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rd World Shit-Holes --Make huge money and have loads of time off--
06-21-2011, 10:29 AM
I heard that the jews were the first people to fly to Haiti to cut out the organs of the dying people in the street directly after the earthquake disaster
Now we are talking business
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rd World Shit-Holes --Make huge money and have loads of time off--
07-04-2011, 05:28 PM
Bump.
I want to begin meeting more expat hustler types carving niches like the ones gameabroad has mentioned here, and less ethnic Asian tycoon types who are somewhat difficult to relate to since:
-They largely inherited their fortunes and business empires
-They are ethnically, culturally, and linguistically tied to these countries
-They are significantly older than I am
This material, or at least all the stuff on the first page, was very solid.
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rd World Shit-Holes --Make huge money and have loads of time off--
12-14-2011, 08:14 PM
I met a young man in Bali once who made his way as an interior decorator specializing in hand painted walls. He'd get a group of commissions, then fly to Ubud to hire artists to paint on wallpaper. By his description and the size of the smile on his face, he was doing very well.
Import export can work, but as trends get picked up, in come the copycat vendors, and eventually a market will get saturated and profits slim up and get anorexic. Impulse buy items sell much better in a strong economy. I've known people who could bring in a few thousand a day when their timing and location was perfect with certain impulse buy items. A decade later and even the copycat vendors were getting out. One problem with such a business is the need to keep a large inventory. The inventory can get stale, making it difficult to maintain the turnaround required to keep a large fresh inventory. A few bad buying decisions can slow you down or sidetrack you. Importing and then vending retail is a time and lifestyle commitment that sucks you in when times are good, but keeps you committed as the market slows down. Very few salespeople weather these changes. Mostly people cycle in and out of the business. However if you get the timing right and are able to get yourself out of the business and into something else, vending impulse items will pay you more than any hourly wage job, and can be a fun lifestyle for a few years.
I've met people who focused on the wholesale end of things. Again, the items you choose will have a fashion cycle, and you need to wharehouse a large quantity. But if you are able to move your focus as the market changes, you can do well. I knew a market leader in wholesale silver jewelry who at one point switched to balinese handicrafts. After that dried up I'm sure he was savy to move to the next thing. You really need to maintain your creative inspiration in the business, and that can fail you after years as you lose interest. Entrepreneurship can often be a matter of changing your direction dramatically, and this can lead to many great successes and many great failures. Is that a lifestyle for you? It's not for everyone. The only consolation you have in the low times is that you are your own boss. It helps to have irrational self confidence in your future prospects.
For working overseas there are people who start call centers, create a web-design house, create a webcam sex business, create software using hired programmers, do internet marketting, and who create and manufacture and market products on the internet. If you want to sell licensed products such as bootleg software or DVDs, you'll have a constant cat and mouse game of your business getting shut down, and you finding new ways to open it.
The entrepreneur mindset is that anything you see to purchase, you assess the market and assess how to produce it. Even a niche market electronic device can be produced and sold.
The problem with entrepreneurship is handling your time. A 40,000/year business may take your full time efforts to build up. Such an effort will leave you stressed. You'll need to learn that profits are available in many businesses but are not worth pursuing, because of the time drain. This is why venture capitalists don't try to start many small businesses themselves. Even with a large staff, there is not time to oversee and manage many concerns. You have much less time than you imagine.
Business can more easily grow as you can systematize and automate them. However if you merely systematize them you run the risk of competitors copying you, and of your employees branching out on their own. Try to keep your trade secrets under only your control. Some people never even reveal what their business is to their friends.
Although it's true that you can't always just follow your bliss and do what makes you happy, it does help if you use your natural inspirations as motivation. There is no reason why you shouldn't enjoy your work. People will notice and your business will do better if you want to put in that extra bit of energy and inspiration into your product, displays, and sales presentation.
And lastly, one lesson that can take some of us decades to learn, once you have found a niche that pays well, stop expanding into many new areas, and focus. There is a time for diversification, and there is a time for focus. Learn to tell the difference.
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rd World Shit-Holes --Make huge money and have loads of time off--
12-14-2011, 08:25 PM
I know one guy who teamed with a group of investors in the vacation planning business, and built an immense wooden boat, complete with sailing masts. They are booked solid a year in advance with scuba divers, and make big bucks.
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rd World Shit-Holes --Make huge money and have loads of time off--
12-23-2011, 06:13 PM
The problem with this is that you're living in a.... Third World Shithole!
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rd World Shit-Holes --Make huge money and have loads of time off--
12-24-2011, 05:13 AM
Third world shite holes are the best places IMO. I'd happily live in somewhere less developed and poorer. Usually more fun.
