Fernando Hidalgo
I was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina, living for 8 years in Spain and now in Bristol, UK. Business Intelligence freelance consultant and now starting my own company (www.swbi.co.uk).
I like to escape from time to time. In 2011 I went to Burkina Faso for a volunteer project and it is likely that I will come back to do some more work, but this time over some business ideas.
From corporate programmer to freelancer and investor through a smooth path
As the title says it was not a traditional escape but a smooth progress from a very bad paid computer technician to a well paid freelancer, working on it only half a year and expending the other half on travelling and participating in some interesting projects, both non-profit and for-profit.How I can help Esc members
I could help Escape member in several ways:
- IT development and consultancy.
- Financial planning, even if it is for personal purposes.
- My mother language is Spanish. It opens me to all Latin America. I can give some support regarding projects in Spain or South America.
- Moving city/country. Although it changes for every country there some general advice that people usually find useful.
- Any point where I have experience I am glad to share my knowledge about it.
Currently...
- I am working as a freelance Business Intelligence consultant.
- I am trying to raise my own company about the same topic in South West England, therefore I can spend more time near home.
- I am setting up a cloths workshop in Burkina Faso (West Africa).
- I am weighting options of other business in Burkina Faso, like bicycle import/workshop, internet coffee franchise or educational centre.
- I am considering other small investment with friends in UK and Spain.
Before I escaped...
Entering the corporate world
I
worked in all kind of jobs until I landed in Madrid, in a big
utilities company, working supposedly for IBM but with
several level of "outsourcing". I was doing a bit of
skilled
work, earning the minimum salary and seeing how the company
wasted millions in a bad service. Thanks to my collages I
survived to that time.
Corporate
World, Fase II
After two years in Madrid I moved to Barcelona and I found what I though was an incredible work as a programmer in a massive crystal building of a massive "consultancy" company. After two years in this company and several arguments about the differences between my salary and my responsibilities I changed work tempted for a very good offer from a small company.
Escaping
the corporate world, The Beginning
This
small company worked on Business Intelligence, a new
and fascinating world. Being a small / medium company I had
access to a lot of information, specially knowledge about how
a small company works and expands. I left this company because my girlfriend asked me to move to England and then started my real escape!
My moment of truth...
Mine was a smooth escape from a very bad paid computer technician job to a very well paid freelancer with some interesting project around.Nevertheless there were two moments of true in my life, when I moved from Argentina to Spain and when I moved from Spain to UK. When you leave your country you know that your life will never be the same.
Planning for it...
In some strange way I planned my live when I was a teenager and with some differences it has worked very well. I wanted to work for a massive corporation in US or UK when I was a child but as soon as I start worked for a corporation I realized that these are not done for me and I wanted to have my own business when I reached 30 years old, my current age.I took this decision when I was 25 or so.
I was lucky but at the same time I look for the opportunities and I planned my movements as I would be playing chess with my live.
When I wanted to change job I just saved some money and I calculated how long I could survive with it. Then I expended half of that time looking for a great job, if it failed I would have gone for any job. Luckily it always worked.
First time I did a big move (Argentina to Spain) I have saved around 200€ and I got a job after few days. Second time I moved (Mallorca to Madrid) I have had around 1000€ and I found a job after few weeks. Next time (to Barcelona) 2000€ and it tooks me nearly a month to find a good job. Last time (to Bristol) I saved more than 10,000€ and although I continued working as a freelancer for my previous company it did not pay the bills. It took me nearly four months to find a client in UK.
Since I remember working I have had a simple spreadsheet to calculate my finances, specially to know how long I can live without income. At the moment I can live without income for nearly a year and I have been without income for the last three months.
The worst and best bits...
The best is to have money and time at the same time. When you do not work you do not have money but you have plenty of time. When you work as a employee you have money (if you are lucky) but you do not have time. As a freelancer I am able to travel whenever I want or to participate in a volunteer project as I did in 2011 in Burkina Faso for 5 week, or start a small business as I am doing. Nothing can stop me.The worst is to have to travel for work. I am very specialized and that is the reason I am well paid, therefore usually I have to travel for work. Another bad point is the uncertainness. One need to learn to live with it as well as with the fact that you do not have a boss or working time. You should be your own boss and set yourself schedules and plans to get your projects done.
Best advice...
- A website is not a company, it is not a business. It is more like a presentation card, a tool or part of your project, but does not think the other way around.
- Do know be afraid of lost your job. Every time I have quitted or lost my job I found a better one.
Useful resources and information...
Internet.We have most of the knowledge of the humankind at a couple of clicks and we use it mainly to share funny videos or our daily activity with some stupid details.