Making Money in Thailand
Making Money in Thailand? When I arrived here I didn’t have much choice about making money in Thailand. My $1240 Social Security check was enough to live on but travel was not an option and I couldn’t even afford a car. So I pestered all the local expats who would listen and asked them what they did to make ends meet. The stories they told me about their mistakes, wins, and losses were inspirational and helpful: I adopted two of them for myself and also found that they’d given me enough material for a book. Here’s an outline of what it covers:
- Fifteen ways to start a Thai-based business
- How to sell Thai products back to your home market
- How the Thai government helps you make money
- Where to find products to sell
- What kinds of products sell best
- How to sell your services in Thailand
- How to sell your skills abroad from Thailand
- Getting a job and a Thai work permit the moment you arrive
- How to understand Thai culture…and fit in
- The 15 biggest pitfalls for doing business in Thailand
Also: Useful Charts, Step-by-step Checklists, Links, Budgets, and Helpful Guides to Preparing to do business in Thailand. And you’ll get useful reviews and smart tips to help you get started.
This Is How You Do It
Making money in Thailand is surprisingly easy. The economy is growing at 5% and the Thai Post Office goes so far as to make easy to sell Thai goods on EBay (door to door tracking and signature). Even though most of us who come to Thailand have at least a $1200 monthly income – the same as a Thai engineer makes – for two reasons we often get the urge to make a little more:
- The first is to afford the semi-luxuries that make life enjoyable, like travel. Now that you’ve got the time, why not take advantage of the local budget airline’s mid-week special fare of $29.00 to Bali, for example? Or spend the hottest month at one of Thailand’s fabulous beaches? Fares are $60 from anywhere to anywhere in Thailand, and accommodation is ridiculously cheap.
- The second reason is to have something to do, a challenge that gets you up in the mornings. Creating a new business from scratch in a new culture is certainly a challenge! But I’m enjoying it and so is almost every other expat I know here. That’s because there are so many opportunities.
Video
There are pitfalls of course, as Greg Miller explains in the video.
Despite these obstacles Greg is doing very well and so can you. We got so many questions in our workshops about making money that I interviewed a dozen local expat businesspeople and combined their advice with my own experience.