After many months of traveling, I found myself in Cairns, Australia. To find a way of truly embracing this place and meeting as many people as possible, I tapped into my entrepreneurial spirit and started a coffee stand at a local farmers market.

Rusty’s Farmers Market is centrally located in the heart of Cairns City. It’s only open from Friday through Sunday. In addition to fresh produce, this place is vibrant and filled with vendors selling items from historical Indigenous art to handmade baby diapers. There is also food from all over the world, such as Thailand, Samoa and Iran. But one thing was missing: a taste of Vietnam.

I decided to fill this void by opening a Vietnamese cafe sua da (iced coffee) stand. Immediately after proposing the idea to the market manager, I was given a table in the market. Surprisingly, after much fear of failure, I was overwhelmed by the welcoming of not only the long time vendors of the market, but also the locals that dedicated their weekends here. Since my arrival, I’ve made friends of which I could see being part of my life for a very long time. I have met incredibly generous people who helped me in very hard circumstances in such a short period of time of knowing me.

I wake up every day motivated and inspired. I get a natural adrenaline rush when I think about all the new creative ways I can expand my business. I meet tons of amazing, sincere, and inspirational people. They say do what you love and you won’t work a day in your life. I probably work much harder than I ever would if I was working for someone else. But I couldn’t be happier. Even my most demanding days feel like accomplishments rather than punishments.

Travel someplace you want to go and utilize your entrepreneurial talents to allow you to live there. The experience will change your life.

This post was provided to us by Dr. Atul Teckchandani and his former student Annie Nguyen. Previously, Annie authored a post about traveling after college and is well worth a read as well.