featherbum

I am!!

Here is my story- i have been in the uk for 12 years, and crying for about 5 to go back home to spain.

We have now decided to go home, like NOW, and i am SO terrified i am in a constant state of, dunno, like, finger biting nerves.
We have a house there, so we'll be mortgage free, but i am sooo scared of messing up, being poor, dont know really.

We are starting a business, and have other business plans too in case no 1 fails (and no its not a bar) but i cant stop wondering if we are nuts!

Sam Greenfield

Follow you heart and good luck with wherever it takes you - wish we'd done it years ago then my kids would have been coming with me xxxxxxx

Same Difference

I have to say I really wasnt scared about moving to Spain........thats why I dont ever get involved in the threads in the Spain forum because everyone else seems to be scared or was scared and then you get the doom mongers!

From the minute we put our deposit on our house here I was itching to get over here and start out new lives!

We have been here nearly 3 years now..........

Regrets?........Yes.........Why the hell didnt we do it sooner!!

We are a lot poorer here and do live month by month and we have a mortgage!! In the Uk we were earning a hell of a lot of money each month, company cars etc etc........but I`ll tell you what, I wouldnt change my life here for the world!!

Hope it helps FB!

featherbum

yes it helps!!! more more more please!!

well this is what worries me- we are going home which means mortgage free as my mum turned our family house into 3 flats (yes it means mum is my neighbour!) but there isnt much work- hence the fear!

please do carry on with the inspirational stories....!
ps- my boss isnt gonna be impressed when i give her my notice after about a month working there either

andyrich666

What kind of business you intend to have a venture at ?

dont worry about your boss because soon "u b da boss"

featherbum

we are both designers so gonna try and set up a web/graphic design company...!

yeah, true, thanks! always wanted to be da boss lol!!

zel

To be honest, I was just talking to SD about my reasoning about moving and what I have planned.

Basically I have not move sooner because I am scared, scared of it not working and having to move back to the UK.

So I personally due to my business took the longer 'game' to it all and over the last year I have spent building up a small bunch of people I can immediately start to work with when I hit the ground there.

I'm not going to make anywhere near as much money as I do in the UK, but hey that's just being realistic, thankfully living expenses are much cheaper than what I'm personally use to so as long as we have enough to get by on for the first couple of years I'll be very happy indeed.

I've found myself getting obcessive about organization when it comes to the move, which is odd as i've moved around a fair bit, I mean I moved to Australia with 2 weeks notice and didn't think twice.

I think it's because all things considered I don't want to come back to the UK so crossing all the T's and dotting all the I's reduces the chances of.

But put it this way, if I were in your position and mortgage free I'd be on a plane or in a car now on my way

Mitzyboy

Jeez .... if you're scared, maybe you can guess how us lot felt when we came over here

featherbum

what will you be doing for work when you get there? have you chosen an area yet?
its great you have some contacts there to work for already!

dont know why i am sooo scared, as its home i am going back to, but its been sooo long, plus mr FB is coming with me of course and its all new to him.... he worries we'll be poor and wont have enough to cope with ( i dont wanna rely on family for ££ whatsoever - apart from the free house )

we are gonna try the design route but apparently many ppl are doing it already, so a bit of a risk. we made a good living here, but mr FB is now redundant as he worked in mortgages- so no chance of a flashy job here anymore- that was the major factor on deciding...!

featherbum

i knowww i knowww....i just cant help feeling THIS terrified! silly spaniard huh!

andyrich666

I keep holding off pretty much for the same reasons that Zel has just imploded, Ive been well over 18 months now since I made a attepmpted move, came close, very very close in feb to putting a deposit down on a place to rent, but botted it, in a way im glad I have becuase that was before all this scaremongering about the credit crunch.

I find it very very stressfull worrying about moving over again when ive not even made that decision yet.

zel

Well I will be doing what I'm used to and that's import/export of 'luxury' automobiles and the odd boat here and there.

I'm not making the mistake that many people do when they move to a new country and try their arm at something new, in a new country, with a new language to get to grips with. It seems a much harder way that way.

I'm a firm believer in stick to what you know and being Spanish doesn't change the fact it's still a big move for you, sure you have a slight advantage of the language barrier and having family to fall back on if it gets tough, but that's what family are there for, to help out. I'm sure if they needed help and you were in the position to help you would do so also.

It seems since you're doing web design you could possibly still look into being employed on a part time basis with a UK company and just work from home in Spain until you get on your feet.

A couple of my closest mates work for six figures salaries programming for banks/trading companies in the City and they tell me it's getting more and more popular with people in their departments to move to France, Spain & Portugal and still keep their current job, they sign into works network from there and work a 9-5 day for the same salary but with of course much lower outgoings.

Might be worth thinking about.

andyrich666

Well I will be doing what I'm used to and that's import/export of 'luxury' automobiles and the odd boat here and there.

I'm not making the mistake that many people do when they move to a new country and try their arm at something new, in a new country, with a new language to get to grips with. It seems a much harder way that way.

I think that is the thing to do, Incorporate your own business or what your good at over there - and I try to see it as some way by calling it expansion maybe and if you can keep some of your UK market even better.

Ive been involved in 3 full time business of my own, the one I run now is the most successfull and with the highest margin ive ever had, but 2 others I run one soley based dealing with disabled people on behalf of UK Govt (good money but dribs and drabs) and the other was a car Hire company I had a small share of but was excellent fun and gave me people skills which has helped me now.

all of this within the last 10/12 years since I came back - so pretty recent.

Personally I would love to start a car hire business up in costa de la luz, Its a dream of mine, but it needs a bigger injection of cash than I can do now. so for the time being I just going to keep dipping my toes with my current business in the CB area and go from there !

Rosemary

Hi Featherbum

We have 'talked' quite a few times on here about different things but I never expected to be posting on this sort of thread.

You are bound to be terrified because you have wanted it so much and now it is about to happen so now you are having the NERVES. Same nerves as before an exam etc but this is more important to you than any exam ever can be. In your case the feelings are heightened because you are taking your OH to your town in your country to live amongst your family so if it went wrong you feel that it would be your fault.

When you moved to the UK you probably made that commitment with less qualms because you were younger and did not think so much about the pitfalls. As you get older change becomes harder to deal with because you are wiser to the pitfalls and that is why people become less and less carefree.

Prior to this opportunity to change your lives you were focussing on the positives of living in Spain and that is why you were tearful for so many years. Now that it is to occur you are focussing on the negatives which is making you apprehensive and disturbed.

Emotionally you are in turmoil, wanting something a lot but terrified that because you want it so much it will be bound to go wrong. So put the emotions to one side and concentrate on facts,

Positives: You speak Spanish, your OH is learning Spanish from you, you and your OH have skills that can be used in any country, you can have your own company so no boss, you will be mortgage free, you know the area, you have family support (emotional not financial), you already have a network of friends there and of course you have each other but most of all is the fact that YOU WANT TO BE THERE.

Negatives: Work may be thin on the ground initially.............sorry I am now struggling to think.

Good Luck

Rosemary

featherbum

thanks Rosemary
that sounds spot on! i am a bag of nerves at the moment,
and the more i look into it the more scared i get
i have spent pretty much all of my grown up life (if you can call me a grown up that is) in the uk so i feel i am going to be really lost in spain at the beggining-
i guess i will 'learn' about it all once we get going there, same as i learnt how things work in the uk. Like right now i was reading another thread about ni contributions taxes etc etc and i was like
i have so many questions i just dont know where to start,
i bet some ppl are thinking what a silly spaniard i am, scared of living in my own country!!!!

thanks for your message again, it was lovely
xx