As a 40 something chartered accountant with a hectic job in London, the attractions of Croatia were strong. The London job, after two years of high excitement, was turning into a bit of a treadmill so I didn't take much persuasion from my partner to go with him to Croatia.
That was 4 years ago and whilst I can't say, even after all that time, that Croatia feels like home, it's certainly got plenty to offer. It is a great place to live but doing "good" business is challenging in the extreme.
You can't afford to be too rigid in your outlook and "going with the flow" and a portfolio career are the name of the game. So I've reinvented myself as a writer and journalist and done quite a few other "odd jobs" on the way. The 9 to 5 (and a lot more) work ethic is hard to lose after so many years but the whole point of a fairly fundamental change such as this is to try and redress the work/life balance. Sometimes it's easy to pack up in the afternoon and go out on our little fishing boat. On other occasions the hours seem just as long as in London without the same reward.
My advice to anyone else contemplating such a move is to stick with it for at least two years. It takes a long time to establish new roots, particularly in a non english speaking country, and it takes a while to build up good contacts. Perhaps contradictory to the "give it your best shot advice" is the cautious voice that says "don't burn your boats" in your home country until you're sure you've made the right move. If you sell a property in London for example, there's a good chance you'll never be able to afford to move back later on. I count myself very lucky, amidst all the life and logistical changes, to have been able to continue working with an enlightened organisation in the UK, over seventeen years, that has truly adopted flexible working practices. That has helped enable me to make a soft landing in Croatia. In return, I hope I have helped enable them them to make their own transition .
We've pretty well thrown our original business plan into the bin and, in doing so, have risen to a number of new challenges. Our cruising guide on the Dalmatian coast is just about ready to go to the printers after lengthy research and many, many hours of writing. Working with Time Out Publications, over the past two years, on their Visitors Guide to Croatia, has been a breath of fresh air. The magazine is insightful, forward thinking and highly informative, and the management and editorial team are a joy to work with.
Working with the locals is a bit of a roller coaster ride. We've found a few extremely straightforward, efficient and reliable contacts and a number with whom you're never quite sure where you stand. We foreigners are still not too plentiful here and it does take time to build good business relations. The legacies of the communist system are still very much evident in certain places and it will take time for the business environment to open up.
Personal relationships also take time to build and, conversely to business ones, we've almost unilaterally been received kindly and warm heartedly by our Croatian neighbours. The expat community is growing and, on the whole, they're a delightful bunch who share many of the frustrations and much of the excitement and pleasure of working and living in Croatia.
