Life, Passion & Business podcast. How to explore your calling in Costa Rica with Richard Blank.
Exploring the creativity of the human spirit with just five simple questions. Those questions give us a window to explore the journey and life story of people that look like they have it sorted.
Explore your calling, are you on a life path that feeds your soul?
Richard Blank is a native of Philadelphia born to a family with more than the average means and there was a plan. He was on a path to an Ivy League education to study medicine or law.
But even at that age, he knew it was important to be inspired in his chosen career. Neither of these was his calling. He convinced his parents to let him take a different path. He went to the University of Arizona, earning a bachelor’s degree in communication and Spanish.
For his junior year at the age of 21, he took a semester at a university in Madrid. It was about absorbing the language and the Spanish way of life. While he did enjoy the party scene. He also took the opportunity to travel on trains and stay in youth hostels. He explored the art and culture of Europe.
On returning to the US he took an internship with a Spanish TV station. And for a while and another job working with an importer of Corona Beer.
He used his bilingual ability and communication skills to create opportunities for himself and built a career in telemarketer training.
The Big Break
The life-changing break came when he was 27 years old. He relocated to Costa Rica to train employees for one of the larger call centres in San Jose.
In his mid-30s he started his own call centre. It began with one seat in a communal office, and it was slow and steady journey.
Today he owns a building and directly employs 150 people. Over the last 10-plus years, he has trained over 10,000 bilingual telemarketers. His hobby is collecting vintage pinball machines.
Explore your calling
What is so interesting about this interview, is that Richard has nothing to sell. He reached out to me because he was inspired by the work that we do. And the stories that we share at life passion and business. It is about the our calling and why we are here.
Our conversation is not about telemarketing. It is about Richard’s life and the philosophy that has helped him move to a new country and build a successful business. It gives him the opportunity to give back to his adopted community.
He believes everyone has a calling. For him, it was to major in Spanish and explore the culture, and look where that got him. I hope this inspires you to explore your calling.
#RichardBlank #CostaRica #CallCenter #Outsourcing #Telemarketing #BPO #Sales #Entrepreneur #B2B #Business #Podcast #Leadgeneration #education #lifepassionbusiness
https://lifepassionandbusiness.com/richard-blank-explore-your-calling/
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
Life, Passion & Business podcast. Special Episode: "Explore Your Calling" guest expert Richard Blank
https://youtu.be/me7Lwk1HsB4?si=328BkjOUnd_agTs_
Dave Lorenzo: Where I live in Miami is I, I live, uh, probably 15, not even maybe 10 miles. The Western border of Miami-Dade county, uh, you know, heading toward the Western part of Florida. And this particular area is, uh, was settled by, uh, a lot of Cubans. So when we go to the supermarket, where in my neighborhood, we, more than likely we speak Spanish.
Dave Lorenzo: Um, when we go to get our car washed, we speak Spanish. When we, uh, go to the doctor's office and the, and the, the receptionist greets us, she'll greet us in Spanish. She speaks English in Spanish, but it's just the, it's the dominant language here in, in my neighborhood. Now, when you get toward the toward Miami beach, It's a tourist area.
Dave Lorenzo: So people there will, you know, the default there will be English, but the, the specific reason that my family and I moved to this part of Florida is because we wanted a, a culturally diverse experience for our kids. My kids go to a bilingual school. They speak English half the day. They speak Spanish half the day.
Dave Lorenzo: They speak Spanish with, um, their grandmother on my wife's side, they speak English with my parents and they have tested out. My son is in seventh grade. He's tested out of high school Spanish. My daughter is two years behind him. She's tested out of high school, Spanish. So they're taking other languages now in school.
Dave Lorenzo: My, my point about that. We were kind of forward thinking and we, we understand the global nature of the workforce today. And I think 20 years ago, when I visited Costa Rica, it was like a novelty to offshore your call center. Now, I think nobody, nobody would even think twice. And in fact, you may have people in Texas who have a heavier, uh, you know, who have a heavier accent than people in Costa Rica.
Dave Lorenzo: So I don't think it makes any difference today. I don't think people would be put off in any way, as long as they can get the level of service that they're accustomed to Richard. But before we get into the details of all the types of services you provide and. Do that? Tell us your story. How did you come to you now?
Dave Lorenzo: You've been in Costa Rica for 20 plus years. How did you come to be in Costa Rica in the first place?
Richard Blank: Well, my story began in Northeast Philadelphia. When I graduated Abington high school, you were very fortunate. Uh, Dave, because in my family, my grandparents were speaking Romanian, Russian, Polish, and German.
Richard Blank: And so I'm the first person in my family that decided that Spanish should be my major. all of my friends were going to Ivy league and they were studying law in medicine and architecture engineering, or going into their family's business. I chose to double down on languages and go to the university of Arizona.
Richard Blank: I chose a communication major, which made it a lot of fun for those five years, but I also realized that I could pick up public speaking skills, rhetoric skills, and nonverbal communication, micro expression, reading. I was able to get an internship at Telemundo. Jake home was kind enough to give me in 1995 and 96, my senior and super senior year, I worked for promotions and public relations at Telemundo and Tucson there.
Richard Blank: I was able to meet, and this is dating myself gentleman by the name of Pedro SEK and Miguel Kitana. One was in charge of the news out of Los Angeles. And the other had the main talk show in Miami, across from Christina, from uni. . And so imagine a 22 year old boy that is doing public speaking events with these players, these professional men that have made it and have taken the time to mold my confidence and to give me the self-assurance to stand in front of 5,000 people at a Tucson Toro's baseball game and do a Halina Cantina Chile in contest.
Richard Blank: And so given these opportunities that a young man, it molded my confidence that I could do. and I knew that I could do it in two languages. And so postgrad, I landed a job that was for the importers of Corona beer. So I worked that in the Southwest of the United States and that was incredible. And when I was 27, I had the opportunity to move to Costa Rica for a couple months to do some training at a friend of mine, from college, his call center.
Richard Blank: And as you know, when you fly here and you're here, you fall in love with Costa Rica. So everything of mine got put in storage. If you can get past your parents, guilt, Dave, you can live anywhere in the world. And I decided to take a chance. I worked at my friend's call center for four years, and this was back in the day when we were making calls with Cisco phones and printouts of Excel sheets with highlighter pens.
Richard Blank: And it was a young environment. It was a fun environment, a bilingual environment of, of artists, of speech. And I got to see the highs and the lows and the gripes and the successes of it. But. Between me and you. I also saw areas of improvement and the areas of improvement that I saw the most was how people are treated.
Richard Blank: Not saying my friend didn't do a good job, an amazing job, but a lot of people felt like numbers, where they felt like robots. And my other friends and supervisors from other call centers tell me that sometimes agents are not properly onboarded or they're not prepared, or the S scripts are shody. With spelling in grammar mistakes, and maybe some over aggressive language that you would see in a Glen Gary boiler room Wolf of wall street movie, that might be completely out of character for somebody here because we're, we're in a very strict Catholic country, Dave and these young men and women have to go home and tell their parents what they do for a living.
Richard Blank: So we are extremely selective of the campaigns that come in. Not, not only can I fulfill your needs, but I gotta make sure I don't have an attrition. And I gotta make sure that the, that the agents that come in, that we invest in that are able to stay here and build upon that. So we just don't waste that.
Richard Blank: And so my thoughts about how I got here, you don't say you're gonna be a call center CEO for a major in college, or when you're seven years old, you tell that to your mother, but I definitely knew this. I was the only one out of my group of friends that could speak Spanish. And not only that, but every job I had, I was the one that could go out to the Southwest Phoenix when I was selling telecommunications and sell a T1 to somebody and translate it for my supervisor.
Richard Blank: And I knew I had something that was different and it was wonderful for me cuz I enjoyed it and that I was embraced. I might had a grammar mistake in my subjunctive tense, but people would invite me in correct me and feed me and then recommend me to 10 of their. So why do you think that every environment that I was in when I was able to make these calls in Spanish, that I ran the board, I could do it in English and I did, but I also did it in Spanish.
Richard Blank: I could double gun it. I did two boards, English and Spanish. My point being is that you can show this sort of the first impression, respect Dave, when not only are you bilingual, but so am I, and we're doing this without even knowing each other. It. And so it really assisted me in having these sort of engagements and finding a lot of these things in common and really reduced any sort of defense or anger or setting a tone of aggression that that was eliminated immediately when I knew exactly what to say.
Richard Blank: And, and these are gonna be some of the additional selling techniques we'll talk about later and stuff. But my friend, I just wanted to discuss with you the ethics.. Of how I am and how I was raised. I'm when someone calls me a salesman and I take that as a compliment, I might look and sound like one, but Dave, I'm an educator.
Richard Blank: I don't ever force a hand from an educated point of view. My clients, my agents, my friends, and anyone I relate to then makes a decision. And I feel that if given the chance to explain how I feel and to answer their questions, everybody can leave with something on the. I, I think it's a wonderful way to start relationships.
Inside BS Show has accepted my invitation to join your audience for a solid discussion regarding taking a chance by moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Dave Lorenzo discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
Richard’s journey in the call center space is filled with twists and turns. When he was 27 years old, he relocated to Costa Rica to train employees for one of the larger call centers in San Jose. With a mix of motivational public speaking style backed by tactful and appropriate rhetoric, Richard shared his knowledge and trained over 10 000 bilingual telemarketers. Richard Blank has the largest collection of restored American Pinball machines and antique Rockola Jukeboxes in Central America making gamification a strong part of CCC culture.Richard Blank is the Chief Executive Officer for Costa Rica’s Call Center since 2008.
Mr. Richard Blank holds a bachelors degree in Communication and Spanish from the University of Arizona and a certificate of language proficiency from the University of Sevilla, Spain. A Keynote speaker for Philadelphia's Abington High School 68th National Honors Society induction ceremony. Giving back to Abington Senior High School is very important to Mr. Blank. As such, he endows a scholarship each year for students that plan on majoring in a world language at the university level.
Costa Rica’s Call Center (CCC) is a state of the art BPO telemarketing outsource company located in the capital city of San Jose, Costa Rica. Our main focus has been, and will always be to personally train each and every Central America call center agent so that we may offer the highest quality of outbound and inbound telemarketing solutions and bilingual customer service to small and medium sized international companies, entrepreneurs as well as fortune 500 companies.
We encourage you to visit one of our call centers on your next personal vacation or business trip to Central America’s paradise, Costa Rica. While you are here, we would recommend taking an extra day of your trip to visit breathtaking virgin beaches, play golf next to the ocean, try your luck at deep sea fishing, explore tropical jungles, climb volcanos or just relax in natural hot springs. Come and see for yourself why call center outsourcing in Costa Rica is a perfect solution for your growing company and a powerhouse in the BPO industry.
https://youtu.be/dbAl7gwXUEA
https://getinsidebs.com/how-to-build-a-world-class-call-center-richard-blank-show-95/
https://player.fm/series/inside-bs-with-dave-lorenzo/how-to-build-a-world-class-call-center-richard-blank-show-95
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/inside-bs-with/how-to-build-a-world-class-y0jPVSM64FX/
https://podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/how-to-build-a-world-class-call-center-richard-blank-show-95/id1506769228?i=1000567719961
https://www.audible.com/pd/How-to-Build-a-World-Class-Call-Center-Richard-Blank-Show-95-Podcast/B0B54HPXGK?ref=a_pd_Inside_c1_lAsin_1_7
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0lGBT4kd7026zRzP3C8mlu
https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Inside-BS-with-Dave-Lorenzo-p1258770/?topicId=173106229
https://www.ivoox.com/en/how-to-build-a-world-class-call-center-audios-mp3_rf_88970286_1.html
University partnered with Metro Transit Authority (MTA) for students, faculty and staff to use public transportation to and from Belmont for free
The Higher Education Sustainability Conference held at Belmont Spring 2007
Recycling program started almost a decade ago and will expand campus wide Summer 2008 and be sustained by campus systems
Environmental Studies program implemented with service-learning and internship components available
Environmental club for students activated (Our Natural Environment student organization)
http://chocoreaper.deviantart.com/art/JumpinJackFrost-340440516
Haven't watched Rise Of The Guardians yet, but I just had to. Besides, the internship did get me to practice refining my animating skills... or at least I tried.
Repostable Soup link (gif): http://loserificus.soup.io/post/289701929/Jumpin-Jack-Frost-Lol-some-people-do
Christine Brennan - The XXXth Games of the Olympiad - London 2012 Toledo native Christine Brennan is an award-winning sports columnist for USA Today, a commentator for ABC News, CNN, PBS NewsHour and National Public Radio, a best-selling author and a nationally-known speaker. Twice named one of the country's top 10 sports columnists by the Associated Press Sports Editors, she has covered 15 consecutive Olympic Games, summer and winter. She is the author of seven books. Her 2006 sports memoir, Best Seat in the House, is the only father-daughter memoir written by a sports journalist. Her 1996 national best-seller, Inside Edge, was named one of the top 100 sports books of all-time by Sports Illustrated. The nation's most widely read female sports columnist, Brennan was the first woman sports writer at The Miami Herald in 1981 and the first woman to cover the Washington Redskins as a staff writer at The Washington Post in 1985. She was the first president of the Association for Women in Sports Media (AWSM) and started an internship-scholarship program that now honors six female students annually. Two of the scholarships are named after her late parents, Jim and Betty Brennan.
L'Oree de Giverny, bed and breakfasts open all year, welcomes you in a bucolic setting, suitable for a relaxing and healing. You will certainly go on foot to see the Museum of Impressionism exhibition of the painters of this movement that began early last century with the greatest inspiration of his time Claude Monet. And most likely you will continue your stay to visit the house of Claude Monet's gardens and the beautiful garden water "water lilies". Monet borrowed Epte the splendor of a clear natural river into a basin known worldwide. We are fortunate to share the same river and offer moments of relaxation, meals, and evenings along the Epte. Please visit our entertainment program that will rock your parties and Norman leave you a pleasant memory of our little corner of Giverny. Located close to the Capital, our guest house is 45 minutes from Paris by train, enough to help you organize your holiday with no rest as L'Oree de Giverny, we will send you to the station if necessary. A soon to welcome you in our corner unusual for a cooking class, an internship photo, a wine tasting dinner, or a course web .... Welcome to L'Oree de Giverny
Talent School is a channel that connects talent to business through internship programs. It is an ideal way to start with a job or self employment even before you get a degree ! There could be a magnificent opportunity to explore your future career with hands on job exposure while you are still studying. And whats more? Take the employment related skill training program and get rewarded. So why lose this opportunity? Join the Talent School.
Talent School is a channel that connects talent to business through internship programs. It is an ideal way to start with a job or self employment even before you get a degree ! There could be a magnificent opportunity to explore your future career with hands on job exposure while you are still studying. And whats more? Take the employment related skill training program and get rewarded. So why lose this opportunity? Join the Talent School.
Congrès Mondial Acadien 2009 Caraquet, summer 2009, a major celebration! For seventeen days the Acadian peninsula hosted the 4th Congrès Mondial Acadien. More than 50.000 participants from all over the world took part and formed the biggest gathering of the Acadians worldwide. The Acadians celebrate today, but “This Nation within a Nation” suffered greatly in the past. This documentary, produced by the German trainee journalists Melanie Siekhaus and Carolin Sommerfeld, is about the history, present and future of the Acadians. We made the documentary during an internship in New Brunswick, Canada and tried to illustrate the great culture of the Acadians.
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http://ideborah.com I've been asked to submit an entry for Round 3 of the Charlie Sheen Internship. Thank you for the opportunity.
Fingers crossed! Wish me luck!!
If you were the Social Media Director for a major humanitarian aid organization, how would you create awareness and raise money via social media in the aftermath of a global disaster?
Terry Griffith has got it all -- looks, popularity, the perfect college boyfriend, and an article that's a shoo-in to win her a summer internship at the local newspaper... or so she thinks. When Terry's journalism teacher passes her article up in favor of a couple of pieces written by boys, Terry is convinced that sexism is to blame. Determined to win the internship at any cost, Terry goes undercover at a rival high school to resubmit her article... as a boy. But Terry gets more than she bargained for when she finds herself fending off a bully and the advances of an oversexed female admirer, and falling for her new pal Rick. Written by Faith Terry believes her teachers don't take her serious, just because she's a pretty girl. When she fails to win a journalism contest, she decides to switch schools - and gender. She plays her role well and is accepted as one of the guys. However then she meets Rick... and likes him. Written by Tom Zoerner <Tom.Zoerner@informatik.uni-erlangen.de> Terry is determined to win a school writing contest to prove that a pretty girl can be capable and intelligent. In order to be taken seriously, she dresses as a boy and tries to blend in at a new school until the contest results are announced
http://www.indiegogo.com/Accidental-Art
Here is our new video blog where we show what the Sonnyboo Internship is like working on the upcoming indie feature film ACCIDENTAL ART
http://www.indiegogo.com/Accidental-Art
Here is our new video blog where we show what the Sonnyboo Internship is like working on the upcoming indie feature film ACCIDENTAL ART
Guest Speaker Dr. Glenn Gross is a Professor and Chief of Gastroenterology. He attended Baylor College of Medicine followed by his internship, residency, and fellowship at UTHSCSA. He practices at Audie Murphy VA Hospital, Christus Santa Rosa, and University Hospital. His clinical interests include pancreatic and biliary disorders, abdominal pain and intestinal diseases in adults.
www.indiegogo.com/âAccidental-Art
Here is our new video blog where we show what the Sonnyboo Internship is like working on the upcoming indie feature film ACCIDENTAL ART
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Maria shared with us her personal experience of learning Chinese at Getin2ChinaâÂÂs Chinese school. She and her husband Jeans are from Bolivia in South America. She did not speak Chinese before she came to China and now she is working as an English teacher. She said in the interview that having the Chinese skill helps her teaching a lot. It gets the students get the teacher better. WhatâÂÂs more, as she introduced, speaking Chinese tremendously improves your living in China, as you could travel more easily (which is a must in MariaâÂÂs point of view), better get into the culture, etc. MariaâÂÂs husband Jeans told us his feeling in the Chinese classes. He appreciated the way the classes were taught. In his opinion, it was very good, as the way of the Chinese classes he had at Getin2China, that the teacher not only teach the content in the textbook, but also provide Chinese language from daily life and work on improving the studentâÂÂs listening. These extra skills he picked up at Getin2China values so much in his getting into the local culture.
Wir organizieren Ihr Praktikumsplatz in New York! - Fashion (Mode) internships - Business internships - Marketing internships - Media internships - Law (Jura) internships - HR internships Internship USA "New York is waiting for you..." www.international-study-usa.com
Recent college grads, here - http://www.teausa.org/sipofsuccess - is your job opportunity to gain international work experience, while traveling to tea plantations in India, Sri Lanka, Kenya and back to the USA (New York). SALONTEA's Tracy Stern started with an Art History degree and a love of tea. Now, she's got an international brand, and your chance for real career experience. Create a two-minute video showing your passion for tea and knowledge of its many health benefits to win the Sip of Success contest. During the Tea Council internship, the winner will learn about all aspects of tea cultivation, processing and appreciation (cupping). You're not a student anymore so get to work on your video entry and get a job.
Optimize and automate your internship search using best practices of top "search" professionals. This eBook will provide the tools needed to have your internship search working 24/7 while you are concentrating on other things.
An overview of the academic steps that will likely follow your graduation from the undergraduate Teacher Education Program at Morehead State University. Topics include: Maintaining a Valid Statement of Eligibility for Certification; The KTIP Internship Year; Working Towards a Rank II Certificate; Master's Degrees and Fifth Year Programs; MSU's Teacher Leader Program Overview; MSU's College of Education Graduate School Admission Criteria; and National Board Certification
David Curtiss gives advice to students and talks about AGI internship opportunities. Interview with Lauren Michel, Part 2 of 4, Annual Convention & Exhibition, 2009 Denver.
http://www.Predicto.com Predicto Mobile: scam and slander? No, only predictions! Hear what Project Runway style expert Tim Gunn predicts when it comes to these racy questions: Will Lady GaGa go nude for a PETA ad? Will Kanye turn his Gap internship into a new clothing line? Hear what Predicto mobile members think and get your predictor hat on - Join the fun of the Predicto mobile scam and scandal.
http://www.Predicto.com See who PredictoMobile is catching up with now! We found the fabulous Tim Gunn signing autographs for the new Marvel comic, Models, Inc, starring him! We asked style guru Tim if he thought Kanye West would turn his internship at the Gap into an opportunity for his own clothing line! Predicto operates with short code 654654. For more on PredictoMobile, go to Predicto.com!
http://www.Predicto.com The Predicto com scam and scandal is nothing more than predictions! See Project Runway style guru Tim Gunn at Midtown Comics in NYC in this episode of Predicto TV. Host Brandhyze asks him to predict whether or not Kanye West will turn his Gap internship into a clothing line and if Lady GaGa will pose nude for PETA! Now thats some Predicto com scam!