evolution of a global niche, or how to use an identity crisis to your advantage

8/7/2019 Evolution of a global niche, or how to use an identity crisis to your advantage

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wha s his global

niche ill be

demonstrating through

my own journey?

a concept & a communityyou can use to find

success in the wide, wide

world you live in


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steps to seeking a

global niche

dream of belonging

playing with culturalidentity

achieve new sense of

personal & pro self


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were all over the mapcan you tell where in the world you belong by a map of your

relationships, associations and interests?

(this is a map of my facebook contacts)

image: my friend map


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dreaming of a life and

community beyond the

one surrounding us

right place, right people

where we can lead our ideal

lifestyle

&

livelihood -- work you love so much

it feels like play?

youre not alone! most of us exist in

a situation mismatch


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stripping away the modern world

revealed the truly unfamiliar...

read historical travelogue

acted in the period film anna & the

king -- euro lady in the tropics, circa

1865 -- felt discomforts of being out of

cultural element, burdens of

mismatched expectations

image: anastasia ashman


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played with themes ofexploration, crossroads and

contrasts. started to

experience fusion!(here, an early web venture, 1998 )



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flashforward to 2003: moved

to turkey with my turkish

husband

planned to write my

own asian complaint

travelogue

-- about surviving beingabandoned on a snake-

infested island, and cast

adrift in pirate-filled

waters.

(no metaphor, that

really happened!)

image: andrea bucci


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collection gave new

view into my character

enjoyed working at home, yet

in collaboration with many

others globally

an extroverted introvert (or,

introverted extrovert,

whichever!)

a homebody who loves

connection with the wider

world ...


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the harem, turkey, & the work

itself showed we can survive

(& thrive!) in limbo

we can beembedded in a

place, yet be

forever alien


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found my historical

counterparts

in the harem& my contemporary peers:

foreign women in modern turkey

(100 women in 14 nations

answered the call for submissions, wow!)

image:sabah


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overseas & repatriated turks

identified with the books

outsider-view-from-the-inside(since theyre insiders on the outside?)



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also found my cultural

peers around the globe

turkophiles & travelers

middle eastern studies types

women writers, cultural

writers

expats worldwide


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no longer alone in my

cultural limbo...

yet still out of synch with

mainstream & home country

american publishers suspectedbooks audience nonexistent

turkey too niche a topic, no

defined genre for expat lit (if

were abroad = were traveling!)

15 new york publishing houses

passed before sale


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audiences around world prove

mainstream predictions wronglocal, regional & national bestseller lists in 3

countries

recommended by national geographic traveler,lonely planet & new york times


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when usas top morning tv program

today show comes to istanbul in

2008, expat harem editors explain

turkey to 5 million americans


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but we had

nowhere to

meet



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wanted to see what was

beyond the book

what would cultural

peers tied together in

the virtual realm

want to discuss?

what could we do

together?


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recognized were living

in a new social order

traditional bonds

(family, culture,nation!) no longer the

only meaningful ones


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today our connections can be

based on interest, experience,

worldview

rise of the

social web

now we can find

our true peers

and learn from

each other


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for example, im not defined only asan expat-woman-writer-in-turkey.

hope to honor many other

associations...


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launched group blog/community, 2009

expanded our circle to include:

expats everywhere & intentional travelers

global nomads & multiculturalists

third culture kids & immigrants

men welcome -- if they dare to join a harem

anyone in cultural limbo (were all speaking same

language of *identity adventure*!)


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expatharem.com becomesa neoculture hub

a niche for globalists...


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expat+HAREM community

starts teaching me

during a podcast discussion with

10 members

saw were all using our creativityto manage multi-faceted, cross-

national lives

...flexible skills & perspectives webring to all our endeavors


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while launching

community site, also

working on 2nd book.

memoir about

friendship with a

multiple personality

career suicide to shift topic after last 5 years?

would i lose my audience?

problem: needed author platform to show cultural

writer shifting to psychological topic.

solution: emphasized *identity* in new sites

mission, how its formed through culture.

getting away from strictly travel focus.


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theres always a link between past & future work,

just have to pinpoint how we are evolving...

eureka!we have multiple cultural personalities

caring for each is key to our health & happiness

image: unknown


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discover our true literary territory

exploring what makes expat lit & hybrid life

writing different than travel writing:

people like us are more concerned with psyche

issues and personality changes

also learning from


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also learning from

LIFESTYLE DESIGN,

LOCATION INDEPENDENT,

DIGITAL NOMAD MOVEMENTS

global citizens can

benefit from gate-jumping

new paradigms

*HOWEVER* ...

focus on mobility &

freedom to choose where

to live, ideal is to become

unrooted. a common

question: how can i live

on a beach in thailand by

running a blog?

image: digital nomads


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sensed our communitys

question is different

were already unrooted, or unable

to solve our limbo problem with a

simple location change.

there are plenty of other reasons

why-we-are-where-we-are...


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we want to know: how can i live

the life i want -- where ever i

happen to be?

how to live/work to our

abilities, independent of alocations limitations

...a

more universal problem, since

were not always in the optimal

setting to achieve our dreams


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the answer is not to

defer our dreams:

instead...

lets achieve

*psychic* location

independence

true definition emerges


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true definition emerges

& a mission, 2010

Glo bal niche, n.

a psychic solution to

your global identity

crisis

community mission: to

*find* our global niche


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psychic location

independence

operate to your

fullest potential

personally &

professionally

wherever you are

(or come from)

--> & wherever

youre goingimage: anastasia ashman

cofounded a mastermind


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cofounded a mastermind

workgroup for creative pros,

2010

to forge belonging &

livelihoods based on our

unique strengths and

interests

playing withpossibilities to

find ourselves, our

audience, our peers

we build professional web

platforms to reflect our

place in the world, connect

to relevant people and

communities, then integrate

into offline activities

join us on linked-in and

facebook!


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today, fusing past work

with future plans

the workgroup

plus

expat+HAREMs mission to makepsychic limbo a productive state

... an exciting new spin-offproject => a global niche

workgroup


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codeveloping a private

educational community

for people like you:

transglobal & multicultural

dreamers in a situation mismatch

maybe youre still in your hometown, or

surrounded by people speaking a languageyoure not proficient at (of the tongue or some

other kind!), or your best customers are 10 time

zones away...

putting theory


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putting theory

into practice

an educational

community of

psychic peers

skills/tools to

*find & build* your

global niche

to learnabout our upcoming launch:

please visit

globalniche.net

evolution of a global niche, or how to use an identity crisis to your advantage

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