My wife and I visited Rincon a couple of weeks ago and have since decided that it's the place we would like to live. We will have enough to live on for about 9 months when we get there so we will be evaluating then but I would also like to get a jump start on it now and start developing some concepts ahead of time.
I would like to thank Victor Glass, Teri & Nathan and Paz & Melanie for all of your time and information. The intel was invaluable and we will be forever grateful for your generosity.
Originally I planned on expanding my little internet business as a means for income after we get to Rincon so I never asked for advice about generating income. I may still have to do that, however, after meeting some of the people in the community I came away with a sense that I would really like to do something that connects us to the community and that is a benefit to it rather than sitting in my apartment all day staring at the laptop. As for my wife, she would like to volunteer most if not all of her time to the on going dog rescue efforts.
That being said, I think I will have to set up some kind of business as employment seems unlikely.
I would like to hear some opinions from members of the community about what needs/wants the community has that could be met by a new business. I'm not really looking for advisory answers, more just to get a sense of what type of business would fill a need and be an asset to the community and then I can take it from there.
Thanks in advance to anyone who answers. All input will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Art & Lori Vance
Decided on Rincon, what type of business would fill a void in rincon?
Rincon is a pretty good place. I personally wouldn't be able to suggest to you what type of business to start in Rincon. But There is a woman named Rhea Maxwell who is the editor of the El Coqui magazine. She's an absolutely wonderful woman and she is well connected. She would be the person to talk to . If anybody could steer you in the right direction it would be her. She knows everybody in town very well, including the mayor.Rhea is truly a part of Rincon itself. If you do get in touch with her , please tell her Gregg the knife sharpener sends his love from Florida and that I miss her at the Sunday market. As for your wife, ARF of Rincon is the dog rescue organization in town. I have a lot of respect for her for wanting to get involved with that. Best of luck to you and your family.
Excellent! I will try and get in touch with Rhea Maxwell and will be sure to pass along your message.
Thanks for the reply and information Gregg.
An ethical dog-catching service might be viable.
This one was never even close to anything I would have thought about. Excellent! Thanks Nomadlawyer. This is precisely the reason I started this thread. I'm putting it on the list.
You're very welcome.
An ethical dog catching service is a good idea except there are soooo many strays that if you caught them there would be no place to keep them, not enough people to take care of them and not enough money to actually do the job. They have that problem now. ARF of Rincon is overwhelmed with stray dogs and cats and they have no shelter facilities. They rely on people to provide foster care and donations from the public to get them out of foster care and take them to the vet and fly them off the island to a shelter in the states. Besides, there are so many of them that I doubt many or any people would actually pay for a service to round them up. All you have to do is open your front door and you'll see a bunch of them just about everywhere you go. It's like the mangos that drop from the trees on the way into town. They are all over and just waiting to be picked up. And also remember, very few of the islanders actually care about the strays. It's mostly the Gringos that get involved. But most of the people that work with Arf and volunteer are Puerto Rican. Even still, do what you can with ARF. It's a noble cause.
Look up elcoquiofrincon.com and you should be able to get Rheas contact info.
Consider trying to get a federal grant.
If you want to catch dogs then just stand on the curve where drivers toss their unwanted animals out the window. On a more serious note I'll throw in my two sense about supportings oneself in rincon.
Yes, dog catching is not viable. Nor is starting yet another pincho stand, selling smoothies, or opening a bakery.
Let's talk about your internet business. Would you please describe it. If it's viable you should go with it for now since your first priority is to make money so you can live in rincon. You will need to spend time in rincon, look around, talk to people, determine what's needed, then write a business plan and do a proof of concept. This is not to say that comments now in this thread from people will not be helpful. Later I'll list some thing I wish rincon had but doesn't.
Let's talk about your interests, skills, and inclinations. In my humble opinion a person has a better chance of being successful if they choose something they have an actual interest (passion) in and would like doing, and something that would build on existing skills (or potential). An example of this is Banana Dang. Mario and Thahn-Thahn have an absolute passion for expresso, coffee, service. They planned it over a couple of years and didn't open until a year after they purchased their building. Now I'm not saying you need to do exactly that, but Banana Dang is wildly successful because they applied existing skills, took a risk, planned meticulously, and surveyed puerto rico for the best place to open a coffee house. They found the bar low in Rincon for good coffee that then filled the need. By the way wish to sell their business so if you have several hundred grand and want to work 14 hours a day it's available (ha!).
Now what do I want in rincon that is not there?
Good bread.
A good espresso/coffee place on the town square.
An art gallery that is really a gallery and an arts and crafts store.
About jobs. I think there are jobs in rincon to be had. But the question is how much do you need to support yourself in rincon. If you haven't done that analysis pull up the good old spreadsheet and do it. Housing is cheap but food is expensive (think the new york metropolitan area). For transportation a reasonable priced used car will do. I bought a 2007 toyota yaris for $7,700 and love it! Gasoline is about the same as the states. Of working for someone else sucks.
So, what do you think?
Excellent reply victorglass.
Go to the Plaza on Sundays. There is a small farmers market there. Get to know the vendors, they are wonderful people. They may even be able to help you with some ideas. If you happen to run across a couple of vendors named Vanessa and Jay, please tell them Gregg says hi.
Thank you all for your thoughtful responses. It means a lot to me and I am very grateful for your time and input.
Victor, great post. It allowed me to realize that I had not made myself clear. The intent of my orginal post was not to burden you good people by seeking advisory input about viability. I apologize to all of you for my poor communication skills and for not making myself clear.
The intent of my original post was simply to hear some input from people living in Rincon which would then help me to identify some area of opportunity or need for me to look into to establish it's viability when I get there. My preference for these identified opportunties/needs would be something that would allow me to generate a bit of income, be a benefit to the community and to integrate myself into the community. Community is a passion of mine. Living in one that exists and being a productive member of one. This version of community deos not exist in California.
That said, we will arrive there with enough to keep us going for about a year or more based on the what I've seen from going into the markets to check food prices, talking with people who live there and looking at rental properties while we were there. So, we will have time after arrival to work these things out and to plan our future there.
My internet business is viable and I would LOVE to be able to do it full time from PR. The problem is that I specialize in used mid to high end audio and home theater gear. I buy it and sell it, primarily on the internet but I also buy locally when I can. I actually have to inventory it which is easy to do in the continental US. Not so sure about the cost of volume shipping in and out of PR. Cost is only one issue. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who are leary of buying anything from outside of the continental US, even the US Territories and in particular something used. It is by no means a slam dunk to say that my business, although viable here, would also be viable out of PR. I may be able to utilize the help of someone in the states to keep PR out of the equation. I'll have to work on that.
Victor, "A good espresso/coffee place on the town square" was one of your things missing from Rincon. You are the third person to say this to me. I would enjoy doing something like that.
That being said...EVERYONE, PLEASE KEEP THE THREAD GOING!
Thanks again,
Art & Lori
Articles to help you in your expat project in Puerto Rico
Visiting the island many times over the years and getting to know the towns and different areas before making a ...
Paying Taxes in Puerto Rico
Playa del Condado, Puerto Rico
Six yeas ago we purchased our home in Naguabo Puerto Rico (PR) in the barrio of El Duce. Some of the lessons we ...
The day we decided to move we were a little worry about how expensive it would be. Now we know how affordable it ...
I am writing this guide to assist people understand how a work VISA is done.
