to make a few thousand a month before it can replace your job. That can take years.
Overseas, the bar drops through the floor. In a place like Vietnam, if you're making $1,000 a month, your rent might be a few hundred, groceries a couple hundred, a full meal for a dollar fifty. Now a side hustle that brings in a few hundred bucks actually moves the needle. You can pursue a passion that would never pay the bills in the States, because out here the bills are tiny.
That's the leverage. Lower cost of living means smaller income streams are enough, so you can stack them faster. (I broke the full math down in geoarbitrage, and what a real salary buys out here in is $100k a good salary.)
The Baseline That Funds Everything
You still need something paying the bills while you build. That's where English teaching comes in. I call it the baseline income engine. It covers a comfortable overseas life without much grind, around 25 to 30 hours a week, which leaves you the time and headspace to build the other streams on the side.
And here's the thing I didn't expect: most of what I do for money now, I had no idea existed when I left America. The content, the products, the relocation help, none of it was visible from the States. You only see those opportunities once your feet are on the ground. Teaching gets you there with income, and the rest opens up from there. Fast, too, often 30 to 90 days to get overseas. Not sure where to land? Compare options in best countries for expats.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do you make money while living abroad?
Most guys start with a baseline income (online English teaching is the fastest), then stack side income on top: content, affiliate, products, services. The low cost of living overseas means smaller income streams actually cover your life, so you can build them faster than you could at home.
What income streams actually work overseas?
English teaching (online or in person) as the baseline, plus things like content creation, affiliate marketing, product creation, freelancing, or a local business serving expats. You do not need 20. Two or three reliable streams is plenty.
Can you live abroad on one income?
Yes, plenty of guys live well on a single teaching income because the cost of living is so low. But relying on one source is fragile. The smarter play is to use that baseline to fund building a second and third stream.
Why is it easier to build income streams abroad than in the US?
Because a lower cost of living means each stream has a much smaller target to hit to matter. A side hustle making a few hundred dollars is meaningful in Vietnam but barely registers against US expenses.