Working remote can be extremely difficult.

In those moments when communication is less than ideal and the situation seems dismal, joining the ranks of a team in a physical office space can sound like a good idea.

Everyone has these moments.

When this happens, it’s important to stay calm and not make any decisions you may come to regret. I can assure you, there are several ways to connect your remote team and streamline your communication.

I can recall, in great detail, specific instances where I felt like pulling my own hair out or just sleeping the day away. Time zones were the enemy and a constant darkness loomed over my head like a perpetual loneliness that only working alone can bring.

This could’ve been solved if I only knew what I know now. Communication in any organization, especially remote teams, should become the most vital centerpiece of the team culture.

I’d like to share some tips that have helped us communicate better and ultimately destroy the cloud that haunted our productivity and group collaboration.

1. Tool Overload Kills Communication

Diversifying your tool set seems like a great thing and in most situations, it generally is. I’ve noticed when communication is heavily reliant upon technology to fill the gap of distance, especially in a remote environment, team leaders have a tendency to “over tool” and overwhelm their colleagues with several different channels of communication. For example; using WordPress for internal blogs, Hipchat for team discussion, Trello for project planning, Github Issues for bugs, Skype for video chat and email for less direct communication when nothing else seems to work.

I’d recommend scaling this down as much as possible and only utilizing one or two of these tools for the bulk of your team’s communication. Relying heavily on one channel of team based communication allows your team to enjoy a central location where all discussion activity is happening. It makes whatever tool you’re using feel “alive” and electric. It naturally gives the team a feeling of central stability instead of dispersed openness.

2. Hire Great Communicators

I talk a lot about hiring the right people and in this instance, it’s extremely important. When your team is distributed around the world, team members that have the natural ability to cut through the darkness and say what needs to be said in the most efficient way are truly valuable at taking charge and building a culture that centered around communication.

Every organization should have a basic understanding of simple communication efficiencies. Really great communicators have the keen ability to help their more introverted colleagues become efficient communicators as well.

“I’m a great believer that any tool that enhances communication has profound effects in terms of how people can learn from each other, and how they can achieve the kind of freedoms that they’re interested in.” -Bill Gates

3. Passive Communication

Time zones suck for remote workers. As soon as we face that fact, we’ll be able to move on and come to a solid solution of how to better communicate in that situation. When you don’t have the ability to speak directly with your colleagues, it’s important to adopt a passive or asynchronous form of communication that’s less direct and always moving in the right direction, regardless of time or availability.

This can be something as simple as a very liberal email policy or using Github issues. Just sending several emails and CCing everyone that could possibly be interested allows for transparency and open communication. The great thing about excessive emailing is it’s a form of opt-in communication that doesn’t eat up your time if it’s not necessary. You can decide to read the email if it’s relevant to you and that’s a beautiful thing for staying connected with what’s going on. I just read a post on how Treehouse uses a “Reddit clone” to achieve a similar form of communication.

Real time communication is awesome but people are generally sleeping at 3am, so it’s not always an option. Passive communication is a great alternative to stay in the loop. 

4. Time Overlap

As mentioned in my previous point, time zones are kind of dumb. Why does the world have to be round? It seriously messes up everything. Kidding! On a serious note, one great way to increase communication is by planning wisely your overlapped time with team members. Know what time your colleagues generally work, and make a schedule around that to maximize the amount of time you’ll have together. A good rule of thumb is to have 2+ hours together. This will give you more than enough time to communication the most important items for the day.

Creating this overlap also gives you a scheduled time of communication darkness and an opportunity to go away and achieve the goals you previously discussed with your colleagues. If used properly, this can be a powerful way of increasing productivity, scheduling communication and working into a nice groove with your teammates. 

5. Spend Time Together in Real Life

One important aspect of any thriving team is from a social perspective. Nothing can replace sitting face to face with your team members and chatting over coffee or participating in group team building exercises. Having social outings and team “get-togethers” is a great way to become more familiar with your teammates on a personal level. I’ve always found that the better I know someone, the less “jargon” I use to get my point across thus, I can be more effective in my communication.

We live in a society where small talk is a protection mechanism to keep us from saying something stupid and embarrassing ourselves. Unfortunately, it’s become a major centerpiece of our communication process but it can be avoided by creating a familiarity between team members.

6. All Day Conferencing

One downside to working with a distributed team is the constant feeling of being alone. I’m a “people-person” so I enjoy spending time together with my colleagues, even if we’re working on different projects. One great thing that the physical office space can have is the social connection of being together and seeing faces of the people you work with. There’s a major advantage of having the ability to tap someone on the shoulder and instantly start discussing something important.

I believe the social “water cooler” environment can be captured by creating an all day video conference that allows you to come and go as you please. Sound can be controlled by muting the microphone when necessary. This naturally creates a “connectedness” that wouldn’t be available in standard text chat. There’s a socially driven psychological effect of seeing someone’s face and connecting with their voice during the work day that naturally makes group collaboration more enjoyable. 

7. Make Yourself Accessible

It’s a startup, so things happen. Minor emergencies are a common occurrence in high pressure situations like a private beta or early release of your team’s product. It’s a matter of how you respond that determines the successful triumph of the problem. Making yourself accessible is the best way to respond quickly but it can be difficult when distance is involved.

I can’t count the times where something has happened and team members magically disappear without a trace. The best way to counteract this is by creating solid procedures that take place when something does go wrong. I would recommend using IFTTT, Gmail and SMS to create a “recipe” that will automatically send you a text message when someone emails you a very specific subject line letting you know something is wrong. Phone calls with international team members can be difficult and expensive. I’ve found that Gmail alerting is the easiest way to accomplish this. For example: If you email me “Servers Down” past 11pm, then IFTTT knows to send me a text message alerting me of your message.

Conclusion

Regardless of circumstance, it’s always best to work toward better communication in a distributed team. Be mindful of how people are communicating and keep tabs on the difficulties while working to improve them. Communication is one of your greatest assets so don’t waste it or use it improperly.

Take advantage of scheduled downtimes and hire strong communicators. When something scary happens, like server outages, respond as quickly as possible and tackle the problem in the most effective way possible. Use your words wisely and always put communication at the center of your company culture.

I recently received a terrific question from Lorraine, one of the people in my community.  She asks:

How can I get testimonials and case studies from a corporate client?

Should I ask before, during, or after the project?  Should we ask for permission to use their logo on our website?

Should we get the testimonial via LinkedIn or email?  How can we make the ask in a professional manner?

I felt her questions were so good that I’d turn the answers into a blog post.  So, without further ado, here is how I build and get case studies and testimonials from my clients.

How I Get Recommendations on LinkedIn

I love LinkedIn recommendations because you can wear them like a badge of honor.  The best part is that you can’t fake a LinkedIn recommendation — someone has to actively take time out of their day to write you a recommendation and tie it to their profile.  This is why it’s so hard to get LinkedIn recommendations: it’s not because people don’t want to give recommendations; it’s that people get lazy and don’t want to put in the effort to do it.

To get recommendations, you’ll have to do the following:

1. You have to do a great job on the project

This of course goes without saying — you have to have done great work with your client.  If your client is super happy with your work, then you can move on to the next step.

2. You have to be friendly with the client

Can you pick up the phone and call your client at any time?  Have you invited your client out to lunch or dinner?  I’ve found that being good friends with your client goes a long way, especially when you make the ask for a testimonial or recommendation on LinkedIn.

3. Make the ask

Here is the exact message I send to receive a LinkedIn recommendation:

Hi [Name],

Hope you’re having a terrific week!

My company is aggressively expanding and we’re in the running to capture to new big client deals. Because you’re one of my best clients, I’d love to use you as a reference.  Can I have the potential client call you?

Also, they’re checking my LinkedIn to review my recommendations.  Can you write me a recommendation by this Friday?  It would greatly help a lot.

Thank you very much — if you need anything from me I’m only a phone call away.

I make sure to let them know that I need it by Friday so that they don’t get lazy and forget to give me a recommendation.

Also, notice how I give a clear reason for needing a testimonial NOW — “We’re super successful, expanding the company, and are about to close another huge client deal”.  This increases urgency for the testimonial and also makes us look good.

My two favorite people who have recommended me

Here are two of my favorite people who have recommended me using the exact techniques I list above:

Jennifer Lo

Social Media and Marketing Specialist at Whole Foods Market

Jun is a great person to work with. He always provides support for my digital marketing needs – whether it be building a microsite from scratch, Facebook/Twitter support, digital marketing advice – Jun always stays professional and helpful. When approached with new challenges, he always comes back with a list of solutions. I appreciate his dedication and patience to work with our constantly changing needs at Whole Foods Market. I know I can always rely on him and his team for support.

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Christine Ng

Head of Product and Marketing at Luxola

Beyond being entrepreneurial, driven and intelligent, Jun impresses me with his ability to work with his team to really understand business problems, propose thoughtful solutions and drive true results.

Jun really exhibited this through working with us on a high visibility project at Sephora that would require fast turnaround times, a site that would support high holiday traffic, and a solution that would be elegant and on brand for Sephora. Jun succeeded in helping us create that vision, in addition to producing the technical results that we needed — no small feat.

Additionally — I look forward to working with Jun again, and would recommend him highly to anyone who is looking for a team leader and creative thinker who can both strategize and execute.

Never Ask for Permission — Just Apologize Later

I never ask my clients for permission to use their logo on my site or presentations.  If they’re my client, then I just go ahead and use their logo.  Keep in mind, if there is a specific reason for your client to stay confidential, then do respect their wishes and keep them confidential.  If there is no specific reason, then their logo is free game on your site and presentations.

How to Format Your Case Studies

Here is how I format my client case studies:

Image: I of course include an image at the top that showcases the project

Project Goal: I list the project goal and what were the expectations going into the project.

Specific Solution: I describe the specific solution we utilized for the project and client.  In the example above, we built a Facebook Applications and conducted conversion optimization to improve user captures.

Results: It’s not a case study without results.  List all data-driven results, especially data that resulted in an increase in revenue or a decrease in costs.

How I Showcase Testimonials for a Consumer-Facing Product or Service

Check out my testimonial page on here.

You’ll notice that every testimonial has the following:

1. A picture so that the reader can connect with the person who gave the testimonial
2. Text that is in italics and in quotations marks
3. Name of the person

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Hope this helps!  If you have any follow up questions, do be sure to send them my way.

How can I possibly get clients with no prior case studies or experience in a field?

I often get asked this question by first-time entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs that are entering a brand new industry.  It’s fare to say that we’ve all at some point had to start from scratch; I mean, I too at one time had no case studies, right?

Really think about that.  In 2008, my team and I started building Facebook Apps and we worked with companies such as Levi’s, LG, and Activision.  We were 23-year olds working for companies way out of our experience level.  But we somehow managed to do it.

Don’t start with a disadvantage

If you approach a client with no case studies and no references, you’re pretty much begging them to take a chance on you.

Please take a chance on me because I am not proven.  I have never done this before but I promise you wer’re going to be successful together.

I’ll admit I’ve closed deals using this approach, but if I could do it all over again, I could save myself a lot of pain and suffering.  If you position them as the prize, then they control when they hire you, what work you do for them, and how much money they’re going to pay you. This is a HUGE disadvantage in sales and not a place you want to be.

Instead, I developed a strategy very early on that has allowed me to enter a brand new industry with no prior experience and close big client deals.  This is how I do it.

Manufacture Case Studies

The first principle is to manufacture case studies.

To accomplish this, I reach out to my close friends who own their own companies.  Yu-kai and Mike are good friends of mine that own their own companies and who I’ve worked for for free in order to use them as case studies.

The approach

To manufacture case studies in the most effective way possible, follow these steps:

1. Give your friend a call and let them know what new service/product that you’re selling
2. Give them the full pitch and how much it costs
3. Offer them a stripped down, simplified version for free
4. Make it clear that you’re doing this in return to use them as a case study, testimonial, and reference

They’ll agree because they’re your friends and they would love to get a service for free that will benefit their business.

Get the retail price in writing

It’s important that they know the retail value of your service.  To make sure that they know the value that they’re getting, I get my friends to sign a contract that clearly states the retail price.

This partnership agreement is super important because it determines the value of your service.  If there’s no determined value, then they’re going to take the service for granted.

Putting a monetary value on your service means they’re going to appreciate it more and will be more likely to refer you to other clients.

Take your new case studies to acquire new clients

Once you’ve established your partnerships, you can approach new potential clients outside of your network with confidence.  You are now armed with case studies and references, which will give you a leg up on the competition.

Remember to add your references to your proposals as this will give your potential client extra assurance that your work is quality.

Set a High Price Point

The second principle is to create the perception that you are the best in the industry — price creates a perception.

If you price yourself low, then you are seen as the cheaper option; if you price yourself high, then you are seen as the premium option.  This is just the way the world works.

The benefits of a high price point

A high price point not only gives the impression that you’re the best, but a high-price point coupled with excellent case studies and references shows that you’re worth every penny.  It’s a position that says: sure you can go with the cheaper option, but you’re going to waste money and worst of all time.  If you go with me, you do it right from the beginning and you’ll ultimately save money and make more money in the long run.

This is powerful; this positions you as the prize and compels the potential client to work with you.

All clients want to negotiate

In addition to the perceived value, pricing high gives you room to negotiate.  There are several ways to negotiate:

1. Negotiate the price down

Not my favorite, but it often happens when there’s push back from the potential client.  I always leave myself a good cushion of 20% to negotiate down.  If they push me lower than that and won’t come back up, then I won’t work for the client.

2. Add on services to keep the price the same

This is my favorite form of negotiating.  Instead of bringing down the price, I add an extra service that increases the value of the contract.  If we’re working with a client to build their online reputation, then I’ll throw in engagement on Quora or additional infographs per month.  In this way, we keep our price point and add extra services that will ultimately help our campaign with the client.

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There are no excuses.  If you have no cases studies, then you have to manufacture case studies; there are even techniques to sell with no product.

As a business-minded entrepreneur, it’s your duty to bring in the revenue.  Don’t let anything stop you.

If you’re building an internet startup, then you need a technical co-founder — plain and simple.

Incubators such as Y Combinator won’t accept a team with a majority of business-minded co-founders; smart investors in Silicon Valley know that it takes engineers and designers to build an internet startup, not a Harvard MBA.

Guy Kawasaki once said:

Add $500,000 to the valuation of your startup for every technical co-founder that you have

Subtract $250,000 to the valuation of your startup for every business co-founder that you have

Early in my startup career, I met three Harvard MBAs who were building “The next Facebook”.  None of them were engineers, so they had to outsource all of their development, which was expensive and greatly delayed the launch of the product.  Needless to say, the project eventually failed because 3 business guys were trying to play in an engineers world. This is a key example of how important it is to have a technical cofounder.

But fear not my business-minded friends — if you’re looking to recruit a technical co-founder, then this is the post for you.

Three methods you can use to recruit

Classroom announcements

In college, I recruited engineers by making classroom announcements.  It’s quite easy to do: just introduce yourself to the professor right before class and let him know what you’re planning to build.  Sell him on the big vision and that you’d like to accomplish this vision with a follow student.

To get a student’s attention, get them excited about the project and the potential to become the next Instagram.  Tell them about your recent successes: you’ve built traffic to a website, you’ve closed deals with companies, you’ve generated revenue through a website, you can get users to an app.  Engineers want to build great products, but they don’t necessarily want to sell it — use this to your advantage.  Let them know that together you have a greater chance of succeeding than doing it alone.

Network with the right people

Though classroom announcements are effective, they’re incredibly time consuming.  I’m a fan of getting the most value while investing as little time as possible.

To accomplish this, I became good friends with the head of the computer science department at UCLA.  I mentioned my startup and let her know that we were looking to recruit UCLA engineers for this opportunity.  I made it sound like something prestigious that her students need to be a part of.

At her suggestion, I created a job posting that she sent out to her email list of ALL the undergraduate and graduate computer science majors. We got a lot of leads this way and eventually found our technical co-founder.

Leverage LinkedIn

I currently use LinkedIn InMail to contact people within my network (up to 3 degrees away) and pitch them ideas or partnership.  To recruit a technical co-founder, I use the script below:

Hey [Name],

My name is Jun Loayza and I’m an entrepreneur based in San Francisco. You can find out more about me here: http://www.junloayza.com.

Summary: I’ve successfully sold 2 companies, raised over $1 million in angel funding, and currently lead 2 profitable companies.

Why I’m messaging you: I’m looking for an engineer with experience in image recognition to be my co-founder for my next startup.

Let me know your experience with image recognition, startups, and statistics. If it makes sense, we can set up a coffee/lunch to learn more about each other.

All the best,
Jun Loayza

When you’re an undergraduate, you’re just excited about being part of a startup; but once you get older and are established, you want to invest your time wisely and with the right people.  That’s why it’s so important to qualify yourself and demonstrate that you are valuable and have proven success.  The engineer needs to know that by teaming up with you, they’re increasing their chances at success.

Go for the Graveyard

Oftentimes finding the right engineer is all about timing.  For example, the best time to find amazing talent that is looking to join a new startup is when a startup dies or lets go of a bunch of employees.  When Airtime recently let go of a bunch of employees, I hopped on the chance to meet the engineers and offer them a chance to work at a new startup.

It’s of course to time it just right, but if you keep your feelers out there, you’ll catch wind of a startup closing down.  Check TechCrunch and other startup publications of course to get news of any layoffs, but beyond that, it’s always good to let your engineer friends know that you’re hiring.  Though they may not join your team, they know of people who are tired of their job and would like to make a change and perhaps start a new company — that’s when you can swoop in.

Pitch a Partnership, not an Idea

When I pitch engineers to co-found a startup with me, I don’t pitch my idea; instead, I pitch the valuable partnership that we can create together.  I’m great at sales, marketing, and PR; they’re great at building a product — they partnership makes sense and the skills are complimentary.

Remember, engineers are constantly recruited by the top tech companies: Google, LinkedIn, Twitter; they get paid a great salary, get amazing perks, and are treated like royalty here in the valley.  If an engineer is entrepreneurial minded, then they’ll most likely leave their job to start a company of their own — they don’t actively seek a business-minded entrepreneur to team up with.  This is why it’s so important to bring something unique and valuable to the table.  If you have proven success in getting people to download an app, then you have immediate and quantifiable value.  If all you can do is think of good ideas, then you add no value to an engineer.

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Use these methods to recruit top talent.  It’s importnat to understand that not every engineer is the same — there are good ones, there are bad ones, and then there are the exceptional ones.  Before you jump for joy when an engineer decides to join your team, make sure that their skills are properly vetted.

My trusted former business partner and good friend does the vetting for me.  He hops on a quick call with the potential engineer and gives me the yay or nay.

For someone who’s been involved in entrepreneurship for six years, I’ve dealt with sales, marketing, public relations, and just about everything on the business side for my startups.  I’ve been fortunate enough to have had opportunities to start countless companies – many of which are successful, but I’ve also encountered many failures as well.  One skill that I’ve carried along with me through every experience is my ability and confidence in closing deals.  This wasn’t instantaneous, however, and was definitely a growing process.  Through the numerous amount of proposals I’ve done, I’ve been able to pull a few tricks that I find most helpful when trying to improve a proposal and lockdown a client.

The first few times I tried pitching, writing a proposal, or closing a deal, I didn’t really know what to focus on.  This post focuses on what I’ve learned through trial and error and how I make my proposals stronger in order to close the deal.

Case studies should be focused and minimal

The first tactic to keep in mind is to focus on  minimizing the number of case studies you plan to present.  Having three solid case studies, including the logos of all the companies you’ve worked with is the ideal number when constructing your proposal.   There have been incidents where I’ve offered five or seven cases, but now find that bombarding the potential client with multiple examples can become excessive.  Giving your potential client three studies is a solid number that’s concise, but also informational.   By minimizing your case studies to three strong examples, you save the client from being overwhelmed and yourself from seeming overly persistent.

When deciding what case studies to include in your proposal, it’s important to ensure that they are specific.  When I pitch clients for reputation management services, then I show them reputation management case studies; if I’m pitching a Facebook application, then I show them Facebook App case studies.  This sounds slightly repetitive or redundant, but it’s very important to remember when writing your proposal.  Clients expect to see your progress with another company and if what you’re offering is what they’re searching for.  As you build the number of your case studies, you’ll eventually be able to display all the logos of the companies you’ve worked with on one page, rather than share all the case studies individually.  This ultimately verifies your legitimacy and credibility.

What if you don’t have any case studies?  Neil Patel from Quick Sprout suggests to offer services to clients for free as an effective way to get your first case study.  Neil initially pitched TechCrunch that he would do their SEO work for free and they ended up hiring him.  He then used them as a case study and is continuously gaining clients today.

Give them EVERYTHING, plus the kitchen sink

When talking to my reputation management clients, we break down absolutely everything they need to know and tell them everything they’re doing wrong.  The impact of this is important because once we present all the things that are wrong – we can accommodate by giving them a solution and all the steps they need to take in order to fix it.  Some may argue that by disclosing all information, clients have the capability of taking your information for free and using it to fix the problem themselves.  What most people don’t realize is that companies are looking for an expert to fix it for them.  They’re looking to pay you because you can show them exactly what you’re going to do, how you’re going to do it, and how long it’s going to take.  More importantly, you need to show them concretely how you can do one of two things:

1. How much money you will save for their company
2. How much money you’re going to make them

The finance team of any company is generally the last person to approve or decline your proposal.  They do so by evauating how much money it’s going to cost to hire you, how much they’re going to make or save by doing so, and if it’s worth it.  Essentially, they’ll be questioning: Are you worth it?

This is why focusing on the finance aspect of your proposal is relatively important.  People and companies need to know that they’re investing in something that will benefit the company.  A client we work with charges $20,000 for their services.  If our client loses five customers in a month, they end up losing $100,000.  Because of our reputation management expertise, we can step in and show them how we’re going to save them $300,000 or $500,00 by proving that we can prevent 20 people from leaving their company.  These number are concrete and impactful, and drive a message home to the client that we’re valuable and will make them more money.

Providing your clients with substantial information that specifies your exact plans and how you plan to carry them out will improve your chances of being seen as an expert by the company.  If they trust you and feel that you’ll come in and successfully repair, enhance, or stabilize the company, they’ll hire you.

End with direct contact to your references

Ending off your proposal with a direct contact to your references is the best way to solidify your expertise and is the last tactic when enhancing your proposal.  The reason why it works so well is because very few people include references at the end of a case study.  By doing so, you’re differentiating yourself from other competitors and proving that you’re confident enough to allow your potential clients to speak to your previous ones about the quality of your work.

Even though I provide a list of references for all my proposals, I’ve learned that only about 25% of my prospective clients take the time to call the numbers. However,  just by listing them, the clients feel more assured of my work.  The significance weighs more in the idea that clients will think, “Wow, this person is so confident that they’re giving me direct access to their customers.  I trust them and would like to move forward.”  That amount of trust from a potential client is empowering and can be the determining factor of an important deal.

The timetable: A new tactic to try

When I was booking a tour to Peru through an agent, he gave me a price-point of $5,000 for my whole group.  He then mentioned that he would discount the price by 15% if I can make the payment within the next 3 days.  This not only caught my attention, but really pressured me to make a quick decision.  Studies show that the longer someone thinks about a purchase, the less likely to they are to buy.  By limiting my timetable to make a decision, the tourism agent forced me to make a choice: make the purchase now and save money, or wait until later and end up paying more money.

The tactic worked on me — I ended up paying within the 3 days.

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This post focused solely on improving your proposals, but keep a lookout for upcoming posts that will feature how to get clients when you don’t have testimonials or if you don’t want to start off working for free to get them.

Good luck with your proposals.  As always, reach out to me any time if you have any questions.

Whenever I talk to someone about content marketing or why they should start their own blog, company blog, or personal blog, I often see these three excuses:

1. “I don’t know what to write about”
2. “People aren’t interested in my content. I’ve tried to start something and received zero traffic”
3. “I don’t have enough time to write great posts”

Because content marketing is so important and valuable in today’s largely media-based market, I’m here to convince you that you do know what to write about, you can write great posts, and you will have time.

Content marketing is significant in the aspect that everybody is trying to get customers, users, or referrals though search engine optimization.  Because each market is becoming impacted, it’s getting more and more challenging to stand out amongst competitors, which is exactly why companies and individuals are pushing their marketing budgets towards content marketing.  They know and understand how important it is for them to be able to reach a potential customer and say, “Hey, I’m an expert.  I can assist you better than anyone else and this is why you need my service.”

This post will show you how to effectively use your time and energy to make content marketing easier.

Choose a topic that you can write a book about

The first move to breaking the barrier is deciding what you want to write about and making sure you are 100% comfortable with the subject.  In order to test your knowledge, ask yourself if you’re comfortable enough to write a detailed novel about your chosen topic or industry.  Once you’ve figured that out, you need to be ready to produce valuable content on a consistent basis.  Valuable content ranges from anything that is good and detailed in length, but is simultaneously engaging and simple to read.  Your posts should vary from 1500-2000, but shouldn’t be too overbearing with information.  It’s important to watch the length of posts because in today’s saturated market, writing 600-word posts that many SEO firms do for their clients just to rank doesn’t quite surpass the standards needed to stand out.

Choosing something you’re passionate about makes sense.  Even if you’re not quite an expert in your chosen field, you want to make sure you have an infinite amount of passion for it.  That way, you won’t mind the excess research in order to eventually become an expert.

When we first started RewardMe, a digital loyalty platform for restaurants and retailers, I was not an expert on customer loyalty, but I was extremely invested into learning about it.  Because of this interest, I started reading books, blogs, subscribing to them, and participating in the community.  This engagement and commitment led to me becoming an expert and eventually a speaker at franchise conferences for restaurants.  Just by staying invested and building my expertise in the topic, we were able to gain a pool of clients.

The checklist for captivating content

The second principle you need to focus on is making a checklist for captivating content. There are certain tricks to creating posts that captivate your audience and draw them into reading your post.

Build a connection through real people

The first trick with blogging is to focus on a real person so that you can build a connection with your reader.  When readers feel they can relate to someone who is following the same aspirations or paths, they project the actions and lessons of the blogger onto their own life and want to read more into the life of the blogger.

In order to apply this method, we can refer to Adam Baker, who uses this effectively when he wrote a post about a regular guy named Luther.  Luther sold random items he no longer needed, earned $6,000, and used that money to go backpacking in South America.  As the reader, I could then apply Luther’s methods toward my own life because now I am aware that it is achievable.  Like Luther, I could sell stuff I no longer need, make thousands of dollars, and use it to go backpacking.  Or I can use that money to pay off debt, or do an abundant of other things that I couldn’t do before – and this was all sparked by reading Luther’s story or experience.  The blog became personal and applicable to my own life, which is what engages a reader into your content.

Make it a guide so people know to tune in

The second trick is to make a guide that allows readers to know exactly when to tune back for the next post.  Once you engage readers into your post, they’ll already be anticipating the next time you’re going to release new information.  Letting your readers know exactly when your post will be up helps them schedule the time to come back and remain updated.  If invested, readers will remember that your blog is a several-part series and will make plans to periodically check your blog.  However, letting them know specific dates and times of new posts makes it even easier for them.

Yu-Kai Chou, does this very well with his 90-part guide on the beginner’s guide of gamification.  Every week, he makes sure he publishes a new post in video form.  The consistency of his posts builds up an anticipation for his readers who are eager to know the next need-to-knows about gamification.

If all else fails, build a list

The third and final trick is to consider is creating a list that clearly identifies everything you plan on discussing.  Lists are concrete and resonate with people who like to have a solid outline of what to expect.  Ramit Sethi’s post, “Instant Irresistibility: The Seven Keys to Advanced Social Skills” is a good example of using a defined list to gain readers.  When readers know what to expect, they will more than likely think, “Okay, this post is concrete. I’m going to read the seven key points and learn from it.”

Invest in a virtual assistant

Managing your time and figuring out how to make time for yourself is of course, necessary, but can also be difficult for many people.

When dealing with time, I always find it helpful to make a roadmap of all my posts with bullet points to hit.  The first thing I do is brainstorm several topics, title my post (which can be altered), and create a roadmap.  In my roadmap, I make sure to address the key points that I want to cover, followed with bullet points that summarize the main ideas of the topic.  Once I complete my roadmap, I prompt my virtual assistants to research information that I may need or will be useful for my post.  My virtual assistants sorts out any graphs, statistics, or information ahead of time so that I can later incorporate that information into my post.  Because photographs can also be hard and time-consuming to sort through, they also research images that relate to my blog post.

Alongside roadmapping, I also set aside 10 to 15 minutes to do a voice-recording of myself talking about the topic and going through the bullet points.  The program I find the easiest to use is GarageBand on my Mac.  After I complete the recording, I send it out to my virtual assistants who will then construct, transcribe, and organize my thoughts. Once they’ve completed this step, they send it back to me so that I can write my own blog, send it back to them to edit and revise it, and they will post it once it’s 100% ready and completed.

This is ultimately how I keep my blogging manageable and consistent.  It helps tremendously when trying to remain productive, and also allows you to cover different aspects of everything needed for a blog: research, images, and clear and concise content.

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When you’re on a crunch for time, your first priority should be to remain productive.

If you’re searching for a virtual assistant, a good website I often refer to is Zirtual.  It’s a great way to find a verified assistant in the United States that can help you produce your blogs and help you manage your time.

Content marketing can be time-consuming, but is essential to you and your company.  Utilizing these tricks can be really beneficial in helping you start up your own blog in the most efficient way possible, while expanding your expertise in your industry.

So there I was, surrounded by ten very powerful, career-driven women.  This sounds like the start to a good story, but in all actuality, it was one of the most intimidating meetings of my career.

That day, I was presenting to the leading US brand for cosmetics.  My job was to close a deal to build them one of their biggest Facebook applications and convince them that we were the ones most qualified for this project.  I practiced my pitch for days, convincing myself that I had it down and that I knew what I was doing.  However, the two agencies competing against us for this project, who had presented more case-studies than us, made it hard to believe we had it in the bag.

Eventually, I got a call from one of the directors. “You got the deal,” she said, and just like that, we booked one of our biggest clients. She continued to explain that we got the deal because the team had read my blog, which is always at the signature of all my emails.  In my blog, I talk about marking and social media – the expertise they were looking for.  Turns out, they were impressed with my knowledge of the industry and social apps, and wanted to go with us.

I was bewildered.  After practicing countless hours and putting forth so much into the proposal, it was my personal blog that sealed the deal for us.  It was a crazy concept, but it made me realize one thing: In a saturated market, people want to speak with the experts.

Clients want an Expert, not an Account Manager

We’ve all heard it before: time is money, and money is time – that’s why people want to speak directly with the experts and get their advice.  If they’re going to invest their money, they need to  be reassured that their funds are going into the best person or best company.

Ultimately, it’s the experts that get the speaking opportunities to prove their knowledge and hook a company.  I realized through the deal that my personal brand gave us the edge that convinced our clients to hire us. The personal brand beats the company brand every time.

The client always wants to speak with the expert, not the account manager.  According to The 4-Hour Workweek, a lifestyle entrepreneur should never pick up their phone and answer emails only once a week.  What I’ve realized, however, is that the winner is the expert who goes above and beyond to provide personalized service and is able to be easily contacted.  Once I started putting my phone number on my site, my direct number on emails, and consistently picking up my phone, I started getting more and more opportunities, simply by allowing potential customers, users, and clients to access “the expert.”  Just being easy to reach and actively picking up my phone led me to a pool of opportunities. The logic is this: If you’re only answering emails once a week, or allowing your account manager to deal with your clients, you’re potentially fending off the message that you don’t care, even if you do. Regardless if you are providing excellent service, clients want to feel special.  They want to be assured that they are getting top notch service that they can’t receive anywhere else.

For example, online management companies are easily accessible, but the difference from my company versus others is that every one of my clients has the ability to talk to me personally and get advice.  That has truly been the key in helping us grow our business and keeping our clients.

Online media wants to glorify the entrepreneur, not the the company

Other than allowing clients to contact you directly, personal branding beats a company in the sense that online media wants to glorify the entrepreneur, not the company.  In today’s social-media-crazed world, the media enjoys glorifying the Mark Zuckerbergs or Tony Hsiehs of the world because in their mindset, knowing that anybody could be the next creator of Facebook or Twitter is exhilarating and certainly opportunistic.  Even if an entrepreneur takes a bad turn, such as Andrew Mason and Groupon, they’re still getting the press and media coverage that allows them to market themselves.  When being able to market your personal brand, it’s substantially easier to receive interviews as opposed to, “I work for this big company.” In today’s media focus, people are more interested in who the maker of the product is and where it’s coming from as opposed to what the product is. 

A personal brand is evergreen, while a company brand can end

Evergreen = fresh, infinitely valuable, and relevant.  It’s always fresh in content marketing, meaning that if you want to write a post that’s evergreen, you write a post that’s not based on just a current trend or recent news that’s happening.

An example of evergreen content is if you’re an accountant working during tax-season.  You know that every year, there are three mistakes an entrepreneur should avoid.  By providing this information, it allows the entrepreneur to think during tax season, “Okay, what mistakes do I need to avoid?”  The information you gave, as an accountant, to the entrepreneur is considered evergreen content, or content that can be applied for a significant amount of time.

The same concept can be applied to personal branding.  Personal branding is evergreen because it can be taken with you everywhere you go, even if you choose to move to a different company.  I learned how useful this was five years ago when I was 22.  At that time, I was working for a company called Future Delivery, which eventually shut down, but by then, I was already producing videos and a blog about my career.  That small start of personal branding ended up leading me to more opportunities, which ultimately led to our social media marking firm.  This is precisely what I mean by personal branding being evergreen – even if you want to switch to a different industry, company, or whatever it may be, your personal brand is you.  It will follow you wherever you go and allow you to gain opportunities.

You can use your personal brand for many opportunities and industries

A lot of professionals start off as consultants who catch their big break because they are confident speakers who are knowledgeable in their industry.  Big-time entrepreneurs like Chris Brogan, Seth Godin, and Brian Solis practically built their careers on speaking opportunities.  This is essentially why establishing and maintaining your personal brand can be helpful.  It can give you speaking opportunities that allow you to market yourself and your expertise.

On top of speaking engagements, a solid personal brand can help with consulting offers.  A good friend and business partner of mine, Yu-Kai Chou, has been getting multiple consulting offers as he continues to blog and build his personal brand as a gamification expert. By showing people you are knowledgeable in your industry through your personal brand, people will want to get your expertise and hire you as a consultant.

Personal branding can offer you jobs and funding as well.  Through my blog, I’ve been able to raise over $150,000 just by requesting my readers and followers who trust my personal brand and know that I am reliable. I am confident enough with my personal brand that if at any given time investors wanted to rely on my blog for funding, I would be willing to take on the project.

The quality of your personal brand is crucial when trying to gain clients and closing deals.  A good place to start is by building your blog or domain of expertise.  Gaining exposure won’t always be easy, so it is definitely important to choose a topic or industry that you feel extremely comfortable and knowledgeable about – enough to write a book on it.  If you’re unsure of your level of expertise, the next judging factor is choosing a topic that you feel incredibly passionate about.  That way, you can feel motivated about growing, improving, and learning about your chosen industry that will eventually become your personal brand.

It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for! While Kim, Kat, Andrea, and Mike researched the Inca Trail before we embarked on our journey, I purposefully didn’t do any research so that I could encounter every bit of it with an element of surprise. It’s kind of like waiting in anticipation for a big blockbuster movie to come out — I never watch any of the trailers if I know for sure that I’m going to watch the movie. I just love that element of surprise.

So needless to say, I was utterly unprepared for this journey. I luckily was in shape and could speak Spanish, but outside of translating and carrying someone else’s backpack, I was of little use on this journey.

So here we go — day 1 of a life-changing adventure!

Oh, and I’ll soon create a separate post about what to bring on the Inca Trail.

Meet the entire group

The great thing about the Inca Trail is that you meet so many new people along the way and grow a close bond with them. It’s kind of like pledging for a fraternity — you and your pledge brothers grow closer because you have to withstand hardships together. In this case, our group of 10 started out as a bunch of individuals (especially Marko who you’ll meet below), but ended up as one big happy family.

Get your walking sticks!

Kim and Kat are posing above next to our trusted walking sticks. We had a love-hate relationship with them throughout the trail. On one hand, it was great to use them as support while walking, which of course is the purpose of walking sticks; however, because they’re basically just long pieces of wood, they get heavy, slip on rocks when it’s raining, and hurt your hand after a while. Eventually, we all ended up just carrying our walking stick instead of using them.

I’d still recommend buying them just in case because they are useful. We got them in the city of Ollantaytambo, which is a pit stop right before you start the Inca Trail. They cost about 3 soles ($1).

Meet Marko

Marko was by far our favorite person on the trail. He was a cross between 007 and Indiana Jones — we called him our personal body guard throughout the trip and everyone believed us. Actually, he was better than Indiana Jones; he was like Macgyver because he had everything we could possibly need during the hike: Andrea got a cut on her arm, he had a bandade and neosporin in his pack; our flashlight ran out of batteries, he had spare batteries in his pocket.

Marko is a professor of engineering in Finland. He’s an avid traveler and conquered Mount Kilimanjaro just a year before doing the Inca Trail. Unlike everyone else in the group, he was on this adventure alone.

As you can see from the picture above, Marko is a pretty serious guy. It was our goal to win him over and get him to laugh throughout the trip!

The Group

So you know Kim, Kat, Mike, Andrea, me, and now Marko. In addition, our lovely group was graced by 4 Argentinean women: 2 in their 30′s and 2 in their 50′s.

Yup, that’s right. These ladies were 50 years old and were attempting to do the Inca Trail! To be honest, I was a bit worried that they would slow us down and perhaps not even finish the hike.

And that’s our lovely group: 3 guys and 7 women. The great thing about the hike is that there is always 1 tour guide leading the way and 1 tour guide walking with the slowest person in the group, so you always feel comfortable and safe walking at your own pace.

Here’s my little swamp bride wearing her mosquito net. I made fun of her for wearing this, but it actually came in handy. We of course lathered ourselves up with bug spray, but the net came in handy the day after it rained and mosquitoes were buzzing around.

This picture cracks me up. Our group is full of fun-loving girls that don’t have a clue about hiking and adventures. And then on the other end of the spectrum, we have Marko, the most serious expert-traveler in all of the lands. You’ll also notice that initially Marko is always at least 1 foot away from the group, as he doesn’t want to participate in our fun-loving ways. But sooner or later, you’ll notice that we break down his serious exterior and embrace him into our group.

Porters (the strongest men alive)

So we have a group of 10. Alongside our group of 10, we traveled with 2 guides and 11 porters. In the picture above you’ll see one of our porters. I don’t intend to be mean, but these guys are like human donkeys. Seriously…

The guy above is caring about 100 pounds on his back! No joke.

A normal group travels with about 8-9 porters. We of course needed the additional 2 because the girls had so much in extra supplies! Makeup and clothes do add up in weight.

Here is the mandatory group Inca Trail picture that everyone takes. The sign is the official start of the Inca Trail.  Again, you’ll notice how far Marko is standing from the group. Oh, and while everyone had walking sticks made of wood that cost 3 soles, Marko of course had professional grade walking sticks made of carbon fiber.

Make sure to have your passport ready at all times.  There are about 3 checkpoints throughout the Inca Trail — the last one is at Machu Picchu. At each checkpoint, you have the opportunity to stamp your passport, which is additional proof that you made it through each day of the Inca Trail.

The first checkpoint is pictured above right before a bridge.

The hike on day 1 is not too bad at all. It’s mostly flat like the image you see above. There is one section where you have to climb a hill but it’s not too bad at all. Oh, and be careful of all the donkey poop littered across the trail. You’ll be surprised at how much of it there is on day 1.

During the days of the Incan civilization, the warriors used to paint themselves with the blood of their enemies. To illustrate the example, our tour guide smeared some fruit on his hands and painted my face. I was then on dubbed the “Incan Warrior”.

The first part of the day leads you on a hike to the top of a mountain where you can see the ruins of Llactapata. It’s the first ruins you see, so it’s quite impressive. You of course get ample time to take pictures and catch your breath.

Ok, so one of the absolute best parts of the Inca Trail is the food! No kidding. The food is so unbelievably delicious. Check out the tent above with the tables and chairs. You’d think that this was a set location where everyone camps; but in actuality, the porters carry all of these materials on their back!

Yup, that’s right, the porters carry the equivalent of a kitchen on their back and are able to make lomo saltado, fried fish, soups, salads, and omelettes. It’s incredible.

So that’s how we ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We all sat together, told stories, played games, and got real close to one another. Again, you’ll notice that Marko is still not smiling. But be patient, it’s still only day one.

We had split pea soup and lomo saltado the first day for lunch. It was so good I ate Kim’s leftovers and I think another person’s leftovers. Eat a lot because you’ll need the extra carbs to use during the hike.

After each meal we get the chance to stretch our legs and enjoy some tea. Along the way, there are bathroom stalls that you can use, but beware. On day 3 of the hike, Kim and Kat had to go to the bathroom at night in one of the camps, and needless to say, they have had nightmares about it ever since.

It started raining during the afternoon.  Good thing Kim bought me a rain jacket!..

Actually, Kim bought me a water resistant jacket, not a water proof jacket. This meant that after 5 minutes of rain, I was completely drenched… thanks a lot Kim

Not only do the porters carry an entire kitchen on their backs, but they also carry all of the camping equipment! The best part is that we don’t have to wait for them to set up; instead, they sprint on ahead to set up everything before we get there.

And for dinner… check out the picture above!  Finally, cui!

Hahaha, just kidding. The first night we stopped at a house owned by a local family. We slept in our tents outside while the porters slept in a room with these furry little creatures.

Dinner of course was absolutely delicious.  We had fried tilapia with rice and papa a la huancaina.

Sleeping on the trail

The tents are a good size and easily accomodate two people; however, it’s still uncomfortable if you don’t set up correctly. Our first night Kim and I attempted to snuggle and spoon each other through our sleeping bags. We didn’t have much luck.

Make sure to have all of your gear ready for the morning. The guides wake you up at 5am and you have about 30 minutes to get ready and eat breakfast.

During the middle of the night, I went outside of the tent to look at the stars. Because we were so far from civilization, there were no lights to dim out the stars — it was a beautiful sight.

Tomorrow we take on the BIG climb

Day one of the Inca Trail was a piece of cake. Day two however was the biggest physical challenge of our lives. We not only climb to a ridiculous height of 4,215 meters, but we also have to climb back down another 1,000 meters, which is not easy on the knees.

Kim and I have a rough start to the day. While everyone was packed and ready to go, she was still getting dressed and ready. I of course try to rush her and the arguing begins…

But we don’t argue for long because day two was also the day I won the boyfriend of the year award. More on that next time!

Read about my trip to Peru

1. Day 1
2. Day 2

On the morning of Monday, October 29th, the group and I woke up at 5:30am to meet our driver. All of us were excited, anxious, and a little nervous about what was waiting for us on the Inca Trail. When you’re anxious, it’s hard to focus on the details and it’s easy to forget something along they way.  That’s why it’s so important to make sure the tourism agency you book with handles EVERYTHING.  And I’m not just talking about the guided tours; more importantly, I’m talking about pick up from the airport, the ride to the hotel, flights, transfers, train rides, and bus tickets. The less you have to think, the better off you’ll be.

Actually, that should be the motto for any trip to Peru: think less, do more. Eventually, that motto will transition to “carry less, do more” once we get started with the Inca Trail.

Cusco

The Inca Trail, Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, the Amazon, and the Nazca Lines get all the attention. They get so much attention in fact that Cusco becomes nothing more than an afterthought. This is pretty much the attitude we had when we got to Cusco — just a pit stop before we head to the Inca Trail.

Kim and I getting some sleep before our flight — waking up at 5:30am is just too early for us! Just wait until we have to wake up at 4am on the trail…

On the bus ride to our hotel in Cusco

The girls at the hotel

An experiment in altitude sickness

We decided to turn our little pit stop in Cusco into an experiment. Mike, Kat, Andrea, and Kim would take Diamox (altitude sickness pills) while I would drink nothing but coca tea — coca leaves and tea are supposed to help against the affects of altitude sickness (coca tea is available for free at the hotel you’re staying at). I basically was the control group to see if Diamox is actually necessary for the altitude.

I felt great the first hour. We arrived at the hotel, dropped off our bags, and decided to walk around the town to get some food, explore, and get some souvenirs.

After just 10 minutes of walking around, my heart began to beat really fast, I was short of breath, and my head began to spin. I turned to my friends and saw that they were just fine. In just over an hour, altitude sickness had taken me hostage. But thank goodness for Andrea; she pulled out her magical pills and came to my rescue.

Recommendation from experience: don’t be foolish — take altitude sickness pills. Remember, think less, do more.

The quest for cui

Mike had but one goal in Cusco: to eat cui. What is cui you ask? Take a look at the image below.

Cui is Peruvian guinea pig. Think of it as a big rat served whole on your plate. Yum!

We found a great restaurant in Peru called Deva Restaurant. It’s a bit on the expensive side, but hey, you’re on vacation. Splurge a little. They had cui for lunch, but the waiter highly recommended that we get the chicken soup because it’s easy on the stomach, especially for travelers that just got to Cusco and leave for the Inca Trail the next day. If there’s one thing we didn’t need right now, it was a stomach ache.

The chicken soup was absolutely delicious. Do your stomach a favor and eat that chicken soup. You’ll thank me once you’re on that trail.

Souvenirs

If there’s one thing that Peru has an abundance of, it’s souvenirs for tourists. They have shirts, beanies, cups, saucers, masks, and rugs made of alpaca fur (and of course, if you’re not careful, fake alpaca). Cusco has several shopping areas full of vendors that sell everything that a tourist could want.

The flea market has a bunch of pastries, raw meat, and hog heads hanging from pikes (not shown)

We bought these real cool bracelets at the flea market. Awesome souvenirs for friends that are pretty cheap.

Andrea wearing “real” alpaca

Lovely Kim doing some shopping!

The easy way to haggle for souvenirs

Always haggle with street vendors. They greatly jack up the first price that they offer because they know you’re going to haggle them down. A good rule of thumb is 20%. Whatever price they first offer you, you’re going to come back at them for 20% less. Furthermore, it’s best to get everything you want from one vendor because you’ll be able to haggle the price even lower, or perhaps get them to throw in some items in for free.

1. Browse around the ENTIRE shopping area to find a vendor that sells as much of what you want as possible
2. Ask the pricing for each item
3. Thank them and browse around to let them know that you’re considering other offers
4. Come back and say “all I have is X-soles (20% less than the original offer)”
   • Because it’s “all you have”, it’s difficult to raise the price on you
5. Haggle back and forth until you decide on a price
   • Walk away if they won’t budge
     • They may call you back into their store to give you the deal you want (happened to me)
6. Decide and pay for the items

We bought some pretty cool souvenirs, but I wish I had saved more of my souvenir money for the Amazon — they had much better gifts (like blow darts!).

We start the Inca Trail tomorrow

The adventure begins tomorrow! Mike, Cat, Andrea, Kim, and I meet the other 5 members of our group (for a total of 10 people), including the infamous Markko from Finland! This guy is a cross between Liam Neeson from Taken and Harrison Ford from Indiana Jones — probably one of the coolest people I’ve ever met.

And did I mention that you need to get lots of porters… lots and lots of porters. We had 13 porters to our 10 tourists… seriously. Till next time!

I’ve traveled to Peru many times to visit family for Christmas and New Years, but this time it was different — six of my closest friends traveled with me to Peru to explore Lima, Cusco, the Inca Trail, Machu Picchu, and the Amazon. I heard stories about how difficult the Inca Trail was, but Kim and I were in good shape so it should’ve be an easy hike, right? We also brought a boat-load of insect repellant for the Amazon to keep away mosquitos, so we shouldn’t have gotten stung…

Little did I know that what we were about to experience would be the toughest adventure of our lives. From hiking to 4,215 meters in altitude in one day, to getting over 40 mosquito bites, Peru absolutely kicked our butts. But the physical strain was only the beginning; the Inca Trail will even test your relationship with your girlfriend or boyfriend — I swear there was one day where Kim wanted to throw me off a cliff. This was no beach-side vacation.

But if you overcome the physical and mental challenges, you’ll emerge from Peru with stronger friendships, a closer relationship, and a new perspective on life.

This is the story of our adventure in Peru.

The Group

The band of 7:

Jun (that’s me!): You can call me the leader of this band of misfits. Actually, I have a feeling the only reason I was brought on this trip is because I speak Spanish, we stayed at my Uncle’s house in Lima saving us on hotel costs, and because I’m attached at the hip with my girlfriend Kim.

Kim: My lovely and beautiful girlfriend. She may seem delicate on the outside, but she’s surprisingly adventurous and up for any challenge. Her physical stamina and our relationship were put through a test.

Michael: Michael is an outdoors veteran as he’s been on camping trip with his dad for years. His backpack contained headlamps, insect repellant, iodine pills, a camel back, and many other necessities for camping. My backpack had 1 little flashlight that I had to share with Kim… more on that later.

Kat: Kat and Kim are best friends from college. Kim secretly told me, “If Kat can do this, then for sure I can do this as well.” I organized the entire trip, but Kat was the one that did the most research and knew what to expect.

Andrea: Andrea is by far my favorite person in the world (sorry Kim, ). Not only is she the sweetest person you’ll ever meet, but she is also a part-time drug dealer. Throughout the trip we got cuts, stings, dizziness (from the altitude), headaches, and cramps. But all of these symptoms lasted no longer than a couple of hours thanks to Andrea and her bag full of magical pills. Don’t leave home without Andrea.

Brenton: My brother from another mother. Brenton and I met online (I swear it wasn’t a dating site). Brenton and his girlfriend Cat traveled South America a year ago, but jumped on the chance to explore Peru again. They already traveled the Inca Trail and Lake Titicaca, so they decided to skip the Inca Trail on this trip and meet us up in Iquitos for the Amazon.

Cat: Oh, I forgot to mention that Brenton and Cat are super athletes — I swear I’ve never met a couple that is more in shape than them. I was kind of glad that they weren’t hiking the Inca Trail with us because Cat alone would have left me in her dust. Cat is also as good at Spanish as me.

The Trip

This is what we signed up for:

• Day 1: arrive in Lima
• Day 2: explore Lima
• Day 3: arrive in Cusco, explore, and get acclimated to the altitude
• Day 4 – 7: 4-day Inca Trail, finishing with a tour of Machu Picchu
• Day 8 – 10: arrive in Iquitos and explore the Amazon
• Day 11: return to Los Angeles, CA

Layover in El Salvador

While everyone else had lunch in Lima, Kim and I were stuck with a 6-hour layover in El Salvador. But it was actually a great experience because Kim made a friend on the airplane that wanted to explore El Salvador with us.

Kim met Elize on the plane, a 20 something year old who is traveling by herself to meet her boyfriend in Peru. They were doing a variation of the Inca Trail, one where you can hike it on your own (without a guide) and go at your own pace. She researched some places in El Salvador to explore during our 6-hour layover and recommended the Central American University to learn about the civil war history.

Like many Latin American countries, as soon as you leave the airport you’re swarmed by cab drivers competing for your business. If it’s your first time in this environment, follow these simple rules to make sure you stay safe and get a good price.

How to get a taxi in Latin or South America

1. Ask an airport attendant where you can find airport approved taxi drivers and how much it will cost to get to your destination
   • If the airport can order a taxi driver for you, then use this method as it’s safest
2. Walk towards the taxi drivers, tell them where you’re going, and offer 20% less than what the airport attendant suggested for the price of your trip
3. Someone is bound to take your business
4. Make sure the taxi is within the airport — if the taxi driver leads you outside of the airport premises, then run away as fast as you can

If you’re just stopping by a destination for an hour or two like we were, then ask your taxi driver to return to pick you up. The advantage is that you know the taxi driver is safe and that he’ll give you a low price to return to the airport.

At the Central American University Rose Garden

Lima

Lima has been my escape from reality ever since I was a kid. Growing up, my grandparents lived in a bazillion bedroom house, complete with secret passageways and two dogs.

Recently, my Tio Roly (Uncle Roly) sold the house for a modest condo in a new building in the San Isidro district of Lima. I can’t thank my Uncle and Grandma enough for letting 7 people stay with them in their small 3-bedroom condo.

Plaza de Armas in Lima

Tio Roly is awesome — he works as a tour guide for Mickey Tours, a Peruvian travel agency focused on travelers visiting from Japan, so he knows the best tourist spots in Lima and even got us a tour-sized van equipped with a microphone to show us around the city.

Our first stop was the Plaza de Armas in Lima, which is the birthplace of the city of Lima and is surrounded by lots of churches, the government palace, and a bunch of other landmarks.

The Larco Museum

Our next stop was el Museo Larco in Lima, which is a pre-Colombian museum that features artwork from many civilizations throughout a 4,000 year period.

Kim’s favorite artwork was of course the erotic pottery.

Larcomar

Larcomar is an outdoor mall where young people go to hang out: play bowling, watch movies, and do some shopping. I love it because it sits at the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. It’s a beautiful spot to enjoy a walk and visit the Park of Love.

Karaoke with Megumi

To end the night, we went to a Karaoke lounge with my cousin Megumi. Megumi can sing, my brother can sing, my grandma, mother, and even father can sing, but unfortunately, I just wasn’t given that talent. Nevertheless, I’ll never let a small thing like not-being-able-to-sing stop me from doing karaoke.

Off to Cusco tomorrow

Though it was only for a day, my friends and I truly enjoyed the time we spent with my family. Andrea became ridiculously good at Spanish; I think I even overheard her have a full conversation with Tio Roly in Spanish.

Next up we’re off to Cusco where the beginning of our adventure awaits us: our quest to eat Cui (Peruvian Guinea pig), souvenir shops (learn where to get the best gifts), and battling altitude sickness.

See you then!

–> Read part 2 here <–