Ashleigh Russell
Ashleigh Russell was a thirty-year-old newly single woman living in Dallas, Texas working in and out of Corporate America, pursuing an MBA at nights and slowly building a real estate business on the side. After being greatly disillusioned by the job market after graduating university, she worked in various positions, such as sales and marketing, operations and management within diverse business sectors. Recently divorced and, more than not, in a state of professional transition (ie: layoffs, firings, running from job to job, a brief stint as an actress), Ashleigh decided to search the internet for both her professional and personal lives.
After a few months of correspondence on Match.com, she met her dream man who lived 1,800 miles away in New Hampshire for a first date on New Years Eve. Six months later, she quit her business development job for a major cosmetic company, sold her house, her car and rolled up that MBA diploma and moved to the Northeast.
Six months, one miscarriage, several job fairs and unsuccessful interviews later, Ashleigh and her new dream man decided to quit their lives in the United States and move to Spain. Her husband was Spanish, but had lived in the US for the past eighteen years since university.
Not knowing how they would make a living, Ashleigh once again turned to the internet. She found an opportunity to buy a franchise, Curves, 30 minute workout for women. After a brief trip to Europe to scout potential locations, Ashleigh and her dream man, Alec, were back in the US to sell his house and car and move everything into storage.
After arriving in Barcelona, they began construction for the new gym, the first in Catalonia. The move was tough as they came with only two suitcases each and lived with Alec´s parents. They went from having two luxury cars to talking public transportation.
Ashleigh had taken a foreign language in high school, so she thought she would be okay, but wait, she took French! It soon became apparent that not only must she learn Spanish, but Catalan as well. The language barrier was not as brutal as the cultural barrier.
After many meetings with contractors, she soon realized that the American mentality of living to work versus working to live from our European contemporaries had many benefits. Contractors were hours late or did not show up at all and doing business as a foreigner was tough. The other customs, such as eating dinner at midnight or lunch strictly from 2pm until 4pm were all added burdens.
Three months later, and several appearances on radio talk shows, the business was opened. As a business owner and manager, her intention was not to be so hand-on in the daily affairs, however, that notion soon changed as she realized the difficulty in hiring and firing employees in Spain.
It is not recommended to go to a foreign country and attempt to teach aerobics classes in a language you do not understand. This seems like obvious logic, but sometimes in the midst of making a change, the details can get lost.
Within the search for a better life, the fitness club was licensed by the name, Dolce Equilibrium, which means ¨sweet balance¨ in Italian. This was the quest of Ashleigh and her now, husband. However, the fitness business and living in Spain soon became the greatest source of stress and regret.
After vicious financial cycles and extreme hard work, the gym went through several unsuccessful attempts at a sale. Closing the doors in defeat and moving back to the US were not options. The sale was eventually successful.
After the sale of the business, Ashleigh was back in corporate jobs in a very limited job market for foreigners who are not multi-lingual. The experience, although tough, was beneficial and propelled her to understand that she was an entrepreneurial creature by nature and that she must, despite past hardships, return to a self-owned business.
After seven years, a marriage, the purchase of a home overlooking the Mediterranean, two cars, and the birth of a daughter, Ashleigh has found her inner workaholic, but this time, she also has ¨dolce equilibrium.¨
She always loved to write and in many of her professional roles she wrote copy, marketing collateral, press releases, etc., but the idea that she could transform the things she loves in life into tangible revenue escaped her thoughts for many years.
Wine + travel + entrepreneurship + romance = a way to make a living without working yourself into an early grave!
Currently, Ashleigh works as a PR consultant for one of the largest PR agencies in Europe. She will publish her first bilingual book in 2008 and she is working on a travel trilogy, which elaborates on her ex pat experiences. Her husband, Alec and her daughter, Ariella Valentina are enjoying sweet balance along the Med.