I’ve recently come to the conclusion that for years I’ve been doing project management without even realizing it. This week I’m starting the Google Project Manager certificate program through a FUNDAE grant from the Spanish ministry of employment. I’m taking advantage of the grant to solidify my project management skills and clarify my previous experience through a project-management lens. So let’s take a walk down memory lane through my career, shall we?

After college, my first jobs were project coordinator and project administrator, first through the AmeriCorps volunteer program (amazing!) and later I was hired on at a non-profit and then a construction company. So from 2006 I launched my career by planning different community initiatives and managing casework and deadlines. I did pretty much everything in Excel, and even set up a bare-bones database in Microsoft Access (does anyone remember that? does it even still exist?). In between I did some data entry and administrative work. By 2012, I was doing administrative work for construction projects, which involved a LOT of printing and photocopies but also managing deadlines and coordinating with stakeholders (in this case, subcontractors). So by the time I was ready to move to Spain in 2013, I had a decent level of experience, even if the technology I used was rudimentary. Let’s take a deeper look at how my project management skills have evolved over the last decade.

How to get organized to move to Spain

When I decided to recalculate and overhaul my entire life to become an Auxiliar de Conversación in Spain, I quickly noticed that I’d need to get super organized. I set up a spreadsheet that grew and grew with every new bit of information I received, including: 

• costs
• visa paperwork
• deadlines
• travel plans
• credit card rewards programs to get the best value from each card
• a massive list of links to different resources

I created a detailed budget to plan my savings in the year before I left, and with some excellent management I was able to save $9,000! I was so proud of myself… and of course, I ended up spending most of that money in the course of my first two years in Spain thanks to my extra travel. But it felt really empowering to have a savings cushion and not freak out when my next paycheck wouldn’t come for three months. Because I was already aware of the pay cycle structure. (Oh, País Vasco.) I also set up a monthly budget for my expenses as an auxiliar to plan how to spend my stipend and private class money. Looking back at that budget, the exchange rate was 1.38 dollars to euros! Also, I laugh looking back at my packing list because I somehow felt it was important to bring pesto from Trader Joe’s, and of course peanut butter. 

If you’re planning to move to Spain and need a little help organizing, I’ll leave a copy of my entire spreadsheet here, all personal data has been removed but I left all my planning stuff in there! Feel free to use whatever might be relevant for you.

Project Managing as an Auxiliar de Conversación and Autónoma Business ESL Coach

Teaching in classrooms involved a huge amount of coordination between teachers in the English department. I needed to know their needs, the students’ needs, and then research activities that would help them meet their goals. It didn’t necessarily feel like project management a lot of the time – ie, teachers barking orders at you for the next class (chapter three! a speaking activity about the present perfect! make a powerpoint about food!) – but I learned how to align to different teaching styles and environments and plan accordingly for big groups of people with a variety of levels and interest.

Becoming a freelance business English teacher, or communications consultant, tied together my previous project experience with my work in schools. I now needed to coordinate with individual adult learners to assess their needs and goals and also align with company objectives. As I gained experience in this field, I saw how practical a Coaching Plan spreadsheet could be for tracking tasks and goals. So I created one. (Make a copy for yourself! It’s also included in my autónomo kit.) I share these spreadsheets with the learners at the beginning of our time together and fill it out as we progress. I think it gives learners a shared sense of responsibility for their learning goals and they can edit the document themselves to take more ownership. I also use negotiation skills to find appropriate scheduling slots for learners.

As an Autónoma (self-employed worker), I have to manage all kinds of things (without a gestor!) like tax reporting and foreign resident bureaucracy. I have to stay on top of deadlines, pay the correct amounts of taxes, fill out forms to darme de baja and darme de alta each summer, and forecast my spending by budgeting a hugely variable income – this means some months I need to plan to pay for things from the previous month’s payments because I won’t have enough at the beginning of the month otherwise. I’m used to budgeting though, so usually those issues aren’t a surprise. 

Marketing and Community Operations: More Project Management

In the full-time jobs I’ve had since moving to Spain, one of which I juggled while being an auxiliar, I really levelled up my skills across the board and had a chance to learn better tools and technology. At Lingo Live, I worked cross-functionally in Trello to keep various project operations and tasks on schedule. I used data-gathering tools like Looker to analyze performance statistics of the coaches I was managing. And I learned how to create and monitor KPIs and build dashboards. 

A few years later, I developed digital marketing strategies for PharmaBoardroom by coordinating with the editorial team and using Google Analytics to pinpoint areas of improvement for website traffic and email marketing, in addition to developing content and solving usability issues using web development skills. Again, more KPIs and dashboards to track and monitor progress. Fun! I actually loved seeing the numbers grow from month to month. 

Leveling Up With Notion (and even project-managing my choir music,  jajaja)

I had already left my last full-time job to go freelance by the time I heard about the project management tool Notion – interestingly, from a high school student that I tutored online. It took a while to get my first board set up, but once I did, I was hooked! I discovered some pretty amazing free templates and added my own details. I started managing literally everything in my life in Notion! I filled it with my freelance coaching tasks, finance and budgeting, web development learning and projects, and even my choir music organized by concert date. (To be fair, I was in two choirs so needed to juggle a lot of songs!) I named my board Dina’s Space and set up daily priority lists, weekly to-dos, monthly goals, yearly planning and a list of social to-dos – people to meet up with or get in touch with each week. With Notion I managed the redesign of my website and the launch of a newsletter, breaking down those projects into small manageable tasks to check off. It was so motivating!

Project Management as an MBA Student

So by the time fall 2024 rolled around and I decided to study an MBA, my organizational skills were in top shape. I set up an assignment tracker in Notion for all my subjects, including deadlines, exams and group projects. I managed my time by prioritizing different tasks for each subject every day. I coordinated with my project team, aligning to be on the same page and dividing up projects into individual manageable tasks. Not gonna lie, the MBA was really stressful – even more so for my classmates who were juggling parenting responsibilities! Using Notion helped me stay on track and follow along in the classes, which were all in Spanish, so I needed to be extra prepared by reading the texts ahead of time. All my time and project management skills paid off in the end, and I was able to finish with Sobresaliente (9s and 10s) in almost all my subjects and even the massive Trabajo Fin de Máster! 

Wrapping it all up, it’s safe to say I’ve been project managing basically my whole life for the last nearly twenty years! Thanks to basic tools like Google Sheets and also new tools like Notion and Trello, I’ve managed to stay on top of my finances, work, hobbies and general life tasks. It has made living abroad so much easier as well. Next up, maybe we’ll talk about strategies for moving to and managing life in Spain!

Hasta la próxima!