Finishing in Santo Domingo

[aarhus]

I have been back in Santo Domingo and the DR some days after moving back to Denmark in April and happy about the solution I found around the business I had here. I posted about it in my social media and on my website https://johnboyter.com/f/boyter-island-srl-doing-business-as-“inmobiliaria-sarasota” . I for one was lucky with my Dominican business partner and we were married to. She has been able to continue successfully as a real estate broker in Santo Domingo and makes a living from it. I stay with her while I am in Santo Domingo. I probably made it to complicated and then got to ambitious with some other projects. The way it is set up now there are not really any fixed expenses and she can focus on sales and real estate transactions which she was always good at. While in Santo Domingo I have been going to the gym I used to be a member of. I swim in Body Shop Naco and do weights in Body Shop Bella Vista. Really enjoying that. Enjoying visiting and will visit every year probably.

john boyter

 

[aarhus]

I was at my old gym in Santo Domingo. Using a program I started on in Denmark. I signed up for a week in Santo Domingo at Body Shop Gimnasio where I used to have my gym membership. Today at Body Shop in Bella Vista where I went to pilates before but I never really got going with the weights. I used to mostly use their exercise pool at the Body Shop in Naco and was there yesterday and have been three times swimming 1000 meters each time. I brought my program training weights with me from Denmark which I keep on my iPhone and update if I make changes including increasing the weight. I struggled adapting the program and I don’t think the air conditioning was working so it felt a little uncomfortable. My training program is lacking cardiovascular training but I have managed to do some cardio in my swimming. I try to sprint at the end of my swim workout and that has really improved. In the gym sometimes I start on an exercise bicycle as a warmup for ten-twenty minutes. I am hoping to come next year again to the DR around January-February and will next time have a personal trainer help adapt my program. They have some really good ones at Body Shop. This is the only thing I will be doing when I visit the DR. Working out. And help my former partner with her business. I don’t have any expenses with it anymore. She makes enough to pay for the tax accountant that does the annual tax return more in my interest as she could just use the same she uses for the monthly tax compliance. So that’s the only benefit I get. Compared to the circumstances I was in a few years ago I consider that a success.

 

[NanSanPedro]

The pool is something I miss. I wish Smart Fit had one

 

[aarhus]

The pool is something I miss. I wish Smart Fit had one

The exercise pool is at Body Shop in Naco. I was there yesterday. Where is Smart Fit ? A big chain here is Golds Gym.

 

[NanSanPedro]

The exercise pool is at Body Shop in Naco. I was there yesterday. Where is Smart Fit ? A big chain here is Golds Gym.

Smart Fit is another big chain here. I use the one in San Isidro only for 1190 pesos/month. It can get crowded but they keep it up first rate. The lack of a pool is the only thing for me. Do Gold's gyms have pools? There is one 200 or 300 meters east of Smart Fit on Autopista de San Isidro.

 

[aarhus]

Smart Fit is another big chain here. I use the one in San Isidro only for 1190 pesos/month. It can get crowded but they keep it up first rate. The lack of a pool is the only thing for me. Do Gold's gyms have pools? There is one 200 or 300 meters east of Smart Fit on Autopista de San Isidro.

I don’t think Golds Gym have pools. From what I have heard Body Shop also regretted building the pool in Naco. It’s very costly. They are always fixing/redoing it. The Body Shop in Santiago has a pool. They did something together with a swim club I think. The University.

 

[aarhus]

I am now happy with the business I had around 15 years in Santo Domingo compared to the situation 3-4 years ago. Not all was lost. My partner Raysa Suarez has continued successfully as a real estate broker and she is slowly building a team around her of agents and freelancers.

I saw a statistic recently that 61.5% of businesses will fail within 5 years. And of the 38.5% that remain most struggle to achieve significant scale. I don’t know the statistics in the Dominican Republic but probably not better and maybe worse for expat businesses. My business I should not have tried to scale much and just kept small like Raysa Suarez does now. She is now an established real estate broker and known in the market as an expert in commercial space; industrial space,retail space and office space.

It’s not exactly a great return on the investment I made after the 15 years with my business in Santo Domingo and it won’t be either. Still there is a business functioning, making some money and growing slowly. An established small real estate brokerage by Raysa Suarez.

Tomorrow I am going swimming at the Body Shop gym in Naco. My last day of my one week renewed membership.