For more than twenty years I have lived my life somewhere between Swedish Fika culture and fast paced Shanghai. Sometimes literally, on long flights between Arlanda and Pudong, sometimes mentally, during a morning coffee in Stockholm while answering late night WeChat messages from China. On paper this sounds romantic and international. In reality it mostly looks like normal routines, school runs, laptop work and a lot of logistics.
What I did not fully see in the beginning, but understand much more clearly today, is how this life between two worlds quietly shapes how I work for my clients. It affects how I plan projects, how I communicate with factories, what I worry about and what I do not worry about, and how I support European teams that are trying to operate far away from their home base.
This article is a more personal attempt to explain that. Not as a travel story, but as a practical look at how my daily reality between Sweden and Shanghai can be useful if you are a company trying to build something that crosses borders, time zones and cultures.
Two routines, one calendar
When I am in Sweden, my days follow a certain rhythm. The kids go to school, the sun (hopefully) shows up, and my inbox starts to fill with European messages. Shanghai is six or seven hours ahead depending on the time of year, so by the time I sit down with a coffee, my contacts in China have already lived through most of their day.
When I am in Shanghai, the rhythm flips. Mornings often start with messages from Europe that arrived during the night. By lunchtime in China, Sweden is just waking up. In the afternoon and evening, I move between factory floors, WeChat chats, meetings at Starbucks and remote work for clients in Sweden, Germany or the UK.
Living like this for years has forced me to think in overlapping zones instead of fixed office hours. It has also taught me a lot about where time zone differences hurt and where they actually help if you structure work with intention.
How the time difference becomes an asset for projects
For many European teams, the idea of working with a partner in China feels like constant inconvenience. Calls at strange hours, messages late at night, delays when someone is asleep. I understand that picture, because I have experienced the worst version of it too.
But there is another side. When we plan projects well, the time difference can create a quiet, almost invisible conveyor belt where work moves steadily instead of in jerky bursts.
Practical examples from real client work
- A Swedish company sends me a batch of product questions in their afternoon. By the time they wake up, I have talked to the factory, clarified specs and sent back a summary.
- A European ecommerce team finalises design decisions in their evening. I use their notes in Shanghai morning, align with suppliers and logistics partners, and report back before their lunch the next day.
- When there is a quality issue, I can stand in the factory during their working hours, send video and photos in real time, and still join a quick call with the European team before their workday ends.
This only works because my calendar is built around both worlds at once. I am used to early and late calls when it is needed, but I also design processes that do not depend on everyone being online at the same minute.
Fika meetings vs fast lobby conversations
One of the most obvious differences between Sweden and Shanghai is the pace of everyday life. In Sweden, many business relationships move through planned meetings, Fika breaks and long conversations. In Shanghai, things often happen quicker, in crowded lobbies, short lunches or in a WeChat group that suddenly turns very active.
Both styles have strengths. Swedish Fika culture is great for trust, reflection and long term thinking. Shanghai speed is great for testing ideas, solving urgent problems and moving projects forward when something unexpected happens.
Because I switch between these modes all the time, I have learned to translate between them. When I join a calm strategy session in Sweden, I can bring the concrete, action oriented questions I know factories will ask later in China. When I stand in a noisy workshop in Shanghai, I can hold in my head how the same situation will feel to someone at a quiet desk in Stockholm who has to explain it to their finance team.
How this helps clients in practice
- I can prepare Swedish teams for how direct or fast some Chinese conversations will feel, so they are not surprised or offended.
- I can slow down and structure information from China into Fika friendly summaries, so management does not feel overwhelmed.
- I can turn a vague “everything is ok” from a supplier into concrete bullet points that European stakeholders can actually act on.
Factory floors, WhatsApp groups and calm Swedish offices
When I walk through a factory in China, I know that somewhere a few thousand kilometers away there is a Swedish or European office where people have never smelled production air or heard the sound of the machines that produce their products. They look at spreadsheets and photos. I look at dust on the floor, body language between foreman and workers, and how carefully they treat finished goods.
My job is to connect those two realities. Not only by sending more photos, but by explaining what I see in a way that makes sense for the people who authorize budgets and sign off on quality.
What I pay attention to for clients when I am in a factory
- Whether procedures look like a laminated poster only, or something people actually follow.
- How they handle defects and rework in practice, not only in their quality manual.
- How they talk about previous export customers, especially when something went wrong.
- How packaging is handled when nobody thinks I am watching.
When I report back to a client, I translate these observations into things like risk levels, likely lead time behaviour and how much extra quality control we should plan for. Living between Sweden and Shanghai has made this translation process a natural part of my consulting work.
Why I like async work for cross border projects
Over the years I have become more and more allergic to unnecessary live meetings. Not because I do not like talking to people, but because in cross border projects they are often misused. Too many things are decided in a rush, nobody has time to think deeply, and half the people on the call are half awake because it is a bad time in their time zone.
Living in Shanghai while working with Swedish and European clients pushed me toward a more async way of working. I like short, focused live calls, but I prefer that most thinking and documentation happens in writing, where it can live longer than one meeting.
What this looks like for clients
- I summarise decisions and open questions in simple documents that everyone can read in their own morning.
- I use structured updates, for example weekly anchor docs, so nobody has to scroll through chat histories to find the latest status.
- I keep a clear separation between “things we are still exploring” and “things we have locked in for this shipment”.
This is not a fancy methodology. It is just a survival mechanism from trying to keep projects moving across time zones for many years. My clients benefit because they get fewer surprises and less stress when something does not go exactly according to plan.
Empathy for both smörgåsbord and street BBQ
On a more human level, moving between Sweden and China for so long has shaped how I see people in business. I have had serious conversations over smörgåsbord lunches in Swedish conference centres and over late night street BBQ in Chinese cities. I have listened to European CEOs talk about risk and brand reputation, and to Chinese factory managers talk about electricity prices and staff turnover.
All of these conversations sit somewhere in the back of my head when I advise clients. When a European buyer is frustrated because a factory seems stubborn, I can often see the economic or cultural pressures on the other side. When a Chinese supplier is confused about why a European team is slow to approve changes, I can explain the layers of internal alignment that need to happen.
This is not about being a psychologist, it is about knowing that most people are doing their best with the constraints they have. It makes it easier to keep discussions calm, even when the stakes are high.
Supporting European teams remotely without feeling distant
One concern some companies have when they first talk to me is that I am not physically in their office. They wonder if it will feel distant or slow. Usually that worry disappears quickly once we start working, because I put a lot of effort into being easy to reach and clear to work with.
My perspective from Shanghai helps here too. I know that if I am slow or vague, a whole European team might sit and wait for information that only I have. So I build habits that keep me close, even when we are far apart geographically.
Concrete habits that help
- I respond quickly even if it is just to say when I will give a full answer.
- I keep one main channel for decisions so we do not lose important messages in five apps.
- I share small updates from China, like photos from factory visits, so the project feels real, not abstract.
- I adapt my communication style a bit to each client, some prefer very structured notes, others like short voice messages.
Learning to protect focus and family time
There is also a personal side to all of this. When your work stretches across time zones, it is easy to be “on” all the time. In the beginning I made that mistake more often than I would like to admit. It felt like there was always one more message to answer or one more document to write before someone woke up on the other side of the world.
Over time, and especially after becoming a parent, I had to become more intentional. I still work early and late when projects need it, but I also protect time with my family and time to think without notifications.
Interestingly, this has made me a better consultant. When I am rested and have time to reflect, I give better advice. When I am not constantly half checking my phone, I make fewer mistakes. Clients benefit from that, even if they never see the details of my calendar.
What kind of clients benefit most from this in between life
Not every company needs someone who lives between Sweden and Shanghai. If you only sell locally and never touch international supply chains, there are other skills that matter more. But if you are in any of these situations, my background tends to be useful:
- You source from China or plan to, and want a clearer, calmer process.
- You run ecommerce or B2B sites and need someone who understands both tech and trade.
- You already work with Chinese partners but feel that communication is harder than it should be.
- You want to build a small, reliable cross border setup without hiring a full time team in Asia.
In those cases, my weird mix of Sweden, Shanghai, sourcing, web and remote work becomes an advantage rather than just a personal story.
FAQ, living between two worlds and doing consulting work
Does living in Shanghai mean you are only available in China time?
No. I have European clients and I plan my week around both sets of hours. I am used to early morning and early afternoon calls that fit Sweden and central Europe well, and I keep some evening slots open when needed. The rest of the time I work async.
How often do you come to Sweden?
I still have strong roots in Sweden and visit regularly. When it makes sense, we can plan in person workshops or factory follow ups around those trips. Most ongoing work however runs perfectly well online.
Can you help if we already have a sourcing agent or a local partner in China?
Yes. In many projects I do not replace anyone, I add a layer of clarity. I help European teams ask better questions, structure information and make decisions with more confidence. That often makes life easier for existing agents too.
Is this article just marketing, or is this really how you work?
It is really how I work. My clients recognise most of the patterns in this article. We move between Fika style strategy sessions and very practical WeChat conversations. We plan around time zones instead of fighting them. We treat sourcing and web projects as long term relationships, not quick transactions.
Closing thoughts
I sometimes joke that I live in the space between smörgåsbord and street BBQ, between coffee refills and bubble tea. Underneath the joke there is something true. Moving between Sweden and Shanghai for so long has made me comfortable in that space in between, where cultures, expectations and time zones overlap.
If you are building something that also lives in that space, whether it is a new supply chain, a cross border ecommerce setup or a simple but important factory relationship, I hope this article gave you a clearer picture of how I think and work. And if you feel that this in between perspective could help your company, I am always happy to talk and see if there is a good fit.