Lucrative Companies

Rio For Partiers

Tourism Destination Marketing Company

In 2003 I was looking for a book to publish, as I had learned a lot about book marketing when I launched Learn How To Draw. So I talked to bookstore managers, some mentioned that the books that did best in sales were "kids, cooking, wine and travel guides". Living in a fun city like Rio, and having experienced a lot that it offers, I felt I could improve on the current travel guides like Lonely Planet and Fodors, both text intense. Using my design thinking skills, I decided I to create a travel guide designed for the back-packer: highly visual fun and easy to read, informative to a point I consider it a tool, Rio For Partiers was born, and step into the business of tourism as a newbie.

We put the book together in record time (5 months) and got it into stores near Rio's tourist areas. We immediately converted the content into a 6 language website (660 pages) as well as ebook.

We got positive press coverage and soon companies wanted to advertise on our "travel" media (book, ebook, site). We started transforming from a publishing to a marketing company.

By 2007 we had 13 employees, book, site, maps, flyers, regular industry events, video screens at hotel lobbies with our advertisers on loop.

In 2011 we launched Rio For Partiers app (iOs & android) and worked the ASO to get top-listing for broad keywords like "Rio de Janeiro".

The last edition of the travel guide book was the 13th, published for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

We have then focused on tourist maps for Rio, becoming Rio's only supplier.

Banking on all the contacts publishers make in their industry, in 2015 I thought it would be cool to create an industry event for Rio's travel industry: Rio Travel Market

Rio Visitors Wifi

90% International tourists still have to pay for international data roaming. So staying online while abroad is still pricey. In comes Rio Visitors Wifi, a paid wifi located in Rio's tourist and public areas, so they can buy a week-long pass and avoid the killer international data roaming rates.

So in 2017 I started Rio Visitors Wifi, a company that would install, manage and sell access to Rio's only public wifi service for tourists.

Cook in Rio

"Bangkok has 37 cooking schools targeting tourists... so why didnt Rio have one before 2009? Brazilian food is as varied and tasty and Thai." With these thoughts I decided to start a cooking class for visitors. After giving the first few lessons, Simone learned about this business and asked to join, saying she would be operations and I would be marketing, while we split profits 50-50. It has been one of the best companies I have started, getting me a predictable income with minimum efforts (I would advertise the class on my other media, like Rio For Partiers and Rio Big Map) as well as promote it to the tourism trade and travel media. It is still going, even during the pandemic.

Fruit Brazil

Brazil has 3 types of natural richness: mineral, plants and fauna and culture. The jewels of the plant-based richness are the fruits: Brazil has +250 types of fruits, with thousands of sub-species (there are 26 registered sub-species of mangos, for instance).

So to visit Brazil and not explore the taste, smell and feel of one of its riches is like going to France and not tasting wine.

FruitBrazil, "the worlds smallest business" is a guide fruit tasting tour at Rio's farmers markets. In under 2 hours you'll taste and learn about 18 exotic (mostly Brazilian) fruits.

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