Living The Dream: How I Afford To Train Full-Time In Thailand By Changing Industries And Working Part-Time Remotely
Unlocking the adventure: Transitioning careers to live and train martial arts full-time in Thailand
I. Introduction
I have been training martial arts my whole life and being a full-time athlete was a dream. Especially when I moved into my 30s. But when I decided to follow the MMA path, training full-time was inevitable. Some people take their savings and pour them into a few weeks, months, or years of staying in Thailand to train MMA or Muay Thai. For me, that was not an option. So I decided to completely change my job industry, land a remote role, and work while training. It took 5 years but last April 2022, I arrived at Bangkok airport with two suitcases and one dog crate.
In this article, I will cover transitioning industries, securing a remote job, and working part-time.
II. Embracing Change: Transitioning Industries
I received my Masters's and Bachelor's degrees in Social Education and Ph.D. in Sport Psychology. I worked at the uni as a lecturer in the sports department, I taught research, coaching, and led some dissertations. But for the past 5 years, I had been going to Thailand for a short visit each time, and I knew I needed the flexibility to be able to train to my fullest potential. It was now or never.
Marketing was the field I chose. Instead of applying for jobs, I found a few companies that worked in the education sector and I sent them my CV. One of them worked out because they needed a “storyteller”. So I got my first chance to work in marketing in the field I already knew. I took care of their social media, redid their website, and YouTube channels, edited videos, and wrote blog articles. I had a free hand and I could learn on the go.
After that, I worked in social media at a sports company, which was again an industry that I knew well. This helped me to bridge the gap in my marketing work experience. It was not easy and especially when Covid hit. I lost my job 3x in one year and I was on the edge of giving up, as I struggled to pay for food.
I won another spot at a big gaming company. At this time I had quite a few lines of my marketing experience on my CV and I asked to be a remote worker. I would go to the office once per week, otherwise, I worked from home. Half a year later, in response to my boss relocating, I said: Me too!
The biggest help for me was that I had some small marketing experience from my internships and early working years, such as articles here, and social media there. And second, I at first reached out to the companies that were in my niche: education and sport.
III. Balancing Full-Time Training and Part-Time Work
Working remotely and part-time means flexibility in terms of place and time. The good news is, you can work anytime. The bad news is, you can work anytime… Sometimes it means I take meetings late at night. Every Sunday I sit down with my planner to fit all my meetings and training sessions. Planning ahead is the key as I need to be highly effective with my time.
The key skills that are helping me to balance work and training are:
- Time management.
- Planning.
- Constant reflection on my mental and physical health — since you cannot rest that much you will be at risk of getting injured, overtrained, or stressed.
- Being flexible.
- Being able to set boundaries (in training, in work, in leisure).
- Not underestimating recovery (sleep, sauna, meeting friends).
- Scheduling 1 hour per day for quiet time.
- Setting up my work and monthly goals and tasks for work, so I can feel that I am on top of things.
- Setting up goals for my training, so I can schedule my sessions toward them, instead of blindly joining classes as they run.
IV. Financial Considerations and Cost of Living in Thailand
Luckily, living in Thailand is cheap. Although, Phuket, one of the main martial arts destinations, is probably the most expensive part of Thailand.
But still, you can rent a house for around 400 USD. Eating and life can be cheap here, the problem is as an athlete, eating Thai food is not the best choice. You will be aiming for clean food, which is more costly. Add training fee, recovery such as massages and ice baths, private sessions… And those are pure basics. Not including nutritionists, for example.
This means a part-time salary may be enough to live here, but having savings can be a different story.
V. Conclusion
Being a full-time athlete is the happiest part of my life so far. I only regret I haven’t done it earlier. You may need to completely change your job industry, like me, but it was worth it.
And also, if you have a job as an athlete, there is something else to keep your mind busy, which I found somehow helps me recover too.
Working remotely part-time and training full-time is not easy. Landing such a job or creating such a work opportunity may take years. And then your days will be hard. But none of your colleagues at work and on the mats will have the same time management and efficiency as you do!
