The Time Is Now

One year after joining the Tandem Nomads team, Lillian Small tells us about her reinvention journey from chemical engineer to expat partner and now, a digital marketer.

In pure authenticity, she generously shares how she is experiencing this journey while still on it and the obstacles she sometimes faces as she is in the early stages of launching her portable business.

“It’s when time flew by quickly while working at it that I knew this is what I really want to do with my business.”

This is a great conversation where we discuss how to deal with the fear of failure and some advice from my experience as I started my own business and had to deal with similar challenges.

“I felt like an imposter at the beginning until I realized that I was good at it and enjoyed it.”

Lillian was born in Toronto Canada to Portuguese parents. After finishing her studies in Chemical Engineering program, she started working at a refinery near her home while in a long-distance relationship with her future husband, a TCK. After a few years working in Canada, her husband had the opportunity to move to Paris with his company so they sold their house, packed up their cat and started the adventure in 2013. She started a blog called The Smalls Abroad to document their experiences and focused on discovering other passions. While she didn’t try to work fulltime, she learned French, took cooking courses, taught English, coached at a gym, managed an Airbnb apartment and was the social media manager for a design agency. It was this last experience that prompted her to enroll in a Masters of Digital Marketing when she and her husband moved to Aberdeen, Scotland. Today, she’s just graduated and is starting her own freelance business.

Highlights from the episode

What Lillian did to reinvent her career from engineering to digital marketing

How she realized that this is what she wanted to do

Why fear is sometimes holding her back

What helped her test the grounds and start her business

How she learned to gain confidence

What she does to get out of her comfort zone

Lillian’s Resources

Eventbrite for finding networking and business events in your local area

Meetup.com to find other like-minded people in your local area

Local Chamber of Commerce for business resources

Favourite business-related podcasts:  How I Built This, Goal Digger with Jenna Kutcher, The Marie Forleo Podcast

Find Lillian Online

Business website:  www.lilliansmall.com

Personal blog:  The Smalls Abroad

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/lillianvsmall/

If you’re starting out your own freelance journey, listen to episode 61 with Emily McGee on how to start and grow a freelance business. 

If you’re growing a portable business and practicing it around the world, you will no doubt come across intercultural misunderstandings and situations where the local culture has an impact on you and your business.

“Cultural communication is about how to align expectations”

Sundae Schneider-Bean an intercultural specialist and a solution-oriented coach, and host of the podcast show Expat Happy hour.  Sundae is a mother two third-culture kids and has lived overseas since 1998.  She comes from the US and has lived in Switzerland, Burkina Faso and today lives in South Africa.  She has helped individuals from over 60 countries go through transitions and change.  Sundae also works with multinational companies and NGOs to support their employees as well as train multi-cultural and international groups around the world.  Sundae really understands the challenges of achieving your business goals when working across cultures.

“Ask yourself if the context is focused on the task or on building relationships”

Highlights from this episode

The biggest mistakes people make when dealing with different cultures

The definition of culture and how to be culturally aware

The difference between direct and indirect communication

What to do when you can’t read or understand other cultures or communication modes

How to build intercultural competence and measure it

How to deal with conflict

The 12 dimensions of culture

How to use Personal Leadership (PL) to deal with cultural misunderstandings

What kind of emotions to watch when dealing with an intercultural environment or conflict

What to do to get your needs met

 “Don’t underestimate what you can learn when you reflect on the role of culture”

The 12 key dimensions of culture

 

 

Sundae’s Resources

Argonaut Online –  online solutions for the development of intercultural competence

Find Sundae Online

Website: Sundae Bean 

Facebook:  Sundae Schneider Bean LLC  

Expat Happy Hour Podcast

Sundae has been on the podcast before so if you want to hear more from her, check out Episode 68: 3 Steps to Career and Life Reeinventions and episode 28: Dealing with high security risks and uncertainty.

 

 

 

What a special honor it is to be able to celebrate the second anniversary of Tandem Nomads with you!

I am so grateful to all of you who have been here since the start and those who have just joined our community.  In this episode, I share my journey of the past two years in the most transparent and authentic way I can.

It’s also important to me that I also bring you as many insights as possible so that I can help you in growing your own portable business.

Highlights from this episode:

Why and how I started Tandem Nomads

How Tandem Nomads evolved throughout the past two years

The highlights of these two years and what made them happen

The challenges I experienced and what I’ve learned from some of the failures and difficult moments

What the next steps are for Tandem Nomads and how will you benefit from it

Lessons Learned in this episode and how to apply them to your business:

How to define if there is a market for your business and get your first clients

How to build relationships and a community around your business

How to make strategic decisions and make the necessary tradeoffs to take your business to the next level

What techniques you can use to get free exposure and public relations (PR)

How to delegate and work with a virtual team

What to do when you can’t reach your goals

How to deal with time and work/life balance

How to build your support system

For those of you who want to know more about me and Tandem Nomads:

 

Have you ever heard of a virtual PR agency?  With the right tools and technology, you can almost any career with you.  Our guest today explains exactly how she did it.

“Make sure to understand your needs, express them to your partner and find the right compromise”

Melissa Mathews is American and currently lives with her family in Saudi Arabia.  After a career in journalism and working for the NASA as a spokesperson, Melissa became a mom, gave up her career and hopped on her nomadic journey with her husband.  They lived in Guatemala, Washington and twice in Saudi Arabia. While living in Guatemala, Mellissa started freelancing before launching her full-scale portable business.  Melissa is the founder of The Mathews Group, a strategic communications and public relations agency that helps business-minded engineers, technologists and scientists tell their stories to audiences that matter.

Highlights from this episode

What you need to get started

How to find your niche and be the expert in it

How to use your network to grow the business

How to grow a virtual team

How to manage the business and the team virtually on the move

What is the difference between one person business and a company

How to manage business and being a mom

Melissa’s Online Resources

Microsoft office 365

Microsoft Teams

Public Relations Society of America

Where to Find Melissa Online

Website: Mathews Group 

LinkedIn: Melissa Mathews

 

 

 

Part of our Tandem Nomad community includes military spouses who share the same challenges and ambitious as all other expat partners.  Today we hear about one particular military spouse, Erica McMannes, who shares how she started her portable startup and began generating revenue in under a year.

“Give up perfectionism, when you start a business you cannot know everything.”

Erica McMannes started out her career path in 2003 working for the American Army in various director and leadership positions. Erica is also a military spouse and after 10 years, 6 moves within the US and abroad, 2 kids, and limited traditional job opportunities, she had to get creative! She found a way to find fulfillment and income that meshed well with the unpredictable military lifestyle.

Her entrepreneurial spirit started when she joined a veteran-owned start-up as a consultant and managed to find the flexibility she was looking for.  The sparked her interest in entrepreneurism and in 2016, Erica co-founded her own startup, called MadSkills, a company that sources virtual work opportunities for military spouses to clients ready to outsource.

“We discovered that there was a lot of work to do just to bring awareness on the amazing talents of the spouses’ community who help corporations thrive and grow”

Highlights from this episode

Similarities between expat spouses and military spouses dual career challenges

The career challenges and opportunities for military spouses

Erica’s “a-ha” moment, how she had this business idea and launched the startup Mad Skills.

How to build a community around a business (To learn more about community building listen to Episode 78 with Naomi Hattaway)

How to grow a startup platform that depends on the supply and the demand at the same time

How to grow customer loyalty

How to research the market and analyze the potential

How to build customer development

How to define the pain points that you need to address for your customers

How to create a business model and revenue streams

How to find the right business partner

What marketing strategy helped Erica grow her business

What challenges Erica encountered in her business journey and how she dealt with them

 

Erica’s Book Recommendations for portable startups

Quiet by Susan Cain

The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone

The End of Competitive Advantage by Rita Gunther McGrath

The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod

Erica’s Online Resources

Military Spouse Judiciary Network 

Military Spouse Behavioral Health Clinicians (for mental health support)

Find Erica Online

MadSkills Website

MadSkills Facebook Page

Many expats start blogs to share their global experience with friends and family back home.  But our guest today started her blog with the goal of growing an audience and being paid for her writing.  Mariam Navaid Ottimofiore is from Karachi, Pakistan. As an expat child, she grew up in Bahrain, New York City and Pakistan. After her studies in the US and the UK, she launched her career as an economist and spent 8 years in investment banking before joining her husband abroad.  She has been an expat for the past 15 years and has lived in the United States (Massachusetts and Texas), the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, Singapore and is currently living in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates with her husband and two children.

“It was now or never, I just had to get started”

While moving from a country to another, Mariam gave up her corporate career and started writing.  She was the content editor and travel writer for a local lifestyle magazine in Singapore for two years; she then expanded her services to freelance writing and launched her own blog called ‘And Then We Moved To’ in which she explores expat life, raising multicultural and multilingual children, and world travel.  Her writing has been published in several outlets such as the Global Living Magazine, the Huffington and Expat Connect Dubai.  Mariam is also regularly invited to speak to Dubai’s expat population to share her experience about expat life and raising TCK children.  Passionate about cultures and languages, Mariam speaks fluent Urdu, English, German and Hindi, while also learning some Danish, Italian and Arabic.

Highlights from this episode

The thought process of moving from a corporate career to writing

What helped her get started with blogging

The strategy that made her relaunch her writing platform from blog to website

How to grow an audience

How to get paid for writing

The benefits of guest blogging

How to decide paid versus non-paid articles

How to decide if an article should be on your blog versus someone else’s platform

How to choose the right blog title

How to learn about the industries’ norms

How to approach social media for blogging

How to approach competition and be unique

More memorable quotes

As a writer, you need to learn to deal with rejection, it is part of the learning process

Let go of your fears and give yourself a chance

Learn what article will do best on which platform

I could not make another move and not build a portable career for myself

My goal was to be paid for what I write

It pays to invest in yourself to get exposure and opportunities

It takes time to find your voice but don’t shy away from sharing your clear-cut opinion

Mariam’s Reading Recommendations

Advertising Headlines That Make You Rich – David Garfinkle

Mariam’s Online Resources

 Parfitt-Pascoe Writing Residency (PPWR) with Families in Global Transition

Headline Analyzer to help create headlines for your articles

BuzzSumo to research content that performs well on social media

Find Mariam Online

Website: And Then We Moved To

And Then We Moved To Facebook Page

And Then We Moved To Instagram 

Articles on HuffPost

Do you have an idea for a product and service and don’t know what to do next?  Listen to this episode where you’ll hear tips and inspiration on how to build a product, get it to the market and grow your portable business.

Ebere Akadiri comes from Nigeria where she founded two businesses, a retail clothing shop and two restaurants with large catering operations employing over 56 employees.  She holds a Bachelor in food science and technology. When she had to move to the Netherlands with her family, she decided to continue her entrepreneurial journey.

“What helped grow my business was my passion to put West-African food on the map.”

She founded Ataro Global Food Services BV, a food packaging and consulting company where she packages her signature spice blends. Ebere offers cooking workshops and videos to help her customers discover the culinary heritage of the West African region. Passionate about entrepreneurship, she also mentors other entrepreneurs to help them achieve business growth. Ebere is also involved in various charitable causes through the “Beauty in Every Life” initiative.

Highlights from this episode

The first thing to do when starting a business

How to introduce an unknown product to the market

How to find a unique niche and positioning

How to make it easy for customers to use and like the product

How to keep a business going and stay consistent

What is a business model and how to define it

Why it is important to create multiple revenue streams

The marketing strategy used to grow Ataro

How to build strategic partnerships to reach new clients

How to deal with competition

How to turn a local business into a portable business

How to achieve a life balance while managing business and family

More Notable Quotes & Tips

Find out people’s needs

My business grew thanks to word of mouth and repeating the same message all the time

To grow a business, you have to be customer focused and make it easy for them to use your product

I can do everything I set my mind to do

Ebere’s Book Recommendations

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

Ebere’s Online Resources

WordPress.org for building a website

MailChimp to send out newsletters and emails

Aweber for email marketings

Thrive Themes for WordPress Website Templates

Membership Wishlist to create membership capability on your website

Zoom for video conferencing

Find Ebere Online

Ataro Foods website 

EbereAkadiri.com – Personal website 

LinkedIn – Ebere Akadiri

Ebere is just another excellent example of an entrepreneur who is able to grow and succeed in her business while managing her family life.  For more stories and inspirations from other women who balance their careers and motherhood, listen to episode 63 with Maryam Afnan Ahmad and episode 76 with Dana Bassar Grossman.

 

As seen in past episodes with our guests Claudia Landini (#77) and Sonia Balcazar (#79), running a charity or an NGO can be a great way to complement or build a portable career. But not only that, it can be a source of fulfillment and purpose that a lot of expat partners look for.

In this episode, you will find great advice on how to run a non-profit in a professional and sustainable way. Derry Deringer will share with you his tips to get what nonprofits need most, money! Listen in to his advice on how to raise funds and build relationships with your donors.

Derry Deringer is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE). He built most of his career working for NGOs such as the United Nations World Food Program. In 2012, he founded his company, Deringer Consulting, to help small and medium-sized nonprofits improve their fundraising, performance, and leadership.

“I realized starting my own business was the path for me when I could answer three main questions: Is there a need for the service I envision? Do I have knowledge in that area? Are people willing to pay for my services?”

Highlights from this episode

How Derry started his consulting business

The agreement he made with his wife to make sure to commit to the family’s revenue

The type of audiences that usually fund an NGO and the type of funds to raise

How to convince an institution to donate

The donor cycle and how it works:

Identify the donors and research their interests

Cultivate relationship

Make the ask

Stewardship

How to build a relationship with a potential donor

How to run the meeting to ask for the contribution

The difference between an individual donor and a business or institutional donor

How to find a sponsor to fund your events

How to keep donors and make them donate regularly to your nonprofit

The key indicators to measure fundraising performance

How to deal with competing nonprofits looking for funds from the same donors

The best time of year to ask for donations

“You have to enjoy the work you do because your work, your personal life, your spiritual life and who you are as a person are all intertwined.”

More Notable Quotes

My first client was my wife because she needed to be sold on the idea to start my business

I looked at the numbers financially and I had 9 months to make my business sustainable

I knew what my commitments were within the family budget and I made sure nothing in our family finances would change when I started my business

When you start a business, it is important to involve your spouse and your family

In philanthropy, you have the art and you have the science of fundraising. You have to manage both the numbers and the relationships well

Fundraising does not stop when getting the funds

Be donor-centered

Derry’s Book Recommendations

Relationship Fundraising by Ken Burnett

Donor-Centered Fundraising by Penelope Burk

How to Write Fundraising Material by Tom Ahern

How to Write Successful Fundraising Appeals by Mal Warwick 

Derry’s Online Resources

Gail Perry – free fundraising tips

Pamela Grow – fundraising resources and advice for the one-person nonprofit development department

The Agitator – nonprofit fundraising and marketing strategies, trends and tips

Find Derry Deringer Online

Deringer Consulting LLC

 

One of the many ways of creating a business is to start consulting. In this episode, our guest Sonia Balcazar Meza-Cuadra shares her story and advice of starting and growing her portable consulting business.

“If you know you will be back home, build your expertise abroad for it”

Sonia comes from Peru and met her husband when she was studying economy. After they got married, they started traveling for his job. Their first assignment was to Paris, where Sonia got her first Master’s degree in Development at La Sorbonne. Together they lived in France, Guatemala, Peru, the UK, and the US. While moving from a country to another and raising their family of two kids, Sonia accomplished a lot! She volunteered, obtained 3 Master’s degrees and worked as an Economy professor and researcher. During this time, she built an expertise in the mining industry and became a manager for a major multinational mining company.

“To do it all, be organized and also enjoy every moment”

Today Sonia is a Consultant Associate in international development at Synergos Consulting Services. She is a Lecturer at the Executive Training Program at Columbia University, and a Member of the Expert group of the Responsible Mining Foundation in Amsterdam. Sonia is also the chairman of El Conocimiento Se Comparte, an NGO designed to support education and teachers in Peru.

Highlights from this episode

How to define your area of expertise

Ways to leverage your competitive advantage

Tips on building a network

How to find clients

Advice on how to charge the right price

Strategies to stay organized and find time for additional meaningful activities

How to find volunteers for an NGO

More Notable Quotes

I did not want to choose between my lives, I learned how to complement the different parts of my life and career

The place is not important what matters is your attitude

If it is raining, just take an umbrella!

I am happy I could participate to the finances of my family and my kid’s education

Build resilience

Sonia’s Book Recommendation

Who cooked Adam Smith’s dinner? – Katrine Marcal

Find and Connect with Sonia Online

LinkedIn:  Sonia Balcazar

By email: sonia_balcazar [AT] yahoo.com

Website: Synergos Consulting Services 

Facebook Page:El Conocimiento Se Comparte

To hear more from another expat partner leading an NGO, go to Episode 17 to hear from Leen Abdel Jaber. And watch out for our next episode where I interview another guest in the NGO world.

 

 

How can you go from being an ex-government employee and expat partner to become a serial entrepreneur and founding 3 start-ups?

Listen to the inspiring interview with Andrea Martins that we wanted to bring back to you.  This episode was recorded at the very start of Tandem Nomads podcast show but is still so valuable and worth listening to again!

Andrea is a self-professed ‘start-up addict’ and founded and c0-founded 3 startups: ExpatWomen.com, Story Résumés, and now GreenSocks.

Coming from Australia, Andrea gave up her head-office government career to follow her husband abroad.  Over the span of 10 years, she lived in Indonesia, Mexico, and Malaysia. Today she is back to Australia.

Throughout her international relocations, she started a fascinating serial entrepreneurial journey.  Andrea’s first venture,  expatwomen.com serves expat women around the world.  It grew to such incredible success that she sold it in a 6-figure deal with an investor.  After this achievement, it was a surprise that she had issues finding a job once she landed back home.  This situation led her to create Story Résumés, an online service designed to help job seekers get noticed with infographics and illustrated résumés.  Most recently, she co-founded a third company, GreenSocks, which is an Uber-like service for lawn maintenance and gardening.

How she co-founded expatwomen.com and then sold it for 6 figures

Her struggles in finding a job after selling her first company

How she turned her challenged into a creative idea to start a second startup, Story Résumés

The creation of her 3rd startup, GreenSocks

Her key tips to launching a business

Get Pocket

Website to find solutions to build an attractive resume: www.storyresumes.com

Website to find the “Uber” of lawn mowing in Australia: www.greensocks.com.au 

Twitter: Andrea Martins

Linkedin: Andrea Martins