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The cost of hand-to-mouth living

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Re: The cost of hand-to-mouth living

#111

Post by AlexeiSadeski »

nostrademons wrote: post #91
AlexeiSadeski wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rice costs $.20 for 1300 calories.

Rice can be incredibly unhealthy for you as well...my girlfriend talks about the "Peace Corps 15", where your host family stuffs you full of incredibly starchy carbohydrates (because that's often all that's available in 3rd world countries) and you end up gaining a large amount of weight and ending up with nutritional deficits anyway because of it.

I wouldn't recommend you eat 1300 calories of rice per day. But for calibration purposes, it's useful information I think.

Re: The cost of hand-to-mouth living

#112

Post by tomfakes »

patio11 wrote: post #76
ilaksh wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you say "go out there and beat the bushes" what exactly do you mean? I have tried networking a little bit at one or too networking events but few people seemed interested in my help.

Networking events are generally not the best place to meet people with business problems -- they tend to attract a bit more of an aspirational audience. Business owners with budget congregate in predictable places: conferences for their industry, their own offices, locally organized meetups, the Chamber of Commerce, etc etc. If you absolutely can't find an appropriate event, throw one yourself. I'm totally serious. T…

Also plan on doing this more than once, and analyze your performance to ensure you get better.

One thing that programmers forget is that, at some point, you weren't good at programming, but over time, you learned and now you are pretty good.

Your business/social skills may be at that same starting level, and this isn't something you read about on the internets and are immediately good at.

Start now, plan on doing this over time, and learn to get better at it. It takes effort, but it will be worth it.

Re: The cost of hand-to-mouth living

#113

Post by gruseom »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #103
tptacek wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can often sift through McArdle's post to find the Yglesias or Salmon post she's citing and just read that instead. Here, the analysis seems to boil down to "sure, Walmart could pay every worker $3000/yr more and have Costco's margins, but who cares about a paltry $3000?". The rest of her argument appears to be "I don't know if that would work for Walmart". Neither do I, but "I don't know" isn't a persuasive argum…

Did you even read her article? She gives a very clear reason. Walmart sells 140k skus, sorted on shelves and available in small quantities, and has lots of cashiers so you can get in and out reasonably quickly. Costco sells 4k skus, mostly in bulk, and forces you to wait 20 minutes to leave the store.

That's clearly one of the reasons she gives, but I wouldn't call it a clear reason. It doesn't make the point she cares about, as she herself says. Her claim (approximately) is "Costco's way may work for Costco but it wouldn't work here, because numbers and business". But people used to argue the same about how it would never work for Costco either.

Re: The cost of hand-to-mouth living

#115

Post by infinite8s »

AlexeiSadeski wrote: post #88
alxp wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obligatory Vimes quote: The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Thos…

Which boots do people in India wear? The ones making $1.50/day?

They don't - they either go barefoot or they'll weave simple sandals out of jute (a very hardy grass). Note - India is mostly tropical, no need for boots (except near the Himalayas).

Re: The cost of hand-to-mouth living

#116

Post by infinite8s »

AlexeiSadeski wrote: post #83

You can eat quite well on $3/day. $1.50/day of food is comfortably above subsistence in the US. A diet of strictly rice and beans will net 1500 calories for $.30 - $.50 per day. That's not an appetizing diet, but provides a base number for calibration. Cheap eating discussion: http://forum.earlyretirementextreme.com/topic.php?id=599

It can be quite appetizing if you are able to purge a bit on dried whole spices, which I'll go a long way.

Re: The cost of hand-to-mouth living

#117

Post by hiddenfeatures »

tomfakes wrote: post #112
patio11 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Networking events are generally not the best place to meet people with business problems -- they tend to attract a bit more of an aspirational audience. Business owners with budget congregate in predictable places: conferences for their industry, their own offices, locally organized meetups, the Chamber of Commerce, etc etc. If you absolutely can't find an appropriate event, throw one yourself. I'm totally serious. T…

Also plan on doing this more than once, and analyze your performance to ensure you get better. One thing that programmers forget is that, at some point, you weren't good at programming, but over time, you learned and now you are pretty good. Your business/social skills may be at that same starting level, and this isn't something you read about on the internets and are immediately good at. Start now, plan on doing thi…

Oh god, Tom.

That right there: "One thing that programmers forget is that, at some point, you weren't good at programming, but over time, you learned and now you are pretty good."

That's just an enormous revelation. I can't even tell you how good it was to talk to Dave Rodenbaugh and he basically said: "See, you are now good in giving talks. Do you remember the first time?" and I was like: "Yeah, I remember: I nearly cried afterwards"

And I needed someone to tell me this!

Re: The cost of hand-to-mouth living

#118

Post by AlexeiSadeski »

infinite8s wrote: post #115
AlexeiSadeski wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which boots do people in India wear? The ones making $1.50/day?

They don't - they either go barefoot or they'll weave simple sandals out of jute (a very hardy grass). Note - India is mostly tropical, no need for boots (except near the Himalayas).

There are probably more Indians living near the Himalayas than there are Americans living in the mountains.

Re: The cost of hand-to-mouth living

#119

Post by [deleted] »

ilaksh wrote: post #74
patio11 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stop using outsourcing sites to source clients. Your new rate is $100 per hour, until I can convince you to switch to weekly rates in any case. Go out there and beat the bushes to find businesses which have problems which you can address in AWS/NodeJS/etc which are worth paying your new rate. After your income spikes, start saving some of it so that you can tolerate lean periods between clients. This will let you sto…

When you say "go out there and beat the bushes" what exactly do you mean? I have tried networking a little bit at one or too networking events but few people seemed interested in my help.

[deleted]

Re: The cost of hand-to-mouth living

#120

Post by hispanic »

patio11 wrote: post #76
ilaksh wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you say "go out there and beat the bushes" what exactly do you mean? I have tried networking a little bit at one or too networking events but few people seemed interested in my help.

Networking events are generally not the best place to meet people with business problems -- they tend to attract a bit more of an aspirational audience. Business owners with budget congregate in predictable places: conferences for their industry, their own offices, locally organized meetups, the Chamber of Commerce, etc etc. If you absolutely can't find an appropriate event, throw one yourself. I'm totally serious. T…

Patrick's (patio11's) advice is really the advice you should be following. However, I can easily imagine how daunting those steps must sound. (Rent a room? Stage an event? Get up and talk? Woah.) I hate to think of that paralyzing you from trying something different. So, an alternative (though not necessarily better) option I suggest is, at the networking events you attend, look for someone to learn from.

Look for someone that impresses you - both technically and professionally. Someone that, if you could succeed in patterning yourself after, you'd consider yourself fulfilled and successful. Grab their ear, pick their brains, ask them for advice. Show them your interest, enthusiasm, and aptitude - and earn their respect. Hopefully, they'll help you get to where you want to be.

If you don't do _anything_ else, fill out your HN profile with some contact information. Right now, you're making it difficult/impossible for potential clients/employers to contact (the Hacker News) you. Why?

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