Written by Nikki Solano

Nikki is the CEO of Pura Vida! eh? Inc. (Costa Rica Discounts), and the author of the guidebooks Moon Costa Rica (2019, 2021, 2023, and 2025 editions) and Moon Best of Costa Rica (2022 edition) from Moon Travel Guides. Together with her Costa Rican husband, Ricky, she operates the Costa Rica Travel Blog, created the online community DIY Costa Rica, built the Costa Rica Destination Tool, oversees the brand-new (summer 2023) Costa Rica Travel Shop, and designed the Costa Rica Trip Planning 101 E-Course. Also, Nikki wrote the Costa Rica cover feature for Wanderlust Magazine's sustainability-focused Travel Green List issue, showcased Costa Rica destinations and experiences on Rick Steves' Monday Night Travel show and podcast/radio show, and served as the Costa Rica Destination Editor for Essentialist, a luxury travel brand. Want to show your appreciation for her free article below? Thank Nikki here. ❤️️

Has it been 10 years already?

Though I’ve been exploring Costa Rica since the mid-2000s, this week (in 2018) marks 10 years since Ricky and I officially incorporated our business, Pura Vida! eh? Inc..

What a tumultuous but wonderful experience the past decade has been, from the moment we developed our business plan during a bus ride from San Jose to the Caribbean coast to the day Moon Travel Guides chose me to assume authorship of their prestigious Moon Costa Rica guidebook. Along with the hundreds of Costa Rican souvenirs we’ve collected over the years, we’ve picked up more invaluable lessons than we could ever count. If you’re interested in learning the top four things we’ve discovered about operating a business in general, this blog post is for you.

It’s much easier to criticize yourself than to celebrate yourself.

Business beginnings are bogged down with words like “can’t,” “won’t,” and “shouldn’t.” Your bank may turn you down for a loan because you lack credit or collateral, like most first-time entrepreneurs do. And if you aren’t lucky enough to be surrounded by supportive folks, then you’ll likely hear more messages of criticism than encouragement. The process of building a business is a fragile time, and every step you take could shatter you to pieces. But they can also thicken your skin, strengthen your voice, and formulate a pathway to success.

If you’ve ever tried to succeed at anything in life, be it business or something else, you know how hard it can be to block out negative thoughts and opinions. So don’t bother blocking them out. Don’t waste your time trying to fight negativity. It will always be there, and, quite frankly, if you find yourself constantly feeding it with time and energy, it will only grow hungrier. Instead, let negativity be what it is while you work on perfecting your talent or skills. You’ll never have exactly what your competitors do, but they’ll never have exactly what you have, either. So, focus on what you bring to the table. There must be something, if not many things, or else you wouldn’t have set out to build a business in the first place. Don’t forget to applaud your something(s). In a world where so many people strive to act like, look like, and be someone else, your uniqueness is worth celebrating.

Give yourself a break. You’ll get there someday.

If I knew 10 years ago that some of my products or services wouldn’t sell, that certain marketing campaigns wouldn’t work, or that particular programs were a waste of time, I could have saved myself a ton of time and money. But hindsight is always 20/20, and all it does is push the unhelpful notion that something or someone should have been different at an earlier time. Plus, the idea that a business can and should run perfectly from the get-go is completely unrealistic. If everyone had the ability to jump to exactly where and who they wanted to be, life wouldn’t involve living, and if businesses could skip to their finish line, they wouldn’t be labors of love. So, show yourself some compassion and patience throughout the business-building journey, and let your business live and grow. Lessons learned over time and hard work paddle entrepreneurship, and if you’re a captain committed to your vessel, you’ll get to where you dream of going, someday.

Success is multivariate and has an always-evolving endpoint.

When I let my mind roll back 10 years to when I was naive, I cringe at some of the poorly constructed entrepreneurial projects that I took on. I won’t label them as embarrassing because there’s nothing shameful about brainstorming, trying new things, failing, learning, and trying again. Each bad idea, which wasn’t as bad as it was undeveloped, shaped my understanding of (and my ability to form) good ideas. They also led me to where I am now, and at this moment, I’m doing alright. Fast-forward 10 years to the future and perhaps I’ll cringe at the work I did today, having not yet learned from whatever tomorrow brings.

If you’re just starting a business, focus on the now and decisions that are within your current reach. It’s great to plan for the future, but all that really matters is today because it’s your one and only shot at securing tomorrow. And, try not to fixate on what tomorrow⁠ will or should look like. As life shifts and evolves with markets, demographics, technological advances, and business strategies, so will your wants, needs, and abilities, which inform your perception and definition of success. From the light bulb moment when you realized you could start a business, to the last day you operate the entity, success should be something you constantly pursue, not something you ever reach.

The best businesses aren’t mechanized, they’re flexible.

Get used to being flexible. Most businesses require flexibility from their owners, even control-hungry businesspeople like me. I used to think the more organized I was, the more I could design every step of my business operation, and the more I built my company to run like clockwork, the more professional and successful I’d be. I forgot, all the while, that the fluid that keeps my machine running is ever-changing, unpredictable, and oftentimes frustrating human connection.

Human connection is what drives my business. Although I manage several projects, several of which have automated elements, without human clients acquiring my services, my projects wouldn’t survive financially. More importantly, without human clients providing me with feedback about my services, all I’d have is a business that appeases myself. Do I sometimes sulk over client requests that I’m not entirely on board with? Of course! But I’m not too proud to recognize that flexibility⁠—to a safe and agreeable degree⁠—is largely what pays the bills. Similar to the old adage, if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all, consider this: if a client’s request won’t kill your business, don’t let it kill your sale.

QUESTION TO COMMENT ON: What other business advice do you think is worth sharing?

Pura vida!

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