Its been 3 months in Costa Rica already? Geesh, it feels like two weeks. Summary: * New connections: While I did my homework and knew my new company would be well received, I had no idea that I would literally never be turned down for a meeting with anybody. Even had a very brief telephone conversation with the Vice President of Costa Rica! * Financials: All financial projections have been met or exceeded. Not to say much cash is flowing yet (thats planned for the second quarter) but all fee structures agreed from both medical and tourism providers have exceeded expectations. Also, the start up capital (I call it my runway) is holding out nicely. * Industry growth: The press coverage for medical tourism has been nothing short of spectacular. Diane Sawyer did a piece a couple weeks ago that raved about Costa Rica Medical Tourism. Quality, value, fun, and positive sentiment in general is all Ive been hearing. Once in a great while, Ill hear a bad medical tourism story, mostly from a poorly managed trip, or some cut rate doctor, but its rare. * Market positioning: A big part of my being well received here is due to my medical education, previous trips here, detailed business planning, and technology development. As I had hoped, this combination seems to put me as the potential King Of The Hill medical tourism facilitator for Costa Rica. Not that I want that. Ive set my client limit at 3 to 5 active trips at a time. Thats only 150 to 200 clients per year. There are 40,000+ Americans coming here annually. That means I only want a less than one percent share of the market. So, I probably wont be King Of The Hill in terms of size, but in terms of customer satisfaction and positive outcomes I have the potential to be the best.. * Quality Of Life: Beautiful lodging, great food, many new and old friends, recreation beyond belief, overall sense of well-being, perfect climate, booming profession, and strength and health to enjoy, are all things that are in abundance for me at this moment. Sometimes Im just giddy over it. * Spanish Language: Im way behind the curve on this one. Its not impairing business progress but I was hoping to be much more fluent at this point. It is becoming more fun as I fill in the blanks and Ill just keep at it. Voice and Data Connections: The one area of business that has been an issue is communication. I had a nice, albeit complicated, plan, to be in touch with voice and data 24/7. Hardware, software, and service issues have doinked around with that goal a little. Some adjustments are planned that should get me to my original goal shortly. Overall, I give things 4.5 stars. If I was comparing it to getting a plane airborne, Id say Im in the high speed taxi phase, getting ready to firewall the throttles in November and watch this thing leave the ground.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 15:36:20 +0000
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