Our Story

Hi, we’re Glen and Amanda (Mandy) Sharp, and we’re here to help you turn your Dutch dream into a reality.

 

Our journey to the Netherlands didn’t start with a flawless plan; it started with a massive detour. Back in North Carolina, we knew we wanted to start our next chapter abroad. We originally had our sights set on Portugal, but we quickly found ourselves trapped in a bureaucratic nightmare.

 

Frustrated but determined, we looked toward the Netherlands, where our daughter, Hannah, and her young family live. We wanted nothing more than to be close to them, so we started looking for a traditional Dutch retirement visa. We quickly hit a major roadblock: it simply doesn’t exist.

 

But between the two of us, we’ve spent our lives solving complex organizational and structural problems. We dug into the regulations and realized something life-changing: the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty (DAFT) isn’t just for tech startups. It is a wide-open pathway for established professionals and older retirees to build an amazing life here, all through a simple business and a little focused effort.

 

Now, we live an incredible lifestyle here in the Netherlands (even if it’s a bit rainier than Portugal!), and we launched World Wise Nomads and Business Bloom (businessbloom.nl) to help other Americans make the same leap without the stress.

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We combine our unique backgrounds to handle both sides of your DAFT journey.

 

Amanda: I’m an MBA, a decades-long corporate executive, and a lifelong entrepreneur (I actually started my first face-painting business when I was just 13!) Over my career, I’ve handled large-scale strategic planning for major corporations, global organizations, and governments, while building multiple independent businesses of my own. At Business Bloom, I use that strategic background to help you engineer, structure, and launch a compliant Dutch business that satisfies immigration.

 

Glen: I’ve spent multiple decades as a career union organizer and labor law specialist, always fighting for the rights of working people. My career has been entirely about understanding business from the inside out so I can protect and support the people inside it. I bring that legal and structural depth to our clients, ensuring your business foundation is airtight.

 

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We didn’t just study the DAFT process; we lived it. We know exactly what it takes to move your life across the Atlantic, and we’re here to help you skip the bureaucratic headaches so you can start enjoying your own Dutch adventure.