Portable Careers – An Interview with Jo Parfitt

Jo Parfitt

Many trailing spouses sacrifice their own careers to expatriate with their partners. For some, finding a job in their new country is next to impossible. Others use their move abroad as an opportunity to start their own portable career, like Jo Parfitt did.

You may know Jo through one of her many websites or her books.

If you’ve not yet heard of Jo, here’s a quick bio:

Jo Parfitt has published 27 non-fiction books, is a journalist, teacher, editor and publisher and mentors others to write and publish their books. She has lived in Dubai, Oman, Norway and is now based in The Hague, the Netherlands. She specializes in inspiring and empowering people to write about what they know as memoir, articles or books. Jo travels extensively, running workshops and speaking at international conferences and in 2010 was honoured as a Trailblazer for her work with expat spouses at the Families in Global Transition conference. She is perhaps best known for her books: Career in Your Suitcase, Expat Entrepreneurs, Release the Book Within and Find Your Passion. Jo runs Summertime Publishing, her motto is ‘sharing what I know to help others to grow’ and she loves teaching and nurturing new talent above all.

Jo was interviewed recently by journalist Rebecca Law about how she started her own portable career and how she now helps other expats start their own writing careers. If you are an expat, trailing spouse or simply someone who is interested in becoming an entrepreneur, the interview is well worth a listen.

Click here to download Jo Parfitt’s interview.

How has becoming an expat altered your career? Leave your comments and thoughts on Jo’s interview below.