2 Awesome New Books for Expat Women Interested in a Career and/or Business Abroad

Hi Everyone, I'm so excited to share two newly-released books from my good friends Jo and Melody, that are must-have books for any expat woman interested in a portable career/business abroad and/or just being inspired by women who have set up their own business, almost failed, then successfully turned their business around.

The first book, A Career in Your Suitcase by Jo Parfitt and Colleen Reichrath-Smith, is in its fourth edition and is literally THE handbook for any expatriate woman wanting a portable career that she can take with her from country to country. It's the kind of book that you can read before you venture abroad, and every year thereafter on your expat journey - to help you continually clarify what it is that you want abroad, and then turn those ideas into actionable steps.

Bonus - If you're super quick (you only have about 24 hours), you can score a free Kindle copy of A Career in Your Suitcase before the price changes. (If you do grab one, and you like the book, please kindly leave a review on Amazon or GoodReads, to reciprocate Jo and Colleen's nice gesture. Thanks!)

The second book, Flipped It! by Melody Biringer, is a gorgeous colour e-book that profiles 40 women entrepreneurs who decided to flip their business models/concepts when times got tough, instead of ditching them. (Jo Parfitt is featured. As is another inspiring expat friend of ours, Natalie Sisson, aka The Suitcase Entrepreneur - who also has some great e-books available on her site - eg. BYOB Build Your Online Business Guide and The Ultimate Toolkit for Entrepreneurs.) What an inspiration these women are - and a reminder to us to never, never, never give up on our ideas/dreams!

By the way, if you missed Melody's first book, Craving Success, I also highly recommend that one (it's a very quick, easy and enjoyable read). Craving Success goes through the 20 businesses that Melody has had on her entrepreneurial journey, en route to her current passion, Crave. As even Melody says, most of her businesses were full of mistakes and failure - but she learnt something from every one of them. Sometimes I think we learn more from other people's mistakes, than from all the success stories out there that make it look like the journey was easy. What do you think?

Thanks for your potential support to these wonderful authors and I wish you a wonderful day/evening!

Andrea Martins x

ps. I am not currently giving many shout-outs on this blog for new books (unless I am super-passionate about them). But if have written a new book and want a shout-out on Twitter, feel free to tweet me the link and a personal message via @andreaexpat and I will try and help you there. Thanks!

Women's International Networking (W.I.N) Conference - Oct 5 - 7 (8) - Rome, Italy

Hi Everyone, It's W.I.N Conference time again, and this year the "Creating History" themed event for 800-1,000 participants will be held in Rome, Italy. If you have not registered yet, but you have time to attend, I highly recommend it. I attended in 2007 in Oslo and only have great things to say about the event, the humble founder Kristin Engvig, and the wonderful women that attend.

The speakers this year include:

• Mikael Ohlsson, Swedish, President and CEO, IKEA Group
• Jeanette Horan, British, VP and CIO, IBM
• Dr. Debra Clary Gmelin, American, Corporate Director, The Leadership Institute, Humana, Inc.
• Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, French/Canadian, CEO, 20-first
• Alison Smale, British, Executive Editor, International Herald Tribune
• Nuria Chinchilla, Spanish, Professor, IESE Business School
• Zoë A. Yujnovich, Australian, President and CEO, The Iron Ore Company of Canada
• Dr Yolanda Nokuri Hegngi, American/Cameroonian, Founder, Stimulus, LLC
• Gabi Zedlmayer, German, Vice President Global Social Innovation, HP
• Poonam Ahluwalia, American, President, Youth Entrepreneurship and Sustainability
• Fabrizio Castlelucci, Italian, Professor, SDABocconi
• Binna Kandola OBE, British, Senior Partner, Pearn Kandola
• Dominique Turcq, French, Founder/ President, Boostzone Institute
• Marguerite Barankitse, Burundian, Founder, Maison Shalom
• Nancy Fina, American, Fashion/Advertising photographer
• Umran Beba, Turkish, President Asia Pacific Region, PepsiCo
• Lorella Zanardo, Italian, Author and Director, Il Corpo delle Donne (Women’s Bodies)
• Karen Tse, American, Founder and CEO, International Bridges to Justice
• Dr Kumkum Pareek Malik, American, Founder, Dr Malik and Associates
• Dr Amany Asfour, Egyptian, President, Egyptian Business Women Association
• Dr Jemilah Mahmood, Malaysian, Senior Visiting Research Fellow, Humanitarian Futures Programme Kings College London
• Barbara Shipka, American, Owner, Barbara Shipka Designs
• Dr Graeme Codrington, South African/British, Founder and Senior Partner, TomorrowToday
• Emma Bonino, Italian, Vice President, Senate of the Italian Republic

Plus friends of mine/ExpatWomen that will be speaking at W.I.N.:

• Melody Biringer, American, Founder, The CRAVE Company
• Jo Parfitt, British, Publisher, Summertime Publishing
• Mary Farmer, Canadian/Dutch, Lecturer, Les Roches Gruyere University/Glion
• Tracy Ann Curtis, American, Founder, TAC Global Organizational and Talent Development Consulting
• Dana Frost, American, Master Certified Life Coach, Dana Frost Life Coaching Services
• Jeanne A. Heinzer, German/Swiss, Director, Heinzer Consulting
• Heidi Forbes Oste, Swedish/American, Global Social Strategist

And many, many more great speakers. To see the full, impressive list of confirmed speakers, please click here. To register for the conference, you are invited to click here. (Make sure you ask for your 100 Euro discount for mentioning "ExpatWomen.com". And no, we receive no commissions for promoting this great event).

Everyone going to W.I.N. this year, enjoy! Andrea

Expat Women July 2011 Newsletter

Hi Everyone, I hope you are enjoying a fabulous July. If you missed our Expat Women newsletter last week, please take a few minutes to read, enjoy, share and tweet about it. Thanks so much and I wish you a wonderful day/evening! Andrea

Success Story
Hinda Gharbi
President - Asia Pacific, Schlumberger
Hinda Gharbi is President of Schlumberger's Asia Pacific operations. Based in Kuala Lumpur, Hinda directs the operations of Schlumberger's portfolio of service and product offerings in the Asia Pacific region. Hinda is originally from Tunisia. She joined Schlumberger in 1996 as a wireline field engineer in Nigeria after earning a Master's Degree in Signal Processing and an Engineering Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble (INPG) in France...
Read More

Business Idea
Words That Sell
Mel Henson
Once upon a time, Mel Henson lived in the hectic advertising world, employed as a full-time executive with leading London advertising agencies. But that all changed when Mel become a stay-at-home mother, retrained as a reflexologist, and moved to Luxembourg with her family. Unexpectedly, Mel later found herself working as a feature writer for a magazine in Luxembourg. This experience led her to start her copywriting business back in the UK, and to now launch her first book…
Read More

Tips and Lessons for Entrepreneurs
Craving Success: A Startup Junkie's Path from Passion to Profits
Melody Biringer
If you are an expat entrepreneur, or someone wishing they had a business idea good enough for them to be an expat entrepreneur, Melody Biringer's new book - chronicling her lessons learned from starting 20 companies - is exactly what the motivation doctor ordered...
Read More

Expat Confession
My Job Was A Mistake
Extract from Expat Women: Confessions
I am a thirty something professional who came here to Switzerland as a trailing spouse. I took a job here but my job is not all that I dreamed it would be. It is quite junior compared to what I used to do, and the salary also reflects this. I have a difficult time with my manager, who is inconsistent and erratic with regards to her expectations of me. My colleagues see me as "the foreigner". I am bored and lonely at work and am thinking that taking my job was a mistake...
Read More

Expat Mothers
Emotional Resilience and the Expat Child
Julia Simens
Never underestimate the power of a five-year-old. When it comes to brainpower, a five-year-old has you beat...This may just be one of the reasons that expat children have the ability to be so resilient in their ever-changing, globally nomadic lifestyle. But just how resilient are you raising your children to be?
Read More

Winning Story
A Year of Magic, Mystery and Chaos
Gabrielle, a Brit in Cambodia
It's no longer stinky. It's aromatic. The broken up sidewalks and chaotic traffic are not an irritation. They're an amusement. Even the searing heat is no longer intolerable. It's a method of bonding with neighbours and friends as we sweat, mop our brows and laugh at one another. Things change. A year ago today, I didn't think they would. In fact, I wasn't anticipating anything – except, hopefully, an air-conditioned coffee shop around the next corner to temporarily remove me from my misery and an iced cappuccino to help drown my melancholy...
Read More
Submit Your Story

Not a Member Yet?

Just a reminder that our blog is separate from our main site, so if you are reading this blog post online or you are only subscribed to our blog, you will not automatically receive our Expat Women monthly newsletters.

To receive our monthly newsletters and to go in the running to win our monthly prize of a complete set of Explorer Publishing Mini-Guides, please sign up today to our main site, ExpatWomen.com. When you join, you will also receive a link to download our free e-book of Winning Stories. Thanks for your support!

Expat Women July 2011 Home Page

Hi Everyone, I hope you are enjoying a wonderful start to your month. Please take a few minutes to read, enjoy, share and tweet about our new July home page features below. Thanks and enjoy your week! Andrea

Success Story
Hinda Gharbi
President - Asia Pacific, Schlumberger
Hinda Gharbi is President of Schlumberger's Asia Pacific operations. Based in Kuala Lumpur, Hinda directs the operations of Schlumberger's portfolio of service and product offerings in the Asia Pacific region. Hinda is originally from Tunisia. She joined Schlumberger in 1996 as a wireline field engineer in Nigeria after earning a Master's Degree in Signal Processing and an Engineering Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble (INPG) in France...
Read more... 

Business Idea
Words That Sell
Mel Henson
Once upon a time, Mel Henson lived in the hectic advertising world, employed as a full-time executive with leading London advertising agencies. But that all changed when Mel become a stay-at-home mother, retrained as a reflexologist, and moved to Luxembourg with her family. Unexpectedly, Mel later found herself working as a feature writer for a magazine in Luxembourg. This experience led her to start her copywriting business back in the UK, and to now launch her first book...
Read more...

Tips and Lessons for Entrepreneurs
Craving Success: A Startup Junkie's Path from Passion to Profits
Melody Biringer
If you are an expat entrepreneur, or someone wishing they had a business idea good enough for them to be an expat entrepreneur, Melody Biringer's new book - chronicling her lessons learned from starting 20 companies - is exactly what the motivation doctor ordered...
Read more...

Expat Confession
My Job Was A Mistake
Extract from Expat Women: Confessions
I am a thirty something professional who came here to Switzerland as a trailing spouse. I took a job here but my job is not all that I dreamed it would be. It is quite junior compared to what I used to do, and the salary also reflects this. I have a difficult time with my manager, who is inconsistent and erratic with regards to her expectations of me. My colleagues see me as "the foreigner". I am bored and lonely at work and am thinking that taking my job was a mistake...
Read more...

Expat Mothers
Emotional Resilience and The Expat Child
Julia Simens
Never underestimate the power of a five-year-old. When it comes to brainpower, a five-year-old has you beat...This may just be one of the reasons that expat children have the ability to be so resilient in their ever-changing, globally nomadic lifestyle. But just how resilient are you raising your children to be?
Read more...


Not a Member Yet?

Just a reminder that our blog is separate from our main site, so if you are reading this blog post online or you are only subscribed to our blog, you will not automatically receive our Expat Women monthly newsletters.

To receive our monthly newsletters and to go in the running to win our monthly prize of a complete set of Explorer Publishing Mini-Guides, please sign up today to our main site, ExpatWomen.com. When you join, you will also receive a link to download our free e-book of Winning Stories. Thanks for your support!

KISS Like Melody Biringer, Founder of CRAVE

Hello Everyone, In October 2009, I had the pleasure of meeting Seattle-based Melody Biringer in Amsterdam, where she was hanging out for a few months to kick start her CRAVE Amsterdam guide. Melody and I met up again a year later, this time in Las Vegas for a conference and have kept in touch in-between. I love hearing about all the cities that Melody's CRAVE guides have expanded to and I love learning from her entrepreneurial lessons (20+ businesses to date) and successes.

Recently, Melody posted this entry on her blog. I loved it and gained her permission to share it with you. If you are a current or budding entrepreneur, you'd be wise to listen to this seasoned experimenter!

Wishing you success in your business, at home and abroad, Andrea.

Nobody Kisses Like Melody Biringer

"The exercise of writing my business history down this last year, about the 20 some businesses I have started over the last 30 years, made one thing loud and clear to me. KISS (keep it simple stupid) has been haunting me most of my life. When trying to decide the title of my book, I thought I should just call it KISS.

This lesson learned has popped up over and over again. I know this stuff. I know it so well I could write a book about it! So WHY do I keep trying to complicate my businesses still today? I am a very “right brained” female. I like to have my hands in lots of things, and am easily tempted to live life like a mind map. BUT, my only successes have come when I kept it VERY simple.

I started my first business with the most simple business model of all. A lemonade stand. I sold lemonade….period. How much simpler can you get. Flash forward a few years and it is ironic that I still basically sell lemonade for a living. One of my most successful businesses has been the festival concession biz, where I sell strawberry shortcake and berry lemonade to thousands each summer. People stand in line and hand me cash and have continued to for the last 22 years. I have tried to complicate that business a bit over the years by adding other products to the mix, like pie baked in a bag, berry cobbler, even s’mores….always thinking of ways to grow.

But I finally got it through my thick skull…I am known for our strawberry shortcake and that is why I am still in business. Just KISS!

For several years, I was deeply invested in the wholesale bakery business. This is a perfect example of doing too much and not paying attention to simplicity. We sold muffins to grocery stores and coffee stands all around Seattle. It started with the fat free muffin, then we added 97% fat free and finally added full fat muffins. We had about 10 flavors of each kind. Of course the blueberry was always the best seller across the board. So many labels, ingredients, recipes to keep track of, so much staff to manage, so many headaches keeping track of all the flavors and which % of fat was ordered.

What if we just put all our muffins in one basket and specialized in the best fat free blueberry muffin in the world and sold the heck out of it? I might still be in that business today if I’d done that.

I remember being jealous of the Uncle Seth pink cookie at the time. He made one really good sugar cookie with pink frosting and could barely keep up with the demand.

It all goes back to the 80/20 rule I believe. Usually we are spending 80% of our time on nonsense and forgetting about the most important part of our business – the 20%. It is so easy to get trapped into the 80% because there is a lot of drama around it and very hard to see the forest through the trees.

I am so happy this lesson has come out loud and clear in my life right now. It makes decisions so much easier. When I am in team meetings, we all say “is this KISS?” and that makes our decision.

We even took a chance on this CRAVE blog. We had created a big huge nightmare for ourselves these last few years. Who are we? What are we going to write about? How many guest bloggers do we need? What should they say? What does our editorial calendar look like? We are behind! Help??? So we flipped it (another lesson learned) and took the KISS principal and decided to just talk about one of my lessons learned each month.

Talk about KISS all month? Is that too much of one subject? Will people get sick of us? Just do it, we said. It is simple and will simplify so many people’s jobs around here. YES I like the sound of that. A no-brainer. Who knows if it will work, but we are all breathing free and that is a good thing.

What can you simplify to breathe easier?

Melody"

Great Interview With CRAVE's Melody Biringer

Hi Everyone, I wanted to share with you this great Seattle Woman Magazine interview with the highly personable Melody Biringer, who I had the pleasure of meeting last October when we were both visiting Amsterdam.

Melody started The CRAVE Company, whose catchphrase is "An Urban Girl's Guide To All That You Crave", back in 2001, releasing the first CRAVEguide in Seattle in 2002.

She now has fifteen CRAVEguides on her site, including two for Canada and one for The Netherlands. She runs CRAVEparties and CRAVEbusiness - and knowing Melody, she probably runs a lot more.

Melody is not an expat woman but she is an inspiring one. Read right to the bottom of her interview and you will see her most important entrepreneurial lessons - learned from starting over 20 businesses.

Go Melody!