The other way

Silke Bender from Frankfurt worked as an HR consultant and project leader. Though she had itchy feet she did not want to immediately give everything up, so in December 2012 she travelled to Asia. “Asia is regarded as safe, which was very important to me as a woman,” she says. Via Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and China she eventually ended up in Hong Kong, where she looked for conventional jobs. On the website of the Worldwide Network of the German Chambers of Commerce she came across an interesting job with a management consultant, and two interviews later had the job. “I actually intended going back to Germany after a year, but I liked Asia in general, and Hong Kong in particular so much that I’m still here, and have no plans to return,” she says.

Becoming self-employed via a job abroad

After two years as a management consultant though, her passion for fitness, wellness, yoga, and trail running prevailed. She then threw all caution to the wind after all, resigned, and used her savings to train as a yoga teacher. “That wasn’t exactly easy, because as a yoga teacher newbie I had to get some practical experience and look for a niche, as there is a lot of competition,” she recalls. But because she is also a passionate off-road runner, that didn’t take long: “Yoga for Runners” was from then on her business. With it she has since built up a solid online and offline client base in southeast Asia. She gives courses in groups, privately, and in some cases in companies, and also offers online coaching – together with her partner, who is a professional runner. “The great thing about online coaching is that males you totally independent of a place,” she says. “All we need for it are a laptop, an Internet connection that works, and good camera equipment for the vlogs my partner does.” Even in Hong Kong, which is pretty expensive, you can live off yoga, and running and online coaching, because not only are the living costs there higher, but with the salaries there likewise being higher, the Hong Kong clientele pays accordingly.

Balance between work and leisure time

“I don’t lead a glamourous life, but it is one that is free and independent, in which there is a good balance between leisure time and work, which makes me very satisfied and happy,” she says. On a typical day she works three to five hours at her computer (online coaching, e-mails, Skype calls, self-marketing), gives one to two hours of yoga tuition, and spends two to three hours herself training.

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