0 to 1, Working Remotely and Hong Kong

I arrived last Wednesday in Hong Kong, and it's totally amazing. I love this country and I will tell you more about that later.

It's also my vacation here as I'm not really working for two weeks, because I'm discovering a new place. I left work part to my trip in Busan and Tokyo as I know these places pretty well.

Travelling made me think about a lot of different things. Every time, it reminds me how lucky I am and rethinks about how I arrived there.

From 0 to 1

I listened to a podcast I love about two French digital nomads, who were nostalgic about the period when they started.

I was also listening to this podcast when I started doing stuff on the internet, and my dream was to live this life, like traveling, working in a café, and discovering the world. And now, it's exactly what I'm doing.

And it reminds me how hard it is to go from 0 to 1, in any field, and how it is "simple" to continue from 1 to 10 after.

Let's take an example from our field. I think that the most difficult part is finding our first bug in a real program. After that, when you know you're capable of finding bugs, you will find bugs. In general, when working online and alone, the most difficult part, in my opinion, is going from 0 to 1000$/month.

At the beginning, it's the first step, as in some parts of the world, you can live on around 1000$/month, even if it's hard, it's possible. And that was my first goal, and I achieved it in about 2 or 3 years if you count all the tries and retries. And it's the most difficult part, especially if you start from nothing in a field.

But when I found my first real bug and got paid, everything worked a bit better. I found other bugs. What changed? Probably the confidence that it's possible. And it's crazy how you can trick your mind and achieve stuff when you really think that it's possible. Of course, it needs work and dedication, but if you don't trust yourself, how can you achieve it?

After achieving this first step, going from 1 to 10 takes less time, like a year. And it gave me the confidence that I can still grow and grow, until when? We'll see.

One problem with that is that you're changing your habits pretty fast, and that's what the hosts of the podcast said. You're getting more money than you need, and you start spending it on stuff you don't need. That's a bit my case, and I know that I'm not the best at managing what I earn, and I would be better off if I stored more money instead of spending it, but life is life, and at the moment, it's great to discover the world and live how I want.

That was just a quick reminder for me and maybe for you who are stuck in a step, to remind me that the first step is always the hardest, in any field. After that, it's way better.

Working Remotely

I already told you that working remotely is really great, even if I don't have the best possible setup like at home. But it opens a new perspective you don't have at home.

For instance, here in Hong Kong, even if I was on vacation, I still continued to read a lot of technical articles that gave me ideas for later or bugs I wanted to try on my targets. Even when chilling, looking at a YouTube video also gave me a dumb idea about a bug I can try.

That's why it's also important sometimes to chill out and do nothing.

Here is Asia, especially in Hong Kong and China, it's crazy how everything is futuristic. You always pay with a QR code; everything is simple, clear, and easy to use ( even if most of the stuff is written in Chinese ).

Let's talk about WeChat, that's the everything app of China. You can do almost everything with it, from paying to rent a car, or social media.

On it, there are sub-apps that people can add easily with a QR Code, and then you have an app inside the app. And even if it's nice and easy, I'm like, how does this shit work behind? Anyone can create and publish an app that can be on it?

A lot of questions came to me, and I really want to dig into his subject to understand how it works and how the security is made behind it. I don't know if I will get any answers, as it's Chinese, but it can be interesting to just understand.

Hong Kong

That was my first time here, and it's pretty beautiful. It looks like New York, but in Asia. The food is pretty cheap and very good, and the transport system is really great. Here are some pictures of the city :

I also went to Shenzhen for two days. I went to a Spa there, and that was amazing, and very cheap.

I went to a tech mall there, and it's crazy how you can buy almost everything there.

I'm now going to Beijing and then to Shanghai for the week, so let's see how China is!