A few years ago I made the decision to move to central or south america. I spent two years visiting 10 countries to help me decide where I wanted to move to. There was a ton of research and planning involved in each trip.
When you're a tourist, you hit the tourist destinations in the country and rarely venture off much further than that. You don't get to see the REAL country.
But my situation was different, I was looking at each country as a place to relocate to and was not interested in the tourist spots.
When I finally picked Panama and started telling my friends what I discovered, they said they wanted to go with me the next time I went down so they could see the country too.
Within a few weeks, I had 8 people who wanted to go check out Panama. So, I decided to charter a bus and a driver to take us from one end of Panama to the other. I made advance arrangements for all hotels and restaurants and mapped the course. I did all this from the USA and I don't speak Spanish so you can imagine the challenge. But I got it done!
We visited expats in each city... even got to see their homes, toured the hospital, met with an attorney to discuss getting residency or starting a business, went to the grocery store to compare prices and availability of products, visited with doctors and dentists, went to a pharmacy to see if they could get all drugs they take, and much more...We visit the metro city, the beach areas, and the popular mountain towns.
7 days of fun and investigation.
I charged everyone a flat fee and the "tour" was all inclusive to make it easier ( and help negotiate discounts)
Everyone had a blast. A few have already moved to Panama too.
A few weeks after we got back, I was getting calls from other friends saying "hey next time to do a tour, I want to go, sign me up"
After the 2nd tour, there were more requests.
I thought what the heck, it's a good excuse to go back to Panama ( this was before I moved) and get my travel expenses covered and make a profit to boot.
That research and planning I did that first time for myself is getting used over and over again.
I had no plans to start another business but this one just fell in my lap I already have several other business and sure didn't need another one.
But these are fun so I decided to do 4 tours a year. It's kind of like a mini vacation.
I have done 6 tours already.
The July tour has 20 people! September sold out in a few days. And I already have people signing up for the December tour and 2013.
Morale of the story, when an opportunity presents itself, just go for it. TAKE ACTION!
When you go to a different country or even a different state, when you are away from all the things that are familiar to you on a daily basis, you'll be able to spot so many more opportunities.
When you're a tourist, you hit the tourist destinations in the country and rarely venture off much further than that. You don't get to see the REAL country.
But my situation was different, I was looking at each country as a place to relocate to and was not interested in the tourist spots.
When I finally picked Panama and started telling my friends what I discovered, they said they wanted to go with me the next time I went down so they could see the country too.
Within a few weeks, I had 8 people who wanted to go check out Panama. So, I decided to charter a bus and a driver to take us from one end of Panama to the other. I made advance arrangements for all hotels and restaurants and mapped the course. I did all this from the USA and I don't speak Spanish so you can imagine the challenge. But I got it done!
We visited expats in each city... even got to see their homes, toured the hospital, met with an attorney to discuss getting residency or starting a business, went to the grocery store to compare prices and availability of products, visited with doctors and dentists, went to a pharmacy to see if they could get all drugs they take, and much more...We visit the metro city, the beach areas, and the popular mountain towns.
7 days of fun and investigation.
I charged everyone a flat fee and the "tour" was all inclusive to make it easier ( and help negotiate discounts)
Everyone had a blast. A few have already moved to Panama too.
A few weeks after we got back, I was getting calls from other friends saying "hey next time to do a tour, I want to go, sign me up"
After the 2nd tour, there were more requests.
I thought what the heck, it's a good excuse to go back to Panama ( this was before I moved) and get my travel expenses covered and make a profit to boot.
That research and planning I did that first time for myself is getting used over and over again.
I had no plans to start another business but this one just fell in my lap I already have several other business and sure didn't need another one.
But these are fun so I decided to do 4 tours a year. It's kind of like a mini vacation.
I have done 6 tours already.
The July tour has 20 people! September sold out in a few days. And I already have people signing up for the December tour and 2013.
Morale of the story, when an opportunity presents itself, just go for it. TAKE ACTION!
When you go to a different country or even a different state, when you are away from all the things that are familiar to you on a daily basis, you'll be able to spot so many more opportunities.
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