An entrepreneur from Chicago in Bogotá

Today we had lunch at Cabrera, one of the best steak restaurants in Bogotá

Today I met with another entrepreneur in Bogotá, and it's awesome to meet people just through Twitter, all thanks to Bowtiedcolombia. This time, I met a marketing agency owner from Chicago who lives in Bogotá. Today we had lunch at Cabrera, one of the best steak restaurants in Bogotá. Here are some photos I'm sharing with you.

He has a digital nomad visa for two years and lives in the best area of Bogotá, in Rosales. He has a two-bedroom apartment with an office and pays approximately $1,500. Coincidentally, his Colombian girlfriend graduated from the same university as me here in Bogotá. We talked about the idea of meeting up with more entrepreneurs and digital nomads in Bogotá. He agreed to look for a place and I will try to gather the people.

You have no idea. He lives in the best neighborhood of Bogotá and one of the best in Colombia, in fact, I think it's the best. That area is where the country's millionaires live. It's a super quiet zone, you can walk around safely, and it's relatively close to everything—the downtown and the T zone, where the restaurants and nightlife of Bogotá are located.

He told me interesting things that might interest you. He says he never plans to return to his country. He's from Chicago but has lived in Miami, Los Angeles, etc. He would never go back to his country. He says that the pandemic changed the world forever.

He told me something I didn't know, which is that in Bogotá and generally in Colombia, it's easy to bet and go to casinos, whereas in the USA, you can only physically bet in Las Vegas. He says Las Vegas is known as the sin city but has good marketing. I told him we should do something similar with Medellín, turn it into a sort of Latin American Las Vegas, with better marketing.

We need to slightly diminish its reputation for prostitution and drugs and camouflage it with something better. Just like Las Vegas, which, while assumed to be a place for gambling and known as the city of sin, is not internationally seen as a place with a terrible reputation like Medellín currently has.

He realized it doesn't make sense to continue living with a 9-5 schedule in a country where everything is not only expensive but also doesn't feel the same.

Bogotá vs Medellín

He told me that Medellín doesn't feel like Colombia, so he decided to live in Bogotá. For him, Medellín is too full of foreigners that even the streets feel very American. In Bogotá, that never happens, not even in tourist areas or commercial zones like the T zone.

He also talked about prostitution and the bad reputation Medellín has, despite everyone disguising it with the city's climate. But he said Medellín is amazing despite that; it feels different when you arrive, the nature and everything has a very cool vibe.

However, he prefers Bogotá and says he doesn't understand why people speak poorly of Bogotá, but he finds it better for him, haha, they leave Bogotá alone for him.

I have my theory that Bogotá is very full of Colombians from all over the country and foreigners; it's a city very full of people where foreigners don't stand out. Maybe because Medellín is smaller and a developing city, the concentration of foreigners is much more noticeable. Medellín and Bogotá are developed cities, but Bogotá, being the capital and having such a concentration of people due to centralization, naturally has more development and so many things to do that it makes everyone want to be here. People tend to be colder than in other cities, but the Bogotanos are good people.

Bitcoin is valuable but not that valuable

He said something interesting: he doesn't believe in Bitcoin. He says you have to invest in it, but he doesn't see it like the dollar in 20 years. He's not an expert or anything. He invests in Bitcoin obviously. Of all the cryptocurrencies, he says Bitcoin probably has value, but most people just use it to have money and take it out when the gain is huge, and it will stay like that for a long time before it explodes. I found it an interesting version.

In Colombia, very few people or almost no one invests in Bitcoin. People are only interested in having money today, and it's not that easy to buy Bitcoin in Colombia. I told him that I had previously bought on Coinbase but now it doesn't allow me.

I told him that I was thinking of creating an audiovisual production and design company for entrepreneurs because I have a whole team of designers ready to make videos, edit, do branding, and more. He told me that he does similar things with his marketing agency but it's more about advertising, but it's the best thing that could have happened to him. He has a lot of freedom to travel and meet.

He knows more cities in Colombia: Ibagué, Santa Marta and he plans to go to Manizales and San Andrés. I recommended them to him. The idea, as always, is for people to dare to explore more cities and avoid the concentration in places like Cartagena, Medellín, and Bogotá. Colombia has much more to offer.

If you would like to join us in Bogotá, let me know: comment on this post or DM in @BowtiedColombia and I will contact you. The idea is to meet, talk about business, and see what opportunities arise. Something casual.

The conclusions from that meeting:

• we need to find a way to escape the 8-5pm jobs, live in Latin America, meet with more entrepreneurs in Colombia, and explore opportunities.

• We aim to build a community related to business and good things. Bogotá has much more to offer than its reputation suggests.

• Medellín is the best city in Colombia in terms of people's vibe but it needs better marketing to attract better people.

• I'm going to start a company for audiovisual production and branding for YouTube, app design, etc., and

• finally, we're going to meet in Bogotá. Stay tuned to my emails if you're here, I'll be letting you know.