Portable Careers For Expat Spouses
Accompanying spouses (traditionally women) have historically been expected to support their partners in practical ways - running the household, entertaining and being the corporate wife. Diplomatic spouses even more so, were expected to do their duty. However, these days, increasing numbers of employees are turning down a move because of their partners career aspirations.
Spouses no longer want to give up their career and trail around the world after their spouse. Fortunately, they do not have to anymore. Firstly, turning down an international does not have to mean the end of your progression up the career ladder - some research has shown that it can actually hinder your climb up the ladder if you want to stay with your current employer. Secondly, an accompanying spouse can create a career that travels with them.
Portable careers are the modern accessories for accompanying expatriate spouses - not the frustrated mind and abandoned dreams.
Constant international moves, or the threat of moving unexpectedly at short notice, have been a major barrier to finding a good job. Employers will often not want to take the risk of employing someone who is likely to move soon and spouses do not see the point in looking for a job if they will have to give it up just as they have settled into it and learnt the ropes. There is also the frequent official barrier to expatriate spouses taking up employment. Even when it is possible to find a good job, expats often have the problem of little or no practical support for childcare and at times of childhood illnesses and other family crises - so the job or career has to be put on hold yet again.
Now, though, there is another option. Instead of finding employment, expatriate spouses are creating their own enterprise and work (at a time that is convenient for the expatriate) with clients both locally and around the globe, who do not really care where or who they are.
The old-fashioned term for the enterprises created by expatriate spouses would have been 'cottage industries' - though this does not really do justice to the work done by today's energetic and determined spouses.
It takes hard work, effort, time and the support of the working spouse to make it work (like much of expatriate life), but many expatriate spouses have found it worth the effort - not just for financial reasons, but for their own satisfaction and sense of fulfillment.
There are many possible enterprises for spouses, the options are limited only by your imagination. However, in countries where it is forbidden for spouses to work, the business will have to appear to be outside the country, but the internet makes this easily possible.
The types of client will fall into two categories:
- Local clients who will want your product only when you are local.
- Local and international clients who do not really mind where you are and will continue to buy your product from where you live now and after you move.
Only products that require little or no after sales support, or support that can be supplied remotely (by phone, mail or email) are really suitable for expat spouses. Otherwise it will be difficult to find clients who will see their after sales support person disappear just as they are likely to need it. If the product does not require any after sales support at all it will be much easier to sell.
Marketing your product to local clients can be done with flyers, judicious advertising and word of mouth, but finding international clients requires a different strategy. For specialist products direct advertising to specific clients can be the answer, however, it can be difficult and costly doing so. Unless you learn to use the internet to your advantage. Building a website and using email to market your product is a cost effective and time efficient way to generate work. Geocities and other webhosts have easy to use tools to help you create a professional looking website - unless of course you want to use MS Frontpage Express of one of the many other webpage creation software packages.
One of the main aims of any enterprise will be to earn an income and collecting payment for international sales can be much more difficult than collecting payment from local clients. When you are selling a product, quick delivery is part of the necessary service, and so collecting payment quickly is a necessity too, as you do not want to be sending out products before receiving any money. Website providers such as Yahoo!Geocities offer credit card processing facilities to subscribers.
Portable Career PossibilitiesThe enterprises listed below have been set up and run by expatriate spouses
JD Write (www.jdwrite.com): Julie Duffy, Scot living in the US, offers writing and editing services, as well as expertise on electronic publishing gained at Xlibris.com.
ExpatExpert (www.expatexpert.com): Robin Pascoe, one of the most famous expat spouse set up this expat training service and publishing house to help expats around the world.
Alternative Visions: Anita Cole set the company in Singapore when she was an accompanying spouse, she now sells her handcrafted jewelry worlwide and has a shop in Singapore.
Further Reading- Live and Work Abroad: A Guide for Modern Nomads, Huw Francis & Michelyne Callan:
- A Career In Your Suitcase: Joanna Parfitt (Editor of Woman Abroad magazine).
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