Categoría: Influencers

DEARBORN, Mich., March 10, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Ken Block’s famous Gymkhana series of YouTube videos are known globally for their amazing stunts and showmanship, with well over 550 million views. Today, The Henry Ford is proud to announce that it has acquired the 2012 Ford Fiesta ST HFHV driven by Block in his most popular video – «KEN BLOCK’S GYMKHANA FIVE: ULTIMATE URBAN PLAYGROUND; SAN FRANCISCO» – to be a prominent part of its new Driven to Win: Racing in America, presented by General Motors exhibition that will open to the public on March 27.

Gymkhana FIVE is the most viewed Gymkhana video of all-time, with more than 108 million views as of now. Block and his race car are seen flying through the streets of the iconic city, with its dramatic elevation changes and naturally curvy roadways. The video ends with Block doing stunts on a barge in the middle of San Francisco Bay.

«Ken Block has redefined the concept of motorsport for a new generation,» said Matt Anderson, curator of transportation, The Henry Ford. «We’ve had one of Ken Block’s cars on our ‘wish list’ for years. To get the one from Gymkhana FIVE, the most popular installment in the series, is a dream come true. This is a car – and a story – that can stand alongside any of the race cars in our collection.»

«I’m super stoked to have my Gymkhana FIVE Fiesta on display next to an amazing collection of cars paying tribute the innovation and vision of American racers everywhere,» said Block.

The Block race car will be featured in the part of the exhibition entitled «Showmanship.» Block and his Fiesta will be featured alongside the legendary 1902 Ford «999» race car that was driven by auto racing’s original showman – Barney Oldfield.

The 2012 Ford Fiesta ST HFHV driven by Block in the video was a custom M-Sport designed rally car, with homologated FIA-spec roll cage and bespoke underbody construction. It features a 350 hp Ford EcoBoost 2.0L engine; with Garrett turbocharger with 33mm restrictor; Cosworth Electronics engine management; and a bespoke M-Sport intercooler. It also has a 6-speed sequential gearbox, Recaro racing seats, Brembo 4-pot calipers with 300mm rotors and a Sadev Hydraulic handbrake system. It will do 0-60 mph in just 2.3 seconds.

For more information on Driven to Win, visit thehenryford.org or follow The Henry Ford’s social channels @thehenryford for on-going updates.

About The Henry Ford
Located in Dearborn, Michigan, The Henry Ford, a globally-recognized destination, fosters inspiration and learning from hands-on encounters with artifacts that represent the most comprehensive collection anywhere focusing on innovation, ingenuity and resourcefulness in America. Its unique venues include Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, Greenfield Village, Ford Rouge Factory Tour, Benson Ford Research Center and Henry Ford Academy, a public charter high school. Together with its online presence at thehenryford.org, its national television series, The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation and Invention Convention Worldwide, the growing affiliation of organizations fostering innovation, invention and entrepreneurship in K-12 students, The Henry Ford inspires individuals to unlock their potential and help shape a better future.

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Media Contact

Melissa Foster, The Henry Ford, 3139826126, melissaf@thehenryford.org

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SOURCE The Henry Ford

MERIDIAN, Idaho, Mar. 10, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Onboardian announced today its launch of the automotive industry’s first all-in-one training, coaching, and communication platform built to help dealerships develop and retain employees. Featuring patent-pending virtual role-play technology, Onboardian gives dealerships all the tools they need to motivate, educate, and equip sales and management teams to drive superior performance, operational efficiencies, and winning cultures.

Automotive dealers are undergoing one of the most significant transformations of the last 20 years as they face pressure from more digital-savvy and informed consumers, and increasing competition in auto retail. However, while most dealers are rightfully focused on their digital experience, many still face an industry-wide operational problem: employee turnover. Now at an all-time high, salespeople turnover has hit 80%, costing the average dealership an estimated $500,000 per year. That doesn’t even factor in the knowledge and customer relationships that leave with those departing employees.

«Today’s customer and salesperson have both changed. Yet, one thing hasn’t changed—the way we train today’s salesperson to connect with today’s customer. Generic or outdated training based on transactional selling has led to both buyers and salespeople going elsewhere, and dealers’ profitability leaving with them,» said Zach McVicker, founder and CEO of Onboardian. «We developed Onboardian to help dealership leaders deliver modern training to connect with today’s employee and customer. With our platform, dealers gain faster onboarding, increased employee retention, and a superior customer experience—all without adding more to sales managers’ plates, creating a single lesson, or adding another program to manage.»

With Onboardian, auto dealership leaders can:

– Virtually train and coach with ease. With Onboardian’s prebuilt guided training, sales managers can deliver onboarding, coaching, and encouragement from their phone and on their time.
– Ramp skilled sales pros faster. Onboardian guides salespeople through strategically-delivered learning experiences and virtual role-play proven to develop skills and maximize retention.
– Better connect with today’s customer. Onboardian teaches sales pros relational selling and digital communication strategies that lead to a better buying experience and lasting customer relationships.
– Operate an efficient and connected dealership. Onboardian combines company training, communication, recognition, org chart, calendar, and more, to help dealers foster a winning culture—while also centralizing operations and reducing information silos.

«Auto sales managers have more on their plates than ever before, making it a challenge to not only onboard and develop sales reps, but teach the right philosophy on how to build long-term customer relationships,» said Chris Poluhoff, General Manager of Peterson Chevrolet Buick Cadillac. «With Onboardian, our sales reps can easily see what they need to do, execute their learning assignments, and virtually role play customer interactions to demonstrate their knowledge. Our sales managers can spend more time on their jobs and one-on-one coaching, and less time delivering ongoing training.»

Onboardian was recently recognized as a finalist for Kain Automotive’s 2020 Shark Tank pitch competition, featuring the industry’s most innovative ideas, strategies, or technologies. Part of Kain Automotive’s 16th Annual Clients and Friends Digital Success Workshop, Shark Tank finalists were selected by event attendee voting after a round of pitching from each of the nine companies.

«In my 20+ years in the auto industry, I’ve seen Joe Verde, Grant Cardone, Jackie Cooper, and all the trainers out there. Everyone of them has some sort of path to success. Onboardian gives a modern take on it that gives them a whole new audience,» said David Kain, CEO of Kain Automotive.

To learn more or get started using Onboardian, visit http://www.onboardian.com.

About Onboardian
Onboardian is the auto industry’s first all-in-one training, coaching, and communication platform that helps dealerships develop and retain employees. With our prebuilt guided training, managers can deliver virtual onboarding and coaching to help sales pros develop skills and ramp quicker—all without having to create a single lesson. Unlike outdated and generic sales training, Onboardian guides salespeople through strategically-delivered content and virtual role-play proven to maximize retention and connect with today’s customer. The result is faster onboarding, higher employee retention and satisfaction, more closed deals, and a superior customer experience. To learn more, visit http://www.onboardian.com.

Media Contact

Zach McVicker, Onboardian, +1 3173794895, zach.mcvicker@onboardian.com

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SOURCE Onboardian

BALTIMORE, Mar. 10, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — More Americans are taking notice of the great bargains to be had on real estate overseas, report the editors at International Living.

With greater work-from-anywhere flexibility, some are seeking a good-value overseas escape where they could base themselves.

Others seek an investment outside the dollar, outside stocks, and bonds—as a way to bring greater diversification to their portfolios.

Still others are looking for good-value overseas real estate for the lifestyle play—they want to go someplace warm and interesting where costs are low and the quality of life is high.

Media coverage of one-euro homes for sale in Italy has surely helped to pique people’s interest in the possibilities abroad,

The Instagram account, YourCheapDreamHome, created less than a year ago by Ronan McMahon, International Living’s global real estate expert—today boasts a significant 250,000 followers.

On the International Living website, editors report traffic to its real estate-related web pages is up across the board when compared to 2020. Most notable is a 764% spike in traffic to IL’s The Best Places to Invest in Real Estate content, when compared to last year’s figures.

«Clearly, word is getting out about the values it’s possible to find overseas—in the right spots,» says Jennifer Stevens, Executive Editor, International Living. «In some locales, real estate agents report that buyers are snapping up properties, sight unseen.»   

«In the US, real estate is relatively expensive. But take $60,000–$175,000 to the right spots overseas, and you may be pleasantly surprised by what you can afford. All of a sudden, your options expand.

«It might be a beautifully renovated stone village home in Tuscany, Italy for $85,000 or a completely redone cottage on the Greek island of Lesbos for just $77,193. On Roatan in the Caribbean, you could pick up a renovated, furnished place with a pool right now for as little as $155,000.

«People always assume that only the rich and famous can afford homes abroad. But it’s much more accessible than most folks realize,» Stevens says.

«And the benefits of owning property abroad can go beyond simply having a low-cost retreat to enjoy a few weeks or months a year, or even full-time.»

According to Ronan McMahon, author of International Living’s new report, The 15 Best Places to Invest in Real Estate in 2021, holding real estate overseas can offer sound investment benefits as well.

«Overseas real estate can generate income. And it’s not subject to the same rapid and wild fluctuations as other asset classes,» McMahon argues.

«Real estate is one of the very best ways to protect your wealth from inflation. It’s the ultimate hard asset and often sees its greatest price appreciation during periods of high inflation. In the right places overseas, by owning property you gain much greater upside exposure in markets that have decades of growth ahead.»

Expats based overseas attest to the extraordinary values it’s possible to find on real estate in their adopted countries.

A House in Italy For Less Than a New Car

Back in 2006, Valerie Fortney-Schneider and her husband, Bryan, bought a 300-year-old home in the village of Trivigno for just $44,000.

With property bargains like that on offer, it’s little wonder that IL Italy Correspondent Valerie’s sister, Cara, followed suit and snapped up a home in the same village in 2019.

But it wasn’t until she was paging through her local newspaper with its bundle of new car ads that it really hit home. «Every new car listed cost more than what I paid for my house,» she said. «Even the budget choices!»

With a price tag of €20,000 ($23,700) you’d think it would be in ruins, but the cute, 600 square foot home was in perfect condition, with no work required.

It had a new roof installed just three years prior, and even came partially furnished. The living room has a stone-lined fireplace, and the kitchen was already equipped. A rock-hewn wine cellar gives additional space for storage or, in local style, for entertaining.

It may have been an impulse buy, but Cara jumped on it so as not to lose the chance. «I usually analyze and think through every decision for weeks,» she says, «but on this one I gave the okay just a day later. It was too perfect to pass up.»

In fact, it posed a better deal than the widely-touted €1 homes that require an investment and patience to make them livable. Certainly, Cara has the advantage of a sister living on-site who told her about the deal, but there are other similar real estate steals on offer around Italy–and not just in the south, either.

A Three-Bedroom, Coastal Community Home for $45,000

Syd Blackwell traveled to Uruguay for the first time in November 2006, to see if they could solve a medical problem for his wife, Gundy. She needed new hips and the waiting times in Canada were too lengthy. They had looked for an international solution and Uruguay seemed to be the answer.

The answers they received in Uruguay were quick and positive. If they wanted to pay for the surgeries, Gundy could have the first one immediately. Alternatively, if they waited until Gundy became a resident of Uruguay, then the surgeries could be done at no cost.

With that good news, they decided to go see a few of the houses they had looked at online.

«The best house we had seen online in a lower price range was located in Villa Argentina, a suburb of the coastal community of Atlántida, about 40 minutes’ drive east from Montevideo,» says Syd. «The house had three bedrooms, a closed-in barbeque area, carport, secure perimeter walls and fencing, landscaping, and an in-ground swimming pool.

«The $45,000 price tag was irresistible. The following week, we bought the house.»

Two weeks after their arrival, Syd and Grundy were on the flight back to the snows of Revelstoke, B.C., Canada, with the realization that they had, de facto, decided to retire and move to Uruguay.

«We have been here for 13 years now. Friends and acquaintances have come and gone, cars and rental houses have been owned and sold, but we are still here. No matter how hasty the decision, there is no more proof that it was the right decision than the years we have been here. We do not plan on living anywhere else.

«Sometimes you just have to go.»

Early Retirement and a Three-Bedroom, Ocean-View Home for $105,000

Bonnie Gelley and her husband, Mark, had been living in North Carolina in the years before their move to Ecuador. Mark worked as a project manager with Volvo trucks, and Bonnie had a role as a data manager with local schools.

Neither of them was particularly unhappy with the life they were living, but as they approached their 60s, retirement was something they both thought about a lot.

«We both felt we wanted to retire early. But in the U.S., retiring ‘early’ meant retiring at 70. That’s about as early as we could have managed it there. It’s just so expensive to live in the U.S. now. So, we looked elsewhere.»

Puerto Cayo, in the Manabí province of the country, checked all the boxes. «It reminds me of how the beach was in Delaware 50 years ago,» says Bonnie.

A stroll around the town center or the nearby beachfront promenade reinforces the feeling of unhurried calm that she’s referring to. Schoolkids play soccer in the market square, fishermen mend their nets in the shade of palm trees, and the thatched fish restaurants on the sands serve up freshly grilled fillets of tuna for $4 a plate.

Mark and Bonnie’s three-bedroom, two-bathroom house, and the land they built it on, and the new pool and garden, cost them $105,000. They share it with their three dogs, Lucy and Stella, who they adopted locally, and Floyd, who flew with them from the U.S.

«The bureaucracy of it all wasn’t difficult, really,» says Mark. «You just have to factor in the expense when you budget for your move. Buying the house was simple, we gave power of attorney to an in-country lawyer. He did all the paperwork; we transferred the money. Done!

This coastal haven’s bright sunshine, lush vegetation, and small-town languor clearly suits the couple, and as Bonnie is keen to point out…anybody can do it.

A Paradise Island Home for $95,000

Jack Taylor, a semi-retired engineer/manager from Calgary, Canada, came to Phuket, Thailand 20 years ago. He’d been working in Jakarta, Indonesia for a while, and first visited on vacation. His next trip was for a medical and dental overhaul, making use of Thailand’s top-notch healthcare facilities.

Eventually, Jack’s trips to Phuket were happening so often, it made more sense to simply stay. He still works a couple of months each winter in the oil and gas industry around Southeast Asia. The rest of the year, Thailand is home.

Jack, and his wife, Annie, live in a Western-style development, in a side-by-side, two-story condo in Rawai, at the southern tip of Phuket.

«It’s got two big bedrooms, another bedroom that I use as an office, a utility room, and two full bathrooms,» Jack says. «We bought is six years ago and paid about $95,000. Things are definitely affordable here. I’d say day-to-day expenses cost about two-thirds of what they did in Canada. Beef is expensive, imported goods too, but fish, pork, chicken, vegetables, those are very inexpensive.»

Healthcare is another area in which this expat haven excels. «I have nothing but good things to say about the hospitals here,» says Jack. «They’re world-class. Their equipment is better than in Calgary, but it’s not just that. They have a genuine concern for taking care of you. And it’s so fast. I had a CT cardiogram three years ago. I was in and out the same afternoon, had my results in three hours. It cost a little less than $400. I’ve had other treatments too, over the years. I’d say costs are about a quarter of what they’d be in Canada.»

The expat population here is thriving, with weekly billiards tournaments, hiking, diving, and a golf scene. «I go sailing with friends three or four times a month,» Jack says. «Otherwise, I swim a lot, either in the pool or the sea. I was also very pleasantly surprised by the hiking trails here. You can do so much, every day. There’s no excuse not to.»

International Living’s detailed report from Ronan McMahon on the best places to buy real estate can be found here: The 15 Best Places to Invest in Real Estate in 2021.

Editor’s Note: Members of the media have permission to republish the article linked above once credit is given to Internationalliving.com.

Further information, as well as interviews with expert authors for radio, TV or print, is available on request. Photos are also available.

For information about InternationalLiving.com content republishing, source material or to book an interview with one of our experts, contact Editorial Director for Web Content, Social Media, and PR, Donal Lucey, dlucey@internationalliving.com.

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About International Living

Since 1979, InternationalLiving.com has been the leading authority for anyone looking for global retirement or relocation opportunities. Through its monthly magazine and related e-letters, extensive website, podcasts, online bookstore, and events held around the world, InternationalLiving.com provides information and services to help its readers live better, travel farther, have more fun, save more money, and find better business opportunities when they expand their world beyond their own shores. InternationalLiving.com has more than 200 contributors traveling the globe, investigating the best opportunities for travel, retirement, real estate, and investment.

Media Contact

Donal Lucey, www.internationalliving.com, +001 667 312 3532, DLucey@internationalliving.com

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SOURCE InternationalLiving.com