It’s night and you’re in bed and wisely (or not) check your email.
A large website you manage has gone offline.
Jolting upright, you log into the hosting account to see what is going on.
Back home, where your client is based, their workday is just about to start. Their website can’t just stay offline all day.
You see your client’s card has bounced for the monthly hosting subscription. You pay it, send them an invoice and a quick email, then climb back in bed.
Little issues in the day-to-day are usually easy enough to fix. But when you’re in opposite time zones, they suddenly feel trickier, because while you’re ready to sleep, your clients are starting their day.
The Double Life.
Running a small business in one culture while living daily life in another can feel like being a secret agent at times. It is an extraordinary privilege and also a real challenge.
The freedom is undeniable; you’re living outside of the box. Far from the 9-5 routine and office hierarchy. But freedom comes with constant adjustment. There are no fixed parameters; you set them yourself.
The unspoken reality of being a foreigner running a business overseas (expat, migrant, nomad, whatever label fits) is this: it’s not a holiday. It’s not the dreamy laptop at a beach scenario you hear about.
You are living two realities at once. Sometimes that means double the work and double the emotional load.
But, you are endlessly reminded how “worth it” it is when you walk down your ancient street to the Boulangerie in the morning. Or when you get fresh, flavour-bursting stuff from the outdoor market instead of a supermarket.
The Work Side
The time zone juggle can actually work in your favour. With only a couple of crossover hours, you’re forced to batch calls, meetings, and reviews into one focused window. The rest of the day, you can work distraction-free.
Some people start at 7am and wrap up early. Others begin at 4pm and work late into the night, leaving mornings free for personal projects.
For me, web design suits the time difference. Updates, testing, and fixes are best done when site traffic is low, which happens to be when most of the client base is asleep. Those requests clients send at the end of their day? They’re often solved and waiting for them by the time they wake up.
The environment also shapes your work. Living in a village that’s full of art, history, and cultural events is pretty special, often the reason you moved.
But there’s a catch: when everyone around you seems relaxed, moving slowly, or in holiday mode, it can feel strange. You’re glad to be there, of course, but there’s a flicker of envy as you push through your tasks, while others are floating through theirs.
The Life Side
Living overseas doesn’t just influence how you work; it influences who you are.
There’s a practical side: learning a new language, figuring out the admin labyrinth, adjusting to local hours, not always matching your own. Dinner at 10 pm? Shops open and close at odd hours. Every conversation in the new language is a mini exercise in patience and humility. You have to accept that your real personality has been traded off for that of a three-year-old’s.
On the personal side, you’re meeting new, lovely people while constantly negotiating between belonging and being the outsider. You’re laying down new soil in this place, but part of you will always have roots where you came from. That in-between space is both enriching and taxing.
Some days it feels exhilarating, that village vibe, walking past the Roman arena, living in a house older than your hometown. Other days, it feels isolating, when you miss the ease of family and friends or when cultural differences make you feel like an oddball.
Over time, the push and pull toughens you up. You do get better at problem-solving because you have to. You are more adaptable because no two days unfold the same. And you definitely become more empathetic, because you know what it feels like to have shit hit the fan.
Things aren’t always easy, but they’re rarely dull, and that’s what keeps so many of us hooked on this double life.
The double life is enough to keep anyone busy. If your website is adding to the chaos, let’s make it the easy bit.
Make Tech Easier
