It's been two years since she left the U.S. | American Living Abroad

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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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Disclaimer: The information in this video should not be considered tax, financial, investment, or any kind of professional advice. Only a professional diagnosis of your specific situation can determine which strategies are appropriate for your needs. Entrepreneur Expat can and does not provide advice unless/until engaged by you.

Transcript

0:36

Today is Amanda's two year anniversary since moving to beautiful Mexico. Today we're gonna talk about what inspired her to move down here, uh, to Guadalajara, Mexico, and now the Lake Chip area, uh, what the process was like and what lessons she's learned along the way as well. Welcome to Entrepreneur Expat. I'm Justin, obviously. This is Amanda, and on this channel we talk about everything to do with moving overseas, starting a location, independent business, or growing your business. And setting your life up for success abroad, if that's something you're interested in. And if you wanna move to Mexico as well, make sure you download the Moving to Mexico Guide below this video, or check out the link that we're gonna put on the screen here, uh, to book your consultation with our team. And if you qualify, we can tell you exactly about how we help expats move abroad every single day. Uh, now. If you're not a subscriber already, make sure you hit that subscribe button so you don't miss any amazing content about moving abroad. And let's jump right into it. So Amanda, two years ago you moved to Mexico. I did. Well, two years ago I booked a plane ticket to Mexico not knowing I was going to stay in Mexico. And for context, uh, I booked a plane ticket from the United States. So I left the United States, uh, two years ago, which seems to be a trending topic on the internet. Sure does these days. Um, so I booked a plane ticket, uh, to Mexico. I was staying with you. You and I were, were dating at the time. We were getting pretty serious. You just met my whole family in Miami and you were already living in Mexico and I booked a plane ticket. The plan was, I was just gonna stay six weeks and we started traveling all throughout, you know, and Halco and that whole area. We were more nomadic at first. Uh, and then I just didn't go back. That's what happened. So let's, so let's back up and now we're married. Yeah. So let's back up. Um. What, what were your first thoughts when I said, I mean, we just had started dating, we'd actually met online, you know, through, through work and things that we were doing, uh, in the, in the online coaching space. Way, way back in the day, it feels like forever ago, right? Like time to ago. Yeah. Um, where we were, we were like online marketing and sales coaches and whatnot. Um, so we, we met online and then I, I'd come to Miami actually before then. I said, you know, come down to Mexico. And I was like, no. And she said, no, you have to meet my Cuban parents first, and my entire family, ladies who are dating. Take note. Yeah. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which, which makes sense. I get it. Um, and then I, then I came down there and I'm like, okay, why don't you just, just come move to Mexico? Like, what were your first thoughts? I mean, I'd been to Mexico before. I loved Mexico except, you know, the, the air, the place where I'd been to Mexico before was more like Cancun, which I hated. It was just like a flying through Cancun type of thing. Mm-hmm. Hate that part of Mexico. I don't like the tourist in Mexico. And then I'd been in chia staying with a friend in know Oma called San Cri de Las Cace. Explored a lot of Chiapas, fell in love with Mexico. I think for me, I was just kind of gobsmacked because I had spent many years. Uh, I was like shocked because before you and I had met, I had spent many years. Uh, researching what it would be like to live in other countries. Yeah. I had like tentative trips booked to Metagene and Mexico City, both of which I had to cancel, either due to COVID or a family emergency. Um, so I'd been thinking about living in other countries for a really long time, Mexico was on the list, but it was like Mexico City. I had never remotely considered. Uh, this part of Mexico. So I was like, open to it. I think for me it was just like, for a lot of people, like a lot of emotions started coming up like, oh my God, what about my business, my family, this, that, you know, it's, I think I was more shocked, which ironically you were running a fully online business. I was running a fully online business, ironically. What was that you thought you couldn't do overseas or what were like the. What were like the preoccupations that you had? Honestly, I thought that in order to move overseas, I needed like buku money. I needed like, and have all your debts paid off. I have my debts paid off and have like millions of dollars to take advantage of like tax strategy and all that kind of stuff because again, I'd been researching this for a long time. Uh, and I was an entrepreneur. We're gonna have to do a video on the Entrepreneur's Guide to moving Overseas. That'll be interesting. That's, that's gonna be one of the next subscribe, subscribe video. So make sure you subscribe so that you don't miss that one. Oh, so we're gonna have a guide coming out about it and everything. But yeah, I thought I had to have everything automated. I needed employees basically. I was like overcomplicating in my head. Turns out all those things would've made my life worse moving abroad. And I've since learned, obviously, if you have a business and you're an entrepreneur, like get help, uh, in. Creating this process. But I was in a stage in my business, in my career where like I was pretty much ready to transition out of it anyway, so it was actually easier for me to just shut it down and start over. Um, and that ended up being more advantageous for me than what I, all the crap I'd made up in my head about what I needed to do. Yep. You know, so on the note about like finances and thinking that you need a bunch of buku money, like you said, and, and also let's talk about the finances first and then maybe about the debt situation. What was, what was your expectation about that versus reality on the ground? Uh, I had a lot of business debt from, uh, a business that I had previously. I thought I had to get that all sorted out. But as it relates to Mexico specifically, like. What, what was it that opened up? Because a lot of people, uh, maybe even some of you guys watching now are thinking, you know what, in order to move overseas, like I've gotta have all my credit cards paid off. I've gotta have, oh, no. Have my, my mortgage paid off. I can't have a car loan. Like, it's actually kind of backwards when you think about it, because what I realized was like, yeah, I mean, you could also just like, you could struggle, right? And work your ass off and be in hustle culture, or you could just bite the bullet, spend some money to hire, help move overseas. And then, you know, eventually the, the cost of living is so low in other countries that you could just more easily pay off your debt that way without running yourself into the. Ground. So I, it is actually easier once you like, move abroad to pay off your debt than to think you can't move abroad until you pay off your debt. Yeah. And, and it's so much cheaper here also you wanna talk, talk about that a little bit, like in terms of the cost of living differences, we live really well, obviously. I mean, you were living with your parents when, at least when we met, you'd moved back in to help with my grandmother after COVID to help with your family and all that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um. So you weren't really paying anything in rent, but if you were like,'cause I know you were living on your own, uh, well, with a roommate, I guess in Brickle for a while. Yeah. And even that, I mean, how much were you guys paying in rent utilities? That condo was 3000 a month. In rent? Yeah. In Brickle. Yeah. So for a a two bedroom condo, you're paying three KA month. And how much are we paying now? For a house on a mountain in town with the Lakeview$550 a month. Yeah, so it's one. Yeah. 15%. You're basically saving 85% on just. Rent. Yeah. Right. I mean, as, as a, as a couple, we're saving like 85% on, on rent from Miami. And arguably, I, I would rather live here. We'll put in some pictures of the, of our, of our view in our backyard and everything. But I, I would arguably live much like more preferably here where we have our, our condo then in the middle of a big city like Miami. Yeah. Or even even Guadalajara.'cause we left, we left Guadalajara. It was just like too much. Too much energy. Yeah. We're driving now. We're in the country. We're, we're driving in right now to run a couple errands and then we're running right back to the countryside. Yep. Because we're country people now, at least for a little while until the, we decide where we're going next. But uh, yeah, I think for me that was a big one. I know that's something we hear a lot. People are like, I gotta pay off my debt, I gotta get this sorted out. I gotta get that sorted out. And they don't realize that it's gonna be a lot easier for them to sort stuff out when they're no longer living in the stress of the United States. Yeah, exactly. So I think that's a big mindset shift for a lot of people. And also like for those of you who are concerned about your credit, like your credit means jack shit in other countries. So it means absolutely nothing in other countries. So why even worry about it that much, I guess. Yeah. And, and in terms, can you speak a little bit more to the mindset though too? Like what, what might help people shift their mindset of thinking that, Hey, I've gotta have all this done before, like I've gotta have all my ducks so row. I think it's that notion of being responsible. I think it was David Nagle when we were coaching with David Nagle a while ago, where he's like, Hey, people get stuck because they think that the responsible, because of responsibility or what they think is responsible thing to do, or reasonable mm-hmm. Thing to do. I think that's what it is. They're reasonable. Uh, thing to do, and most people who are reasonable never get what they want in life. So, yeah, I think that's what it is. Like what's, what's reasonable, what's responsible, and then their version of responsible is just what they've been told, what responsible is. But when you take all the programming out of it and you take all the emotion out of it and you just run the numbers, you might realize that the most responsible thing to do would be to just leave and then you can more easily handle your responsibilities. Exactly. Because, because you're no longer as stressed, you're not in hustle culture, your money goes further, so your money goes way further. So you've got more money either to invest or to pay off debts or both. In fact, we're. We're on track now to start doing a lot of both. Yeah. We just finished our allocation plan for money. Uh, just yesterday. We, we took all day and we started looking at different investment opportunities, uh, in Mexico and where we can be putting our money, whether it's, uh, whether it's like CDs here that pay a lot more than in the us Uh, there's a lot of like different investment accounts and. And things like that. The banks here on average, depending on the, the bank or FinTech that you best with. Yeah. That was shocking to me. Yeah, they pay out a lot in terms of interest. Yeah, that was really shocking to me in a lot of ways. Um, I think that's one of the things that's shifted and changed.'cause the first time you asked me this about a year ago, I think I was still in the woo of it all and we'd been traveling so much and I was dealing with my immigration. Yep. So the second year. I was able to like, make friends, build a community, learn more about the systems here, uh, and how they work. And that was one of the ones that was utterly shocking to me was how much higher interest rates they pay out here, uh, on savings accounts and CDs, uh, and things like that. And Mexico's not the only place where you can get much higher places. There's other countries, uh, in the world, but that's definitely been something that's really interesting is learning about banking systems in different countries. But I digress. That's a conversation for another time. Yep. So what was it that you fell in love with? Because we, we did actually explore, I mean, you wanna talk a little bit about how we went to different towns also on the Pacific coast, because you thought, you know what, I'm from Miami. I don't, I don't wanna live anywhere, but not by the ocean. Yeah. Um, so what was it like checking out some of the maybe more touristy places like Vallarta and Ulta and other areas on the, on the coast? Not for me. Yeah. Just not for me. Um, I, and why'd you decide on Guadalajara? Like what, what was the beach town scene like here, and why'd you decide on. On moving to Guadalajara out of all places, the beach scene in Mexico is kind of frenetic, is the best way that I can explain it in terms of energy. It's also completely full of like gringos and foreigners. Mm-hmm. And you know, I have the fortune that. My family's Cuban, so I've been speaking Spanish my entire life. So I basically went to you and I was like, if I'm gonna be in Mexico, I'm gonna be in Mexico. Yep. You know, even now when we moved out by the lake, we're like by a side of the lake where there's way less foreigners, you know, um, more like VAEs and, and stuff like that. So yeah, our neighbors are cows, our neighbors are horses and cows and cowboys and it's great. And, um, and a lot of people who work in agriculture and it's awesome. Because we get fresh food from the farms all the time. Um, so I think for me, like I had the, I guess luxury is what, I don't know if it's a luxury, but like I spoke Spanish already, so I was like, we could literally go wherever in Mexico and it's, I'm gonna be fine. Yep. Kind of a thing. So, but I've been speaking Spanish or anywhere in Latin America or anywhere in Latin America. I'm gonna be fine. But again, I've been speaking Spanish my entire life. So that's, and I, I learned in Columbia because it was really hard to pick up the columbiana's. Without a good knowledge of Spanish, it was kind of awkward with Google Translate, you're having an issue with the psa. I was, I was having an issue with the pisa. They didn't speak any English, not the ones I wanted anyway, so, uh, I had to, I had to learn my Espanol. So I, I learned in about a year in Columbia managing. Um, but yeah, we speak Spanish, so like a city that is more, more of a local vibe just made a lot more sense. And then we got, you know, we kind of got tired of the city, um, and moved on and now we're like, what other country are we gonna spend six months in? Exactly. So. So obviously, okay, you're like, I wanna live in a more Mexican sort of city or neighborhood or whatever. Um, why Guadalajara specifically? Like what were some of the things you really like about Guadalajara, um, that kind of influenced your decision to, to stay there out of all the more local places like Mexico City that you maybe could have been in, or I could find anything I need in Guadalajara without the utter chaos of Mexico City. Just flying through Mexico City is complete utter chaos. Um, and also like the areas, I mean, granted we speak Spanish, we probably wouldn't have been in these areas'cause we could find less expensive places that aren't gringo price. Like you have the issues going on in like Polanco and all those places. Uh, what is it? Polanco and Polanco esa. All the issues. It's a lot of the riots were too anti, anti-American rights. Granted, because we speak Spanish and we're smart with money, we probably wouldn't have been living in those places anyway. Right, right. Um, we would've found better deals elsewhere and gotten more bank for our buck. But the, yeah, it was, Mexico City is just very chaotic. Even just flying through Mexico City is chaos. So I was like, yeah. And I think I was at a stage where like I was ready for my nervous system to start settling down a little bit more. And Mexico City just wasn't gonna cut it. For that, if I'm being honest. Um, now Guadalajara is not as crazy as Mexico City, but it was still a big city. I could get anything I needed. I mean, we're driving through it right now to run some errands. I'm like, yep, you could literally find anything you need. It's a giant metropolitan international city. Yep. You know, so for a while, I, I, I liked the vibe for a while. You know, I wanted to try it and I wasn't ready for the country yet. I didn't like the beach towns and I was not ready for the Pueblos yet. That's basically what it was. And I hadn't traveled. Uh, so obviously since settling more in Guadalajara, we've traveled to a lot of places, uh, in Mexico and also the Caribbean. And now we'll start expanding outside of that. So now I have more, um, data mm-hmm. To work with. In terms of, you know, where are we going next and where we are now and all that. But Guadalajara was a good transition city for me. Cool. And so, uh, what, what else do you wanna say about just kind of your adventure and, and how, how you actually decided to stick around in Mexico? Like what was it about, uh. Living here. Let's say those, those first few months where you're like, okay, you know what? I think I might really wanna make this my home for a little while as it compares to, let's say, Miami. Where you from? Yeah. Well, it's like I said, I always wanted to live in other countries. Mexico's an easy place to start. I already spoke Spanish. I'd been here. I un I am Latina, so I understand Latin culture. Um, Mexico's pretty stable in terms of Latin American country, so I was like, okay, I can do that. Uh, doesn't seem like a huge issue. Um, so it's a good starting place and there's so much to see and discover in Mexico. I mean, it's crazy. You'd have to be here years to see everything there used to see in Mexico. Um, and, you know, Mexico's a pretty magical country, so I was like, good place to start. Um, I guess what decided in terms of staying those first six weeks? I mean, I think it's what most people say. I was like, wait a minute, I could get better quality healthcare here at a fraction of the price. Uh, the food quality is so much better. Uh, hustle culture is not really a thing in Mexico. Granted, you have like the Mexican version of hustle culture in the cities, like in Guadalajara. I'm seeing it like as we're driving, but it's not like the US version of, of hustle culture at all. It's just different. Um. I mean, it just kind of seemed like a no brainer if I'm being honest. And then, you know, because I'd been already, because I was interested in this sort of lifestyle already, the international lifestyle, I'd already been paying attention to, like how the world was changing. Mexico was emerging, it was moving in the right direction, uh, as well as some other countries that were interested in. Hopefully it stays that way, knock on wood. Um, for, I would hope so for Mexico, that it stays that way. That would be awesome. For Mexico and the Mexican people. Um, so I'd already been seeing like quality of life and things just continuing to decline in places like the United States and Canada and then starting to improve in things like Mexico. I was already aware of that because I'd been researching this stuff for a while, um, before I even met you. Like, I think I started researching this stuff in 2019. Mm-hmm. Was when I started getting into it, and then we didn't meet until 2022. Yep. You know, so I think that, so it was already kind of a long time, long time dream of yours anyway. Yeah, totally. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, Guadalajara, like I said, not remotely on my radar though. That was a surprise. Tola, I just happened to be here already and you're like, all right. Yeah. To not remotely on my radar. Didn't even know it existed until I got here. So that was the surprise. Yep. And now, so now we decided to, to go and live in a small town, um, you know, relatively small, like near the lake chip area. What was that transition for you?'cause I know that we were both kind of getting sick of the, of the city. Mm-hmm. So what was it for you where you were like, oh, you know what, maybe no more city for a while. Like I wanna be out in nature. You know what I think it might be, I was thinking about this the other day. I think once you start getting into the international lifestyle,'cause I was thinking about this. I'm like, wow, two years in Mexico. But it feels like lifetime. And the reason it feels like lifetimes is because we've had so many different experiences just in the last two years, not just in Mexico, but traveling through the Caribbean, traveling in the US when I was back and forth, uh, in the beginning, handling like immigration and all that stuff. Um, we've had so many different experiences. Uh, because when you start partaking in that international lifestyle, you are constantly being pushed outta your comfort zone and you're constantly exploring something new. Mm-hmm. Um, so that, I don't know, I don't know if you're getting dopamine hits or, I don't know what it is, but that's why it feels like, even though it's been a short two years, it feels like lifetimes. Yeah. Because we've had so many experiences, a lot of stimulation, a lot things happening, a lot stimulation, a lot of things happening. That's, it's a lot of pickles and predicaments around us for sure. Pickles and predicaments. Um. So I was thinking about this, where it was kind of like when you start embarking on the international lifestyle, I think what's happened to me is I've gotten more comfortable with adventure and I've gotten more comfortable with, okay, let's go try something new. Yeah. So I think that's what it is. And also I, I think we, we realized, you know, I mean that the city was sort of a, a nice little, uh, transition transition. But then we sort of realized, hey, we knew it wasn't a forever thing. Yeah.'cause the city was a, a softer landing for you. And we know chappal is not a forever thing and we're starting to realize that maybe we're not like a forever stay in one place kind of people. Yeah. I wanna talk a little bit about, um, yeah. Just the transition.'cause one of the things you said was that Guadalajara was kind of easier for you to transition to from Miami. Like if you would've, let's say, gone straight to a rural chapala, I would've lost behind. Uh, it would've been just like too much. Yeah. Um, yeah. How, how was that for you and do you think that for most people as well, they would be better off most likely if they're gonna move to another country to, to just go to a, a city like Guadalajara? Uh, where there are a lot of expats? I think it depends. I think there's plenty of people who live in cities in the US now who are dying to get into the country. I think it just depends on the person and where they're at, and we can help you figure that out. So, entrepreneur expat.com/consult/consult? Yeah. I think it depends on the person. There is no one size fits all formula for any of this. So what's next? It's basically your year anniversary, your anniversary of moving, uh, moving here to Mexico. What, what do you feel is like the, the two to five year plan? I. Like where, where do you see yourself in terms of entrepreneur, expat in the next few years? Entrepreneur, expat life. Yeah. Um, well obviously we started a new business, uh, in the last year, so that was more of like a second year thing, not a first year thing. Um, and now we're getting into real estate, helping people relocate, global diversification. And not just in Mexico, but we built partners in Costa Rica, Panama. I think when we started entrepreneur, expat. One of my dreams was just like, I wanna have friends all over the world. Yeah. So I could go travel the world. And now we do. And now we do. We have friends in Thailand and, uh, Vietnam. And I was helping, I was helping our neighbor Columbia with a, a visa situation in France the other day with friend, a friend that I have in France because of this work that we're doing. Um, so I, I foresee a lot more traveling. You and I were just talking about, all right, maybe we're looking at now, you know, six months in Mexico and six months in another country. Are we looking at Buenos Aires? Are we looking at. Uh, Metagene. Are we looking at somewhere in Europe? Like, what are we, you know? So now we're starting to, um, it's funny, I thought that like the pace was gonna slow down and it's actually kind of picking up in a way, but it doesn't feel like it's picking up because now I'm used to it because again, I'm used to that adventure. Yeah. Yeah. So that's what I foresee. How about you? What do you foresee? Uh, yeah, I, I think, I think same sort of thing, not staying in one place for too long. Obviously this time we're more, more of, uh, you know, just expats not quite as much nomads. Um, because we were building a new business. We were kind of settling down, figuring out what, what it, what it was like in Mexico, building our network here, getting married. Yeah. Um, ideally though, I mean obviously there's tax benefits of this too, but just, just in terms of lifestyle, maybe being in one country for four or five months. Uh, and then going to another country and kind of hopping back and forth between maybe two or three main places, and then spending the rest of the time traveling around and exploring, because I love to explore. I don't really see myself, at least not for the next 20 years. At least, um, just staying in one place completely still. And plus it helps us, you know, we're gonna get great content for the people, explore countries, uh, the channel. We grow as people. We, we obviously grow. We'cause that, that's one of the reasons that I like to do this as well is, is to be able to really understand people all around the world. Yes. Because understanding different cultures, different languages, um, different cuisines, countries, what's going on in a, in a given place, idiosyncrasies. Exactly. Yeah. Like, it helps me understand. Uh, really understand the world. You points, perspectives. Yeah. When, when I understand people, I understand more of the world and I understand more of the human condition. Gu Ajara is a beautiful city. It really is. Yeah. Oh my God. All the trees, it's turning green. Mm-hmm. Because of the rainy season. Um, yeah. And then the other thing I was thinking about is more global diversification. So this is what you and I were talking about over the weekend. It's like, okay, well now we've got, you know, bank accounts in Mexico. Like what's the next country? What investments are we looking at? What countries are good for what investment? Uh, because we don't. That, that, again, this is probably a whole other video. Maybe we'll record that on the way back from Gu Laja today, which is, you know, the importance of global diversification, you know, with investments, with bank accounts, uh, with residencies, citizenships, things like that. I think I posted on Facebook the other day. I don't want, just want a financial portfolio, I want a passport portfolio, because that's what freedom, that's what financial safety and freedom is. And as the world gets more chaotic is being able to have mobility and sovereignty and access to your money. And you have to diversify, but, you know, conversation for another time, uh, on this channel. But I think that's so something that I'm starting to foresee happen, you know, as well. And we're already starting that process, you know, here in Mexico. Yeah. Amazing. Well, if you wanna learn more about how you can do the same and move to Mexico. Check out our Moving to Mexico guide below this video, and if you're at that point in your journey where maybe you, you've been watching us for a few months, or even since the beginning for over a year, and you're like, Hey, I want to work with these guys. I want to get absolutely top tier support moving to Mexico or another country in Latin America, and we're expanding to more and more regions in countries every single day with our partners. Uh, go to entrepreneur expat.com/consult and we'll pop that link in the description as well. We can help you out. If you're not subscribed, what are you waiting for? Subscribe. Uh, we appreciate you and thanks for being an amazing, uh, part of this community. Bye. We'll see you on the next one.