April 20, 2025 • 42 mins
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V I D E O SÂ Â T OÂ Â W A T C HÂ Â N E X T :
Online Business Tips to Working and Traveling In Mexico: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zGH0voCyOc&list=PLh3xKhkMgH_IA6s3KvB_g9Cc9Ze1eji8j&index=2
Moving to Mexico: 10 Reasons Why We Chose to Live in Guadalajara https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK23vD8_xjc&list=PLh3xKhkMgH_LAY7UV78YMgms-f2e1UcwN&index=23
Tips for Moving Overseas: Top 5 Remote Work Skills That Make Money: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFzjCrlNAL8&list=PLh3xKhkMgH_IA6s3KvB_g9Cc9Ze1eji8j
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Inquiries: community@entrepreneurexpat.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Justin Keltner (00:00):
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode
(00:02):
of Entrepreneur Expat.
Today I am joined by Brighton,who is the founder of the
YouTube channel, almost retiredin Mexico, that Amanda and I
have been following for quitesome time.
Uh, he makes some really goodcontent for that niche of people
that maybe aren't quite the, theyoungins in their twenties and
thirties like I guess we are,although we're.
(00:23):
We consider ourselves old soulshere, um, but also not quite
retired in Mexico that are stilldoing stuff, um, but looking to
lay low a little bit.
Enjoy life and, uh, live reallywhat's a, what's a semi-retired
type of lifestyle.
So thank you so much for joiningus here, Brighton.
Brighton West (00:44):
Awesome.
Thank you so much for, forinviting me onto your channel.
Justin Keltner (00:49):
So I'd love it if you could tell us first a
little bit about your story andhow it is that you ended up in
Mexico.
You're down in La Paz now, isthat correct?
Brighton West (00:58):
Yes.
So I'm in La Paz, which is abouttwo hours north of Cabo.
That's something peopletypically know on the, uh, on
the Baja Peninsula down near,near the, uh, the end of it.
And, uh, the story is, isactually pretty simple of how we
ended up here.
We lived in Portland, Oregon,and we still live in Portland,
Oregon for six months out of theyear for the summer months when
the, when the weather is nice.
Justin Keltner (01:19):
That's you and your wife?
Brighton West (01:20):
wife?
Yes, me and my wife, yep.
And our two dogs.
So.
We were spending a couple monthsevery winter in San Diego
because in Portland it rains alot.
My wife is a consultant, so shecan work from anywhere.
I run my own business so I canwork from anywhere.
And so we would go down to, toSan Diego, which was, you know,
(01:41):
probably the most expensiveplace that we could think of to
go and, and paid outrageousamounts to Airbnb for a nice
little, you know, two bedroomapartment, like, you know, a
block or two from the beach.
So we loved it.
But for my wife's birthday, Isaid, let's go to Mexico.
Let's, let's just take a trip.
The Tijuana airport is rightthere on the border with a great
bridge over to the San Diegoside.
(02:03):
So it's really super, supereasy.
And so we chose La Paz becauseit was a cheap, cheap flight.
I think it was like a hundreddollars round trip.
And we had never heard of LaPaz.
I had seen it on a blog postthat someone had done up in
Portland.
Uh, someone had come down, Ithink for Christmas.
That same year and, and wroteabout, Hey, there's this place
in La Paz.
(02:23):
It's got this cool Malone and I,and they had some pictures of it
and I was like, this, this placesounds good.
My wife and I are adventuroustravelers, so we're like, let's
just try this place called LaPaw that we'd never heard of.
So we got here, I think it was aSunday when we got here.
Sunday nights is just magical onthe Malone.
Malone is like the boardwalkalong the water along the Bay of
La Paws and there were justfamilies out and there was music
(02:45):
and food and just.
So just an amazing place.
We were like, wow, we would,this would be a great place to
live.
Let's get a real estate agentjust to kind of see what shows
up.
So we got a real estate agentand the first house that he
showed us, we bought, and
Justin Keltner (03:03):
Wow.
You move.
Move fast.
Right?
Brighton West (03:05):
So fast, right?
We moved very fast.
That is not typical of us atall.
We are typically very slowmoving people, but I think part
of it was we were living in SanDiego.
Prices were.
You know, over a million dollarsfor a shack anywhere near the
beach, and we got a house for$160,000 on the beach.
(03:26):
So.
You know, it was, it had beenabandoned for five years, so it
was, it needed a little love,but we were kind of like, wow,
you know, we're gonna kickourselves if we don't do this.
And if we do it, and it was abad investment.
I mean, 160,000 to lose$160,000would hurt.
I, I mean, don't get me wrong,but it wouldn't destroy our
(03:47):
retirement.
It wasn't like something wheremaking a bad decision with
$160,000 is going to like.
Make us indigent.
It was gonna make it so that wehad to work another year or
something like that.
So we decided it was worth therisk.
And I mean, quite frankly, ithas paid off.
Um, in, this was right beforethe pandemic that we put the
offer down on the house and wemoved in in December of the
(04:10):
pandemic.
It was great.
Mexico was a great place to beDuring the pandemic.
Everything is outside.
Uh, the Mexican government was,was strict, but really.
Really well calculated and itwas really obvious how things
were gonna work.
So it was a great place to be.
You could still go out torestaurants, you just had to be
further apart from, uh, fromother diners.
And that was easy to do.
(04:32):
And it was a great place to beduring the pandemic.
And now because of, uh,entrepreneurs that can be
expats, the price of everythinghas gone up significantly.
And we are sitting on a propertythat's worth at least a half a
million dollars, probably morebecause.
Everyone is either retiringearly or they're moving abroad
(04:54):
and working from, from anywherebecause they've found a way to
work from anywhere and it givesthem the opportunity to live in
Mexico and uh, spend pesos andearn dollars.
Justin Keltner (05:05):
So I bet you're pretty happy with the investment
now in retrospect.
Brighton West (05:08):
Yes, we are very happy with this, with the
investment that we made at thattime, and it's just great.
I mean, one thing I really likeabout real estate is.
You can live in it.
So even if you're notnecessarily making all that
money, you're still, you're notpaying rent to someone else.
You're living inside yourinvestment.
So, uh, we definitely enjoy lifedown here.
Justin Keltner (05:30):
Amazing.
And and what are some of thethings that you have seen are
very different between?
Uh, where you were at inPortland and, and down here, or
the US in general, like what arethe biggest differences you've
seen?
Brighton West (05:45):
I think it's, I mean, the biggest thing right
now I think is just the, thetranquilo attitude.
Um, there's not all this angst.
The US seems to have a lot ofangst right now.
Um, and there's a lot ofcontroversy.
There's a lot of politicaldivide, and we still feel some
(06:05):
of that because we still get thenews from the US and we still
are hanging out with people whoare from the US and.
And Canada too.
And there's, you know, you know,there a lot of things that are
going on in the US are worldwidetoo, but we can avoid so much
more of it by just not being inthe middle of it.
And the Mexican way of life isjust so much more kind to each
(06:29):
other and there's, there's notall that kind of bickering and
whatnot that goes on in theUnited States.
That just doesn't exist downhere.
People are very polite to oneanother, even if they disagree,
and I think that politeness haskind of disappeared in the
United States.
That's probably the biggestthing I would say is different.
Justin Keltner (06:47):
I've noticed that down here in Guadalajara as
well.
It's like you actually know yourneighbor.
Uh, you make friends witheverybody in, in your
neighborhood and your little lonpeople tend to be more friendly
and also just look out for eachother a lot more in the US maybe
partly it's because you prettymuch need to, to drive
everywhere in the US versus inMexico there's much better urban
(07:09):
planning, but uh, people arejust more connected and
friendlier and it's uh, kind oflike what.
Maybe like what the US used tobe many decades ago, at least to
a small extent.
But, uh, I, I find that to bethe case as well.
And
Brighton West (07:26):
I, I agree with you there.
The, the idea of Mexico beinglike the United States was
decades ago.
It feels like this is the, theworld that I grew up in, uh,
where things were more simpleand there wasn't all this
controversy going on.
That's what Mexico feels likenow.
Justin Keltner (07:43):
Do you Find that people, both locals here in
Mexico and also other expatslike yourself that moved down
here, uh, it kind of has alittle bit of a calming effect
on them.
Like, have you seen that, wherepeople start to like, assimilate
and, and they just really chillthe heck out, like.
Brighton West (08:02):
Yeah, and I, I think really what happens is
it's the people who have thatinnately inside them that, that
have that chill.
It's, it's maybe buried deepinside them when they're in the
United States, but it's there.
Those people will thrive inMexico.
And the people who don't havethat inside them anywhere who
are just really type Apersonalities to the max and
(08:23):
just are thrive on controversy.
I.
Those people don't do well inMexico and those people don't
tend to stay in Mexico.
'cause I, I know some peopleright now who are moving back
and they are some of the peoplewho are the most controversial
in their neighborhood.
Um, because they're alwaysfighting with their neighbors
and now they're moving back tothe United States and it's like,
(08:44):
well that was probably gonnahappen because they're not the
type of person that does well inMexico.
Okay
Justin Keltner (08:49):
of funny you mentioned that because you were
just interviewing me for yourYouTube channel and we touched a
little bit on the tip that Iwould give people, uh, that want
to move down to Mexico or reallyanywhere else outside of the us,
especially Latin America, whichis to be flexible.
And it sounds like you'venoticed on your end as well that
the people who.
(09:10):
Don't do well moving to Mexicoare the ones that are
inflexible.
Can you tell me a little bitmore about that?
Or like what, what are someother aspects of maybe that type
a personality, uh, or whateverEL else it is that you would say
to someone that either, Hey man,you gotta work on that first and
fix it.
Or you, maybe Mexico is not agood fit if you are like this.
(09:31):
I know it's a lot about wantingthings done right now, right.
Brighton West (09:34):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Especially wanting things doneright now, having.
For instance, if you need to goget your driver's license, you
know there's gonna bebureaucracy.
I mean there's bureaucracy inthe United States, but it seems
like.
It's gonna be easy to getfrustrated because you've gotta
have, you know, all thesedifferent forms and things and
everything has to be perfect.
(09:55):
And you might have to go back acouple of times because it's
like, oh yeah, you need to havecopies of that because they
won't make copies for you oftenif you're in some, going to some
government office or something.
You have to show your passport,but you also need a copy of your
passport and they're not gonnamake a copy for you.
So.
There's little things like thatthat are just kind of, they're
inconveniences.
(10:15):
Once you get to know, it's like,okay, uh, my wife just got her
RFC number last week, and so Isent her in with, you know,
multiple copies of her passport,multiple pa copies of her
residency card, uh, multiplecopies of the, the electric
bill.
The electricity is, is run bythe government, and so that's
your official address is on yourelectric bill.
So.
(10:37):
You can get better at being, uh,at working in Mexico with these
kind of things.
But I, I lost my ATM card.
It took me two hours in the, inthe bank to go through the
process to get a new ATM card.
So things are
Justin Keltner (10:49):
Two hours.
You, you, you got out of therein record time.
I I've, I've spent days atbanks, but like multiple days.
Brighton West (10:57):
Yes, it, it can definitely.
It, it, it can be challengingand um, but if you learn to
celebrate the win at the end ofthat, to say like, Hey, you
know, I got it.
I got my ATM card.
It took an awful lot of effortto do it, but some people are
just so stuck in.
That the United States is, is soefficient.
(11:18):
Um, you probably, you know, toget an ATM card, you probably
don't even go into an office.
You probably just go online and,you know, type in something
like, you know, I, you know,click a radio button, I lost my
ATM card, and then one shows upin the mail a couple days later.
Um, you know, mail down heredoesn't really so, um, yeah,
things are not as efficient inMexico and.
(11:41):
If you're able to adapt to that,that's a really good thing.
And you just really, you learnto enjoy how things just kind of
move slowly.
Also, uh, people who are bigrule followers, it doesn't work
well here.
Uh, no one stops at stop signs.
In Mexico, I actually got, I gotpulled over by the police
because I went too slowlythrough, I rolled a stop sign
(12:03):
too slowly'cause I saw'em behindme and I'm like, oh, I should
go.
Normally I would go 15 miles perhour through this, but.
I'll go five.
Um, and he pulled me over.
He said I was gonna cause anaccident if I didn't, you know,
more drive like a local, likelike roll the stop sign like
everybody else.
So
Justin Keltner (12:21):
You probably stood out as a gringo too.
He, he is like, oh, he's here.
Brighton West (12:24):
he he pulled over next to me and looked inside the
car and he is like, okay.
Then he, then he pulled behindme and turned the lights on.
So I was like, okay.
He saw that I was a gringo, butit was, it, it's.
And it was fine.
I just said, give me a ticket.
He didn't have a ticket to giveto me because there's not a
offensive of rolling a stop signtoo slowly.
So it worked out.
(12:45):
It was funny.
Um, but if, if you're reallylike into, like, I will stop at
every stop sign because the stopthe sign says stop.
That's probably not, it's, it'sprobably not gonna work out for
you.
'cause they, they
Justin Keltner (12:57):
do you think he was looking for a little, little
something, something?
Wait,
Brighton West (13:00):
I think he was looking for a little something
something
Justin Keltner (13:02):
if, as we call it the, the, the, the, a couple
pesos for a, a soda.
Brighton West (13:07):
Yes, exactly.
think so.
And I was like, you know what,this, this is, it happens in
Mexico, the police will pullpeople over and and expect a
little more Dita.
Um, and I was like, Hey, let'sjust go to the police station.
And, and that's the other thingis like, it, it it was gonna
take time for him too.
It was gonna be an inefficientprocess for him to go through
(13:27):
this whole process of taking meto the police station or writing
a ticket or whatnot.
So he is like, okay, just.
Be more careful and let me go.
So
Justin Keltner (13:35):
that's
Brighton West (13:36):
it works in many different ways.
Justin Keltner (13:38):
You know, my, my lawyer definitely says that, uh,
if, especially if you're notdoing something actually wrong
or against the law.
You just gotta call'em on it,because most of the side note,
most of the police here, unlessthey're the, which is like not
the, the municipal ones can'teven write you a ticket anyway.
It's a whole inefficientprocess.
(13:58):
So you just say, Hey, you know,aga or you, you tell them you
don't speak Spanish or you say,all right, right.
Write me a ticket.
I'll follow you.
Let's go.
And like, no, no, it's okay.
It's okay.
Green.
Go.
We're move on.
Brighton West (14:11):
Yeah.
just have to, to be a littlecontrite and say like, okay,
yes, I, I should, I should gofaster through the stop signs
from now on.
And they, they, you know, feltlike they had taught me
something, at least in
Justin Keltner (14:22):
There you go.
That that's probably part of it.
Brighton West (14:24):
little a little bite
Justin Keltner (14:26):
So what, what was like your, um, and we'll,
we'll go to all the positiveaspects, but I think this is
kind of cool to touch on some ofthe idiosyncrasies first.
This is kind of, kind of a fun,uh, thing to go into.
So like.
was your, I guess, crazieststory of the inefficiencies or
(14:46):
the, it doesn't work like itdoes in the US here.
Brighton West (14:51):
God Yeah I think to get my Electric bill changed
to my name Um you know from theprevious owner to my name Took
me 12 visits to the electriccompany And part of it was I was
getting bad information Like Iwas like people online were
telling me one thing my realestate agent was telling me
something and the people at CFEwere telling me something else
(15:12):
and none of it was comingtogether And you know they were
the they were telling me that Ineeded to go into this office to
to get essentially my RFC numberUm which As of the first of the
year like we moved in inDecember and as of the first of
the year that RFC number justlike a social security number
was required to change over yourelectric service And so nobody
(15:35):
knew that that was the casebecause I was doing this right
in early January so I wasgetting all this bad information
and then the people at The umthe electric utility didn't
necessarily know how one goesabout getting an RFC number if
you're a foreigner So they weregiving me bad information So it
was a whole bunch of justscramble of bad information In
the end it worked out and it wasthat you know real celebration
(15:57):
of it you know I got it done Umand There are people here One
thing to to say is there arepeople who help there There are
businesses specifically lots oflocals some expats who create
businesses to help you with allof these things You want a
driver's license We'll get itdone in one shot You want your
RFC number We'll get it done inone shot My wife actually hired
(16:19):
someone Think it cost 50$50 andshe went through that whole
process scheduled theappointment My wife's in uh
Spanish is not great My Spanishis not great Hers is a little
worse Um so someone who wasbilingual took her down there
made the appointment online tookher down there met with her got
the whole thing actually got herema which is another Process
(16:41):
that can happen during the sameappointment but I didn't even
know that you could get thosetwo things at the same time So
it was the best$50 she spentbecause she got multiple things
done that she didn't even needknow that she needed Um and so
but it was a it's a great ideathat there is this
entrepreneurial spirit down hereis that people will see a need
(17:01):
and they will fill it
Justin Keltner (17:03):
Yeah.
And we, same thing for us.
I mean, we could, uh, Amanda andI could definitely.
Have gotten our, uh, immigrationcards renewed, you know, just
ourselves if we wanted to, butwe hired a lawyer to help us
with that and with our RFC andour e FMAs and, uh, with pretty
much everything else.
Um, and, and then, you know, I,I, I made the mistake, same kind
of thing where I, I fell intothe bureaucracy and like I, it's
(17:26):
taken me two days to receive apackage at times because I had
to go to the.
Post office and then go to thebank and pay the tax on it, then
come back and they were closedand I couldn't pay the tax at
the bank on a Saturday becauseit was Saturday.
And they, they, they were open,but they can't take tax payments
that day.
And then you go back the nextday and then hope that by that
time they haven't set yourpackage back.
Um, so yeah, that's, that'sdefinitely something to look out
(17:48):
for.
And I think it's, it's importantthat we touched on that because
people that, you know, arewatching our channel maybe and
saying, well, Mexico's uh,Mexico's just gonna be all
sunshine and.
And rainbows and it's just gonnabe exactly like what I'm used to
back home, but cheaper, uh, andwith, you know, more sunshine
and better beaches.
Nah, not exactly.
(18:08):
So talk about the
Brighton West (18:09):
it's it's like um Cabo or the it's like their
their most
Justin Keltner (18:14):
areas.
Brighton West (18:14):
vacation It's like no it's gonna be different
And so I tell people if they arelooking to move to Mexico is
that their next vacation needsto be into real Mexico get an
Airbnb go stay downtownsomewhere Um And and explore
your vacation into Mexico doesnot count as like exploring
(18:35):
Mexico unless you really areexploring Mexico But if you're
in a all inclusive you'reprobably not exploring
Justin Keltner (18:40):
Tell me more about that.
Like what are your, what areyour main tips that you give
people?
That you speak with that arecoming down to Mexico in terms
of how to, how to really findthe best area, how to really
understand what the real Mexicois.
Brighton West (18:53):
Um yeah There's a number of of people here who who
will help you Find you know kindof give you a tour type of thing
I think you guys give tours tooin Guadalajara Um so you can
hire someone to give you a tourand I think that's probably the
best way to find uh especiallylike Someone was asking me you
know how do I get the best dealuh for rental Will you help me
(19:14):
brighten it I'm like no I'm notinto that But I know someone who
does and they charge for thatservice and um they can help
with just about anything It'sactually the woman who who my
wife worked with uh just lastweek for to get her RFC So
having someone there who willhelp you I think is good and
also Exploring the idea ofgetting an Airbnb downtown and
(19:35):
then getting one out out hereWe're in the suburbs we're in
something called El Sanrio It'slike is this the area you wanna
live in It you kind of and thencity to city too is to really
explore each place We bought onthe second day that we were here
and it's worked out really wellAnd I know a lot of people who
have that same story who it'sworked out really well but The
(19:55):
best advice I can give is to tryout different places before you
just pull the trigger um so youdecide what is important to you
Uh so if you stay somewhere forat least a couple of weeks
you'll say like okay yeah thoseroosters are you know crowing
That's a little too much for me
Justin Keltner (20:11):
there's so much diversity too in terms of
neighborhoods.
I mean, here in Guadalajara.
Where we live, it's actuallyvery quiet.
Um, a lot more kind of retireesand a handful of expats.
But we're in Alta and it's just,it's so nice.
There's trees, there's not too,too much going on, but you can
still walk to cafes and there'sother places where that are
super, like party friendly andnightclubs and bars.
(20:32):
And so any city here, just likein the US or Canada, I mean, you
could find areas for everything.
Um, I wanna talk a little bitabout the flip side of what we
were discussing earlier, whichis.
What are some of the positivethings that you have noticed
about the slower?
I mean, I guess when you have,on one hand you've got like the
bureaucracy and things areslower and you know, you've got
(20:52):
the manana thing where peoplewill say one thing and it
really, like, you'll get yourfridge finally fixed six weeks
later and just have to deal withit.
Um, but on the flip side ofthat, like what have you noticed
that is a positive there interms of how it's not like the
US.
Brighton West (21:09):
Well the expectation then is the same
Like if you're running behind oryou know you're going somewhere
to meet up with someone andyou're running late it's you
don't have to hit the gas andtry to get there get there get
there Um Arriving a little bitlate is is somewhat expected And
so if you're going somewhere theidea is you know you should
bring a book with you just incase the person is running a
little late So the forgivenessof um of things like that is is
(21:35):
very high here Uh one of thethings this is something that's
just Probably international It'sprobably the United States is
the only place that brings yourbill to the table before you're
ready to leave And here it'ssomething where you have to ask
for your bill If you're in arestaurant you have to say like
you know LA ent And then theywill bring over the check but
(21:57):
there's no pressure whatsoeverto turn the table to flip the
table and get some new new buttsin seats So it's just um It it
act Actually the other just justlast night the the waiter came
and gave me my bill and I hadn'tasked for it yet And I was like
oh I am I am offended here Andthen my wife was like was like
(22:19):
Hey have you paid the bill yet Iasked for it and we were there
with a really big group ofpeople everyone had separate
bills And I'm like okay thattotally makes sense My wife is
going around and asking forbills when she's ready to leave
Um and then I'm getting the billSo um So just that that's just
something about just the speedof the way things work here is
(22:39):
is can be really positive toowhen you are in a um a mode of
relaxation No one else is in amode of like get things done and
move on and and get out of theway type of thing
Justin Keltner (22:52):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It is a, a much slower paced,uh, type of lifestyle for sure.
And it's more people focusedversus let's just get as many
dollars, for example, like you,like you said, outta this table
as we can.
Um, how did your experienceliving here lead to your, your
creation of that, that conceptof almost retired in Mexico and.
(23:15):
How, how did you start theYouTube channel?
Because you've got a verysuccessful YouTube channel.
A lot of people are followingyou, um, and taking your advice
and watching your real estatetours and a lot of the other
things you do.
What was it that gave you kindof the spark to, to start that
and what does almost retired inMexico really stand for?
Brighton West (23:34):
So here it is Almost retired on my coffee cup
Um yeah well it is about beingalmost retired in in like a
mental state of like retirementis coming soon I Or um I'm
slowing down and I am you knowacting like starting to act like
I'm retired like maybe notworking Um 40 50 60 hours a week
(23:56):
Just kind of like slowing downand working what you need to
make what you need to live Andespecially if you are working
for if you have your ownbusiness or you're if you're
working for a company up in theUnited States and you're getting
paid in dollars and you'reliving down here and you're
paying for things in pesos umeconomically um You're getting
paid better than you're spendingso uh you don't need as much
(24:18):
money when you're living inMexico The way this started
though is I have a business thatdoes remote video production and
so I've done a lot of stuff withvideos I've had a number of
YouTube channels over the yearsI've helped clients with their
YouTube channels and when mywife and I moved down here I
think it was kind of at the endof the first You know four or
(24:40):
five month period that we weredown here and I was like you
know what I should follow allthat advice that I'm giving my
clients that they're notnecessarily following and I'm
gonna do it all myself I'm gonnalike it I'm gonna be my ideal
perfect client and I'm gonnabuild this YouTube channel based
on on that So and see how wellit works And it's worked pretty
well It hasn't worked quite aswell as I had hoped in terms of
(25:01):
you know I'm five years in andyou 45,000 subscribers so it's
not
Justin Keltner (25:07):
darn good.
Brighton West (25:08):
Yeah it's not bad It's it's just
Justin Keltner (25:10):
That's not bad at
Brighton West (25:11):
where it's paying all my bills so it'd be nice to
to get to that point I'm I'mplanning on that in the future
but I just kind of drew out myprojections and uh maybe I I
shot a little high but yeah thatwas it And so I just started
making videos and it's justgrown since then And it's grown
You it started out more They'relike how to pay your CFE bill
(25:32):
online and how to do thesethings And I started like doing
house tours of people and then Iwas like well you know it's more
interesting to hear the story ofthe person Let's definitely show
their house But the story of theperson is more interesting Uh
and then I started interviewingpeople and then I started
traveling around Mexico duringthe summer to be like oh I'm
gonna go to to Guadalajara orAhi or Oaxaca And um explore a
(25:53):
bit and and line up a wholebunch of interviews where I can
tell other people's storiescause that's what I really like
doing is Is getting thesestories out there so that people
can see the range of people thathave made it happen
Justin Keltner (26:07):
That's cool.
I, I think that the stories ofpeople in the places that you
travel to or that you mightwanna live in.
Really shape the place and canalso shape your experience of
it.
So like hearing about here'sthe, what this one person was
able to do and, and move toMexico and, and here's where
(26:29):
they live and here's how they'reliving and how much money or how
little money it takes to havethe same or better quality of
life.
Uh, we share those stories, uh,from our lives and with these
interviews all the time and weget so much feedback that it
just helps to, to really inspirepeople and to actually take
action themselves.
Brighton West (26:47):
Yeah just last night the the dinner that we
were at um there were probably30 35 people that were
subscribers of my channel andsome some people who were who
were just residents here And Ido that about every sun Sunday
night uh when I'm in town Justget together a whole bunch of
subscribers and You know kind ofeveryone just kind of gets to
know each other and and meeteach other and uh build that
(27:11):
sense of community And it's it'sreally definitely a fun thing
And it helps me in terms of uhyou know people will reach out
and be like Hey can we getcoffee Can we get can I buy you
a margarita And it's like welllet's just do that on a Sunday
night when everyone's doing thesame thing And then they get to
meet meet each other too
Justin Keltner (27:27):
That's great.
I'm gonna have to come down toone of those dinners too with
Amanda.
I think probably either thisfall or early next year, we're
gonna have to take a trip down.
Maybe we'll a road trip up, upthe Baja and uh, come say hello.
Brighton West (27:39):
Yes Well you're welcome stay here I've got a
Casita
Justin Keltner (27:43):
Oh, amazing.
Cool.
We might take you up on that.
Um, so the last thing I want totalk about, since this is
entrepreneur expat, is themoney.
So we want touch on how it isthat you make money here as an
expat in Mexico.
Tell us a little bit more aboutthat.
Brighton West (27:59):
So My business kind of has three it's a three
legged stool and one of them isthe YouTube channel So the
YouTube channel it's ad revenueis the biggest chunk And then
there's also sponsorshipsThere's merchandise You know you
can get yourself an almostretired mug uh t-shirt something
like that Um it's Also buy me acoffee I don't know if you guys
(28:24):
do that but it's like PatreonPeople can give you you know I I
call it buy buy me a margaritaSo buy me a margarita.com if you
wanna buy me a margarita and
Justin Keltner (28:31):
Nice.
That's a great domain.
Brighton West (28:32):
Yes exactly I was so excited to get it Um so
there's all that kind of stuffadds up to about$20,000 a year
So that's a YouTube channel thatI'm I'm put a lot of effort into
Um that's that's about what thatbrings in Also I have Amazon and
when I'm back up in the states Iget a bunch of stuff from Amazon
I also look at like what myfriends are buying and I'm like
(28:53):
oh that's a good thing for me tomake a video about So I make a
video about it I can get acommission off of Amazon This
this shirt actually Um the shirtwas given to me for free They
paid me 25 bucks to make a videoand then I make a commission if
people buy the shirt afterwatching the video So um and the
videos show up on Amazon I alsohave videos that show up on
other channels that directpeople back So um it's multiple
(29:17):
affiliate commissions throughthat And then other forms of
affiliate commissions that Ihave through different YouTube
channels And that's probably youknow$20,000 a year and Then I do
videos remotely for people So Iwork with a lot of coaches
consultants people like that Butthe number one thing I do is I
provide Testimonial videos So Iwill you know they'll they'll
(29:40):
connect me with their clientI'll get them on a schedule I'll
do a 15 minute call with themjust through their webcam you
know adjust things to make themlook great and then have them
tell story of working with theircoach or consultant And then I
edit it up And provide it tothem for their website or social
media So that's probably thebiggest thing I do also do
things for like my client'swebsites directly or my client's
(30:01):
YouTube channels but I callmyself a virtual videographer so
I do everything that avideographer would do in person
but I do it over webcam or asmartphone So those are the the
three parts of the stool andthat's kind of and that's like
you know probably$40,000 orsomething So I'm not making a a
huge revenue but that's I'm ableto be uh a little bit uh on the
(30:24):
lazy side I guess in terms of mybusiness I'm not
Justin Keltner (30:28):
well.
You're not an underachiever byany stretch ton.
Brighton West (30:31):
Yeah So but I'm sure if I was really pushing and
really working on my sales andstuff like that I could turn
this into a bigger business butI'm usually pretty happy with
where the business is at anypoint in time
Justin Keltner (30:42):
And what are your living expenses?
Because even with, um, you know,let, let's say 70 to$80,000 a
year, you can live phenomenallywell here.
I mean, you, you guys said thatyou bought your house when we
were talking earlier.
You, you purchased that, uh,already.
So you had the house purchasedout of kind of the, the
retirement money.
Um.
Which was a great investmentbecause it would've been so much
more now, so you don't have topay rent between all the other
(31:04):
expenses.
I mean, if we, if we, we were totake rent out of the equation,
um, I mean, what, what are youspending and like, what, what
would somebody, let's say thatwas renting but with a similar
lifestyle, probably spend onaverage there in La Paz.
Brighton West (31:17):
You know we really we're really not good at
keeping track of of our expensesbut like you know um Having a a
cell phone down here is like 10bucks a month And my internet
connection I do have a starlinkconnection but starlink is
cheaper down here I wanna sayit's 50 or$60 a month versus
whatever it is up in the UnitedStates Um that is my backup
(31:37):
connection and I have a internetconnection that is you know um
in 20 30 bucks a month orsomething like that electricity
It's probably 50 bucks a monthAnd that's on the high side Uh
often it's less than that We dohave a pool uh it's actually a
hot tub so when we start to runthe hot tub a lot in the winter
uh that goes up a water bill youknow 10$20 a month or something
(32:00):
like that because we have a yardand so we water So that's
actually a little bit higherthan most people Uh so Expenses
are really pretty low and weit's just going out to eat is
pretty much our our biggestexpense or feeding the dogs
That's one thing I found hereVet care is incredibly cheap Dog
food is very expensive so
Justin Keltner (32:21):
Have you guys tried?
Uh, barf.
We, we give actually our dog andour cat barf, which is like raw,
mostly raw, organic, uh, meat,vegetables, uh, they've got like
prebiotics, all sorts of coolstuff.
And it ends up being a lotcheaper actually than like even
the Costco bags of dog food.
Brighton West (32:37):
Interesting Yeah I'm gonna have to get the
information on that cause wellone of our dogs is on a
specialty diet and sointerestingly that specialty
prescription diet costs the samein the US and in in Mexico So
it's it's expensive in bothplaces but just like the nor
just normal dog food is is um
Justin Keltner (32:54):
a lot of the package stuff, we noticed that
here.
And also in Columbia, likebuying the same food.
'cause she was eating the kibblebefore my, my golden retriever
was just right near under mydesk.
Um, when we bought her kibblefrom Costco or from from one of
the grocery stores, it ended upbeing significantly more
expensive.
I think it was like 30 or 40%.
Um, what else do you noticethat's expensive?
I mean, I, I think electronics,but
Brighton West (33:15):
Electronics
Justin Keltner (33:17):
and imported goods, I think everything else
pretty much is cheaper.
Brighton West (33:20):
Yeah Um and and plus Over here in La Paz things
are more expensive So the BajaPeninsula is acts like an island
Everything pretty much comesover on a boat Uh and most
things are actually coming fromGuadalajara it seems So they're
coming from Guadalajara down toMasantlan across on the on the
boat into La Paz and that feedsinto all the communities out
(33:41):
here on the peninsula Soeverything has that kind of
markup of being on an island Andincluding food including labor
Labor's more expensive here It'sjust there's just not as many
people here to fill all the jobsthat there are here So the the
the wages are higher here not byany means high like still very
(34:05):
affordable Everything
Justin Keltner (34:06):
For Mexico,
Brighton West (34:07):
For yeah it's high It's high for Mexico but
not high for if you're from theUnited States you you wouldn't
want to earn wages in in pesoshere or compete with Mexicans in
any kind of job here But um likefor instance a nurse to get a
nurse um In the Guadalajara areato like a a like a live-in nurse
(34:30):
If you're if you've got anelderly person it was about four
or$5 an hour in the Guadalajaraarea and it's about$15 an hour
here in La Paz So significantlymore for a nurse Um similar
things with construction crewsand it and the further you get
from the pause like we actuallyare in the process of buying
another house uh in to Santoswhich is a town a small town but
(34:53):
Um because that's a small townand it's further from La Paz you
know construction costs go upthere too So everything kind of
it's like being on being on anisland out here but uh still
much more affordable than beingin what this island is connected
to which is California
Justin Keltner (35:09):
Yep.
Would you say that for, foraround 2000 a month, like an
individual could well in La Paz?
Brighton West (35:15):
Yeah definitely definitely Um I have a an
interview with someone um Bradwho is who eats really well I
know Um I'm actually gonna seeBrad in a couple of nights But
um and he his budget cause hetakes keeps track of everything
was like$2,400 a month and thatincludes his rent So a rent for
(35:36):
a um a a one bedroom place Witha pool and everything um and
$2,400 no problem with himeating out all the time
Justin Keltner (35:46):
Yeah that's great.
I mean, we, we live like, well,I mean, we have a maid that
comes a couple times a week.
We've got a three story housewith, you know, an office for
me, an office for Amanda,bedroom, guest room, all that
stuff.
And, um, all in all, I thinkwe're spending under, still
under like$3,000 US per month.
And that's with like.
Personal care, groceries, rent,all of our insurances, multiple
(36:09):
internets to have backups, allthat good stuff.
So it's, it's definitely cheaperin Mexico and, and a better
quality of life as well.
Um, so I'm curious as, as wewrap up here, what is the number
one thing that you would, youwould say to somebody thinking
about coming to Mexico?
(36:30):
Like what's the number one pieceof advice that you would give
them?
Brighton West (36:34):
I would say do it sooner rather than later.
Uh, almost everyone says theywish they would've done it
sooner.
Uh, you're probably one of theonly people who, who doesn't say
that because you, you've.
Did it so early on, um, in, inlife and in your career or as an
adult and whatnot and, and, um,trying out living in Mexico
multiple times.
(36:55):
But especially if you're lookingat, you know, you're, you're
coming up on retirement age.
Um, you don't need to wait tillyou're 65 or 66 or 67.
Uh, a lot of people here are.
60 or you know, 62 because it'sless expensive you can get down
here.
So, um, plan on doing it soonerthan you expected and also start
(37:17):
doing your research.
And YouTube is great way to dothe research, but also schedule
those trips down and look aroundand, and schedule a trip where
you're your scouting trip.
Uh, so you find the place that'sgonna be your, your perfect
spot.
But don't.
Don't wait, uh, until you're,until that, that magic age of
(37:38):
retirement.
Do it sooner.
Justin Keltner (37:41):
Yeah, it's gonna be more difficult and more
expensive later.
For sure
Brighton West (37:45):
definitely.
Yeah.
The prices are going up inMexico.
Justin Keltner (37:49):
Great.
So what are some of the thingsthat you help people with down
there?
I know you have your, yourremote, uh, videographer
service, which by the way, youknow, if anybody here is
thinking that you can't makemoney online, I.
Doing whatever you're doing nowor something really similar.
I mean, I wouldn't have thoughtthat one could be a remote
videographer, but Brightonfigured out how to do that, uh,
(38:10):
in a location independent way.
So you're just a little bit ofbrainstorming and maybe a chat
GPT prompt away from figuringout how to do it.
Uh, obviously we've got, um,guides and things that we help
people with.
Uh.
In terms of the remote incomething, and we'll include some of
those in the description, butwhat are some of the things that
you help people with either interms of coming down to Mexico?
(38:32):
I know you've got partnershipswith people.
Do you, do you do tours as well?
I know you have the dinners inLa Paw, so if people are there,
uh, maybe they can reach out.
And what are other ways, whatare other resources you have for
people or ways that they can,that they can get in touch?
Brighton West (38:44):
Yeah.
Well, folks can find me, uh,all, uh.
Almost retired in Mexico oryoutube.com/almost retired in
Mexico.
And that's the biggest thingthat I do is produce all of
these videos.
And I do have, when I'm in townon Sunday nights, I usually have
a happy hour where I'll inviteeveryone to kind of come join
together and meet each other.
So I.
(39:05):
Um, yeah, I don't do tours.
I don't do a lot of the hands-onthings other than those Sunday
night dinners.
Sometimes that Sunday nightdinner ends up being like a, a
Sunday morning brunch, like onSuper Bowl Sunday, things like
that.
But I love meeting people.
I love helping them, and I lovebeing able to do it in a way
that is, except for those Sundaynights, it doesn't necessarily.
(39:28):
Put anything on my calendar so Ican go out and say like, you
know what?
I want to do a, a trip toGuadalajara and I'm gonna shoot
a whole bunch of videos and I'vegot things calendared out then,
but I.
I'm not trading, you know,dollars or time for dollars and,
and, and having that, thosedirect relationships with
people.
(39:49):
Um, so, uh, I do, I do some, youknow, consulting calls and
things like that too, but, um,it's, it's
Justin Keltner (39:56):
With people that have
Brighton West (39:57):
The main thing, I'm away.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I do work with, withbusinesses, I mean, that I do
have, get commission off of someof the, some of the videos do
have a, that are, they're beingpaid for by the person who's who
I'm making the video with orthere's a, a commission.
So that's part of the how I canmake money, uh, with YouTube.
Justin Keltner (40:18):
Amazing.
Well, uh, anybody that wants toconnect more with Brighton and
check out his stuff, he's gotsome really amazing videos there
on his channel on YouTube.
Almost retired in Mexico.
What a cool concept we reallylove.
It that, that fits, uh, quite aneat niche and uh, a lot of our,
uh, viewers are in that arena aswell where they're still
probably gonna be working, doingsomething remotely, but they
(40:40):
wanna live that almost retiredlifestyle.
So we highly encourage you guysto check out, almost retired in
Mexico.
And thank you so much for all ofyour time today, Brighton.
This has been really fun and weappreciate you, uh, having, uh,
come on the channel and sharingyour story with, with all of our
subscribers and listeners here.
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode
(00:02):
of Entrepreneur Expat.
Today I am joined by Brighton,who is the founder of the
YouTube channel, almost retiredin Mexico, that Amanda and I
have been following for quitesome time.
Uh, he makes some really goodcontent for that niche of people
that maybe aren't quite the, theyoungins in their twenties and
thirties like I guess we are,although we're.
(00:23):
We consider ourselves old soulshere, um, but also not quite
retired in Mexico that are stilldoing stuff, um, but looking to
lay low a little bit.
Enjoy life and, uh, live reallywhat's a, what's a semi-retired
type of lifestyle.
So thank you so much for joiningus here, Brighton.
Brighton West (00:44):
Awesome.
Thank you so much for, forinviting me onto your channel.
Justin Keltner (00:49):
So I'd love it if you could tell us first a
little bit about your story andhow it is that you ended up in
Mexico.
You're down in La Paz now, isthat correct?
Brighton West (00:58):
Yes.
So I'm in La Paz, which is abouttwo hours north of Cabo.
That's something peopletypically know on the, uh, on
the Baja Peninsula down near,near the, uh, the end of it.
And, uh, the story is, isactually pretty simple of how we
ended up here.
We lived in Portland, Oregon,and we still live in Portland,
Oregon for six months out of theyear for the summer months when
the, when the weather is nice.
Justin Keltner (01:19):
That's you and your wife?
Brighton West (01:20):
wife?
Yes, me and my wife, yep.
And our two dogs.
So.
We were spending a couple monthsevery winter in San Diego
because in Portland it rains alot.
My wife is a consultant, so shecan work from anywhere.
I run my own business so I canwork from anywhere.
And so we would go down to, toSan Diego, which was, you know,
(01:41):
probably the most expensiveplace that we could think of to
go and, and paid outrageousamounts to Airbnb for a nice
little, you know, two bedroomapartment, like, you know, a
block or two from the beach.
So we loved it.
But for my wife's birthday, Isaid, let's go to Mexico.
Let's, let's just take a trip.
The Tijuana airport is rightthere on the border with a great
bridge over to the San Diegoside.
(02:03):
So it's really super, supereasy.
And so we chose La Paz becauseit was a cheap, cheap flight.
I think it was like a hundreddollars round trip.
And we had never heard of LaPaz.
I had seen it on a blog postthat someone had done up in
Portland.
Uh, someone had come down, Ithink for Christmas.
That same year and, and wroteabout, Hey, there's this place
in La Paz.
(02:23):
It's got this cool Malone and I,and they had some pictures of it
and I was like, this, this placesounds good.
My wife and I are adventuroustravelers, so we're like, let's
just try this place called LaPaw that we'd never heard of.
So we got here, I think it was aSunday when we got here.
Sunday nights is just magical onthe Malone.
Malone is like the boardwalkalong the water along the Bay of
La Paws and there were justfamilies out and there was music
(02:45):
and food and just.
So just an amazing place.
We were like, wow, we would,this would be a great place to
live.
Let's get a real estate agentjust to kind of see what shows
up.
So we got a real estate agentand the first house that he
showed us, we bought, and
Justin Keltner (03:03):
Wow.
You move.
Move fast.
Right?
Brighton West (03:05):
So fast, right?
We moved very fast.
That is not typical of us atall.
We are typically very slowmoving people, but I think part
of it was we were living in SanDiego.
Prices were.
You know, over a million dollarsfor a shack anywhere near the
beach, and we got a house for$160,000 on the beach.
(03:26):
So.
You know, it was, it had beenabandoned for five years, so it
was, it needed a little love,but we were kind of like, wow,
you know, we're gonna kickourselves if we don't do this.
And if we do it, and it was abad investment.
I mean, 160,000 to lose$160,000would hurt.
I, I mean, don't get me wrong,but it wouldn't destroy our
(03:47):
retirement.
It wasn't like something wheremaking a bad decision with
$160,000 is going to like.
Make us indigent.
It was gonna make it so that wehad to work another year or
something like that.
So we decided it was worth therisk.
And I mean, quite frankly, ithas paid off.
Um, in, this was right beforethe pandemic that we put the
offer down on the house and wemoved in in December of the
(04:10):
pandemic.
It was great.
Mexico was a great place to beDuring the pandemic.
Everything is outside.
Uh, the Mexican government was,was strict, but really.
Really well calculated and itwas really obvious how things
were gonna work.
So it was a great place to be.
You could still go out torestaurants, you just had to be
further apart from, uh, fromother diners.
And that was easy to do.
(04:32):
And it was a great place to beduring the pandemic.
And now because of, uh,entrepreneurs that can be
expats, the price of everythinghas gone up significantly.
And we are sitting on a propertythat's worth at least a half a
million dollars, probably morebecause.
Everyone is either retiringearly or they're moving abroad
(04:54):
and working from, from anywherebecause they've found a way to
work from anywhere and it givesthem the opportunity to live in
Mexico and uh, spend pesos andearn dollars.
Justin Keltner (05:05):
So I bet you're pretty happy with the investment
now in retrospect.
Brighton West (05:08):
Yes, we are very happy with this, with the
investment that we made at thattime, and it's just great.
I mean, one thing I really likeabout real estate is.
You can live in it.
So even if you're notnecessarily making all that
money, you're still, you're notpaying rent to someone else.
You're living inside yourinvestment.
So, uh, we definitely enjoy lifedown here.
Justin Keltner (05:30):
Amazing.
And and what are some of thethings that you have seen are
very different between?
Uh, where you were at inPortland and, and down here, or
the US in general, like what arethe biggest differences you've
seen?
Brighton West (05:45):
I think it's, I mean, the biggest thing right
now I think is just the, thetranquilo attitude.
Um, there's not all this angst.
The US seems to have a lot ofangst right now.
Um, and there's a lot ofcontroversy.
There's a lot of politicaldivide, and we still feel some
(06:05):
of that because we still get thenews from the US and we still
are hanging out with people whoare from the US and.
And Canada too.
And there's, you know, you know,there a lot of things that are
going on in the US are worldwidetoo, but we can avoid so much
more of it by just not being inthe middle of it.
And the Mexican way of life isjust so much more kind to each
(06:29):
other and there's, there's notall that kind of bickering and
whatnot that goes on in theUnited States.
That just doesn't exist downhere.
People are very polite to oneanother, even if they disagree,
and I think that politeness haskind of disappeared in the
United States.
That's probably the biggestthing I would say is different.
Justin Keltner (06:47):
I've noticed that down here in Guadalajara as
well.
It's like you actually know yourneighbor.
Uh, you make friends witheverybody in, in your
neighborhood and your little lonpeople tend to be more friendly
and also just look out for eachother a lot more in the US maybe
partly it's because you prettymuch need to, to drive
everywhere in the US versus inMexico there's much better urban
(07:09):
planning, but uh, people arejust more connected and
friendlier and it's uh, kind oflike what.
Maybe like what the US used tobe many decades ago, at least to
a small extent.
But, uh, I, I find that to bethe case as well.
And
Brighton West (07:26):
I, I agree with you there.
The, the idea of Mexico beinglike the United States was
decades ago.
It feels like this is the, theworld that I grew up in, uh,
where things were more simpleand there wasn't all this
controversy going on.
That's what Mexico feels likenow.
Justin Keltner (07:43):
Do you Find that people, both locals here in
Mexico and also other expatslike yourself that moved down
here, uh, it kind of has alittle bit of a calming effect
on them.
Like, have you seen that, wherepeople start to like, assimilate
and, and they just really chillthe heck out, like.
Brighton West (08:02):
Yeah, and I, I think really what happens is
it's the people who have thatinnately inside them that, that
have that chill.
It's, it's maybe buried deepinside them when they're in the
United States, but it's there.
Those people will thrive inMexico.
And the people who don't havethat inside them anywhere who
are just really type Apersonalities to the max and
(08:23):
just are thrive on controversy.
I.
Those people don't do well inMexico and those people don't
tend to stay in Mexico.
'cause I, I know some peopleright now who are moving back
and they are some of the peoplewho are the most controversial
in their neighborhood.
Um, because they're alwaysfighting with their neighbors
and now they're moving back tothe United States and it's like,
(08:44):
well that was probably gonnahappen because they're not the
type of person that does well inMexico.
Okay
Justin Keltner (08:49):
of funny you mentioned that because you were
just interviewing me for yourYouTube channel and we touched a
little bit on the tip that Iwould give people, uh, that want
to move down to Mexico or reallyanywhere else outside of the us,
especially Latin America, whichis to be flexible.
And it sounds like you'venoticed on your end as well that
the people who.
(09:10):
Don't do well moving to Mexicoare the ones that are
inflexible.
Can you tell me a little bitmore about that?
Or like what, what are someother aspects of maybe that type
a personality, uh, or whateverEL else it is that you would say
to someone that either, Hey man,you gotta work on that first and
fix it.
Or you, maybe Mexico is not agood fit if you are like this.
(09:31):
I know it's a lot about wantingthings done right now, right.
Brighton West (09:34):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Especially wanting things doneright now, having.
For instance, if you need to goget your driver's license, you
know there's gonna bebureaucracy.
I mean there's bureaucracy inthe United States, but it seems
like.
It's gonna be easy to getfrustrated because you've gotta
have, you know, all thesedifferent forms and things and
everything has to be perfect.
(09:55):
And you might have to go back acouple of times because it's
like, oh yeah, you need to havecopies of that because they
won't make copies for you oftenif you're in some, going to some
government office or something.
You have to show your passport,but you also need a copy of your
passport and they're not gonnamake a copy for you.
So.
There's little things like thatthat are just kind of, they're
inconveniences.
(10:15):
Once you get to know, it's like,okay, uh, my wife just got her
RFC number last week, and so Isent her in with, you know,
multiple copies of her passport,multiple pa copies of her
residency card, uh, multiplecopies of the, the electric
bill.
The electricity is, is run bythe government, and so that's
your official address is on yourelectric bill.
So.
(10:37):
You can get better at being, uh,at working in Mexico with these
kind of things.
But I, I lost my ATM card.
It took me two hours in the, inthe bank to go through the
process to get a new ATM card.
So things are
Justin Keltner (10:49):
Two hours.
You, you, you got out of therein record time.
I I've, I've spent days atbanks, but like multiple days.
Brighton West (10:57):
Yes, it, it can definitely.
It, it, it can be challengingand um, but if you learn to
celebrate the win at the end ofthat, to say like, Hey, you
know, I got it.
I got my ATM card.
It took an awful lot of effortto do it, but some people are
just so stuck in.
That the United States is, is soefficient.
(11:18):
Um, you probably, you know, toget an ATM card, you probably
don't even go into an office.
You probably just go online and,you know, type in something
like, you know, I, you know,click a radio button, I lost my
ATM card, and then one shows upin the mail a couple days later.
Um, you know, mail down heredoesn't really so, um, yeah,
things are not as efficient inMexico and.
(11:41):
If you're able to adapt to that,that's a really good thing.
And you just really, you learnto enjoy how things just kind of
move slowly.
Also, uh, people who are bigrule followers, it doesn't work
well here.
Uh, no one stops at stop signs.
In Mexico, I actually got, I gotpulled over by the police
because I went too slowlythrough, I rolled a stop sign
(12:03):
too slowly'cause I saw'em behindme and I'm like, oh, I should
go.
Normally I would go 15 miles perhour through this, but.
I'll go five.
Um, and he pulled me over.
He said I was gonna cause anaccident if I didn't, you know,
more drive like a local, likelike roll the stop sign like
everybody else.
So
Justin Keltner (12:21):
You probably stood out as a gringo too.
He, he is like, oh, he's here.
Brighton West (12:24):
he he pulled over next to me and looked inside the
car and he is like, okay.
Then he, then he pulled behindme and turned the lights on.
So I was like, okay.
He saw that I was a gringo, butit was, it, it's.
And it was fine.
I just said, give me a ticket.
He didn't have a ticket to giveto me because there's not a
offensive of rolling a stop signtoo slowly.
So it worked out.
(12:45):
It was funny.
Um, but if, if you're reallylike into, like, I will stop at
every stop sign because the stopthe sign says stop.
That's probably not, it's, it'sprobably not gonna work out for
you.
'cause they, they
Justin Keltner (12:57):
do you think he was looking for a little, little
something, something?
Wait,
Brighton West (13:00):
I think he was looking for a little something
something
Justin Keltner (13:02):
if, as we call it the, the, the, the, a couple
pesos for a, a soda.
Brighton West (13:07):
Yes, exactly.
think so.
And I was like, you know what,this, this is, it happens in
Mexico, the police will pullpeople over and and expect a
little more Dita.
Um, and I was like, Hey, let'sjust go to the police station.
And, and that's the other thingis like, it, it it was gonna
take time for him too.
It was gonna be an inefficientprocess for him to go through
(13:27):
this whole process of taking meto the police station or writing
a ticket or whatnot.
So he is like, okay, just.
Be more careful and let me go.
So
Justin Keltner (13:35):
that's
Brighton West (13:36):
it works in many different ways.
Justin Keltner (13:38):
You know, my, my lawyer definitely says that, uh,
if, especially if you're notdoing something actually wrong
or against the law.
You just gotta call'em on it,because most of the side note,
most of the police here, unlessthey're the, which is like not
the, the municipal ones can'teven write you a ticket anyway.
It's a whole inefficientprocess.
(13:58):
So you just say, Hey, you know,aga or you, you tell them you
don't speak Spanish or you say,all right, right.
Write me a ticket.
I'll follow you.
Let's go.
And like, no, no, it's okay.
It's okay.
Green.
Go.
We're move on.
Brighton West (14:11):
Yeah.
just have to, to be a littlecontrite and say like, okay,
yes, I, I should, I should gofaster through the stop signs
from now on.
And they, they, you know, feltlike they had taught me
something, at least in
Justin Keltner (14:22):
There you go.
That that's probably part of it.
Brighton West (14:24):
little a little bite
Justin Keltner (14:26):
So what, what was like your, um, and we'll,
we'll go to all the positiveaspects, but I think this is
kind of cool to touch on some ofthe idiosyncrasies first.
This is kind of, kind of a fun,uh, thing to go into.
So like.
was your, I guess, crazieststory of the inefficiencies or
(14:46):
the, it doesn't work like itdoes in the US here.
Brighton West (14:51):
God Yeah I think to get my Electric bill changed
to my name Um you know from theprevious owner to my name Took
me 12 visits to the electriccompany And part of it was I was
getting bad information Like Iwas like people online were
telling me one thing my realestate agent was telling me
something and the people at CFEwere telling me something else
(15:12):
and none of it was comingtogether And you know they were
the they were telling me that Ineeded to go into this office to
to get essentially my RFC numberUm which As of the first of the
year like we moved in inDecember and as of the first of
the year that RFC number justlike a social security number
was required to change over yourelectric service And so nobody
(15:35):
knew that that was the casebecause I was doing this right
in early January so I wasgetting all this bad information
and then the people at The umthe electric utility didn't
necessarily know how one goesabout getting an RFC number if
you're a foreigner So they weregiving me bad information So it
was a whole bunch of justscramble of bad information In
the end it worked out and it wasthat you know real celebration
(15:57):
of it you know I got it done Umand There are people here One
thing to to say is there arepeople who help there There are
businesses specifically lots oflocals some expats who create
businesses to help you with allof these things You want a
driver's license We'll get itdone in one shot You want your
RFC number We'll get it done inone shot My wife actually hired
(16:19):
someone Think it cost 50$50 andshe went through that whole
process scheduled theappointment My wife's in uh
Spanish is not great My Spanishis not great Hers is a little
worse Um so someone who wasbilingual took her down there
made the appointment online tookher down there met with her got
the whole thing actually got herema which is another Process
(16:41):
that can happen during the sameappointment but I didn't even
know that you could get thosetwo things at the same time So
it was the best$50 she spentbecause she got multiple things
done that she didn't even needknow that she needed Um and so
but it was a it's a great ideathat there is this
entrepreneurial spirit down hereis that people will see a need
(17:01):
and they will fill it
Justin Keltner (17:03):
Yeah.
And we, same thing for us.
I mean, we could, uh, Amanda andI could definitely.
Have gotten our, uh, immigrationcards renewed, you know, just
ourselves if we wanted to, butwe hired a lawyer to help us
with that and with our RFC andour e FMAs and, uh, with pretty
much everything else.
Um, and, and then, you know, I,I, I made the mistake, same kind
of thing where I, I fell intothe bureaucracy and like I, it's
(17:26):
taken me two days to receive apackage at times because I had
to go to the.
Post office and then go to thebank and pay the tax on it, then
come back and they were closedand I couldn't pay the tax at
the bank on a Saturday becauseit was Saturday.
And they, they, they were open,but they can't take tax payments
that day.
And then you go back the nextday and then hope that by that
time they haven't set yourpackage back.
Um, so yeah, that's, that'sdefinitely something to look out
(17:48):
for.
And I think it's, it's importantthat we touched on that because
people that, you know, arewatching our channel maybe and
saying, well, Mexico's uh,Mexico's just gonna be all
sunshine and.
And rainbows and it's just gonnabe exactly like what I'm used to
back home, but cheaper, uh, andwith, you know, more sunshine
and better beaches.
Nah, not exactly.
(18:08):
So talk about the
Brighton West (18:09):
it's it's like um Cabo or the it's like their
their most
Justin Keltner (18:14):
areas.
Brighton West (18:14):
vacation It's like no it's gonna be different
And so I tell people if they arelooking to move to Mexico is
that their next vacation needsto be into real Mexico get an
Airbnb go stay downtownsomewhere Um And and explore
your vacation into Mexico doesnot count as like exploring
(18:35):
Mexico unless you really areexploring Mexico But if you're
in a all inclusive you'reprobably not exploring
Justin Keltner (18:40):
Tell me more about that.
Like what are your, what areyour main tips that you give
people?
That you speak with that arecoming down to Mexico in terms
of how to, how to really findthe best area, how to really
understand what the real Mexicois.
Brighton West (18:53):
Um yeah There's a number of of people here who who
will help you Find you know kindof give you a tour type of thing
I think you guys give tours tooin Guadalajara Um so you can
hire someone to give you a tourand I think that's probably the
best way to find uh especiallylike Someone was asking me you
know how do I get the best dealuh for rental Will you help me
(19:14):
brighten it I'm like no I'm notinto that But I know someone who
does and they charge for thatservice and um they can help
with just about anything It'sactually the woman who who my
wife worked with uh just lastweek for to get her RFC So
having someone there who willhelp you I think is good and
also Exploring the idea ofgetting an Airbnb downtown and
(19:35):
then getting one out out hereWe're in the suburbs we're in
something called El Sanrio It'slike is this the area you wanna
live in It you kind of and thencity to city too is to really
explore each place We bought onthe second day that we were here
and it's worked out really wellAnd I know a lot of people who
have that same story who it'sworked out really well but The
(19:55):
best advice I can give is to tryout different places before you
just pull the trigger um so youdecide what is important to you
Uh so if you stay somewhere forat least a couple of weeks
you'll say like okay yeah thoseroosters are you know crowing
That's a little too much for me
Justin Keltner (20:11):
there's so much diversity too in terms of
neighborhoods.
I mean, here in Guadalajara.
Where we live, it's actuallyvery quiet.
Um, a lot more kind of retireesand a handful of expats.
But we're in Alta and it's just,it's so nice.
There's trees, there's not too,too much going on, but you can
still walk to cafes and there'sother places where that are
super, like party friendly andnightclubs and bars.
(20:32):
And so any city here, just likein the US or Canada, I mean, you
could find areas for everything.
Um, I wanna talk a little bitabout the flip side of what we
were discussing earlier, whichis.
What are some of the positivethings that you have noticed
about the slower?
I mean, I guess when you have,on one hand you've got like the
bureaucracy and things areslower and you know, you've got
(20:52):
the manana thing where peoplewill say one thing and it
really, like, you'll get yourfridge finally fixed six weeks
later and just have to deal withit.
Um, but on the flip side ofthat, like what have you noticed
that is a positive there interms of how it's not like the
US.
Brighton West (21:09):
Well the expectation then is the same
Like if you're running behind oryou know you're going somewhere
to meet up with someone andyou're running late it's you
don't have to hit the gas andtry to get there get there get
there Um Arriving a little bitlate is is somewhat expected And
so if you're going somewhere theidea is you know you should
bring a book with you just incase the person is running a
little late So the forgivenessof um of things like that is is
(21:35):
very high here Uh one of thethings this is something that's
just Probably international It'sprobably the United States is
the only place that brings yourbill to the table before you're
ready to leave And here it'ssomething where you have to ask
for your bill If you're in arestaurant you have to say like
you know LA ent And then theywill bring over the check but
(21:57):
there's no pressure whatsoeverto turn the table to flip the
table and get some new new buttsin seats So it's just um It it
act Actually the other just justlast night the the waiter came
and gave me my bill and I hadn'tasked for it yet And I was like
oh I am I am offended here Andthen my wife was like was like
(22:19):
Hey have you paid the bill yet Iasked for it and we were there
with a really big group ofpeople everyone had separate
bills And I'm like okay thattotally makes sense My wife is
going around and asking forbills when she's ready to leave
Um and then I'm getting the billSo um So just that that's just
something about just the speedof the way things work here is
(22:39):
is can be really positive toowhen you are in a um a mode of
relaxation No one else is in amode of like get things done and
move on and and get out of theway type of thing
Justin Keltner (22:52):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It is a, a much slower paced,uh, type of lifestyle for sure.
And it's more people focusedversus let's just get as many
dollars, for example, like you,like you said, outta this table
as we can.
Um, how did your experienceliving here lead to your, your
creation of that, that conceptof almost retired in Mexico and.
(23:15):
How, how did you start theYouTube channel?
Because you've got a verysuccessful YouTube channel.
A lot of people are followingyou, um, and taking your advice
and watching your real estatetours and a lot of the other
things you do.
What was it that gave you kindof the spark to, to start that
and what does almost retired inMexico really stand for?
Brighton West (23:34):
So here it is Almost retired on my coffee cup
Um yeah well it is about beingalmost retired in in like a
mental state of like retirementis coming soon I Or um I'm
slowing down and I am you knowacting like starting to act like
I'm retired like maybe notworking Um 40 50 60 hours a week
(23:56):
Just kind of like slowing downand working what you need to
make what you need to live Andespecially if you are working
for if you have your ownbusiness or you're if you're
working for a company up in theUnited States and you're getting
paid in dollars and you'reliving down here and you're
paying for things in pesos umeconomically um You're getting
paid better than you're spendingso uh you don't need as much
(24:18):
money when you're living inMexico The way this started
though is I have a business thatdoes remote video production and
so I've done a lot of stuff withvideos I've had a number of
YouTube channels over the yearsI've helped clients with their
YouTube channels and when mywife and I moved down here I
think it was kind of at the endof the first You know four or
(24:40):
five month period that we weredown here and I was like you
know what I should follow allthat advice that I'm giving my
clients that they're notnecessarily following and I'm
gonna do it all myself I'm gonnalike it I'm gonna be my ideal
perfect client and I'm gonnabuild this YouTube channel based
on on that So and see how wellit works And it's worked pretty
well It hasn't worked quite aswell as I had hoped in terms of
(25:01):
you know I'm five years in andyou 45,000 subscribers so it's
not
Justin Keltner (25:07):
darn good.
Brighton West (25:08):
Yeah it's not bad It's it's just
Justin Keltner (25:10):
That's not bad at
Brighton West (25:11):
where it's paying all my bills so it'd be nice to
to get to that point I'm I'mplanning on that in the future
but I just kind of drew out myprojections and uh maybe I I
shot a little high but yeah thatwas it And so I just started
making videos and it's justgrown since then And it's grown
You it started out more They'relike how to pay your CFE bill
(25:32):
online and how to do thesethings And I started like doing
house tours of people and then Iwas like well you know it's more
interesting to hear the story ofthe person Let's definitely show
their house But the story of theperson is more interesting Uh
and then I started interviewingpeople and then I started
traveling around Mexico duringthe summer to be like oh I'm
gonna go to to Guadalajara orAhi or Oaxaca And um explore a
(25:53):
bit and and line up a wholebunch of interviews where I can
tell other people's storiescause that's what I really like
doing is Is getting thesestories out there so that people
can see the range of people thathave made it happen
Justin Keltner (26:07):
That's cool.
I, I think that the stories ofpeople in the places that you
travel to or that you mightwanna live in.
Really shape the place and canalso shape your experience of
it.
So like hearing about here'sthe, what this one person was
able to do and, and move toMexico and, and here's where
(26:29):
they live and here's how they'reliving and how much money or how
little money it takes to havethe same or better quality of
life.
Uh, we share those stories, uh,from our lives and with these
interviews all the time and weget so much feedback that it
just helps to, to really inspirepeople and to actually take
action themselves.
Brighton West (26:47):
Yeah just last night the the dinner that we
were at um there were probably30 35 people that were
subscribers of my channel andsome some people who were who
were just residents here And Ido that about every sun Sunday
night uh when I'm in town Justget together a whole bunch of
subscribers and You know kind ofeveryone just kind of gets to
know each other and and meeteach other and uh build that
(27:11):
sense of community And it's it'sreally definitely a fun thing
And it helps me in terms of uhyou know people will reach out
and be like Hey can we getcoffee Can we get can I buy you
a margarita And it's like welllet's just do that on a Sunday
night when everyone's doing thesame thing And then they get to
meet meet each other too
Justin Keltner (27:27):
That's great.
I'm gonna have to come down toone of those dinners too with
Amanda.
I think probably either thisfall or early next year, we're
gonna have to take a trip down.
Maybe we'll a road trip up, upthe Baja and uh, come say hello.
Brighton West (27:39):
Yes Well you're welcome stay here I've got a
Casita
Justin Keltner (27:43):
Oh, amazing.
Cool.
We might take you up on that.
Um, so the last thing I want totalk about, since this is
entrepreneur expat, is themoney.
So we want touch on how it isthat you make money here as an
expat in Mexico.
Tell us a little bit more aboutthat.
Brighton West (27:59):
So My business kind of has three it's a three
legged stool and one of them isthe YouTube channel So the
YouTube channel it's ad revenueis the biggest chunk And then
there's also sponsorshipsThere's merchandise You know you
can get yourself an almostretired mug uh t-shirt something
like that Um it's Also buy me acoffee I don't know if you guys
(28:24):
do that but it's like PatreonPeople can give you you know I I
call it buy buy me a margaritaSo buy me a margarita.com if you
wanna buy me a margarita and
Justin Keltner (28:31):
Nice.
That's a great domain.
Brighton West (28:32):
Yes exactly I was so excited to get it Um so
there's all that kind of stuffadds up to about$20,000 a year
So that's a YouTube channel thatI'm I'm put a lot of effort into
Um that's that's about what thatbrings in Also I have Amazon and
when I'm back up in the states Iget a bunch of stuff from Amazon
I also look at like what myfriends are buying and I'm like
(28:53):
oh that's a good thing for me tomake a video about So I make a
video about it I can get acommission off of Amazon This
this shirt actually Um the shirtwas given to me for free They
paid me 25 bucks to make a videoand then I make a commission if
people buy the shirt afterwatching the video So um and the
videos show up on Amazon I alsohave videos that show up on
other channels that directpeople back So um it's multiple
(29:17):
affiliate commissions throughthat And then other forms of
affiliate commissions that Ihave through different YouTube
channels And that's probably youknow$20,000 a year and Then I do
videos remotely for people So Iwork with a lot of coaches
consultants people like that Butthe number one thing I do is I
provide Testimonial videos So Iwill you know they'll they'll
(29:40):
connect me with their clientI'll get them on a schedule I'll
do a 15 minute call with themjust through their webcam you
know adjust things to make themlook great and then have them
tell story of working with theircoach or consultant And then I
edit it up And provide it tothem for their website or social
media So that's probably thebiggest thing I do also do
things for like my client'swebsites directly or my client's
(30:01):
YouTube channels but I callmyself a virtual videographer so
I do everything that avideographer would do in person
but I do it over webcam or asmartphone So those are the the
three parts of the stool andthat's kind of and that's like
you know probably$40,000 orsomething So I'm not making a a
huge revenue but that's I'm ableto be uh a little bit uh on the
(30:24):
lazy side I guess in terms of mybusiness I'm not
Justin Keltner (30:28):
well.
You're not an underachiever byany stretch ton.
Brighton West (30:31):
Yeah So but I'm sure if I was really pushing and
really working on my sales andstuff like that I could turn
this into a bigger business butI'm usually pretty happy with
where the business is at anypoint in time
Justin Keltner (30:42):
And what are your living expenses?
Because even with, um, you know,let, let's say 70 to$80,000 a
year, you can live phenomenallywell here.
I mean, you, you guys said thatyou bought your house when we
were talking earlier.
You, you purchased that, uh,already.
So you had the house purchasedout of kind of the, the
retirement money.
Um.
Which was a great investmentbecause it would've been so much
more now, so you don't have topay rent between all the other
(31:04):
expenses.
I mean, if we, if we, we were totake rent out of the equation,
um, I mean, what, what are youspending and like, what, what
would somebody, let's say thatwas renting but with a similar
lifestyle, probably spend onaverage there in La Paz.
Brighton West (31:17):
You know we really we're really not good at
keeping track of of our expensesbut like you know um Having a a
cell phone down here is like 10bucks a month And my internet
connection I do have a starlinkconnection but starlink is
cheaper down here I wanna sayit's 50 or$60 a month versus
whatever it is up in the UnitedStates Um that is my backup
(31:37):
connection and I have a internetconnection that is you know um
in 20 30 bucks a month orsomething like that electricity
It's probably 50 bucks a monthAnd that's on the high side Uh
often it's less than that We dohave a pool uh it's actually a
hot tub so when we start to runthe hot tub a lot in the winter
uh that goes up a water bill youknow 10$20 a month or something
(32:00):
like that because we have a yardand so we water So that's
actually a little bit higherthan most people Uh so Expenses
are really pretty low and weit's just going out to eat is
pretty much our our biggestexpense or feeding the dogs
That's one thing I found hereVet care is incredibly cheap Dog
food is very expensive so
Justin Keltner (32:21):
Have you guys tried?
Uh, barf.
We, we give actually our dog andour cat barf, which is like raw,
mostly raw, organic, uh, meat,vegetables, uh, they've got like
prebiotics, all sorts of coolstuff.
And it ends up being a lotcheaper actually than like even
the Costco bags of dog food.
Brighton West (32:37):
Interesting Yeah I'm gonna have to get the
information on that cause wellone of our dogs is on a
specialty diet and sointerestingly that specialty
prescription diet costs the samein the US and in in Mexico So
it's it's expensive in bothplaces but just like the nor
just normal dog food is is um
Justin Keltner (32:54):
a lot of the package stuff, we noticed that
here.
And also in Columbia, likebuying the same food.
'cause she was eating the kibblebefore my, my golden retriever
was just right near under mydesk.
Um, when we bought her kibblefrom Costco or from from one of
the grocery stores, it ended upbeing significantly more
expensive.
I think it was like 30 or 40%.
Um, what else do you noticethat's expensive?
I mean, I, I think electronics,but
Brighton West (33:15):
Electronics
Justin Keltner (33:17):
and imported goods, I think everything else
pretty much is cheaper.
Brighton West (33:20):
Yeah Um and and plus Over here in La Paz things
are more expensive So the BajaPeninsula is acts like an island
Everything pretty much comesover on a boat Uh and most
things are actually coming fromGuadalajara it seems So they're
coming from Guadalajara down toMasantlan across on the on the
boat into La Paz and that feedsinto all the communities out
(33:41):
here on the peninsula Soeverything has that kind of
markup of being on an island Andincluding food including labor
Labor's more expensive here It'sjust there's just not as many
people here to fill all the jobsthat there are here So the the
the wages are higher here not byany means high like still very
(34:05):
affordable Everything
Justin Keltner (34:06):
For Mexico,
Brighton West (34:07):
For yeah it's high It's high for Mexico but
not high for if you're from theUnited States you you wouldn't
want to earn wages in in pesoshere or compete with Mexicans in
any kind of job here But um likefor instance a nurse to get a
nurse um In the Guadalajara areato like a a like a live-in nurse
(34:30):
If you're if you've got anelderly person it was about four
or$5 an hour in the Guadalajaraarea and it's about$15 an hour
here in La Paz So significantlymore for a nurse Um similar
things with construction crewsand it and the further you get
from the pause like we actuallyare in the process of buying
another house uh in to Santoswhich is a town a small town but
(34:53):
Um because that's a small townand it's further from La Paz you
know construction costs go upthere too So everything kind of
it's like being on being on anisland out here but uh still
much more affordable than beingin what this island is connected
to which is California
Justin Keltner (35:09):
Yep.
Would you say that for, foraround 2000 a month, like an
individual could well in La Paz?
Brighton West (35:15):
Yeah definitely definitely Um I have a an
interview with someone um Bradwho is who eats really well I
know Um I'm actually gonna seeBrad in a couple of nights But
um and he his budget cause hetakes keeps track of everything
was like$2,400 a month and thatincludes his rent So a rent for
(35:36):
a um a a one bedroom place Witha pool and everything um and
$2,400 no problem with himeating out all the time
Justin Keltner (35:46):
Yeah that's great.
I mean, we, we live like, well,I mean, we have a maid that
comes a couple times a week.
We've got a three story housewith, you know, an office for
me, an office for Amanda,bedroom, guest room, all that
stuff.
And, um, all in all, I thinkwe're spending under, still
under like$3,000 US per month.
And that's with like.
Personal care, groceries, rent,all of our insurances, multiple
(36:09):
internets to have backups, allthat good stuff.
So it's, it's definitely cheaperin Mexico and, and a better
quality of life as well.
Um, so I'm curious as, as wewrap up here, what is the number
one thing that you would, youwould say to somebody thinking
about coming to Mexico?
(36:30):
Like what's the number one pieceof advice that you would give
them?
Brighton West (36:34):
I would say do it sooner rather than later.
Uh, almost everyone says theywish they would've done it
sooner.
Uh, you're probably one of theonly people who, who doesn't say
that because you, you've.
Did it so early on, um, in, inlife and in your career or as an
adult and whatnot and, and, um,trying out living in Mexico
multiple times.
(36:55):
But especially if you're lookingat, you know, you're, you're
coming up on retirement age.
Um, you don't need to wait tillyou're 65 or 66 or 67.
Uh, a lot of people here are.
60 or you know, 62 because it'sless expensive you can get down
here.
So, um, plan on doing it soonerthan you expected and also start
(37:17):
doing your research.
And YouTube is great way to dothe research, but also schedule
those trips down and look aroundand, and schedule a trip where
you're your scouting trip.
Uh, so you find the place that'sgonna be your, your perfect
spot.
But don't.
Don't wait, uh, until you're,until that, that magic age of
(37:38):
retirement.
Do it sooner.
Justin Keltner (37:41):
Yeah, it's gonna be more difficult and more
expensive later.
For sure
Brighton West (37:45):
definitely.
Yeah.
The prices are going up inMexico.
Justin Keltner (37:49):
Great.
So what are some of the thingsthat you help people with down
there?
I know you have your, yourremote, uh, videographer
service, which by the way, youknow, if anybody here is
thinking that you can't makemoney online, I.
Doing whatever you're doing nowor something really similar.
I mean, I wouldn't have thoughtthat one could be a remote
videographer, but Brightonfigured out how to do that, uh,
(38:10):
in a location independent way.
So you're just a little bit ofbrainstorming and maybe a chat
GPT prompt away from figuringout how to do it.
Uh, obviously we've got, um,guides and things that we help
people with.
Uh.
In terms of the remote incomething, and we'll include some of
those in the description, butwhat are some of the things that
you help people with either interms of coming down to Mexico?
(38:32):
I know you've got partnershipswith people.
Do you, do you do tours as well?
I know you have the dinners inLa Paw, so if people are there,
uh, maybe they can reach out.
And what are other ways, whatare other resources you have for
people or ways that they can,that they can get in touch?
Brighton West (38:44):
Yeah.
Well, folks can find me, uh,all, uh.
Almost retired in Mexico oryoutube.com/almost retired in
Mexico.
And that's the biggest thingthat I do is produce all of
these videos.
And I do have, when I'm in townon Sunday nights, I usually have
a happy hour where I'll inviteeveryone to kind of come join
together and meet each other.
So I.
(39:05):
Um, yeah, I don't do tours.
I don't do a lot of the hands-onthings other than those Sunday
night dinners.
Sometimes that Sunday nightdinner ends up being like a, a
Sunday morning brunch, like onSuper Bowl Sunday, things like
that.
But I love meeting people.
I love helping them, and I lovebeing able to do it in a way
that is, except for those Sundaynights, it doesn't necessarily.
(39:28):
Put anything on my calendar so Ican go out and say like, you
know what?
I want to do a, a trip toGuadalajara and I'm gonna shoot
a whole bunch of videos and I'vegot things calendared out then,
but I.
I'm not trading, you know,dollars or time for dollars and,
and, and having that, thosedirect relationships with
people.
(39:49):
Um, so, uh, I do, I do some, youknow, consulting calls and
things like that too, but, um,it's, it's
Justin Keltner (39:56):
With people that have
Brighton West (39:57):
The main thing, I'm away.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I do work with, withbusinesses, I mean, that I do
have, get commission off of someof the, some of the videos do
have a, that are, they're beingpaid for by the person who's who
I'm making the video with orthere's a, a commission.
So that's part of the how I canmake money, uh, with YouTube.
Justin Keltner (40:18):
Amazing.
Well, uh, anybody that wants toconnect more with Brighton and
check out his stuff, he's gotsome really amazing videos there
on his channel on YouTube.
Almost retired in Mexico.
What a cool concept we reallylove.
It that, that fits, uh, quite aneat niche and uh, a lot of our,
uh, viewers are in that arena aswell where they're still
probably gonna be working, doingsomething remotely, but they
(40:40):
wanna live that almost retiredlifestyle.
So we highly encourage you guysto check out, almost retired in
Mexico.
And thank you so much for all ofyour time today, Brighton.
This has been really fun and weappreciate you, uh, having, uh,
come on the channel and sharingyour story with, with all of our
subscribers and listeners here.
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