How to Globally Diversify Your Income with Diana McLaughlin

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
If you are interested in runningan online business, so you can

(00:02):
go anywhere in the world, youmight be concerned about whether
or not your particular businessor your profession can be taken
online.
I'm talking about those of youin professional services like
law or bookkeeping oraccounting.
Oftentimes, uh, you guys thinkyou need to be stuck to your
local market and your.
Neighborhood or local city, andit's just not true.

(00:23):
And our guest today onEntrepreneur Expat is going to
prove that to you.
Her name is Diana McLaughlin andshe is currently in Northern
Ireland as an American expat.
She's known as the abundancebookkeeper, and she actually set
up her life to earn income fromthree different countries with
three different high valuecurrencies.

(00:46):
And she's gonna talk about whyshe set that up and how she set
it up on.
The interview today, we're alsogonna be talking about, of
course, how she ended up inNorthern Ireland.
Um, spoiler alert her husband.
That's how a lot of us ended upin other countries, our
husbands.
And we're also going to betalking about what life is like
in Northern Ireland.
Some of the differences she'snoticed between Northern Ireland

(01:07):
and the United States.
Uh, and she talks about a, atime where she had to transition
from having a brick and mortarbusiness in Northern Ireland and
then transition online becausethe pandemic.
Forced her to and how she wouldnot have been able to do that as
easily in the United States.
But there were some things thatNorthern Ireland did that were
able to make that transition alot easier for her.

(01:30):
So if you like this kind ofcontent, make sure to subscribe
and hit the notification bell.
So you don't want me to saysingle video.
We have coming out on thischannel.
We teach you how to make moneyonline so you can go live
anywhere in the world.
We talk about being ex.
Bats in Mexico.
We interview ex-pats who makemoney all over the world, and
for those of you who've beenasking about relocation services
in different countries, we'rebuilding a network of those as

(01:52):
well that we will beinterviewing.
As well on this channel.
So make sure to subscribe andhit that notification bell so
you don't miss a single video.
And if you're interested inhaving your own location,
independent business, you gottalearn marketing and sales,
right?
And Diana is actually one of thestudents of our YouTube mastery
workshop, so you'll be seeing alot more of her on YouTube in

(02:14):
the coming month.
So she starts implementing whatwe taught her, and that's just
one of the things.
That we can teach you how to doin order to make money online.
Both Justin and I have over 15years of experience in digital
marketing, and we're more thanhappy to help you or point you
in the right direction.
So if you're interested inworking with us, you'd like to
know what's available, go toentrepreneur expat.com/apply.

(02:39):
And now without further ado,let's go talk to Diana.

Amanda Abella (02:42):
Hey everyone.
And welcome to another episodeof entrepreneur expat in our
expat story series, where we arehighlighting expats all around
the world and how they live inmultiple countries and not just
live in multiple countries, buthow they make money while they
are living in these multiplecountries.
I am here with Diana McLaughlin,who is in Northern Ireland, and

(03:04):
we have so much to talk abouttoday.
We're going to talk about, well,a, how she ended up in Northern
Ireland.
Cause a lot of people areinterested in Ireland these
days.
And also, um, how you've gonethrough so many pivots in your
business and how Diana hasreally diversified herself, not
just in terms of her incomestreams, but in the countries
that she's making income fromand how that has saved her

(03:25):
behind a couple of times.
So Diana, thank you so much forbeing here and talking about
this fun, but sometimes rathercomplex issue that people tend
to overcomplicate andsimplifying it for people.

Diana McLaughlin (03:37):
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm really excited.

So, Diana, first of all, let people know, um,
what you do now.
Just so there's some context interms of like, Okay, great,
she's in Ireland, but I alreadyknow what they're thinking,
which is the same thing they'realways thinking, which is, Okay,
but how do they make money?
So, just, let's get that off thebat first.

Okay.
Okay.
So, um, I am known as theabundance bookkeeper.
I am the owner of Artemisbookkeeping solution.
So I have an online bookkeepingfirm, um, that serves us
clients, us based clients.
I actually do work with a coupleof expats who are, who have us
based businesses.
and I am also a musician.

(04:16):
I'm a conductor.
I conduct a choir in TheRepublic of Ireland, and I'm
also a freelance voice teacher.
And I teach in a school inDerry, Northern Ireland.
And I teach a couple here in myhome in Derry.

So, for people who don't have context, uh, in
case they don't know.
So, Ireland, uh, there's theRepublic of Ireland, and then
there's Northern Ireland.
The Republic of Ireland is itsown country, and then Northern
Ireland is under the UK.
Okay.
Correct?
So you're basically getting yourmoney from the UK, Ireland, and
the United States.

Correct.

Not bad! We got, we got,

Yeah.

we got euros, pounds, and dollars.
I'm down.
Okay.

Yeah.

It's a nice little setup you got there.

It is! I remember when I first moved
here, all the different moneywas so confusing.
I live five minutes from theborder.
I've always lived five minutesfrom the border on either side.
And I remember, like, standing,like, trying to count pounds,
and I didn't know what all thecoins were, and just, like,
handing it over to the littlelady at the desk and going, Can
you count my change?
desperate, trying to learn Euroand Sterling at the same time.
But I

Yeah, I can imagine.
No, I can imagine.
We were just in, uh, we werejust in St.
Martin, uh, on our honeymoon,and, um, in St.
Martin they accept dollars andeuros.
So we were like, oh, wait asecond, like, you could take
both out of the ATM?
Like, this is wild.
So it, it caused a littleconfusion there, but we, we
figured it all out.
And then we had pesos in ourwallet, like, cash from when we

(05:39):
were in Mexico.
So we were like, what are wedoing?
Um, okay, great.
So we've established that.
Now, before we get into thisvery interesting conversation
about how to set yourself up tomake money online and all the
different ways that diversifyingyourself has actually helped you
a ton, In your finances, how didyou end up in Northern Ireland?
Because you were from the UnitedStates.

Yes.
Um, I married a dairy man.
He was a, he was over visiting,um, in Washington DC and I met
him and that was just it.
We were just, we were justtogether forever.
It was like,

And how long

you.

Yeah, how long have you been in Northern
Ireland?

I've been in, well, when I first moved here, I
lived in the Republic.
So we were down in the Republicfor like the first eight years.
And then we've been up hereeight, nine, how long?
years.

Okay.

been in Ireland, the island of Ireland
for the last 15 years and I'mmarried for 15 years.

Cool! Oh, you got married, like, right

Yeah, we got married about a year after
meeting each other

Yeah, that's about us, yeah.

to Ireland because it was like I was
finishing up my master's degreein DC and we were like, we're
kind of tired of DC now we'vedone this.
Like, let's move to, let's goover there and like see what's
happening over there

Yeah, that

So that was fun.

Oh, yeah.
I mean, it's similar to us,right, where it's like, we moved
to Mexico, but we basically gottogether within a year we were
engaged, and less than a yearlater we were married.
So, it's kind of one of thosethings, like, when you know you
know.
It's just one of those things,and when it clicks, it clicks,
and when it works, it works.
And, and it sounds like you werelike me, because he's like, I'm
not living in the United States.
And I'm like, I'm down.

(07:13):
Sounds like you were the same.
I'm down.

I was like, I'm down for an adventure.
Let's go.
You know?
Cause I was like, I'm over this.
I've been here for, you know,seven years in DC and like DC is
a transition city anyway.
People

Yeah.

but like not a lot of people.

Yeah.

let's go.
You know?
And uh, three kids later.
And we're still here.

I want to point something out to the men, uh,
because sometimes we'll talk toa lot of men on our location
independent consultations,which, by the way, book one
below if you want to learn howto run a location independent
business.
But one thing that comes upconsistently is that they've
either had to break up withtheir girlfriends or their
fiancés because they justrefuse.
To move to another country andso I just want to like give an

(07:54):
example right here of two womenwhose husbands were like, we're
fucking leaving and we werelike, we're down.
Let's go.
Let's have an adventure.
So we do exist.
We are out here.

yeah.

There's a lot of us.
Okay.

I mean, there was a little bit of a, Really?
But then I thought, Hey, how badcould it be?
You know, and he wasn't like, Ineed to stay here forever.
He never put that limit on me.
He said, if you really don'tlike it, we can come back.
And that door was always openfor me.
I have to say, if I ever trulywanted to go home, I think he
would have been like, Okay.
You know, but I never did likeI, I got here and like, I got

(08:30):
started with my businesses.
I fell in love with my students.
I just, I love the people hereand the weather is crap, but it
is gorgeous.
You know, so I just, my qualityof life is different.
My, I have more time.
It's, it's a different lifestylethan living in the United
States.

Let's talk about that because I was just in the
United States.
Granted, we were in Miami.
So it's basically Latin America.
And then we were in theCaribbean for a week.
Uh, with like a veryinternational crowd.
So, a little bit different thanmaybe going to D.
C.
or, we were almost in L.
A.
and I was like, thank God weweren't.
Um, and then, or like the middleof the country, it's, it's, it's

(09:05):
different being in Miami andthen, you know, you're in other
countries for a week, cruisingthe Caribbean.
But how has your quality of lifeimproved since leaving the
United States?
Because I always find this to bea very fascinating conversation
with other expats.

so many parts to this.
Like I could talk about myhealth.
I could talk about the food.
could talk about

Talk about the food because we're back in
Mexico.
Let's talk about the foodbecause I just did groceries
this morning.
And I saw our lady at the cornerstore and she goes, Oh, how was
your vacation?
Like, I'm just happy to beeating real food again.
Like vacation was good, but I'mso happy to be eating eggs that
tastes like eggs.
And she started laughing.
She was, yeah, your husband toldme that yesterday that it's
like, for whatever reason, thefood in the U.

(09:50):
S.
doesn't taste like anything orit tastes like chemicals.
I'm like, I don't know what itis.
But we're very happy to be backin Mexico where the fruit is
amazing, we know the vegetablesare fresh, the meat tastes good,
and the eggs taste like eggs.

well, um, generally I think the
restrictions and everythingaround food is a lot more, you
know, It's more, it's morestrict here.

Yeah, here too.

over there it's a bit like, yeah, that'll
do that you can mass produce itby putting that chemical in it.
Go for it.
You know?
Um, I feel like too much of theUS is food is about profit and
about creating ma mass amountsto feed masses, amounts of
people.
And obviously Ireland is small.
We have our own, we can make ourown food.
We could live on what we makehere alone, but we export a lot,

(10:34):
but.
But we do, we do get a lot fromEurope and I know exactly where
my food comes from.
When I pick up a vegetable or Igrab like a, a box of grapes or
something like that, like it'llsay where it was grown.
A lot of our foods grow inSpain, know, it's not far away.
Like sometimes you are gettingsomething in America that was
grown like 3000 miles away fromyou.

(10:54):
I'm like here, it's like, Ohyeah, it's just over in Spain.
It just, it's more, we have moreof our own produce and you know,
it comes from the rest of Europemostly.

Yeah.

mean, like, avocados is different, and a
couple of things that, that comefrom elsewhere, but you know
where your stuff is coming from.
Um, the restrictions aretighter, and the food is just
better.
It tastes great.
So when I go home and try tocook something, it tastes like
crap to me, because I can't relyon the quality of the food to
make it taste nice.
I have to load it with spices,or, you know, something, or

(11:24):
know, and it's just, I, I go, Iblow up as soon as I get home.
I like gain weight and I'm like,why, why is this happening?

Yep, we did.

Why

Yeah.

and everything?
Why is everything chock full ofthings that's going to do this
to me?

Yeah, we definitely gained weight while
being in the U.
S., but it was also, we werealso indulging because it was
the holidays.
So it was both and, you know.
Yeah.

Like, I'm not going to lie.
Like I will go and have sushilike a couple of times a week
because I'm home and I can getit.

Yeah, Asian food.
Yes, Asian food.
When we go home, we're likeAsian food is one of the first
things we go to because it'sdifficult to find that outside
of Asia or the United States.
So yeah, so that that's funnythat you mentioned that because
that's literally one of thefirst things we'll do is go find
Asian food.
Okay, interesting.
So how else has your quality oflife improved?
You had this really fascinatingstory when you and I initially

(12:15):
met that you so for context forthe audience, you taught music.
For many years in Ireland, youhad private students and
tutoring and all that kind ofstuff, and then COVID happened,
and you were not able to do thatanymore, and then you
transitioned into the onlinebusiness.
You had a really fascinatingstory on how, because you were
living in Northern Ireland, thattransition was a lot easier than

(12:38):
it would have been perhaps inthe United States.
So can you,

Yeah.

can you speak to why?
Because that was veryinteresting.

So, um, so obviously when I moved here, I
started a music school and I,within a year, I was constantly
booked up.
I was very busy.
Um, I taught loads.
My quality of quality of lifewas actually kind of crap at
that time because I was teachingevery night, um, until like nine
o'clock at night.
And I wasn't really seeing myfamily.
I wasn't seeing my younger kids,my young kids when they were

(13:06):
little, because I used to teachall the time.
And then right before COVIDhappened.
In 2019, I decided, this is it.
Well, I got pregnant, first ofall, with my third child.
Surprise! Because we weren'tgoing to have a third child.
Well, we weren't planning it.
And I got pregnant, and I went,I'm not doing another one of
these where, you know, I don'tsee this child.
And I'm not making dinner andsitting with them.

(13:28):
And, you know.
Being with them in the evenings,so I was like I gotta find
something else to do and likethis is crazy But like I have a
master's degree.
I consider myself pretty smartperson, and I'm pretty flexible
I mean, I've lived in anothercountry for this many years.
I can figure out just aboutanything right

one of the good things about travel and living
in other countries, if youbecome a very adaptable person.
It's a superpower.
Yeah.

I'm adaptable.
I'm smart so I Looked up.
What can I do from home?
Like, you know, scam city.
Like, it was so dodgy.
And up came this, this course.
Learn to bookkeep.
And I was like, what's that?
As a person that has had abusiness all my life, I didn't
know the term was bookkeeping.
how bad it was.

(14:11):
I was like, I don't knowanything about this.
So, it came up and it was like,it was a brand new course.
Not many people were in it yet.
It was like, Oh, I'm gettingsomebody just starting out on
this journey of teaching peoplebookkeeping.
And I jumped in this course andI took this course and I started
a damn business because thecourse taught me how to start a
business.
Like you can learn anything onthe Internet, anything.

(14:33):
There's

Yep.

and there's people who make those courses.
So if you know something, make acourse.
You know, but, um, I jumped inthis course, did this course.
I thought, I need more, didanother course.
Okay.
Now I feel pretty good about myskills.
Um, I partnered up with CPAs inthe U S who liked my work and
were like, you're doing a greatjob.
Um, here, here's some work foryou.

(14:56):
You know, I have people that Iwork with in the States that,
that send me clients.
And.
At one point I decided to nichea very specific niche because I
kind of found myself duringCOVID in that sort of spiritual
awakening space and I was

Oh, huh.
Yeah.

Yeah.
I

I know.

and there's a lot of people doing that.

Yeah.

that is a lot of my clients are in that realm
ish.
Like I have a Like a yogastudio.
I have people who are coaches,but I also have people that, you
know, they have, um, they'relike healing arts centers.
They're, you know, sort ofwellness people.
So that that's kind of what I'mworking with, but so how.

(15:38):
So, like, went into thebookkeeping just head on and was
like, this has to work.
I don't want to teach anymore.
I don't want to do this everynight, at least not in the
capacity that I'm doing it now.
And then COVID hit and it waslike, Oh my God, I'm so glad I
took this course and havestarted getting clients.
Because I wouldn't have had, Iwouldn't have been able to

(16:01):
teach.
then, of course, because I wasin Northern Ireland, I got
furloughed from my own job, frommy own self employment.
They paid me, I think it waslike 80 percent what I would
have made, based on like anaverage of my last three years
of employment.
So I got furloughed like fourtimes.
They just sent me big, massivepayments to my bank account.

(16:21):
It kept us floating duringCOVID.
Now, because my husband wasessential AF, he worked the
whole way through COVID.
So it was just me at home withthree children, a baby.
You know, and because I wasbookkeeping, got to do it on my
own time.
I would get on when the baby wasnapping, I would literally sit
with a cushion with the baby ontheir feet and the baby doing

(16:43):
the bookkeeping.
And I thank God every day that Iwas like brave enough to go, um,
I need to, I need to learnsomething, you know, and now
like I'm pretty solid with myaccounting, like I've done a
good bit more studying and.
You know, like the music sidelends itself really well to the
organizational side ofbookkeeping.

(17:03):
Bookkeeping is, me, it feelslike a computer game.

Yeah.

really well in my brain and I enjoy the work.
I enjoy helping people beorganized.
and it's been a really, like Ihad a six figure year last year
for the first time as a businessin a foreign country, like no, I
didn't do any live in personmarketing I did.
I did a little bit of like reelson Instagram, but most of it

(17:29):
comes from like my content thatI put out on Facebook and just
making relationships with peopleonline, which is great.

Yeah.
Congratulations.
That's a huge feat when you getto your first six figures.
That's huge.
Um, same, same here.
Six figure businesses, um, andyou're doing it from another
country.
You could do it from literallyanywhere.
When we were on the cruise shipon our honeymoon, people were
like, what do you do?
I was telling you we met a lotof people from Northern Ireland.

(17:57):
And they were like, what do youdo?
And, um, we would explain, like,oh, you know, we've been, you
know, marketing and salestraining and software for 15
years each.
And they're like, oh, so youguys could literally just live
wherever the fuck you want.
And we're like, yeah, if weneeded to work on this boat
right now, like, we could.
Granted, we set up a business ina way where we wouldn't have to
work on the boat, but that's awhole other conversation.

(18:19):
But the, the, the, um, The mainthing is yeah, we set up our
lives and how we make money in away where it does not matter
where we are We can do it We'llget to that but one of the
things that you just said that Ithink is really important to
point out is the The fact thatyou just said i'm really proud
that you basically took a riskand a bet on yourself To learn a

(18:42):
new skill that would haveallowed you to make money From
anywhere in the world.
Because even though you werealready in another country, you
were doing a lot of physical, inperson stuff.
Uh, and then this allowed you todiversify even further.
I mean, that's what allowed youto start getting American
clients.
Oh all the way over there overthe pond So, um, I want to

(19:03):
number one commend you for thatbecause that's a scary thing to
do as somebody who's taken a fewrisks In her business over the
years.
It's terrifying and number twoIt really is right, especially
when you've been used to makingmoney one way for so long and
then you change it.
Oh horrifying In the beginning,but it works itself out always

Yeah,

so I want to commend you for that number one
and number two I really want tohighlight that for the audience
Where it's like you can take abet on yourself, just like Diana
did, just like I have, just likeJustin's have, just like every
single person that we'veinterviewed on this expat story
series, that has been a commondenominator, everybody had to
take a bet on themselves first,in order to be able to make a

(19:44):
income where they couldliterally go anywhere in the
world.
So I wanted to commend you forthat.
And do you have anything to addto that?
Because there are a lot ofpeople that we speak to who just
They don't even know how itwould even be possible to do
something like that.
Like they hear about onlinemarketing, they hear about
making money online.
But, you know, maybe they're anurse, or they're, uh, sometimes

(20:05):
we'll talk to lawyers, althoughthat you can move online pretty
easily, depending on the type oflaw you do.
Um, or they'll, they'll besomething where they've been
doing things in person for solong that their brains can't
even, like, totally comprehendhow they can do this, or they're
afraid to take that risk onthemselves.
So what would you say to theperson who's in that position?
Where it's like, time to take arisk and learn something new,

(20:27):
but we're scared, and we haven'tpulled the trigger.

I think when you want something when you want
something so badly to bedifferent You have to know that
the way you're doing it has tochange the way you're, the way
that you're making money has tochange or you're not gonna get,
doing the same thing over andover again is not gonna get you
to the place that you want toget.
You have to change.
It's so hard and like I, youknow, it was terrifying when I

(20:56):
did it.
I would say for the first maybetwo years, my anxiety was
absolutely shocking, like inthat business because I was
always like, I, I do be quitehard on myself.
Like for somebody.
You know, who is quiteadaptable.
I do be quite hard on myself,but I knew I was learning and I
knew, you know, I also setmyself up in such a way that had

(21:17):
somebody to lean on.
Um, be that like a mentor, Iactually did have a couple of
coaches during this time to helpme with the social media
marketing, like people who thatis their, their whole stick was,
you know, they're teaching youlike how to market yourself, you
know, on the internet and youhave to learn that.
And like, there's many, manyentry points to like getting in

(21:39):
that, like getting into having,An affordable way of learning,
like, people offer all sorts ofdifferent ways to do that.
Like, you can join, like,networking groups.
You can join somebody's, like,group program to learn about
marketing.
That is actually where Istarted.
I started in a group programthat some coach was having where
she taught us I method to, to,um, you know, getting clients on

(22:04):
social media.
Um, and then I found out veryquickly what I didn't, didn't
like from that.
And I, I took what I wanted fromthat and I left what I didn't,
you know?

Yep.

so I just did a lot of, uh, jumping into
things like that, but I made alot of friends in those groups
and I stayed in touch with thosepeople and they ended up hiring
me and I ended up hiring them.
another thing.
Like when you get into theonline business.
When the online like community,like you will find people that
will buy from you that you'llbuy from and like, we, we sort

(22:36):
of also help each other out.
We sort of look after eachother, recommend each other.
You know,

Mmm.

will go.
Oh, I know a great bookkeeper.
Um, this girl here, like, she'sexactly what you need.
Like, you know.
Because there's all kinds of,you know, Facebook groups and
like, even forums, like, outsideof Facebook, where, like, people
can talk about you and you cango talk about what you do.
Um, there's a lot of yakety yak,like, you have to talk about
yourself a lot, you know, and belike, here's why working with me

(23:03):
is different, and, you know, allthose sorts of things, but,
yeah, you really just, you know,takes a big giant leap of faith,
but the other side is so worthit.
You know, like I, I could not,if you had told me six years
ago, like, or seven years agobefore I did any of this, Diana,
someday you're going to make sixfigures in a business that

(23:24):
you're going to run.
I would have been like, really?
Yeah.
Right.
You know what I mean?
Because I was living in thisvery, like, scarce, sort of,
Here is the glass ceiling, I canonly teach so many lessons a
week, This is all the money thatI'm ever gonna make.

Yeah.

I can hire other bookkeepers to help me, I
can scale this business, I canget to a hundred K.
Like, seven years ago, I wouldhave been like, I did what?
I mean, it's the same thing ifyou told me 17 years ago I was
going to marry an Irishman andmove to Ireland, I wouldn't have
believed you either.

Yeah.

it's just, life is crazy, and sometimes if
you just take the crazy roadthat feels the most insane,
like, it's going to bring you tothe most beautiful place on the
other side.

That, that's a really good way of putting it.
Life is crazy.
Sometimes you just have to takethe crazy road.
Same when I came to Mexico.
I initially was supposed to behere six weeks while we were
figuring out Where we want togo, what we want to do, and I
just didn't fucking go back.
And, uh, our house sitter, whowas house sitting for us, she's
actually been on the YouTubechannel, Heather Wilde, she was

(24:26):
house sitting for us, who we metbecause she was an American
moving to Mexico, and to yourpoint, she was on Facebook
asking for help, and somebodyknew that I was in Mexico and
tagged me in the post, right?
And then Heather ended up on myYouTube channel and ended up
house sitting for us.
So, I mean, it, that's how itworks.
Like, it's very natural howthese things happen.

(24:48):
Uh, but anyway, it was the samething.
She had this crazy intuition.
Actually, she just told us this,uh, yesterday.
So, she was planning on eithermoving to Asheville, North
Carolina, or, uh, East Earn,Tennessee.
And buying up some land andgoing off grid.
And she got this crazy, wildintuition that said, go to
Mexico.

(25:08):
You don't want to go to theseplaces.
Now, granted, when weinterviewed her on the channel,
all the stuff that happened inthe hurricane Helene had not
happened yet.
So she still was trying tofigure out why the fuck her
intuition had told her go toMexico.
And it was very, very strong.
She was here four days anddecided not to go back.
A few months later, the areasthat she was looking into were
decimated by a hurricane.

(25:30):
So, to your point, sometimes youjust get these really wild,
crazy intuitions that don't makeany logical sense, don't make
any sense, don't make sense toanybody around you, but ends up
saving you, or putting youexactly where you need to be,
and we need to learn how tolisten to those things.

you have to tune in like when I when I
decided so hard like I'm gonnalearn this bookkeeping thing.
I'm not gonna when I come backoff this maternity leave.
I will not be going back to thestudio every night of my life.
And I just and I had I not donethat in 2019.
It was like, just before all thecoven stuff right before I had
the baby and all I decided tostudy this.
It's like, oh my god, thank,lord.

(26:09):
Like, you know, cause had I juststayed and was like, I'm not
gonna learn this thing, I'm notgonna do anything, and just gave
up on it, I wouldn't, I wouldhave been out, I wouldn't have
had any of this, none of it.
And I would have been neverseeing my child, I would have
been leaving him with childcareall the time.

Yeah.

now I'm, I'm home every night with my kids
and I'm making dinners.
Like the first decade of ourmarriage, I joke all the time
that he was like the cook andlike he had, he was like daddy
all the time.
Like he did the homeworks, hedid bedtime, he did the cooking.
I was always teaching.
it's like, oh, it's like a newlife for me.
It's like, Changed my lifeentirely.
Like I actually get toparticipate in my family, you

That's one of the beautiful things about online
business too is that it givesyou, uh, the flexibility and the
freedom to participate infamily.
I mean, we talk a lot aboutliving in other countries in
this channel, but there's somany other benefits.
One of the main ones that wehear in the online spaces is
exactly what you just said.
Uh, both women and men who arelike, yeah, now I have actual,

(27:08):
like time to be with my kids.
Cause I set up my life that way.

yes.
And that is exactly, it was sointentional.
Everything I did was so that Iwould have time for my kids and
also as well.
And this is like a total, likeside note down like a tunnel,
but my grandmother passed awayin 2023, so the other year.
And my mom was not doing well,taking care of her at the end.

(27:32):
I got to leave Ireland.
I left here and I went home tocare for my grandmother for two
months.
I took my youngest child out ofpreschool and I was able to go
home and care for my grandmotherat the end of her life.

Yeah.

And I didn't have to worry about, like,
leaving a job.
Or telling anybody.
I just was like, I'm going over.
I'm gonna be working in thestates for the next two months.
You know, I told my clients,hey, we can have lots of
meetings because I'll be in yourtime zone and you know, and yes,
I did work through that.
But my obviously my, my supportsystem was well in place and
they were like, holding it down,but I was able to keep going,

(28:08):
you know, and I didn't have topause anything.
my husband stayed here with theother two kids, and then when
she did pass, they came out, andthen we had a lovely Christmas
at home with the family, cause Ican go back and forth as I
please as well.
So I can go home for a couple ofmonths if I need to, you

Yeah.

should happen, if the worst should happen, you
know, and your family needs you,you, you can go and your
business is still with you.

So this is actually a really good segue,
because I think you're, you'retouching on points that a lot of
people don't even necessarilythink about.
I mean, in our spaces, peopletalk about that all the time.
Um, but outside of our spaces,people don't really see how
that's even possible.
But, uh, it's kind of like thisidea of giving yourself options.
Uh, and one of the things thatwe were talking about right

(28:52):
before, uh, Um, we startedrecording was the fact that now,
because you make, technicallymake money, not even
technically, you actually makemoney from three different
countries.
Uh, how that, uh, NorthernIreland, which is a part of the
UK, the United States, and, um,Republic of Ireland, little
recap there for everybody, um,Then that's actually save your

(29:13):
ass a couple of times alreadybecause you have that, uh,
diversification and you alsohave diversification of location
and I think, especially with allthis stuff going on in, in every
country is kind of crazy rightnow in a lot of ways because
half the world went intoelections last year and
everything just seems a littlenuts, particularly in the U.

(29:36):
S.
in Canada and in Western Europeright now.
Things seem nuts

Yeah.
It's a

for.
It's a bit crazy right now withwhat's going on.
Um, and we were just talkingabout how a lot of that stuff,
um, when you, when you set upyour life in a way where you are
diversified, not just in whereyou're making your money, but
also in where you are living,uh, because you diversified how
you're making your money and itwas online or investments or

(30:03):
whatever.
And now you can diversify whereyou're living.
We were just talking about this,how like we log on to Facebook
and everyone's panicking overlike the TikTok ban in the
United States and Trump beingpresident and everyone losing
their shit, and we're kind oflike, yeah, we're just less
affected.
Like, we're just not losing ourshit in the same way that
everybody else is losing theirshit.

(30:25):
Because we set up our lives in away where there's more
diversification.
So can you speak to that alittle bit?
Because I think that is soimportant.
This is such an important, uh,concept that a lot of people
don't realize that putting allyour eggs in one basket, whether
it's how you make your money, orwhere you, what country you're
in, or what country you rely on,not such a good idea right now.

Yeah.
I mean, I think, um, I think Ilearned this a couple of years
ago.
I heard somebody say like, youknow, the whole never put your,
all your eggs in one basketthing.
And that's why I've always kepta really open mind about what
I'm doing to make money.
Um, there was a point in my lifewhere, you know, I was kind of
sad about my music career and Ididn't want to be doing any
music, but.

(31:05):
You know, after a couple ofyears of being in the
bookkeeping, I was like, okay,I'm ready to step back in and
I'm ready to step back in areally big way.
And I auditioned to be aconductor for a women's choir
down in Letterkenny, Ireland.
because I hadn't done a lot ofconducting.
I had done a bit, but like thisAmerican guy and he's an
American as well.
Crazy.
His, his wife has a job in anAmerican company down in

(31:27):
Letterkenny.
Um, hired me.
Like, because he was like,you're just, you're perfect.
You're like everything we need.
Cause like, you're, you'reextremely highly trained singer.
I have a master's degree invocal performance.
So I'm an opera singer though.
I have all that going on andhe's like, you're just perfect
for this organization.
I got this job, like, you know,amazing.

(31:48):
Um, and then I can still teachwhenever, whenever I want to
take students.
know, so if something, if theworst should happen and the U S
falls apart, all my clients losetheir businesses and they can't
hire me anymore.
I gotta do is put an ad and say,taking piano students, I will be
booked tomorrow.

Yeah.

they know who I am.
I'm well known around here.
Like I've, I've made a name formyself.
I don't, not only do I work withthat choir down there, but I
also assist with a big choir uphere in a school that's done
very well in like, Nationalcompetitions.
people know me here and I couldjust, I could book up easily.
So

the reverse is also true, right?
Where you mentioned thatsomething that Ireland kind of
had like no government for likea little while there, there was
no leadership.
And it's like, okay, well, I'mgood.

Yeah.

I've diversified how I make my money, because I
have my U.
S.
money.

Yeah, because like the, the schools and dairy
had their funding cut, and Iwas, I was told I had to get
paid less and if I wanted tokeep the job and I was like, all
right, I'll take a pay cut.
Like, I'll help the school, youknow, it was fine.
Um, so, yeah, I can really rollwith the punches here.
Like, I can really, in any givenmoment, I can change direction
if I have to, and I'm ready topivot.

(32:57):
Um, even in the bookkeepingbusiness, like, I could decide
to change niche tomorrow.
And big Ryan, I, you know, theniche that I chose to work with,
I chose to work because I, Ireally love what those people
are doing for people and howthey're, you know, helping
people with their mindset andhelping people, helping people
to, to create online businessesand create businesses that the

(33:18):
support them and their families.
So I just like very passionateabout that.
And they're usually lovelypeople.
I just like cool people.
So I was like, I want to workwith cool people.
So let's get these kinds ofbusinesses, you know?
Um, so yeah, no.
It sounds, it actually, itsounds really big when I'm
really actually talking aboutit.
It's not something I really everSuper thought about until now.

(33:40):
It's like, yeah, I'm alldiversified.
And it all just kind of happenedfrom a place of love for my
family and wanting to be able tobe really in two places at one
time, whenever I want to be,like, if I want to be in the
States, then I need to be ableto cut loose and go, actually it
landed out of necessity, really.
It was like, I have no choicebut to make this business work

(34:00):
because I will no longer acceptthat.

That's actually where the magic happens.
So we were doing a coachingintensive with one of our
business consulting clientsyesterday and This is what a lot
of people don't understand,speaking about mindset, right?
A lot of people, uh, are alwayschasing money, and they're
chasing money because of what itmeans to them, or woundedness
around self worth, or, a lot ofhigh achievers actually have,

(34:26):
they're just like, using,they're just high achieving
because of trauma.

Yeah.
Oh yeah, for sure.

sure,

sure there's a little bit of that going on over
here.
I'm not going to lie.

All of us, all of us, right?
All of us.
Um, but what's interesting, um,is, And this is a cognition I
had maybe in the last coupleyears when I was ready to get
married.
And, uh, cause I had like almostseven figure business, uh, I
went through a situation wheremy father was very ill, almost

(34:56):
lost his life twice while thatwas going on.
It was a shit show.
And I didn't realize up until,um, that moment, like, oh,
you've been chasing money as ameans of safety and security and
achievement this whole time.
But you haven't really, andyou've been making good money,
right?
Haven't been keeping it, butyou've been making good money.
It wasn't keeping it cause ofthe trauma.
Um, And I realized in thatmoment, whoa, you have to do a

(35:19):
whole 180 on life here, becauseyou've been putting money as
like the number one thing,thinking that that would solve
all the other problems, when inreality, you have to start with
what you desire first, and thendesigning how you make your
money around that.
That changed everything.
Changed everything and whatyou're telling me right is that

(35:39):
that's pretty much what you did,right?
It's like I'm putting my desiresfirst and then the money is
gonna sort itself out, but I'mgoing to You know, I put my
desires first the solutionshowed up I took the required
action for the solution and Itook that risk on myself and
then I got what I wanted Whichis usually how this goes.

(36:00):
The problem is that most peopleare hardwired for safety and
security So then that's why theydon't do it.

I mean, there is a whole side of like, I am
not accepting this anymore.

Oh, there's also that.
Yes.

that like you go, you know, the universe
brings something in and you'relike, hmm Do I want this can
totally go.
No, I don't want it it back andthat sends a message, right?
That's not what I'm acceptingand then try again, you know And
and it's just it's kind of trialand error a wee bit too like I

(36:34):
was joking the other day thepath to 100k is lined with non
really bad fit clients becauseLike last year was tough.
Like I had a lot of clients thatwere not great fits that That
came and went and, you know, Imade a hundred K yes, but like,
I didn't have all the, itwasn't, it wasn't perfectly
suited.
Like not

Right.

was working with that I feel great about,
but I decided this year that I'mgoing to be extremely picky.
And it's again, it's that likefollowing what you want to, to
get to the, that really sweetspot.
Cause like, I believe I canstill make that kind of money,
but have people that I'm likereally excited to serve.

But see, that's the magic formula that I'm
hearing from you.
It's the fact that you have thebelief in these things and that
these things exist for you.

they

That's the magic.

course there is.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm the abundance bookkeeperIt's all here for me

Yeah.

totally believe that like I I hear that
in my head sometimes when I'mout and about in Ireland and
something Is really beautiful.
I'm like this is all here forme.
This is all it's for me rightnow,

But that's a really beautiful thing, because
I think what happens sometimes,and we'll see it with our
audience, is people feel likethey don't have options.
So they're like, I don't haveoptions in the United States, so
I want to leave.
I don't have options for work,so I'm trying to figure this
thing out.
And it's not necessarily comingfrom an empowered place, um, of
this, I desire to move toanother country, or I desire to
make money online, or I desireto shift my life in some way, A

(37:59):
lot of times, uh, and I'm notsaying it's all of you, right,
but a lot of times it, it soundsmore like people feeling like
they don't have options.

Yeah.

what you're telling me is, and which is also
what I believe, is there arealways options.

Yeah.
Yeah,

Always.

to believe you gotta believe You just gotta
believe.
Like, you gotta be like, yes,this, this does exist for me.
Because you can get stuck in thelike, wishing and hoping phase
of something.
But once you start taking thatinspired action towards
something, it just Like, for me,when I was like, I'm gonna be a
bookkeeper, I'm gonna do thiscourse, everything just started
rolling.

Yep.

know, it's almost just like just getting it
started.
Just, just make a start, dosomething to move yourself,
propel yourself in thatdirection, any forward motion.
And it'll all, it will all just,it really does just fall into
place when you believe entirelythat it's there for you.

That is there for you.
And that's, and it's interestinghow, um, Going back to the
intensive I was talking aboutwith the client, like she was
having these issues in herbusiness and it was like over
complicated.
And then I was like, okay, takemoney off the table.
What do you actually want?
Because a lot of people will belike, I want money or even I
need money.
I'm like, take that shit off thetable.

(39:13):
Money is a non issue.
Then you're going to find outwhat people really want, right?
Which is interesting.
And then, in the case of thisclient, we were seeing how what
she actually desired was she wasready to call in her husband,
but she was avoiding the workthat she had to do for that by
overcomplicating her business.
Right.

Not like that exact situation, but there are
definitely some times where I'mlike, I'm working to get away
from something.
My three kids.
That was terrible.
No, but like, I mean, I would.
I would get in that sort oflike, I'm avoiding something by
doing all this work right now.

But the good thing is you're aware of it.
Yeah, this particular person.
Yeah,

Yeah.

particular person wasn't aware of the pattern She
was playing right?
I'm like, okay So if you justadmit that you want the husband
and then you start taking thesteps to actually want the
husband Then here's what we cando in the business and then it
like totally oversimplified notoversimplified But it simplified
what she was doing that wasn'tworking So now it's easier and
it brings money and faster, butwe have to start with the real

(40:17):
desire first

Yeah.

In order to get there.
And that's what a lot of peopledo not realize, because
everybody starts with moneyfirst.

you can't do that.
Like, that's why they alwayssay, what's your why?
Like, that's one of my favoriteones that everybody go, what is
your why?
And it's like, what?
the why can't be, I just wantthis money.
It has to be

Right, and I've also noticed

I went, yeah,

I'm now realizing that that's a horrible question.
I'm now gonna ask people, whatis your, what is your, what,
take money off the table, what'syour actual desire?
Because if you go into the why,a lot of people are like, I
wanna save, it get, yeah,people, I wanna save mankind.
I'm like no no no, we're stilllike not really understanding
here.

What do you want?

What do you desire?
And

Yeah.

a, that's a hard thing for people to, You To
answer, especially, you know,in, well, everywhere all over
the world, but we're bothAmerican, like, the American
culture is like, what can youproduce and how do you survive?
So, most people are not evenaccustomed to asking themselves
that question, and at the sametime, you know, the whole
American idea is you can havewhatever you want.

(41:25):
So it's an interesting thing.
It's an interesting thing.

yeah, I don't know if I believe that anymore
about America

About the country, yeah.
I mean, about the country andthe way it's being governed,
probably not, but that's why Itell people, like, don't get
attached to a country, right?
Because America is an idea.
And the idea of America is youcan have whatever you want, no
matter where you came from orwhat the circumstances were, it
is here for you.
That's the idea, right?

(41:54):
Uh, which is unique in theworld.
That is the idea.
Um,

Yeah

what's happening, uh, in reality.
But then I go back to, well,we're all just extras in a big
giant game of Risk while thesegovernments do whatever they
want, so.
So, therefore, stop beingattached.

like I'm not gonna be at the mercy of
anybody's government.
I keep telling I keep sayingthat over and over here I'm just
like yeah, I have no governmentbut uh, and not gonna not gonna
let it Affect me like cuz I'vegot a got things to do Not

Exactly, right?
Um, and when people, and whenyou're living among multiple
countries, and you're makingyour money from different
places, it's easier to detach.
So let's be honest, because alot of people in the comments
have said, how do you detachfrom what's going on in the news
in the United States or whatevercountry?
And I'm like, I, it's notproductive to what I'm trying to
do, so I just don't pay thatmuch attention to it.

(42:47):
However Much easier to do thatwhen you've diversified yourself
among different countries,diversified how you make money,
and have given set up your lifein a way where you have given
yourself options.
Because if you have options,there's no need reason to get
attached to anything.

exactly.

All right, well, tell the people where they can
find you, and then I'm gonna endit with one question.

Okay.
Um, well I have a website.
It's, um, abundancebookkeeper.com.
Um, I also have Facebook.
I am the Abundance Bookkeeper asmy business page, but I'm also
Diana McLaughlin, so you'll findme.
There's a big smiley face andthis bright blonde hair.
Um, and I'm on Instagram aswell.
I think I'm THE abundancebookkeeper on Instagram, but if

(43:33):
you throw in abundance andbookkeeper, I will come up.
Um, I'm even on LinkedIn, butI'm, eh, not so much.
But I'm, someday I'm gonna be onYouTube.
Ha! Ha

you're gonna do the YouTube workshop and we're
getting you on YouTube.
You're doing it for yourbirthday, right?
That's what's gonna go on there.

Yeah,

gonna, it's gonna be a birthday present for
yourself to do the YouTubeworkshop to start diversifying
off of meta, but that's a wholeother conversation happening in
the business space right nowthat we don't have time to get
into right now about alsodiversifying, uh, where your
clients come from on.
Social media.
Um, so we'll make sure to putthat out.
If there are any expats here whoare listening, who already have

(44:11):
businesses, reach out to her,uh, cause it's one thing to
understand bookkeeping.
It's another thing to understandthe expat life, uh, which is
different than the non expatlife, let's just put it that way
and taxes and all the stuff thatcomes with that.
When you are a U S expat.
So it's helpful to have peoplewho get it because it's a
different situation.

(44:32):
So make sure to reach out toher.
And the last question I have foryou is what is one final piece
of advice you have for the oneswho are aspiring expats?
Cause we'll talk to a lot ofpeople who haven't made that
leap yet.
They still got to figure somestuff out, namely how they're
making money.

Okay.
Um, I think it's, it's similarto something I said earlier, and
it's just start making moves,like start moving in the
direction of whatever it isthat, that you, that you believe
you can do.
And, you know, I mean, you'reall smart enough, you know,
like, you really can learnanything on the Internet.
Um, if there's something thatyou fancy, and you're like, I

(45:12):
think I might like to try that.
Just start, just start now.
Like, get started.
You won't regret, like, making amove in that direction, because,
you know, if it's all meant tobe, like, it, it all just, it
will just come, it will go, aslong as you are making the
inspired action.
And, to put in that effort,like, towards that goal.

(45:32):
So, I think that's, yeah.
Just start, just do the thingthat you're, like, thinking
about doing that's negative,that's, like, n n nagging you in
your mind.
Like, I think I could kinda, Ithink I could do that.
Cause, like, I mean, I easilycould've, like, Not bothered
taking that course easily.
I could have been like, Oh, thatwas one of them like little
rabbit holes that I almost wentdown.

(45:54):
But like, if

Or it's a scam.
Yeah.
Or it's a scam or it's nevergoing to work for me or, yeah.

yeah.
Like it totally felt like, I waslike, is this real?
And I was like, okay, there'snot much financial risk.
I'll just go.
But like.
You know, if there is somethingthat is legitimate, like, I
mean, check the legitimacy, um,and I did, I did check up on all
this and, like, made sure thatthis was legit, like, that this
is a real CPA who is teaching methis, and she was, and she is,

(46:22):
um, so, yeah, check thelegitimacy and just go for it,
like, just, just get started,start doing something to move
yourself in the direction thatyou want to go,

I think that's a beautiful place to end it,
because that's, uh, there'ssomeone in Dominican Republic
who's an online marketer, andI'm translating right now, but
she says something along thelines, everything that was big
once started small.

Yeah.

You just have to start.

You just got to start.
I had one client my first yearin business

Yeah.

you know, while I was home with a baby and
two other kids during COVID,

Yeah, but you're proof that, that when you take
that risk on yourself, it alljust works out.
And you're also proof that, uh,when you, you create your life
with intention, it works out.
Um, and I think that's a bigthing that we talk about on this
channel too, is like, Having alife of intention, you know,
lifestyle design, like, how doyou actually want to live and
design your life around that,because even though it may not

(47:17):
look like you have the optionsto do that, especially with all
the crazy shit going on withgovernments all over the world,
it might look like that, but youdo actually have options.

yeah, well, for sure.
And don't don't listen toanybody who hasn't done it
themselves.
That's

A hundred percent.
Yes,

to anyone who hasn't done it.

Yeah, we will hear that from people all the
time.
They're like, Oh yeah, I'm goingto go talk to like my uncle or
third cousin and get theiradvice on this.
I'm like, well, did they do whatyou want to do?
No.
Then why are you fuckinglistening to them?
That doesn't make any sense.

Exactly.

Zero cents.
Take it from people who'veactually done what it is that
you want to do.
And I could go off on a wholetangent on how, uh, family
members and people who are notsupportive, uh, are just trying
to keep you safe, ultimately, atthe end of the day.
So, which is fine, right?
But not exactly the people thatyou want to listen to when
you're trying to make a big lifechange because they're going to

(48:09):
want to keep you safe.

Yeah.

is, you know, Yeah, the well meaning ones,
right?
There's a small percentage thatthey just don't want to see you
succeed.
But the well meaning ones, whichis most people, just are going
to want to keep you safe.
Not quite.
Yeah.

when I got married, my parents were like,
why are you moving?
Like, you know, they really, Ithink they really were
heartbroken.
And we're actually like, theywere like, there was a moment
where we were thinking aboutjust telling you we weren't
going to allow you to go.
It's like, mommy, I was 24 and Iwas a married woman, you know,
but like, and all parents be alittle bit scared.
They do be like, you're talkingabout going to another country,

Right.
Yeah.

you know, but yeah, if you want that thing.
You just got to start.

You just gotta start, and you gotta believe you
can have it.
Well, thank you so much, Diana,for giving us your time today,
and really sharing some realnuggets of wisdom that I don't
think have come up at all onthis channel yet.
So thank you so much for sharingthat, and really,

welcome.

this for people and really giving a lot of the
people, um, just the example andalso the hope, like, yes, it can
be done.
We can do this and you can havethe kind of life that you want.
You just have to take that stepand build the momentum to
actually get it.

That's it.

Alright everybody, we will catch you
guys on the next one.
If you like this, leave us acomment below.
Subscribe, leave us a review.
Y'all know the deal, just do allthe things.
And we will catch you all on thenext one.
Bye everybody!

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How to Globally Diversify Your Income with Diana McLaughlin

24/7 News: The Latest