Chasing Perfect, Catching Burnout Tina walks into this session catching up on a rough stretch — a sick household, a missed call last time thanks to a debilitating migraine, and a nagging feeling that she "didn't do enough" since we last spoke. But almost immediately, the real conversation surfaces: her migraines are becoming a pattern, and a recent visit to her doctor left her more confused than reassured. When her doctor — a functional medicine practitioner — suggested she switch from white win

Moving abroad can end a career you spent years building, and nobody warns you it will happen slowly. Iva Buschmann was an equity partner at a Prague law firm in her twenties, running the business side for international tech clients and Silicon Valley venture funds. Then came seven moves as an adult, eight countries, and a resignation in the early hours of New Year's Day in Sydney, after years of working evenings until midnight around a small child and a ten-hour time difference. She spent seve

Twenty-ish years ago, Dina Honour packed up her New York City life for what her husband promised would be a two-year adventure. Two years turned into three in Cyprus, then ten in Copenhagen, then a move to Germany, where she still lives today. Dina, author and self-described reluctant expat, joins the show to talk honestly about what it takes to build a life abroad you didn't choose, the standing ritual she and her husband built for whenever a move isn't working, the uneven load between a worki

Iva Buschmann and Linda van Egmond both moved countries, left behind careers they had built, and started businesses while raising kids somewhere new. In this trailer they describe the life the show is about: four languages before 9:30, a client call after dinner because of the time zone, a tax office in another country. It is honest conversation about the network you didn't bring with you, the money and guilt, and the weeks where you wonder if any of it is working.

Click to start your Business Reality Check "Being Everything to Everyone Is Not a Strategy" Your product works, but your increasingly broad message is getting less attention instead of more. In this episode, Linda explains why trying to include everyone makes it harder for anyone to recognize themselves in your offer and shows you how to repair unfocused messaging with the One Audience Test. What You'll Learn: The Hook: Why adding audiences, use cases, and broader language can make a good produ

## The One Where the Tax Office Decides What You Earned You open a letter from the Swiss tax office. You look at the figures. And you think: “Where on earth did they get THAT number from?” Perhaps the income is much higher than you actually earned. Perhaps the estimated wealth looks completely wrong. Or perhaps the figures are surprisingly low, and you're wondering whether you've just got lucky. Welcome to the world of estimated tax assessments in Switzerland. In the first solo episode of

Got 10 Minutes? Let's Talk Coffee — The Good, The Bad & The Decaf Megan's on her second brewed coffee. Danna is watching from the sidelines, jealous and betrayed by her own nervous system. Coffee is the world's most socially acceptable drug — and it turns out there's a lot more to say about it than "it'll stunt your growth." From ADHD self-medication to blood pressure myths to what Megan witnessed at a US manufacturing plant, this one covers a lot of ground for 10 minutes. What You'll Learn: Co

NHR is gone, the path to Portuguese citizenship just got longer, and the visa most Americans assumed would work for them might not fit anymore. Ricardo Jesus, a financial advisor with Liberty Atlantic Advisors in the Algarve, joins the show to explain what replaced NHR, how the citizenship timeline changed, the real difference between Portugal's visa options, and a real client case involving the Golden Visa and an unexpected US tax classification. ────────────────────────────────────────── CH

Chapter Four: Riding the Wave Tina arrives at session three noticeably lighter — a completely different energy than the last two calls. She rattles off updates almost too fast to keep track of: a doctor's visit that got cut short by a moving-day scheduling mixup (she and her family found a new apartment after their old one sold out from under them), a shiatsu session already rebooked for the following week, and a genuinely sweet moment with her husband the night before, where she actually asked

If you’re getting through each day but feel disconnected from yourself, simply pushing harder may not be the answer. You might recognize the experience of running on autopilot, saying yes when you need to say no, or knowing that something needs to change without knowing where to begin. In this conversation, Karina speaks with clinical psychologist Dr. Veronique Elefant-Yanni about understanding what you feel, not just what you think, and making room for a different relationship with yourself. D

Send us Fan Mail Join us on Patreon or Support the show Please connect with us: Click here to share your story and be our next guest! Check out Julia's upcoming courses Check out Christine's doula services Lilybee's store with pregnancy, birth and postpartum essentials All Swiss Birth Stories Episodes “Do I want to have regrets just because I’m not able to face my fear?” Bree takes us through her two births, the Accompagnement Global midwife program at HUG she used in her first birth, Clinique

In Switzerland, the landlord chooses you, not the other way around. Özgür Ogulkanmis, founder of Swiss Expat Realtor and Swiss Agency Immobilien, joins the show to explain why the Swiss rental application process is so demanding, what US citizens specifically can and cannot buy as non-EU/EFTA residents, and why local relationships matter as much as paperwork. ────────────────────────────────────────── CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS ────────────────────────────────────────── 00:00 - Why a Swiss-born, gl

Start your Business Reality Check Now Data doesn't lie. But it doesn't always tell the whole story either. Your numbers look healthy, but sales are flat and progress has stalled. In this episode, Linda explains how measuring the wrong things can hide what is already broken and shares a simple way to find the metric or uncomfortable truth you need to face. What You'll Learn: The Hook: Why rising engagement can create false confidence when it does not translate into sales. Reality Check: How

The One Where Moving to Switzerland Was the Easy Part You’ve moved to Switzerland. The job has started. The boxes are unpacked. You have a Swiss address, perhaps a Swiss bank account and a growing collection of official-looking letters. So why does it still feel like there are a hundred things you don’t understand? Because moving to Switzerland is one thing. Actually settling in is something else entirely. In this episode, Julia Tatje speaks with Serge Baur, founder of Beyond Services, abou

Got 10 Minutes? Old Wives' Tales or Legit Health Advice? We're Settling This. Onions. Drafts. Beer while breastfeeding. Starve a fever. Every culture has its thing — that one piece of health advice passed down from grandmothers and mothers-in-law that sounds completely unhinged until you actually look into it. Megan brought it up after a conversation in German class with a Swiss, an Italian, and an American. Danna ran with it immediately, because obviously. Some of it is surprisingly legit. Som

A US living trust can create unexpected French tax and reporting consequences once someone moves to France, and French tax residence is not determined the way most people assume. Thomas Dubanchet, a French tax lawyer and founder of Bespoke, joins the show to explain how France treats US trust structures, why French tax residence cannot be determined by a day count alone, and how a formal written position from French tax authorities can address specific situations before committing to a move. ─

If you’re used to pushing through, saying yes, or holding yourself to perfectionistic standards, it can be hard to tell when those patterns are helping you and when they’re keeping you stuck in survival mode. Therapist Cindy Payne joins Karina to unpack trauma, chronic stress, and the ways shame, people-pleasing, and ‘overfunctioning’ can shape how high-achieving people show up at work and at home. Together, they explore how to notice what’s happening in your body, respond with curiosity rath

Send us Fan Mail Join us on Patreon or Support the show Please connect with us: Click here to share your story and be our next guest! Check out Julia's upcoming courses Check out Christine's doula services Lilybee's store with pregnancy, birth and postpartum essentials All Swiss Birth Stories Episodes Katie’s two midwife led births at Triemli Stadtspital in Zurich share a surprising thread: both times, a skilled and observant midwife noticed what was standing between baby and this world, and on

All You Have to Do Is Show Up Tina arrives at session two with a plan already off the rails — her grandmother passed away days earlier, and she barely made it to the call at all. She admits, half-apologizing, that she didn't keep up with the food journal or book the doctor's appointment she promised. Danna shuts the guilt down immediately: showing up today, having just lost someone, already counts as doing enough. What unfolds instead is a session about grief and the inheritance of not being al

A US citizen inherits a family property in India. A mutual fund he's held for years suddenly won't accept him as an investor anymore. His old Indian bank account becomes illegal to keep in its original form. None of this is a mistake, it's what happens when two entirely separate financial systems collide. Amol Desai, CFP® and CFA and founder of Perceptive Wealth Advisors, joins the podcast to unpack exactly this, drawing on his own journey as a first-generation immigrant from India and the cros