Remote Work

Reality Check

Sep 9, 2026

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3 min read

You Do Not Buy A Plant For Five Weeks

2 completely different lives out here are sharing one word. One came to move. The other just wants an ordinary life somewhere warmer, and almost everything he needs is the opposite.

Andrew No Refunds

Reality Check

The Best Desk I Ever Had Was A Drawer Turned Upside Down

Sep 6, 2026

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4 min read

The Best Desk I Ever Had Was A Drawer Turned Upside Down

I carried a 220 dollar monitor across borders for a year. The best work I have done out here was typed on a wardrobe drawer with a 250 baht keyboard on the table underneath it.

Andrew No Refunds

Money

Aug 23, 2026

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4 min read

Nobody Out Here Will Tell You Where The Money Comes From

Ask anyone out here what they do and you get a category. Never a client, never a number. The only people who answer properly are charging you to hear it.

Andrew No Refunds

Business

Aug 12, 2026

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4 min read

Nobody At The Meetup Has Ever Paid Me

Every room I went to for work was full of people selling what I sell. The ones who actually pay have a shop on the street below and no reason to come upstairs.

Andrew No Refunds

Reality Check

Jul 6, 2026

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3 min read

The Datacenter Is The New Factory

They told my father to learn a machine that was never his. Now they tell you to learn AI. Same advice, bigger building, colder room.

Andrew No Refunds

Reality Check

Jul 2, 2026

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3 min read

You Can't Work From A View

The wifi stopped being the hard part years ago. Quiet is the thing you can't carry in the bag, and it never shows up in the photo.

Andrew No Refunds

Reality Check

Your Passport Decides More Than Your Plan

Jun 30, 2026

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3 min read

Your Passport Decides More Than Your Plan

They sell it as a mindset. It's a document. You got handed yours at birth, and the brochure never mentions which one you need.

Andrew No Refunds

Reality Check

They Sold You Smarter. Now They Sell You Cheaper.

Jun 29, 2026

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3 min read

They Sold You Smarter. Now They Sell You Cheaper.

The machine manufactured the spend. Now it's selling you the cure for it. Same room, new product, two invoices.

Andrew No Refunds

Reality Check

Jun 27, 2026

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3 min read

Work Was Never Supposed To Be The Dream

"Do what you love" was never permission. It was a quota. And the bar just went up to two million dollars.

Andrew No Refunds

Reality Check

The Job Title Died And Nobody Held A Funeral

Jun 26, 2026

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3 min read

The Job Title Died And Nobody Held A Funeral

Digital nomad was a job description wearing a costume. The machine took the job. What's left is the part that was always yours.

Andrew No Refunds

Reality Check

Jun 22, 2026

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4 min read

The Web Is Being Rebuilt. Not For You.

You didn't lose a client. You lost a reader. The web is being rebuilt for the thing that reads the page instead of you.

Andrew No Refunds

Reality Check

Finding Clients Is The Job. Code Is The Receipt.

Jun 18, 2026

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5 min read

Finding Clients Is The Job. Code Is The Receipt.

You didn't leave employment to escape the commercial part of the work. You left to do it without anyone helping you.

Andrew No Refunds

Reality Check

The Wrong Degree Was Always The Right One.

Jun 16, 2026

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4 min read

The Wrong Degree Was Always The Right One.

She left a medical degree to learn digital marketing.

Andrew No Refunds

Reality Check

Retrain. It Takes Weeks Not Years. And You're Already Ahead.

Jun 9, 2026

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4 min read

Retrain. It Takes Weeks Not Years. And You're Already Ahead.

The market changed. The tools are cheap. The retraining is shorter than you think. Move.

Andrew No Refunds

Reality Check

Escaping And Chasing A Dream Are Not The Same Thing.

May 31, 2026

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5 min read

Escaping And Chasing A Dream Are Not The Same Thing.

The destination is identical. The architecture underneath is completely different.

Andrew No Refunds

Money

May 20, 2026

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4 min read

The Single Point of Failure.

The fintech worked perfectly until it didn't. This is not a Wise story.

Andrew No Refunds

Reality Check

The Productivity Stack Nobody Talks About.

May 11, 2026

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4 min read

The Productivity Stack Nobody Talks About.

Not the aspirational version. The actual one.

Andrew No Refunds

Reality Check

80% Happy. The Most Honest Number In Remote Work.

May 9, 2026

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4 min read

80% Happy. The Most Honest Number In Remote Work.

Not the cheat code. Not the dream. 80%. And why that's enough.

Andrew No Refunds

Reality Check

The Things Nobody Puts In The Cost Of Living Breakdown.

May 5, 2026

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4 min read

The Things Nobody Puts In The Cost Of Living Breakdown.

The spreadsheet shows you the number. It leaves out the costs that don't have a number yet.

Andrew No Refunds

Business

Build The Income Before You Buy The Ticket.

May 4, 2026

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4 min read

Build The Income Before You Buy The Ticket.

The business built under financial pressure in a foreign city is a worse business than the one built before you go.

Andrew No Refunds

Reality Check

The 10pm Tax. Nobody Told Me About The Timezones.

Apr 30, 2026

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4 min read

The 10pm Tax. Nobody Told Me About The Timezones.

The freedom to work from anywhere comes with a quiet asterisk.

Andrew No Refunds

Reality Check

Malaysia Doesn't Have A Vice. That's Why Nobody Talks About It.

Apr 26, 2026

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4 min read

Malaysia Doesn't Have A Vice. That's Why Nobody Talks About It.

The digital nomad content machine runs on hedonism. Malaysia won't play along. You should go anyway.

Andrew No Refunds

Money

$1000 A Month. Let's Talk About That Number.

Apr 24, 2026

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4 min read

$1000 A Month. Let's Talk About That Number.

It's not the target. It's the floor beneath the floor.

Andrew No Refunds

Business

Apr 23, 2026

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3 min read

I Watched A Man Build His Entire Business On A Motorbike And I Felt Ashamed Of My Excuses

He had a bike, a wooden frame, and a city full of people who needed what he had. That's still the whole thing.

Andrew No Refunds

Money

Apr 15, 2026

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5 min read

The Emergency Fund

Three months of runway. For fourteen months. Not saving. Surviving in a loop.

Andrew No Refunds

Remote Work

You Do Not Buy A Plant For Five Weeks

The Best Desk I Ever Had Was A Drawer Turned Upside Down

Nobody Out Here Will Tell You Where The Money Comes From

Nobody At The Meetup Has Ever Paid Me

The Datacenter Is The New Factory

You Can't Work From A View

Your Passport Decides More Than Your Plan

They Sold You Smarter. Now They Sell You Cheaper.

Work Was Never Supposed To Be The Dream

The Job Title Died And Nobody Held A Funeral

The Web Is Being Rebuilt. Not For You.

Finding Clients Is The Job. Code Is The Receipt.

The Wrong Degree Was Always The Right One.

Retrain. It Takes Weeks Not Years. And You're Already Ahead.

Escaping And Chasing A Dream Are Not The Same Thing.

The Single Point of Failure.

The Productivity Stack Nobody Talks About.

80% Happy. The Most Honest Number In Remote Work.

The Things Nobody Puts In The Cost Of Living Breakdown.

Build The Income Before You Buy The Ticket.

The 10pm Tax. Nobody Told Me About The Timezones.

Malaysia Doesn't Have A Vice. That's Why Nobody Talks About It.

$1000 A Month. Let's Talk About That Number.

I Watched A Man Build His Entire Business On A Motorbike And I Felt Ashamed Of My Excuses

The Emergency Fund

Andrew - No Refunds