Following several articles on Croats finding their happiness abroad, one entrepreneur offers their arguments for staying, living and working in Croatia.
All too often, we hear endless stories about how terrible life in Croatia can be, how it pays to take advantage of the country’s membership of the European Union and jump on a bus or a plane to Germany, the UK or Ireland, and how difficult the economy is to crack here at home.
Slavonia is gradually emptying and in spite of praiseworthy efforts from the Ministry of Finance, the overall picture is still bleak unless you’ve been fortunate enough to find permanent employment. It is drummed into us and it paints a much blacker image of the country than one would expect. However, there are those out there who not only live and work in Croatia, making a success of both of those factors, but encourage others to do so, too.
Poslovni Dnevnik introduces us to the blogger ”Entrepreneur in Croatia”, who, following a multitude of articles about Croats who found happiness abroad, decided to write a post about why staying and working in Croatia can pay off if the defeatist attitude is dropped.
“For years, I’ve been listening to entrepreneurs from different industries, about how difficult it is, how difficult it is to break through and to secure financial freedom, and how difficult it is to pay to the state everything that it wants. True, it’s hard to earn above average money from your job in Croatia, especially if you don’t have a relationship and a relative to push you. But, most honestly, achieving happiness and prosperity in our country isn’t impossible. Many have succeeded in doing so, perhaps because they think this way…
1. If everything is in the ”banana” (messed up), which is how negative and pessimistic people present it to be, nobody would get new jobs, promotions, go the sea and go skiing, pick up half the trade during downsizing, or go away with friends… So let’s conclude that for some people, the glass is simply always half empty, and for some, even when it’s really difficult, it will always be half full. That optimism will push them even further and it will be great for them!
2. There are all the more of us who’ve been studying innovative knowledge for years, and ”get” [understand] technology. We can help each other respectively, which we do through xxxx support groups, lectures and gatherings, and each of us has the same chance of creating something new. Is that not the greatest freedom?
3. We can always leave, apply for jobs in the popular Germany or some other country, but is it not easier and more simple to start something of your own (or for someone else) in the country where we understand the language, the procedures, where we can argue in a quality way if it’s required of us, where we can request for our rights [to be fulfilled], and fight on?
4. Sometimes it’s incredibly difficult to move forward from your starting point for years, and many don’t succeed even after a decade of work to get a promotion, better rights or to change jobs. But there is always, always a way to earn another part-time wage… each of us is born with special skills, mastery, a love for some hobby, and you can use that specific knowledge!
5. Those who are going to live and work outside Croatia quickly realise: “Now I have money, but I miss my home, my country, my language and my customs. I’ll always be a stranger here…” and they’re basically waiting to come back. Would it not be better if we already realised that nostalgia ”skews” everything, stand on the ball, save your nerves, arm yourself with patience and little by little, build, build, and build everything else here?
Life passes by in a moment and we don’t even turn around [to see it], so be the one to fight for yourself and your family, never give up, and just work, work, work… because you’ll certainly survive and prosper that way. However hard it is for you, always find happiness and pleasure in small things and most of all, find love in everything, because at the end of the day, the most important thing is that you have someone to hold. Everything else will be a part of your life, sometimes more [important], sometimes less [important]. Be happy with little and you’ll get more and more!
