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Mo money, mo money, mo money....

This past Sunday, I had the pleasure of joining miamimike and Ryan for dinner in Miami during Ryan's brief visit here. Two great guys with alot of good knowledge... Although we talked about several things, business opportunities in Colombia was the primary topic.
I've heard of many, many gringos investing large $$ in a business in Colombia only to fail in the end... returning home with nothing... Obviously there are success stories as well... What similarities (not to be confused with "the same"...inside joke) exits in those who succeed and those who don't...
Although, I'm sure there are many exceptions, I've noticed that in my personal observation it seems that a large number of businesses who depend on the Colombian citizen as their customers have trouble fine tuning their business model to fit the Colombian spending habits... maybe they operate their business as if it were in the US or their country of origin.... but there are those who manage to have a business in Colombia and cater to tourists and do quite well... I can't say that all of these second group are offering services that they'd be proud to tell their mothers about but the general principle is good... Live in Colombia while earning their money from outside Colombia... any other observations? any experiences?

By peterNC on Oct 10, 2007, 14:48 in Friendly Talkzone.

miamimike says on Oct 10, 2007, 19:49:

Peter-Hi! Yes that was an enjoyable evening. I forgot to mention, where that little Colombian restuarant was located(161 st & collins ave), we were in the midst of the Future foreclosure capital of Miami-dade. Lots of Pricey foreclosure condos will be going on the auction block in a year or so. We were in the shadow of Trump's Luxury Condo bldg not yet completed. In 1999 when Internet Cafes were just taking off in Bogota, I thought about investing at that time but knowlegeable Bogota friends advised against it and talked me out of it. That was a ground floor type business back then but Col friends said in all probability, I would receive "Visits" from people wanting the monthly Propina so that idea died. I look at the bottom line where I can get a decent return on my investment for the least amount of risk and headache and decided the Good Old American stockmarket was hard to beat. Google-record high today--$600 and $10 appreciation just today,,,Can't beat that...

Bésame, bésame mucho Como si fuera esta noche La última vez Bésame, bésame mucho Que tengo miedo a perderte Perderte después Bésame, bésame mucho Como si fuera esta noche La última vez Bésame, bésame mucho Que tengo miedo a perderte Perderte de

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Mr. Hollywood says on Oct 10, 2007, 20:02:

Live in Colombia, make your money from outside Colombia is always a good recipe.

In general, there's little for a citizen of the US to try to compete in the local economy of a place like Colombia. Only a few fairly specialized transnational businesses will really pay the way you would want.

If you're willing or able to scale back your expectations and live like local, that's a whole different story, but most Americans or Europeans are ready for the compromise.

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