how to not run away to mexico

How to Not Run Away to Mexico by Jennifer Robin Lee

| Survivor

If you haven’t guessed from the title, this book is chocked full of things that you SHOULDN’T do when you move to Mexico, as experienced by Jennifer who didn’t just move to Mexico once, but multiple times and with varying levels of success.not move to mexico

Her international adventures begin in 1994 when she moved from Canada to Monterrey to join the Mexican National Circus in Saltillo. Go ahead, roll your eyes, but we’ve all been young and foolish at least once in our lives. See, her cousin was dating a clown and well, it goes downhill from there.

On her second move to Mexico, she had a face-to-face encounter with the police in Guanajuato. In Spanglish negotiated her way out of a ticket with “No vas rapido. Yo tengo una plata. You tengo mi papeles. No problemo. Gracias. Adios Senor” and jumping back in her car leaving a perplexed representative of the law in the dust.

In some sort of karmic retribution, Jennifer’s Audi broke down outside of Leon and it took thousands of dollars and YEARS to get the vehicle fixed and returned to Canada.

On another occasion, Jennifer was saved by Jesus himself (well, his representative on earth Jesús anyway) from being hauled away to the slammer after a fender bender. In Cozumel, she met a hunky scuba diving instructor Raul which resulted in love and a near-drowning incident.

A Canadian custody issue meant she was detained at the U.S. border. Then years of legal travail in Canada ensued before she could return to Mexico, this time with a man from the Dominican Republic that she had met in Canada and their two toddlers. Of course, Interpol still had her name on the list and that caused some issues entering Mexico to retrieve her Audi.

When she tried to leave, well, there was a shake-down at the Mexican border and unnecessary delays at the Canadian border causing her to declare that it was the Worst. Road trip. Ever.

Then she moved to Mexico AGAIN! This time she was more prepared and the transition, while not exactly smooth, was successful.

I can honestly say that I am so glad to have not experienced even a quarter of the disasters that Jennifer experienced. But as they say, there’s a silver lining in every cloud.

So if you are looking for a bit of humor about moving to Mexico, then How to Not Run Away to Mexico is the book for you!

four star

Jennifer Robin Lee

| Survivor

Jennifer Lee wrote How to Not Run Away to Mexico and from her experience designed an eCourse to help people NOT repeat her mistakes. Here’s what she has to say about that process. 

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not move to mexico

I use my branded name Jennifer Robin Lee online but most of my friends and close ones call me Jenn.

I’m originally from Edmonton but my heart is in Mexico City. I spend my time between these two places these days. I am a completely different person because of Mexico. I don’t even know how to describe it. I’m more relaxed, more discerning, less naive, as well. I’m always changing, regardless of whether of I’m in Mexico or not. I’ve had quite a bit of challenges in Mexico which you can read in my book.

I joined the circus in 1994 in Monterrey, Saltillo. And then I ran away from the circus. The way I got started writing my book was for at least 20 years people have been telling me I should write a book. I went to the circus at 17 and now I’m in my 40s. I’ve been coming and going to Mexico for a long time. So finally I was like how am I going to get this book started? I’ve got two little children and I want to get this thing off my bucket list.

I saw a website online, Stefan James, talking about how to write a book in 24 hours. I also got a professional life coach. That’s when I set up the e-Course, in May 2017. So I decided to write a book. Then I bought the domain names and set up the website. Then I helped people with some immigration questions on the site because I was having the same problems.

After the site was developed, somebody approached me to see if I needed some videography done. I met with this Mexican guy and we ended up working together and filming at least half of what is in the intro course.

The accomplishment that makes me the proudest is building this e-course. I’m excited to get up in the morning. I feel I have a purpose. I have more emotion now as I’m growing through success than no emotion when I’ve been unsuccessful or failed. It’s just more emotional when you’re like Wow! I did this. I accomplished this. I created this. I had this idea and it came true. You have to create things in your mind before you can create them in reality. That’s the hardest part. People can’t think about what they want and then they can’t express what they want.

When I moved to Mexico the second time, I had a 6 bedroom character home. It was beautifully renovated. I just gave the keys to the neighbor, and my cat, and said I was going on a trip to Mexico. I sold it while I was gone with everything in it. It felt so freeing.

Before that, I had downsized a lot. And really cleaned up my environment, cleaned up my things, got rid of all the junky little things and everything I had was in good condition. I’ve learned that is more of a headache to have all this stuff.

There have been many moments that have defined my character in Mexico. Because sometimes there will be moments when the situation defines you. Mexico really tests your patience.

I don’t have a lot of free time. I schedule in every moment something that can be done that I enjoy doing, like going and visiting my friends. But my friends have the same kind of interests as me when it comes to business and stuff. So I’m always talking about my business and sharing ideas.

Helping others. When they have trouble, I’ll share what helped me. So that’s what I do in my spare time. I’m living my business but it’s not like I have to escape from it.

I work online. I have a certification in e-commerce. I have a specialization in SEO from the University of California-Davis. I’ve been a geek since I was 7 years old when my dad gave me my first Texas Instrument 100 computer where I learned programming at age 7. There were video games on it but I had a programming book that my dad gave me that’s what got me really into computers and I’ve been a geek since. I don’t program now, I just do web development but nothing complicated like Java. I’d love to meet more people in that work role.

My services are mostly consulting for clients who have at a sizeable amount to spend on a project. I used to do hourly, I still have some clients like that but I don’t accept any new web development work where I’m actually customizing for clients anymore.

My current goal is to help people move to Mexico and be a mentor or role model in helping others achieve success online whether it be writing, e-course development, web development, search engine optimization, networking, making videos and whatnot. Every day I work towards this goal.

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Make sure you don’t miss out on either the eCourse or the hysterical roller coaster of a ride Jennifer writes about in her book How to Not Run Away to Mexico.