Pro tip: If you want to speed up your hair going gray, move abroad and start your entrepreneurial journey – at the same time.

When we got our military orders in May indicating a late June/early July move to Germany, I was ecstatic.

It was a total surprise; we were convinced our next – and last – move with the military would be to Maryland, but Uncle Sam, God, the Universe had different plans.

As with any PCS (permanent change of station for my non-military-affiliated friends), the list of things to do is immense. And that immensity is compounded with an international move.

On the top of my list to figure out? My job situation. While my former employer tried their best, we couldn’t make a Germany-based office happen, so I had to resign my role.

Which led to a crossroads. I could search again for a full-time role in Germany, likely on one of the bases here, or I could go full-steam-ahead on building my own brand, my own company, and laying the foundation for what comes after military life.

I chose the latter, and so, Serranova Holdings was born and my first entity, Serranova Communications, was launched.

While I’m still getting settled in this new venture and in our new temporary home in Germany, I’ve been reflecting a lot on how similar entrepreneurship and a move abroad are – and how both, I’m convinced, are responsible for the sudden surge of grays I find in the mirror every morning.

So, here are three ways that moving abroad is similar to entrepreneurship, and how I deal with getting on with it:

1. Some days you want to hibernate.

When you move abroad, there are a lot of checklists, must-do’s, don’t-do’s, and should-do’s. You have to forward your mail. Figure out car registration. Get a German driver’s license. Find housing. Figure out where the grocery store is, the gym that makes the most sense, and you know no one other than your spouse.

Complicating the matter for military families is that you’re living with one foot in the German economy and the other foot in the American economy. For example, if you go to the mall on base or to local, American-sponsored businesses, you’re paying in the U.S. dollar. But if you’re off-base in a German village, you’re paying in euros – and often in cash, not on debit or credit cards.

Even filling up your tank is different on base versus off-base.  

After days, weeks, and months of adjusting to these differences, decision fatigue is inevitable. And for me, an introvert who already overthinks every.darn.thing, it makes me want to crawl back into bed, in the fetal position, and have whatever the next decision is made for me.

Entrepreneurship comes with its own list of to-do’s and decisions to be made, which is also exhausting, draining, and hibernation-inducing.

In full transparency, there are days when I shut my computer, close out of all social media platforms, and do nothing. Or what appears to be nothing. My brain is still doing its thing in the background and refreshing its software, but I physically and mentally take a purposeful break.

Some days that means taking a nap. Other days it means taking my corgi on a longer walk outside and looking at trees, reading, or binging on a show that requires zero effort or emotional engagement or response.

But then I’m back at it, a day or two later, taking a deep breath and figuring out what the next puzzle piece is that has to be dealt with.

2. You don’t know what you don’t know and do everything in the wrong order.

No matter how much research you do ahead of time, you’re still unprepared when you make a move abroad. And, depending on your source, you get conflicting information.

Ship a car. Don’t ship a car. Get an international driver’s license because you can’t drive any vehicle until you have it. But you’ll also need a German license because the international license is good everywhere *except* Germany. Don’t rent a car while you wait for your car to arrive because it won’t be reimbursed.

Try to take your job with you but know you’ll be taxed in the U.S. and in your host country. Don’t take your job with you because you’ll be taxed in the U.S. and in your host country and it won’t be worth it.

Donate all your American appliances because they won’t work. Take them with you; you just need to use a transformer, but that may make your appliances burn out or they won’t work as well on a transformer and if you blow a fuse you’ll upset your landlord. Don’t buy anything off base until you’re set up in the VAT system, but be aware that a lot of the stuff on base is set up for American outlets and on-base housing.

Hurry up and find a house so you’re not living in temporary housing for more than 30 days.

And this is where information overload happens. There are too many inputs – often conflicting – so you wind up chasing your tail in trying to figure out when to do what.

When we got to Germany all we knew was that we needed to find a house as soon as possible. To receive temporary housing allowances, we are required to notate all the places you look at as well as the reasons homes you look at aren’t suitable. But to get reimbursed for temporary lodging, you need to also submit zero-balance invoices within a certain timeframe *and* have a VAT form *before* the lodging invoice starts to have taxes subtracted from that invoice. But the VAT office is only open certain hours and you need lodging when you land in country, so how the heck you’re supposed to do that is beyond me.

Confused? Yeah. Same.

The entrepreneurship journey is just as daunting.

Build a website. Start social media. Do a podcast. Create content. Establish LLCs. Build a funnel. Start a newsletter. Build an email list. Network. Verify your product offering. Determine your buyer personas.

It can cost a lot of money out the door to get started, especially if you don’t have a business background. You’re advised to use all these tools and do all these things so you move ahead, bit by bit.

But you really don’t know how they talk to each other, how they feed into one big system. You wind up with redundancies. And spending more money than you need to (with a limited cashflow) because you have a tech stack that duplicates efforts.

Expats and entrepreneurs should really be taking a step back to build the infrastructure on paper first to see how it all fits together.

Because founders are stressed and just wanna launch already, you throw everything against the wall, do everything at once – poorly – and hope something sticks.

Spoiler alert: it won’t.

In both situations, it makes sense to start small. There will always be curveballs, but if you start with a roadmap and checklist, and commit to those things you know you can do, you’ll be able to build organically and authentically.

For me, I make lists of the top five things I need to accomplish on any given day to stay focused. So, as those curveballs pop up, I can be nimble and adjust to what has to be addressed right here, right now.

For my business, I’m starting with organic efforts so I can build a foundation of trust because I know that is numero uno (Nummer eins) to ensure long-term success.

3. You feel isolated.

Depending on where you move abroad, feeling isolated is compounded by the fact that you may not speak the native language. In my case, I know zero German. While we live in an area that has a big American population, and most German people we’ve met speak English beautifully, it’s difficult to have a conversation about anything that’s not transactional.

Not working in an office for the daily banter adds to the feeling of isolation. It’s me and the corgi. All day, every day. I’m an introvert so big group, military spouse outings are off the table.

The same is true in building a business: it’s you and the biz all day, every day. Friends and family don’t understand or see the vision. And you’ve got to keep going with the only one cheering you on is the person you’re looking at in the mirror (and the corgi).

To combat these feelings and an isolated reality, I seek out like-minded individuals and meet them for coffee. Or, at the gym, I make sure to make small talk with the people who can speak English and try to glean some German words during those classes. I treat the cashiers at the grocery stores with kindness and work to add in some German words here and there as I learn them.

I’m being purposeful in leveling up in my circle of friends and putting myself in networks that include people who have the success I’m striving for and who have a heart for service and mentorship. I’m making a concerted effort to connect more with my existing and new connections and be a source of added value for them. And I’m sharing more of myself with those people.

Embrace the journey – and the gray

At the end of the day, the (very humbling) lesson I’m learning in both my move abroad and in starting my own business is to embrace the journey. It’s a bumpy ride, but one that’ll be worth it. Gray hair and all.