156. All You Need to Know Before Relocating to Mexico with Asha Farrah

Thinking about relocating to Mexico? Whether you’re craving a lower cost of living, a fresh start, or a better work-life balance, moving to a new country comes with plenty of questions. How do you choose the right city? What are the visa and residency options? And what’s daily life really like for expats in Mexico?

In this episode of The Traveling Therapist Podcast, I sit down with Asha Farrah, a therapist who successfully transitioned her life and business to Mexico. She shares her experience relocating to Mexico, the biggest lessons she learned, and practical tips to help others make the move with confidence. If you’ve been considering a big life change, this episode and Asha’s expertise will help you prepare for a smooth transition.

In This Episode, We Explore…

• The biggest factors to consider before relocating to Mexico as an expat.
• How Asha chose her ideal location based on lifestyle, budget, and community.
• Visa and residency options for those looking to move to Mexico long-term.
• The realities of daily life in Mexico, including healthcare, housing, and work-life balance.
• Tips for making a smooth transition while maintaining your career or private practice.

Connect with Asha:
https://www.mexpatdreamers.com/
https://www.instagram.com/mexpatdreamers/
https://www.facebook.com/mexpatdreamers

Are you ready to take the plunge and become a Traveling Therapist? Whether you want to be a full-time digital nomad or just want the flexibility to bring your practice with you while you travel a couple of times a year, the Portable Practice Method will give you the framework to be protected!
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Connect with me:

• www.instagram.com/thetravelingtherapist_kym
• www.facebook.com/groups/onlineandtraveling/
• www.thetravelingtherapist.com

The Traveling Therapist Podcast is Sponsored by:

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:02

I'm Kim Tolson and I'm the traveling therapist. It's my passion to teach therapists how to navigate online private practices and multiple income streams so they can travel the world. I'm a digital nomad with a virtual insurance-based private therapy practice and a multi-six-figure coaching business. In this podcast, I will discuss my journey as a digital nomad. I'll chat with other traveling therapists, and help you navigate the complexities of running an online insurance-based practice. I'm so glad to have you with me on this journey. With ALMA, clinicians get the support they need to focus on what matters most, delivering great mental health care. When you become a member at ALMA, you'll get credentialed with major insurance payers in less than 45 days, access to enhanced reimbursement rates, and you can take advantage of HIPAA compliant EHR tools like intake forms, progress notes, and treatment planners. Visit helloalma.com slash Kim to learn more. That's helloalma.com slash KYM to get started. Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Traveling Therapist Podcast. Excited to have our guest today. She's not a therapist, but she is a traveler, lifelong traveler. We're going to talk to her a little bit about that. But she's got this really cool thing she developed to help other travelers and people that want to become expats, particularly in Mexico. So, Asha, welcome to the podcast. So glad to have you here. Would you mind just telling everybody a little bit about yourself and what you do, and then we'll just kind of dive into it.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Well, thank you so much for having me, Kim. I'm excited to meet your audience today. I'm Asha Ferrett. I am an expat and legal resident living in beautiful Santiago de Querencado, Mexico. This is year four for me, so obviously I absolutely love it. I love Mexico. I've traveled to 16 out of 32 states here. So I've seen half of the country and I am more impressed than each and every state.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

That's amazing. Where you're at right now, is that your home base? And you just have really settled down in there.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Yeah, Santiago de Querencado is my home base. So as I said, I've lived here for four years, but I've actually been traveling here for 15 years. So I have a lot of experience in this country. And I knew that once I made the journey to become an expat, that this would be the country that I wanted to relocate to because it is so rich, you know, rich in culture, rich in landscape, rich in food. And so I realized to your point, you know, where you spoke about my cool job. I am the founder of my relocation company, Mexpat Dreamers. And so we help aspiring expats with the logistical support in terms of relocating. And so I recognize that online, while everyone shows how fun and cool it is to live abroad, no one really shows about the logistical things. You know, how to get the visa, how to pick the right place to live for your lifestyle preferences. What does healthcare look like, right? How do you bank? What if there's a floating currency like there is in Mexico? How do you rent an apartment? So that's where I come in.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

I love that. It's so needed. In the traveling therapist baseball group, every day, somebody's asking a question about how do I go to Mexico and become a permanent resident? How do I navigate all of that? So that's amazing. So tell us about your story. I think your bio said like 30 some countries you've traveled to over the years, and then you landed on Mexico, but you're from the United States originally. Is that correct? And then all of this evolved.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

Great intro. So I'm originally from New York City, Harlem, to be specific. I grew up there and then I went to college in Washington, DC. And so I started my career there, the typical corporate career, you know, climbing a corporate ladder. And anytime I could take a vacation, I absolutely would. I would take advantage of that. But each time coming back from the vacation, it felt harder and harder. It was just like, I don't know how much longer I can do this. But I knew that no matter how much I didn't want to do it for that much longer, I needed to develop a plan, Kim. I couldn't just wing it. Like many Americans, I had a lot of student loan debt. So I went to my partner and said, you have to come up with a plan. So I developed a three-year financial plan where we live off one income. And so we would become debt-free. And then COVID happened and we were home that first year. So we actually paid it off in two and a half years. And so that really fueled the impetus to say, okay, we can do this. So we saved up enough money for the move. But now, in terms of my travels, like I said, you know, climbing the corporate ladder, I was able to travel a lot. And Mexico was always one of those places that I kept coming back to. I did the typical first spring break thing, and you know, you're hanging out at the bars, you're at the beach all day. But one day I took a trip to one of their uh landmarks, Chichinista, their ancient pyramids. And that totally changed the game. Because I think we hear a lot about the beaches in Mexico, we hear a lot about the partying in Mexico, but we don't hear enough about the culture. We don't hear enough about the history, we don't hear enough about the landscape. And that was when I was sold.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

So COVID hit, so you were still in the United States at that point, but you were kind of going back and forth with Mexico. When did you decide, like, okay, I'm just moving to Mexico? When did that happen for you?

SPEAKER_00 5:11

So 2020, I think many of us when COVID hit had to like reset mentally. Like, if this is going to be it for me, what type of life do I want to live? How can I feel mentally free? How can I feel physically free for me, financially free was a big one. And so I think it was all contingent on finalizing that student home debt payoff. But I think my partner and I knew that of all the places we went to, again, Mexico really stood out and not for the reasons people think it does. I really decided for me, Kim, that I wanted to get intentional about my life. And what I mean by that is you can probably agree with me, as women, we're always the last on our own list, right? We're mothers, we're wives, we're sisters, we're everything to everyone. And then we get down to ourselves and we're so tired. And so I refuse to be that any further. And I started thinking about what do I want? What's the type of weather I want to wake up to? Who are the type of people I want to interact with? Kind people. What is the type of food that I want to eat? You know, I want my senses to be awakened every single day. And so when I made that checklist for myself, the answer was clear it was Mexico. So the place you're in right now, say the name of it again. Sure. It's called Santiago de Querétero. It's located in central Mexico.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

That's what I was gonna ask. Like, well, where is it located? Because I I can't imagine on the map where it is. So you're in corporate life, you know, I'm not sure exactly what you're doing corporate-wise, but at some point, I guess, did you you leave that career before you came to Mexico? Or what was that transition like? Because we talk about that a lot on this podcast about developing other income streams to support our lifestyles instead of doing it the other way around, trying to figure out a way to live the lifestyle you want to live and then making a career or income streams around that. So I'm just so curious about your process with corporate in the United States, moving to Mexico, and now you've got this amazing company that you run. So I just would love to hear about that journey for you and how that happened.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

Yes, I was working in public health for 15 years. So I had a really great career. Like I said, living in Washington, D.C., the nation's capital. The first thing for me to set up the life that I'm living now was to get rid of all debt. I didn't want any financial attachments to anything. I wanted any income that I made to be my income. So that was the first big thing. I didn't want to come out here with anything. And so once I established that, when we paid off the student loan debt, then I did a year of savings. So I didn't change the plan of the living on one income. We still continue to live on one income, but instead of paying off our student loan debt, we put that into savings. Now I knew for me, because I have traveled to 30 countries, five different continents, I'm really good at logistics. I plan all my trips and I plan them to a T. And so I knew, you know, in doing some research, there was a need in the market that wasn't being met. There was everyone on social media showing you, hi, I'm in Mexico City, hi, I'm in Playa del Carmen. But there was not any real good information outside of that, right? It's like, oh, the beaches are nice here, oh, the people are kind here, oh, it's cheap here. But what's the details? How cheap? What's really the weather? Do you get hurricanes? I saw that there was an immediate gap there.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

So when you came to Mexico, did you leave the corporate job or they let you come because it was COVID and all that? You were just kind of like doing that while you were down in Mexico. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

Just as you said, you know, I was fortunate that immediately March 2020, I went virtual, like many people, and I stayed virtual for some time. So I was actually just building my business up, marketing my business, and seeing if this would take off because I did have this expertise and I knew people needed it. When you are starting to become an entrepreneur, you have to give it time and patience. You know, that first year you cannot expect to say, I'm gonna be making $10,000 a month. You may not even match your salary, you know, you won't match your salary from corporate. You have to be okay with that.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

Yeah, absolutely. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about your company and what all you do and and all the services you offer, because I love the fact that you do these tours and you just help people through the whole process. So I'd like to just talk about the company and the services you offer.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

Yeah, that's a great question. So at Mexpat Dreamers, we really help you with the logistical support with relocation. And so what that looks like is breaking down what is the right location for your preferred lifestyle? And so, what I mean by that is getting back to that intentional list. What is your need for public transportation? Are you someone who uses Wi-Fi for work? What do you like to do for fun? What are your hobbies? Is population size affect, you know, your level of comfortability or your level of anxiety? For example, is Mexico City too large of a city for you? What is your budget? Because once we understand your budget, we can remove some cities from the list. So it's almost like I'm dating my clients and my clients are dating me. So when we meet together initially, I'm getting to know you and then I make a recommendation for you. So I say these are the top three cities that are best for you based off of what I learned about you. And then we go from there. I've developed a seven-week course where we break down all the major logistical hurdles. So week one is when we break down the right location for you. Week two on week three, I hold your hand and I help you with obtaining a visa. I always tell my clients, Kim, I want you to be a label resident. So I help you with the visa process. So here in your community is looking to know how to become a temporary resident or a permanent resident. That's the work that I do. And then I go over the healthcare process. Obviously, we're coming off of COVID. We're really still in COVID. People want to know what happens if I get sick. I break that down for you. Do you need public or private insurance? How do you rent an apartment? What are the guarantees necessary to rent an apartment? So I break all of that down in my course. And then after that, I have my clients come down and they physically see the location and figure out if it's the right fit for them. So we go on apartment tours, we go on neighborhood tours, we check out schools if that's appropriate. We really tour the city and then we make the final decision.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

That sounds so amazing. So if you're doing these tours, I guess you've spent a lot of time in these places and you know like who to take them to for the culinary piece and the in the neighborhoods and all that stuff. And I'd like to hear about that part. Is it just like you know these major cities fit into these different categories for people? So you've really gone and done a lot of research, or is it just, you know, as somebody gets interested in something, maybe you'll go check it out and learn more about it then. I just would love to hear about your process, like how you became an expert on these places, I guess, all these different places.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

That's a great question. No, this is my work in research. So, as I said, I've been traveling here for 15 years. I've traveled to 16 out of 32 states. So I'm really knowledgeable about these areas. Depending upon what my clients need, that's what I recommend. For example, I just had a client that left yesterday. She's actually leaving this morning. And she's a young mom with a young family. She does not want to have a car. You know, she wants to be close to Central. She wants to check out the schools. So I made sure to put aside four different neighborhoods for her in each city until we went to two cities. And these neighborhoods, I made sure they had parks, they have activities for her children to do. So this is all of my research over the last 16 years. Even the culinary piece. I love to eat. So I'm gonna recommend some good food.

SPEAKER_01 12:21

I hear you. Oh my gosh, that is such a cool service. It really is. So do you get like three major types of people? I'm imagining like there's the beach people, there's the city people, the mountain people. I guess do you have like three top cities for like the beach, the mountains, and the central? Like I hear about Mexico City all the time that people love Mexico City, but I do.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

It's so funny. Okay, so the first call that I have with my clients, I'm like, what are your thoughts as you're planning for this relocation? And the first thing they say is, I want to live by the beach. And so I'm open to that, but I always make sure to break down the pros and cons of living in each location. And the beach is great, but there are some cons to living by the beach. And so I make sure that I'm transparent with them so they know what they're getting into. But to your point, yes, there are certain locations that are very popular. I make my recommendations based on where my clients' level is at. And what I mean by that, Kim, is do they speak Spanish? Do they speak Spanish fluently? I can recommend some great places for you off the beaten path where it's super affordable, but the language immersion has to be there.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

So smart. So you really take into account every factor of the person and really, really specify it to them.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

Yeah. And then also, too, sometimes I may have some clients who are retired, but maybe their healthcare journey is still in the state. So I make recommendations for places that have international airports where they can get back very quickly in the event of an emergency. So I really think of every logistical detail.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

That's amazing. Did your corporate training like help prepare you for this? Or is this just like a whole new career? Because I just think it's so interesting to think about all those details.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

No, it's actually my public health training as well. So I studied biology and chemistry undergrad and I did uh public health preparedness training. So it plays right into it. You know, you really do have to be detail oriented because I take this very seriously, Kim. People are transitioning. And most of my clients, this is the very first time they've lived abroad. So you want to get it right for them. I want them to thrive when they arrive. I don't want them to have any issues. I mean, things will come up, of course. But if there are things that I can get in front of, like helping them with the visa, helping them get the right place so they feel comfortable and the transition as seamless as possible, then that is my role with this company.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Now, do you work with a lot of digital nomad types like traveling therapists? We need to be able to work remotely, we need to have solid internet. Are there certain places you would recommend that's better for that? Or is it just like finding, you know, a good apartment with good Wi-Fi, like that kind of thing? Are there certain regions or areas that would be more reliable for somebody that's like a digital worker?

SPEAKER_00 14:51

That's a great question. And it goes back to the question you asked two minutes ago. What is the first place that people want to live by the beach? And I always say that's great, but think about the infrastructure. You know, that's not to say that every beach location, there are some beach locations that I can recommend that have great infrastructure, but you have to think about the beach. It's fun while it's fun, but then when weather causes any delays, your internet is going to be impacted. If you want to live in remote jungle regions, which a lot of people sometimes do, they feel like, I want to live in Tulum, I want to live in those places. Okay. Infrastructure might not be as good as a Mexico city, an international business city where the everyday average person uses the internet regularly for business. So the speeds may be different. That's not to say that you can't find good internet in any of those beach locations. It's just something that I share with my clients as a con. Think about the infrastructure.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

It's the most important question for a traveling therapist for sure, you know, because we have to be able to see our clients and it has to be reliable. And it's been a huge issue for me. And I know lots of traveling therapists have that problem for sure. So which beach city would you say has the best infrastructure for internet?

SPEAKER_00 15:55

Certainly, I can give you some examples. I would say, you know, you you can feel comfortable going to like a Puerto Vallarta. That's another big business city. They do a lot of tourism, and it's almost like a coastal city. You know, you have beach and city there. So, yes, if you're in a more remote area in Puerto Varta, sure, you may have issues, but you certainly can find a good Wi-Fi there.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

Yeah, I just interviewed somebody like three episodes ago that lives in Puerto Vallarta. She moved there and she was raving about it, loves it so much there.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

But understand that the cost of living is going to be higher. So this is not going to be your traditional place where you're saying, you know, my budget is pretty low, you know, 700 are under US, and I'm expecting to live beachfront. When you move to those touristy places, I always tell my clients there's an offset. If you want to live in a place that they speak a lot of English and things of that nature, very expat heavy, very expat friendly, the con is you're gonna pay for that. There are going to be prices attached to that.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Now, do you work with people that want to come in just on a temporary visa for like six months or something? Or is it more just like you want to be an expat and then help you become an expat kind of thing?

SPEAKER_00 17:00

So I work with a combination. I mean, when you look at the environment we live in, there are a lot of digital nomads, there are a lot of people passing through, but they work with me because they need information about reliability, reliability about internet, reliability about how I can get around, what is the public transportation like? What is the cost of living if I don't want to sign a one-year lease because I plan to be here on a short-term basis? Those are things that are very important to them. What happens to my health care if I don't want to get a full insurance package because I'm not going to be here long term? What do I do should I get sick? So I meet with a lot of digital nomads where I'm helping them navigate that six month period.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

And then like renting and stuff. I guess you're just so familiar with these cities. You probably have real estate agents that you connect people to, or do you help with like finding the apartment, touring the apartment, like all of that?

SPEAKER_00 17:46

I tell people I help you from where you are in the States or Canada to getting where I am. So my service is full service. So I literally help you from the beginning when I meet you and you say, I want to move to Mexico, but I don't know how to deal with it, into literally sitting in the seat in your apartment. I just helped one of my clients finalize her lease about two months ago, right before the holidays. So no, I help with all of that. And I'm very transparent about what that entails. Because when you do move to Mexico, there are certain guarantees in place to obtain an apartment. Because they're the credit system from the US, they're not going to pull that to say, hey, Kim, you know, it seems like you were a great tenant over 10 years or you had a house and you paid your mortgage regularly. So there need to be guarantees in place to make sure you don't wake up tomorrow and say, you know what, I'm out of here. And then what happens to the landlord? So there are certain guarantees you can negotiate here. Speaking Spanish is an advantage, and I do speak Spanish, so that helps my clients a lot. There are certain things I help them navigate, you know, utilities, you know, if it's not included, how do you pay a utility bill, Wi-Fi being very important and making sure that's well known? How much of a deposit should you be expected to pay? And what's too much to know that you're being taken advantage of, I do all of that.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

Yeah, that's so valuable. I mean, you could look up in the internet and know that this is how you pay your power bill, but there's like probably lots of nuances to that. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

Oh, you can only imagine when your gas is out or how to get water delivered. Those things are very important because Kim, as you can imagine, you don't know your gas is out until your gas is out.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

Oh my God. I'm thinking when we were in the Dominican Republic one time, like we could not figure out how to get the stove working. And this woman had to come over and like show us this trick with the stove. It was like a whole thing. Yeah. So there's like a million things like that, especially in another country that we're just not familiar with living in the United States.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

Yeah. And I think it's also helpful to help my clients because we're we do recognize, Kim, that we as Americans or Canadians, we are coming down to Mexico and we are very grateful to live in their country. So as a sign of respect, we want to make sure that we're combating gentrification. We want to make sure that we're supporting the economy, you know. And how do we do that? I work with the locals. I make sure that all of my clients rent local. That's something that's very important to me because that supports the economy. So that's also part of the work that I do in helping my clients adapt, you know, even helping clients figure out, you know, now that I'm out here, maybe if they're retired, how to get into a volunteer activity. Things like that are very important and acclimating and building community when you live abroad.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It's traveling therapists, we talk about it all the time. It's like, how do I build a community outside of, you know, when I move to a new place? How do I do all that? You know, and I guess connecting with expat communities, but finding like hobbies that you love and that sort of thing.

SPEAKER_00 20:28

And expat communities are fantastic, but I also would tell your audience, be open to local communities. People here in Mexico, I need to say this, are the friendliest, the kindest, and the most welcoming. And they want to get to know you. You know, sometimes there can be that language barrier depending on what city you live in, where you're like, I want to say more, but my language skills are not there. And that's fair. But people are very kind. People want to get to know you, people want to welcome you into their community.

SPEAKER_01 20:56

So, what does it look like for a listener? If they're like, I need that. What do they do? They just reach out to you and you initiate that seven-week process that you were talking about or the seven-step process.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

Yeah, so I'll break down a few options. You know, I have something for everybody, and it really starts at an inquiry call. You can go on my website, mexpactdreamers.com. I'm sure Kim will have that in the notes, or you can reach out to me on my social media. I'm very active. I chronicle my life in this journey here in Mexico on my Instagram, which is the same name, MexPact Dreamers, Facebook, etc. But yeah, you reach out to me and we set up an inquiry call. An inquiry call allows me to get to know what your goals are, what you're looking to do. Like you said, are you a digital nomad? You want to be here for six months or less? Do you want to be here long term? Do you want to retire here? And then I share with you the offerings and the services that I have. So there's something for everyone. There's a one-on-one call that you can do with me and really just get to know for an hour what's right for you and what's not. I've developed courses as I talked about. I have one from scratch to relocation, and that's the seven-week private course with me where we go over all the logistical details. So those are some of the offerings or other uh courses that I have online. But certainly they can reach out to me and I'd be happy to work with your audience again.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

Thank you so much. Okay, you guys, this is your girl. Reach out because I know a lot of y'all are talking about wanting to move to Mexico right now. So this is the path forward because I know a lot of people want to do it, but they're too scared or it's just too overwhelming. So they don't take that step. They just say, well, maybe one day and they never do it. But it's really neat to hear there's something that's so like concierge, personalized, and like walks you through every single step of it. That's amazing. Thank you so much for listening to the Traveling Therapist Podcast. For show note links and downloads, head over to the Traveling Therapist.com where you'll be able to learn more about my journey, the courses I've created for you, and other exciting resources to make your dreams become a reality. If you've enjoyed this episode, please share with your traveling therapist friends. Subscribe to the podcast, and if you love this episode, please leave a review.