Doing Business As Foreigners In Peru

In this episode we talked about the best way to do business in a completely foreign environment. The most important thing to realize is that it is the outsider who needs to adapt to the locals, not the other way around. There is no surer, faster way to alienate the community you want to win over than attempting to impose your beliefs on them. And in order to really understand local customs and culture, you need to watch and listen. You need to be a sponge, and you need to willingly participate in the traditional way of doing things. Only after a long period of time, once you are an accepted member of the neighborhood who has earned the trust and respect of your peers, can you think about offering up modifications. In order to make sure that our company never ended up in any controversies, Brian had 4 operating principles that he lived by while out in the jungle buying cacao and running our processing facility for more than a decade. They were: No debating religion. No debating politics. No getting drunk or partying. No non-business interaction with any women whatsoever. These rules served to keep our company out of any petty disputes and allowed us to always maintain a respectful and professional presence. The other big thing to take away is that if you are willing to embrace awkward situations and adapt to foreign ways of doing things, the world is yours. The world is a big place with so much to see. And believe me when I tell you, nobody will stop you from going where you want to go and seeing what you want to see. If a couple of gringos from San Diego, CA can end up doing business in northern Peru for more than twenty years, marrying Peruvian women, and starting a chocolate business with no prior chocolate experience, anybody can do pretty much anything they want. If it is in your heart to travel and see how other people live, get your passport ready, buy the tickets, and go! The biggest thing stopping most people are their own mental barriers. Lastly, Brian and I want to thank all of our wonderful customers and friends and supporters. Everything we do here at this company is to serve you. I assure you that this is the truth. Our job is to act as a conduit between our customers and our wonderful cacao farm partners. The vehicle that allows us to do that work is delicious chocolate. From the bottom of our hearts thank you.