Mastering Spanish before moving to Costa Rica. Table Talk My Worthless 2 Cents podcast guest Richard Blank Costa Ricas Call Center

Louisiana Country Boy: If you don't, if you don't want to go in the deep, So I mean, actually, how was it, you know, making the transition? Was it, was it difficult for you? I mean, you know, I don't like to ask questions, but I don't know. I mean, was it, was it a difficult thing or did you go like, you know what, I feel comfortable with what I'm about to do. I'm about to make this step and this is, I'm led to do this and, and this is at peace. That's it. You were just at peace with your decision. Um, and never thought about turning. Richard Blank: I was taking it a day at a time. It was only supposed to last two months. So being here 22 years is really a godsend. But let, let's look at it a couple different ways logically. The first thing is I, I mastered Spanish before coming to Costa Rica, so that transition was very easy for me. I could James Bond it all day long. Yeah. Secondly, I knew that I was a guest in this country, so I wasn't the loud foreigner. I wasn't expecting certain things, and I had a lot of. Keeping an open-mindedness for a new culture and tradition. That made it easy for me because a lot of things that you hold dear in Louisiana and Philadelphia don't mean anything here, So you don't have that home court advantage. You need to show who you are and that essence and, and also, I wasn't looking for trouble. I wasn't licking my thumb and counting dollars on the side of the. Right. I wasn't being insulting to taxi drivers of the locals. I wasn't throwing trash on the ground or being rude. So there wasn't no sort of violence, right. Or any sort of aggression. Or, or pressure naturally I stand out. I'm a, you know, we call me a Blanco, I'm an extra arrow. I look like I'm from the United States, no matter how and, and I never really volunteer my Spanish initially, depending on the situation. Cuz I just wanna see the good faith, right? And I let them assume that I don't speak Spanish, so at least I use that to my advantage. You have to do certain things strategically, right? I don't keep the earbuds in. I'm looking around the street. I'm not paranoid. Uh, you know, I'm astute. I'm looking around. This is not a game. I'm 3000 miles away from you and my mother, and so I, I need to take this seriously. Right? And so I was really kinda like, if you're getting through the desert, I could look in the direction of where I was going, but if you're not looking at your feet, you could sprain an ankle. You're dead. And so I was really taking it a day at a time just to make sure I was getting positive reinforc. Acclimating Well, cost of living was good, so there wasn't pressure there earning very good money, and so my friend, a lot of things just kind of fell into place to make it easier. Now, I'm, I'm telling you the end result of it. Trust me, there are certain times where, you know, I needed to really use my resources here to make my life comfortable. There's certain things you can do. There are local people that will assist you cut a certain line if you know somebody or get things done quicker. You know, there's a lot of red tape here with the government. So if you have accountants and attorneys, your life can be a lot easier too, and I prefer that. And, um, but I, I guess I just didn't want the United States rat race. I could have done it, but I didn't want it. Right. And so at 27 years old, I put up the white flag and said, You can have. Let me just see if I could do something else, and fortunately, This paid off and I just didn't know. But that's what makes life exciting. That's it. Who wants to have things planned out like school or camp? You, you really wanna have a zig and a zza every now and again and a and a mix up because it keeps it exciting. And you and I were talking earlier, it's not really about what happens to you, it's how you react to what happens to you. And the more that even though things could. difficult. Mm-hmm. , when I can look back at it and realize that I handled myself in a certain way with good faith, yes, and with good intentions. My good friend, I can live with myself. And those are the sort of personal. Positive reinforcements that let me know that I was doing the right thing and to keep doing. It's not for everybody. And trust me, Costa Rica is gorgeous. I don't iberia, I'm not gonna stay there for 22 years. So, um, but it's nice. It's a good cocktail. Story to tell people and and a lot of my friends from Philadelphia, when they see me and they've done exceptionally well, they've all said, Richard, I wish I tried my own adventure. Not specifically mine, right? But all of them had something in them that they always want at least test or try before the kids, the career, the mortgage, the pressures, right? Just to take a bite outta life just to see what it tastes like. And for me, I guess it was being a little selfish. I just. . I was a romantic. I wanted to see what could happen in this beautiful hundred years that I have. Mm. And so that's why you see me so smiling. Right now. I have a luxury trade. I married the girl, my dreams, and I'm on a podcast with a Louisiana Country Boy: mine. You know? And you know, but I'll say it is wonderful. It is wonderful. And you did it. You, you walked out on again, I say that you, you know, you climbed. Uh, you didn't allow the things, whatever it may have been, whether it was this whole thing, you know, that's the worst one. This whole thing in between these old heels right here telling you don't, do you, You didn't listen to that. You know, You didn't go like, Okay, well this is the box. I gotta be in this box. You didn't and may I, I, I applaud that and that's what I tell, I say to anybody, That's what you should do. Um, no, they can't be a Richard and they can't be a Louisiana country worker. We already taken. Uh, but they can be who they are. And man, I applaud you for what you're doing and going there and, and, and staying and sticking with it. And, because I'm sure that old thing in between here again, say you need to come on back home now. You need to go on back many a times. But you said no. Mm-hmm. . Well, yes Richard Blank: and no. You kind of live it now. Prior to coming here, I. W besides the schooling, Imagine the sort of work I did with the Spanish outside of the classroom, with the movies and the reading and the writing and the, and the practice. So you wield your sword. You are prepared for this. Yes. And if you live it, then it's really just a natural progression. This was my destiny, my friend. It had to be done. Louisiana Country Boy: That is, that is, that is, You know, I, I'll say this, What you. And I tell everybody, this is what, what you should always do. You walked in purpose. On purpose. Mm-hmm. and, And people miss that. You know, some people know when you walk in purpose, on purpose, everything that's purposed for you, you get. You walk into your destiny, that's the only way you can walk into your destiny. You have to do it in purpose. On purpose. You, you ain't gonna trip into your destiny. You ain't gonna just back bow into it. No, no, no. It requires something from us. It requires what you did and you did it. I mean, you did it. Um, and, and again, like I say, man, I, I applaud you for it. I applaud you. I applaud you. For, for being able to just come here and, and, and, and share, like, you know, to tell the story about it. You know, this is not okay. Lemme say that. Look here, y'all, this man right here was not born in Costa Rica. Oh. I don't know. I don't know if y'all missed it. He was not born in Costa Rica. He took the steps before he went, He said he learned Spanish. Okay. He took the, Okay. That's, that's that thing, right? He took the steps. He was walking up, parked up here. I need to do something outside the box. This is what I'm gonna do if I want to go here, then this is what? See, when you got to Costa Rica, my opinion, I don't know, You had everything in your toolbox already that you needed to fix, whatever it was. Richard Blank: I wish you was shining brighter than I've ever done in my entire life since that first. And I never did tell a marketing before I got on the phone. My Worthless 2cents Table Podcast has accepted Richard Blank's invitation to join the audience for a solid discussion regarding moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Donnie Lewis-The Louisiana Country Boy- discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading. A place to freely express our thoughts and feelings where your worthless 2cents is priceless sharing our journey with each other,and always remember “Your Approval Not Needed “ Richard’s journey in the call center space is filled with twists and turns. When he was 27 years old, he relocated to Costa Rica to train employees for one of the larger call centers in San Jose. With a mix of motivational public speaking style backed by tactful and appropriate rhetoric, Richard shared his knowledge and trained over 10 000 bilingual telemarketers. Richard Blank has the largest collection of restored American Pinball machines and antique Rockola Jukeboxes in Central America making gamification a strong part of CCC culture.Richard Blank is the Chief Executive Officer for Costa Rica’s Call Center since 2008. Mr. Richard Blank holds a bachelors degree in Communication and Spanish from the University of Arizona and a certificate of language proficiency from the University of Sevilla, Spain. A Keynote speaker for Philadelphia's Abington High School 68th National Honors Society induction ceremony. Giving back to Abington Senior High School is very important to Mr. Blank. As such, he endows a scholarship each year for students that plan on majoring in a world language at the university level. Costa Rica’s Call Center (CCC) is a state of the art BPO telemarketing outsource company located in the capital city of San Jose, Costa Rica. Our main focus has been, and will always be to personally train each and every Central America call center agent so that we may offer the highest quality of outbound and inbound telemarketing solutions and bilingual customer service to small and medium sized international companies, entrepreneurs as well as fortune 500 companies. We encourage you to visit one of our call centers on your next personal vacation or business trip to Central America’s paradise, Costa Rica. While you are here, we would recommend taking an extra day of your trip to visit breathtaking virgin beaches, play golf next to the ocean, try your luck at deep sea fishing, explore tropical jungles, climb volcanos or just relax in natural hot springs. Come and see for yourself why call center outsourcing in Costa Rica is a perfect solution for your growing company and a powerhouse in the BPO industry. https://youtu.be/_nEDb7cvu_A https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/ https://youtu.be/1USx0n2RMoQ https://youtu.be/7gZ1e2vgLKg https://open.spotify.com/episode/6g8yr6ltjMRm2HZlL5NoFf https://www.spreaker.com/user/14867186/my-worthless-2cents-table-is-with-richar