What I Know Now That I Wish I'd Known Then

The practical version first.

Get your Talent Passport dossier started earlier than you think you need to it takes time, and the prefecture appointment comes faster than expected once the file is in. Open a French bank account before you arrive. Find your expert-comptable before you need one, not after. Understand your revenue buckets from day one if you're mixing service income and product sales. Learn enough French to apologize, thank people, and ask for help; the rest follows.

The honest version.

You will feel incompetent for longer than you expect. There will be weeks when the paperwork defeats you, the language defeats you, and you wonder why you didn't just stay somewhere familiar. That feeling is part of it. It doesn't mean you made the wrong call.

The question I get asked most is whether I'd do it again. The answer is yes immediately, without hesitation. Not because it's been easy. Because it's been real. Because I'm doing the work I actually want to do, in a place that genuinely made it possible. And, I’ve grown so much, and so much more than I would have staying somewhere familiar.

That's perhaps the most important matter.