Look Outside

Like an alien invasive species, you too can adjust to working and living abroad. Treating your work-life like running a business will have its advantages when you open your market to people who may see your input as valuable and creative . I think foreign consultants, in showing that they’re travelling to get their expertise out there, are seen as clever, valuable, and driven individuals.

Here’s an example: There’s a small business that’s opened up down the road from my workplace called Walk-In-Web. It is new, I hadn’t seen it before, and it looked like a good idea. Peeking in to get a closer look at their glassy, open-space setup, I think I would have chosen the Asian guy with glasses to work my webspace. Why? I don’t know, there was a certain image expertise that I thought I could roll with. Even if he wasn’t Asian, and in fact more Canadian than I, that was my initial thought.

I’m not the first to write about the advantages to working abroad, and I also recognize that you can’t just GO and work abroad, one needs to see it as a business move.

First Off, you must appeal to both culture and industry. By culture, I mean the identity of those working in your given industry. You’re not there to show them that outsiders know better, or even work differently. You need to have done your research on how work is done on their end, and show that you can adapt, accept, and improve with your personal touch. They say that the language of business is international, but you can’t count on that. Adaptation is still the name of the game.

My example considers Me vs. Japan: I know very little of the forest industry in Japan, or the way in which they handle their land, its inhabitants, and the ecosystem. But if I were to want to do business there, say, as a consultant selling my niche, I would want to know all those elements, as well as what they thought of Canadian forestry. Knowing that it would be my identity vs. theirs, what would be the best way to not only fit in, but to market a system they could identify with?

I use Japan as an example because of the similarities in our western ecosystems; a.k.a. the Pacific Rim. Several tree species grow healthily both here and in Japan (the Larch and Vine Maple to name a couple), so I figure if trees can do it (and thrive!), then so can we. Furthermore, if our ecosystems are so similar, there would be a good chance that we could (and do) use similar land management systems, or at least work them to adapt.

Another thing plants do to survive abroad is spread their seed, and quickly. I’m not talking Johnny Appleseed here. I simply mean being adventurous in spreading the word about yourself and services. You can stand out (skin/hair colour) - so why not take advantage of that? Good quality alien trees often do better than native tree species. Good looking business people do better. The best quality seeding systems enable their species grow the quickest, often overtaking and drowning out a native species.

Thirdly: recession talk. I’m no economist, and I don’t plan to panic…but it’s all the more reason to look abroad. A difference I should point out, in demonstrating my knowledge, is that invasive species are just that, invasive. The human analogy should be friendlier, as I’m hoping we won’t have ‘humanicides’ applied to us when we move to work abroad. And we won’t. Apparently Singapore’s business environment is designed to be easy on foreigners, including certain tax laws and property laws.

They’re not looking to keep us back with chemicals and chainsaws - but if business climate and culture sensitivities aren’t looked after, we may actually be seen as negatively invasive.