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I’ve also taken to blogging as I wanted my friends and family in the states to be able to keep up on my new life in Costa Rica. Now, I’m finding it’s a widely-read blog on Costa Rica (www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/AndrewNCostaRica) which documents (sometimes in excruciating detail) my move to Costa Rica and my life here. I get nearly 20 emails a week on all subjects “Costa Rica” and I enjoy hearing from people who want to do the same thing I did. It’s been rewarding being seen as an “expert” on living here!
I’ve also managed to become a “cub reporter” (as I like to call it) for the Tico Times (www.ticotimes.net), reporting on community activities in the San Ramon area. I’m pursuing a passion I never had time for in the U.S.—freelance writing—and I love having the time here to do this!
Before I moved to Costa Rica, I had a typical corporate career and was an executive with US Airways, managing the company’s Internet sales, strategic planning and distribution departments, generating over $1 billion annually. Prior to that, I served as an international management consultant, working for U.S. companies interested in growing their businesses in Europe and Southeast Asia. I also served as executive director and board member of two leading environmental organizations and served as an environmental and industry consultant to the United Nations and President George H.W. Bush. Like many baby boomers, I’ve found that my working career is definitely not “one company until retirement” but several careers in which I can try new things and continue to grow.
One of the scariest things for me in moving to Costa Rica, at a fairly young age, was moving from the relative comfort of the corporate world—a nice, steady paycheck every two weeks—to becoming an entrepreneur in Costa Rica. Having to fend for myself for the first time in my life and finding ways to earn a living, was a daunting prospect a first. What I realized though is that Costa Rica is a terrific country in which to network, start a fun, but manageable business, and live the good life. If I can do it, anyone can!
Preston Gitlin: Preston serves as Boomers in Costa Rica's "San Ramon expert," and assists in the management of the company. He graduated Cum Laude from Bentley College with a B.S. in Economics-Finance, receiving national honors recognition for both. He originally visited Costa Rica to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. It was at this time that he realized San Ramón, Costa Rica was the ideal place to live and invest. It was for this reason he shared the good news with his long time friend, Mike Patton. From there, he and Mike built a development team, setting the ground work for CR Communities, S.A. (www.crcommunities.com), a real estate development company based in San Ramon. Preston´s passion in life is to make people laugh and he once opened for best-selling comedian Dane Cook. While he has not chosen stand-up comedy as a career path, he has not forgotten that taking life too seriously is a serious mistake.
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