A girl in Hanoi sitting in a coffee shop still earns... thousands of USD per month

(Dan Tri) - The clock strikes 8 o'clock, while her peers are jostling on the road to get to work on time, Mai Anh (28 years old, living in Hanoi ) has just started to wake up. Her workplace is at coffee shops.

Sitting in a coffee shop working still earns more than 1,000 USD per month

At 8 o'clock, while her peers were jostling on the road to get to the company on time for roll call, Mai Anh (28 years old, living in Hanoi) just started to wake up. Not having to rush to face the traffic jam for hours, she enjoyed a deep sleep, waiting until her spirit was refreshed before getting out of bed, preparing for the working day at her own pace. After personal hygiene, Mai Anh put on light makeup and left home for work. Her destination was not the usual high-rise buildings or offices. Mai Anh walked through a few streets, saw a newly opened coffee shop with beautiful decoration, she decided this was her workplace today. "I have been a regular customer of many coffee shops on the streets in Hanoi for the past 3 years. If I don't work at home, a coffee shop is my second choice," Mai Anh shared with a smile. Turning on her computer, Mai Anh started her work, posting on the page, checking the project she was working on and completing it. After sitting at the computer for more than an hour, the girl took a break, listened to some music, sipped a cup of coffee, and watched the people walking by. Mai Anh boasted that she had just finished a marketing project for a Korean restaurant in the US. This project helped Mai Anh pocket 30 million VND. The girl shared that this was the second project she had completed this month. In her to-do list, there was also a project to write content (create content), run a page (information sharing channel) for a restaurant in Australia that had just started, and build a page for a skin care spa in Hanoi. "This is my second year doing freelance work at home," the 9X girl shared.

Mai Anh often chooses coffee shops as her workplace (Photo: Nguyen Ngoan).

Mai Anh said that instead of having to jostle at the office, paying attention to the boss's face to work. 3 years ago, she decided to quit her job and become a freelancer. She accepted a job when there was a project and had full authority to decide on her work position. Mai Anh graduated from the Journalism major at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities. She worked as a journalist for a while, then she switched to communications for a company specializing in organizing golf tournaments with a salary of 20 million VND/month. However, after 4 years of working for the company, she felt tired because of all the meetings, overtime, listening to the boss scolding, pressured by colleagues who constantly scrutinized and gossiped about each other. Once, a friend introduced her to an overtime project, she was quickly attracted by the attractive salary, and did not have to endure pressure from the leader. After a few successful projects, she made a bold decision to quit the company and become a freelancer. Mai Anh has experience, good foreign language skills, is articulate and has many external relationships, so since she started working, her work has been quite favorable. "I often take on projects from foreign companies, each project earns 20-30 million VND," Mai Anh said, adding that on average, she does 2-3 jobs per month for both Vietnamese and foreign companies. The time to complete a job is about 15 days to more than a month. However, the jobs overlap each other so that the monthly income is still guaranteed without interruption. According to her, the attractive point of foreign jobs is the high salary. However, the time to complete the project is relatively short and she has to have a good grasp of the market as well as the psychology of foreign customers, this is the biggest challenge. There are projects that take her a whole month just to research the market and customer tastes in order to come up with communication ideas and build products. Regarding jobs in Vietnam, Mai Anh said that the income is not as high as abroad, there are jobs where she only earns 4-5 million VND/month. However, with her experience and understanding of the Vietnamese market, she can easily complete the job in a short time. "My monthly income is around 30 million VND/month," Mai Anh said. She shared that instead of working in the office for 8 hours a day, she chooses cafes with beautiful views or works at home. Mai Anh does not worry about having her KPI deducted, being diligent in her salary, having her fingerprints taken every morning at 7:30, or having to rush home at 5:30 pm, stuck in traffic for hours.

Master your own time and still earn income

Ngo Ngoc (29 years old, Da Nang ) decided to quit her job as a media sponsor for a company in Hanoi to return to her hometown to work, when her father continuously had health problems. Ngoc said she had been in Hanoi for nearly 10 years, working for many companies with a salary ranging from 15-20 million VND. In addition to her main job, she also worked overtime at a coffee shop in the evenings and on weekends. Ngoc spent her youth struggling to make a living with the desire to stay in Hanoi. However, 3 years ago, her father suddenly had a stroke. When she returned, she saw her old mother struggling to take care of her father, looked back at the hustle and bustle of life in the city and the little capital she had after many years in Hanoi, Ngoc began to think about quitting her job to return to her hometown. "It took me a long time to make a decision because I still really like Hanoi," she said. But after repeatedly seeing her mother struggling to take care of her father, Ngoc also had a long-distance relationship with a lecturer in Da Nang. She knew she could not stay in Hanoi for long. After some thought, Ngoc decided to submit her application and return to her hometown.

Ngoc can both travel and work (Photo: Character provided).

When leaving Hanoi, she was afraid that she would not be able to find a stable job in her hometown because the area where she lived was an undeveloped rural area. But through friends' introductions, Ngoc began taking on freelance projects, starting with jobs that paid only 3-4 million VND/month. Gradually, she took on other jobs, and her income increased over time. Currently, Ngoc is working as a content marketer for a traditional chili sauce production company in her hometown and as a human resources manager for a tutoring center in Hanoi. Even though she is not at the company, she still earns 16-17 million VND per month. Every day, she spends about 3-4 hours working continuously to handle all the work, and the remaining time she helps her mother take care of her father. Ngoc has full authority to decide where she works, and she also has time to relax when under pressure. "I can travel and work at the same time, which is something I don't have when working at a fixed-hour agency," Ngoc said. Last September, Ngoc got married and moved to Da Nang with her husband. She continues to work for a tutoring center and does content marketing for a chili sauce company, even though they are hundreds of kilometers away. Being independent in her time helps her gain more knowledge. Ngoc is currently learning a foreign language to help with her work. In addition, she also makes her own notebooks, decorating them with flowers and grass to sell online. After a long time of freelancing, both Mai Anh and Ngoc feel comfortable with their choices. Although they do not have many relationships at work, they are in control of their time and still financially independent. Working remotely is a form of work in which employees perform and complete work at any location outside the company office. People who work remotely will exchange information, manage work and communicate with people through technology tools and platforms. In Vietnam, this trend has also seen a strong increase after the COVID-19 pandemic, and is predicted to potentially replace traditional working models in the future. According to the Global Remote Working Index (GRWI) 2023 report, Vietnam ranked 59/108 countries as an attractive destination for remote working, thanks to the quality of Internet connection and developed digital infrastructure. Overall, the recent trend of searching for remote jobs is a sign that both the nature of work is changing and the preferences of workers are also changing. Organizations and businesses are also forced to admit that they have to adjust to these changes.

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Source: https://dantri.com.vn/doi-song/co-gai-o-ha-noi-ngoi-ca-phe-van-kiem-nghin-usd-moi-thang-20241104170413540.htm