John Raygoza

I know a lot of my clients follow my blog - most if not all of you like what my company has done for you. That being said, this isn’t what the blog is about.

It’s about one client who has really gone out of her way to defame my company’s name online - her name is Gail Fay. She’s from Australia. She signed up with us 2 years ago and unfortunately she didn’t like our product and decided she wanted a refund.

At the time, I felt like she did this to a lot of people so I refused to give her a refund. It was a stupid mistake because little did I know she would come back and register a website named after my company called pushtrafficscam dot com.

The real reason I didn’t refund her was because she said she had cancer and that she needed

the money to pay her hospital bills. I thought the best thing to do is ask for a some sort of proof - after all she got all of our services then she asked for a refund which I found odd. To make a long story short, Gail Fay didn’t have cancer after I did my own due-diligence. Instead she was asking for a refund so she could purchase someone else’s product - I later found out.

Recently I decided that it’s worth it to just bury the hatchet with Gail Fay and give her the money only so she could turn over the domain she registered. However, Gail Fay came back and said I’ll give over the web site if you give me $30,000.00!!

She also said that she has 9 other clients that are dissatisfied with their services over the years and she plans on reaching out to them and selling them the same services I sold to them. As you can see, she has cost me a lot of money!

After consulting with friends and attorneys, I got some creative advice from watching this happen to someone on television, David Letterman.

Yes, David Letterman. What David Letterman did was instead of accepting that person’s bribe, he exposed that person for what he truly was.

A scum bag.

So I’m using this blog to get your opinion on the matter.

Is Gail Fay a con artist by trying to blackmail me, or is she genuine in asking for $30,000?

Please post your comments.

By the way, Gail Fay goes by the name “urlybird” on most of her blog comments. 80% of all complaints you read about John Raygoza or PushTraffic all come from Gail Fay.

Also, I recently changed my business name - and she notes this on her blog. The reason I changed my  name is because she defamed the crap out of it and it cost me new business.

Please post your comments. I’ll publish your comments good or bad. One comment per IP address!

Okay, since you have some time to waste I figure I’d try my best to keep you entertained. I got some “critic” from one of my readers that my blog is all about “ME” and I brag a lot. I want to emphasize that this blog is more than just a blog to me. Although it’s available for the public to read, it’s more so that I can look back 10 years from now and read about what I did then. It’s for my kid (who’s on the way….Vanessa is 4 months pregnant) to read when he’s 10, 20, and 30 and say, “Wow, Dad really enjoyed life.”.  It’s for my grandkids to read one day and say, “Grandpa didn’t let time pass him by.” But it’s also for YOU to say, “What am I doing? Where am I going? What did I do this year?”

October turned out to be one of the best experiences of my entire life. I got to see, walk, sleep, and eat in the Amazon jungle. I got to hang out in Kapawi, which is located in the Amazon basin, and be so far removed from western civilization. They didn’t have electricity so your laptop and cell phones do not work. No contact whatsoever with the modern world. I got to meet Achuar indians who live in the jungle. The Achuar men hunt during the day and they have lots of kids - some have around 20. A majority of the Achuar indians don’t have a clue about their age, unlike modern civilization we have access to a calendar, they don’t keep track of the days of the week or date. I recommend this trip to anyone who is into ADVENTURE. This trip is not for the faint-of-heart. For instance, if you’re one of those people who cannot stand humidity or very warm weather, or sleeping under a insect net to protect you from getting bitten by a mosquito, or not being able to use your phone or laptop, or watch T.V., then this trip is DEFINITELY not for you. This trip will take you out of your comfort zone - but you’ll come out strong and braver than ever.

I also spent 1 week in the Galapagos islands. There is nothing in the world quite like the Galapagos. I got to swim with sea lions, walk around with iguanas, bird watch, snorkel, and of course the blue-footed boobies. I recommend this trip to anyone - for adventure or just to sit by the beach and lay down with sea lions and iguanas. The water is torquoise, the sand is white, and view is breath-taking. HIGH RECOMMMENDED.

I also spent a couple days in Quito, which is the capital of Ecuador. The old town of Quito resembles Spain  - the catholic church spent a lot of money building the cathedral in Quito. I also had the chance to walk into La Compania church in Quito. On entering the temple one is dazzled bye the marvelous harmony of baroque richness and balance, all in gold. Floor to ceiling all in gold. Unfortunately they don’t allow cameras inside the church so I couldn’t take a picture of it.

This trip opened my eyes to a different world - a world I didn’t know existed, but thrilled to have discovered it. My father was born in Ecuador, and I also had the chance to visit a school that was named after my grandmother.

Next week I’m going to Paris, France. I’ll be spending New Years there.

I want to end with my goals that I started this year - give you an update on what I did or didn’t do.

1.    Open my bar: This got pushed on the back-burner. I just had way too much going on in 09 and 2010 looks busier than ever. It has always been a dream of mine and I will keep this on my list for “THINGS I MUST DO”.

2.    Hiking once a month: LOL. NOPE. NOT EVEN ONE HIKE.

3.    Learn to surf: Look at #2.

4.    Attend 16 marketing seminars around the globe: Attended 18, 12 of which I hosted.

5.    Visit the Galapagos: YES!!!!

6.    Visit a part of Mexico that I never been before: DAMN IT!!

7.    Visit a part of the U.S. that I never been before. YES!! WASHINGTON, D.C.  I will definitely return very soon.

8.    Read a new book every week on my Amazon Kindle – write a blog about the book on JohnRaygoza.com: I read around 30 books this year. Favorite one was an oldie-but-goodie by David Olgivy: Confessions of an Advertising Man. Highly recommended.

9.    Feed 1,000 people on Skid Row: YES!!!

10. Create a mentorship program for underprivileged kids in Los Angeles: NO!

11. Visit my brother in Omaha and his new baby: NO!

12. Create a 401K plan for PushTraffic employees: After seeing what happen to 401K’s during the recession, our company decided it was not in our best interest.

13. Get up each morning at 6 a.m. – including weekends:  I do this like 4 times a week now - some days I sleep in but I’m waking up super early now. Thanks to Vanessa of course.

14. Go to sleep each night at 10 p.m. including weekends: Again, Thanks to Vanessa.

15. Buy an Aston Martin, Ferrari, or Lamborghini: I got something money can’t buy: A baby! I also got engaged this year to Vanessa and lets face it….i wanted those cars because they were chic magnets. But I found the love of my life and she’s way sexier than all of those cars combined.

All in all, I learned one very important lesson from the man up above. When you plan, GOD laughs!

Just roll with the punches!

 Best,

John Paul Raygoza

I know it may sound sad that I’m not living in the moment - but I enjoy planning things out once in a while.

September has been the busiest month of the year - it’s the end of summer, the 3rd quarter, and the last month this year that I get to spend entirely at home….which I really enjoy. So this is how the rest of my year looks…

In October I’m going to Miami, Florida; Quito, Ecuador; Galapago Islands; and the Amazon jungle. I love adventures so this is one trip I’m really going to enjoy.

When I get back home I’m flying back to the East coast for 3 days in New York.

And to top of the year, my fiance and I are spending Xmas and New Years in Paris!

If you don’t hear from me much, it’s because I’m traveling.

Best,

John

On August 10th I weighed in at my heaviest: 216 lbs! Astonishing? Yes. At least for me - 4 years ago I weighed 185. Last November I decided to go on a diet because I felt guilty and part of my New Years resolution was to diet and lose weight. Well it took 30 days before I fell back into my old routines of eating, drinking, going to sleep at 4 a.m., waking up at 9 a.m. to a big breakfast, having a huge lunch, and capping the night off with a few round of drinks with Ted & David at the bar. Big mistake!

The consequences were obvious: I put on more weight. Well after watching my beautiful fiance eat healthy every single day I decided it was time for me to get on a real diet. I’m proud to say that I can count how many alcoholic drinks I had in the month of August with one hand. I work out 3 times a week now with my boxing trainer, I hired a nutrionist, and I eat Vegan 6 days out of the week.

The result? I’ve dropped 8 pounds in less than 30 days. I feel great and I found a new cuisine I never thought would fit my dining taste: Vegan.

Vegan food actually taste like regular food. Try My Vegan in Pasadena and order their Orange Chicken (they don’t use real chicken but it taste the same) if you don’t believe me. The great part is that I don’t feel guilty for eating orange chicken.

So I still have 120 days left in the year to get to my desired weight: 185 pounds of lean muscle!

I don’t think I ever mention how I cap my weekends off - It’s a great way to end a weekend and start a new one. I go get a massage. I’ve been doing this since I was 21 - I’m a spa junkie….Vanessa loves this about me. She looks forward to Sunday evening because we head to our favorite spa in L.A. - Pho-Siam. It’s located in Echo Park (an area in the city of L.A…..and where I was born). Make sure you book an appointment because that place is always packed. If you arrive their you’ll see a bunch of expensive cars parked outside - giving you the impression that this spa is going to be costly. Not so, it actually cost $40 for a one hour treatment. The service and treatment is amazing….you’re not going to get your normal spa services, like steam room and sauna, but you’re going to reward your body with a relaxing massage. Not bad if you consider that it cost $160 for a one hour treatment at Burke Williams.

Off to watch a movie now, have a great day!

Best,

John Raygoza

So I told you guys I got back into my old hobby of photography...boy am I spending a lot of time playing with my new toy: Canon EOS Mark III.

I’m going to add a new category to my blog called “Photography”. I talk food, I talk business, and now I’m gonna talk photography. It’s a much easier task then guitar lessons I’ve been taking ; )

Photography can be intimidating if you don’t know the basics - I’m going to make this very basic for you. I carry a journal with me - in that journal I take notes of things I’m involved in….Everything in this journal is written down in very simple steps because I don’t believe in complicating things that are simple.

That being said, all you have to know in photography is ISO, Shutter Speed, and Aperture.

ISO changes how quickly the sensor absorbs light - basically the lower the ISO, the less quickly it has to absorb light. If you’re outdoors the range is normally 100-200.

Shutter Speed: Length of time shutter is open for light to get through. Higher shutter speed means the shutter is open for less time. This will effect the sharpness of the image because it captures speed. Indoor shutter speed should be around 400-500. The lower the shutter speed is, the more grainy your picture will come out.

Aperture: (F-number) - Measurement of how wide the shutter opens up when you take the shot. This is for focusing on the object -you can handle what objects will be in focus in your photo.

Now let me show you this stuff in action…

Picture Settings (Above):
Shutter: 1/250 or (250 for canon users)
Aperture: f/3.5
ISO: 250
The shutter is setting is causing too much light to come in - that’s why you can’t see the mountains in the background or the beautiful smoggy LA sky ; )

Photo settings (above):
Shutter: 1/400 (or 400 for canon users)
Aperture: f/4.0
ISO: 200

The big difference was changing the Shutter to 1/400. You can see the mountain in the background.

That’s all for now…fiance is asking me to get ready to go out in the town. As if it takes me as long as her to get ready (1 hour).

Best,

John

I’m glad there’s a lot more options for Mexican dining in Downtown Los Angeles. Because now I don’t have to settle for La Parilla whenever I’m craving Mexican food. Don’t get me wrong, La Parilla serves good food, but the service SUCKS! I use to live down the street from their Wilshire location so I use to dine there on a regular basis. Each time I went there they would sit me down at my table, walk away and not return for 10 minutes. You have to make a point to order your stuff while they’re walking you to your table or else you’re not gonna eat anytime soon. I’m not one to just post a bad review on one incident - I kid you not - this has happen every single time I’ve gone their. I had no other choice but to wait because their weren’t that many options in Downtown LA…….UNTIL NOW.

YXTA - It’s on Central & 6th - not the best location to have a restuarant but definitely worth visiting. The food is great - and service is good! Order their enchiladas! I’ve been their 3 times - my favorite are the enchiladas rancheras.

Rosa Mexicana - This place opened 2 days ago - we visited today and we were quite impressed because the restuarant was established in New York and quite frankly I don’t think New Yorkers know anything about Mexican food……they know everything about Italian food, chinese food, Puerto Rican food, but when it comes to Mexican food, nobody holds a candle to Los Angeles. I was dead wrong!

Rosa Mexicana serves really good food - they make the guacamole at the table, and I ordered the mole enchiladas and they came out really good. Best of all the service is WONDERFUL! Half-way through my diet coke, the waitress brought over a refill without even asking me.

NOTE: These 2 restaurants are for casual dining & great food. I want to be able to walk into a Mexican restuarant from time-to-time with my jeans and t-shirt on. If you want some fine dining Mexican options I would highly recommend Rivera’s on 11th & Flower. Great home-made tortillas & the drinks are the best I’ve ever tasted. And I’ve had a drink in every notable bar/lounge in Los Angeles, and Rivera’s is simply the best. I’ll cover drinks in a different blog.

I’m taking Friday through Sunday OFF! Don’t call me, don’t email me, and don’t worry about me : )

I’m going to chill by the pool all weekend, eat, sleep, watch a movie, and eat & sleep some more.

You should do the same!

Best,

John

2 posts in 1 day since I’ve been slacking the last month…

Places to eat…

I tried Domenico in Silver Lake and I really liked it. Their mozzarela is really good - it’s bufallo mozzarella, which means it’s a mozzarella cheese made from the milk of the water buffalo rather than from a cow’s milk. It’s the best kind of mozzarella! However, the best mozzarella is at Osteria Buca on Melrose.

Mr. Chows in Beverly Hills is a must. We went there 2 weeks ago for the first time. Order the espresso martini! Great drink. Their portions are small but they bring you out around 6 plates and they’ll keep it coming unless you tell them you’ve had enough. The don’t show you what’s on the menu or the prices…..but the price is reasonable for BH…2 people, full course meal, and a few drinks each: Total was $240 (including tip).

Tried 2 new coffee places. Jones coffee in Pasadena was worth the 15 minute drive from Downtown..they serve good espresso - but their specialty is their coffee. Lamill coffee in Silverlake is the best in LA - it even beats my favorite thus far, Groundworks. Lamill makes the best espresso in all of Los Angeles! I’m an espresso connaisseur - so I know my sh**. Beware of the price at Lamill’s: I ordered an espresso and Vanessa ordered a latte and it came out to 9 bucks…..hey I don’t blink twice at a bill unless the price doesn’t match up with the quality….this place is definitely worth $4 for a double shot of espresso!

My current favorite hobby is photography. I just forked out around 8 grand in camera equipment (photography is an expensive hobby). I bought the Canon EOS Mark III…it set me back around $4K, and I bought another $4K in lenses…..including a macro lense…that’s the one that can zoom in on very small insects. All week I’ve been shooting flys and ants…I live in LA and that’s all we got. But I’m getting ready for my trip to the Galapagos & a 2 day tour through the Amazon jungle where I intend on taking pictures of all sorts of wildlife creatures.

In 2004 I purchased a Nikon D70 and it was then that I discovered I love photography. I use to take photos from ringside - covering boxing matches around the world for my boxing site 15rounds.com

Back to hobbies: Just because you buy something expensive doesn’t mean it’ll make you better at your hobby…take for instance another hobby I started this year…the guitar: I went out and bought a $1200 guitar and I play like shit…not to mention I spent $1,000 for 10 lessons….however, when you buy a $4000 camera it’ll make you shoot like a photographer…I’ll upload some shots and you could be the judge.

So what have I been up to the last 60 days?
I traveled to Maui for 4th of July weekend - I don’t recommend it….Vanessa and I got bored on our 2nd day. We stayed at a 5 star hotel called Grand Wailea….hotel was great but the rest of Maui is just boring. We both agreed that we would have had a much better time in Cabo. Cabo is becoming Vanessa’s favorite weekend getaway.

We’re going to Las Vegas this weekend with our friends…my host at the Wynn comp’d me 2 rooms…they’re so nice over there…if you lose big money they invite you back to lose more. But this time I’m only taking the money that I’m willing to lose……okay that’s what I said last time and by 2 a.m. I had more markers than a Sharpie set.

Work-wise…business has never been better! The company I launched in February is getting bigger and bigger every second! On top of that I’m now hosting 3 events a month at my Malibu retreat. I can’t believe I call this work.

Did someone say we are in a recession? We must be doing something right at PushTraffic - because we went from 20 employees to 40 employees since September 2008 (when the market supposedly crashed). What’s our secret? We chose not to participate in the recession! Turn off the TV, put down the newspapers, stop spreading rumors, and get to work!

Money has no recession, people do!

Funny how we didn’t hear about the stock market having a horrible day when they broke the news of Michael Jackson’s death. The media only cares about keeping you glued to the screen!

Okay, that’s it for now…Vanessa just cooked up some Lasagna and now it’s time to eat ; )

Until next time, yours truly!

John

P.S. It keeps me disciplined, I enjoy it, I have something to look forward to when I’m alone…..Best of all, I have lots of fun doing it!

… I’m not talking about masterbation (get your mind out of the gutter!)…I’m talking about photography - my hobby!