Host Nicole Butts talks with former USAID colleague Erikka Cullum about leaving the U.S. for Albania after USAID’s shutdown created career uncertainty. Erikka shares navigating ambiguity and income uncertainty through fractional project work and leaning on curiosity, faith, and self-trust. She also explains why she self-published a relocation guide built from her TikTok, research, and planning tools, emphasizing that moving abroad isn’t permanent and doesn’t require others’ validation.

Link to Erikka's Book, "The Soft Exit: From Overwhelmed to Overseas - A Practical Guide to Starting Over Abroad" which can be found on Amazon: https://a.co/d/06v0GJqm

MADabolic Gym: Ready to join an amazing community and try something new? Anytime in the month of April, visit https://form.typeform.com/to/LvRUZhLG show an active gym membership at a local gym and get 4 free weeks of unlimited classes! Tell them you heard about it on the This May be a Bad Idea Podcast! New clients only.

Know someone who is brave, and courageous? Someone who continues to move forward in-spite of everything? Drop me a note and let me know in the comments or you can reach me on Instagram @TMBBIPodcast, I would love to have them on the show! Doing a pop-up in the DMV and like to have your makers discuss their journeys of bravery on the This May be a Bad Idea podcast reach out on Instagram to @TMBBIPodcast and let me know!

Music By: Bryan Freeman

• Instagram: @scheeminfreeman
• TikTok: @bsharpfreeman

Editing By: Design by Vito