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Meeting New People & Saving Them $6,000 - Different Hunger
Matt Kohn · 6:13 · 2016-04-26
About this video
I bring you today’s vlog as the world’s most sunburned gringo… I was reading a book at the pool for barely even two hours, on a cloudy day, and got absolutely roasted. I’ve lived in Australia for six months, spent weeks on the beach in Mexico, and hardly ever wore sunscreen. But that Colombian sun got me good. Anyways… Since moving down to Colombia, I’ve been making a conscious effort to speak to as many people as I can. This was for two reasons: 1) Many people down here are expats and online business owners who I can learn a lot from 2) To learn Spanish and attempt (Re: point 2… You should have seen me and my friends at the club Saturday night… Think about those awful rejections you see at regular clubs, then try to imagine those same rejections between a gringo trying to speak Spanish. Pretty brutal, but equally hilarious.) So I’ve been working out just about every day in my gym’s apartment. (Don’t be too impressed, all they have is a stationary bike) Since I’m trying to talk to everyone I can, I’ve struck up a few conversations and recently met a WordPress developer from Germany as well as a local Colombian who is also a website developer and designer. Two awesome connections, boom. Last weekend, I was buying groceries AKA Google-searching what items I was looking at. I was attempting to order a kilo of ground beef in broken Spanish and a couple and I started talking. He asked what I did, I told him I was a web designer and it turned out that he needed web design help. We exchanged numbers then two days later I went to meet with him to see if I could help him out. Juan, the guy I met, owns a franchise of Colombian make up stores, equivalent to Forever21 in the states. He just had his website done, and had a few questions related to eCommerce, which I haven’t worked with before. Well, lucky for me, the German dude I had met two days prior was a WordPress developer that focused exclusively on eCommerce. I gave him a call and he talked me through a few things so I could communicate effectively back to Juan. So that was sorted. Awesome. Next issue… Juan had just paid for the new website but the company he hired was unresponsive and slow for the most part.Worst of all he was paying $500 monthly for “updates” which for those of you who don’t know, is an absolutely absurd amount of money. Monthly website updates typically range anywhere from $10-60. Even $100 is pushing it. I told Juan that price was ridiculous and told him what info we needed to get from the company to maintain ownership of the site and quit paying the monthly updates. He told me to get on the phone with the company and tell them I was a representative from the franchise’s corporate office. I did, and they agreed to send over the information. BOOM! I had just saved Juan $6,000. Additionally, Juan was going to hire me for the other updates that he needed, which I will be able to coordinate with the Colombian designer and developer I had met a few days prior. These are the types of moments that I love - why I love traveling and meeting new people. As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been speaking to 50+ millionaires, entrepreneurs, professional athletes, best-selling authors and more the last few weeks and compiling their advice to their 20-something self. One quote that really struck me and directly related to this story was the following from my friend Ronnie, who runs the very popular travel blog, ManyManyAdventures.com: "Go see the world and really talk to the people that you meet. Listen to their stories and appreciate the miracle it is that you’re both sitting in that specific spot and that specific time having a conversation.” How beautiful is that? A few months ago I never would have thought I’d be in Colombia. But here I am, the world’s most sunburned gringo, and I was able to help Juan and his business save $6,000. On top of that, I’ll be getting paid for future work. This is what travel is all about: getting out into the world, experiencing new things, new places and new people. Until next time, amigos. Subscribe above, and receive email updates here: http://eepurl.com/R9HQv
Transcript
to today as the world's most sunburned Greeno uh I was reading a book over the weekend uh for two hours on a cloudy day and I've lived in Australia for six months spent weeks in Mexico most of the time without sunscreen but I got absolutely roasted uh but anyways um and and you can see that I'm getting
the kind of wrinkles uh that come before before my forehead just starts peeling off my face but anyways uh since i' since I've moved down here to Columbia I've been consciously making an effort to speak to everyone that I can and there's two reasons for that one of them being that I would I want to U meet
as many people as I can uh because many of them as I mentioned are online business owners and expats who I can learn a lot from uh and then secondly is to learn Spanish and you should have seen and I at the club on Saturday um club rejections uh and then multiply that by the fact that it's
a white dude attempting to speak Spanish so pretty brutal um but pretty hilarious at the same time um so I've been going to the gym uh in my apartment as well and I've I've been able to meet a few a few people uh just by going to the gym and again since I'm trying to speak to everyone
I can i' I've made some pretty awesome connections so one one guy was a WordPress developer from Germany uh and he's been traveling and working uh with his girlfriend um so I was able to meet him and then also I was I was able to meet a a Colombian guy um who's also a web designer and developer
so two very cool uh connections that are related to what I'm doing so awesome and last weekend I was buying groceries at the store and when I say that I meant that I was Googling uh and trying to figure out what it is that I'm buying um and I was attempting to order a a kilo of ground
beef in brooken Spanish and a couple uh started talking started talking to me uh the guy asked what I did and um I told him I was a web designer also working on a few different things uh and he said oh perfect I I need a web designer I need help with with my website so we ended
up exchanging numbers and two days later I went to uh meet up with him so this guy he owns a a franchise um store in Columbia equivalent to like a Forever 21 um so I went and met with him and he basically talked me through some of the problems he was having and wanted to see if I
could assist uh with those so the few the first few questions that he had was related to e-commerce and that's something that I've personally worked with before um but the German guy who I had met in my gym a few days before um that's exclusively what he works on so I gave him a call uh and I
was able to sort out a few things with him and that allowed me to communicate effectively with Juan who was the guy who I was meeting with so perfect that was awesome um and then there was another issue and that was that one had just paid for a new website um and the company was unresponsive for the
most part and worst of all he was paying $500 monthly for updates which for those of you who don't know is an absolutely absurd amount of money uh $100 is even pushing it so I I said look one here's what we need to get uh from the company that you hired and once we have this information we'll
be able to maintain the site ourselves and you won't have to pay them this absurd uh monthly fee so he put me on the phone with them and he told me to to pretend like I was a a representative from his uh franchises corporate office uh so I got on the phone and I said look here's what
I need uh give me this uh I'm from the corporate office don't ask any questions and they agreed of course uh Juan was super happy and I was also super happy because I had just saved Juan $6,000 um and and and it just made me very appreciative of one uh the fact that I was able to leverage
the connections uh that I had made um and on top of that we decided that uh the the rest of the updates that he would need um I would be able to manage and I actually spoke with uh the other Colombian web designer and developer and he'll be able to manage that project so I'll be able to
guide him on whatever it is that ju needs um so I was able to leverage both of those connections and and it got me thinking that you know this is this is why I love to travel this is why I love to go out meet new people experience new things um and as I've mentioned on my Facebook
uh in the last few weeks uh I I'm writing a a post featuring 40 50 plus millionaires entrepreneurs professional aora and I'm and I'm asking for their pieces of advice to their 20-some self and one one piece of advice that I thought was was awesome and and directly related to this situation was from my friend Ronnie who
who runs a very popular travel blog um and his piece of advice was go see the world and really talk to the people that you meet listen to their stories and appreciate the miracle it is that you're both sitting in that specific spot and that specific time having a conversation and I just love this quote because it's
so true you know here I am some sunburn Gringo uh from Washington DC and I was able to just help this Colombian guy who you know a few months ago I never would have even thought I'd be in Columbia but I was able to just save this this awesome dude $6,000 uh for his business and on top
of that I'm going to be able to get paid for helping him out uh with further updates so again I I I this is why I love travel and um it I thought that this quote was was perfectly relevant for this situation and I just thought that it was a really cool story to share with you guys
today um and uh that's all I have for you today but by the next time you see me uh I'll probably have leprosy of my forehead uh I'll probably have a few different uh colors of my skin up here so I I'll keep you post on that but uh talk to you guys soon
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