EP 51: The Messaging Strategist Who Moved to Sweden for Love and Built a Business to Prove a Point

What happens when you move across the world for love, find yourself in a country where you don't speak the language, and decide that starting over at the bottom is simply not an option? In this episode, Jamie sits down with Colleen Florendo (messaging and thought leadership strategist, founder of Selfishly Expressed, part-time vegan, senior Swiftie, and chair dance enthusiast) for a conversation about identity, voice, and what it really means to build a business and a life that is unapologetically yours. Colleen moved from the Philippines to Stockholm, Sweden in the middle of a pandemic for love. And instead of restarting a corporate career in a language she didn't speak, she did something that turned out to be the most aligned decision she's ever made: she built something entirely her own. Her reason? Partly passion. Partly, as she'll tell you herself, pure selfishness, and she's not sorry about it. In this episode, we talk about: ✨ Why Colleen left a corporate marketing career behind to start a business from scratch in a country she'd never visited, and the two very specific reasons she did it that she calls her "selfish reasons" ✨ The moment a human design reading reframed everything she'd been told about being "too selfish", and how it became the foundation of her entire brand ✨ Why she stopped asking clients "who is your ideal client?" and started asking "what do you actually want to talk about?", and the dramatic difference it makes ✨ How she helped a fat loss coach escape the endless race to the bottom of competing on pounds, and land on a message that actually lit her up ✨ The identity she quietly left behind when she moved abroad, and why nobody talks about what it costs you when you can no longer be the version of yourself that the people who love you have always known ✨ Why she's been holding back on her Substack, and the conversation that might have just changed that ✨ What "selfishly expressed" actually means, and why choosing yourself first is one of the most selfless things you can do This one is for every woman who has been building a business based on what the market wants instead of what she actually wants to say. 🔗 Find Colleen on TikTok: @selfishlycolleen📩 Read her Substack: Selfishly Expressed🎁 Grab her free three-week email series: The Messaging Artist Is You — find the link at selfishlyexpressed.com Connect with me on Instagram: @vandercreativeco and @itsjamievander