Overseas Radio Network On-Air Personality Rich Novak Interviews Chuck Bolotin from Best Places In The World To Retire About Why Rich’s Listeners Should Visit Best Places
Oro Valley, Arizona, USA—December 13, 2013— Six months after their initial interview, Rich Novak, of the popular Overseas Radio Network show “Panama!”, interviewed Chuck Bolotin, of Best Places In The World To Retire.
In a broadcast scheduled to air in the next two weeks, Chuck gives Rich an update on how, in less than eight months, Best Places has exceeded its expectations in terms of contributors, questions answered, and visitor traffic. Rich also challenges Chuck to prove to the listeners of his show why it would be worth their time to visit the Best Places site.
The transcript is below.
Rich: After a 6 month break, we’re welcoming Chuck Bolotin back to our show. Chuck is from a really unique and very useful website, BestPlacesInTheWorldToRetire.com.
Chuck: Thank you, Rich. I’m very glad to be invited back.
Rich: I should tell our audience that Chuck was on our show back in June, when Best Places In The World To Retire was just six months old, so I’ve invited him back so he can give us all an update.
Chuck, I’ve already told our audience that your site is quite a bit different from others out there, and that it’s really useful. For those in our audience who don’t yet know about your site, please tell us what someone listening to us right now would get from visiting.
Chuck: OK, Rich. The first thing I should mention is that our site was designed to give information to people who are researching moving overseas, whether they’re retired or not.
What sets us apart is that none of the answers or stories on our site are provided by Best Places In The World To Retire.
Rich: Then who provides the answers and stories?
Chuck: At present, we have over 200 contributors, from all walks of life, background and attitude, almost of whom now live in Panama, so they can give your audience the real story from very diverse perspectives. We have:
In a broadcast scheduled to air in the next two weeks, Chuck gives Rich an update on how, in less than eight months, Best Places has exceeded its expectations in terms of contributors, questions answered, and visitor traffic. Rich also challenges Chuck to prove to the listeners of his show why it would be worth their time to visit the Best Places site.
The transcript is below.
Rich: After a 6 month break, we’re welcoming Chuck Bolotin back to our show. Chuck is from a really unique and very useful website, BestPlacesInTheWorldToRetire.com.
Chuck: Thank you, Rich. I’m very glad to be invited back.
Rich: I should tell our audience that Chuck was on our show back in June, when Best Places In The World To Retire was just six months old, so I’ve invited him back so he can give us all an update.
Chuck, I’ve already told our audience that your site is quite a bit different from others out there, and that it’s really useful. For those in our audience who don’t yet know about your site, please tell us what someone listening to us right now would get from visiting.
Chuck: OK, Rich. The first thing I should mention is that our site was designed to give information to people who are researching moving overseas, whether they’re retired or not.
What sets us apart is that none of the answers or stories on our site are provided by Best Places In The World To Retire.
Rich: Then who provides the answers and stories?
Chuck: At present, we have over 200 contributors, from all walks of life, background and attitude, almost of whom now live in Panama, so they can give your audience the real story from very diverse perspectives. We have:
- a middle-aged married man from Chicago;
- a young, single woman from Canada who moved to Seattle and then to Panama;
- an man who has lived in Switzerland, New York, Miami, and even Africa;
- a wonderfully sophisticated, native Panamanian woman who just loves to tell people about her country;
- and we have more than 200 others, many with fascinating backgrounds and stories or just ordinary backgrounds and stories, many of which the people in your audience will immediately relate to.
We have people representing for profit companies like you, people representing non-profits such as Bid 4 Boquete, people who don’t represent any company or organization whatsoever, and we even have people from several churches who contribute.
Rich: Chuck, why should any of our audience care who provides the answers to their questions?
Chuck: Another excellent question, Rich. There’s several reasons why it’s important for those in your audience to gather information from several diverse sources.
Rich: Chuck, why should any of our audience care who provides the answers to their questions?
Chuck: Another excellent question, Rich. There’s several reasons why it’s important for those in your audience to gather information from several diverse sources.
The first one is that, if there’s just one source of information, and the person or company providing the information has an agenda to promote something unrealistically, some of the information may not be all that accurate.
The way we eliminated this problem at Best Places In The World To Retire is by having lots of different and unrelated people, including the non-profits, answer the same questions.
Rich: OK, fair enough. What are some of the other reasons its better to have many different people answer?
Chuck: Another one is that, even if the person providing the information is doing his or her best to give the most accurate answer, different people just naturally have different ways of looking at things.
Rich: OK, give me an example.
Chuck: Well, let’s take a basic example, and let’s use you. How important is it for you that there’s a really good, high-end clothing store near where you live?
Rich: Not much.
Chuck: And how important is it for Janet?
Rich: Definitely more important than for me. My wardrobe tends to be pretty simple.
Chuck: Well then, if someone who found high end shopping to be important read your opinion about how great the shopping was in a certain area (because you think that “simple” means “great”), then they could easily get the wrong impression from you, couldn’t they?
Rich: OK, I get it. That’s why it’s so important for our audience that you have so many different viewpoints on the site. When my audience visits the site, they can see that different people can answer the same question a bit differently.
Rich: OK, fair enough. What are some of the other reasons its better to have many different people answer?
Chuck: Another one is that, even if the person providing the information is doing his or her best to give the most accurate answer, different people just naturally have different ways of looking at things.
Rich: OK, give me an example.
Chuck: Well, let’s take a basic example, and let’s use you. How important is it for you that there’s a really good, high-end clothing store near where you live?
Rich: Not much.
Chuck: And how important is it for Janet?
Rich: Definitely more important than for me. My wardrobe tends to be pretty simple.
Chuck: Well then, if someone who found high end shopping to be important read your opinion about how great the shopping was in a certain area (because you think that “simple” means “great”), then they could easily get the wrong impression from you, couldn’t they?
Rich: OK, I get it. That’s why it’s so important for our audience that you have so many different viewpoints on the site. When my audience visits the site, they can see that different people can answer the same question a bit differently.
Then how will my audience know which answer is more accurate for them?
Chuck: Thanks, Rich. Now you’re getting to the heart of what makes Best Places different. In addition to having over 200 people answer over 1,000 questions just about Panama, next to each answer is a picture of the person providing the answer, and a link for your audience to find out more about that person. The more your audience knows about the person providing the answers, the more your audience can judge if they will tend to see things the same way.
Rich: So you have all these different people, many of whom are expats like Janet and me who led pretty average, every day lives in the US and later moved who give their answers to the most often asked questions about moving to Panama.
Chuck: Exactly, Rich. What happens next is sort of magical.
Rich: Magical?
Chuck: Yes, I’ll use that term “magical” because I’ve experienced it, myself.
Now, remember, I’ve read pretty much every one of the 1,600-plus answers to the 1,000 plus questions on the site, and I didn’t know the answers to any of the questions before we started.
As I read how each person answered, and then compared his or her answers to other people’s answers, and then read more about that person and his or her other answers, I started to get a really, really good feel for each person’s personality, and how close it was to mine. Your audience can do exactly the same thing, to get the best answers for them.
Rich: You know I like specifics, Chuck. Why does the personality of a person answering a question make any difference to my audience?
Chuck: Well, let’s do the same thing we did before. Let’s take you for an example.
Rich: Do we have to?
Chuck: Well, you’re pretty available, and also, I think you’ll get a kick out of it. Give me just a moment here and I’m going to repeat exactly how you answered the question on our site about if there are hurricanes in Panama. Just a moment, please, I’m almost there.
Chuck: Thanks, Rich. Now you’re getting to the heart of what makes Best Places different. In addition to having over 200 people answer over 1,000 questions just about Panama, next to each answer is a picture of the person providing the answer, and a link for your audience to find out more about that person. The more your audience knows about the person providing the answers, the more your audience can judge if they will tend to see things the same way.
Rich: So you have all these different people, many of whom are expats like Janet and me who led pretty average, every day lives in the US and later moved who give their answers to the most often asked questions about moving to Panama.
Chuck: Exactly, Rich. What happens next is sort of magical.
Rich: Magical?
Chuck: Yes, I’ll use that term “magical” because I’ve experienced it, myself.
Now, remember, I’ve read pretty much every one of the 1,600-plus answers to the 1,000 plus questions on the site, and I didn’t know the answers to any of the questions before we started.
As I read how each person answered, and then compared his or her answers to other people’s answers, and then read more about that person and his or her other answers, I started to get a really, really good feel for each person’s personality, and how close it was to mine. Your audience can do exactly the same thing, to get the best answers for them.
Rich: You know I like specifics, Chuck. Why does the personality of a person answering a question make any difference to my audience?
Chuck: Well, let’s do the same thing we did before. Let’s take you for an example.
Rich: Do we have to?
Chuck: Well, you’re pretty available, and also, I think you’ll get a kick out of it. Give me just a moment here and I’m going to repeat exactly how you answered the question on our site about if there are hurricanes in Panama. Just a moment, please, I’m almost there.
OK, here we are. After you put in a map and gave the facts that there are NO hurricanes in Panama, here’s what you wrote, Rich:
“When it comes to Panama weather we just love to say NO! NO Hurricanes, NO Tornadoes, NO Snow, NO Blizzards, NO Sleet, NO Hail, NO Freezing Temperatures, NO Ice except in our margarita glasses.”
Rich: [Laughs.] I had forgotten that I wrote that.
Chuck: Not me, because I point to it all the time, and it pretty much always gets a laugh. The overall point is that your answers show a little about who Rich Novak is: you answer the question well, and then you have some fun with it. For people researching moving to Panama who relate to others like you who are more lighthearted and fun, they will tend to follow you and your answers.
Rich: How about for those who are heavyhearted and a real drag?
Chuck: They will tend to favor other people’s answers. One of the things that is just so magical about the site…
Rich: Magical? There’s that word again.
Chuck: Yes, even “magical” is that, just like people’s personalities come out in their answers, and this is really useful to your audience, what also comes out is a really, really great profile of Panama.
After your audience spends some time on our site, they’ll gain a really good understanding of all different areas of Panama, and, each individual person in your audience will know if any of these areas are right for them.
Rich: We’ve been spending all our time talking about the questions and answers area. In our time left, Chuck, tell our audience if there is anything else on the site that could help them.
Chuck: OK. One of the more fun areas of the site is the Location Advisor. The way this works is the visitor inputs their preferences, for example, would they rather live at the ocean or the mountains or how close to a hospital do they want to be. Then, the Location Advisor makes a recommendation based on their preferences.
Rich: I really liked it when you showed me the Location Advisor. It also has criteria for what types of expats you want to be around, how much money you have to spend, and the one you like to show most, Chuck, lifestyle preferences.
Chuck: Well, that’s a popular one. We ask people if they most relate to Armani Exchange, Banana Republic, and so forth, and then, based on that, which area in Panama would be best for them.
Rich: So I take it, if they like Armani Exchange, Bocas would not be at the top of the list.
Chuck: That’s exactly right, Rich. However, Bocas does come up if they prefer other attributes.
Rich: What else on the site could be useful to our audience?
Chuck: We have Expat Stories. Expat Stories is where people who moved overseas tell their story. The reason this is so important is that, after your audience knows the basic facts about things, they generally want to ask another human being they can relate to “What’s your experience; what was it like for you?’ Expat Stories is where this happens.
Rich: And my audience can still find out about the person providing the story, just like they could when finding out who provided an answer, right?
Chuck: Exactly. And I should mention that we also have stories by people who are not expats. We have some beautiful stories contributed by people who are native Panamanian. It really gives your audience a great feel for what the experience in Panama could be, from a person-to-person level. We have pictures, YouTubes, everything.
Rich: OK, we have just a minute left. I should tell the audience that by the time this airs I’ll post a link to BestPlacesInTheWorldToRetire.com at the Overseas Radio Network website, under my show archives section.
Chuck, in our last 30 seconds, please tell our audience about the Marketplace area.
Chuck: The Marketplace area is where, if your audience is interested, they can find out more about the organizations whose representatives answered questions or posted stories on our site by viewing the organization’s “Marketplace listing.”
Some of the organizations are non-profit like the ones I mentioned, and some are for profit, like Re/Max Beaches & City. What’s especially great about this is, unlike other sites, the Marketplace listings aren’t just advertisements. Each listing, whether for a non-profit or for a for-profit, is linked back to the individual people who answered questions and posted stories.
For example, if your audience is interested in finding a real estate agent, they can look back at all the answers provided by that charming man from Chicago, or, if they’re interested in learning more about a non-profit, they can see the answers and stories provided by the actual people who run it.
That way, if your audience is interested in doing business with any of these people, they will be much, much more informed about the people they could be working with, because, in the end, people want to work with other people they like, and who they trust.
Rich: OK, Chuck, thanks again for coming on and telling our audience about this great resource for them to check out. Tell them again the name of the site.
Chuck: BestPlacesInTheWorldToRetire.com. I urge everyone in your audience to come by and have a look. And, make certain to register for the newsletter so they can be kept up to date with all the new answers and stories.
Rich: And for those who missed it, I’ll put up a link in my show’s area of the Overseas Radio Network webpage.
Chuck: Thanks, Rich. We really appreciate it.
That way, if your audience is interested in doing business with any of these people, they will be much, much more informed about the people they could be working with, because, in the end, people want to work with other people they like, and who they trust.
Rich: OK, Chuck, thanks again for coming on and telling our audience about this great resource for them to check out. Tell them again the name of the site.
Chuck: BestPlacesInTheWorldToRetire.com. I urge everyone in your audience to come by and have a look. And, make certain to register for the newsletter so they can be kept up to date with all the new answers and stories.
Rich: And for those who missed it, I’ll put up a link in my show’s area of the Overseas Radio Network webpage.
Chuck: Thanks, Rich. We really appreciate it.
About Best Places in the World to Retire
Funded and run by an experienced group of entrepreneurs and investors based primarily in Southern Arizona, BestPlacesintheWorldtoRetire.com is dedicated to providing anyone considering moving, doing business, or visiting overseas with organized, unbiased, credible information, all in an easy to use format. The four main areas of the site are: 1) Community Q & A, with thousands of answers to questions, provided by a community of experts; 2) Location Advisor, a real time, interactive, fun and informative questionnaire that recommends the best places to retire; 3) Expat Stories, where real expats tell their experiences; and, 4) Marketplace, where for-profit and non-profit organizations have their commercial listings, all tied into the questions they answered and the stories they posted.
Contact:
Chuck Bolotin
Vice President, Business Development, Marketing & Sales
(520) 498-0427