After 4 great years in Taiwan, I had made plans to return to the westcoast of Canada to pursue further studies. My time here in Taiwan was coming to an end. I have very little language skills and teaching English was becoming much to be desired. Then…I fell madly in love. My boyfriend is Dutch yet a resident here with a great life based in Taiwan. If I want to be with him, I must live here. BIg Problem. What I am suppose to do?!
With teaching experience being my main focus over the past 5 years (I lived in Thailand before), I am up in arms over how to earn a living here. Travel is great, especially to Canada. i want to spend more time with my family. Doing some import/exporting would be ideal however I am not too sure where to start. Could I be an agent? How does that work? I see myself as an asset to international companies but not too sure how to tap into that. Any advice?
No offense intended, but I get the feeling you are fairly young and lacking in advanced degrees and/or business experience (yea, yea, taught conversation classes in another Asian country, I know), so the only realistic possibilities are teaching English (and you should be grateful there are so many such jobs for people with minimal qualifications), teaching kindergarten, or perhaps working for a newspaper or doing technical writing or translation, if you are suitably qualified. Nothing wrong with those types of jobs, but if you want something different I believe higher qualifications are generally required.
But if I’m mistaken – if you have a technical or graduate degree or experience other than shooting the breeze with a bunch of second-language learners – then let us know, as that could make a difference.
Pick yourself. If love is yourself and will sustain you, then fantastic. If not, you need to do what you need to ensure you can provide for yourself until now and “eternity”…
Good luck.
i appreciate the time you put into my reply but i am looking for more progressive ideas 
i have come here looking for what i dont already know. yes, school is a wonderful tool and i look forward to having the opportunity to continue with my studies BUT for now i am looking for business opportunities, affiliate programs, websites, businesses in need of a rep, I DONT KNOW but i DO know that it is very possible for me to earn a great living travelling from here to there with the ‘qualifications’ and experience that i do already have. im just looking for that opportunity…
and yellow cartman, thank you for your words.
You’re Canadian, eh? Have you considered drug smuggling? 
Seriously, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but aside from the legality (isn’t it illegal for foreigners to perform most jobs in Taiwan unless they have special expertise or training) what “qualifications” do you have to offer an employer here, aside from the fact that you may be a nice person with good intentions? Do you have any business experience? You say you see yourself as an asset to international companies – in what way? Have you ever worked for a company even in a secretarial type position? What ARE your qualifications?
Think of it from the company’s perspective: why should they hire you, who admittedly has very little language skills, and may have no prior experience in business and may have higher expectations regarding salary and other things than the typical subservient locals, and will require training in order to perform the job, and for whom they have to go through the hassle of obtaining an ARC (if it’s at all possible), rather than hiring a cheap and easy local, who is legal, and with whom they can easily communicate and who they can easily push around in the standard Taiwanese manner of employment relations?
I respect your enthusiasm and wish you well, but I just don’t believe you’ll find what you’re looking for (and I get the feeling you don’t really know what you’re looking for anyway) until you earn an MA or get some business experience. I know, it’s a lousy Catch-22: one can’t get a job without experience and one can’t get experience without a job, but that’s basically how it works. Given that, I would suggest if you really want to stay in Taiwan to find a good teaching position; otherwise to consider returning home and finding a suitable job or furthering your education to open additional prospects in the future.
That’s just my opinion, though and I may be wrong. I’ll be happy to know if someone believes you can get the type of work you want and can offer constructive advice on how to find it.
EDIT: but you can certainly start by scouring the English newspapers and the 104 website looking for available positions.
Jeez, what’s with the bitchy attitude, MT? PMS?
The girl didn’t ask for that at all. Not for the worst-case scenario preech from you, and definitely not for the tone in which you delivered it. I think you should stay out of this thread and let people give her proper advice.
[quote=“tash”]Jeez, what’s with the bitchy attitude, MT? PMS?
The girl didn’t ask for that at all. Not for the worst-case scenario preech from you, and definitely not for the tone in which you delivered it. I think you should stay out of this thread and let people give her proper advice.[/quote]
Guess someone had to give her the empty half of the glass also
[quote=“TNT”]
Guess someone had to give her the empty half of the glass also[/quote]
Half empty is ok. No need to fill it with bile though, when water would do just fine.
[quote=“TNT”][quote=“tash”]Jeez, what’s with the bitchy attitude, MT? PMS?
The girl didn’t ask for that at all. Not for the worst-case scenario preech from you, and definitely not for the tone in which you delivered it. I think you should stay out of this thread and let people give her proper advice.[/quote]
Guess someone had to give her the empty half of the glass also[/quote]
And there’s a difference between being pessimistic and realistic. I think Mother Theresa was just being realistic. Neither do I think he is the one suffering from PMS fueled posts.
She’s looking for advice on a piblic forum. She’s getting both sides. She can now decide whether or not she wants to take the advice offered. It’s that simple.
i got what i deserved. asking for ambiguous advice on some forum is most definitely the wrong way to go about my situation. i know what i need to do and asking the masses proved to be wrong. i guess i was just trying to get creative. oops.
[quote=“Meegs”]i appreciate the time you put into my reply but i am looking for more progressive ideas i have come here looking for what i dont already know. yes, school is a wonderful tool and i look forward to having the opportunity to continue with my studies BUT for now i am looking for business opportunities, affiliate programs, websites, businesses in need of a rep, I DONT KNOW but i DO know that it is very possible for me to earn a great living travelling from here to there with the ‘qualifications’ and experience that i do already have. im just looking for that opportunity…
and yellow cartman, thank you for your words.[/quote]
There is the Entrepreneur Club that Mr. He actively facilitates. Check out the Business & Money forum. The club meets monthly, usually at Carnegie’s on Sunday. They’re due for another one for April so just your luck. There’s also a business directory of Forumosan’s who have started their own businesses, pursuing similar dreams as yours.
I think at the end of the day, take full stock of all your skills and talents, realistically evaluate them with trusted friends/advisors/etc so you have a firm grounding of where you are before you take the leap to the next level.
As for the “great living” part, that usually takes a lot of sweat and tears, nothing great comes easy
[quote=“tash”][quote=“TNT”]
Guess someone had to give her the empty half of the glass also[/quote]
Half empty is ok. No need to fill it with bile though, when water would do just fine.[/quote]
Jeez, lighten up Tash. To be truthful I was easy on her. I didn’t point out my initial reaction that she’s extremely fortunate even to have landed jobs teaching English with such borderline English abilities, that as far as I can tell she doesn’t have any “qualifications” to land a decent job doing international business, and she appears to be a naive newbie with totally unrealistic fantasies and expectations. Instead, I simply stated what I believe is the reality as politely as possible. But if you think she’s well qualified to land all sort of great positions, feel free to tell her (and all of us, I’m all ears) how she can do that.
[Sorry about that, meeg. As I said, I don’t mean any offense to you and you may be a very nice person with good skills and abilities, but I’m just giving my honest opinion about job prospects. And, frankly, I think teaching English here is a pretty good option for lots of people. I was satisfied doing it myself.]
Mother Theresa’s suggestion about the 104 website was pretty good. They have a lot of positions, have extensive island wide coverage and you can post your resume there (free) for prospective employers to see. Not a bad suggestion. I believe the site is located at: 104.com.tw/
realism vs pessism is massive, YES. i believe that the reality of this situation is that it is very possible to achieve my goal of gaining a living without teaching. it requires out of the box thinking (very difficult for many of us), networking and creative sources of info. thank you all for your thoughts, pessimistic, ‘realistic’, encouraging, whatever-i use it all as fuel to reach my goal. he is too amazing to be ‘realistic’ about it all…
and cartman, thank you for your advice! was just what i was looking for
Have u thought about studying here full time? Perhaps an MBA or Mandarin? That would enable you to continue a relationship with your bf, work towards higher qualifications and perhaps look at any potential business opportunities in your spare time.
I know of at least one Western woman with no advanced degree, nor any level of proficiency of Chinese, who has been making a living here for more than 2 years without resorting to teaching or editing, so it’s definitely something that’s possible to achieve. I’m sure there are other examples as well.
Perhaps some stodgy old men lack the ingenuity to come up with creative business ideas or opportunities, but that doesn’t mean that opportunities don’t exist. If you really want to stay in Taiwan a while longer to look for them, then you should! I don’t know you at all, but at the very least you seem to have a great attitude in the face of naysayers. I like your chutzpah.
As Tyc00n mentioned, if you were planning to go into an MBA program in Canada, you could consider doing it here instead. Here’s a thread about English MBA programs in Taiwan.
And in addition to the Forumosa Entrepreneur’s meeting, you might want to check out an Oriented Happy Hour. I’ve never been, but I’ve heard that it’s a good event for networking.
Whatever you decide to do, good luck!
Stodgy, lacking ingenuity, whatever. . . 
I’ve been self employed. I’ve worked all kinds of odd jobs. I’ve completely transformed my career in Taiwan, advancing one job at a time into a new field I hadn’t worked in before, was previously totally unqualified for, and am now very happy with my employment, which is not teaching English. But I’ve got a doctorate. It seems clear the OP has only a BA. . . if that.
If she lands some other employment that she enjoys, good for her. I do respect her enthusiasm, I do wish her well, and I do hope she’ll succeed.
Aside from earning money, though, isn’t there also a potential problem with legality? Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it true that unless one has an advanced degree the ROC govt will generally issue a work permit/ARC only for certain types of work that it feels locals can’t perform equally well, such as teaching English. I’m not sure I’m correct about that, and if she wants to work illegally I don’t care. I’ve got nothing against breaking an occassional law. But is that true? If it is, perhaps that’s another factor she should consider.
I know about 5 people on the high speed rail who just finished high school (if that). I also know a highly successful young businessman here who never even completed high school, yet paved the way for other foreigners in Taiwan in setting up a branch office and made all the naysayers look like twits.
MT, I understand that your viewpoint reflects the reality for most people in the OP’s position, but I do believe that with some effort, she can create her path here too. It just requires a bit of dodginess, a bit of luck and a whole lot of determination.
Now as I suggested earlier, the easiest way for her to say here in the long term is to enroll in tertiary education. What she does around those time requirements is what will make the difference. (i.e. not going to the pub, but being proactive).
Unfortunately, MT is pretty much on target. (And I don’t think he was being snippy, just frank.)
Also, MT was asking her for more information. If she is a hot looking babe maybe she could try to find work in media or something. There is a demand for foreign actors/actresses with good looks and a good voice. Don’t know about the details.
So, aside from being a native English speaker, what else can you do?