Trailing spouses moving abroad with no career or life plan for themselves.
In the episode 41 with Kirsten de Greling - Visman, expat partner in Zambia and career coach, she confessed that when she moved abroad the first time to join her fiancé, she didn't really give it that much of a thought. Kirsten gave up her dream job and didn't really know what opportunities she was going to have once she moved to Albania. Since then, she has learned a lot from this mistake and managed to build a successful coaching business. She shares with you how in this episode!
Kirsten is Dutch Canadian, lived across the world as a child and as an expat spouse. She shares with you her fascinating experience from Albania to cross Africa and how she built her coaching business, Road map to your dream career.
Kirsten is not the only one sharing this surprising fact on Tandem Nomads, so many of us do leave and wait to see what happens on the other side...
When I quit my job in advertising to join Michael in Iran, I have to say that I did thoroughly prepare for it. I first went on a "recognition" trip to Iran, started networking, getting some market knowledge and prepared the ground for when I would move there few months later. Despite all of that, when I moved in with Michael I still had a month or two were I felt completely vulnerable and lost. Fortunately, it didn't last too long as I managed to launch my consulting business and work on fascinating branding projects.
So I really wonder what has gone into my head before we moved to New York nearly two years ago (OMG, already!). I simply decided to take it easy, not prepare anything and see what I will find once there... I made zero research although I had never even visited New York before!
I might have thought that I was by now a "pro" and that the opportunities were so abundant that I would immediately find my way. It was like thinking that once athletes win a medal, they never need to train to win again! (Tweet this!)
Well, from my experience, I can tell you now, never again! I wasted so much time and energy figuring out where to start getting my clients that I ended up losing so much confidence in me. This is probably one of the many reasons I wanted to reach out to other expat partners, share our journeys together, and specifically share this important message: Do not move abroad without a plan for yourself!
What do YOU think?
I would really love to know about your experience, what are your challenges or learned lessons? Did you have a plan when you first moved abroad? Or are you working on building your own plan? If you are, how are you preparing it and implementing it? Do you need help with it?
I would be very happy to share some tips and inspiration from my own experience and through all the great testimonials that I have gathered in Tandem Nomads.
If you think it would be useful to you, I will then take the time to put all of that together and share it with you.
If you are interested in receiving the tips and inspiration on how to build a plan for your career when moving abroad, just click yes!
Get ready to turn your challenges into great opportunities for you!