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Writer's pictureShannon Vogel

Lessons Learned in a Small Community in Mexico

On a recent trip to Mexico for a work meeting, I got some life lessons from an unexpected place that I'd like to share with you. It's a great opportunity to look at your life to see what's working and what you'd like to change to ensure you're living your best life.

This is me. Having a gigantic epiphany.


This is Danny (Dano). Changing my life. (and trying to get my business advisor Sean to like Tequila)




If you heard someone tell the story, it would sound like any other success story. Guy in Mexico has a wife and 3 year old, owns two restaurants in a small town. He will be in Colorado next month for the Telluride Food and Vine Festival. Regular success story. Right?


Here's what makes him successful to me:

  • He is at work barefoot, not in a cubicle or behind a desk.

  • He runs his business so well that he can spend his time stopping by his tables and visiting with his customers, sharing stories and tequila.

  • He popped by our table on our 3rd visit, thought for a minute, and said - "You haven't had the clams yet. Have those today." He remembers everything we've ordered for 3 days and genuinely cares about our experience.

  • His wife and daughter are also at his work, barefoot and smiling.

  • Their daughter runs around the beach in one of those towel hoodies, visiting with guests, making friends, and laughing infectiously.

  • He's taking his own social media videos for his brand. He's got one foot on the bar and one on a stool so he can capture his bartender/mixologist in action.


When he shared his story, part of what he shared was where he grew up, jobs he'd had, successes and failures, how he started out as a bartender. When he got to the part about being fired from a resort for not being good enough, I paused and said, "Thank God they fired you so that you could end up here."


Any time my husband (and COO) leave a trip, we ask ourselves what we want to take away from the tip and incorporate into our lives. When we came back from Italy, we incorporated shopping locally and daily for food, espresso at home instead of a daily trip to Dutch Bros, savoring gelato instead of mindlessly eating from a half-gallon container, leaving the house with no plan and wandering and stopping where we felt like in the moment. Here, we learned to make sure that we love our work, have work-life balance where we don't always wear shoes to work, our dogs come with us to work, we run the business so well that we have time to visit with customers, we pause to capture our story on social and to hire and trust a team to do their superpowers so we can do ours.


Thanks, Danny, Karla and Coco for the education and inspiration.


Read his story:






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