Success Tips for Expat & International Careers

Paguro: Are you an Expat who has Recently Found a New "Shell" to call Home?

In Italian, Paguro means hermit crab, an animal that moves out of its shell several times throughout its life and into another one. Naturally this move involves risk and can leave the hermit crab vulnerable during these periods of transition.

It was the challenges expats have to deal with when moving country, or "shell", that led Patrizia Figoli Turchetti to found www.paguro.net. Being an expatriate herself (Patrizia has lived in Nigeria, England, Norway, France, Mexico and the US), she has experienced the difficulties that expats face and hence understands what resources would be most useful to help them during periods of transition.  She has done a fantastic job of developing this informative, accessible, feature-rich and free online resource for expatriates.

According to Patrizia, the two most important benefits of paguro.net are knowledge and community.  In her own words:

"Knowledge: Paguro's knowledge is the collective experience of expatriates the world over organized for easy access. The section Expat Know-How, for instance, contains various documents about the dark-side of expatriation - the ones often ignored but sorely missed by the people in need. The topic "How to Expat" is a mine of useful information about moving and living abroad. The information at city level is the result of work of foreigners sharing their knowledge of living in their particular city. Any expat moving to that city ought to have a look prior to moving. New cities are always in the making and any expatriate equipped with curiosity and a desire to share the knowledge of living abroad can become the author of a new location as Paguro is striving to increase its knowledge base.

Expat Careers & Businesses: A Portable Career gives the Expat Entrepreneur Freedom and Success Abroad

Many expats move alot. It may be because a spouse has a job requiring a move every several years, or they are just wanderers at heart. Some are still trying different countries on for size before deciding which one they will call home for the long term.

Given the challenges of having to repeatedly secure a work visa, language barriers, and your credentials potentially not being accepted locally, starting your own business is a real option for many expats who are on the move regularly. Technology has made it possible for us to live and work from wherever we want to call home.  A phone line, a computer with the right software and an internet connection may be all you need to get started building a portable career or business to support your international lifestyle.

There are a wide array of services you can offer to meet the demand out there in the global marketplace as a consultant or business owner. You could be a teacher, a writer, a translator or interpreter, a graphic/web designer, or a computer programmer or technician.  You could become a personal chef or shopper, a photographer, a coach, a virtual assistant or an event planner. You could start an import/export company or sell products online. Now more and more companies are open to hiring consultants who are not local, so services like accounting and bookkeeping can be provided from anywhere in the world.