Entrepreneur Expat

How This Attorney Created a Location Independent Business And Moved to Paris

• Justin Keltner

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How This Attorney Created a Location Independent Business and Moved to PARIS!

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Connect with Wani:

Wani's Website: https://www.wanimanly.com 



V I D E O S    T O    W A T C H    N E X T :


Online Business Tips to Working and Traveling In Mexico: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zGH0voCyOc&list=PLh3xKhkMgH_IA6s3KvB_g9Cc9Ze1eji8j&index=2

Moving to Mexico: 10 Reasons Why We Chose to Live in Guadalajara https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK23vD8_xjc&list=PLh3xKhkMgH_LAY7UV78YMgms-f2e1UcwN&index=23

Tips for Moving Overseas: Top 5 Remote Work Skills That Make Money: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFzjCrlNAL8&list=PLh3xKhkMgH_IA6s3KvB_g9Cc9Ze1eji8j


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Inquiries: community@entrepreneurexpat.com


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Hey everyone. Welcome to another episode of entrepreneur X-bar it's Amanda. I'm really writing solo dolo again today because I'm bringing you another interview with another one of my business, internet friends today I'm interviewing Wani Iris manly Esquire all about her digital nomad adventures. She's lived in multiple different continents. She currently lives in Paris, France. So it's a really cool, interesting episode where we talk about how you need to actually have a real business, because it makes it a lot easier to move. Around how in order to have a real business, for example, she's a lawyer, it's a very traditional, um, type of employment and profession. She talked about how sometimes you need to think a little bit outside of the box in order to make a business and also digital nomadism as a business owner work. Uh, we talk about how she got residency in France and what, how that worked. I talk a little bit about my residency process in Mexico. We compared notes. Uh, on healthcare in France versus Mexico versus the us. Uh, we compared notes on how to rent. Places in other countries, uh, we had some business talk shop there to help you guys really plan and prepare your businesses to be able to move overseas. And we also talked about the things that we noticed, um, as Americans living in other countries. Um, going back to the us for the first time after spending an exp. An extended period of time in other countries. And what that experience is like, and some of the shocking things that you notice when you head back to the states for the first time after being an ex-pat for awhile, it's a really juicy episode. We had so much fun and hopefully you find it really valuable and educational as you decide where you want to go or how you want to set up your business. So without further ado, let's jump right into the episode. It's your girl, Amanda, one half of the Entrepreneur Expat Duo. And I am here with Wani Iris Manley Esquire, who is one of my business friends. We've known each other for a while, and I put out a call on Facebook, and I said, Hey, who are my six and figures? Six and seven figure entrepreneur friends living in other countries. I want to interview you. And here came Wani, um, who's living between two different time zones. So we'll talk about that. And then it turns out we're both from Miami kind of, sorta. And we didn't know that up until now. So welcome to entrepreneur expat. Thank you so much for being here. Um, and sharing your story with, you know, six and seven figure entrepreneurs who want to optimize and make the move overseas. And also aspiring location, independent lifestyle entrepreneurs. Thank you so much for having me. And actually creating a podcast just like this, because I think it is so needed. Oh, it's a hot topic, girl. Hot topic. I mean, Justin's interviewing somebody else right now for the podcast who literally helps Americans. Move their businesses overseas, and he was telling us like, we're busier than ever, like, we have to optimize all the operations just to deal with the influx because everybody's trying to leave. Yeah, I can, I sensed that when I was in the U. S. a couple of months, or weeks ago, actually. Oh, we can talk about that because, um, some, yeah, we can talk about, you know, going back to the U. S. after being out of the U. S. for a while and what that, that experience is like because it's a little shocking, so we'll get there. Okay, so before getting there. Um, who is Wani? What does she do for her business? And how did she end up in France? My goodness. So I am a TEDx and award winning speaker in change and entrepreneurship, and I'm also a business and IP lawyer. I've been a lawyer for 20 years and I've been an entrepreneur for 15 years, and I've actually been a five time expat. I've lived in multiple cities within the U. S. I've lived in Liberia with my family is from, I lived in Spain, Italy, and now I live in France. How I actually ended up moving to France or I didn't have to choose France. France actually chose me. Essentially what happened was that, um, New Year's Eve in 2010, I woke up, I had plans to go to party with my friend's house in Coconut Grove, Miami. And I made this like super abrupt decision to just stay at home and like not party, but to actually look at my life. And I did this like whole day, organic, like just, you know, starting from, okay, what went right? Like meditation, yoga, what went right, then right around those things that actually went wrong. And I had a really horrible year in my business that year, and I just took a hundred percent full responsibility. And I went through each and every single one of my failures and I asked myself, okay, what happened? And the short end of it was like, I was actually a brand new entrepreneur. I knew nothing about actually how to run a business, but actually how to be a lawyer. And I also was in love for the very first time. And really my head was just way up my Ben partner's ass. And so I really wasn't focused on business. And so, which means like, you know, I was just really unstable. And so I just ended up kind of like looking all of that. Then I began looking like, you know, what were my beliefs about myself? And I went to hood like self. Forgiveness practice. Then the rest of the day, I begin to just to visualize, to write down everything I wanted to be, to have, and to experience in the coming year. And then I was doing like visualizations about it, affirmations. When midnight came, I took one sip of glass of my champagne and I passed out because I was just so exhausted because it was at six o'clock that morning. And what ended up happening was like three days later, my entire world in Miami. We can invade all of these signs about Paris, Paris, Paris, France, French this or French that, which was so bizarre because I had zero connection to France. My family were from Liberia. It's not, it's not a Francophone country, you know, it was, it was never colonized by the French. And so it just made no sense like whatsoever. And so like for an entire year, I kept getting all of these signs about Paris, Paris, Paris. So one day in August, My heart just spoke to me and said move. I was working at, at, on Brickle Bay drive, um, in the Morton building at a, at a client's office. I'm aware. And my heart just said move. So Angel, I ended up selling my place. I sold my condo in Miami. I sold my car. I gave up all my things straight from charities. I came to Paris. I didn't know a single person. I didn't know one word of French. I had no plan ABC whatsoever. I just like literally can't. And I came in a winter and that's how I got here. So it was an intuitive thing, right? How you ended up in France. Yeah. Yeah. It was spiritually guided, spiritually, like, it was never, it was, I would say it was never my ego that brought me here because I was never thinking about that. In fact, prior to, I mean, I studied, like did part of my legal studies in Italy. And I almost wanted to go and work in Italy because I'm infatuated with Italian culture, Italian men, Italian everything. And so it was never on my radar, you know, so it just came out of left field. And I just, I just essentially trusted whatever was calling me here. I mean, it was just so strong for a little, for a whole year, every day was like signing after signing, after signing, after signing. I'm like, you know what? I have to go. I had no choice but to come. Did you figure out after landing there why the pull was so strong or did anything kind of stand out to you in terms of like, okay, now I get it. Well, I can tell you, I did. It came to me on a podcast, um, where I was going to interview and it just came to me or dawned upon me that actually, I have actually had. So many prior lives of in France and actually one of the part of stories I didn't really say was that when I, when I was getting the signs in Miami, I actually came to Paris, um, for my birthday because I wanted to, okay, what the signs are all about. I initially came in for four days. I was kind of like, it was like a meditated state, like asking God, okay, what? What's the sign? And I got nothing. I said, it was so freaking cold. And I came, I came dressed like I was in Miami because I, you know, we don't have winters there. Right. And I got super sick with the flu. And then I ended up going to the Riviera for the very first time. And I was visiting some friends of mine, a friend of mine that I met in Miami and his wife, they had a lot, uh, invited me to stay in, in Antibes. And I remember like going through like all the different cities on the Riviera, except central pay. When I was in Monaco, I had this like very strong, um, Uh, inside of like deja vu where everything and everyone looked familiar to me. Like I had lived, I had lived there before, but I'd never been there before. In fact, Monaco felt more, I felt more at home than I ever was like in the United States. And so it wasn't like later on, I made a connection. I was like, Oh my God, that was actually like in my previous life. I used to live in Monaco and I, and I was remembering that. So for me, It was just a very strong past life connection. And I've had many energy healings where in fact, when I first got here, I was always told that, um, for my soul, it's like coming home. It's like, you know, it's just like where I, my soul really feels where it wants to be, where it just connects with, but it's, and for it, it's like, if when I'm here, it's like at a. It's like, for me, it's like Disney world, but it's my body at the time that was just so stated that was just so connected to Miami was like, and that was kind of revolting against me. So yeah, it's, for me, it's definitely like a soul led mission when I actually came here. That's cool. Yeah, no, a lot of the people that we interview myself included, it's just like very practical, right? So for example, Justin, who's the second half, he's like, yeah, I ended up in Latin America cause it was low cost of living. So I would have more cash flow and it was better for my. Taxes and some people just do it that way. He's like, I'll go visit Western Europe. I'll go borrow it. He's from California. So I guess he's just done with taxes. He's from California. So he's like, I am. He's like, Florida, I'm just going to Latin America, like I'm just going to go to like an extra one there. Um, also it's easy to get residency in Latin America based on income versus, um, other parts of the world. So in Latin America, you could very easily get a residency based on your income. Um, but for example, in Asia, it's more based on like your wealth. Although they have different Visas now and Europe, I'm not sure. I mean our landlady actually tried to get citizenship in Spain She's Mexican, but she could have She qualified and it was like a nightmare She was like telling us how complicated it was and and all that kind of stuff. So he's like, yeah, I'll borrow Western Europe With all the extra cashflow that I have from living in Latin America and not having to pay as much in taxes. I get it here. I know in France, it depends on like what country you're coming from and based on what the reputation is. Like for example, in France, for there, we Americans actually have most favored nation, most favored nation status because number one, we come here with so much money and we're putting so much money into their economy. Like we don't come here to take away from it. Whereas everybody else is coming here to actually take, we come here to invest. And so for us, it's like the government wants American people here point blank. So they gave us, so for us, it's very easy to get a visa. I mean, there's like, there's so many different types, but if you say, for example, if you're, I mean, if you're coming from like North Africa, they definitely want, you know, North Africans here, they don't, they don't want British people here because British people come here for their, the healthcare. But for us, it's very easy. Yeah, you know, and it's so interesting how each country what's one of the things I've learned each country has its own nuances when it comes to like immigration and all that kind of stuff. I just got my residency in Mexico. So I was just at the immigration office and seeing like all the different types of visas. So like, for example, we have temporary residency for four years. But it's only because they wouldn't give us the permanent because that's basically for retirees. So then we like renew it in a year and then renew it again after three and then we get permanent but then it might affect the tax situation but at that point we're probably somewhere in another country so depending on what's going on with visas. Um, do you have residency in, in, um, France or, okay, you do. So what was that process like for you? Because that's one of the questions that we get asked the most on this podcast is like, okay, can you have like US citizenship and a residency in another country at the same time? And I'm like, well, yeah, cause I'm a US citizen. I have Mexican residency. Um, you know, so that's one of the number one questions we get asked. And I know every country is different and has its own nuance. So what was that process like for you? Um, for me, so I, yeah, I definitely, I am a French resident. I pay taxes here in France and I also pay taxes in the United States as well too. So initially when I first came, because of the way that I came, why I shared this story is because like I say, it wasn't like a practical move for me. So I wasn't quite sure I was actually supposed to be living here. So what I did was initially I came with nothing because. Americans can come to the Shanghai region for three months with nothing or a tourist visa, right? And so I kept kind of going and then I had to go back because at the time I was doing litigation work, like my practice is mainly IP and business and transactional work, but I did have a bunch of spillovers from like my transaction cases that were kind of leading to litigation. So I had to go back to Miami to kind of finish those out. Initially came, I began to research. I did get France and a lot of European countries have what they call a long stay visa, which they'll allow you to be here for a year, but it doesn't allow you to actually work. You have, you actually have to show proof of income to show you're making a certain amount of money that you actually like are not going to come here and be a burden on the state. And you have your own insurance, things like that in Mexico. Yeah. Yeah. So initially I actually got that. Yeah. So initially I got that because I wasn't quite sure, like, am I supposed to be living here? And then like, I ended up staying and I was like, well, actually I kind of like it here. Okay. If this is a country where that has the most coveted healthcare, like why would I not, you know, why would I not be able to avail myself to all of that? Right. And so what I did was I ended up going, I ended up researching what the visa that I actually should get is called a professional liberal, which meant that I actually had to open up a business here. So then I went back to Miami and I actually got a different visa and then I came back and that's what I have now. So I have the set up a business here in France. I pay taxes. I contribute to their social security system. I can do pretty much everything except vote, which I don't really care about voting for their, you know, their. They're politicians here. Um, and yeah, that's, that's how it's, yeah, that's how it's worked out. Yeah. And I'm, I'm really glad this is coming up. Cause I think a lot of Americans think that they could just go to Western Europe and be like, yeah, I'll just stay for like four or five months in Italy. And it's like, no, that's not how that works. You know, you have got nine, uh, what is it? Um, you got three months and then you better leave and then come back. Uh, somebody we just interviewed on the podcast. She was in that situation. Now she's doing the digital nomad thing until she figures it out. Where her and her family are gonna stay, but they're in Western Europe right now. She goes, oh yeah, we've been hopping around. Because of that 90 day, so, you know, they were like changing every two weeks and then now they're extending, they're going to be in Spain for 90 days and they have to leave the region and come back. Um, so she's like, yeah, well, we're going to have to park it somewhere because you're not, and it's very hard to create from your in that space because it's for entrepreneurs. Right. And I want people to know that. You've got to have like a, a landing, like a place to where you should call to work. Cause I know for me, when I first got here, that wasn't my issue. My issue was actually by actually looking for an apartment because I didn't realize it was so difficult to find an apartment. Like it's easier for us in the United States. And so yeah. Renting in other countries. I don't think people realize how complicated that can get. So like here in Mexico, Well, we can compare notes. That's part of why what this podcast is for. So here in Mexico, um, there, there are loopholes around this. We found them. Um, but in here in Mexico, typically, if you're going to rent, uh, you need to have a cosigner who owns property, who will put up that property as. Collateral. So we had 10 days to find a place to live. I'm like, what do you do? Just like bribe somebody at a restaurant and be like, Hey, do you want to put up your collateral for a foreigner? Like, how does that work? But no, there's legal loopholes. They just have to do at least in Mexico, it's called like an alternative contract. And the landlord just needs to be okay with it and you put more cash up front and, and you're usually okay. But a lot of people don't realize that renting in the U. S. is actually a far easier process than in other countries It's the same thing here in France, but they actually do require like, you know, a guarantor, but I got really lucky. Like I, no one ever asked me before. And I just, I just really honestly credit that to just like God, the universe, like protecting me. Cause I actually, I got on this, I got the call and I just came, you know what I mean? I didn't question. I just actually came. I just felt like, I have, there's so many other people cause I'm in a lot of different expat groups and I hear the horror stories, but it's like getting a freaking MBA, an MBA here where they're requiring like, you know, like a huge dossier, you know, like a huge file. And like for one apartment, it's like about 50, 000 people like waiting to get the same apartment as well too. So it's like, there's such a very high demand and low sales. And so, yeah, it's, it's a Michigan to get an apartment. So, but it's very, very important for people, for your listeners. It's like, you've got to look into that issue because it's like, it's not the same as it is in the U S not at all, not at all, not at all. Um, and I think the reason my name couldn't be on the lease was because I didn't have a Mexican bank account. With which you pay, and I didn't have a bank account because I didn't qualify for one because I wasn't a resident. So, for people interested in Mexico, there was a time that you could get Mexican bank accounts as an American if you are on a tourist visa. But because there are so many Americans overextending their tourist visas in Mexico right now, they're cracking down. And they're making it more difficult. Yeah. And absolutely. And even because the law, a sentence called FAFSA, where like our government, just like this is what Trump, when the Trump administration, what he did, which is requiring foreign banks of, you know, of American expats, if there's more than 10, 000 in a bank account, they actually have to report to the American government or the American government is actually finding these banks. What France decided to do was to stop actually opening bank accounts to American expats. Oh yeah. That's the thing too. Yeah. Yeah. It took me a long time to actually like, you know, to get a bank account. And I actually just kind of gave up. And it just like, I don't know, one day it was like one of the elections. I was like watching the debates and I was like, dear God, like, please. And I just, just tried my luck and I just, one bank gave it to me, but I had to like, basically give up like my whole arm. They were asking for so many, like, Documents and I'm like, I freaking live here. Yes, like here. I mean, but yeah, it's like everything's a mission Yeah, and I finally got and I finally got the bank account. So i'm so grateful I don't know if you've seen this guy called nomad capitalist, but he was on an interview the other day Um, and that's like a whole expat offshoring Libertarian type thing but he said something the other day that was so funny when it came because they literally help people get residencies move to other countries that stuff and he's like You know, everything's easy and nothing's easy. Like that about explains the expat experience. Everything's easy and nothing's easy. Yeah, there's a level of complicated mess that you just, you just aren't really prepared for. Like when you finally commit to actually like being in these cities of actually living there as a resident that people, we just aren't, we aren't prepared for it. Yeah. So I want to hear because you brought this up, um, and I was actually literally just working on a video about this. So I would like to hear your thoughts because you brought it up, uh, one of our clients in our effortless sales engine program, which is where we help our six figure clients basically automate their businesses and run very efficiently. So if you want to go live in another country, it's a whole lot easier to deal with the complication about the time now. Um, but what she was sending us all these articles about that have come out recently about people saying like, you know, digital nomad life doesn't work, or I tried the digital nomad life and I failed, or it's not what people think it is. And I would find that the common denominator was like, none of y'all know how to run a business. Absolutely agree. You know, I, I'm actually doing a periodical right now or a publishing and I was asked this question, like, you know, what do I feel like are my, the three strengths that I have that's actually kept me in business for so long. And I was like, one of the things is like, I'm not afraid to work and I'm not afraid to work hard. And I said, I find what's wrong these days is that because of the internet, because of Instagram, everyone's romanticizing, you know, being an entrepreneur and having an LLC. See, and everyone's like, okay, I'm working from working from anywhere. And I'm like, it's not what people portrayed it at, you know, what it is to actually be. And I was like, that level of work, like, like, even like finding out, like from an energetic standpoint, it's like, I realized like when I was constantly here, always looking for an apartment, I was in survival mode. You know what I'm saying? You know, not from like a money perspective, but just like. From a space perspective and you can't really like create from that space. Right. And so, and I'm going to talk these whole beach pics of like people, it's hard to work. If you have a serious business, you're not working from the beach. Yeah. That's actually, yeah. I mean, we've really, um, we have other videos, episodes coming out on this channel on why we chose Guadalajara. Over, you know, Vallarta or Cancun or Playa del Carmen or Tulum, which is what most Westerners do. And I'm like, cause it's like literally impossible to run a business. Yeah, you need one. And we're entrepreneurs. Yeah. And like the wifi in these places are not very stable, like you actually have in the US. And so when people say like, yeah, it's not working, it's because you're buying into, I go, first of all, running a business is hard. I don't care what anybody else is saying, you know, and I mean, being an entrepreneur is quite difficult. It's all these like different moving parts. Right. And a lot of it too, is like, we're learning as we're growing and as we're scaling into, and it's like, you've got to have these like fundamentals in place, right? Like Great wifi connection and you have these different pieces and like, you know, operations and this is not so yeah, it's not, I think it's from a, from a, you have to take off the, the rose colored social media glasses and really get real love. And this is a corporation that you're running. And if you want it to make it sustainable, you know, and even if, if, unless you're living off of, I don't know, if you've got property in the U S and you're living off of like, I don't know, rental income, but if you're in a state is the state where. What you're doing overseas has to work. You've got to get really practical, like to the brass knuckles of like your space, your operations and like, you know, the know hows and things like that. So yeah. Yeah. You know, we call it the difference between, you know, running an actual business and being the typical broke digital nomad. That people see on social media with the great pictures. I mean that's why for us We just decided to park it in one place for a while speaking of internet. The house is hardwired Just in case and everything's on a battery backup Those things are so important. Yeah Okay So talk to me about, because, um, you, you're an attorney, so you have more of a service based business, for us it's a little bit different, we're, we're, we do a lot more, um, you know, trainings and things like that, unless it's with our seven figure clients, and it's more like on a consulting basis, but we don't trade as much time for money, uh, which is one of the things that we, we're big on. Doesn't mean it can't work as a business, it's just how we don't want to do it. You know, um, so how do you manage to have a, you know, a law firm and you're traveling between two different countries? Um, and you, you, not just traveling between two different countries, living between two different countries, but you travel a lot. So what are some of the tips that you have for people? Because to your point, you know, otherwise you're going to end up like these broke digital nomads crying on Vice. Yeah. You know, first of all, what I've also done is that I have actually taken, like, I am not a, I'm not a traditional lawyer. I never actually have ever been like that, right? And so, first and foremost, when I decided I was gonna be coming here, I had to stop saying no to any litigation period, right? I had to make my business completely transaction, meaning like, it's all by computer, or it's all by the phone or by the internet, right? That was the first. That was the first thing. And then also too, is like, you know, when you're doing, if you're business, like what, how everyone's pretty much operating now, which is like, you know, through internet and zoom and things like that, you can do it from anywhere. And again, as well as realizing, going back to the whole, okay, the, the infrastructure of the actual, you know, where your space is at, right. Then what I also did too, I actually created a digital product business as part of my law firm. So for example, in 2020 during lockdown, which I spent here in France, I saw everything was going digital, right? I'm also a speaker as well too. And rather than actually like putting myself out there, it's like, let me just speak virtually. I said, no, I go, I'm going to see where everything's going for the future. So what I did was I created a legal template business actually serving like the online space and coaching. Right. So I began to really like, then actually utilize like my social media, providing like legal information, began actually Promoting that business, which then brought business to my actual law firm, right? So I created a product based business to go along with my service based business. And I actually just kind of like, I, I operate both of that. And now even with the speaking too, I utilize my social media quite well as well too, with both of that too, but you actually have to find. And for people that are like, for me, in traditional service based business, like, you know, from the regulated professions, it's like, we're gonna have to kind of get out of the old outmoded way of thinking and kind of get with the whole program, which is, you know, which is actually being online, having like, you know, utilizing social media and having some type of course, Something you can actually sell that doesn't leverage, require leverage is what you Yeah. To leverage. Exactly. You can actually scale and have all of that. Yeah, yeah. No, this is so important.'cause we're, our, our favorite word is leverage. That's what we teach all our clients, an effortless sales engine. We're like, how can you do, you know, one action, but it's gonna get like 5,000 output, you know, from an efficient or like, how can you use more technology to do a lot of the heavy lifting? So for example, for us, um, and moving around, forced us to figure this out. You know, we, most of the business is automated on the backend. So basically my job and Justin's job is make sure the machine is working on the backend and mark it like crazy. Yeah. And that makes it a whole lot easier when you are moving around and wanting to explore different places or even just wanting to have a life again. It's all about that leverage, but that leverage requires a different way of thinking than what most people have been taught. Exactly. Exactly. All right, so let's talk about, um, because I always find that a lot of people don't realize, you know, when you've been out of the U. S. for a while and then you go back for the first time, like, how shocking. It absolutely is. So, uh, we just, I just did this. You know, we'd been in Mexico for a while, and then I went back to the U. S. for the first time, because I had to get my residency, so I couldn't be living off a tourist visa on the holidays and work conference and all that stuff. stuff. And, um, it was actually quite shocking in a lot of ways. So what was that experience like for you? Cause I was just interviewing, um, somebody else, six, seven figure business, but she's doing the digital nomad thing in Europe right now. And she hasn't been back to the U S yet for the first time. And I was like, Oh, just you wait. Man, you know, for me, so when I first came to France, I equated to like landing on the moon. And then when I go, when I went back to the U S it was like landing on Mars. Right. Because I find that I become very Europeanized in terms of like, I like my European lifestyle of, you know, walking everywhere. I live in the center of Paris. I love going to my supermarket like every day, you know, and it's like, yeah, we do that too here. Yeah. You know what I mean? And it's just, and I, you know, I'm going to get fresh bread. And so I just really liked that. And going back to where actually driving every day. And I was like, Holy crap. Like how did I ever, and having all that expensive, like the car note and the insurance. And I'm just like, Holy crap. No, so it was very shocking for me. It was also very shocking to be in my old community And just seeing people kind of like not evolving or just kind of like just maintain like the same Life and then and just having to reconnect with that. It was so difficult. I couldn't do it Did you were you shocked by the food? Because that was one of the things that got me where I was like wow the food in the US doesn't taste like real food Yes. It has no flavor. You can taste the chemicals. You can taste the chemicals. Like, especially, I know what you're saying, like the food in Mexico tastes like real food. Real food. Yes. One of my favorite things about Mexico, it was definitely high up on the list. So why we chose it and trust me, I love doing it just for that. I love like the chilaquiles like I eat that like all the time, whenever I'm in Mexico, you wouldn't think that's like breakfast food, like it's kind of odd to an American to be like nachos for breakfast, it's not really nachos, but like just to give a visual to people who may not know what chilaquiles are and you're like, I didn't expect this to be breakfast food, but, uh, this is pretty great. But to your point, I mean, we can get fresh eggs in the corner store. We're in Guadalajara, so there's a lot of agriculture around Guadalajara. It's how the city even came to be, but what's cool about Guadalajara, because you're in Europe, is that Guadalajara, depending on where you are, either has a very European vibe or a very Latin American vibe, and it's got a very cool kind of mix. Going on, um, of the two because apparently Guadalajara is where, you know, most of the Spanish Europeans came when it was founded, um, and there's a lot of old money here from the agriculture, from the agriculture. So it's like easily accessible, I guess is what I'm trying to say. So you could go get fresh eggs in the corn store, fresh bread. There's fruit stands everywhere and, and the food tastes like even a banana. I was like, wow, the banana here tastes so much different. Absolutely. And it was sad too, because I mean, there was one point I just, I remember I was eating and I was like, I could just taste the chemicals because now like my palate at that point had gotten so acclimated to like, you know, eating, you know, eating the food here in agriculture. And I actually learned that. The organic foods in the U. S. was considered organic isn't, isn't even allowed in France. So that should tell you like what the hell like we're being, we're being sold over there. You know, it's like everything's just so toxic. You can just taste the toxicity and everything. So I actually found myself actually not eating as much and actually losing weight now when I go by there. That happened to us too, right? Well, no, over there we gained weight, but we were also on a cruise for work. So like, there's no way you're not gaining weight on a cruise. I mean, it's just not happening. Right, but, um, when we came back, right, it was like, wait a minute, we have to eat less in order to actually feel satisfied. Which was another thing that we noticed, how in the U. S. you had to eat more in order to feel satisfied. You could be eating the same damn thing, and you still feel like you have to eat more in order to feel satisfied. That was one of the things I noticed, and how here we actually eat less, but feel more satisfied. Exactly, totally. Same thing here. Yeah, what's health care like because that's a question that we get a lot as well is like health care in different countries or how does that work, you know, because we're used to a certain system in the United States, um, you know, that is pretty freaking dysfunctional. Um, so health care is obviously a massive concern for, for Americans in particular, maybe Europeans and. Canadians, not as much. Although we do have somebody who follows the podcast who is Canadian. Um, and she said something interesting, which is she said, I've had healthcare in Canada, the US and Mexico. Mexico was number one, hands down. Uh, US was number two. Canada was number three. Just in terms of like efficiency and actually getting stuff done and the cost. You know what? I'm not surprised at what you're saying about Mexico. I'm not, but about Canada being number three. So for me, I actually have not, even though I'm part of the healthcare system here. So the healthcare system is accessible to everybody, right? And for a lot of people, it depends on your income or if you are a student. It's actually for free, right? And so for me, um, like I actually was now actually having to use it because I was having like having to diagnose. Um, stomach pains, like at the end of last year. Right. And when I was coming to realize was that, for example, like I was asking to have like a mammogram and the doctor, in fact, it was Canadian. The gynecologist was refusing to order or give me a prescription because just as when friends, they only give it to you starting when you're 50 years old. And they only give you a woman, a pap smear every three years. And I just looked like she had three hats. And I was like, what do you mean? They only give. They only allow you to have a mammogram on age 50, but then I understood, okay, if this is a whole socialized system where everyone's covered, it would just, it would, you know, it would, the system would collapse if everybody was just getting like, you know, and so that's so, yeah, it's accessible to everybody and it's cheap, but I'm not sure if it's the greatest. I can tell you like a lot of my American Um, Um, expat friends here have all maintained their American health insurance and they find themselves actually having to go to the U. S. to actually, like, to Oh, that's so interesting. It's the exact opposite in Mexico. Really? Yeah, because the cost is so low for Americans and Canadians. Like, medical tourism is actually a major thing in Mexico. So, um, medical, dental, and vision. So, because we can just pay out of pocket and it's no big deal. Um, so it's actually, and the, I mean, they do house calls here. Yeah. They do house calls. We had an eye doctor show up to the house and like, I was like, I didn't even know you could do a fricking eye exam at somebody's house. Um, or like the dentist, for example, I can tell you that, um, I got a cleaning three fillings and I had to completely replace my retainer and here it cost me less than 300 USD. to get all that done. Oh, wow. Yeah. So like dental, like there's a dentist on every corner and they're all driving BMWs because they're all servicing Americans who are coming into Mexico to get the work done. Oh my God. I love it. You know, being from Miami, like half of Miami does that every year. They just go to Latin America to get all their Vision and dental and doctor stuff and definitely a lot of plastic surgery going on in Latin America, too. But that's for Colombia. For Dominican Republic. Um, but yeah, in Mexico, it's actually the opposite. So, you know, as soon as I landed here, Justin had me booked on so many doctor's appointments. Right? Because, um, he's like, get it done. Like, and I was on, again, I was on a tourist visa at the time. So we didn't know, like, how long I was going to be here. Did get the residency figured out. So, um, but at the time, you know, I was on a tourist visa. He literally had me booked with so many appointments. He's like, take advantage because to try and get this level of care at this cost in the U. S. would be impossible. I mean, to go to Mexico now. Yeah. I mean, when people do that, they like make trips to Cancun and they're like, let me stop by the dentist while I'm here. They literally do that. Yeah, let me stop by the eye doctor while I'm here because it's, it's such so much more, um, cost effective or the gynecologist. One thing I found really interesting was that they did, um, a procedure here that's just like standard and literally in 10 seconds, they can tell you whether or not everything is good down there. Really? Yeah, right? And they're like, and I'm like, wait a minute. What is this? And they're like, yeah, we know they don't do this in the US. Um, you know, it's like a spray or something. And then it's, it kind of hurts, but like in 10 seconds, they can tell you like you're nothing's abnormal. You're good. Everything's fine. Um, And I was like, I've never seen this before. And I was freaking out like, right. And they're like, yeah, we know they don't do this in the U. S. Um, normally in the U. S. that's something they would have to order after they see something that might be abnormal. And I'm like, you mean to tell me they could have been doing the spray the whole time and let us know in 10 minutes, like 30 seconds, whether or not everything is fine. And instead they got us waiting a week. Wow. Yeah. And they're like, yeah, you know, so that's another thing is, you know, depending on where you go, they might have certain procedures and things that you may not be able to get in the U S but that's really, I'm not surprised to hear that about France. Cause healthcare is not one of the things that I hear. Like normally when it comes to like cost of healthcare and the quality of it, I hear a lot more Latin America and like Southeast Asia. Yeah, I, I've heard that too. I would always hear like for the cosmetics part though, but, um, yeah, but even here in France, it's still so cheap though. I remember like even when I was waiting to get, it's called a cap vital here, which is like gives you the health coverage. I mean, I remember like last summer, um, or two summers ago I was, I had to go to emergency room. It was like 9 or nine euros. And like what the prescription was 18. I mean, I went to the emergency room at a hospital. Yeah. The doctor I mean, it was nine euros and an 18 with the medication. I was, yeah, that might be a little bit different here, but like, for example, I don't know if they have this in France, but here, like, let's say you've got something common or normal. You literally just go to the pharmacy. There's a doctor at the pharmacy. You pay like three USD. They diagnose you and you get your medication, like right there. Yeah, like three or four USD, you know, so that's like you have an infection or I had food poisoning at one point and it was like, yeah, and it's just resolved. And for four USD problems and then here you get your prescription. That's like common here to have like doctors at the pharmacies with like their offices. Huh? You just you keep selling me on Mexico. Mexico is great, right? We could talk about the tax incentives on the other one. We're done recording here because we're paying way less tax than you are over in France. I'll tell you that much. Sure, yeah. Um, okay. So tell the people where they can find you. And then we're gonna top it off with the number one question where I've never gotten the same answer twice. Okay, you can find me on my website. It's wanimanley. com at W A N I M A N L Y. com. Or I'm on the socials, Facebook and on Instagram and LinkedIn. So with my name, my first and last name. Amazing. Okay. Tell the people, what does being an entrepreneur expat mean to you? Oh my gosh. For me, it means a manifested life for me and me. You know, when I was six years old, I said three things, which were that I will, or two things rather that I wanted to live between the U S in Europe. And then I wanted to have three homes. Right. And so I'm still working on the homeless part, but I've lived, you know, the multiple countries. And so for me, it just means living like that manifestation of my life. And also just like living a life that I really want, you know, which is the life that allows me to travel, that feeds me with inspiration, that allows me to work the clients I actually want to work with when I actually want to work the way that I actually want to do, which is like, you know, you're not going to find that very rare. It's very rare. You'd find them in a corporation working for someone else. So yeah. Very rare. Yeah. And one of the things that comes up a lot with people who want to move overseas, um, a lot, you know, and everybody will say this, they're like, figure out how to make your own money online. It's going to get a, be a lot easier to get a visa that way. Absolutely. And even if you weren't even, even if you weren't actually one, I think everything now, I mean, we're just, we're in such a creator's economy and where every, nobody wants to work for a company anymore. Nobody wants to be told when to go to lunch and when they're going to take the time off. And so everyone has to create something online or some type of product thing they can scale or leverage or, you know, do like a one to many business model. It's a beautiful thing. All right, Wani, thank you so much for being here and sharing your story with us. We can talk about taxes off air, because I don't want to say something erroneous. I'll leave that to the accountants and lawyers. So we're going to be interviewing on the podcast. Thank you for having me. All right, everybody, we will catch you on the next one.