Where to live and work in nyc
How You Can Live (& Work) Abroad
[Music]
hi everyone and welcome back so I've
been lucky enough to live and work in a
number of different countries over the
last five years actually five to be
exact and I get a lot of questions
asking me how others can find a job
abroad how others can live abroad and a
lot of things about the whole process
now obviously this is what I tried to
make videos about but I thought that
today I could focus a bit more on my
experience of how I made it possible for
myself to move to these different
countries and find work experience there
as I always say I'm very much about
showing my experience so that hopefully
I can provide resources inspiration show
you how that could be possible for you
too but not only my story but what I've
seen other people doing there too so I'm
gonna start with the UK move on to Paris
France
then pop over Italy moving on to Lisbon
Portugal and ending up in Brussels
Belgium which is where I am today before
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you so the first country as I said is
England in the UK and I can gets
important I tell you a bit about what I
was doing there because that definitely
plays into the context of how I created
these other opportunities now as a young
girl growing up in the UK I do already
have it in my head that this
was the part I wanted to follow and I
had to follow that I wanted to move
abroad and work for myself there were
seeds being planted there but the things
that I was doing along the way one
necessarily as strategic and just what I
wanted to do at the time I mean things
like being born in the UK I couldn't
have planned for I was lucky to have
English as my native town a strong
passport to be part of the European
Union at the time and to be born into a
country that had an education system
that let me do things like study
languages so that's the first thing I
want to mention I studied French and
Italian at university which is obviously
the languages that I then like to come
with in the countries of and another
thing I was doing around my time at
university was doing lots of internships
I was doing a lot of internships around
digital marketing I started my own blog
I was organizing events in my city for
other bloggers and basically developing
skills that not just anyone would have
from the outset and this meant that when
it did come time for my year abroad my
year abroad was something that I had to
do because I was doing a languages
degree I had skills that were appealing
to employers for internships in
different countries so that takes me to
Paris when I was 20 I went and did an
internship in Paris and actually during
my six months in Paris I did two
internships so this is your first
gateway into an experience abroad
studying abroad I had the option to
either study a different university or
to do an internship with a company or
teach English and these are things that
depending on your University and your
home country you might have access to as
well another option to something like
the Erasmus program which is a shorter
stint aboard like I did is actually
doing your whole degree abroad but of
course the other reason that I would
really recommend doing an internship
abroad depending on what your interests
are is that it could potentially lead to
a job offer afterwards now that's in no
way guaranteed but I was lucky enough to
be offered a job after doing an
internship in Paris I decided to turn it
down but that's another story and I know
a couple of other people who also got
offered jobs at the places they interned
- how did I find my internships great
question the first one I found because
it was advertised in my university a lot
of universities actually have public
databases with potential internships
companies that are looking for interns
so it's worth searching for some of
those and the way that I found my second
internship was just searching my job
websites like indeed.com
so my next destination was Italy and to
be honest my six months of Erasmus in
Italy were somewhat similar to my past
experience in the way that I found my
job I actually found it through a friend
this time but I think what's more
interesting to tell you about is when I
moved back to Italy after I finished my
degree so this was my first experience
as being a real-life adult having to
navigate living in a different country
finding a job without the support system
of my University there I'm gonna talk
about three different approaches I guess
three different approaches that I
personally took when I was in Italy now
the first one is being completely
optimistic going to the country and just
working it out when you're there however
I didn't do this completely blind I had
a couple of plans that I knew I was
going to try to follow to make sure that
this living situation was sustainable
and of course I spent months doing
research about if I would need any visas
all of the bureaucracy behind it and
even then there were still some
surprises along the way so you
definitely copy2 prepared even if you're
going in with an optimistic outlook so
as part of my optimistic outlook be some
way to approaches English language
teacher now being a language teacher
depending on your circumstances could be
a good option for you and this is how a
lot of people finance and facilitate
their life abroad particularly English
native speakers if you're lucky enough
to have a native language that is in
demand and other countries to be taught
it could be a good route view I was
lucky because I'm a native English
speaker I've got a very agreeable accent
for teaching I had studied languages and
I even did a TEFL course before I moved
to Italy and that's basically a
certification to say that I was
certified by a recognized board to teach
English as foreign language so that
meant that for my first few months in
Italy I was able to do a couple of
freelance teaching jobs just to
my bank account while I like to help
what I really wanted to do and make that
happen that thing that I really wanted
to do and make happen was freelancing as
a social media manager freelancing and
entrepreneurship has a big role in my
story and they know it's not for
everyone like I said I'm just showing my
experience and I'm gonna throw in other
ideas along the way but as a European
citizen I was able to move to Italy get
my residency there and register myself
as a freelancer but even though I kind
of ticked all the boxes to say that I
qualified for taking this route it was
still a very long process it did cost
some money a long way so it's not a
quick fix by any means but having said
that within a year of moving to Italy I
was full-time freelancing as a social
media manager a lot of that was down to
my kind of drive the way that I sort of
made it happen was I was actually
applying for internships to do social
media because I thought that would be my
way to get the like my leg in the door
and meet contacts and find potential
clients and just get more experience but
lucky for me one of the internships that
I applied for and never heard back from
reached out to me a few months later and
said they were looking for a freelance
social media manager honestly it
couldn't it worked out much better for
me in that sense and from there I had
someone who was who took me on and that
was my first clients but after spending
a couple of years in Italy I decided I
wanted to move on I still wanted to be
doing my entrepreneurship freelancing
things but I wanted to travel more when
I went to Lisbon I was in the process of
kind of reorganize Ingush structure of
my my freelance business so when I was
there I was concentrating on networking
and I met a lot of people who in some
form we're doing digital nomadism
so this takes me onto another option if
you don't know a digital nomad is
somebody who has a location independent
job that could be having their own
business freelancing or even working for
another company when I went to Lisbon I
was in the process of kind of reorganize
in the structure of my my freelance
business so when I was there I was
concentrating on net
and I met a lot of people who in some
form we're doing digital nomadism
slightly dodgy way just about where
you're setting up your business where
are you paying your taxes how long are
you spending in each country what are
the laws and legislations they're about
working even if you do have a remote job
I meant people who would freelance in
their home country get up enough money
to go traveling for a few months and
then go and do that I met people who
were creating startups in Lisbon in
Portugal but then on the other side of
things I met people who were doing
normal desk jobs who had perhaps worked
for a an international corporate company
in their own country
and then had applied to transfer to a
different country and have ended up in
there's been Portugal so all of these
are routes that you could consider
taking as well and I think for those of
you who are looking for a more
traditional routes perhaps looking for
starting to work in an international
corporate in your home country and then
starting to apply for roles with them
that would take you to international
branches could be a great idea
equally I've met people and I have
friends who have just kind of skipped
the getting the job with the company in
the home country and started applying
directly for the jobs in other countries
a lot of people do that for example in
Brussels Belgium where I live now
because there is a really thriving
international community it's the home of
the European Commission and the European
Parliament so in particular a lot of
people from the member states of the
European Union will apply directly for
jobs in associations that are operating
out of Brussels Belgium
so that segues me quite neatly into my
final destination location which is
Brussels Belgium where I live and I am
based now this is probably the most
secure setup that I've had through the
whole time just because I've been doing
this for a few years now and I'm
starting to pick up some tips on how to
do it but it's also probably the most
complicated so essentially I set up my
company in the United Kingdom where I am
from where I'm still a citizen
and I set up my company as what's called
a limited company that means that it's a
legal entity within itself if someone
Sue's me then I can lose my business
money but I couldn't lose my personal
money or assets now another reason for
doing this is because I don't have to
reside in the UK to have the company
that I'm the only person working for the
company but I am based in Brussels
Belgium and I have registered so that I
am legally allowed to operate out of
Brussels it's complicated on animal I'm
not going to go into the details but
essentially I am paying my corporate tax
for my company in the UK whether
company's headquarters and I am paying
my personal taxes in Brussels Belgium
and then I also have to pay something
called the good deeds SEO sosial which
is just if I'm working as an independent
worker in Brussels
that's another feat I have to pay so
it's definitely not a cheap option it
really depends on your perception of
cheap as well but it is a very real
thing that you need to keep in mind is
that if you decide to take the
entrepreneurship route freelancing
routes and you're not planning on
staying in one country is your base for
a really long time
then expenses like this could come up
the reason I'm doing this is because I
don't see myself staying in Belgium for
more than two or three years it's
definitely not somewhere I want to live
in the long term but for now I do want
to stay here and I want to have a base
here and be a residence here which means
I need to be paying my taxes here as I
still with me but I hope that just
illustrates to you how this isn't a
solution that's being advertised that
after doing tons of research considering
what I really wanted to get out of this
setup I found that this was going to be
the best solution for me right now it
costs a lot to set up a company in
Brussels in Belgium and I don't know how
long you're gonna be here for so that's
not an expense that I want to take
equally when brexit happens I'll have to
reassess I'm not looking forward to that
so we'll just see what happens when that
time comes that really brings me to the
end of the video and like I said I
wanted to share my experiences with you
just to show you what is possible I
didn't have this exact route mapped out
from when I was at university and then
calculate it a lot of it was problem
solving and trying to come up with
creative solutions along the way and I
think whether you want to be an
entrepreneur or not when it comes to
living abroad there are so many
bureaucratic obstacles that are going to
come up and frustrations and that's not
me trying to put you off it's just me
preparing you for the fact that you need
to be ready to be independent and be a
creative problem solver and that's why
when I get emails saying help me to find
a job abroad if I reply at all I
honestly just refer people to job
websites and things but these are the
kinds of things that you need to be
ready to go out and find out yourself
because there's gonna be so many times
along the way but you're gonna just have
to get creative ask around and work out
how to do it for yourself because every
situation is unique so I really hope
this gives you a starting point to kind
of assess where you are at what skills
do you have where you from what's
possible with different visa agreements
in different countries and hopefully
come up with a solution that's really
tailored to you you're really happy with
it's definitely not an easy lifestyle to
pick but I think it's worth it I mean
it's not just about living in a
different country I love that but I also
love the freedom that the side of
working for myself gives me i rana
cleese picking freedom where i never
been picking freedom from the way i work
does bring up a lot of obstacles that
make it a lot more difficult but it's
all about balancing what's most
important for you prioritizing and going
from there so having said that let's
still help each other out in the
comments
sharing your experience of how you were
able to move abroad or tell me about how
you're planning on moving abroad I can't
promise that I'll be able to consult
each of you individually but I think as
a community we can really help each
other out and if you are gonna be moving
abroad soon or you're taking a long trip
somewhere soon and of course check out
the send my bag link in the disc
I think it could save you a lot of money
and just be a real help with that thank
you so much for watching and I'll see
you in my next video if it's your first
time here my name is Emily I am an
entrepreneur a traveler a filmmaker and
I share videos all about my experiences
of living and working abroad so if you
enjoyed this video please be sure to
subscribe and I will see you in my next
one
so best of luck and I will see you in my
next video bye
