In this vlog, Christian Polk, a seven‑figure sales entrepreneur, recounts his relocation from Miami to Nha Trang, Vietnam, after five months of living there. He outlines three primary advantages—dramatically lower cost of living (from $4,000/month for a Miami apartment to under $800 for two private‑island apartments), a traditional family‑oriented culture that provides childcare support, and consistently pleasant beach weather. He then details three major drawbacks for a US‑focused business: the disruptive time‑zone difference that forces him to work late‑night hours, the scarcity of Western conveniences such as overnight delivery, specialty meats, and sparkling mineral water, and a language barrier where few locals speak English. The move was motivated by the birth of his first child; his Vietnamese‑heritage wife wanted the baby near her family, allowing grandparents to assist with childcare. Although he enjoys the lifestyle, he plans to return to the United States because the time‑zone issue is unsustainable for his business.
Chapters
Now, why as a sales guru who makes 7 figures per year did I decide to move to Vietnam? The answer is pretty simple, but it's probably not what you're thinking. Now, before we get to that, I've been living in Nha Trang, a beach city in Vietnam, for about 5 months now, moving from Miami. So I'll go over the top 3 pros and cons that I see as somebody who's running a business that was living in Miami and then moving to a beach town in Vietnam. The number 1 pro is obviously the cost of living. So in Miami, I had a 2-bedroom apartment in a decently good building, a luxury apartment building, and it was $4,000 a month. Right now I'm renting 2 apartments on a private island with 24-hour security, gym, sauna, all that stuff is there. And together both of those apartments are under $800 per month. And I have a hard time spending over $4,000 per month versus Miami. My wife and my cost of living was at least $10,000 per month. Number 2 is going to be the culture. There's a very, very traditional family culture here, which I really like. I see kids all the time, and the amount of times since we've been back here, and my wife's grandma got on to her about taking care of me more. Chef's kiss. Can't complain. And then number 3 is going to be the weather. I really like nice weather. It's right by the beach. It's very, very calm. Good weather all year round. I mean, there was a week when we first got here that the entire city was underwater, but besides that, weather's pretty good. Now let's talk about the cons. Number 1, the biggest con that I see as somebody who runs a business is the time zone difference. So I'm running a business, I work with people in the US, so I have to stay up until 3, 4, 5 o'clock in the morning working with clients. I'm not an out. That's not super great for me. So I don't really like the time zones. So time zones, a huge pain in the ass. Second biggest con is just a lack of convenience that I'm used to in the US. There is no overnight delivery here. I'm really bougie. I like really fatty red meat. I like sparkling mineral water. These are Western things that you can't really get that much here in Vietnam. So we have to go and specialty get some to actually ship them to us. And then the last biggest con that I see is just going to be the big language barrier. So Not a lot of people here speak English. There are white people here, but they all speak Russian. And if you're white, they assume you speak Russian too, which I don't. So that's a big con here as well. It's very hard to communicate with people and actually get the things that you want. Luckily for me, my wife is originally from here. She speaks Vietnamese, so that makes it easier. Now, why did I decide to actually move to Vietnam? If you don't know by now, it's just because my wife and I had our first child and she wanted to have our baby here. Now, she got her US citizenship before we ever got married, in case you were wondering. But she wanted to be close by family, having our first kid. And the plus of that is I haven't had to change any dirty diapers I haven't had to get up in the middle of the night because her grandma and her aunt has been here the entire time. So she's well taken care of. She doesn't have to work. I can work from anywhere. So that's why we decided to move to Vietnam. Now, will I stay here for the long term? Fuck no. The time zone thing for me is such a big thing that I'm going to be moving back. We're going to be moving back to the US here soon. But for the last 5 months, it has been a good change of pace. Time zones too much.
