5 Things Rock & Roar Encountered When We Moved Abroad
We relocated to Ecuador in 2017 (pre-pandemic ... as in the world was not ready for completely remote careers ... I certainly wasn't.) Here I'll reflect on 5 things I had to do contend with as an individual and/or to keep my clients happy while setting up shop in a different hemisphere.
Communicate Benefits of Remote Working to Historically In-Person Clients
(again, this was Pre-Pandemic)
I won't lie...I was terrified clients would drop me the second I told them I was leaving the country. Many of them had me come in for on-site discussions about their needs on a regular basis. I even had dedicated office spaces scattered around Philly and the Philly suburbs. Before I took the plunge and told anyone I was moving; I did research on the benefits for my clients of me working remotely - I found 2 main advantages:
1. No commute meant work rain or shine or snow - in some cases this also meant my employer no longer needed to compensate me for using public transportation to get on-site.
2. No commute or small talk in the office also meant I would get at least 25% more work done daily.
Some clients were on board, some weren't, but generally I had enough income still coming in to live comfortably in a new country, who's cost of living in somewhere close to 3 times LESS than it was in Philly.
Got Over My Hatred of Video Calls and Using Social Media for Business Growth
I never wanted to be on a phone or on camera when it came to work related issues. As a designer, THINGS IN WRITING were so absolutely necessary so that I could go back and refer to them whenever I needed. Lord knows no designer wants to do actual designing while on the phone, on a video call or while someone is watching/waiting. I still have a hard boundary of not designing when I am sharing my screen, but my world is so filled with zoom calls now, that I inevitably make adjustments to designs while clients are on the line.
Moving abroad also effected my usual approach to customer acquisition. I could no longer ask a potential client out to coffee. I had to join all the freelancer websites, forums, started following certain hashtags and facebook groups, created business social media channels PLUS had to start sending more money on marketing and web development to start showing up on people's feeds that I had no connection to yet. Ultimately, my client base is mostly made up of the clients that stuck with me after I moved and from all my supporters in NC and Philly - but a handful have some from pure marketing and social media efforts.
The Internet Can Look Incredibly Different Depending On What Country You Are In
Whether it's company or government regulated, there are some websites that I could not get access to because my IP address was not located in the US. I also didn't have access to a phone with a US number so that kept me from being able to do a few aspects of my work, especially when websites needed a US phone to send security codes to verify identities. This had to be worked out on a case per case basis with clients and eventually those tasks that required a lot of security checks were passed on to other people but it was a huge hiccup. Once I discovered what a VPN is and how it can trick websites into thinking your IP address is located in the United States, things improved but phones are still a no-go.
I also realized that internet speed in the States is a joke. My husband, my mother and myself were all working from my parents' house in rural NC at the very beginning of the pandemic - Ecuador had closed it borders so we invaded my parents' world for about 2 months. It only took us a day to figure out all three of us couldn't work on the internet they had. We did so many things to improve it and we did get to a point where we could all work, but we absolutely could not have any streaming services on at the same time. It was stressful to everyone, and I get so personally infuriated that my parents had to pay so much for an internet service that could not handle the basic needs of working from home. The internet we have in Ecuador is 100 times faster and 3 times cheaper.
Ultimately, I learned that US-based websites and internet companies have so much control over what the general worldly population can access, I found it pretty disturbing.
My Idea of Work Ethic / The American Dream Completely Shifted
Seeing first hand how the Ecuadorian government, in comparison to the US's "corporations are people" nonsense, treats workers / families / capitalism / productivity was mind blowing. The US touts itself has being the only place entrepreneurs can succeed but y'all...that's total bullshit.
Growing up I think most of us are taught all non-Americans want to be American and the only place to achieve your dreams is the United States. However, the ingenuity and brilliance that I have seen in Ecuadorian business owners that have ZERO desire be an American was a kind of culture shot I was not prepared for.
In America, you are taught to work 18 hours days, give up time with friends and family to achieve your goals, hold off being a parent because there is no way to have a kid and stay passionate about anything else, multi-task, go go go, but also "when are you going to find someone and settle down?" UGH.
I do see some decent hustling in Ecuador on some occasions but honestly, once 6pm hits, no one answers their phones, no one answers emails. When it's a holiday, all businesses are closed. People are allowed to be left alone! In that vain, laws are even being passed that allow for human beings to stop working and go do what they want! In November 2021, Portugal passed a new labor law which includes a ban on bosses contacting employees outside of working hours. Amen!
This gets me so riled up! Your emergency is NOT MY EMERGENCY, KAREN!
- breathe -
Becoming a mom in 2019 also helped me set really strict boundaries on when I turn off all work devices, so I am definitely taking advantage of the slower pace in Ecuador - I hope my daughter will be thankful for that down the road.
Adjusted the Kind of Services I Offered
No more could I focus on commissioned paintings and drawings...it cost a whopping $80 to ship a piece of paper to the States - today it's closer to $40 because I learned the hack of telling DHL the paintings were gifts instead of art...
Because I rarely wanted to ask people to pay for $40-$80 dollars for shipping, I shifted to creating entirely digitally downloadable assets. If clients wanted things printed, I could do it through a US based company that could send to the client directly instead of printing and shipping myself.
Some things I really enjoyed doing in Philly I had to stop doing completely, like on-site mural painting and theatrical set painting. While there are days I really do miss those projects and how hands on they were, I take solace in the fact that my business survived moving overseas and has grown despite a pregnancy, motherhood, and a global pandemic.