Expat Experts and Local Experts

In Uruguay, everyone knows an expert. Expats know experts and certainly every local knows an expert. How can this be? Is Uruguay a nation of experts?

No.

The phenomenon can be explained as “knowing someone” who does the action described or having done the desired activity described thus they can recommend who they used. That’s it.

But someone may reasonably ask two questions:

How do I know that this person is best qualified or even better qualified than average?

And

How can I know that I will experience an outcome similar to the positive one you had?

The answer is simple: You don’t. You know nothing and there is very little accountability even in a country this small because as a foreigner, who do you know? If you are unsatisfied, who can you tell? A circle of expats who are already here?

What possible harm can come to providing subpar service to a foreigner in a new land?

It is precisely this power imbalance which creates (consciously or sub) a feeling of unease when dealing with professionals in a foreign country.

The Forum Section we are building here for the Southern Shelter site will address this serious and important issue head on.

We are creating a circle of accountability that does not exist, even for locals to Uruguay.

The experts who are allowed and invited to participate in our Forum are reviewed by clients in an uncensored way for the precise purpose of building trust and confidence, but this accountability comes at the cost of risking failure.

There is no other way to build confidence than to have overcome failure.

Who makes Southern Shelter qualified to create a circle of experts?

You do.

Well, the reviews of clients like yourself will be the ultimate decider of who stays and who goes within the circle of those we will allow to participate here, however, the initial experts are indeed those we know locally but are willing to propose to you, the client, with our names attached as standing behind their work.

We offer to accompany you through any process with any expert that we propose and your dissatisfaction is simply not acceptable precisely because this project lives or dies on client satisfaction.

Since our interests are directly in-line, you NOW have a local advocate. 

Southern Shelter is the garden planted with these initial seeds of chosen experts and we will pull any “weeds” that need to be at the direction of our clients because it is you, our client that determines the success of our project.

Marco