escapeartist.com

EscapeArtist.com is a website that shows people how they can restart their life abroad. With thousands of articles, contacts, resources, links and tools for finding overseas real estate, international employment, hidden enclaves, artist havens, retirement havens, unique destinations, offshore investments, and the requirements for living an international lifestyle.

Since 1995, they have been helping escape artists restart their lives abroad. Over 300,000 escape artists subscribe and read their publications Escape from America Magazine and the Offshore Real Estate Quarterly.

We spoke with the Founder of EscapeArtist.com, Roger Gallo who told us about his company and plans for the future.

Your name: Roger Gallo

Position / title: CEO / Company founder

Company name: EscapeArtist.com Inc.

Website:
www.escapeartist.com
www.caribpro.com
www.embassyworld.com

Your company / website vision statement / goal:

Our motto is, "Live Where You Want To Live! ~ Live How You Want To Live! ~ And Make Money Doing It!” While it is true that in recent years an increasing number of people have opted to leave the USA as a direct result of the current White House administration, we have actually been providing resources for those wishing to relocate overseas for the better part of a decade.

EscapeArtist.com: is a website that provides a vast database of information on how to go about restarting your life overseas. With thousands of free articles, contacts, resources, links and tools for finding overseas real estate, international employment, hidden enclaves, artist havens, retirement havens, unique destinations, offshore investments, and the requirements for living an international lifestyle. Since 1995, we have been helping a growing number of people restart their lives in a new nation. Over 300,000 subscribers now read Escape from America Magazine and the Offshore Real Estate Quarterly. Subscriptions to our magazine and our resources are free.

What you sell / services you offer (brief description of your company):

We have a real estate marketplace with thousands of listings from almost any country in the world, those wishing to place a listing in our marketplace pay us a fee and are then able to build their own listing including color photos, property description, contact information and so forth.

We promote real estate projects, we have an international jobs section where employers from around the world pay to post job openings, we have a resume section where those seeking international jobs can post their resume. We have an international Yacht Broker section for yachts, boats, barges and ships for sale. We provide banners for those wishing to advertise on our site(s). We sell reports on all the subjects in our venue, how to live in Costa Rica, how to get residency abroad, how to get a second passport, how to buy a vineyard in Argentina, move to the Dominican Republic, or start a business in Thailand.

We have a classified section for a fee and we have several other income streams. International real estate is our main focus.

We are also developing sections on ways to make money overseas, businesses you can start, online eCommerce, and international investments.

Have you always wanted to run your own business? What were some of your previous jobs / companies?

I have always been self-employed. I have designed and built artists lofts, sold income producing real estate, remodeled older properties; most of my background has been in real estate.

Have you got any qualifications? Please tell us about yourself academically?

No licensed qualifications. I read a tremendous amount; history, science, political and social theory, but for the most part I am auto didactic. One doesn't have to be a Rhodes Scholar to read the handwriting on the wall regarding international relocation.

We live in difficult times and we are burdened with abhorrent political leaders - I don't just recommend offshore real estate as a good investment, I recommend offshore real estate as offshore survival retreat. Most rational people having taken notice of the same conditions that our website warns against, those with their heads in the sand must bury them deeper to block out the obvious.

How / when did the idea of your website / company come about?

I had a number of artist lofts that I had build and was renting out. I became more and more disenchanted with the USA, and the draconian laws that applied to running a business in the USA. In frustration I wrote a book called 'Escape From America; I published it myself, as I doubted anyone would be interested in publishing a book on such an off-the-wall subject. When I finished it I asked a friend if he knew of any low-cost ways to promote it.

He told me to put it on the internet. I asked him what the internet was (circa 1995). He invited me out to the Washington coast to spend the weekend with him and his family. I learned what the internet was and eventually learned to build a website to promote the book. I did sell one or two copies within the first week, but what was clear to me is that no one was entering the name of my book into the search engines. (The major search engine at that time was something called Web Crawler) So, I simply build a web section for each section of the book. A section on global communications and telephony, a section on second passports, a section on each of the nations I mentioned and I had mentioned dozens, a section on embassies, and so on.

My reasoning was that if someone searched for that subject they would come to my page and at the top of the page would be a banner for my book. The book sold well. I began getting interviewed, the first one was the Christian Science Monitor, then a television interview with Lisa Kim on CSPAN, then another interview on a London talk radio, then newspapers and magazines, and it simply went on and on.

Did people really want to leave America I was asked. Yes, I replied, people really wanted to leave America. Within two years the book was completely sold out. By that time I was living in Panama, Republic of Panama and the website was far exceeding the book in producing income. We are now among the top 5,000 websites in the world - which makes me happy.