Join us for our most recent Beyond Borders interview with Johannes, a passionate nomad now based in Taiwan.

Johannes was born and raised in Germany and holds a degree in education science and sociology, political science and sociology, and law and finance — yet we met him as a top-notch SEO consultant and self-made entrepreneur living with his wife and children in Taiwan. We were curious to hear if this part of the journey was fate all along — or if Johannes simply knows how to spot life-changing opportunities when he sees them.

Johannes’ journey to Taiwan, love led the way and entrepreneurial success followed

Q: What prompted you to relocate to Taiwan?

This is an easy answer, even if it’s cheesy: Love. 

During my master’s degree, I did an internship in China and there met my future wife, who is from Taiwan. We were long-distance for a bit, which honestly was a disaster, with a fair amount of hopping back and forth to see each other. After about a year of that, I finally found got hold of a job in Tapei. Later on, we relocated to my wife’s hometown, and I started working remotely from there. Now we have two girls, one is three years old, the other just ten months. They are my everything.

That being said, I always knew I was going to settle outside of Germany, and Taiwan really is amazing.

Q: How did you prepare for relocating?

I think the best preparation for relocating is having done it before. 

I grew up in a small German village called Dossenheim (which I’m sure nobody has ever heard of), but I already had my first contact with living abroad during my time at university, where I took semesters abroad in Spain and later Brazil. After completing my second bachelor's degree, I lived in South America for four years (where I worked as a language teacher) and then came back to Europe to get a law degree in Rome

From the very first moment I lived outside of Germany, I knew I wouldn’t be coming back. That mindset stays with you, and from there on out, it doesn’t make a huge difference where you end up in the end. 

Besides that, I had luckily gotten to know China and Taiwan through some of my previous stays. Even if you think you love a country from having been there on holiday, I don’t think you can make an educated decision about whether you want to permanently live there without having stayed there for longer periods beforehand. If you move somewhere without having gotten to know the annoying parts of that place, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Q: Did you face any challenges or adjustments?

It was a tough time figuring out my career — as you can see, there’s a clean break from anything I had studied before. That’s nice because it afforded me a fresh start, but I didn’t have a concrete plan for where I was heading. I worked in sales for a bit, serving German clients, and switched jobs thrice before finally settling in an SEO agency and pursuing that field from then on. 

On a very practical level, figuring out all my documentation without speaking traditional Chinese was pretty difficult, which my wife could help out with, but then she couldn’t read the documents I needed from Germany. Beaurocracy is a long and stressful process, especially stuck between two countries that don’t have close diplomatic relations, and it never really stops — as soon as you have children you start the whole thing over again.

Q: How did you overcome these challenges?

Sometimes, you’re given a lucky break — when that happens, you better take advantage of it. In my case, I wasn’t 100% sure how I had landed the gig at the SEO agency, but I immediately did everything in my power to make the most of it and excel at my job. 

I wouldn’t want to say that it was easy by any means. It was hard, it was challenging, it was unstable. In fact, that’s where these journeys might simply end for a lot of people, but I knew I wasn’t going home. So you just push through and make it work. In a way, knowing that there’s no way out helps you to succeed.

Q: Were there any support systems or resources that helped you settle into the new location?

My wife is my best support system, particularly because she’s very organized.

I honestly don’t think that I took full advantage of the “traditional” expat community here, which is quite extensive. Between my wife and family, I had a pretty set social structure to rely on.

Q: What is the one thing you wish you had known before relocating?

I don’t know if this is the type of answer you’re looking for, but a key thing I realized when coming to Taipei was that I didn’t possess any tangible skills. All of my degrees were theoretical and didn’t have practical implications. I wish I had invested much earlier in a specific skill and passion and let go of this very German idea that academia is all. 

From the moment I got into SEO, I haven’t looked back. Had I known this was my career path before relocating, it would’ve easily removed the most stressful moments of the move. 

Also, as general advice: it’s all well and good to be submersed in theory — but nothing makes you quite as good a student as being thrown into real projects and knowing you’ll lose your job if you can’t meet your employer’s or clients’ expectations. I highly recommend it to anybody who wants to learn fast.

Q: How do you like your remote working life now? 

There’s a stereotype that Taiwan hasn’t a great work-life balance — I think there’s a fair amount of truth to it. Remote work probably doesn’t make it any better.

You need to be a working machine over here — that is probably the biggest downside compared to life back in Germany. Like many others, I’ve also noticed a disconnect from social life, as well as having a hard time separating work time from private time, like learning to not look at your laptop anymore once you shut it off after eight. I think those are two factors I want to work on shortly, especially to focus on my family.

I would never get mad about remote working though, at the end of the day it’s a gift, and I know I’d hate to lose it, as much as I like to complain.

My dream would be a hybrid work setting, two office days a week maybe. I feed from other people’s energy, but I also know I’m less productive in the office, and I love the flexibility I get from working remotely — a hybrid solution would offer me the best of both worlds.

Q: Any parting words for us?

As far as your work is concerned, have a plan B, C, and D. Remote jobs are great, but they are often much more fickle than traditional employment — especially if you freelance or have fractional positions. I’ve seen it so often that even with a termination notice, some companies just run out of liquidity one day.

I think that as an expat, ideally, your endgame is to have your own business, which is why having a specific, practical skill is so valuable. Having your own business allows for so much more movement in your life if you’re abroad, and creates immense security and independence if you play your cards right. 

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