I Moved to Cyprus in 2020 With $11,000 and No Job (This Is What Happened)

Why you do not need a perfect plan to move your life abroad

Three People on the Plane

That is how many passengers were on my flight to Cyprus on December 28, 2020.

Outside, the world was shut down.

Inside, I was flying into a country I had never been to.

With $11,000 in my bank account.

And no job.

This was not the plan.

Six months earlier, I was supposed to move to Singapore.

I had quit my job in Germany, packed my life into suitcases, sold almost everything, said goodbye to everyone, and lined up a new job with a visa that was already approved.

I was not supposed to be that guy moving to an island during a pandemic with no plan.

So how did I end up there?

To answer that, we need to go back to a plastic table in a hawker center in Singapore.

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The Singapore Dream That Fell Apart

December 2019.

I am sitting in a hawker center in Singapore, eating chicken rice, sweating a little, and staring.

Everything just works here.

The trains are on time.

The streets are spotless.

People follow rules without anyone forcing them to.

There is this energy in the air, this sense that things just move forward efficiently without all the bullshit you deal with in other places.

On that same trip, I had been to Hong Kong and Bangkok.

Both great places.

But Singapore felt different.

It felt like a place where you could actually get things done.

Halfway through my chicken rice, I decided:

I am moving here.

When I got back to Germany in late December, the first thing I did was walk into my boss’s office.

“Hey, I am moving to Singapore in Q1 2020. I would love to keep working with you, but if that is not possible, consider this my notice.”

(I did not sound as cool and badass as I make it sound).

A week later, they came back and said they had an entity in Singapore and could transfer me.

Perfect.

I would quit my German contract, sign a new one with the Singapore office, and move in March 2020.

So, I did what people do when they are about to move countries for a dream job:

• Sold my furniture

• Had goodbye parties

• Canceled my lease

• Packed my life into four suitcases

• Gave everything else away

Then COVID happened.

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Collapse

Singapore closed its borders. My approved visa was canceled. The new contract never got signed.

Within a few weeks, I went from:

• Stable job

• Recent promotion

• Nice apartment in Frankfurt

to:

• No job

• No visa

• No stuff

• No apartment

I moved in with a friend because you could not even view apartments during lockdown. Real estate agents were not doing showings. Offices were closed.

I had no idea what to do with myself.

For about a month, I ran.

Not from Germany. Literally ran. I ran three marathons in 30 days, alone, just me and the streets.

But eventually the running stopped helping. The situation was still the same.

I had to make a decision.

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Refusing to Go Back

I was not willing to sit in Germany and wait for the world to reopen.

I had already quit. I had already said goodbye. My stuff was gone.

I could not talk myself into pretending none of it had happened.

Going back felt like rewinding my life.

I could not do it.

So, I started looking at where I could actually go.

• Asia was closed

• The US was closed

• Australia and New Zealand were basically sealed off

Inside the EU it was still possible to move, if you were willing to deal with tests, paperwork, and quarantine.

I narrowed it down to Malta or Cyprus. In the end, I chose the bigger island.

Cyprus it is.

Warm. In the EU. Reachable.

Honestly, I couldn’t care less. I just wanted OUT.

I booked a one way flight for December 28, 2020.

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The First Weeks as an Expat in Cyprus

The airport in Cyprus was almost empty.

Three people on the plane, then just silence, masks, and fluorescent lighting.

I got into a taxi, gave the driver an address I had only seen on a screen, and stared out the window in the dark, wondering if I had completely lost my mind.

The apartment I had rented online looked fine in the photos. In real life:

• No wifi

• No furniture

• No electricity

It was winter.

Winter in Cyprus is not like winter in Germany, but it gets cold at night. You need heating.

I had none.

For about a week, I sat in that apartment with no power and no internet.

• No Netflix.

• No YouTube.

• No Zoom calls.

• No emails to potential clients.

Just me, my thoughts, eating takeout in the dark, wearing my jacket.

I was scared in a way I had never been scared before.

I had about $11,000 in my account. Not to forget my $90k+ student debt.

No job. No clients. No freelancing experience.

I had always been employed, always had that monthly paycheck.

Now, I was alone, in a country I had never been to, during a pandemic, in a cold apartment that did not even have working electricity.

The first few weeks were f*cking horrible.

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The Six-Month Deal That Changed Everything

One night I sat on the floor of that apartment with my back against the wall, eating lukewarm takeout by the light of my phone.

My breath was visible in the air. Inside.

For a moment I opened Skyscanner and typed “Larnaca to Frankfurt”.

A quiet, embarrassing thought showed up in the back of my mind.

Maybe you should just admit this was stupid and go back.

I really hated that thought.

I closed the browser, grabbed the notebook I had thrown on the counter when I arrived, and wrote one line in big letters:

“SIX MONTHS.”

That was the deal.

I would give myself six months to make this work.

For six months, I was not allowed to entertain the “maybe I should just go back” option.

I could be scared. I could be stressed. I could be lonely.

But I could not quit.

If after six months it was still a disaster, fine.

I would go back to Germany, get a job, and at least I would know I had actually tried.

Strange enough, the moment I wrote that down, my shoulders dropped a little. Nothing outside had changed. But inside, there was one clear decision.

I was in, fully, for six months.

From that point on, I kept it simple.

Every single day, no matter how I felt, I would do three things:

1. Work on finding clients

2. Go cycling to stay sane

3. Go to a coffee shop to be around people, even if it was only to grab a takeaway

No excuses. No days off. Just show up.

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How I Built a Freelance Career Abroad

About three weeks into this six month experiment, I was sitting at the small kitchen table, pretending to “work on my business” but mostly refreshing E-Mail and LinkedIn.

My routine by then was simple.

• Wake up.

• Check my bank balance.

• Check my inbox.

• Feel my stomach drop.

That morning felt exactly the same.

Then a notification popped up.

It was an email from a name I had not seen in a while, a former client from my consultancy days in Germany.

The subject line said: “Quick question”

My brain went straight to the worst case. When you are in the mode I was in, you expect things to just get worse.

Maybe he needed a document, maybe something had gone wrong on an old project, maybe this was going to be a problem.

I clicked it anyway.

Instead of a complaint, I saw:

“Hey Ben, are you doing any freelance work at the moment?”

I read that sentence three times.

I felt a rush of heat in my chest and had to stand up and walk around the apartment while I finished the email.

He outlined a project, asked about my availability, and said they needed someone “as soon as possible”.

I wrote back something calm and professional.

Then deleted it. Then rewrote it. Then rewrote it again to sound less desperate.

A few days and a call later, I was staring at a six month contract in my inbox.

When I did the math on the total amount, I laughed out loud.

For that project, I would be making more than double what I had earned in my best year in Germany.

I walked out onto the balcony, looked down at the street, and for the first time since landing in Cyprus, I did not feel like I had ruined my life.

Nothing was suddenly “safe”. But for the first time, it felt possible.

I had income.

I had a real project.

I had proof that someone out there was willing to pay this new version of me.

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Building a Life as an Expat in Cyprus

After that, a routine slowly formed.

Every morning, I walked around 700 meters from my apartment down to the beach.

I swam 20 or 30 minutes in the Mediterranean.

I walked back and picked up a coffee on the way.

At home, I threw my sandy clothes into the washing machine, took a shower, and started work.

During lunch breaks, I explored the neighborhood.

I learned a few words of Greek.

I joined Facebook groups for expats and cyclists in Cyprus.

That is where I met Raphael.

He was German and into cycling as well. He became my first real friend in Cyprus.

We started doing long rides together:

• To Paphos

• To Limassol

• To Nicosia

We would ride for hours, stop for coffee, and talk about life, work, and how we both ended up on this island in the middle of a pandemic.

I met more people.

When restrictions lifted, we went for drinks and explored different parts of the island. People recommended doctors and mechanics and where to get the best souvlaki.

By month three:

• I had friends

• I had work

• I had a life

By month six, I landed a second client.

More money. More stability. More proof that this was not just luck.

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Making $100k in My First Year Freelancing Abroad

In my first year in Cyprus, I made over $100,000.

That was more than my best year in Germany, including bonuses.

At the same time, my cost of living dropped by around 40%. Rent, food, going out, all of it was cheaper.

People do not talk about this enough: You do not always need to earn more money to have more money.

Sometimes you just need to live somewhere that costs less.

But honestly, the money was not the most important part.

The most important part was who I became in the process.

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The Real Change

Before all of this, I was the good employee.

I liked structure.

I liked a steady paycheck.

I liked knowing what was coming next month.

I told myself I was adventurous because I had moved countries a couple of times, but I always had a safety net.

Moving to Cyprus during COVID with no job and no network removed that safety net completely.

I took a big risk.

I landed in a dark apartment without electricity.

I sat in fear for weeks, then made a six month deal with myself.

I did the work every day.

And I made it work.

That changes you.

Once you prove to yourself that you can handle uncertainty and come out the other side, you get a kind of self confidence that does not depend on a title or a company.

I was not scared of risk in the same way anymore.

I raised my rates.

I took on bigger, more demanding projects.

I started saying yes to opportunities that would have scared me a year earlier.

I also realized something else:

I was not stuck.

As a freelancer, I suddenly had options. I had flexibility. I had control over my time and my location in a way I had never experienced before.

That feeling was worth more than the extra money.

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What You Should Do Differently When Moving Abroad

I made this much harder than it needed to be.

I did not prepare properly.

I did not join expat groups before I moved.

I did not reach out to people in Cyprus to say:

“Hey, I am moving there, can we meet up when I arrive?”

I did not organize my documents.

I had to get papers shipped from Germany during COVID, which was slow, expensive, and avoidable.

I did not build any kind of network before landing. I just showed up and hoped I would figure it out.

Somehow it still worked.

But, if you are thinking about moving abroad, please do it differently. Here is what I wish I had done.

1. Get your documents ready.

   Birth certificates, diplomas, bank statements, references. Scan everything, back it up, and keep digital copies handy. Do not wait until some office asks for a document that is in a drawer in your old apartment.

2. Line up something before you go.

   It does not have to be your dream job. Even a small part time gig or a badly paid freelance project helps. Having any income takes the edge off that first month panic. I got lucky with a client after three weeks. Do not count on luck.

3. Build a network before you land.

   Join Facebook groups, Reddit threads, WhatsApp chats, expat forums. Ask questions. Learn which neighborhoods are good. Find out where people hang out. It is much easier to arrive in a place where at least a few people are expecting you.

4. Have at least six months of savings.

   I had maybe three or four months. That made the first weeks very stressful. Six months gives you room to make good decisions instead of desperate ones.

5. Sort out banking early if you can. Some countries let you open accounts remotely. If that is possible, do it. That is one less thing to worry about when you land.

I actually turned all of this into a Move Abroad Checklist that walks you through what to do before you move.

It is free.

The Move Abroad Checklist (20 Things To Do Before Your Move)

But here is the important part.

Even if you do not get everything right, you can still make it work.

I moved during COVID.

I had never freelanced before.

I did not know anyone.

I did not prepare properly.

And I still made over $100,000 in my first year.

Preparation helps a lot.

But it is not the main thing.

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The One Thing That Matters Most

The most important part is this:

You have to be willing to bet on yourself.

You have to trust that even if your first weeks are awful, if you are scared and lonely and stressed, you will figure things out.

Because here is the reality.

The lows at the beginning were brutal.

But the highs on the other side were higher than anything I had experienced before.

When you go through something hard and come out the other side, you do not just get a new life in a new country.

You get proof.

Proof that you can handle uncertainty.

Proof that you can take risks.

Proof that you can make things happen even when the timing is bad.

That confidence is worth more than money.

So, if you are thinking about moving abroad but you are scared, here is what I would tell you:

Give yourself a timeline.

Six months. A year. Whatever feels manageable.

Commit to making it work for that amount of time. Really commit.

If it does not work out, fine. You tried.

You will go back with stories, experience, and a clearer sense of what you want.

But if it does work out, everything changes.

You do not have to stay where you are.

You do not have to wait for the world to be stable again.

You are allowed to move your life forward anyway.

You can do it.

Wishing you a great journey,

— Ben

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