Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Autumn in Prague

A lot of people don't realize it, but Prague is on the same degree of latitude as Paris - and we have a climate which resembles Paris as well. So you can probably imagine what "April in Prague" must be like :-)
This year the weather has been changing a lot. Last week and the week before we had some very beautiful days with lots of sunshine, a blue sky and temperatures which suggested that autumns was far, far away.
Well, it wasn't far away after all. Today it has been raining and everything is grey.
Still Prague is beautiful - even in this kind of weather, and all the inside activities are peaking. The opera, the theatres, the ballet, the concerts. Yes, some of this can also be enjoyed during the summer, but some of the better ensembles have 3-4 weeks off, and the "second-rate" activities aimed only at tourists thrive. Some of them are ok, some are good - but also some ar really not worth mentioning.
But this time of year all the biggies are back in full speed, and Prague really offers a lot!

Today I've been working with an offer for a large group which wants to come for 5 days next summer - obviously through www.prag-eksperten.dk and one of my other Danish websites, www.prag-hoteller.dk. I also had a client for laser eye surgery, Lasik, through my site called www.prag-lasik.dk. This is not in any way close to the core of my business, but because I had the surgery done myself 1½ years ago and was very happy with it, I chose to offer it on the Danish market, where prices are 3 times as high as here - and the quality often not as good.
On www.praha-expert.eu my work these days is aimed at search engine optimization (SEO) which takes plenty of hours every week - especially working on relevant inlinks. But in the long run I hope it will pay off. Boring and timeconsuming, yes. But also my only chance of making it into a good business - especially because it is too boring and timeconsuming for a lot of people, who simply skip the process...

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

The Praha Expert blog is in the air

So, finally I found some time to launch my English blog.

But who am I?

Name, Easy enough, Laus Sorensen: I'll even let you in on my deepest secret, which is the age: 46...

I am a Danish guy who a couple of years ago decidedt would be nice to move to Prague - and actually did move here in January 2007.
Before that I was working with school management in a very large school in Aalborg in Denmark. I had the job for 10 years, and it became more and more stress ful to the point where I had to decide if it was all worth it.
I decided it wasn't!

I loved Prague, travelled here as often as I could and I had also started a small business providing Prague accommodation for Danish tourists via my Danish website, www.prag-eksperten.dk.
When I started this company it was never my intention to make it into a fulltime job. On the contrary, I only wanted to have a few clients and treat all of them individually while making a "travel fund" for my frequent Prague trips. But when I gradually sensed that I needed to get out of my management job, Prag Eksperten became my way out. If I was able to create some growth, I would also be able to change my life - quit my job and move to Prague, which I already knew very well and loved very much.
So I had to just take a chance and do it! It has been hard work, but I survive.

But now I find myself getting to know people from all over the world, not just Danes - and for that I have started a new website in English, using my experience from the Danish site. www.praha-expert.eu is the very imaginative name, more or less a translation of the old one. And I have found networking to be extremely important and alo interesting, so I'll see if I can find some time to share my thoughts and experiences here. Please feel free to comment and ask questions. I am sure I can use the inspiration, and I also believe that I am actually able to tell you things about Prague that you may not find elsewhere. Try me :-)

Welcome to my new blog! Please be friendly and curious, and maybe we'll get some interesting things started