Featured Lifestyle Designer: Reto Stuber

Goodbye Switzerland, the US is calling me! Why I left Switzerland behind and crossed the ocean to pursue a new life in New York

When I finally realized that passion is the most important thing in life, I took action. Like my great grandfather before, I left my Swiss home, took a ship and arrived at the New York harbor in April 2009 with two bags and a dream in my head.

William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925), the youngest major presidential nominee in U.S. history and Secretary of State, said: “Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” He is right, and I am happy that I left my comfort zone and moved from Switzerland to the US to work towards my destiny. I strongly believe that everyone should follow their passion.

My aim is to do whatever pleases me, and make money with that – preferably over the internet. I am not talking about multilevel marketing or get-rich-quick stuff. No, I have a passion for writing and positioned myself as the US correspondent for German speaking companies. I conduct interviews and write articles for them, and the companies can refer to me as their US outpost. My passion was always to read, explore, write and pass on what I’ve learned.  This goes back to my childhood.

Therefore I started my new business as a writer in the US a couple months ago. A bunch of people liked my idea and refer to me as their US correspondent. I am very lucky to jump start my new business in the recession. Of course, I have a lot of different areas of expertise, but I decided to target a niche with little competition.

After a couple weeks, I decided to outsource some of the repetitive tasks to people in Germany and Asia. Although, I am not a guy who works 4 hours a week… I love what I do, and I work hard to make my writing business sustainable. The idea that I don’t have to do everything on my own sticks to my mind – therefore I try to streamline the processes and outsource to other people. It is not always easy, it takes time to instruct and you have to delegate power to someone else.

…and then it happened! Why I needed to leave everything behind

I worked hard on my career in Switzerland. So why did I leave?  I always wanted to live in a foreign country, but I thought the setting of my Swiss life would not allow doing so. I told myself that it is my destiny to stay there and work on my career – otherwise an opportunity for me would have come up, right?

Then it struck me like lightning: I KNEW, now or never was the time to move to the states and leave everything behind! Suddenly this was crystal clear to me, and there was no other option. I knew that the consequences would be tough, not only for me. But the time to leave my life and the security in Switzerland behind had come – and I was ready now to trade it in for a new experience. Back home I told my family, friends and colleagues that I have to leave. Initially, everyone was surprised and shocked, but they accepted my decision and supported my move to the US.

What I would like to share with you

I know that I have everything I need, to create the life of my dreams. You learned a little bit about me. And even though my story sounds smooth, there were times of struggle and question marks, and they still come up. But we are in charge to decide how to deal with that.

This is what I learned, so far:

• Take Action! If you know that things in your life are not right, then it is your duty to take action and change it! No one else will step up for you. And it is okay to make changes.
• There is no easy way! Face it: you will have to work hard to live the life of your dreams, therefore you better start now and develop a healthy work ethic. Make sure that tension and relaxation are in balance.
• Focus! New opportunities and ideas arise every day, but to be successful you have to focus your energy and passion and get things done.
• Set goals. Be specific and write them down, and then work, work, work to achieve em. You need passion, your resources, skills and a dream to succeed! Not more, not less.
• Live in the Now! Yesterday is long gone, tomorrow will come soon enough. Of course you shall plan, but only to revise the plan and adopt to what life has to offer for you.
• Delay gratification. Sometimes you have to wait until you can reap what you saw. Be patient and give the world some time to pay you back.
• Don’t do all by yourself. Find people to support you, talk to experts and outsource some of your duties to someone else.
• Be good! Make someone else’s life better, and yours will be better

Reto Stuber is a young entrepreneur who lives in New York City. You can find more details about him at http://www.retostuber.com, or Twitter.