More than just the increased income, I also had more free time. I was in the Philippines at the time so I was able to go out to Jollibee with the kids whenever I wanted to. I could let them play in the kiddie area while I just sat back and relaxed. This easy life continued for about a year.

It continued until there was a confluence of negative events all at once. The financial crisis in September 2008 was a major catalyst. People started getting scared and within a few weeks, the paid writing market just about dried up completely. People just weren’t paying for business services. This meant a sharp reduction in my writing income.

Another problem that came up was a bad decision on my part. I decided to take a month to help a friend try to build a business quickly. He needed the help and I thought that I could afford to stay away for a month from paid writing while people got their heads back on straight. Bad move. It was a bad decision because first the friend’s business went nowhere and was basically a lost cause. Second, well the few existing customers I had looked elsewhere for their writing needs.

As I said, there was a confluence of events. The last nail in the coffin was diabetes. Normally diabetes develops over a period of time and there are plenty of warning signs. Not for me. I was hit like a freight train and it culminated in a month of being bed ridden not able to figure out what I had. By time I got to the doctor and got proper medication, I had been out of work for more than 2 months. Two months is a long time in an industry that moves at internet speed.

December 2008 wasn’t a good month for me. I spent the month trying to once again get back into doing the internet work that had solely supported me for more than a year. I sputtered along but several things started to become abundantly clear to me. I think it was the turning point for my time in the Philippines.

By January 2009, I was looking for alternatives and knew that real alternatives were hard to come by during a Great Recession. During my research, I ran across a post about Saipan. I started doing some real research about Saipan but found that there wasn’t a lot of information about it. The most important fact that I learned was that my wife could come here with just a visitor entry permit and that I could change it to an IR permit within 30 days. I realized that it was our best chance and with a window closing by June 1st, it was something that needed to be done right away.