Growth Through Cultural Exposure

Backpacking around Europe opened a whole new world for Richard. He learned the valuable lessons of evaluating and focusing on what really matters in life, as well as not taking certain things, experiences or people for granted. And what I figured out then was that the things that we hold so dear in the United States really didn't make a difference overseas. We're really just looking at your essence. So it just opened my mind. that there are other places in the world where I could learn and be accepted. And I guess my main thing, and I'm very proud of this, is that when you're 21 years old in Europe, all you want to do is party and have a good time, which I did. But if a party began at eight o'clock, what I made sure to do before that time was to see as many museums and buildings and as much artwork and architecture as I could. So at least I could put in my time to grow and see these incredible historical artifacts that made our cultures, our Western civilization. And so that was the year that I read more books and didn't watch television and really mastered Spanish. And so that was probably the year that I grew the most. Curing back office blues. Growth is not a bad thing. But too much growth, too fast presents a set of challenges often overlooked when discussing small businesses. The emphasis tends to center on the marketing and promotion necessary to grow your business, and not on the operations and business infrastructure needed to scale your business in a sustainable manner. These back office operations can make or break your business. The Business Infrastructure show provides solutions and real life stories to owners and operators of fast growing small businesses seeking practical tips for dealing with growth spurts. A few years after graduating from university, he accepted an offer to conduct training at a center in Costa Rica. At 27 years old he decided to Costa Rica home. That was over 20 years ago. And he never looked back. In this episode, Richard takes us on his journey as he leverages his advanced Spanish-speaking skills, business prowess, and emotional intelligence to build and scale Costa Rica’s Center from a one-seat to a 300-seat operation. While his friends pursued careers in fields like law, medicine, and technology, Richard Blank went in a completely different direction – language. In fact, his love of language and communications led him to study abroad for one semester in Spain. That experience changed the trajectory of his life. Discover how Richard used a cash-only approach to invest in the business infrastructure required to lay a foundation for sustainable growth, his tips for reducing attrition, and why he urges entrepreneurs to “act their wage.” Growth is not a bad thing. But too much growth, too fast presents a set of challenges often overlooked when discussing small businesses. The emphasis tends to center on the marketing and promotion necessary to grow your business, and not on the operations and business infrastructure needed to scale your business in a sustainable manner. These back office operations can make or break your business. Following a Path Less Traveled Richard, surely there's more to your story than this. Let's try that again. That's why you do the best interviews, Alicia. Thank you so much. How about this? When I was in high school and I graduated, most of my friends were going to Ivy League and studying law, medicine, engineering, and architecture. I myself decided to double down on languages. It was my favorite class. And at the University of Arizona, once again, being a communication major, I was able to focus on public speaking rhetoric and nonverbal communication. And so that was very important for me. Sometimes I kind of felt like a dreamer. and i was almost doing this alone but since my great-grandparents came from europe from romania russia germany and Poland, they came at the turn of the century. And so when they came to the United States in the early 20th century, and they learned English and were entrepreneurs, it was pretty much my strongest argument to my parents on what I was trying to do. Our family were nomads, we were risk takers. And for me, all I know is that I wanted some sort of adventure. And I know that by learning a second language, it would open many doors for me. And so my natural progression pretty much got me to where I am today. and oil refineries. She invented the Kasennu™ framework for business infrastructure and authored, Behind the Façade: How to Structure Company Operations for Sustainable Success. It is the world’s first published book on business infrastructure for small businesses. Alicia hosts the weekly Business Infrastructure podcast with a global audience across 60 countries. Equilibria, Inc. is an operations management firm specializing in business infrastructure for fast-growing organizations. Our mission is to provide access to tips, resources, and proven frameworks that revolutionize the way small businesses operate. We do that through original podcast episodes, blog posts, videos, presentations, workshops, and coaching sessions. The Business Infrastructure Podcast has accepted Richard Blank's invitation to join the audience for a solid discussion regarding starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica as an expat. Topics discussed with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation, phonetic micro expression reading. Richard’s journey in the 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 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. 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. In addition, inducted into the 2023 Hall of Fame for Business. 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 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 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.