We took the leap and ended up in Spain

It is so easy to think that life is what it is and you will keep on that treadmill until you retire!

However with our eldest coming to the end of primary and having been an ex-pat kid myself in the Middle East the draw to having a better work/life balance got stronger and stronger.

Having spent many years taking family holidays around the world and in South-West Spain, and with my parents loving the Basque country we came to realise that there was more to life than work - school-work-school.

So in July 2018, and after a little bit of fate; we waved goodbye to dear friends and family and moved to Sitges, Barcelona - jumping off that cliff was hard, we did not know what the future would bring, what work would come in, or how our children would react and cope in this new land.

Now, nearly two years on and we have not looked back, I won’t deny it has not been hard - overcoming language barriers, settling the girls into their new school, understanding the tax and automono system, and circumnavigating what Square Vanilla would become. It has been a sharp, fast and at times harsh learning curve, but finally we feel we have got over the worst, but what made it easier?

Firstly, the school - our girls adapted quickly and have become new and confident creatures from it. No longer do they need material things, are not judged on being different and unique, they learn in a new way which keeps their appetite for learning alive. This was the driver for this whole move, and with them firmly in place it has made everything else easier to manage.

Secondly, the community - as any of you who live here know, Sitges and the surrounding area has a magic in the air; everyone you meet cannot do enough for you, introducing you to the right people and encouraging you and your family to do well. In fact, we have been so busy with work we have only just got round to reworking our old website!

Thirdly, the attitude to work - everyone here has the right work/life attitude and balance, yes we all have to make a living, but the environment we are surrounded by means we actually live first and work second! Plenty of beach gatherings, time with friends, long lunches and slow coffees - never rushed on or told to buy more means we just take life slower, enjoy the moment and spend precious time with our children - something we were not doing so much of in the UK!

So where does Square Vanilla fit into all of this? Well, in a nutshell, it has kept me busy for 16 years, allowing me to work around our two children, but over time it got ignored as I focused on more and more clients with a variety of needs and objectives.

With the recent pandemic experience around the world, those of us in marketing found clients dropped this service before anything else. Whilst this was upsetting at the time it has finally given me time to re-work the website with the new way of working Mark and I always wanted - providing IT, Sales and Marketing to businesses as and when they need it as well as access to experts at the time that is right.

We maintain our down-to-earth approach to our services, we left the corporate world for a reason. We only want to help those around us achieve more for their business. The new “agency” approach delivers a cost-effective, hands-on, bolt-on service for any smaller business that needs help.