Wealth Without Borders Podcast
Business:Investing
How to FLEXPAT Your Career - Choose Jobs Abroad You Enjoy with Francis Kremer
How do you navigate a new place with the language barrier and cultural differences being a possible hindrance? How do you thrive and become successful in living and working as a flexpat in a foreign country like China?
Flexibility and open-mindedness to the possibility of what China has to offer give you an edge to enjoy your stay there. Sure, there are sacrifices to be made as you are away from family and home. But being positive about the good life the new place can offer makes one appreciate staying in China.
Francis Kremer is an expert in sales, the latest manifestation of which is as the Sales Director in the Chinese Electric Vehicles (EV) market, a massive part of the automotive industry. His role is to make a Chinese company truly international in scope.
In this episode, Francis talks about how everyone was apprehensive about his decision to become a sales guy in China. Undeterred, he pushed through with it—four years in China and no signs of regret on his part. Although he has made China his home, it is not without struggles to be living there. He’s got plenty of tips on how he dealt with challenges at work, his personal life, and his everyday life in China. He also made known what a flexpat is and the qualities one should possess to make it in a foreign land.
What you will learn from this episode:
“It’s very important that you should be a master in your skill, you should have something that you can bring to the table that you can do better than anyone else.”
- Francis Kremer
Topics Covered:
01:46 - What made Francis decide to be an expat
03:25 - What endeared him to be living and working in China
05:06 - How does he deal with being away from family and home
07:06 - What important qualities an expat should have to thrive in China
08:47 - Francis shares how different a holiday experience is in China compared to Europe
13:16 - How does he define a flexpat
17:42 - What the future looks like for flexpats with the onset of the virtual trend
22:40 - Sharing happy experiences he has around China
25:02 - Why he would have wanted to come to China earlier
Key Takeaways:
“I really enjoy being in China and to feel this development that people do something from scratch and they enjoy it.” - Francis Kremer
“Whenever I think that I'm far away from home, I think, well, this is my home, and I take my family with me.” - Francis Kremer
“What I learned from myself is to understand, okay, something's work differently than I thought. And I have to cope with it somehow, and nobody's going to help me. I have to get it done.” - Francis Kremer
“Currently, it's a very comfortable situation, because I'm an expat, well-paid, and with a low cost of living in China. Not sure if this stays this way. But I think there will be a change in this industry; there will be many opportunities for people who want to try it. But they will not be in a position to sell themselves as the very kind of small species that wants to be well-paid and well-treated with everything with what is associated with an expat job.” Francis Kremer
Ways to Connect with Francis Kremer:
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