Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller provides an honest and unfiltered look at living in Latin America, contrasting it with the idealized portrayals in travel magazines and websites. He begins by discussing the importance of having a reliable water supply due to frequent water shortages and mismanagement in Latin American municipalities. He explains the limitations of municipal water systems, including leaks and mismanagement, and suggests that expats should consider installing underground cement cisterns to ensure a continuous water supply. He also discusses the practicality of cisterns for expats living in historic areas, where digging deep wells is not feasible, and recommends connecting roof drainage systems to cisterns for additional water storage.
Johnny then delves into the specifics of a rainwater collection system that connects a roof, gutter, downspout, and drainage system to an underground cistern. He explains that this system allows for relatively pure rainwater to be collected, with some initial dirt and debris that can be filtered out. He emphasizes the importance of setting up the system properly to avoid contaminants entering the cistern. Johnny also mentions that even during the dry season, there is enough rain to top off the cistern, and he shares his personal experience of having a reliable water supply for 20 years using this system. He notes that while the system is inexpensive and effective, many people in Latin America do not use it, possibly due to old habits or reliance on municipal water. He also provides tips for preventing debris from entering the cistern, such as using a window screen filter.
In the third segment, Johnny discusses the importance of using filters to prevent debris from entering a rainwater cistern. He suggests using a window screen and a lady's nylon as additional filters. He emphasizes the need for routine maintenance, such as draining the cistern once a year and replacing the nylon filter. Johnny also comments on the lack of routine maintenance among Latin Americans and the increasing water shortages in the first world, suggesting that expats should consider moving to Latin America. He then shifts to discussing the prevalence of overhyped first-world seminars in Latin America, criticizing the gullibility of Latin managers and middle managers who attend these seminars for the sake of the presentation and the speaker's credentials rather than the content.
In the fourth segment, Johnny discusses the phenomenon of first-world gurus offering seminars in Latin America, particularly on topics like investing in the US stock market. He highlights the lack of critical thinking among Latin audiences, who are often drawn to these seminars due to the perceived authority of the speakers. Johnny explains that these seminars are typically conducted in both Spanish and English, with the content translated and adapted for the local audience. He also outlines the process of organizing such seminars, including the use of translators and the importance of advertising in local newspapers. Additionally, he mentions the trend of first-world expats conducting seminars in high-volume tourist areas before expanding to other parts of Latin America.
In the fifth segment, Johnny discusses the advantages of organizing seminars in Latin America, emphasizing cost savings and cultural insights. He suggests booking affordable accommodations, hiring bilingual translators, and using local resources to maximize efficiency and profitability. He also highlights the effectiveness of newspaper advertising and the importance of providing bilingual materials to attendees.
Finally, Johnny discusses strategies for running a successful seminar in Latin America, emphasizing low-cost, high-impact methods. He highlights the profitability of seminars, the effectiveness of traditional advertising methods like flyers and newspapers, and the use of local labor for distribution. He also mentions the benefits of having a team with mixed backgrounds, including some non-native Spanish speakers, to reduce pressure. Johnny notes that while modern advertising methods like billboards are available, they are not necessary for smaller events and that newspapers remain the most effective form of advertising in the region due to limited internet access.
Topics
Water shortages in Latin America, Cisterns as a solution for expats, Municipal water mismanagement, Third-world dentistry (future episode), Living in historic areas with municipal water, Rainwater collection system, Cistern setup, Water conservation, Rainwater filtration, Water scarcity in Latin America, Rainwater cistern maintenance, Water shortages in the first world
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:33 Announcement of upcoming topics and focus on cisterns 00:00:59 Explanation of the importance of cisterns for expats 00:02:39 Practicality of cisterns for expats in historic areas 00:05:00 Rainwater Collection System Overview 00:07:14 Personal Experience with the System 00:08:18 Why Latin Americans Don't Use the System 00:09:41 Rainwater Cistern Maintenance and Filters 00:10:33 Water Shortages and Expats Moving to Latin America 00:13:38 Overhyped First World Seminars in Latin America 00:14:28 The Format of the Seminars and Their Appeal to Latin Audiences 00:15:51 Language Considerations for Conducting Seminars in Latin America 00:16:12 How First-World Gurus Organize and Conduct Seminars in Latin America 00:19:13 Cost-Effective Seminar Organization in Latin America 00:19:34 Bilingual Translators and Cultural Insights 00:23:33 Advertising and Pricing Strategies 00:23:55 Profitability of Seminars in Latin America 00:25:10 Effectiveness of Traditional Advertising in Latin America 00:26:38 Role of Newspapers in Advertising
Transcript
Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.
[00:03] Hi everybody, I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to The Expat Files, living in Latin America. The show that tells you what it's really like to live, work, play and or retire in Latin America. I tell it just like it is, not the version they give you in those glossy travel magazines, or the picture they paint for you in those international traveler websites, where they're only trying to sell you something. What's it really like for expats living in Latin America? Well, it's time to take off those rose-colored glasses and find out. So let's get started. Now I promised today that I was going to get into part two of everything you wanted to know about third world dentistry, because so many people are interested in the dental part of medical tourism. But I'm going to save that for tomorrow's show, for sure, so stay tuned. And I'm holding back on that till tomorrow because I've got a load of interesting emails
[00:51] on two topics that I hit on just recently. So first let me finish up on the issue of cisterns, which I spoke about a few weeks ago. And I'll even tell you how to get a set of plans for the best cistern system in the world that allows you to switch between well water, municipal water and rain water, so you never have to be without water in the third world, even if municipal water gets cut off for days at a time, which does happen a lot down here. Now remember, because I said that there are severe water shortages in most of the countries down here in Latin America, so you really need to have a water storage tank at your house. And you really need to have one whether you're on a municipal water supply, or if your colony or subdivision has a well of its own. And even if you live in a colony or subdivision that has its own private well, if the power
[01:36] goes off, you don't have water. Because they've got a big electric pump working all the time, pulling that water from the water table some 500 feet below. And even if your colony or subdivision has its own storage tank or reservoir, which most of them do, the fact is, if you're living in a big subdivision, those storage tanks are always undersized. There's only about one or two days worth of water stored in one of those things, and that's if it's kept topped off, which unfortunately is not usually the case. And like I've said, it's highly recommended that if you own a rent a house and live in a subdivision, that your house or subdivision has its own private well, so it doesn't have to depend on municipal water. However, not all expats can live in a place like that, nor do they want to, and if you choose to live in any city, you're probably going to be stuck with municipal water, because
[02:22] then you're going to be buying or renting an existing home or apartment, which are nearly always connected to the city water supply. And that's especially true in the old historic Spanish colonial scenic districts, and you just can't go digging a 500 foot deep well in your backyard now, can you? But you can put in an underground cement cistern just about anywhere. Even if you have the tiniest bit of space in your backyard, whether you put it under a small garden, or under a driveway, or under a garage slab, you can put in a cistern like that that could hold enough water for a family of four for a month. And if you think things will never get that bad, that your municipality will cut you off for a month or more, or ration you down to only a few hours a day, well, you're wrong because I've seen it happen, especially in small towns, whose local governments and water
[03:09] authorities claim that they're always out of money. And the fact is, they can't even maintain or repair their existing fixtures and tubes, much less cope with the new construction that comes online. And I've seen startling statistics that say that municipalities in Latin America lose 30 to 40% of their water simply due to leaky tubes and pipes and badly plumbed systems. And that's a 30 to 40% loss in water before it even gets to the consumer. And you should know that it's never about the municipality running out of money, because everyone who's hooked up to the system pays a monthly water usage rate, whether the water flows or not, plus they pay a meter to rate when the water does flow. The problem down here is complete mismanagement, chaos, and blatant theft of materials and
[03:54] funds. Hey, this is the third world, and that's just how it is. And you wonder why so many municipal water workers have their own private stash of pipes, tubes, and connectors in their own backyards. Hmm. So what do you do if you have a nice, beautiful Spanish colonial home and you're on a municipal water, like a lot of expats are, because they love to live in a beautiful old historic part of the city, like Cartagena, Colombia, or Antigua, Guatemala, or Copan, Honduras, to name just a few of a hundred old great historic places. All of them, of course, on municipal water. Anyway, if you live in a place like that, how do you keep that cistern topped off if your municipality is rationing water more and more? And as all of Latin America gets drawn more and more into the international financial crisis and the crunch comes, especially with municipalities and governments, it's a sure
[04:43] bet that the government bureaucrats and politicians are going to spend less and less on maintenance and infrastructure, which means more rationing and water stoppages. But if you have one of those big cement cisterns under your driveway, take note. My suggestion is to do what almost all smart expats do. They spend $50 to $100 and have their roof, gutter, downspout, and drainage systems all tied into a final PVC tube that runs directly into that underground cistern. And that means every single time it rains, your cistern is going to be topped off with relatively pure rainwater. And when I say relatively pure, of course, there's going to be some dust and dirt and organic debris, like seeds and leaves and sticks, on your roof if it hasn't rained in a while. But not to worry, if you set the system up properly, you can avoid that stuff getting
[05:32] into your cistern completely. Anyway, when you need to, you just divert that rainwater with a flip of a valve and it goes directly into your cistern. And you do that by installing a 3 or 4 inch plastic valve in the proper place, in the final tube leading down from your gutters on your roof that drains into your cistern. And what about the dry season, when there's almost 6 months with no rain? But that's kind of a misnomer too. It's not exactly dry for 6 months without a speck of rain. And even though they call it the dry season, it does actually rain once in a while, at least once a month, but in short bursts. And even though it might pour for only an hour or two at a time, and not rain again for weeks and weeks, it really comes down. So if you do like I recommend and use rainwater to fill your cistern sometimes, if you are
[06:18] in the dry season and it hasn't rained for let's say 3 or 4 weeks, and all of a sudden here comes a downpour, you let the first 5 or 10 minutes of that shower actually clean in the roof and the gutters before you let that first bit of mucky water enter your cistern. If you can help it you don't want to collect any of that stuff, because you see if it hasn't rained in quite a few days, that first bit of rain is going to drag with it a lot of junk. And of course you don't want that stuff in your cistern, so you can let that first bit of dirty water flow from the gutters to the downspouts and into the ground, like it usually does. And after 5 or 10 minutes after that storm really gets rolling, you flip that one big plastic valve that you've installed, and all the rest of that relatively pure rainwater is going to flow into your cistern and top it off.
[07:04] So even in the dry season, you do get a dramatic downpour every so often that lasts an hour or two, which could top off even a very big cistern in no time. Now I have a setup like this, and I've had it in 4 other houses that I've lived in, and in 20 years I've never ever run out of water in my cistern. Even when I've lived in big Latin cities, and I was hooked up to municipal water, where they rationed it such that I only got water from 4 to 6 hours a day. And in the dry season, the municipal water supply was so bad, that the stream was only about as thick as a pencil coming from the faucet when it did come. But still, I had plenty of water 24 hours a day at full pressure, and it wasn't that mucky brown ugly stuff like all that grungy terrible looking water that comes from municipalities down here. And though I always filter my drinking water, I really think that my cistern water was
[07:53] clean enough to drink without a filter, probably, because so many times it was topped off with just rain water. And if you're interested in a system like that, just send me an email, and I'll send you my own plans on how to do it. And it only costs between 50 and 100 bucks if you've already got a cistern that's working okay. And that's just dirt cheap when you consider that just with a few add-ons you got water 24 hours a day at full pressure, unlike your neighbors. Now I've often wondered, with the chronic shortage of water down here, why latins don't do the same, why they don't hook up tubes to their own gutters and collect the rain water. In fact, I've only seen it a scant few times out in the boonies where a farmer is collecting water in a rain barrel. But I've never seen it in the city. I just don't get it myself, because it's so easy and inexpensive, and you don't need a concrete underground cistern to do it.
[08:40] All a poor family down here really needs is a couple of 55 gallon barrels, and when it rains, they're in business. But you know, old habits die hard and you just can't train these guys. So instead, they're always nervous about when the municipality is going to cut the water off again. And another thing, if you have a cement cistern, and you think that it's going to take a long time to fill up one of these things, you've never seen a good rain storm down here in Latin America. But the danger is not that you'll underfill your cistern, but that it fills too fast and overflows. And for that, you install an overflow runoff tube, which solves that problem. So don't worry. And that's also shown in my plans and diagrams, so if you want to copy, just email me. Which reminds me, if you're going to take rainwater from the top of your roof, you should cut out a round piece of window screen and form it to fit on top of your gutters, where
[09:27] they're attached to the downspouts. To catch the bigger pieces of leaves and organic material and stuff, they might want to work their way through your downspouts and end up in your cistern. And that might happen during a big storm when the wind and rain is pounding all the shrubs and trees nearby. Some of that stuff just might end up in your cistern if there's a big blow. And you can avoid that using a simple window screen as a filter. So we use a second simple filter made out of a lady's nylon to catch any small pieces that might get through the window screen. And here's how it's done. On that final tube that joins all the water from your roof that ends up poking through your upper wall in the cistern to let that rainwater in, it's a very good idea to slip a simple woman's nylon over that 3 or 4 inch tube and fix it there with some duct tape or some thin copper wire.
[10:12] And that'll act as a final filter for any debris that happens to slip through. That nylon will catch even the smallest particles. And in the end, the only maintenance you'll ever really need is the usual once a year draining of that cistern, and once it's empty, all you have to do is hose the walls and wipe it down. And that takes about 10 minutes. Which expats almost always do, but Latins almost never do. Because that's called routine maintenance, and that phrase is not in a Latino's vocabulary. Anyhow, during that time, when you've emptied that cistern to do some maintenance, you just change that nylon sock that's attached to the end of that water inlet tube. But I explained that in a lot more detail in my rainwater cistern plans. And while I'm on the subject, I just don't understand why more Americans don't do exactly the same thing. People out west who have water shortages, who can't fill their swimming pools or water
[11:02] their lawns, why aren't they putting in big cisterns and using rainwater too? I just don't get it. Well that's one thing that Latin Americans got to jump on, because they've had the water shortages for years and they're getting worse. And up in the first world, you just end up paying more and more money for your water. Because you can afford to pay extra, and the Latins can't. But eventually the rationing will come, and you know it. So go ahead sports fans, get yourself a couple of cases of beer and about 6 pizzas, and have yourself a cistern building party. How about that? And get over on the government, because you are, you know. However, lately I've heard that up in the first world in some states it's illegal to catch your own rainwater. Sheesh. Which to me is just another reason to move down here to Latin America. Anyway, if you're using rainwater as an adjunct to metered water, it's all the less that you
[11:50] have to buy from the municipality, right? And if you decide not to put in a cistern, because you think it's too expensive or something, well there goes the water table, and in the future will be a much stinkier society for it too. Okay, enough about using rainwater in cisterns. Now in answer to a few more emails I've been getting on that subject of doing seminars down here in Latin America, and what a great opportunity it is for expats who want to come down here and get in on the act. Well I must have hit a nerve on that one, because I've been getting bombarded from a lot of you expat wannabes up there. And if you remember, I said that down here, lately I've been seeing quarter and half page ads placed in Latin papers advertising that some so-called first world marketing finance or real estate guru or gurus are coming to town for one day only, to one of
[12:37] the big first world hotels in the business district, specifically to give a half a day or a day conference on any number of hot topics of interest to white collar Latin business types and folks from the upper middle classes, including offering first world style seminars and conferences in marketing sales and business management, real estate development, timeshare, human resources, you name it. If you've seen overhyped seminars like that, offered in the first world during the last 5, 10 or 15 years, well down here, those same rehashed seminars, repackaged by first world has-beens and so-called gurus, are popping up left and right. And Latin managers and middle managers are falling for this hook line and sinker. They think by spending 50 or 100 bucks, and taking a day-long seminar by a first world
[13:23] expert or so-called expert, somehow they'll absorb some first world secrets that'll give them a leg up on their competitors. And to me, and every other expert that really knows what's happening down here, we can see that it's a symptom of that peculiar Latin disease, and that it's only about the fact that Latins are absolutely crazy about anything first world, and they just can't get enough of it, including conferences and seminars. Even if it's prepackaged, rehashed, pre-bubble, faddish marketing junk that's long been out of favor up in the first world, down here Latin managers, middle managers and business owners aren't sophisticated enough to know that. So whether the material is valid or not, old or new, it's all about the presentation and the fact that it was given by a first world guy with a lot of fancy degrees and titles
[14:08] after his name. Pumped up or not, who's gonna know? What Latin person's gonna get on the internet and actually check the guy's wiki citations? Especially when 80 plus percent of Latin businessmen down here, who are the likely candidates to spend 50 or 100 bucks to take that course, don't even know enough to follow along in a seminar given in English. Anyway all it takes is a first world guy with a lot of credentials after his name, a couple of ads in the paper with some nice head shots, and a so-called first world opportunity that Latins want to get in on, like for example, how to invest in the US stock market. And I'm not kidding, how to invest in the US stock market? Please. When any first worlder in the note knows that horse left a gate before the real estate and banking crash and the debt crisis, and that the only thing that's keeping it afloat right
[14:54] now is all that stimulus money, and sooner or later that horse is gonna bleed to death. But you can't convince a Latin American of that, no sir. To the average Latin white color guy, the US stock market is solid gold. Because as a rule down here, even the so-called educated classes do not investigate things in any great detail. They remind me a lot of gullible US housewives who don't have too much education, who believe every self-help and diet book that Oprah peddles. Anyway, even a topic like how to make a million in the US stock market, as unbelievably hollow-headed as it seems, draws big crowds down here. But just one more thing, to make that seminar a success, you have to add a nice diploma or certificate suitable for framing, so all their friends and clients can see that they've had some kind of first world training, even if it was just four hours or so of reheated
[15:43] trendy pre-bubble feel-good crap. Anyway, that's the format, and it must be working because it seems like every week I see another one of these things advertised. And one of the questions I've been getting over and over again is how much Spanish do you have to know to pull one of these seminars off? And how do you put something like that together if you just don't know any Spanish at all? And here's another question I've been getting. Are the Latins who pay to come to your seminars expecting to get a seminar in Spanish? Or in English? Or both? Well here's the lowdown on that. From my reliable sources, I've found out that almost no one actually knows enough Spanish to pull it off himself. What they do is they dust off their old notes and PowerPoint presentations that were of course in English, and they hire a translator for a week or two, or they have a business associate or networking buddy that speaks Spanish, and they convert the entire lecture
[16:32] into Spanish, and their PowerPoint presentation too. And they run the seminars simultaneously in Spanish and English. Now most of these first world guys that come down here and give seminars have been down to Latin America on vacations and trips before, usually to the high-volume tourist areas like Costa Rica, Cancun, Panama City, Acapulco, Veracruz, Ixtapa, Mexico, and maybe even Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. And that's when they first try out these seminars that have been translated into Spanish. That's where they give them their test run and work out the bugs in these big high-volume tourist areas and cities, where tourism is the number one industry, and many of the business people do speak English. So these speakers have pretty much a ready-made market, because the Latin businessmen down there want to get a leg up on their competition too.
[17:18] And they always believe first world people have the golden touch, because most of the really successful tourist businesses down in the third world were originally set up by first world expats, who set the pattern and standards for all other businesses like that that came in their wake. So if you give a seminar first in one of those high-volume tourist areas, just for practice, you could work out the bugs quite easily and tailor it for your Latin audience, and in fact since you're doing it in a high-volume tourist area, most of those business entrepreneurs and middle management people will be able to follow along in English, or at least try to. So that's how most of these first world so-called gurus got started doing their seminars down here in Latin America. After the seminar market kind of fizzled up in the first world, most of those lecturers either gave up, packed it in, or went bust themselves in the crash, following their own
[18:07] bad advice. Especially the real estate guys, because these so-called market and marketing experts never even saw the financial crash or the bubbles coming. But lately, some of these guys have found out there's a huge untapped market of first world wannabe suckers down here in Latin America. But anyway, you don't have to hire a professional translator up in the United States for 500 to 1000 bucks a week. And you can figure, it'll take one or two full weeks at least for you and a bilingual translator to hash out all the details for a nicely done one day seminar. And don't forget you and your translator will have to convert all your PowerPoint frames into Spanish. And then there's your all important newspaper ads to hook your suckers. And all you have to really do there is to copy what's already out there and look at
[18:53] what the other first world guys who come down here are doing in that respect. And just to help you out a little bit, I'm starting to collect a file myself on first world guys that have placed ads like that, so I'll be scanning them and I'll make them available to you so you can get a representative sample of what's going on down here. And you'll also get an idea of the hotels they're using by looking at those ads. And since it seems that almost all these guys rent conference rooms in the big well known first world hotel franchises down here, you can book all the conference rooms yourself in English from your double wide trailer in Cleveland and you won't even have to involve your translator because big hotels like that always have an English speaking staff. And everything on their websites and all their printed material will be in English too. So if you want to try the seminar route, if you really want to save some money and maybe
[19:38] even get a better overall seminar out of it, don't hire a translator up in the first world at all. Instead, come down here to a big Latin American city, book a good but cheap hotel off the beaten path not in the Zona Rosa or Zona Viva business district where you'll pay near first world prices, instead stay at a nice hotel in the outskirts maybe a half a mile to a mile away from that district. So instead of paying $100 or more a night where you'll be giving your seminar, stay off the business district yourself and pay $35 or $45 a night and your accommodations will be just as nice. And your first mission is to settle in then find a good bilingual translator and you can do that in just a few hours by just going to the nearest university and talking to the head of the English or language department or by putting an ad on the school's bulletin
[20:25] board or in the classified newspaper section of the city's biggest newspaper. Down here in Latin America, you'll be able to hire a 100% bilingual translator for about $100 a week. So even if you don't know a single word of Spanish, you'll have a 100% bilingual person and secretary available on call and at your service for about $2.50 an hour. And because your translator is a person who lives in Latin America, he or she will give you some tips about the culture and about what you should do and not do that you're never going to get from a Spanish translator up in the first world. And a city dweller like that will really know his or her way around, so you'll never get lost or frustrated when you're trying to find something. Like an office depot or a Kinko's or an internet or the best and cheapest place to buy or rent audio visual equipment if that's necessary.
[21:13] And don't forget you'll have to produce English and Spanish handouts for your lectures. The more the merrier, which is a big added value because Latin people just love to take that kind of stuff home with them, whether they read it or not is another thing. But at minimum, it's nice to have a very complete outline of the course in Spanish so they can follow along while your translator is translating every boring thing you say in English. And don't forget that nice diploma suitable for framing. And in fact, you should give them two diplomas, one in Spanish and one in English. And you can be sure that your attendees will frame them both and stick them side by side in their office cubicle in a place of honor. Now I mentioned last time, because Latin America is 5 or 10 years behind the times, that if you do get into the seminar business, you won't have to spend money on TV or radio ads. Practically every first world seminar guy that comes down here uses the newspaper exclusively.
[22:03] And here's where that local bilingual translator of yours will come in. You can have him or her Google all the businesses in the area and fire off emails to all the middle managers, upper management and the marketing and sales departments within the bigger Latin corporations announcing that the great guru savior from the first world is about to arrive. For one night only. And of course you do the usual first world thing and you offer them some kind of deal if they sign up before a certain date. Or if five or ten or whatever number sign up from a given company, you give a 30% discount or whatever. Or you can give the department head a freebie if he brings his staff. All the usual tricks and hooks work like a charm down here. Anyway, if you know anything about sales and marketing yourself, there are hundreds of ways to suck them in. And make sure your bio on your webpage is bloated enough so they can see you are the
[22:51] true guru that you say you are. Oh, and by the way, you should have a Spanish version of your webpage too, just in case some of your prospective attendees happen to click on it. And what's nice is that these days, nearly every webmaster can make a dual language version of your webpage. But remember this, when he does, know that he's a first world guy and just maybe some of those Spanish words and phrases aren't exactly grammatically correct. Because he's probably using a computerized translation program and you know how those things are. So, you should have your Spanish translator give the final okay on that translated webpage just so you don't look like an idiot in Spanish. So in effect, advertising for a seminar down here is going to cost you next to nothing compared to trying to do the same thing up in the first world. And though you might end up charging only a half or a third of the price you charge
[23:39] per head in the first world, it is recommended that you keep your one day course to under a hundred bucks. And maybe even a lot less than that. Because you see a hundred bucks seems to be the limit of affordability down here. It doesn't matter because if you get a hundred guys in a room at fifty bucks a piece, you're going to pull down five grand and mostly pure profit. Not bad for one day's work. And another thing that's going to surprise you is that you can get some really good advertising and marketing coverage on your seminar. If you just get some full color handouts and flyers printed out, I'm talking about a nice little half page or single page announcement. With just the basics, the seminar details, your bloated resume, and an airbrushed headshot. Now you get about a thousand of these printed up for like twenty five bucks and you hire two well-dressed teenage kids at ten dollars a day to hand them out in the business district
[24:28] where all the high-rise office towers are. Actually, your translator hires them for you. And you instruct these teenage kids to hand a flyer out to everyone that looks like a businessman or woman. Anyone wearing a tie, a nice shirt, wearing a suit, carrying a briefcase, they're easy to spot going in and out of these office towers. And the nice thing about Latins is that they're so polite, they never refuse a pamphlet or a flyer, and they almost always read what's on it. So definitely have a couple of nicely dressed adolescent kids handing out flyers a week before and leading up to the seminar. And you might even have a ten percent discount coupon built right into the flyer. And of course, make the discount time sensitive. And I know this all sounds retro and awful low-tech. That kind of stuff still works like a charm down here in Latin America, so take advantage
[25:14] of it. And of course, your trusty translator is going to help you with that flyer. And after the first few times you've done that seminar, you're not going to have to reinvent the wheel. From then on, just fine-tune what you've got and get it down to an art. And then all you have to do is go from city to city and repeat the process. Oh, and one more thing, I have seen some ads for first world gurus coming down in groups, that is, two or three guys that are supposed to be something special. Now when there's multiple guys on the ticket, often there'll be one or two first worlders and the rest from Latin America. Which takes a lot of pressure off you if your Spanish sucks, so that's a good option. And note, if it's supposed to be a really big event, occasionally you'll see their headshots and their seminar advertised on a few billboards on some of the main highways. And little billboards on bus stops.
[26:00] But billboards and placards like that are very cheap compared to the first world. And down here, the biggest highway billboard that you can get, comparable to the ones in the United States, and those giant TV screens that are down here too. And even those and the biggest billboards cost less than a thousand dollars a month. But I'm not recommending any billboard advertising, at least on the first seminar tour you do down here. You really don't need to do that at all. But again, it depends on how big a crowd you want to draw. If you want 50 to 100 people at a crack, you don't need that kind of media blitz at all. But if you're shooting for big crowds, maybe you do. Just remember one thing, they're 5 or 10 years behind the times down here, and almost everything. Which means that newspaper and newspaper advertising are still king down here. They've not seen the decline at all of newspapers or the printed page, like we're seeing up
[26:47] in the first world. The internet and internet journalism has not made a dent at all in that direction. Newspapers are still the best and most effective way to advertise, and they will be for some time. Since the average family down here not only doesn't have the internet, they don't even have a computer. And even though the average Latin is not at all the market you're going for, if you just stick with newspaper advertisements, flyers, and selected business and corporate emails, you'll more than likely clean up. And even if you don't know a lick of Spanish, it's almost impossible to fail if you just copy what everyone else is doing. Oh, and I forgot to mention, when you put those ads in those big circulation newspapers, most of the time they'll give you a nice big free write-up. Because hotshot first-worlders in their country who aren't on vacation, even self-anointed ones are always good copy. You've been listening to The Exped Files, living in Latin America.
[27:41] And don't forget you can email me on anything at all about Latin America. The Exped Files at gmail.com. That's theexpedfiles at gmail.com. See you next time. Nos vemos. South of the border.