Tandem Nomads - From Expat Partners To Global Entrepreneurs! Build A Successful Business And Thrive In Your Global Nomadic

Pursuing a career while moving from a country to another is indeed one of the most difficult challenges for expat partners. And it is also one of the main topics of Tandem Nomads, so I have to say that it was very difficult to pick just 4 extracts from all previous episodes that can be valuable to you, because all the guests on Tandem Nomads shared some amazing inspiration regarding this topic, so if you haven’t already, I really hope you will take the chance to listen to the past and future episodes on a regular basis if you are looking for solutions to build your portable career. For this episode, what I tried to do, is to select some of the factual points and advice that I think every expat partner should consider when they feel lost with their career and when they are working on building a portable career. We will start with Marilyn Gardner is a clinical nurse liaison, consultant and author of the blog and the book Comm

While enjoying the amazing experience of living across the globe, a lot of serial expats, and particularly expat spouses, end up after few years completely detached from the safety net that is very difficult to build when not being geographically attached to one place. For example, having a proper retirement, health care and tax plan, building a secure estate or building savings, dealing with children’s education challenges abroad and the costs that go with it, but also fostering the relationship in the tandem and remaining on the same page despite all these transitions. These are all the areas of life that can have some harmful outcomes when living abroad if not planned and thought through ahead of time. This episode is not about painting a disastrous picture of expat life, in the contrary it is about fully enjoying it as long as possible. As the expression says, "better be careful than sorry"!We also have to address the elephant in the room here, trailing spouses are very often in a situation of f

Building a strong identity and self-confidence is probably the central piece of what is often at the origin of expat partners challenges when moving from a country to another. In the episode 51, we talked a lot about the general challenges of defining home and our identity when living on the move and adapting to so many different cultures. In the particular case of expat spouses, identity has a lot to do with finding on top of that the balance between being a parent, and particularly a mom, dedicating time for the family while trying to pursue our own dreams, aspirations, careers and building a strong self-confidence. In this episode, I have chosen some extracts that explain really well where this challenge comes from, but also some great insights and important advice to turn this challenge into great opportunities. We start with Evelyn Simpson, an ex banker, expat partner and co-founder of the coaching company, Thriving Ab

Hello Nomad Nation, I hope that you enjoyed your summer break! As I took the time to rest, enjoy family time but also reflect on my own path as an expat partner and reflect on all previous Tandem Nomads episodes, I realized something very important that I share with you in this episode (press play to know all about it!). In fact, as you know, one of my main focus through Tandem Nomads is to provide all the inspiration and tips for expat partners who feel the need to build their own source of fulfillment and portable career while moving from a country to another. So after reflecting a lot on this topic, I realized something that can seem quite obvious but so crucial for expat partners career abroad, and yet very often this is the exact thing that causes an important loss of confidence and strong identity for a lot of expat partners. In this episode, I share with you what for me is the secret and first step to finding a purpose and building a successful  port

When we go through so many transitions and change, I really think that it is very important to learn how to deal with our emotions and believes to make the best of each experience, even the most challenging ones. I have selected for you some of the best insights that have been shared by previous guests on Tandem Nomads. You will discover how mindfulness can be practiced and be helpful in many different difficult situations. Let’s start with one of the main challenge we discuss in Tandem Nomads, building our source of fulfillment as expat partners through a portable career. In this extract from episode 21, Jodi Harris shares how she practiced mindfulness to handle her identity and career challenges when she moved abroad with her husband. Jodi is the founder of World Tree Coaching, she helps expats find the balance they need to enjoy their life abroad. Jodi shares so many more valuable insights of how she managed to build her

Last week, was Gentlemen’s Week where I interviewed male expat partners. Additionally to sharing their experience adjusting their careers to their spouse’s, many of them also shared some great inspiration on how to be happy in a relationship. This week we continue along this topic with the Nomad Couples Week, we discuss tips and insights on how to keep a healthy relationship while moving from a country to another. This first extract is from the episode 11 with Jodi Ballard. Jody is an expat partner who managed to build an inspiring portable business, as a therapist, author, speaker and founder of the Women Heritage Walk. In the full version of this episode, Jodi tells us more about her career journey while traveling the world, she shares some really inspiring insights and tells us about how she created the Women Heritage Walk, a fascinating annual project where women cross the desert in the United Arab Emirates from Al Ain

It is Gentlemen’s week!! Best of series with short extracts from previous interviews of male “Trailing spouses”, or as I prefer to say male expat partners. They will share with us in just few minutes how they perceive their role as expat partners and how they manage to maintain their careers while following their spouses abroad. We will see that most challenges are definitely very similar to female expat spouses; however, you will notice in these short extracts some differences compared to the ladies I interviewed. We might indeed have few things to learn from our male friends The first extract we are going to hear is from Jeremy Piccoli, episode 42, an international tax expert who works for the global mobility consulting company, AIRINC. He managed to keep his job while joining his spouse for her assignment in Switzerland, he tells us how. Jeremy wrote an interesting blog post about the resistance of certain expat spouses

This week’s best of series is dedicated to parents abroad and TCKs. You will find extracts with great tips about giving birth, raising and educating kids abroad, but also about building an identity and sense of home when being a TCK. Karen Wilmot, interviewed in episode 40, is a midwife that created the fantastic concept of The Virtual Midwife. She brings online support for mothers who live far from their support system. She can additionnally offer VIP packages where she flies in once moms are close to giving birth and support them after birth. She also takes part in the first baby center launched in Oman, nine.om. In this extract, she shares some powerful insights about the challenges and solutions for women who become moms and give birth far from their home, without any immediate available support system. There are also many more insights and some very practical tips about giving birth abroad that Karen shares in the full

In this Best of Series, I will share with you extracts from the first season's episodes. Each series is dedicated to a specific topic. In this series we focus on topics related to being a Global Nomad, like adapting to new cultures, building a sense of home when moving regularly from a country to another or dealing with some of the challenges that go with it. We start with Alison Trainer, a talented Soprano singer and the founder of the private Facebook Group Grumpy Expat. She helps us understand some of the frustrations that expats can experience abroad and how she decided to address this issue. To listen to the full episode where Alison tells us more about her experience and how she created Grumpy Expat go to www.tandemnomads.com/22

I am truly humbled and filled with joy by all the messages I’ve received from listeners and past guests of Tandem Nomads. Thank you for sharing your insights and incredible support! Tandem Nomads wouldn’t exist without you. Also, Tandem Nomads wouldn’t exist without all of you who are downloading on a daily basis Tandem Nomads podcast episodes and listening to these stories and tips from inspiring expat partners around the world. Thank you! The 50th episode marks the end of the 1st season. The 2nd season of Tandem Nomads podcast episodes will start in September. However, you will still be able to listen to short episodes during the summer. Previous episodes will be revisited, with some "best offs", and organized by theme for each week. So stay tuned during the summer to enjoy the little nuggets that you might have missed I can’t wait to continue this journey with you and continue to share ressources and inspiration to help you turn challenges into great opportunities and build you

Our guest today is Bérengère Ferrier, she is an expert in marketing communications and will share with us some great tips on how to establish a business and find your first clients when you just arrive in a new country. For over 6 years, Bérengère worked in the city of Lyon for a leading French advertising agency, Saatchi and Saatchi, and successfully managed advertising campaigns for major global brands. When her boyfriend, who later became her husband, was offered to move to California for a great job opportunity, despite the successful career path Bérengère was having, she didn’t hesitate to quit her job and join her boyfriend in this adventure. When they arrived to LA in 2013, she started doing some freelancing and her pool of clients has rapidly grown. Today, she has her own agency in strategy and marketing advising, her company is called CREAVILIA. In addition to her agency, Bérengère also co-founded the French Cluster; which is a pool of experts that help French entrepreneur

In this second part of my interview with the wonderful Marilyn Gardner, we will focus on her insights and tips that led her to become a successful blogger and writer, in addition to the portable job she created for herself. She will also share the struggles she had with repatriation and how she coped with it. Marilyn Gardner is an American third culture kid who grew up in Pakistan. Currently she lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. As she says, her claim of fame is that she gave birth to 5 kids on 3 continents, and went on to raise them in Pakistan and Egypt before moving to the United States. Marilyn is an author, speaker, trainer and consultant. In fact, along the years she has found a unique way to combine her experience in healthcare as a nurse with her journey navigating across cultures. She for instance began blogging in 2011 following a trip to Pakistan where she worked as a nurse with internally displaced people. The blog turned into a book called Between Worlds: Essays on Cu

Marilyn Gardner is an American third culture kid who grew up in Pakistan. Currently she lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. As she says, her claim of fame is that she gave birth to 5 kids on 3 continents, and went on to raise them in Pakistan and Egypt before moving to the United States. Marilyn is an author, speaker, trainer and consultant. In fact, along the years she has found a unique way to combine her experience in healthcare as a nurse with her journey navigating across cultures. She for instance began blogging in 2011 following a trip to Pakistan where she worked as a nurse with internally displaced people. The blog turned into a book called Between Worlds: Essays on Culture and Belonging This is the first part of my interview with the wonderful Marilyn Gardner she shares with us how she managed to blend her multicultural background and nursing skills to find her zone of genius and build a portable career. Glimpse on Marilyn’s insights in this episode: What she learned abou

Erin Long is an American and a certified speech therapist. She quit her job to join her husband who works for the Foreign services and went to live with her family in both Mexico and Brazil. Today she lives in Serbia. While moving from one country to another she had the brilliant idea to start online speech therapy services, World Wide Speech, to help the English native speaking community around the world; particularly expat children. She created her company Worldwide Speech and became a certified practitioner by the American Telemedicine Association in telepractice. For the last five years, she has become a leader in teletherapy within the speech-pathology community influencing teletherapy policy and training programs. Glimpse on Erin’s insights in this episode: How she went from being a speech therapist to building a real business. The lessons she learned to build the right team and grow her business. The legal aspects she had to take care of to protect herself and her business.

Olga Mecking comes from Poland and she had moved the first time to Canada to join her German boyfriend at the time. They then moved together to Germany. A marriage and three kids later, she now lives with her family in the Netherlands. Olga is a blogger, writer, and translator. She has co-written four books and writes for a variety of publications about life abroad, raising children, and traveling. Olga is a regular contributor to Multicultural Kid Blogs, where she is also a board member. Her writings have been published on Scary Mommy, Mamalode, and The Huffington Post just to name a few. Glimpse on Olga’s insights in this episode: How she deals with the overwhelming quantity and diversity of parenting advice. How she deals with parenting judgments from outsiders and cultural differences. The major event that led her to start writing. Her tips to start a successful blog.  Olga’s books: Dutched Up!: Rocking the Clogs Expat Style Only Trollops Shave Above the Knee: The Crazy, Bri

Kristin Louise Duncombe was born to American diplomats and raised in various countries. Today, she lives in Geneva and is a psychotherapist who specializes in working with international and expatriate families. Kristin is also an author. Her first book was selected as one of the Best Indie Reads of 2013. It is called Trailing: A Memoire, which tells her experience as a “trailing spouse” who followed her Medecins Sans Frontières husband in East Africa to help the populations that were suffering from wars and disease. Kristin also just published a new book called “Five Flights Up: Sex, Love, and Family, from Paris to Lyon”. This time she recounts her story adapting to a new lifestyle in France and reconfiguring everything she thought she knew about her "expat life”. Glimpse on Kristin’s insights in this episode: In the previous episode, Kristin Duncombe shares her story “trailing” with her husband in East Africa and why she insists on using this term “trailing spouse”. She explains i

Kristin Louise Duncombe was born to American diplomats and raised in various countries. Today, she lives in Geneva and is a psychotherapist who specializes in working with international and expatriate families. Kristin is also an author. Her first book was selected as one of the Best Indie Reads of 2013. It is called Trailing: A Memoire, which tells her experience as a “trailing spouse” who followed her Medecins Sans Frontières husband in East Africa to help the populations that were suffering from wars and disease. Kristin also just published a new book called “Five Flights Up: Sex, Love, and Family, from Paris to Lyon”. This time she recounts her story adapting to a new lifestyle in France and reconfiguring everything she thought she knew about her "expat life”. Glimpse on Kristin’s insights in this episode: In this first part of our interview, Kristin Duncombe shares her story “trailing” with her husband in East Africa and why she insists on using this term “trailing spouse”. S

Jeremy Piccoli has some great insights to share with us as a male trailing spouse but also as a professional who helps companies plan expat packages for their employees. Jeremy comes from the US and is now an expat partner living in Basel, Switzerland. He used to work for the International Assignment Services group of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Boston before he joined the company AIRINC as a Tax Manager providing tax data and consulting to multinational companies. When his wife was offered an opportunity to move to Switzerland for a one to 2 years assignment, Jeremy managed to negotiate with his employer to work from Basel, which came with the added benefit of servicing their European client base from the same time zone. The AIRINC Company is specialized in providing Housing, Cost of Living, Hardship, Tax and other global mobility data and advisory services to multinational companies. Glimpse on Jeremy's insights in this episode: What are the important things that companies and emp

Kirsten de Greling-Visman is Dutch Canadian raised as an expat child across the Netherlands, Canada, the Dutch Antilles, the US, France and Spain. Kirsten then settled and built her career in the Netherlands as a program manager and career advisor in Universities. In 2007, although she was offered three major positions by various universities, she took the decision to leave her promising career to join her French-finish fiancé who was sent to Albania for his job. Since then they had 2 boys and have been moving across Africa to Cameroon, Burkina Faso and now they live in Zambia. While moving from a country to another, Kirsten has been able to take few job assignments but also trained to become a certified coach. Today she is a career coach, helping expat partners redefine their identity, rediscover their passion and reconnect to a life and career they love. Glimpse on Kirsten’s insights: What is happening in Zambia, what are the riots about and how she is experiencing it. What she did after going throug

Karen Wilmot was born in South Africa. When she grew up she followed the footsteps of her mom and became a Midwife. Also, her passion for traveling took her around the world. Her career has allowed her to work on a diamond mine in South Africa, in a small village in Mexico, in a military hospital in Saudi Arabia and with the Royal family of Oman. In Oman, she also established between 2009 and 2015 the first private community services supporting expat women during pregnancy and birth. It was seeing how valuable this service was, coupled with her desire to go travelling again that gave her the amazing idea to go virtual. She decided to become a Virtual Midwife and build an interactive online platform providing personalized care, information and support for women who have limited or no access to quality prenatal advice and care. She offers both online support and a VIP fly in/fly out service. Download Karen's Top 10 tips to giving birth abroad!