‘The opportunities are greater if you’re putting the work in to take them’

When Amber Peacock met her husband, they both had the shared dream of moving to the US. At the time Peacock was working in pharmaceutical sales, and lived in Edinburgh. “I was earning a very good salary, particularly for my age, but just didn’t enjoy the job.” In 2018, they started looking into relocating, with her husband Josh securing a coveted sponsored green card thanks to his work in the summer camp industry.

Peacock also started exploring potential job opportunities in the US. “I would have been able to get a job doing exactly the same thing, same hours, same commitment, same responsibility, and my salary would have doubled – if not tripled,” she says.

When they first started the process of looking to move their lives looked very different. She says: “It was just the two of us, it didn’t really matter about working hours and things like that.” Now, they have a two-year old son. “Our ambition has grown, but in a different way.” Peacock’s priorities have shifted, now requiring greater work-life balance and flexibility.

“We knew that the US working culture was very different,” she says. “Longer hours are expected, office working returned to normal after Covid in a lot of industries. My position would have included a lot more international travel and unsociable hours and I wouldn’t have been able to spend quality time with my family. Not to mention whenever we decide to grow our family the parental leave is terrible here.” She adds: “We were kind of scared of corporate life in America, because it is so much more hardcore over here… While you are compensated far better here, that wasn’t worth the extra hours and extra stress that comes with corporate America so we decided to both be self employed.”

Now settled in Florida, Peacock, 28, is hoping to use the abundant opportunities that come with living in America to launch her own business.

She says: “There is more money over here in business, the opportunities are greater if you’re putting the work in to take them.”