Living here is not that hard.  It is actually an achievable goal for a large number of people from North America and Europe.  So how is a guy working in a factory in Cleveland Ohio, a logging camp in Canada or a Printing shop in Manchester going to be able to afford to move to Thailand?

The answer is in the language you speak.  There is a host of jobs here for english teachers and you do not have to be from an english speaking country to get them.  They hire anyone with a proficiency in english.  So what does it take to get a job teaching english?  Nothing really, you just pass the TEFL and you are able to work in a number of schools in bangkok and other places.  There is even some programs around town that do not require the TEFL.

Well if I teach english, will I make enough money?  The answer is that all depends on you and how hard you want to work.  Most inglish teachers will double their salary by tutoring students after school.

What if I do not want to teach english?  Well there are other jobs you can get, plus it is not expensive to start a business here.  Think about this, in the US we refer to Amway as a joke, but to these people it is considered high quality American merchandise.  I am not suggesting coming to Thailand and becoming an Amway salesman, but there is a lot of stuff you can do.

How much do you need to start a business in Thailand?  Well for a lot of you, you will be coming to Thailand this winter for holiday.  What you would spend on your holiday is all it would take in most cases.  Think about it, instead of spending 3 months in a guest house for 600 baht a night or 18,000 baht a month, you spend 3 months in Bangkok working on your business.  You stay in a room that is just as nice and probably bigger and you spend 6000 baht a month on the room.  You save 12,000 baht which can go for your business, that is an employee and a half.  Next you cut back on going out to 3 nights a week from your normal 7, the other 4 nights you spend sitting in a store on the soi sipping on beers talking to all your new friends.  you save 15000 baht a week or more if you are like me.

That will pay for your business to be started.  Then you find an idea that works and go for it.  If you fail, then what have you lost, you have had a different type of vacation, but you have tried to do something that will set your life on a different path.  It will make your life great if you succeed.

If you do not have the kind of money to stay that length of time, it is ok.  Go back to the first option and teach english to make extra money while you are here.  It will slow your burn rate on money down and give you the time you need to get something up and running.  You might not want to teach english, but it is a means to an end.  It is temporary.

Shoot me a message if you want to learn more about living the dream.  When I came to Thailand, I had 12,000 USD that I saved up in Iraq, to some of you that might be a large amount, but I have lived here for almost 3 years making a living and I still have money left.  So if you really want to live here you can.

Get up off of that sofa and Live the dream, move to Thailand!!!

selling your business? is this an advertising pitch? and what about the thai business name you require to start your business? how much does that cost to set up?

I'm a little confused. Most of the readers here already live in Thailand.

We have jobs, businesses and incomes.

This might be a good forum topic. There are so many ways to make money doing business with Thailand it would suprise many.

I made mine by being the first person to import Thai grown Arabicas coffee into the USA. I tied the supply up with monopoly contracts, got my trademark registered, imported in an initial 2 tons, found my roaster, set up my distribution network, then sold it all off to a Canadian for enough that I have a nice monthly income from my investments, and became retired at 56. It has taken 3 years to get all the paperwork, and red tape completed in the sale, thanks to the economy down turn, but now it is all complete, and I'm fully retired.

Ken Davids, of Coffeereview.com, is the person who literally wrote the book on grading coffee. Mine was the first high grade coffee he had ever seen come out of Thailand. He has seen, and reviewed, every high grade coffee the world over, and still does. He is THE expert.

This is also why there is no high grade coffee in Thailand, it's all exported, thanks to me....lolol.

This is his review of my coffee.

http://www.coffeereview.com/allreviews.cfm?find=koolcoffee

Then if you click on the advanced search tab on the upper right, leave everything checked as it is, but type in "Thailand" in the keywords box, click go, then scroll down to the bottom of the page, and you can see by the dates next to each Thai coffee that in fact mine was the first, for those that think I'm BSing them.....lolol. Unfortunately when I sold everything, I took my website down, so that link no longer works, but you get the just of how this coffee came to be if you click on my corporate name in the review.

Now I'm getting ready to live the dream, but without having to work.

This and your previous journals recently sound more like you're trying to convince yourself, rather than others, about the 'dream' you're living.

Stickman Lite

Johnno, I am not going to get into the details, but you can get it done for less than 10,000 baht. Am I selling a business in Thailand, actually I already have. My first company was just bought by SCG's cementhai group. My second business has been looked at for a potential buy out. Now as far as am I pushing my services here, well that is for you to decide, but since I am not in the business of registering anything, I think that is highly unlikely. I am not trying to push a business on anyone, I am simply trying to tell people if they want to move here, if they dream of living here instead of just coming on holiday, they can.

English Bob - Actually if you look, most of the guys that are on here everyday do not live in Thailand. If you already live here and you are happy with your income then this post is not for you. If you are living in the UK, working in a job you hate and you think you would be happier coming here then perhaps this is something you might want to look into.

Good for you Koolbreez, see that is a person who came here, used a little bit of western ingenuity, saw an opportunity and capitalized on it. That is what capitalism is all about and anyone can do it.

Andrew Carnegie a Scotish turn of the 20th century industrialist stated this, “The turning point in your life is when you finally realize that you can do it yourself. You have to believe in you, because sometimes the only person in your life, who will believe in you, is you.†This guy was a self made billionaire who came from nothing to achieve great things. It does not matter if you are a teacher, bartender or whatever, if you believe and you try then you might succeed.

Theodore Roosevelt stated, "Believe you can and you're halfway there." This was one of the greatest presidents in American history, he obviously came from money, but he was a man with vision and one of the greatest presidents in US history.

Theodore Roosevelt also state, "It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

In the end it does not matter if you contact me or not, just know that you can do it. Like Koolbreeze above, it is possible, but if you don't try then you will never suceed. Thailand is an amazing place, we all know that, but it is also an attainable place. It is the new land of opportunity for those that want it. It does not matter if you live here or not, this is a place where you can succeed, if you are not happy with what you are doing work to change it, because you are the only person that can.

Maybe, peemarc, maybe I am trying to convince myself. Maybe, I am suceeding, maybe I am convincing you too, who knows, but at the end of the day if my words give someone the courage to chase their dreams then it is all for a good purpose and your criticism will matter not.

I used to write on this website a number of years ago, I was in Iraq then and the thing that I love about this website is people like you. You have to defend your ideas on this website and if you can't do it, then perhaps your ideas are not that good. I remember their was a guy named Beej who was on here then, perhaps he is still on here and he used to rip my political philosophy apart. Since then I have realized that he was not right about everything, but my views were one sided and I had to be prepared to defend them if they were to have any merit. That is the lesson he taught me and it was a valuable lesson. English Bob and others used to defend some of my posts then. Now the subject I like to discuss is more inspirational, in part because I have a large number of customers from the US and Europe through my second business that is in the tourism trade. No Johnno, I am not trying to rent them anything, but I see a great desire for people to try to move here and live, that perhaps is what we, the people that do live in Thailand, have to offer. A way for these people to come here and live there dreams or at least try, because I know from myself, if I did not have the courage to try I never would have created Muangthai Woodcrafts Co., Ltd and I never would have sold it to SCG. I am not saying that I am a success, it was a marginally profitable company, but I happened to be in the right place at the right time, which is why I sold the company. I came between SCG and a big deal, so rather than loose the deal, they bought me. Sometimes, success comes through luck, but as my dad always said you can never win the Lottery if you don't buy a ticket.

guess who's back

i mean ,.. back again

doing business wherever over the world ....

first thing and the most important is honesty and loyalty

not just your clients

but ppl around you in your life

then you can start call youself successful

i think you need to understand word 'honesty' first

you can't make it if you don't know that

I am sorry Manee, I disappeared from you life and that was wrong. Without a word, I vanished and for that I am sorry.

you don't have to say sorry here really na cos you didn't do anything to me , i just felt sad for things that happened to you because of what you did ,

what go around and come around

Most inglish teachers ??????????

I guess getting me for a private tutor for your kids is out. No, I am not an english teacher and I never have been, but I have a lot of friends that are. My information on teaching comes from them.

well at least what u have written here with your stories has some good part in it , inspired some geniun people . Im sure there are many women has cursed u to unsuccesful stories . too much writing is a wasted ,dont u think ?

Well, I have time now and I enjoy doing it.

I like the concept but I think like EB said, most of us already live and/or work here so maybe more on specifics. It's easy to discuss in the abstract but really, really useful if you have real bits of wisdom you can share from your experiences.

well there are many people who live oversea and wanna come here...these might be usefull.

Ok, here is some details. I have started 2 marginally successful businesses in Thailand and one that in 3 months has become more successful than the other two put together. Ok, the first question you have to ask yourself is what your time frame for beginning a business is. If you have a short time frame, in other words you have limited money and need to get something up and running fast then you are going to create a business model that adds efficency to the system. In other words it changes HOW people are going to buy. If you have a longer time frame, like say the people that already live here, then you might choose a business model that changes WHAT people are going to buy, this will take longer to develop, but the profits from success are much greater.

Short time fram, Changing HOW people buy something.

In this case you are going to do comparitive analysis between the charming but archaic way of doing business in Thailand and you are going to compare that to the US or Europe. What you are looking for is ways to squeeze the cost out of buying the same services or products. I am not going to give you any examples on what I mean on this, because everytime I run my big mouth like this someone else in Thailand becomes rich.

Long Time Frame. Changing WHAT people are buying.

In this case you are going to look at the market and try to imagine what is not here. In other words you are going to go shopping. It is kind of like that kids game in the mall where you are comparing pictures and looking for differences. Anyway, once you have found a list of items or services that are not here create a means of analyzing them for quality. Create a chart and rank them based on how big they are in the US. How they would benefit Thai people and finally how much they cost. This will tell you what is the best product to sell, highest number you begin researching first. Cheaper products are easier to sell.

OK, once you have your product or service. You need to look at what is the cost of delivery, i.e. am I going to be able to buy this thing, deliver it to market and sell it for a profit. Once you establish that you have a product that is needed by the Thai people, it is selling for a good price, it is not available here and you are going to be able to make a profit by selling it. Then you want to start looking at the market, ask yourself WHO is your customer and WHERE are you going to sell this.

Finally you are going to answer WHY are they going to buy it. This will help you with advertising and marketing later. Once you have all these questions answered you are going to but together the details of your plan. How are you going to provide them with this product or service. How much are you going to make. Once you have a satisfactory asnwer for that, then you are going to move forward with your plan, if you have enough capital. If not, then put that plan on the shelf and wait for a day that you do. In the mean time, I would look for another more viable plan or start writting all this up in a Business plan and shopping it around for someone to invest in. Be careful on telling anyone about your ideas though, because they will steal them and run with them. They will make a great deal of money on your good idea. They say copying is the greatest flattery, but flattery don't pay my bar tab, that idea can.