Redesigning Your Life in a New Country | Success Redefined Podcast

Redesigning Your Life in a New Country?  What does success look like when the life you built no longer feels like yours?

In this episode of Success Redefined, Ms Bella St John speaks with Regina Huber about freedom, reinvention, self-leadership, and the courage to make conscious choices that bring joy and meaning back into your life and work.

Regina shares how her journey across countries, languages, careers, and major life pivots shaped the way she now sees success - not as a fixed title, achievement, or outward measure, but as something deeply personal, values-led, and rooted in inner freedom.

We explore what it means to learn from what did not work, release the idea of failure, understand different cultures, lead with discernment, and create a version of success that actually feels aligned with who you are.

This conversation is for anyone questioning what success means now, especially after change, loss, burnout, relocation, career shifts, or the quiet realization that the life they once wanted may no longer fit.

🔗 https://transformyourperformance.com/freakinamazinglife

CHAPTERS:
0:00 Redefining Success with Regina Huber
1:04 Leaving Germany and Following the Pull to Move Abroad
4:10 Learning Spanish in Three Months Without Google Translate
8:12 Language, Culture, and the Freedom to Connect
13:35 Success, Discernment, and the Power of Conscious Choice
17:02 When Success No Longer Feels Good
21:08 Rebuilding After a Business Setback in Brazil
28:14 Bringing Joy, Freedom, and Self-Leadership Back Into Your Life

About Regina Huber
Guiding Trailblazing Leaders to Thrive — Leading with Heart, Freedom & New Paradigms, Aligned with Who They Truly Are

Regina inspires audiences to level up their leadership of self and others — while creating a freakin’ amazing life. She’s a Transformational Leadership & Freedom Coach, Inspirational Speaker, Best-Selling Author, and Host of the RISE TO LEAD Podcast.

Everything Regina does is in the service of freedom.

“You’re one of the most unique people I’ve ever met,” a business friend once said to her.
www.transformyourperformance.com

~ Bella

MS BELLA ST JOHN
Achievement Strategist, Writer, Artist

*     https://BellaStJohnInternational.com
*     https://ArtByBellaStJohn.com
*     https://www.linkedin.com/in/msbellastjohn/

~~~ Success Redefined ~~~
PS:  No animals were harmed in the creation of this video.  Made with recycled data.

In this episode of the ✨ Success Redefined Podcast, we sit down with Regina Huber to discuss how to embrace "self-leadership" and make a "conscious choice" in your life. We explore her journey of leaving a senior role to "design your life" from scratch, focusing on creating a truly "fulfilling career" that resonates with you. This conversation is all about "personal development" and finding what feels meaningful from the inside out.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Imagine leaving a senior leadership role and redesigning your entire life from scratch in a brand new country. In this episode of Success Redefined, we're talking with Regina Huber about freedom and conscious choice, self-leadership, and what it takes to create a life and a business that feels meaningful from the inside out. Regina's information and links, etc., are all in the description. But for now, let's go join the conversation. And so, all right, Regina. For you, when you started your career, where did you start? What were you doing? And what did you think success would look like at the time?

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Yes, it was, of course, a very different time a few decades ago. No internet. You know, I was really looking for a place to work where I could potentially move abroad after some time. And that was my big goal. I started working at the Boston Consulting Group in Munich. And not because I was into consulting or I really knew what they were doing, I actually really had this one vision on my mind that I wanted to move abroad. And I did know that they had quite a few offices around the world, not as many as they have now, but they did have quite a few. That was in Munich. Two years later, there was an opportunity to move to Spain. And I didn't speak Spanish at the time. I was actually more looking toward the US, but that didn't work out so quickly. So yeah, a colleague brought that opportunity to me and I said, Peter, I don't speak Spanish. How do you want me to do that? And of course, the mindset was different at the time, too. I thought, Bella, that you had to learn a language at school or you would not learn it.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Like basically you didn't have Google Translate.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

No.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

No.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

So definitely no Google whatsoever. No Google Translate. So uh yeah, long story short, I had a first interview in English, and then I was told, okay, if you speak Spanish in about three months, you can then move here. And that's what I did. And that's how my moving abroad journey started, because actually, ever since then, I have never stopped moving from you know one country to the other, one continent to the other, and so on.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

So be so and and believe me, anybody who knows about my background knows yeah, from here to where to what? Yeah, it's it's so similar on that. But I'm interested, first of all. So three months to learn Spanish. What were your tips and tricks?

SPEAKER_00 2:52

Well, first of all, the company did pay for Spanish lessons. Uh they were one-on-one lessons, and that's how you learn the fastest, of course. However, the language school was actually on strike when I wanted to start. So I started myself. I got the books and I started uh teaching myself. Of course, once I had those lessons, it went much faster. What I also did though is I picked up Spanish newspapers so I could acquire vocabulary faster and wider vocabulary. And every night I would sit at night and have an alcohol-free beer, and I would study Spanish. And uh this is how I made pretty fast progress. Of course, you know, it wasn't fluent when I got there or when I had my next interview, which was now on the phone, but it was sufficient. And once I got there, I uh had this practice, and the Spaniards they speak very fast. So either you catch up or you never have a conversation.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

And just just while we're while we're on that, because I think this is a fascinating subject for a lot of people who, when they're going through the whole process of redefining what success means to them, a lot of people are considering moving to different countries. I mean, I'm now living in a magnify in magnificent Prague, but I've also lived in a whole bunch of other places. And so coming back to the language thing, one thing that I know that I always have challenges, and a lot of other people in that, like for Italian, for instance, I can pretty much read Italian and but then formulating to get it out and become fluent, how did you get well and forget the fluent, become conversational? How did you get from bridge that gap from being able to read through? Because if you started from German, at least it's a similar basis into Spanish being a romantic language. How did you bridge that gap to get it from here through to come out through here?

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Well, I did speak French at the time, reasonably, because I had studied it at school, and of course, English and Latin. And Latin helped me a lot because that's actually the commonality of those Roman languages. For me, also Italian would be my easiest language of all, actually. It's the easiest to pronounce for me. It's uh, you know, I can easily get into it when I travel to Italy, things come back. I never studied the entire grammar and I don't have all the vocabulary, but understand it really easy, and I can speak it quite easily once I'm in it. However, and and not correctly, maybe, but you know, for for vacation purposes. Now, with uh Spanish, uh, at first, of course, because I know French, you know, sometimes it helps, but it doesn't. You know what I mean? Like sometimes you you you you use words that you think are right from the other language and they are actually not. But um to come back to your to your question, I of course got that practice because I had several different language teachers once those classes really started, and they were had different accents. There was only one person from Spain. I remember remember there was another person from Nicaragua and another lady from Mexico. So I already got used to the different accents, which was very handy because then in the Madrid office, we had those two. There were quite a lot of people coming over from Latin America because they were gonna open an office in um in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil later on as well. Now, anyway, so then then of course, nowadays I would say, okay, watch films. You know, that it's easy now. You can just go on YouTube, you don't have to even pay for it, and just pick a uh a film or a documentary or whatever you like to watch and get that practice, that hearing practice. And then if you can find somebody to practice with so you can actually speak, then it's of course even better. So, yeah, that's how that worked. And later on in Spain, I also had the opportunity to then um learn Portuguese again because we were gonna open an office in Lisbon, we needed that language for work, and uh yeah, and I had a teacher from Portugal, she was very strict, very traditional in that sense, but also very good at the same time. And this is how I was able to speak Portuguese a few years later as well, and later also uh to move to Brazil and help them open an office there first and then have my own business in Brazil. Although I must say, European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese are very different, right? Some of the listeners know that.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Yeah. And so one of your driving uh characteristics in your life is the term freedom. And you you and I also so resonate with regard to that. So let's bridge this with regard to knowing multiple languages, even if a little bit. How does that assist with the whole freedom um perspective?

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Well, first of all, it's easier to connect with people in other places so you can feel more like yourself. You don't have to focus constantly on, oh, I cannot communicate. So that is because actually, you know, we often relate freedom to being able to move around, to travel, to all this, and it's certainly a part of it, but it's also most of all a state of mind. So it gives you some of that inner freedom and the communication freedom, the freedom to learn more about other people's lives, how they think, and the freedom to learn more about humanity, to understand other people better, because you can now communicate with them. Even when I uh went to uh to Turkey or to places like um, for example, uh Tanzania, right? I would always make a little bit of an uh an effort to at least learn a little bit of the local language. Not just to have people see that you're actually interested and to generate this kindness, but also to be able to communicate, because there are places where English is not spoken, or French is not spoken, or Spanish is not spoken, right? And we as Germans, of course, have always had this problem because not so many people speak German. And I think it's it's just, you know, even though I might not remember a lot of Swahili words right now, or a lot of Turkish words right now, it was really useful in the moment. And should I ever go back, it'll come back very quickly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

And for me, that's just simply a mark of respect. If I'm going to somebody's country, somebody's house, you know, to be able to at least speak some basic please and thank you. And you know, just that's just being respectful, that's just being well-mannered. But it's interesting as well when you mentioned the German thing, something that that came up and that still that also comes in with the redefining success and how we look at the world. I had an interesting conversation quite some time ago with somebody about they said, Oh, you know, German people are all very always very abrupt, and I said it's really interesting. For me, that comes down to a language situation, because a lot of times a German person, where in English that that particular thing would be phrased as a question, in German it's a statement because it's just obvious, you know. But can you pass me the salt? It's like, you know, oh no, let me think about it for a moment, yeah. So so I I also think that part of being successful in the world is having an understanding of language and how it affects culture, and but then also looking at the broader perspective of people. Your thoughts?

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Yeah, absolutely. And I also want to come back to language, it's also the sound of the language because some languages just sound a little bit harsher sometimes, and the same is true of different accents and languages. I mean, Spanish, European Spanish sounds harsher than most of the Latin American versions of Spanish, you know, so there's also that, and yes, so uh it's uh there's there's so much that comes into a culture, and one of them is language, right? But then there are all these other aspects that we have, and one thing that I have learned, and I'm sure you have uh probably had a similar experience, Bella. Everywhere I go, any culture I get to experience, there are always things that I consider beneficial and other things that I don't. And then we develop this discernment about okay, and also the freedom, it comes back to freedom of okay, taking on, adopting what we choose to adopt. Everything is a choice, right? And leaving the rest behind. And I think that is something that's very important to remember too. Yes, respect that you mentioned before. So, yes, show that you are interested and and and and uh really um deeply interested. Yes, we I don't go just I I'm not the traveler who goes to an all-in-inclusive place to just hang out at the swimming pool. This is not me. I want to go somewhere because I want to learn, because I want to experience, because I want to connect, and I want to show that to people, but also at the same time, you have the right to say no to things. So it's it's a mix between openness and adapt uh adaptability and discernment and choice.

SPEAKER_01 13:21

Exactly. And it's interesting with the choice. My my philosophy on that is every conscious action or inaction is a choice. Absolutely. And the Eleanor Roosevelt quote uh nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent. I would take that a step further and say, short of somebody physically hitting you on the head, nobody can make you feel anything without your consent. And I think that's also part of considering as people go on their success journey. So let's bridge that to what are you doing now? How are you now living your version of your successful life in the today?

SPEAKER_00 14:02

Yeah, I think you know, we all define success differently. Although we sometimes think we're moment to moment. Right. And for me, it a big piece of it is fulfillment and impact. Also, doing it in my way. That's also why I wrote my book, Living My Freaking Amazing Life, create the life that's perfect for you anywhere in the world, because it's not about, oh, you need to do it in my way, but maybe the book can give you some inspiration about how you would like to do it. And and this is exactly the concept that I have also about success. Really to create, to have, to give yourself permission to create that what I call freaking amazing life for yourself. And never forget yourself in the process, whatever your definition of success is, you know, whether it's maybe sometimes it is more focused on on money, on a title, on on a career path, or on a specific business achievement. But then what's really important is to keep that essence of who you are. Because you mentioned consciousness before, like the conscious choice. And I want to come back to that because that's really, really important. That's the difference between choosing uh subconsciously and choosing consciously. Do you do you include yourself or do you go on an autopilot path where all of a sudden you are caught up in that routine that is called success, but that doesn't really feel good anymore? So I think that's the main thing to me in all of this.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

Yeah, no, I love that. And so how did you bridge what was what was if you like the last the last incarnation you had before you're here? Because you've had some some definite points in your life where you've gone, okay, I'm pivoting to something different. Yeah, talk me through that journey. Because I think it's really relevant for a lot of people, especially, and very much more so since the whole vid co thing we needed to have, apparently, in that it changed people's perspective because they were forced into an into an unnatural situation. And a lot of people were going, okay, so what does success really look like for me? What is really important for me? I had one woman say to me, Oh, I'm just a mother. And and I said, Did you did you not want to be a mother? Oh, it's always what I always wanted to do and to be. It's like, well, don't say I'm just a mother. That's you're living your version of success. So I think it's really important to have examples of people who have pivoted from what they were doing into something that is a lot more mindful and a lot more conscious and a lot more aligned to who they are and where they want to be and how they want to show up in the world. So talk us through that.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Yeah, and and and just a quick combat comment about that, because what could be a bigger job than being a mother?

unknown 17:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 17:15

I'm not one, but I can I I respect it very much. I yeah, so I was uh down in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. This was my second time living in Brazil, and I had it was also the second time that I had built a brick and mortar business after Argentina, Buenos Aires. And this time it didn't work out so well. So I'm not calling it a failure because it gave me a lot of learning. Uh, and and there's always a gift and everything and an opportunity, and it's only a failure if we choose to call it a failure. It comes down to choice again, right, Bella? So, but at the time it didn't feel so great. I have to also say this. I was uh I had built a brick and mortar business in which I had literally poured my entire my entire money into my a lot of my energy, a lot of my time, and my entire soul. And when it was finally ready to uh be inaugurated and we were preparing for the housewarming party, that's when I found out that I had partnered up with a fraudulent business partner for part of the business. So I was the main owner, okay, just to be clear. But there were certain agreements, and the business could only really truly flourish or even survive if we worked with his name. And of course, having found out that he had defrauded me, that pulled out the the rug under me because there was no more foundation or basis even to work together. So I had to do the housewarming party with the dancing and everything, it was all already organized. Under these circumstances, it was not very nice, you know. But I tried my best, I tried to keep the business open, I tried to have it all work. After a few months, I had to admit to myself that this was just not going anywhere and it was more expensive than income. So I had to make a very, very difficult decision to close this business down and to find something new. At first, I did not want to leave because I really loved Rio de Janeiro as a place for me to live. I had thought I might spend the rest of my life there. Although I said that before in a few places, you know. But anyway, here I was. I had an investor's visa, which then I also eventually lost through this process. But I thought, okay, where could I start something new? And I thought, okay, maybe in New York City. I still had my green card. So I went to New York City and I tried it out, so to speak. I was still going back and forth quite a bit. Split energy, you know, not ideal for a new beginning, but I had to clean up the mess and it wasn't easy. At the same time, I was also thinking about okay, how could I put all my very eclectic experience into something meaningful that could benefit other people while also giving me satisfaction and joy? And this is how my current business, Transform Your Performance, was born, not from one day to the next, but gradually.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

Cool. So today, what are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 20:42

Yes, uh, Transform Your Performance is a coaching, speaking, and training business. I focus on freedom first, transformational coaching. That's what I like to call it, because freedom is such a big word for me, a very, very high value in my uh in my life. And it uh of course didn't start exactly that way, right, Bella? So it was it's been a development. I I started working with performing artists, then more with uh entrepreneurial women, then more with employees, both women and men, by the way. And now I still work with uh employees, mostly leaders, but also business owners who want to gain that freedom back that they thought they would have when they started their business.

SPEAKER_01 21:32

Focus always away, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

So we focus a lot on yes, leadership, also team leadership, of course, but uh a lot also on self-leadership because that's really the foundation for any sustainably effective leadership. And also on really on really bringing that essence of us into the business and into the leadership and not forgetting about that.

SPEAKER_01 21:59

Yeah. And I think you touched on something really interesting there. So many of the clients that that you when they're introduced to me, they've just gone through 14 iterations of something making it perfect before they feel as though they can launch it. Whereas you've just said, no, we I launched and then I slightly changed to this and then I slightly until you get that data, you don't have anything, any basis to make a change. So I think that's also something that a lot of people need to consider is is yes, there's one thing about making sure there's no typos in what you're putting out, but put it out there and get some data, get some feedback, and then use that information to to grow and to develop and to to continue to progress. So okay, to to wrap. What is your best tip or collection of phrases or whatever for somebody who's saying, you know, maybe I do need to redefine what I think success is in my world?

SPEAKER_00 23:00

What makes you feel good? Where do you find joy? Is that still in your life? Is it not? So think about that and and really start journaling on it. I know journaling is not the favorite thing for everybody to do, but if you don't like to write it down, although I do think it helps, then at least go through that uh mental process and allow yourself to daydream and to uh in this way gain clarity about what you would like to bring more of into your business, into your work, or uh maybe there's none of it in it right now, and you want to bring that back. And also, one other thing is if you don't do it, nobody will do it for you because we can only empower ourselves. No one can empower you but yourself, and that's also where your power lies in that heart desire because we would not have that if it didn't have a function, so let's remember that.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

I love that. Thank you so much for joining me today. It's been an absolute thrill to talk with you. No, thank you so much for your brilliant questions.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

They they brought something out of me, I guess. And it's always really, really cool to come on to a true conversation.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

And that's for me, I'm all about the I'm all about human-centered. Like even with my my AI work, it's human-centered AI or the training and development, the learning and development. It's human-centered. It's like, how do you apply this? How does the person benefit and grow? And I kind of feel the same way about my podcast conversations. So so thank you, Regina, so much. Take care, Deling. I'll talk soon. Bye. Thank you.