You have successfully arrived in your new country. Your home is furnished, the children are happy at their new school, work is going well, and your colleagues are nice. The company has provided you with a relocation agent to support you during the initial period. He organized the move, rented your house for you and arranged the necessary contracts with the city for you. He made sure that the start was a success. Colleagues invited you and your family and showed you the hotspots of the expat community.
It has been a few months now. Everything has settled down and is running smoothly. You have arrived in everyday life. In fact, you and your family should be completely satisfied and happy. However, something is missing. Especially your family notices this. The reason: You are living the life of expats, of the expat community – not your own.
It is not your infrastructure that you have built there. These are not your people that you have chosen. You have taken over an existing structure and are living within it.One, if not the most important guarantee of success in making your expatriation a success story right to the end is: firstly, knowing what infrastructure you and your family need to feel comfortable and secondly, consistently building this infrastructure in your new home from the start.
Yes, it can be stressful, especially in the challenging and sometimes overwhelming early days, but don’t start small. Don’t settle for the expat structure you’ve been introduced. Unless it covers all your and your family’s needs.
If you start small, you stay small.
