After my high school friends had left and gone their different directions, it was time to take a good hard look at where my life was and start putting the pieces back together to make one last push at trying to accomplish success in between the borders of Costa Rica. I had thought that the real estate rental company was going to be my ticket to financial independence, but the site was not ready and had a while to go before it would actually be launched. I needed to focus on areas that I knew would be successful and refocus on things I could start to put together with my skill set.
It took me about 7 to 10 days to get back to normal and my focus back on what I needed to do and wouldn’t you know it? About that time a “business partner” of mine decided that he wanted to move into the house I was living currently residing in. He had lived in the house I was currently residing in before moving into a house on the South side of Jaco. He was running a bachelor party company and not running it well. Every time he had money come in it would be spent on worthless material items or thrown at projects that would never get finished. Every single project was “going to make him millions.” The only thing that was there was a new project every other day and not one actually got finished and came to fruition.
The worst part was watching how he was running his company. He never saw deposits and payments from groups that he booked as money that needed to be spent on housing, reserving tours, etc…. he saw it all as ‘profit.’ If $3000 came in from a group, he saw it as him making $3000 instead of the fact that only about 20% was profit and the remaining $2,400 was needed for logistics for the group. The $600 profit was immediately spent on weed and other toxic habits and then the other money was spent within a few days of coming in. Normally, it wasn’t spent on things for the group coming down. It was basically a nice little Ponzi scheme where groups sending money for their trips would be paying for groups currently coming down. Watching from the outside was like watching a train wreck that was destined to happen.
Things that were required to live on were not taken care of by funds that were arriving. The house he was living at had the water cut off, (this is a bill in Costa Rica that is normally about $10 a month). He did not have food on a consistent basis. He was not paying his employees. Offices and rentals were gone through with lost deposits and not paying rent. Since the house I was currently living in was in his name I basically had to let him move back in. If I hadn’t he would have acted like a 5 year old child and the drama that would have occurred would have made the house environment unbearable to work in. Just like always, I would smile and just work as usual. My room became my own hobbit hole where I escaped the environment in the place I was calling home.
Right away when he arrived at the house, it became a disaster zone. The picnic table outside which was on one side of the yard; the idiot tried to move and broke it in half. After which it just lay on the ground. I had a friend of mine storing his items in a room downstairs which was locked and out of the way. All of a sudden, that room needed to be used as an office and his valuables were going to be moved to the unlocked garage. I could not let that happen and moved everything that I could onto the locked balcony upstairs. Then he began rummaging through containers picking and choosing which of my friend’s personal things he wanted to use himself. I was about to explode watching the complete disrespect for anything of anyone else’s.
To make matters worse, he was a complete and total pig. Dishes were left out with food on them or stacked unwashed
in the kitchen sink. When he cooked, everything was left out waiting for someone else to come behind him and clean up his mess. What had been a calm oasis for me had turned into a chaotic zone where I felt more and more angry every day. Although I could more or less escape his negative aura when I went into my room and locked the door, this was not an environment I wanted to live or work in.
With his groups coming in, normally there was alcohol left over which would then be consumed by him and he would turn into the angry drunk; Yelling at his girlfriend and even sending her back to her house in a different part of Costa Rica with only $10 in her pocket. It was like watching the emotional abuse that Priscilla’s husband put into her life while she was pregnant. I knew that just like Priscilla, she would never leave the situation unless she wanted to.
Watching him emotionally abuse her and seeing as he began to believe his own lies showed me that the end was near for his business and his life in Costa Rica. Houses and tour operators were not being paid and bridges were being burnt in every aspect of logistics required to run his business. The money was there, but being mismanaged and not run correctly. It was time to set up a project to use the knowledge I had and my marketing ability to develop a new company.
The holidays started around December 20th until the 2nd of January, and are normally the worst time of year for me. It is a time for family, loved ones, and celebrating many times with alcohol. The only thing that I normally wanted to do is to somehow find a sleeping pill that I could take that would knock me out for the 2 weeks of Christmas, my birthday and New Years. Seeing the posts on Facebook or getting e-cards about family vacations or holiday wishes is just depressing if you are by yourself.
As for me, the of 2013 was a blessing as it was a year of learning about many aspects of business and knowing that it was time to take my knowledge and apply it to running these businesses on my own and more efficiently. It was about generating capital for my pockets instead of helping someone else run it half assed. One thing that I have picked up on in life after my time in the hospital, is that people will use you for as much as they can get out of you and then very easily toss you to the side. This is not true of everyone, but at least in Costa Rica if you have a brain, work ethic and a good heart, people will try to use you until you realize you are not getting the financial reward you deserve. When you start to ask about getting compensated for your work and effort, or get paid what you had been promised in many cases this is when they will cut ties with you.
With a new year approaching and no desire to partake in the holiday festivities, it was time to get my life in order in 
regards to business. I had given up on the personal life as I figured once money was coming in all of that would fall into place. So, while I was not putting up a Christmas Tree, or celebrating the holidays, I decided to work and put together 2 new websites to launch at the beginning of January. So, while I was putting my business path in order and focusing on work; the holiday season passed quickly. Writing content and developing websites is rewarding. I love seeing something go from an idea into reality.
Near the end of December, the pig of a roommate was given a puppy for Christmas, (the last thing this irresponsible human needed) decided that he was going to go live at his girlfriend’s property near Mal Pais. She of course, was stupid enough to agree to let him come back into her life. I guess “love” truly is blind. I came home on the afternoon of the 30th of December after leaving the house for the day to find out he was gone. He had to leave because the truck he was driving was going to be illegal for him due to the fact that he couldn’t afford to pay the insurance on January 1st, so he needed to drive it out to rural Costa Rica as soon as possible. It was just another example of his childish irresponsible behavior. He had left Jaco and as I looked at the path of destruction he had left behind, I could only shake my head. No one believed his lies and false promises anymore and no one was sad that he was gone.
During this nightmare of 5 to 6 weeks in which he had been living at the house, I had locked myself in my room and put together a game plan for 2014. This was my last chance to make it in Costa Rica and if it did not happen it was time to move on. There are only so many times you can pick yourself up and try again before you adjust your path in life to a new direction.
2014 was going to be a year of prosperity and a year filled with trying to finally reach those dreams that had been unattainable in the past. By March the new projects needed to be generating capital and moving in the right direction or I would be going home. The question was, “Where was home?”
Next Up – Business & Financial Success
