This horrendous month has me thinking about my options.  Should I downsize to make future inevitable months like July 2010 less painful.  I can’t control the buying habits of you yanks, but I can at least control the amount I spend to service those habits.  This business is highly cyclical and even more highly susceptible to economic trends.  After all, a vacation is not your most essential expense and when people feel their purse-strings a bit pinched, out goes those vacation plans.  Does anyone out there think even once about ME in the course of this decision making?  The answer, unfortunately, is a resounding NO.  So all that has me caught squarely in the common corporate conundrum of “to downsize or not to downsize?”  I believe often times corporate downsizing is just a knee-jerk reaction borne out of fear….you know, that old “lizard brain” hard at work.  I want to avoid that at all costs.  I don’t want any downsizing decisions to ultimately result in devaluation disasters.  And often times, such decisions have that exact result.  Recalling those adages of “the past doesn’t equal the future” and “right now isn’t forever” (remember those?), I know from experience that things will turn up again.  I realize that by downsizing now I may indeed create a problem for the future when the sun comes out.  And the future in this business could be, like, today!  One thing I know for absolute sure is that the ultimate product I am selling, Costa Rica, is not losing one iota of its appeal…in fact, it is only getting better.  So rather than downsizing, maybe a keener way to look at it is to be more insightful and adept at presenting this incredible product to my viewing audience…you!  And efforts towards  that end may actually call for a bit of UP rather than DOWN-sizing.  Anyway, so goes the thrills, chills and ills of being an entrepreneur. I am sure there could be one or two folks who visit this blog who may have experienced similar dilemmas.  They really do have horns, don’t they?

I am confident that there is at least someone visiting this blog regularly, or occasionally, who has considered the idea of either investing in Costa Rica, or maybe even moving their entire lives to Costa Rica.  Actually I hear from such people from time to time, so this is not another one of my hallucinations of grandeur.  Well guess what?  Yours truly (aka, Costa Rica Guy) runs a pretty nifty real estate investigation tour.  I have tried to stay away from shameless plugs in this blog, but, hey, times are tough and a guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do.  I probably don’t need to tell the intellectually gifted readers of this blog this, but you can get yosef in a world of hurt investing here without “doing your homework.”  There are graveyards littered with bodies of dead investments everywhere these days.  Usually it is the result of thinking that “tip” from a “friend” or slick marketing schtick of an unscrupulous developer looking to get in, make the big hit, and leave poor suckers like you with a lot that you need a helicopter to reach is all you need to drop a few hundreds of thousands into a piece of Costa Rican paradise.  And many actually do this without ever having even set one toe onto Costa Rican soil!  As Lily might say, “imaginase!”  Well a good way to ameliorate risk is to take my (or someone’s) real estate tour.  It is kind of like taking a working vacation.  First I have to find out what it is you are really looking to do by investing in Costa Rica. For instance, many tell me they want to operate some online business here, while living somewhere deep in the jungle, with a great ocean view of course.  Well, wouldn’t that be nice…to have high speed internet while conversing with the mono congos each morning.  Problem is, there ain’t no high speed internet in the jungle, silly!  So knowing your objectives is the first step in planning the tour.  During the tour I serve as a private guide and we will spend time in areas that I believe present opportunities that best fit your main objectives for buying in Costa Rica. I also make sure we have a lot of fun (just ask Susan and Michael Duell, who recently did my tour….in addition to great investing information, Michael learned firsthand that the best rum comes from Nicaragua!). I recently did a Squidoo Lens that lays out the dynamics of the tour.  However, like all Costa Rica vacations offered through my company, Package Costa Rica, the idea is to design and manage an experience that you go home raving about.  So everything is completely customizable to find that perfect fit that is just right for you.  If you’re interested in taking a tour, peruse the Squidoo Lens and then give Costa Rica Guy a call.

Costa Rica Real Estate Tour Squidoo Lens

Having a “good heart” seems to be a great cover for one’s sins.  He may be a philandering, teetotaling, good-for-nothing SOB, but he’s got a good heart.  Ever heard that one?  Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson sang about the “good hearted women in love with the good-timin man.”  Why is having a “good heart” such a great excuse for having an empty head?  The good hearted bandits become folk heros, while roaming around the country relieving folks of their hard-earned possessions.  Robin Hood was an outlaw with a good heart. He stole from the rich in order to give to the poor.  Doesn’t excuse the stealing, but makes his reputation in history more of a hero than a heal.  What does it even mean to have a “good heart?”  By normal description it would seem to mean someone who is empathetic and harmful only to his or herself.  Someone who may be flawed, but is not also mean-spirited.  When it comes down to the bare facts, even the most seemingly perfect among us is flagrantly flawed.  But that only matters when one tries to compensate by overly competitive and unkind, maybe even ruthless, actions that are the opposite of good-heartedness.  Which flawed person would you rather be?  The reason that the meanest among us sometimes get all the gold is because they place their own comfort and material gain above just being nice.  Good hearted people may be some of the most f***ed-up humans on the planet, but at least they are nice.  At least they realize that they really aren’t any better than the next guy, so why try to act like it?  I would rather be a loser with a big heart (in fact, maybe that is exactly what I am!), than be the rich SOB who only gives a crap about his golf handicap.  I guess nearing the age of 50 it is high time to choose the path of the good-heart over pursuit of that pot of gold that I often assumed was waiting out there for me.  That assumption has led me to a lot of unneeded strife.  Really, if you are worried about your place in human history, my advice is to just be a good hearted person and the rest will take care of itself.

I have noticed lately a sudden increase in visits to this blog.  Don’t have a clue as to why that has occurred, but I welcome the development.  After all, the whole purpose in having a blog is so that people will read it.  A comment or two would be nice, however.  I was thinking this morning, perhaps naively, that maybe some of these new visitors would like to know a little more about the person behind this blog, you know that “Costa Rica Guy.”  One way you can get a quick low-down on all things Costa Rica Guy is to visit the official Costa Rica 365 Squidoo Lens.  In it you will find links, photos, text and other goodies that divulge all the things I am into down here.  Of course, if you have been reading for anytime at all, you probably know that I run a travel company, called Package Costa Rica.  We are not a typical travel agency in the U.S.  So don’t call us to book airfare and a hotel for Disney World.  We are “Costa Rica travel consultants.”  We do Costa Rica and only Costa Rica (well, with the occasional exception of Nicaragua and Panama).  What we are about is designing and managing a memorable experience of this incredible place.  If that connotes a certain degree of care, as opposed to acting as a simple booking agent, then you’ve got the right idea about PCR.  I also do a bit of consulting for folks who are interested in investing in real estate, or even moving their entire lives here.  In that light, I run a real estate tour.  I am also available to consult for an hourly fee, or by project.  What brought me to Costa Rica in the first place was to represent the seller in the sale of one of Costa Rica’s largest for-profit private universities.  So I am no stranger to doing deals down here.  As you may have read lately in this blog, I have both a physical and online store that deals in indigenous arts and crafts.  I am doing this both as a business opportunity and as a social goodwill effort to help the indigenous cultures of Costa Rica maintain their way of life and pass it on to younger generations through their arts.  And finally I am a blogger.  I am still trying to figure out what to  do with this blog after reaching post number 365.  Rest assured the blogging will continue.  It has become a passion for me, as well as a release of my pent-up feelings of rage and rebellion.  Hope you enjoy reading me!

When things have gotten really crappy for me, and that seems to be a frequently re-ocurring experience, I like to remind myself of two “truths.”  The first is that “the past does not equal the future.”  I have Big Tony to thank for that one.  The other is that “now is not forever.”  I came up with that zinger myself.  It seems that when things do get bad, we have a tendency to slip into patterns of thought that are the direct opposite of my “truths.”  I put “truth” in quotes because it doesn’t matter if either of those statements is actually true or false.  What matters is that they both can serve to help me out of the hole.  Thinking that the past always repeats and that things will never change will only keep me stuck deep down in there.  And believe me when I say that there are plenty who will happily help by picking up a shovel and throwing some dirt in.  Why is it that when you are down some folks relish in keeping you that way?  I guess because it makes them feel better about themselves to be able to look down upon you.  My last post was a lament about how horrible this month of July has been for me.  So far it hasn’t gotten any better, until today.  Today’s post is my attempt to begin climbing out of the hole I fell in around July 4th by reminding myself of those two truths.  Already the vultures are circling.  Will this be the one that does old Scott in, finally. they are asking themselves?  No it won’t.  Because you see, I may be pretty good at getting myself down into those holes.  It is the result of being someone who doesn’t commit lightly and who is not afraid of risk.  But I am also someone who clings to those two positive thinking truths that will either pull me out, or provide a shovel and a light for me to keep digging deeper until I strike gold.

This has been one of those months for me.  No sales, a ton of bills to pay, my office manager out the entire month and, as if I needed more, my beloved dog Cash murdered by a demon tico driver!  I am thinking at this point, what else?  We often hear that we should live in the present, but what if the present really sucks.  The one place I DON’T want to be in any more is July 2010…I wish I could be transported right now to another month…like, say, August, 2010.  I just want it all to end…I mean the month…not life (don’t worry mom).  Being one to never be short of a word of advice, for myself and others, I believe in times like these one needs to “relax and breathe deeply” into a paper bag.  This has been a month where I have felt on the constant verge of hyperventilation.  But I know in the back of my mind that it will end, the sun will shine again and I will look back on July 2010 with a certain degree of fondness.  Isn’t it always the case?  Those times of our lives that are really hard and that we have to “get through” by the “skin of our teeth” are later seen as great learning experiences.  We pride ourselves in having paid our dues and tell others that they must endure their own July 2010’s in order to achieve the level of super-stardom that we have achieved.  Okay great…yes that might all be true…but it is the 23rd and I still have eight more days of this hell on earth to endure!  The one thing I do take solace in is that I get to endure it in this wonderful place that I have spent the last two years blabbering about.  When things get just about as bad as they can get (and they can always get worse) I raise my gaze towards those majestic mountains surrounding San Jose and know that peace lies out there somewhere.  And with a 4-wheel drive vehicle I can go and look for it…any time I want!  I guess the best way to make it out of a bad situation is to make light of it.  That is the general cathartic purpose of this post and, hey, you know what, it is working.  I feel better already.

As a kid we all hated when that bratty brother or sister, cousin or more distant relative or friend, told on us.  Made you want to do bodily harm to the you know what, now didn’t it?  Right now I have one of those here in Costa Rica.  His name is Nik Clayton and he is “blogging on me.”  Thankfully, everything he has said so far has been positive.  I hope to keep it that way.  In fact, it comes to mind that the best way to get royal treatment (which is somewhat of a pun in this case as Nik is decidedly British) is to blog about your experience.  Something about having the quality (or lack thereof) of one’s services aired to the entire blogosphere that makes you stand a little straighter and be as polite and accommodating as possible.  Just kidding with all that.  Of course we welcome the spotlight of Nik’s blog, entitled, Try Before You Buy.  My company designs and manages Costa Rica vacation experiences, and from what Nik has written so far, his is turning out to be one of those memorable ones that we shoot for.  Sometimes we miss the mark a tad, normally due to circumstances outside of our control, but that is rare.  Why?  Because we don’t simply sell travel sitting in a U.S. call center, passing you off to an airline or discounted hotel room in a place we’ve never been, and not really caring what happens after the chi-ching of the sale has been completed.  We love Costa Rica ourselves and get a real kick out of sharing it with others.  Lately, due to economic woes, there just haven’t been enough “others,” but hopefully the tide is beginning to change a bit in that regard.  Costa Rica is indeed a magical place as Nik is finding out first hand.  I encourage you to peruse the diary of his Costa Rica vacation and then book one of those for yourselves…with Package Costa Rica of course!

Try Before You Buy - Nik’s Blog

When we think of striving for something, it connotes a positive ambition to be or do better.  However, when that same constant striving leads to “strife,” which Websters defines as “exertion or contention for superiority,” then it kinda becomes a bit of a drag, wouldn’t you agree?  I came across a story about a guy named Jay Shafer recently.  He became tired of the strife sometimes brought on by too much striving and decided to severely downsize…to a house that is under 100 square feet.  That decision has since become somewhat of a movement and Jay a tiny house entrepreneur.  Check out his web site at tumbleweedhouses.com.  Juxtapose Shafer with time share mogul David Siegel who decided to build the largest house ever built in the U.S., modeled after the Palace of Versailles, for his former beauty queen wife.  The house still sits unfinished and is now up for sale due to the downturn in the economy.  So much for love and strife, huh?  I don’t know about you, but for me one of these two approaches seems “good” and the other, well, kinda “yucky.”  Opulence, like in the case of Siegel’s house, makes me feel a bit queasy.  Deciding to live in a tiny house in order to have more freedom from strife, and to be less negatively impactful on the environment, has much more appeal, at least for me.  I have no right to judge those who strive for the opulent life.  After all, it is “their” money, isn’t it?  But it seems to me that Siegel’s idea of good taste is more than just a tad “tacky.”  I guess it all comes down to the question of what it is that we ought to be striving for.  We teach our kids to yearn for the “good life” and to endure years of education and “pay their dues” in order to achieve the “American Dream” of a big house, big car, and fat paycheck.  But why?  As if “comfort” were the be-all and end-all to our existence.  Would it not be better to teach them to yearn to make a difference, to give away something that they are uniquely suited to give?  If you are going to go for the dough, why not set yourself up to use it to do some good in this world.  The gift of a 90,000 square foot house to the silicone injected trophy wife, just doesn’t seem to be all that, well, “sustainable”…in my humble opinion.  Shafer’s ideas of downsizing one’s existence and environmental impact by living small may seem kooky, but at the same time refreshing.  Any time someone strives to make a positive difference, the outcome is much more inspiring than when someone lavishes opulence upon themselves in their “exertion and contention for superiority”

Have you ever raised, or taken part in raising, a “strong-willed” child?  You know the one that always goes left when you say say right and up when you say down.  Well this morning I am not going to talk about children, but customers (who, frankly, often behave as children)…and it seems that 99.99% of them fit into the “strong-willed” category.  I have heard it said that customers want to buy, but loathe to be sold.  They usually recoil, or rebel, at the attempt.  It seems the easy part about business is matching a need with a product, or a service, that will supply it, but then the hard part is that psychological element of convincing those strong-willed customers that you are the best alternative.  Usually you can’t just tell them that, since (1) they won’t believe you and (2) it probably isn’t true in the first place.  No there is some other element at work here.  I believe that is where “artistry” in business, or in sales, must come into play.  Where building rapport matters, because customers want to buy from someone they feel good buying from, someone they like, someone they trust.  So how do you “pull that off?”  Well get the notion of pulling it off out of your head.  It can’t be done that way.  They will see right through any attempts to manipulate.  I believe it is in giving away your art, something that really they can’t afford to pay for anyway.  Like your wisdom and knowledge borne from years of experience and hard knocks.  With Package Costa Rica, the Costa Rica vacation designer and manager, we often find ourselves in a virtual bidding war with some cut rate travel agency in the U.S., trying to sell Costa Rica hotel rooms at incredibly cheap prices.  If that’s all the customer is looking for, i.e., a cheap room, then we lose.  But if they want something money really can’t buy and something which we joyfully give away, i.e., our deep knowledge and love for this country and heartfelt desire for others to have an incredible experience of it, then maybe we can win.  I guess solving the problem of the strong willed customer comes in knowing your customer first, and then giving away the time and effort to demonstrate that you really care.  And finally delivering on that promise so that they become raving fans.

I am currently working with several indigenous groups in Costa Rica that are known for their arts and crafts.  What they do, in fact what any artist does, is amazing when you think about it.  It especially amazes me when something incredibly beautiful is created simply from the natural resources that the earth provides, combined with the creativity and ingenuity of the artist.  These guys take plants like the jicara fruit, or a piece of balsa or bamboo, with paints created from roots and flowers, and produce truly amazing products.  Nothing fancy about what they do.  It is pure and primitive, yet beautiful.  I guess that is what art is supposed to be….the ability to create something out of virtually nothing.  To take a blank canvass, whatever it may consist of materially, and create a masterpiece that others look at and say, wow!  Then once you have created it, you need to display it to the world.  That’s where I come in.  Via Costa Rican Artisans I am trying to create for these expert craftsmen and women a marketing platform.  Sure they have their roadside stands in the remote places that they inhabit and once and a while a tourist will stumble by.  But their art is too precious, too valuable, to be limited to that marketing forum alone.  The whole world needs to know about this stuff and about the humble, honest and honorable people that create it.  I am telling you about this to make a subtle point.  If value can be created, the word eventually will get out.  I truly believe that.  It may take time.  You could even say there has to be some “luck” involved.  I personally don’t believe in luck.  I’d rather call it fate, or karma, or something like that.  In other words if you create something truly that is of value and do it with a giving spirit, then the universe will return the favor and make sure your creation is publicized.  That’s not luck, it’s physics.  But we get caught in the trap of worrying about “the money.”  As soon as you start thinking that way, then the mentality of lack creeps in and stops us dead in our tracks.  The Maleku or Brunka artisan don’t think that way when he or she picks up that piece of balsa wood and begins to carve.  The only thing occupying the mind at that point is to unleash that pent up creativity and produce a piece that is a true expression of their love and their culture.  I believe we can translate that sentiment of artistic expression to anything that we do passionately.  And the world will take notice sooner or later.

Costa Rican Artisans web site