Hacker News Reader

Comment by notch656a | Hacker News Reader

If you simply look for ways to fail, you'll never succeed.

My statement is direct towards goal oriented people who want to succeed and are willing to iteratively test their options until something works. Not failures who are unwilling to take a risk or work for a reward. If you can't get a credit card, then hitchhike and/or volunteer on a yacht or just be homeless and work day labor that doesn't check your record until you've saved up a chunk.

An individual who is capable of success is capable of tirelessly executing options until they find one that works. And that is possible. Staying in the US means you will never fully regain your civil rights if convicted of a federal crime. Leaving means you have the chance of having the full civil rights of a citizen, somewhere.

View on HN

Which of these options worked for you?

When I was homeless I have hitchhiked without using money, then slept in a ditch for weeks in Williston North Dakota where the oil industry was booming and no one performed background checks. After a few weeks of day labor (part time sleeping in a ditch, part time crashing with a generous but drunk ex-felon in a trailor) I had enough money for a train ticket to an extremely cheap midwestern city where I used my wages to buy a month in an AirBnB which allowed me to have a residence to do local factory work.

Regarding going out of country, I have joined a foreign militia prior that had some ex-cons in it, that did not require anything other than a plane ticket to join. I did not know the language, but learned (some of it) along the way. Travelling extensively you learn to communicate without knowing much of the language. I believe I paid for that ticket with a credit card.

So out of my "Several Options" I can personally say (4) would work and been tested by me. Domestically I can say hitch-hiking to an oil field and sleeping in a ditch until you can afford better would work (met lots of felons that did same). I also married a filipina while I was completely broke, so (7) would work as well although I haven't personally done it, it would be trivial for me to execute it.

Why did this comment get downvoted? It doesn't sound like a lie.

Buying a plane ticket sounds impossible for someone without a job, but you would be surprised how much money you can make by busking, day labor, or just straight up begging. I've made over $100 in 2 hours just from flailing on a cheap guitar in a busy location.

Sure, I had to have a skill to begin with, but saying you can't do it is wrong. Just most people won't do it because they think they can't do it.

And if you get beaten because you infringed on some territory or cops having a bad day, you can loose the guitar or worse.

Most people don't have the location. It's expensive to live where that kind of opportunity exists.

Outside of America, maybe, but most people in America live close to a gas station or a highway intersection.

My income quote comes from a gas station in a backwater town in the deep woods of Alabama, and I'm not a great guitarist or something amazing worth throwing money at.

Yeah I'm not a busker myself but I've found "middle America" and more humble populations to be more generous in general. It's not the rich who typically empathize with someone on the street, it's a working class person who's been there.

Sounds like you're talking about a one-time thing then rather than a sustainable practice. I think if you loiter in front of a gas station you will be rousted by police in much less than a week.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com