As I‘m writing this we are sitting on top of a cliff overlooking the ocean waiting for fishing boats to come out in celebration of the ocean and protection of the fishermen in a local village festival here in Peniche, Portugal.
Hundreds of people are gathering in this little seaside Portuguese fishing village to see the spectacle. Sitting right next to us are are daughter, mum and grandma, 3 generations hanging out, laughing and enjoying the festival.
It‘s 10.30pm.
A week ago we were in Granada and Sevilla, the South of Spain. Both amazing cities in their own right with old cobble stone streets, little corner stores, lots of ice-cream shops and the Alhambra (a huge castle) throning over Granada.
Some of the heladerias (ice-cream shops) really stood out with their unique designs, it was pretty hard to walk past them without looking and once you‘ve looked, how can you resist.
After a day of working and wandering around the streets, we went and watched a Flamenco show in a tiny tiny Spanish bar. The Spanish really live up to their reputation of being passionate. You know that feeling of being ‘in the zone‘? The performing artists were completely ‘in the zone‘, capturing the audience and two hours later we were still sitting there mesmerized by the music and dance.
Magic
I reckon if we put as much passion into our businesses as the Spanish do into their art, we would no doubt attract more happy clients.
Would you prefer taking guitar lessons with somebody who is passionate about it or somebody who keeps checking the clock, happy for the lesson to finish?
After all that Spanish fire, we arrived in Lagos (South of Portugal) where tourists hanging out in tourist bars are a majority.
One of our Aussie friends owns a small Mexican bar there, plenty of ‘ideal customers‘ (tourists spending lots of money on alcohol) right there, but also a lot of competition. He and all the other bars need to find ways to stand out to attract more customers and one technique a few bars are using is to hand out vouchers for a free shot or two for one drink. Seems to work.
Our office in Lagos
Our Office in Playa Amado
We‘ve also been spending a lot of time working from different ‘offices‘ (coffee shops) and writing for our book. Loving the virtual lifestyle, working from anywhere, as long as there is a good internet connection.
Ok it‘s 11pm now and the fishing boats decorated with colourful lights are out and the ocean looks like a sea of floating candles. Fireworks are going off in the bay and music is playing in the distance. How lucky are we to be at the right place at the right time….