Two Experts Just Told Me THIS About Dominican Republic

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In this edition of the Grubernation Weekly Newsletter:

• Two Experts Just Told Me THIS About DR

• How To Quit Your Job And Move Abroad FAST

• Full Tour of Cap Cana - I’m Impressed!

We’re gearing up for the sale of our Michigan house and the purchase of our DR home.

While we debate what we will vs. won’t ship, one thing we KNOW is where we’re getting the extra bedroom sets we will need from.

I’m a big fan of Colchones Naco, and thankfully they’re a fan of me! 

When buying your mattresses and bedroom sets, check out one of their stores in Santo Domingo, Santago or Punta Cana and give code GRUBER2025 and you’ll get 2 free pillows with your purchase!

You can also shop online at their website www.colchonesnaco.com.

Two Experts Just Told Me THIS About Dominican Republic

She’s the lead analyst of the most prestigious real estate analytics firm in Latin America.

He’s a branding expert who launched the Sports Illustrated Resort brand.

Both have deep ties in Dominican Republic and it’s future economic development.

At an event recently, I heard both of them speak and immediately booked a call with them the next day.

They don’t know each other, they don’t collaborate - so being able to dive deeper with each individually and hear how aligned they were was fascinating!

Maybe it’s because they proved out some thoughts I’ve been having, but also because they both revealed a KEY TRUTH about the future of DR tourism.

Here are some interesting takeaways I got from them:

• 40-50% of Americans traveling internationally go to Mexico

• 2% of Americans traveling internationally go to DR

• The upside potential is MASSIVE for DR but it requires a few things:

  • Better identity of what DR offers beyond beaches

  • ‘Brand Icons’ that imprint DR on Americans mind

    • Think guacamole, margaritas and mariachi for Mexico

    • DR maybe has baseball?

The stated goal each have for DR is to go from 2-4% of Americans traveling to DR annually - which would add over $3b USD to the bottom line for the country and open up a TON of opportunities.

Projects and development underway will help such as Cabo Rojo, Miches, Rio San Juan, Punta Bergantin (Puerto Plata) and others.

IMPORTANT - both these experts are speaking to the DR Inner Circle EXCLUSIVELY in the coming months AND I’ve already shared an 88 page PDF with the MOST COMPREHENSIVE DATA on the DR real estate market with the Inner Circle.

I’m all in on the DR Inner Circle - join today to be part of the family!

The most jarring revelation I got from them - one on a zoom call, the other over lunch - made me sit back in my chair.

The REAL key to the growth of tourism and an established identity for travel to DR lies with ONE SINGLE DEVELOPMENT!

Cap Cana!!!

Over the past 3 years, I’ve said that Cap Cana has an identity problem.

Is it a residential community? If so, build what residents need (shopping, supermarkets, hospitals, etc)

Is it a resort community? If so, continue to lean into the Hyatt, Eden Roc, Sanctuary, etc. 

Is it an adventure park? If so, let’s see more Scape Park, El Dorado crazy water slides. 

Is it a sports complex? If so, when will One CONCACOF Football Stadium and facilities be done? 

Right now, it’s working toward all of that so it’s identity is fragmented.

A prominent investor friend of mine makes the analogy of building one bridge all the way across before building the next - otherwise you just have a bunch of half done bridges if you’re building them all at once.

Cap Cana has the space, capacity and CAN have the demand to be ALL of them.

But be clear on what you are .

HOWEVER…

These experts took my take on ‘needs an identity’ to another level when they BOTH shared Cap Cana’s REAL issue…

It needs awareness!

If you were to ask 10 people in the US if they’ve heard of Cap Cana, you may get 1 person who has. MAYBE!

Ask 10 people about Punta Cana and 8+ know what and where that is.

To be honest, the 1 person who’s heard of Cap Cana may think it’s simply a resort INSIDE Punta Cana .. which isn’t good for Cap Cana.

Here’s my take - Cap Cana has expended a LOT of effort to do what Punta Cana has done and try to do it better.

They want to be Burger King to their McDonalds.

To get better awareness, my suggestion is that they aim for Chick-Fil-A.

Claim a DISTINCT IDENTITY, create a CLEAR AWARENESS CAMPAIGN and brand yourself accordingly.

Cap Cana has insane golf courses, incredible fishing adventures, the opportunity to host major tennis, golf and soccer events and brand itself as THE PREMIERE sports and adventure destination IN THE WORLD!!

The bonus?

Beautiful beaches, high end amenities, top shelf restaurants and the opportunity to own your own vacation or future retiremenet residence inside of it.

Now hear me on this .. because your humble Grubernation newsletter writer (that’s me) and the two experts I refereneced are aligned on all of the above .. but here’s why we’re aligned on that.

The biggest reason Cap Cana’s identity and awareness campaign are important to those of us interested in the future of DR is …

🚨 CAP CANA IS THE KEY TO THE 2-4% JUMP IN TOURISM!!

Those that run the entities in charge of Punta Cana and those that run Cap Cana are both driven and competitive.

But Punta Cana has won in terms of being a resort and residential community.

Cap Cana has a chance to COMPLEMENT Punta Cana by branding itself as I’ve stated.

To become a separate and distinct offering vs. ‘a part of Punta Cana’.

It’ll just take focused messaging over time to acutalize.

That’s my take and it seems to be the conversation happening amongst some of the top advisors in the country.

If you want more, consider the DR Inner Circle - it’s $9/month to be a member, cancel anytime and a portion of the proceeds go to support 2nd Mile Missions goal of educating kids in underprivileged communities.

How To Quit Your Job and Move Abroad FAST

I’m asked often about ‘finding a job’ in DR, or even told that moving abroad ‘isn’t easy’.

Some even express disbelief in my story .. here’s my AGI from my last year in 2021:

What doesn’t show up on my return is my annual restricted stock award which was about $80,000 that year .. and I had to hand that right back when I quit because it takes 5 years for that to vest.

So .. $400,000 a year (and even a bit more in 2020)

My wife didn’t work - still doesn’t outside the home.

I have 2 kids.

How then could I quit that level of income and pursue my own ambitions?

A friend of mine named Benjamin Hardy has written a BUNCH of books - his most recent called ‘The Science of Scaling’ - highly recommend it.

His previous book, however, held the secret to the ONE THING I did right to be able to think in 2018 ‘I want to quit this job’ to actually quitting it 3 years later.

I set IMPOSSIBLE goals with IRRATIONALLY SHORT timelines.

When it comes to goal setting, there are two different schools of thought.

Group A says ‘set realistic goals to ensure you build confidence as you go’. 

Group B says ‘set big hairy audacious goals to get out of your comfort zone’

The answer is neither .. at least not for me (or my author friend).

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The reason I set impossible goals with irrationally short timelines is not to achieve them, per se.

It’s to create a tool for me to scrutinize my current actions against them.

Here’s what I mean…

When I said ‘I want to quit my job and travel with my family in the next year’ (which was my goal) I then stake my claim to a future possibility in a timeframe that makes me say ‘wow, in order to do that by then, I need to get going’. 

Then, I can use that goal as a tool to analyze my current plan of action and circumstance and ask myself ‘if that’s the goal and timeline, is what I’m doing now going to get me there?’

For me, the answer was no.

BIG goal meant I needed to take BIG action.

When you do this, you’re jumping into the future and looking back to your present which forces you to shift identity and therefore shift action.

If I was going to quit my job, earn a living to support my current lifestyle and travel (which turned into simply moving abroad) then I had to do stuff that aligned with that identity.

Here was my to do list:

• Surround myself with successful entrepreneurs - I joined Gobundance and paid $10,000 for a year of membership (still pay that to this day every year!)

• Hire out daily tasks that aren’t dollar productive - my wife and I reallocated money to ensure we didn’t touch the lawn, pool, snow removal, meal prep, etc

• Systematize priorities - we hired 2 baby sitters to watch our kids every other Saturday for the entire year .. scheduled them for the next 12 months .. so we could date becauase it’s a priority, we booked a spartan race together 8 months in advance, booked the sitter for that future date, even printed the releases, signed them and put them in both cars so they were there 8 months later when we arrived at the event, we planned vacations for the year and booked them

• Invest in my knowlege - I hired a coach, I went to events, I learned how to make a podcast into a funnel and moved forward with execution

• Invest in our net worth - we purchased real estate, raised capital, partnered - whatever it took to acquire assets

The 99% won’t do ANY of this - but the 1% do.

And I was aiming for a 1% life.

More importantly, that big goal in the future made the above list for the present VERY clear. These things align with me achieving my impossible goal.

For many reading this, the idea of paying $10,000+/year to be a member of a networking group sounds CRAZY to which I would say that’s a 99% mindset.

And to be clear, there have been years since I’ve left my job where that $10,000 felt scarce. I’m learning how to be an entrepreneur still to this day, failing forward - but I KNOW that the best asset I can invest in is myself and those I surround myself with.

But it all starts with that IMPOSSIBLE goal in an IMPOSSIBLY SHORT timeframe.

If you want to check out Ben’s books - I’ll link two of them below:

• 10X is Easier Than 2X

• The Science of Scaling

Hope this helps anyone trying to figure out how to make big moves in their life.

There’s no easy button, there’s no lottery ticket - but within you is something MUCH BIGGER that you can unleash by simply setting that impossible goal!

Full Tour of Cap Cana - I’m Impressed!

Speaking of Cap Cana, I went there to check out its progress and shared it with you.

This was filmed BEFORE I met or heard from those two experts I referenced above, but I think you’ll see how my perspective on the development has changed.

A subscribe, like and comment on the video are appreciated.

For the next edition, I should be back in DR!! Excited to get home.

See you soon!