The Guide to Starting a Company in Costa Rica - The First Visit

When thinking about starting a company in Costa Rica, there is one fundamental thing that must be done before anything else. It may seem obvious to some, but not followed by all. Before coming down with your bags filled with cash ready to invest your money on a surefire way to make the big bucks, please visit Costa Rica first.
I have met numerous people who have made the big move to Costa Rica thinking this was the place for them, only to find out a few months later, or years, that Costa Rica really wasn’t for them.

Although visiting Costa Rica first isn’t a guarantee that things won’t go bad, it is a smart way to check out the culture and see if you can really see yourself living in Costa Rica for multiple years.

Since it takes 5 years usually to turn a profit with a new company, you will have to keep in mind that this will probably be the same for you. I moved here with the intention of blowing up after a year, and hard the harsh reality of making my first sale a year and a half after first moving in.

When you visit Costa Rica, try to get the tour by a local, and not your Gringo friend that absolutely loves Costa Rica. It is important that you get an honest view from the people who can get you the authentic experience. Also, try to visit small towns in Costa Rica as much as the larger ones. Whatever you do, try to avoid staying in Gringo rich communities such as Escazu, as these places are not an accurate portrait of Costa Rica.

My best advice for you before you move to Costa Rica to start your company is to visit first, and to do it with private transportation so you can shoot a bunch a questions to your driver without feeling like you are bothering everyone else in the van. This is the best way to get info on Costa Rica. After your trip, you will have a much better idea if this is the place for you.

What City is the Right City?

This is a difficult question to answer and depends on the type of person you are. Before moving to Costa Rica, I had the choice to choose between moving to a modern city where lots of English speaking people lived, or a rural town where I would find it near to impossible to find someone to communicate with in either of my native languages (French and English). In the end I chose the rural town of Barva de Heredia, and I have never once regretted my choice. In this wonderful town I have had to chance to meet the most wonderful people who have always been ready to lend a helping hand. Although we had a major language barrier, I found that this was the single biggest factor in my learning Spanish. I never took classes, as Barva itself was going to be all the language classes I would ever need.

In the end, I get the be the Barva Gringo, instead of just another Gringo living in a city that already has way to many Gringos according to Costa Ricans. Also, I feel like they respect me more for choosing to live with "common folk" rather than the upscale snooty crowd. Again, this is my personal experience and was what I was looking for in moving to Costa Rica.

Costa Rica - Moving In

One of the most common questions I've been asked is how did you do it? How did you move to a country where the culture, food and most importantly, language is so different? Well, I had a master plan, and looking in retrospect, must admit, was pretty well executed. I will layout this plan in details in the coming weeks.

If I had to come up with the single most important action to settle in comfortably in Costa Rica, it would be moving in with a local family, and listen carefully, because this is the key point, moving in with a family that doesn't speak any of the languages that you speak. This will ensure you go on the fast track to dealing with the language barrier. Starting a business in any country will require you to master the native language. How long should you stay with this family? I would say at least two months. By the end of the two months, you will be speaking well enough to have complete conversations. Where can you find a family to live with? I suggest looking online for homestays in the country you will starting your new company in. You can usually find a homestay for around $250 USD a week, and includes all meals. You should do this no matter your financial situation.

Why Costa Rica?

Now that I had my Plan B taken care of, the next step would be deciding where in the World I would go. I thought about going to Africa, and had actually decided to go to Morocco, however destiny would interfere and I would end up going to visit my friend in Costa Rica prior to my departure for Africa. The love affair that ensued with Costa Rica was instant and I immediately changed my mind about going to Africa. Costa Rica's nature truly blew me away. Coming from an isolated town in Canada, what I liked even more than the weather was the proximity of everything in Costa Rica. I could drive from the Pacific to the Atlantic in five hours! I could not believe this! Also, with 11 different micro climates, I was able to see what I considered to be 10 countries worth of things, in a week trip. The decision at this point was an easy one, Costa Rica would be my destination, now the hard part was to follow; what the heck am I going to do to make that oh so important $$$.