By Robert Hodel

So there I was, preparing for the culmination of three years of law when I realized that sinking feeling just was not going to go away.

That feeling I was referring to was the fact that I did not want to spend the rest of my life, nor even one minute for that matter, as a lawyer.

As soon as I accepted that fact I was in a quandry. What was I to do?

It was then I remembered from somewhere that the key to any successful business venture one may choose is to: 1) do what you like and 2) do what you know or do well.

With that in mind I pondered my future both day and night. Finally, I realized the thing I liked most to do was travel and the place I knew best, other than my home town, was Costa Rica.

I knew where was the best place to go and when. I also knew how to get the best prices on airfare, rental cars and hotels. So after a long phone call with my brother, who was even more knowledgeable than myself, I had a plan.

We would start a travel company dedicated primarily to Costa Rica and we would call it Tico Travel. I would move back to Costa Rica and introduce myself to the hotels, car rental companies and tour operators that we wanted to work with plus stay on top of any new developments that would be of interest to our clients. My brother moved to Florida and opened our office and was able to give our clients expert information on Costa Rica with a “gringo” point of view.

Within a short amount of time we became the agency of choice for people that travel frequently to Costa Rica and also for the first time visitor.

Along the way we learned many things. For instance, just because it makes sense does not mean it works that way.

We also found no matter how much we advertised, that over 80% of our clients were either clients’ referals or repeat customers, as a testimony to how important one’s reputation is in this part of the world.

I have been told many times that one could make many times more money with the same effort if we were in the United States.

That may be so but I have been told something else by a longtime resident here,”We are not here for the money, we are here for the lifestyle.”

See Tico Travel on the Internet at www.ticotravel.com.