OK, it's been awhile since I've written. I tried previously to write the post about why I came to Brazil, but I just wasn't able to get my thoughts out onto the computer. So, I'll do what I tell my children to do when they are faced with a large task; break up the job into smaller pieces and tackle those one by one. There are many reasons why I came here, but in this post I'll just cover part of the reason.
I like business. Even more than business, I like the idea of running my own business. Even more than that I like the idea of running a profitable business. This is hard to explain, but the profitable part isn't so much about the money that comes from it (though that's a nice perk), as it is about the feeling gained from doing something that others validate through purchases. It's easy for people to say, "Oh that's a cool idea" or "I would totally buy that," but when a transaction of currency actually happens then you know it really is a cool idea that people would buy. Maybe other people who know what I'm talking about can explain it better in the comments.
I majored in business in my undergrad studies and then four years later went back to school and got an MBA. I have started a couple of other businesses (one of which is still operational, just not being actively worked on), but for different reasons neither one of them worked out, at least not to the point of me being satisfied with them. So I've been left with the desire to start something else, something new.
The "face" of my currently operating business What's In This Stuff
I also like traveling and seeing different parts of the world. I like learning about different cultures and meeting new people. According to the interwebs, I still have a lot of that to do. I have almost 90% of the world's countries to visit still.
So, putting those things together into one happy international business experience has always been very appealing to me. Up until now though, the opportunities weren't as visibly available. Bridget wrote about this topic on her blog a few months ago.
During spring break of last year I took Elliott to Singapore to visit my brother Shad.
Shad owns and operates Amped Trampoline Park there. It was very fun to be in Asia for the first time, but I found that a large part of my interest was in the parks he was running. He offered to share his business inside information with me if I wanted to start my own park. I finally had a business I could do overseas!
Amped Trampoline Park
I talked with Bridget about the idea of starting a trampoline park and she was quickly on board. The next decision was where we would go. We considered several possibilities, but when I asked my now business partner Caleb if he would be interested in doing the business with me and he said yes, Brazil quickly became the destination. Caleb's wife is Brazilian and her family lives here so we had immediate connections.
The Beard family getting stuff done.
It turns out Brazil is a very difficult place to do business, so even though we wanted to get started right away we had to wait to get business licenses, a Brazilian bank account, visas, etc. Despite it being over a year since my visit to Singapore, now I'm here working to fulfill a dream of many years to start a business in a foreign country. I'll write more about the challenges of doing business here more in another post.
Let me know if there's anything specific you'd like to know about the process of getting here or doing business here in the comments.
