Episodes
Friday Mar 30, 2012
The Expat Files - 03/30/12
Friday Mar 30, 2012
Friday Mar 30, 2012
-What if you have NO experience at all in running a small business up North and no matter what you’ve heard about the “gringo advantage” you’re still dead nervous and worried about facing the prospect of going down to Latin America and making a go of it?
-You've heard the old gringo saying "C’s get degrees". Well, no matter how useless your college degree is up in the first world, it’ll probably be even more useless down here. But don’t worry. You’ll not wait tables at Starbucks in Guatemala or Nicaragua! Remember, you have that magic “gringo advantage” going for you down here and many a first-world expat dufus ends up on top of the world, even with his worthless drama degree.
-Speaking of degrees... MBA’s and other useless first world advanced degrees are all the rage down here. Latins think MBA’s are the be all to end all- and that's another good example of the first world “lag time” effect and why we expats will seem to look like clairvoyants when that party's over.
-Latin Private schools badly want to hire gringos as English teachers. Then once a school has a few expats on staff, they become the school’s best marketing tool. That’s because the 3% of rich Latins that can afford those private school prices like nothing better than to have a "real live" first worlder’s teaching gringo ways to their darling, spoiled, entitled brats.
-Email me on questions about Latin America at theexpatfiles@gmail.com
Monday Mar 26, 2012
The Expat Files - 03/26/12
Monday Mar 26, 2012
Monday Mar 26, 2012
- Latins, their “third world” inferiority complex, and the basic hygiene and cleanliness issues only us expats seem to notice (what’s up with that?)
-Why is there such a proliferation of bad taste when it comes to local Latin businesses design and basic home construction? (Maybe there really is such a thing as an international white trash fashion gene!)
-When new Latin employees are hired, many consistently arrive a few minutes late on “manana time”. That bad habit can be a big problem for expats with first world style businesses that run by the clock.
-Expat Eddie tries a cheap, dirty and well-worn employee incentive that’s better than money (only on Latin America!)
-99% of local (non-franchise) Latin businesses don’t have employee manuals (they don’t even know what they are!). By contrast, all the successful expat business owners I know have one- in English and Spanish of course. It’s all part of our gringo upbringing and an adjuct to the "gringo advantage”
-For expats with an eye to starting a business, here are a few things you should know about Latin employees, their habits and how to manage them
-What does the “gringo advantage” have to do with cars, buses, Latin ladies and green cards? You’ll be surprised!
-Email me on questions about Latin America at theexpatfiles@gmail.com
Friday Mar 23, 2012
The Expat Files - 03/23/12
Friday Mar 23, 2012
Friday Mar 23, 2012
-Johnny reports on his upcoming Latin American insider’s seminar with more details about it. For more information on the seminar send email to theexpatfiles@gmail.com and put the word “seminar” in the subject line.
-The continuing saga of Expat Eddie, and his growing aversion to surveillance cameras- and how he’s found a few ways to foil them.
-Eddie shares his pearls of wisdom in regards to expats just like him who have successful Latin American businesses and he explains some of the best and worst things about owning and doing business in Latin America
-Some thoughts on that sinking feeling first world folks often get when they see all those steel bars on windows and the razor wire down here. (The truth regarding negative first impressions)
-Many Latin businesses have a night watchman or guard. Will your new (or prospective) business need a night watchman too?
Friday Mar 16, 2012
The Expat Files - 03/16/12
Friday Mar 16, 2012
Friday Mar 16, 2012
Monday Mar 12, 2012
The Expat Files - 03/12/12
Monday Mar 12, 2012
Monday Mar 12, 2012
Monday Mar 12, 2012
The Expat Files - 03/09/12
Monday Mar 12, 2012
Monday Mar 12, 2012
- The real dirt on Uruguay. It’s touted by some to be the next Costa Rica (but so is every other Latin American country, including Costa Rica itself!) -In Uruguay, be prepared for super high import taxes that often double, even triple, the price of cars, appliances and all electronic stuff (almost everything but food is imported!)
Friday Mar 02, 2012
The Expat Files
Friday Mar 02, 2012
Friday Mar 02, 2012
- The real dirt on the recent prison fire in Honduras that set a new hundred-year prisoner death-toll world record -How people can and do buy their way out of jail -Because in a macho society crimes of passion are endemic, often times the perpetrator gets the court’s sympathy and simply walks -How and why high level Latin politicians almost never go to jail no matter how crooked they are ( or much they steal). They just disappear for a few years, come back, and get re-elected. -Why third world countries sign extradition treaties with the USA, but often don’t make similar treaties with other countries -Why common Latins clamor for the death penalty while their politicians keep hammering against it -A few examples of what can happen when Expats get busted for drugs -Email me on questions about Latin America at theexpatfiles@gmail.com