As much as I hate to admit it...its a fact! In Panama, it's all about the schmooze (aka networking).
It so click-ish here that unless you can schmooze your way into a network, you might be stuck on the outside looking in. Let me break it down.
Here in Panama city, its not about how talented, attractive, smart you are...its about WHO YOU KNOW. You could practically offer a service for free here and folks would still rather go to a place they know (or their friends like) and pay full price. I'm not exagerrating.
Unfortunately, its common here for people to just follow each other or only do whatever the "IN" thing is. To get ahead here, you have to get to know people...lots of people. To do this, you HAVE to schmooze. In other words, when someone invites you to an event...GO! By going as someone's friend/guest, you are introduced to that inner circle. Once you're introduced, you have to schmooze and make contacts. These contacts will help build your network, which you will need if you want to start a business, organize a club, get support for an idea you have, go out to parties, etc.
I personally like to be a "ninja". In other words, stick to the shadows and pop out when I FEEL LIKE IT. Uh-uh! That doesn't work here. Panama city is really small and unlike other places, if people don't know you, they rarely go out of their way to get to know you. I'm learning that I've got to do Panama on Panama's terms, not mine. You've got to be a visible and a schmoozer here.
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