Project Managers can be flexible too.
Nothing to do with this post, Siena tries on my shoes.
We've found that spending some time to understand the business environment and the culture has been critical in shaping our business into one that fits the business needs here, rather than one that looks great on paper. An example of this is that leaving a day-long seminar defining the American market for Argentine winemakers, we realized that many of the "experts" in Argentina rely upon outdated data and are sharing conclusions with winemakers that won't help the winemakers sell their products to Californians. We chatted about what a dis-service this is doing to the small producers trying to export their wines, and noted that the scarcity of local expertise on what Californian wine drinkers want hurts the small family business the most, as they don't have a team of people analyzing various markets.Upon reflection, we realized that within our small family we have 20 years of consulting experience, a master's degree, an internationally recognized wine accreditation, great people skills (mostly Siena, but J too!) and experience managing at least four businesses and a cafe. We have friends in prestigious restaurants, wine shops, and cafes in California, as well as friends who just love wine, and on top of this are native Californians and foodies so have a depth of knowledge about wine coupled with doing business in California that sets us apart from the various "experts" in Argentina. We hadn't originally planned on offering consulting services, but upon further
consideration we realize that the insight we have into the strategic markets of San Francisco and Sacramento could help the small family wineries in Argentina and Chile, so we'll be consulting once again! Our niche is providing consulting and brokering (introducing wineries to importers) services to help smaller Argentine businesses sell their products in California. We are naming our new company Baby Siena Wines. As we settle in, we have begun shopping for an apartment to produce some rental income from tourists seeking vacation rentals as there is a scarcity of nice, clean, furnished apartments for short-term rental (as we don't consider units with stained sheets, broken furniture, dirty plates, or moldy showers to fall into the category of "nice".) This is another business venture which we had not envisioned prior to arriving in Mendoza and seeing the opportunity for additional tourism-related services such as lodging. There is a great return on investment for rental properties in Argentina, though virtually no mortgages so you have to show up with a suitcase of money and pay in cash, so I guess we'll need to buy appropriate dark sunglasses and suitcases for transporting the money!
Managing rental property coupled with wine consulting and brokerage are the opportunities we've decided to focus on within Mendoza, and for every idea we've decided to move forward with there are two more we've rejected for lack of bandwidth. There are still many opportunities for investors and entrepreneurs to live comfortably in Argentina, but with the caveat that in order to be successful here it's critical to take the time to understand the people, culture, and the business environment. In addition, it's important to bring a sense of humor, flexibility to refine your business objectives as needed, and a project manager's mindset to maintain a focus on clear, tangible goals as there will undoubtedly be many obstacles and diversions along the way.
Siena Update
The big news this week is that Siena is now walking (she can take 30 steps without holding on or falling!) and that she is now 1 year old. She had been walking while holding onto things for a few months now, but when we visited a friend's restaurant last week Siena took a liking to his father and she walked him all around the restaurant for close to an hour. He didn't seem to mind, and since that evening she has really begun to walk on her own. We celebrated her birthday with her new best friend, and Siena has celebrated by shooting up a few more inches so she now looks a little more like a toddler and less like a baby - I think I even saw her neck the other day, though strangers on the street still refer to her using terms like "linda gordita" (pretty chubby girl)!We are enjoying living in Mendoza, Argentina, and autumn has just begun. Mendoza is a quaint town of about 100,000 people and with
lovely plazas and tall trees. We have a nice set of international friends, and are staying in a centrally located apartment in one of the nicer parts of town where we can easily walk to cafes, markets, and shopping. People here are pretty friendly, especially to babies. Servers in restaurants and cafes come out to give Siena a kiss and play with her when we pass by, and it's not unusual to have a server (or even the cooks) play with her during a meal out. Needless to say, Siena has made friends with half of the town, so much so that we've decided to call our business Baby Siena Wines. 
Some cute things Siena has been doing lately include reaching up to give me a kiss right before she falls asleep in my arms, walking through our apartment complex hand in hand with both of us, trying on our shoes, drinking out of a big kid glass (which we don't let her hold yet!), and barking and bouncing whenever she sees a dog. She's a bit of a girly-girl in that she loves jewelry, shoes, flowers, hearts, and bows, though this is balanced out by her rough-and-tumble nature (she loves rough-housing where she climbs all over us, has mastered a few different growls, is quite proud of her stinky feet, and the messier and dirtier something is the more she wants to grab it.) 