To kick start the new year, Diana Jimenez gives us an
overview of her life as an Expat Entrepreneur running a gourmet pet shop in Medellin,
Colombia.
Why did you decide
to become an expat entrepreneur?
My husband and I have always been expats. I am
originally from Costa Rica and he is from Colombia. Both of our dads
worked for the United Nations while we were children so we left our native
countries when we were one and four (respectively). For the past six
years we had been living in a tiny apartment in Brooklyn. We came here to
Medellin to visit my in-laws in April and fell in love with the city. For
the next couple of months we unhappily went to work thinking what can we do to
move to Colombia? Juan took a month off work and looked into what was missing
in the market in Colombia. He noticed the pet products and pet food were
not readily available online and the quality of the products was pretty
bad. So we decided to create an online store and a physical store here in
Medellin where we can sell gourmet products.
If you could give
one piece of advice to other expats setting up their own businesses, what would
it be?
We talked to my brother’s roommate, who has been an
entrepreneur for over a decade, and he gave us really good advice before we
left. He said it is going to take double the amount of time, effort, and
money to get where you want to go… but it is worth it. For us this has
been true. I also think it took a bit longer than what we expected because we
moved to another country and are learning about the cultural differences, which
we hadn’t anticipated. We both speak Spanish (Juan was born and
lived here for four years) and we still think the cultural changes are hard to
adjust to!
What challenges did
you encounter when setting up your business and how did you overcome these?
We encountered tons of bureaucratic road blocks along the
way. Legislation that contradicted each other caused us to shift the
focus more from importing to the online/physical store. The best way to overcome
these types of problems is to adapt and change. My husband read some
books on startups which suggest that you have to
test, test, and test and then change to what the market demands to what is
actually feasible. This is what we have been doing… now we are in the process
of making a grooming salon in our store. If you had asked me two
weeks ago if I thought this was what we would be doing I would have told you NO
WAY! This might change after we open the store this week!
What common
mistakes do expats, in general, make when setting up their business?
I think that we as expats expect everything to work the
way they did where we used to live. We, personally, keep thinking that we are
in the US and that people work during Christmas/New Years. In Colombia, and in
Costa Rica/Brazil, it is really hard to get anything done in December and
January. This is a nice benefit once you live here, but DO NOT start your
business during this time.
What resources did
you find useful or tapped into to get your business off the ground?
Talking to neighbours, people with pets, family and acquaintances
have been really helpful. The people who have lived here longer really
understand the culture here and have helped us develop a strategy that works
for where we live. I also have asked entrepreneurs I know about their
business. Our friend that is a physical therapist told us about hiring
and firing people and the financial and emotional toll that takes if you do not
find the right person. I highly recommend talking to everyone you can to find
out more strategies that you can apply to your business.
What would you do
differently if you could do it again?
We have only just started but right now the biggest
problem is that we moved here in December, I would have moved here in May
instead. The vacations have really slowed down our business.
About Diana Jimenez
Diana Jimenez is
the co-founder of Cuatro Patas
S.A.S is a gourmet pet shop in Medellin, Columbia. Find out more at www.cuatropatas.com.co or follow @cuatropatasco
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Love it. Congrats to you, Diana!
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