From Sushi Machines to Selling Caps and beyond

My wife and I moved to Puerto Rico from Sydney in 2003.  I grew up in Sydney and my wife is originally from PR.   Formerly, we worked as professionals (Comp.Prog [me] / Architect [wife]) but began to yearn for something more when friends of ours introduced us to the world according to R. Kiyosaki.  After a couple of cashflow wins under our belts we were never the same.  We dreamt of moving to Puerto Rico and starting an "Aussie Pub"...  After seven years in Sydney as DINKS we made our bold move to PR.  

We had some capital which we had made after flipping a house in Sydney - netting 100K.  Our first 'jump in' venture was a fast food sushi outlet(s).  After investing heavily into it, buying machines etc we got cold feet and ended up selling everything on Ebay.  We then tried selling innovative Electroluminescent Caps. It was election year (2004) in PR and we worked very hard trying to gain contracts with the various parties.  After purchasing a couple of thousand caps (from China) we discovered that our sales plan was totally wrong.  We ended up selling the caps at various political gatherings - rain hail or shine.  My wife was also 6 months pregnant at this time....

Although we endured all sorts of adverse things - we never gave up.  We were damned if we would ever return to our sleepy jobs. 

After 12 months of living in PR we had become more attuned to our surroundings and this helped us to come up with a very innovative idea.  With PR being tropical the temperatures vary between hot to very hot all year round.  These hot conditions gave rise to, what seems to me, a disproportionate number of malls (with A/C).  In short, Puerto Ricans exist either at work, at home or at the mall. 

Even though we had had a short lived experience with the Media industry (EL caps) we did discover some very important things.  Most notable was that the alternative media industry in PR was way behind when compared to USA. Asia or Europe.  With all this in mind we came up with the novel idea of the Media Advertising Table Top.  The story of how we went from a blue print to over 500 tables in three years demands a seperate entry in this journal....

In summary, we feel very fortunate for what we have achieved so far.  We have come to realise the importance of vision, belief and perseverance.  Of late, we have also begun to understand the Entrepreneurial Spirit which is in all of us and are trying our best to foster it.  Also, we have met many people along the way (Law of attraction...) who have been very supportive.   If it were not for Kai, for instance, I would not be posting this message...

As I continue to learn about what is really involved in becoming a successful entreprenuer I want reach a level where I can coach others towards fulfilling their dreams...

"believe in yourself..." - my favorite Lenny Kravitz song