Monday, October 27, 2008

Comments on Driving for Dollars

Last time I totally forgot to write the translation for my english post about driving for dollars. But I think that post was just interesting for english speaking people that would like a bilingual "driver".
 
I received a total of two comments, one saying that it was a good idea to drive english speaking and maybe even spanish speaking people around. I would say that my edge is the bilingual part. A spanish speaking person can hire a taxi for a day for less than what I would like to charge. Well there is an interesting question. What should I charge per day for driving people around Tegus and surrounding towns ? That would be what should I charge beside the vehicle rental and fuel cost ? I'm very happy that the fuel price is comming down :-)
 
The other comment was even broader. I was told to do a sort of "concierge" service for foreigners. As usual I do not ignore those comments and did a bit of research. It would be a interesting thing to do. The one thing is that I would probably need to do that during the week, and right now I'm hoping that my great best friend will come thru and get me a part time job for my mornings. So if that doesn't materialize, then I could try to be a "conserje" which is what I think concierge means in spanish. I know banks, I know stores, restaurants, etc, and some of the stuff I don't know at least I know who to call. I'll keep this idea in the back burner.
 
Summing it up , thanks for your comments. You give me strength to keep going.
 
By the way i'm still driving my girls to school every weekday at 6:30am. My wife helps me on tuesdays and wednesdays. However I like to do it because my mornings last longer and I get to talk to my girls while we drive to school.
 
Lately i've felt all sorts of feelings about my debt. I think I will write about that soon. It drives me nuts.
 
Well at least this blog is free.
 
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La ultima ves se me olvido escribir la traduccion de mi ultima narrativa acerca de manejar para obtener dolares. Pero pienso que esa narrativa posiblemente solo sea interesante para personas que solo hablan ingles y que necesitarian un chofer bilingue.
 
Recibi un total de dos comentarios, uno decia que era buena idea llevar en automovil a personas que solo hablan ingles e inclusive personas que hablan espanol. Yo diria que mi ventaja competitiva es la parte bilingue. Una persona que habla espanol podria contratar un taxi por un dia por menos de lo que yo podria cobrar. Bueno esa es una pregunta interesante. Cuanto deberia cobrar por un dia de conducir a personas por Tegucigalpa y pueblos cercanos? Es decir cuanto cobrar ademas del costo de la renta de automovil y combustible ? Estoy muy feliz de que el precio de combustible esta bajando :-)
 
El otro comentario fue mas general. Me decian que hiciera un servicio de tipo "concierge" para extranjeros. Como siempre, no ignoro estos comentarios e hice mi investigacion al respecto. Seria algo interesant de hacer. La unica cosa es que probablemente tendria que hacer este trabajo durante la semana, y actualmente estoy esperando a que mi mejor amigo me consiga un trabajo de medio tiempo para trabajar las mañanas. Si lo de mi amigo no se materiliza, entonces creo que el trabajo de "conserje", que es la traduccion que creo apropiada para concierge en español. Conozco de bancos, conozco de tiendas, restaurantes, etc y lo que no conozco por lo menos se de gente que lo conoce y que yo podria llamar. Mantendre esta idea de ser concierge en mi mente.
 
En resumen gracias por sus comentarios. Me dan mas fuerza para seguir adelante.
 
Por cierto, sigo llevando a mis hijas a la escuela todos los dias a las 6:30am. Mi esposa me ayuda los martes y jueves. Sin embargo me gusta hacerlo a mi porque mis mañanas duran mas y logro hablar con mis hijas mientras vamos a la escuela.
 
Ultimamente he sentido todo tipo de sentimientos acerca de mis deudas. Pienso que escribire acerca de eso pronto. Me vuelve loco.
 
Bueno, por lo menos este blog es gratis.
 

2 comments:

La Gringa said...

Oooooh. I feel bad for not commenting. I think it is a great idea, especially the offering of services and maybe assisting with things like opening a bank account, etc., would be a wonderful service for those who don't speak Spanish or don't feel comfortable with doing important stuff like that in Spanish.

How much should you charge? I don't know. As much as you can. ;-) Would people pay, say, $50 for a half day of your time? $10 an hour? To have someone honest and reliable to help with things like that -- finding out where to go for anything in Tegus is soooo hard -- would be worth at least that much, I think.

I haven't been to Tegucigalpa in years, but the driving was frightful and oh-so confusing! We were lost half the time until a new friend took us under his wing.

As in so many things, the key will be finding your clients. I wonder if you could talk to hotel concierges about giving you referrals? Can you think of anywhere else where businessmen congregate?

I hope that helps a little.

Regards,

Your inspiration (jeje)

Anonymous said...

I did a lot of business travel to Mex City this year and our company has a guy that regularly takes us from the airport to the hotel to the plant, etc. The company pays this guy pretty good money (much more than cabs would charge)and sometimes he gets clients excited about visiting tourist spots and the like. He has some sort of kickback scheme with some of the places and shops he takes people to (not excessive). He spends most of his day at this though and from what I read, I don't know if you could hold your job and do this at the same time. This guy also has that "hustler" mentality and drive that's almost essential in this activity