Its getting close to that time of year again when I'm done my stint in the oil patch and have more money than I know what do with, I'm definitely going to travel this winter (likely Latin America) but this time I'd like to explore some options as to how I may be able to make some money while abroad. One idea that came to mind is the shipping of heavy equipment such as excavators, bob cats, steam rollers, dump trucks, etc.
I thought of this because I have an uncle who used to do it, I haven't spoken to him in six years and I'm not too sure if he's still doing it, but he could probably give me some advice. I also know a good friend of mine in Nova Scotia who's father-in-law does it, so I'll likely hit him up too. I just wanted to know if any of you guys out there have any experience with this type of business venture and if you could give me some pointers.
I think it would likely go something like this:
1) Travel to a country where the economy is doing well and contrtruction projects are going on or are forecasted to take place, a random example I found online is a proposed canal in Nicaragua linking the Atlantic and Pacific coasts (similar to the Panama canal).
2) Network: meet with local business people, construction managers, etc to see if there's a demand for heavy equipment.
3) Find the heavy equipment: there's tons of old equipment where I work in Alberta and the large oil companies have to replace it after a certain number of years, regardless of what shape its in, I could also hit up auctions. Judging by the shitty equipment I've seen on job sites abroad, I think there's a good market for this stuff.
4) Ship the product abroad: I'd probably load it on a container in a Canadian port city (Vancouver, Montreal or Halifax) and ship from there.
The of course there's all of the other details: graft/corruption, finding trustworthy business partners, not getting kidnapped and robbed, insurance import taxes, etc.
I have about 50K to play around with now and can likely double that if I put it off for a year, I could also get some friends or investors in on the plan if I can get some solid leads, advice and hopefully convince the contacts that I already have to go in on this with me. Basically I want to put my money to work for me and if I could do this while traveling abroad, that would be ideal.
I thought of this because I have an uncle who used to do it, I haven't spoken to him in six years and I'm not too sure if he's still doing it, but he could probably give me some advice. I also know a good friend of mine in Nova Scotia who's father-in-law does it, so I'll likely hit him up too. I just wanted to know if any of you guys out there have any experience with this type of business venture and if you could give me some pointers.
I think it would likely go something like this:
1) Travel to a country where the economy is doing well and contrtruction projects are going on or are forecasted to take place, a random example I found online is a proposed canal in Nicaragua linking the Atlantic and Pacific coasts (similar to the Panama canal).
2) Network: meet with local business people, construction managers, etc to see if there's a demand for heavy equipment.
3) Find the heavy equipment: there's tons of old equipment where I work in Alberta and the large oil companies have to replace it after a certain number of years, regardless of what shape its in, I could also hit up auctions. Judging by the shitty equipment I've seen on job sites abroad, I think there's a good market for this stuff.
4) Ship the product abroad: I'd probably load it on a container in a Canadian port city (Vancouver, Montreal or Halifax) and ship from there.
The of course there's all of the other details: graft/corruption, finding trustworthy business partners, not getting kidnapped and robbed, insurance import taxes, etc.
I have about 50K to play around with now and can likely double that if I put it off for a year, I could also get some friends or investors in on the plan if I can get some solid leads, advice and hopefully convince the contacts that I already have to go in on this with me. Basically I want to put my money to work for me and if I could do this while traveling abroad, that would be ideal.