This year us the year of milestones and I wanted to share a few, business and personal as frankly they go hand in hand. Maybe some of this resonates with you?
Wow, I can’t believe I’m 60, I’ve always advocated living for now, planning the future whilst living best life. I’ve always come from an angle of making the most of what you have now whilst striving for a better life. What are my driving forces? My family of course, my friends and knowing that the next adventure is just around the corner, this helps me move forward each day.
I started my life in Hull in Yorkshire on 30th July 1966, for football lovers a key date as England won the world cup and my dad always used to say it was a very special day! Not sure if he was referring to England winning the world cup or my arrival as the second child 😊
I dreamt of living in foreign countries throughout my childhood and was often called ‘scatterbrained’ at school as I used to daydream all the time. Seriously, it was the best compliment they could give me. My daydreaming is what led me to move away and create a life for myself and build my family.
I’ve always celebrated my birthday, well I live in South of France with a July birthday so beach day, beach restaurant and generally a week of celebrations has always been on the cards. I like celebrations of any type and my birthday in July has always been a perfect excuse to enjoy extra special time with my family and friends.
This birthday was different I made it my 60th year celebration, simply because I could not imagine just have 1 or 2 days to celebrate such a key number in my life. So in January, I said each month I would do a little something with someone special. So far I’ve managed Chamonix, UK on a few occasions with my sisters and for business, Bordeaux, Tenerife, Spain, Turin in Italy, Sanary sur Mer, Callanques in the Var and a few more surprises to come. Including a lovely night out with my girlfriends.
I have been kayaking, have done 42 Zip Lines (Tyroliennes) with my son, in October I will be challenging myself with the Spartan race in St Raphael and am working on making burpees my friend !! All in all, not a bad year.
I’m so very very grateful that 35 years I go I made the move to France
I’d always dreamt of fareaway places growing up in yorkshire in the 60s and 70s.
So I travelled to Australia, New Zealand, America and finally came back to Europe to France. I found my go to place along with my partner and my new born daughter.
I didn’t speak French, had very little family here, finding accommodation was complicated, no Internet to speak of and no emailing to contact organisations. Queuing up to speak with people only to be told to come back was a regular occurrence. There was just getting on with it and so I did
It was really hard trying to create a,life and earn a living. I remember working as a Gardner, a cleaner and even receptionist with my very young child in toe. I thank all of those experiences as they gave me the resilience to continue, to strive for more, to improve my language skills and to integrate.
Those huge bumps in the road helped me be the person I am today and allowed me to be able to celebrate my 3rd milestone.
I remember sitting in my living room 15 yes ago with my website and lovely business cards thinking wow now I need clients! I had planned this for 6 months, I’d left my consultancy job on purpose to dedicate my time to this but I underestimated the energy and resilience it would take to get my business off the ground. I’m a fighter, I’m a positive person and when I’m determined nothing holds me back but that does not mean its easy.
Fake it til you make it they say, I did quite abit of that.
My first networking event, I remember hiding in the toilets for 5 minutes to build up the courage to work into a room full of people that I didn’t know. Only a few months later I was on the board of that particular networking group, so stepping out of my comfort zone on every level but what a huge learning experience.
I proved that my idea of helping people with their paperwork was a solid project within about 6 months although it took another 3 years to build a reputation of getting the job done.
In 15 years, I’ve created a business and a team of 4 that I’m so proud of. As a team, we’ve helped hundreds and hundreds of people move, live and create businesses in France. Im so happy. The freedom, the choices and working every day with the most amazing people, well, its worth its weight in gold as my dad would have said.
It’s not been easy, I’ve had déceptions and disappointments and even days when I’ve wondered if I should continue in this line of business. Let’s face it with social media forums and AI, everyone seems to know everything which is difficult for experts like ourselves who strive to do the job properly based on our own experience, research and sheer hard work. Adapting is one of the key elements of a successful business but that doesn’t always make it easy.
The key is movement. Throughout all my milestones, I’ve kept moving. Standing still for a moment yes, reflecting yes but then action. No one ever really knows if it’s the right or wrong way but it’s a way, your way so don’t underestimate your choices, your direction. It brings you to amazing milestones !
I’ve decided that every year is a 60th, 35th and 15th year celebration from now on. Join me in changing the narrative.
And the journey continues…
These milestones are a reminder of how far I’ve come, but also of how much there is still to look forward to. Life, business and living in France have all brought their challenges, surprises and unforgettable moments, and I wouldn’t change the journey.
In the video below, I share a little more about these milestones, what they mean to me, and why I believe it’s so important to keep moving forward, celebrating the wins and creating your own path along the way.
