First time post although I have been lurking here for some time and enjoy reading the posts and I believe this forum halps many guys find happiness. I opened an agency in Bogota in 1990 and today I believe I am the longest surviving agency owner. Bruce from TLC came along several years later and is still alive and kicking as is Luz Amparo who also came along in the early 1990's. I have had more than 75 clients open agencies in Colombia and the only survivor to my knowledge is J.R from Latin Internet. At one time in the roaring 90's there were 5 agencies in Cali owned by former LLM clients. I bring this up because a recent post here said that the demise of agencies in Colombia was due to "poor service " and this is not true.
The internet is what hurt us the worst. In the roaring 90's I had as many as 80 guys attend a holiday party. We paid salaries to our employees about 4 times Colombian standards and that was because everyone was making money and happy. It cost big bucks to open an agency and to have slick printed material to mail out to prospects, add to that advertising costs in the US and a staff to handle the calls etc. Now someone can create a website, steal photos from others, and open a business for peanuts. Too many people entered the business who were not qualified to do so and thus a deteoriation of quality. In addition the big American companies like match.com gave false hope to American guys.
The end result is there are far fewer guys coming to Colombia to find a mate. Those guys who do come are all leaving happy as has always been the case. I tip my hat to all the guys here who have chosen Colombian ladies as mates - I think you made a wise choice.
