I have lived abroad for the last couple of years. It is a wonderful experience. There are much, muuuuuuuuuuch easier ways of reducing your burn rate, if that is what matters to you. One simple one is taking your fluent command of the English language, American passport, and familiarity with all the local systems and relocating to anywhere in the US where the living is cheap. In St. Louis, for example, I know there are plenty of livable apartments near Washington University for about $450 or so. (When I was there it was $800 a month for a very capacious 2 bedroom apartment.) Add on another $200 for food, and we'll round it up to $1,000 so that you can take the bus to see a movie once a week and deal with life's little expenses. There, that's your ramen profitable number.
It is absurdly easy to sell that much a month, if you actually sell stuff.
Nothing is "absurdly" easy. No, $1000 is not an incredibly difficult monthly recurring revenue number to achieve, but to say it is "absurd" or even "easy" unless you're a marketing guru with considerable capital and resources at your disposal is preposterous.
Ok, I'll bite. I'm a software developer, 10 years of web dev experience, and I can't fathom a business idea that would "absurdly easily" make me a grand a month. But I have little experience in entrepreneurship as of yet. Mind giving me a few pointers?
There are a lot of business models out there. I'm sort of partial to making software people want and then selling it to them. If that sounds interesting to you, I have a blog linked in my profile.
We've been out in the valley for the summer, certainly living on less than $1000 per person. You just need roommates and a willingness to live in the cheap part of town. My share of the rent is $400.
Going to another country is sexier, but also more distracting.
2-bedroom apartments near the University of Michigan's North Campus in Ann Arbor can also be had for ~$800-1000/mo, if you're willing to put up with apartments that have had a series of students (i.e., people who are probably less likely than average to take good care of their residence) living in them. We have an emerging tech startup scene, but you'll have to budget some extra for heat. I don't know how much for heat because I am very rarely home, so I don't turn the heat above 60.
We're by Tufts in Somerville, MA. You can get a pretty reasonable place for 600-700, assuming roommates aren't an issue. About a 5 minute walk to Davis Square and then a hop and a skip to either Harvard or MIT.
http://www.expatsoftware.com
I have lived abroad for the last couple of years. It is a wonderful experience. There are much, muuuuuuuuuuch easier ways of reducing your burn rate, if that is what matters to you. One simple one is taking your fluent command of the English language, American passport, and familiarity with all the local systems and relocating to anywhere in the US where the living is cheap. In St. Louis, for example, I know there are plenty of livable apartments near Washington University for about $450 or so. (When I was there it was $800 a month for a very capacious 2 bedroom apartment.) Add on another $200 for food, and we'll round it up to $1,000 so that you can take the bus to see a movie once a week and deal with life's little expenses. There, that's your ramen profitable number.
It is absurdly easy to sell that much a month, if you actually sell stuff.