Become an Uber driver in Costa Rica
Torsten Kunert explains how he became a Top 1% Uber driver in Los Angeles, California. By following his advice you can do the same in Costa Rica. Learn what Uber customers expect, how much you can earn each day, what you should provide your riders to maximize tips, and much more…
College grads start Pura Vida Bracelets, hire Tico artisans
In 2010, a 5 week college graduation surf trip to Costa Rica turned into a life-changing business venture for two Southern California friends, Griffin Thall and Paul Goodman. A few days before their journey back to San Diego, they stumbled upon local Costa Rican artisans making bracelets on a little table and selling them to tourists just like them. Six years later, Pura Vida Bracelets provides full-time jobs to over 100 artisans and supports the lives of their family members. Thall and Goodman also created bracelets for 190 different charity partners and have donated more than $877,058 to them. They now enjoy distribution in over 2,500 retail stores around the world and have sold over 2,000,000 hand-made bracelets from Costa Rica.
What are the key factors that have helped their store be successful?
“Our online store is very easy to use, navigate, and shop. Once on our site, our email marketing, social media marketing, and re-marketing efforts are constantly grabbing new + current customers to make a purchase. Our website also has email pop-ups once you enter, exit, and has post-purchase sharing incentives.”
What are your top recommendations for new store owners?
“For all new store owners I send them directly to Shopify.” They have created the best e-commerce platform, hands down, and have the best support staff to go with it. “I would tell all store owners that they must design a website for mobile use first and desktop second. Big social sharing buttons on product pages, clean template design, and post purchase sharing are a must.”
Pura Vida Bracelets – “a great, simple story and a very high quality product” and full-fledged business for two college grads when they least expected it.
Costa Rica Vacation Inspires Online Business
Taylor Banks is running multiple businesses from an RV he shares with his wife. One online business (Ace Hackware) was born out of a 2010 working vacation to Costa Rica. Banks explains…
“In 2010, we went on a pseudo-working vacation in Costa Rica, because we realized it was cheaper to meet my business associate there rather than either of us flying to meet the other. While there, we had this epiphany. We were busting our butts, doing this rat race thing. In Costa Rica, we had this little casita on the beach with no TV but thankfully wireless internet. It was life-altering. We thought, ‘this is what we should be aiming for’. We said, ‘let’s make this plan to move to Costa Rica’.”
Around the same time, Taylor read Tim Ferriss’ The 4 Hour Work Week. “I was pumped up by this idea, by the concept of outsourcing to make this happen,” he told me. He built his first ecommerce store on Shopify. Ace Hackware – a source for hidden cameras, lock picks, and pentest drop boxes – was an obvious freshman shop for a self-proclaimed “long-time penetration tester and hacking countermeasures instructor.”
It took off, thanks to a small but growing community of security enthusiasts, but they still hadn’t made any progress in moving to Costa Rica. The logistics and paperwork involved in moving to (and running a business) from a foreign country, it turns out, were prohibitive. The couple then realized that while they loved Costa Rica, there was still much of the US they hadn’t explored. Beth convinced her company to allow her to work remotely, and they haven’t looked back.
“Credit to my wife’s company for allowing her to work remotely. Companies are starting to realize that remote doesn’t mean less productive – and in some cases it means more productive. Beth has discovered that she can get a lot more done on a day out of the office than a day in the office.”
Running Ace Hackware remotely relies on outsourcing a lot of the business. Taylor hired a VA three to four months into launching the store. She’s covered everything from bookkeeping and managing the site, to customer service and backend process management. Years later, she’s still on the team, and an integral part of business operations, affording Taylor a much lighter schedule than a typical entrepreneur.
The Banks haven’t yet transitioned to living in Costa Rica. However, they are creating a consistent revenue stream to sustain them when (and if) the time comes.
Top 15 Places to Work in Costa Rica and Latin America
Looking for the best place to #work in #CostaRica? These fifteen companies were ranked at the top, with Cisco earning the highest honor. Second place goes to Accor, with 11,975 employees in Brazil, Mexico and Peru. With 6,000 employees working in Brazil, Panama and Mexico, Monsanto ranks number three. Fourth place is Dell with 6,000 working in Costa Rica, Panama, Brazil and Mexico…
Great Places To Work between June 2015 and March 2016 (Latin America)
| 1 | Cisco | Information Technology | 1,710 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Accor | Hospitality | 11,975 |
| 3 | Monsanto | Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical | 5,040 |
| 4 | Dell | Information Technology | 6,268 |
| 5 | SC Johnson | Manufacturing and production | 2,132 |
| 6 | DHL | Transport | 1,731 |
| 7 | Belcorp | Health | 6,721 |
| 8 | Natura | Manufacturing and production | 1,430 |
| 9 | JW Marriott | Hospitality | 2,144 |
| 10 | Mars | Manufacturing and production | 2,044 |
| 11 | Diageo | Manufacturing and production | 2,513 |
| 12 | EMC | Information Technology | 1,222 |
| 13 | Oracle | Information Technology | 4,622 |
| 14 | Hilton | Hospitality | 2,252 |
| 15 | 3M | Manufacturing and production | 4,626 |
| 16 | Atento | Professional services | 119,719 |
| 17 | Roche | Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical | 2,146 |
| 18 | Scotiabank | Banking and Insurance | 26,692 |
| 19 | Falabella | Retail | 47,732 |
| 20 | Cargill | Manufacturing and production | 10,303 |
| 21 | Novartis | Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical | 2,118 |
| 22 | British American Tobacco | Manufacturing & production | 1,115 |
| 23 | Mapfre | Insurance | 11,717 |
| 24 | Teleperformance | Professional services | 20,545 |
| 25 | Santander Bank | Banking and insurance | 33,830 |
Protesters concerned about Walmart dismissal of 3,000 employees
Concerned about the future of their working positions in areas such as merchandisers and demonstrators of the Walmart chain, including Palí and MAXI Palí, some 1,200 people will gather in front of the facilities located in San Sebastian, San Jose tomorrow. They want to leverage for the respect of their rights by the company and to prevent Walmart from letting go about 3,000 employees.
Ricardo Navarro, one of the coordinators of the movement, told La Prensa Libre that while the firm announced that apparently 1,500 new Costa Rica jobs will open up, Walmart plans to reduce the payroll.
It is important to remember that the chain closed 269 stores and canceled the services for 16 thousand employees in the US and Latin America since the beginning of the year.
There are about 3,000 people who will be let go and increase the already existing unemployment in the country. They set to compete for positions against nearly 50 people, with wages that really are not sufficient. We want you to understand that we are the customer service and the people who aid you when you’re occupied, arrange the points of sale, create inventories, among others,” he said.
They want to put the external assistants, or marketers, out of Pali and Maxi Palí by this policy, if it happens that there are more than 3,000 persons without employment and the people believe that come to generate a good to Costa Rica ” he said […]
Taxi drivers protest Uber in San José
Members of the Union of Costa Rican Taxi Drivers (UTC) will march Wednesday to demand that courts block the ride-hailing service app Uber in Costa Rica. Leaders are calling on taxi drivers to gather at 9 a.m. in front of the National Oil Refinery in Calle Blancos, northeast of San José. From there they will march to the San José Administrative Court in Goicoechea.
Wednesday’s march is the latest in a series of demonstrations from official taxi drivers. Protests have been staged in front of Casa Presidencial, at President Luis Guillermo Solís’ house, and along major highways and in downtown San José.
Union secretary general Rubén Vargas said he will ask the Administrative Court to order the government to rule Uber services illegal. The organization will also ask the court to immediately halt the operation of Uber here, pending the issuing of a final ruling on its request.
Taxi drivers also are planning on taking the demonstration to downtown San José. Vargas said that after delivering the petition at the Administrative Court, a group of drivers will go to the Supreme Court and stage a “honk-in” protest. The demonstration is specifically aimed at a complaint filed last year by two Libertarian Movement Party lawmakers who support the legalization of ride-hailing services like Uber.
Uber launched operations in Costa Rica last August, and taxi drivers since have staged street demonstrations against it that escalated in several clashes with Uber drivers and their customers.
How do I become a resident in Costa Rica?
Learn the differences between temporary and permanent residency. What documents do you need to apply for residency? How does the application process work? How long does it take? What are the income or pension requirements? What are the benefits of having residency? Can non-residents work in Costa Rica?
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