How NOT to Look Homeless

I am homeless, living out of my car, in southern California. But I do not wish to look homeless to the rest of the world, for obvious reasons. Not just because I am a professional starting his own business, striving to attract more clientele on a daily basis, but also to detach the typical judgment of a homeless person. Naturally, when society thinks of a homeless person, it’s common knowledge they picture a toothless smelly and dirty old man/woman who is only homeless because of an addiction of some kind. Listen SOCIETY, first of all, ALL of your opinions are baseless, immature and cruel, especially in the United States. And second, society can kiss my homeless and proud behind .

I encourage everyone who reads this to publish their opinions and ideas related to this post, because I can only comment on my own personal experiences. I’d greatly appreciate, as would others, to know your own ways of living homeless, without presenting yourself as such.

1. Presentation – it’s vital to not appear homeless in any given situation. I personally, do not mind if someone finds out I am living in my car, or if they assume I am, I will most likely admit to it (unless I can possibly turn them into a client, then I live in a townhouse with a couple buddies). Whether you live on the streets, or in your car, or in a shelter, you must present yourself like everyone else. I do this by going to the gym at least 5 days a week. I go there to stay in shape, shower, change my clothes, brush teeth and shave. I have a few different outfits to choose from which I keep organized in my trunk, so not to wear the same shirt or pants/shorts every single day. And I have minimal visible items in my car, that any typical person would have. There’s no clothes, but there is a cooler where I store my food.

2. Hygiene – this is a must. Typically, if you’re homeless, you have limited resources to keep from developing your own unique funk! If you don’t have consistent access to a shower, you can go to random gyms and request a free trial pass which can be anywhere from 3 days to 14 days. When one runs out, go to another. Camp grounds are a good resource, though they tend to be quite far from the city. Beaches almost always have outside showers; don’t get all nakey, but it’s normal to use it wearing just shorts. But I would not suggest lathering up. Just use deodorant of some kind when you’ve finished washing up. Another option would be to simply dive into a lake, river or even the ocean. Again, you don’t have to go nakey, but a good wash with or without soap, is better than no wash at all.

3. Resources – a typical homeless person may not be very resourceful, according to society, but if you have a talent or skill you can share, and even possibly make some money from, you must use it to its full extent! This can be anything, if you’re great with your hands, you can make money doing odd jobs almost anywhere. If you’re great with computers, billions of people would love to have you help them. Computers can be very stressful for a typical user, this would be a great way to make some extra money. Maybe you know of an in-demand product, where you can buy for pennies on the dollar, and sell for 200% commission. For example, you can go to any dollar bill store and purchase something for $0.50, knowing you could turn around and sell it to a niche clientele for 5 times the amount. That is the basis of any business; find a product that is or could be in-demand for pennies on the dollar, and turn around and sell it for a profit. This is very much possible for anyone to do.

4. Respect – have respect not just for others, but especially for yourself. If you don’t have some respect and confidence in yourself, then you cannot move forward. You’d just waste away. Anything is possible, and this does not come from some religious nutcase, it’s just common sense. Here is a great example: Actor Sam Worthington, who played the Lead in the highest grossing film of all time, AVATAR, was homeless when he went in to audition for the role. Read that again, Sam Worthington, went from homeless, to starring in the highest grossing film of all time!

Anything. Is. Possible.