Limitless Laowai Expat Life, Business Strategy, Personal Development & Cultural Adjustment In China | Learn Chinese

This week Ally shares how she by chance both broke and fixed up the audio files on LimitlessLaowai.com, how she finally got some zzzzz's using a seemingly silly bag of seeds, and how she got motivated to peel herself from the office chair and get into workout clothes for the first time in, well, too long.

Dagmara is a young professional from Poland, where she studied the Italian Language & Culture and, later on, Journalism and Social Communications. She is currently the Senior Community Manager for First Person Shooter Games in a gaming company, Cmune, up in Beijing. Before landing in Beijing 3 years ago, she worked 4 years in the industry as Business Development Manager and Web Games Manager back home in Poland. From the start she has been very active in Beijing Gaming Networking scene where she loves sharing her knowledge and having a blast with friends. And of course, she never misses out big gaming event like China Joy, Game Developers Conference in Shanghai or Gaming Mobile International Conference in Beijing. She believes that the best marketing tool nowadays is to build a healthy community that can sustain itself.

Let's be honest, no one wants to be caught in the middle of a medical emergency...well, EVER, let alone in one without a plan! Are you prepared? In this episode, International SOS Clinic Manager, Sandra Fuld, shares the five steps to developing your comprehensive medical emergency plan while abroad. Complete with a downloadable form, this podcast will empower you to better keep you and your loved ones safe while living abroad.

International SOS Clinic Manager, Sandra Fuld, was born in Belfast to an Irish mother and a Dutch father. She grew up in Germany where she also trained as a nurse. After graduation she moved to London where she worked in Infectious diseases and HIV, while simultaneously training to be an Acupuncturist. It was this interest in eastern medicine that led her the first time to Kunming, China in 2005 to learn more about this country. In the same year she moved to Saudi Arabia, met her French future husband and followed him to Indonesia where they had 2 kids together who are now 7 and 5. She started to work for International SOS, a medical assistance company, but left them after 4 years to follow their dream of opening a fine dining restaurant in the Caribbean. After only one year she and her husband decided that some dreams better remain a dream and relocated back to Asia, this time Hanoi, Vietnam. Tune in to hear how Sandra got from Hanoi to Shenzhen, China where she and her family have been for 18 months...

Aaron is Founder and General Manager of JING Digital, which designs and develops e-Commerce websites, web applications and most recently, and advanced social marketing WeChat platform. Originally from New Mexico, Aaron has been in Shanghai for 8 years and still maintains long-time client relationships in the U.S. He and his wife have been married for five amazing years.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the 36 victims of the New Year's Eve tragedy that took place on Shanghai’s historic Bund. Today in light of this incident, join Ally in a brief discussion on health and safety while living in China as a precursor to next week's interview with International SOS Clinic Manager, Sandra Fuld. Sandra will share with us step-by-step plans to drafting a medical emergency plan while living abroad.

A certified Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) trainer and Certified Hypnotherapist, Jeff holds a master's degree in Professional Counseling. He has been in China for 9 years and prior to starting his company, REV, he served 26 years with distinction as a combat helicopter pilot and flight instructor with the Singapore Air Force, rising to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. As a trusted life coach to many of his clients, Jeff specializes in coaching, counseling and hypnosis therapy, all accomplished with a healthy dose of NLP–which just means that his clients are offered practical suggestions to guide them on their journey to personal excellence.

Originally from France, Sebastien and his wife have been in China for 4 years and have a 9-month-old baby girl. He has a background in pharmacy and business and worked in a leading pharmaceutical company for 12 years in corporate business development and marketing in various markets, including the US, France, Mexico and China. Sebastien has since left the corporate world and is the founder and CEO of The CareVoice. The CareVoice is a bit like Yelp for health care, so it's a review-based platform to review medical services and treatments in China.

Emma was born in the UK and educated in South Africa. She came to China after receiving a bursary from winning a foreign languages competition. She currently works as a sales associate for Cartier in Shanghai. Tune in to hear Emma's take on life in China as a young professional and listen in for her tips and tricks to successfully launching your career in China.

Joe, affectionately nicknamed 'Fish', has been in Shanghai for 8 years. Originally from New Zealand, and having spent 6 years in the UK, he's now in Shanghai and quite like myself, a bit of a serial entrepreneur. Over the past 8 years in China, Fish has moved from the commercial real estate industry, to media and now into corporate strategy and business development. Tune in to hear Fish discuss major challenges he's faced and why tenacity and guts top his list of must-have personal attributes to succeed in China.

Need to put some extra gratitude in your tool kit as you begin 2015 in China? If so, tune in to this week's wrap up as your host, Ally Mona walks through 9 different ways to consider gratitude.

Cherie is a wife, mother, coach, entrepreneur, teacher, pioneer, adventurer and woman of faith. Originally from California, she has spent 9 years living overseas in Thailand, Indonesia and China. Cherie has wonderful little boys age 2 and 4 and an awesome husband. They currently reside in Shenzhen, China, but also spent 1.5 years in Guangzhou. Cherie spends her days managing our home as well as an international nutrition product distribution business. Tune in to hear how Cherie used her gift of time as an expat supporting spouse to benefit her family and others.

Lexie hails from the UK, and studied Mandarin at the University of Cambridge, before heading into what she thought would be a dream job in the corporate world in London. The brief stint there convinced Lexie that it was not her cup of tea at all, and so she moved to Beijing in late 2009 to setup the city’s first cupcake bakery, the Lollipop Bakery. Last year, having gained a reputation for consistent fresh deliciousness, Lollipop brought its cupcakes to Shanghai as a co-partner of the Pantry, and has now expanded its range to include other cakes and cookies. At the same time, Lexie also started an ice cream shop in Nanjing with a business partner, and splits her time between the three cities.

Debbie has spent over 28 years across Asia Pacific within people service companies, being an Efficiency Expert - which means taking the pain out of implementing projects on time & within budgets set by management. She thrives on making hard tasks happen and sorting out the headache of “change” management so that companies & individuals can get on with “doing what they do best”. She has been in China for 9 years as a supporting spouse and doing a bit of contract work but most recently has recently launched her own entrepreneurial endeavor, Asia Life Images, which is a creative photography business. Now her aim is to help her clients evoke great memories and bring a smile to their faces.

Michael is an Apple Distinguished Educator, entrepreneur, podcaster, and technology coach. He recently co-founded Innovative Professional Development, an online PD platform, with the mission of facilitating outstanding professional growth opportunities for all teachers. Michael has a teenage son with profound autism and is keenly interested in the special needs community and its population of diverse learners. This interest led Michael and his wife, Lori, to open an innovative school in Shanghai for their son, called ShineAcademy.asia.

Ally is a wife, a mama, a learner, an entrepreneur, and most recently, a podcast host! Tune into this week's wrap-up session to hear the brief history of the Limitless Project and insight into Ally's top lessons learned thus far. If you've not noticed yet, definitely note that each Friday will be a little different at Limitless. As suggested by the Limitless Community, you'll hear from Ally, Ron, or them both about lessons learned from the week while they work to build LimitlessLaowai Podcasts.

Norbert is a young African professional with over 10 years of experience in China. A Rwandan national, Norbert speaks 6 languages including Chinese, French and English and has 6 years’ experience in Chinese investments in Africa, working with such prestigious institutions as China Development Bank and Exim Bank. He is a co-founder of YAPS (Young African Professionals and Students) and co-founder and CEO of Kiziga.com, the biggest African platform for online Chinese university application and China-related Human resources and internship opportunities, and that project won him the Harambe-Intel Entrepreneur Award. Today, Kiziga represents 186 Chinese universities on the African continent. Norbert is also the representative of African Leadership Network in China, and a columnist at China investment magazine.

Originally from Germany, Eric studied in France at INSEAD, in the UK at Warwick University and in the US at Wharton. His corporate career took him to Asia at the age of 23 with working assignments in Taiwan, India, and Mainland China. During the last 25 years, Eric negotiated joint ventures, established a holding company, acquired and divested business, and multi-site organizations with a few thousand employees and up to a billion USD in sales, all before founding his own boutique consulting company. He now advises small and large enterprises on strategies and organizational optimization.

Mike is an app developer, having recently made the jump from an eclectic career that has included consulting, dancing, writing, and occasional gigs with startups. He and his wife have been living in Shanghai for nearly three years. Also, Mike is Canadian, and he’s pretty proud of that.

Amanda is passionate about helping expats, particularly trailing spouses, figure out what the heck their new identity is now that they've packed up and and jumped on a plane. Not only are you now in unfamiliar surroundings, but quite often you can find yourself in unfamiliar shoes, trying to figure out how to navigate your new life here. She knows well those blisters that come with the new expat shoes. After packing up and jumping on the plane to Shanghai in 2010, she has found that these new expat shoes suit her and there is no going back!