- Name: Laura Bloomquist
- Age: 31
- Current location: St John's, Canada - previously Ometepe Island, Nicaragua
- Home town: Ottawa, Ontario
- Education: High school
- Current position: Owner, entrepreneur - Cornerhouse Cafe and B&B, Nicaragua
- Bio: Laura Bloomquist is a business owner and entrepreneur, who created a cafe and B&B, on Ometepe Island in Nicaragua with her future husband. With extensive experience in the service and restaurant industry, she built a successful business that also works with social enterprise goals in mind. She is currently working with non-profits in Canada, using her experience in social enterprise to help youth in her community create economic and business opportunities for themselves.
- Countries I've worked in: Canada, Nicaragua
- Sector / subsectors: Hospitality, Accomodation, Tourism, Social Enterprise, Entrepreneurship, Travel & Tourism
- Areas of expertise: Restaurant & Hostel Management, Entrepreneurship, Social Enterprise, Travel & Tourism
- Country: Nicaragua
- Region: Central America
- Sector: Business, Tourism & hospitality
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Who are you, what do you do, and what does that entail?
Laura tells us about the various hats she’s worn over her time as the owner of Cornerhouse Cafe and B&B in Nicaragua.
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How did you get to where you are now? Tell us about your career trajectory.
Laura tell us how a gap year after high school turned into several years away, and owning a business in Nicaragua. And how her hands-on experience in the restaurant industry, prepared her for starting her own cafe and B&B.
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How do you go about buying land in a foreign country?
Laura talks to us about buying land in Nicaragua, and gives us a bit of a history lesson on the civil war and land titles.
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Wow, that hammers home the importance of knowing the history of the country you’re going to, when starting a business.
Laura explains why you better do your due diligence before buying that beachfront property.
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What did your families think when you said, "We're going to buy land in Nicaragua and start a business"?
Laura talks about her family and her thought process when it came to investing in property and a business in Nicaragua.
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What is an average day or week in the life of running a business in Nicaragua?
Life’s a lot harder when there’s no Home Depot around. Laura sheds light on the reality of shopping and supplying her business in Nicaragua.
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Were there other cultural norms or ways of doing things that you had to get used to?
Laura tells us about learning how to buy meat from the side of the road.
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That sounds like quite the learning curve. Did that improve over time?
Laura talks about the benefits of hiring on local staff and taking advantage of their expertise and familiarity.
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Your local staff played a huge role in the success of your business. How did you go about finding employees in Nicaragua? Where do you start?
When there aren’t job listings, finding staff comes down to word of mouth and keeping it in the family. Laura tells us how she found her first employee and ended up hiring 10 of their family members.
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Ten members of the same family. Wow. Tell me more about that work dynamic.
Laura tells us how hiring within the family has kept work conflicts and politics at a minimum.
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What were some of the challenges you faced, starting and running a business in a foreign country?
Laura talks to us about the difficulties of being a female business owner in a male-centric cultural environment.
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Any other challenges?
Laura tells us language is the biggest struggle, but that you shouldn’t let it be a deterrent.
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What was the more rewarding part of working cross-culturally?
Laura tells us the best part of working internationally.
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What skills or abilities do you need to succeed in this line of work?
Laura tells us an amazing story about buying wood straight from the owner of the tree, and some tips for succeeding in Nicaragua.
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That’s an amazing story, but it’s also so crazy to think about having to wait for wood to dry to build something with it.
Laura highlights the good with the bad, and the unique experience of having something made for you in such a custom way.
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Any other must-have traits to succeed in this area?
The support of your local community will be vital to the success of your business.
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People say that most new businesses will fail in the first year. Were you afraid of that?
Laura gives her best tips for making it through the first year, and explains how they were able to grow their business organically.
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What’s your best advice for someone looking to get into this type of work?
Laura breaks down her best practical advice for someone who wants to head down this path.
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Are there particular skills, certifications or schooling that would help in entering this field?
Laura tells us the skills she says would have helped her out the most at the beginning of her entrepreneurial journey.
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You mentioned that in some ways your business is set up as a social enterprise. Can you tell us more about that?
Laura breaks down the social enterprise and responsible business practices that were extremely important to her, and how that experience led to her current job in Canada.
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What role did you move into after this social enterprise, and how does your experience help with that?
Laura tells us about her current role at Choices For Youth, a non-profit working with youth and helping to create employment opportunities.
