Ali Meehan founded Costa Women, an online community for women living in Spain, in 2010. Nearly four years later, 3,100 members from 57 different countries, a social media following of 12,000 and a Telegraph Expat Award later (2012 Best of British Social Club), she can safely say that it has been a success! And all this while doing her day job too. Wow.

Ali: "If 'life begins at the end of your comfort zone', then I have my hands in the air waving that I want more of life and less fear! Running Costa Women, I never fail to be amazed at the leaps which expat women take on a daily basis, whether through moving to a new country, learning the language, applying for work, or just making new connections and expanding networks.

I started Costa Women at the end of 2010 to meet a need for friendships and support for expat women and attribute my success to growing organically.

I have learnt that starting small, but thinking big is the key. And most importantly, just start! It may not be even 25% right at the beginning, but the need for getting it 100% right can paralyze you from even starting. In reality, you are the only person who knows it isn't perfect!"

Check out the Costa Women website, on twitter (@costawomen), LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest and Google+.

Vanessa Vallely is the founder of the excellent women's network, job board and website We Are The City which reaches over 200,000 women every month in the UK and India. She is also an inspirational speaker and author of Heels of Steel, an autobiographical book about surviving and thriving as a woman in the corporate world.