"Start-Up" fever.

[swissie]

One of my step-daughters suffers from a serious illness: "Start-Up" fever. She works for a Thai Bank, selling various additional Insurance to account holders. Making about 30K/month.

She keeps pestering my "ex" to finance her a "start-up". The usual suspects: Nail salon, hair salon, a take away featuring only french fries and croissants, a condo in Pattaya to rent out etc etc etc. I keep telling them, that one only sees the few successful start- up's, nobody talks about the majority that never got off the ground.

I am holding against it and always recommend "you qualify for a decent government job and live happily ever after".

I am just afraid that after my demise, my "ex" will cave in an fork over the money. Her likely ending up on welfare as a result.

Foreseeing this, I have already ordered a large coffin for myself. So I can easily turn over in my grave.

[Bassosa]

You're recommending her to be a civil servant for the rest of her life....in Thailand of all places.

That's the sad part of this story to be honest. 

[blackcab]

Best idea: Get her to take her insurance agent's license for one of the major companies.

 

If she can find her own clients from her own circle of friends/family/etc she can make good money through commission.

 

She knows the business already, and she probably already has a phone/tablet to start with.

 

The bank she works for might not be impressed, so don't tell them.

[The Fugitive]

If she makes 30,000 baht per month now she'd be crazy to give it up. My stepson and neice only earn 15,000 and 13,000 respectively.

[OneMoreFarang]

  On 8/7/2023 at 4:08 PM, swissie said:

She keeps pestering my "ex" to finance her a "start-up". The usual suspects: Nail salon, hair salon, a take away featuring only french fries and croissants, a condo in Pattaya to rent out etc etc etc.

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You could try to (pretend) to take it serious. Let her make a business plan.

I.e. with the nail saloon let her calculate how much she must invest, how much rent to pay, how much salary, etc. and how many customers she would need to even break even. 

If she is serious then she should like the idea of this calculation and estimation. And likely she will calculate herself that it doesn't make any sense.

Repeat with other business.

 

I agree with above that she could try to get a (2nd) job where she gets commissions. If you works a lot then she should be able to make extra money.

 

The idea is that she "finds out" that most of the time there is no shortcut to make fast a lot of money. If she learns that experience that would be great.

[bignok]

  On 8/7/2023 at 4:08 PM, swissie said:

One of my step-daughters suffers from a serious illness: "Start-Up" fever. She works for a Thai Bank, selling various additional Insurance to account holders. Making about 30K/month.

She keeps pestering my "ex" to finance her a "start-up". The usual suspects: Nail salon, hair salon, a take away featuring only french fries and croissants, a condo in Pattaya to rent out etc etc etc. I keep telling them, that one only sees the few successful start- up's, nobody talks about the majority that never got off the ground.

I am holding against it and always recommend "you qualify for a decent government job and live happily ever after".

I am just afraid that after my demise, my "ex" will cave in an fork over the money. Her likely ending up on welfare as a result.

Foreseeing this, I have already ordered a large coffin for myself. So I can easily turn over in my grave.

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If you are dead who cares? You wont.

[LaosLover]

My trainer at the gym "is looking at properties" to rent out to expats. Problem: he has no money, not a single satang. He hopes that a bank will loan him enough so that he can have that positive cash flow from the get-go.

 

It's a poor country with a lot of shiny objects like 150 baht mango shakes. So there's a lot of fantasizing and lotto ticket buying. 

[stoner]

  On 8/8/2023 at 12:57 AM, LaosLover said:

It's a poor country with a lot of shiny objects like 150 baht mango shakes. So there's a lot of fantasizing and lotto ticket buying. 

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hahahah im gonna buy ticket number 150 for the next draw. 

[GammaGlobulin]

When I think of the LITERAL meaning of this topic, and IN QUOTES, I am sorry but the only thing I can think of is vibrators...

I love Mick with his Lilac-Orchid-colored, V-neck, striped, clingy-thingy he is wearing.

 

 

Why not become a Rock Star, rather than a shop owner?

The Sky is the Limit!....

 

 

[bignok]

  On 8/8/2023 at 1:06 AM, stoner said:

hahahah im gonna buy ticket number 150 for the next draw. 

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Shakes are normally 40 to 60 baht

[couchpotato]

  On 8/7/2023 at 4:36 PM, Bassosa said:

You're recommending her to be a civil servant for the rest of her life....in Thailand of all places.

That's the sad part of this story to be honest. 

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Actually in Thailand it's not sad. Very sensible option for a stable life. This suits many people. Don't knock it.

[blackcab]

  On 8/7/2023 at 6:39 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

You could try to (pretend) to take it serious. Let her make a business plan.

I.e. with the nail saloon let her calculate how much she must invest, how much rent to pay, how much salary, etc. and how many customers she would need to even break even. 

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And then get her to work out how many more customers she will need to make the 30,000 baht she lost from the job she gave up.

 

Get her to calculate the average profit per customer, and the average time spent per customer, and let her work out how many customer hours are needed every month.

 

In central Bangkok I see prices of 200 baht per hand, so 400 baht per customer. If her business expenses are 10,000 per month and she needs to recoup 30,000 salary then she needs 100 customers per month, or 25 customers per week. If a customer takes 1 hour then she has spent 25 hours of labour already.

 

If she worked 50 hours per week, and she had a customer every single hour, then she would make an additional 40,000 baht per month - but we all know you are never going to get a customer sat in chair nearly all of the time.

 

As we all know, she needs to work this out for herself though.

[OneMoreFarang]

  On 8/8/2023 at 7:23 AM, blackcab said:

 

And then get her to work out how many more customers she will need to make the 30,000 baht she lost from the job she gave up.

 

Get her to calculate the average profit per customer, and the average time spent per customer, and let her work out how many customer hours are needed every month.

 

In central Bangkok I see prices of 200 baht per hand, so 400 baht per customer. If her business expenses are 10,000 per month and she needs to recoup 30,000 salary then she needs 100 customers per month, or 25 customers per week. If a customer takes 1 hour then she has spent 25 hours of labour already.

 

If she worked 50 hours per week, and she had a customer every single hour, then she would make an additional 40,000 baht per month - but we all know you are never going to get a customer sat in chair nearly all of the time.

 

As we all know, she needs to work this out for herself though.

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And I thought she wants to invest (someone else money) and someone else works so she can make the profit.

[Bassosa]

  On 8/8/2023 at 7:19 AM, couchpotato said:

Actually in Thailand it's not sad. Very sensible option for a stable life. This suits many people. Don't knock it.

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I am knocking it. Thailand's bloated and ineffective civil sector is bringing the country down. Plus civil servants in Thailand are lazy and have a chip on their shoulder.

If you have the ambition to become a civil servant you've basically given up on life.

[The Fugitive]

  On 8/8/2023 at 1:01 PM, Bassosa said:

I am knocking it. Thailand's bloated and ineffective civil sector is bringing the country down. Plus civil servants in Thailand are lazy and have a chip on their shoulder.

If you have the ambition to become a civil servant you've basically given up on life.

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'Government sector' includes water and electricity supply, schoolteachers, hospital workers and police. Agreed, at our local Amphur there is very little activity and they like to think up difficulties so that you'll go away. Don't see much activity at Regional Local Government office either!

[swissie]

  On 8/7/2023 at 6:39 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

You could try to (pretend) to take it serious. Let her make a business plan.

I.e. with the nail saloon let her calculate how much she must invest, how much rent to pay, how much salary, etc. and how many customers she would need to even break even. 

If she is serious then she should like the idea of this calculation and estimation. And likely she will calculate herself that it doesn't make any sense.

Repeat with other business.

 

I agree with above that she could try to get a (2nd) job where she gets commissions. If you works a lot then she should be able to make extra money.

 

The idea is that she "finds out" that most of the time there is no shortcut to make fast a lot of money. If she learns that experience that would be great.

Expand  

When I used to live in the sticks, I went thru the "Business-Plan" thing with quite a number of Thais. Too many numbers and figures only confused them and gave them a headache.

Their "Business-Plan" remained the same: If somebody makes money with something, it must automatically be worth getting into it as well.

- Case in point: I recommended to my neighboring pig farmers to increase the size of their operation when prices are low and everybody is getting out and reverse procedure when prices are high and everybody wants to get back in.
Only 1 taker, he did increasingly well. His success was attributed to his obvious good connections to some well meaning ghosts.

[swissie]

  On 8/7/2023 at 5:10 PM, blackcab said:

Best idea: Get her to take her insurance agent's license for one of the major companies.

 

If she can find her own clients from her own circle of friends/family/etc she can make good money through commission.

 

She knows the business already, and she probably already has a phone/tablet to start with.

 

The bank she works for might not be impressed, so don't tell them.

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Now THAT makes sense. I will suggest it to her.

[swissie]

Actually, my post adresses the unwritten Thai law, that family members MUST support other family members. My "Ex" is from the old school. = By not supporting family members brings automatically "bad Karma".

I realise that in a country where there is practically no Social-Security System in place, internal family support is the only Social Security System available.

It's a 2 sided sword: It can do a lot of good, but it can also put entire families in dire straits. I have seen it happen both ways. If the latter happens, it was always due to unrealistic expectations. Failures are usually explained in 2 ways:
- We have not done enough "merit" at the temple or some "ghosts" were sabotaging the whole thing from the very beginning. TIT.

 

[couchpotato]

  On 8/8/2023 at 1:01 PM, Bassosa said:

I am knocking it. Thailand's bloated and ineffective civil sector is bringing the country down. Plus civil servants in Thailand are lazy and have a chip on their shoulder.

If you have the ambition to become a civil servant you've basically given up on life.

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You seem to have some personal beef with the administration of the country that you're a visitor in. Let them run it as they deem fit...all we can do is relax, sit back and watch from afar. 

[StreetCowboy]

  On 8/7/2023 at 4:36 PM, Bassosa said:

You're recommending her to be a civil servant for the rest of her life....in Thailand of all places.

That's the sad part of this story to be honest. 

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Thailand is a great place for entrepreneurial civil servants.

[swissie]

  On 8/8/2023 at 3:37 PM, StreetCowboy said:

Thailand is a great place for entrepreneurial civil servants.

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Rumor has it, that occasionally brown envelopes are in short supply.

Never mind. In Europe we do the same. now using crypto currency.

[StreetCowboy]

  On 8/8/2023 at 3:58 PM, swissie said:

Rumor has it, that occasionally brown envelopes are in short supply.

Never mind. In Europe we do the same. now using crypto currency.

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klepto currency

[thaibeachlovers]

  On 8/7/2023 at 6:03 PM, The Fugitive said:

If she makes 30,000 baht per month now she'd be crazy to give it up. My stepson and neice only earn 15,000 and 13,000 respectively.

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30,000 is good money. Try living on what a supermarket shelf stacker gets.

[thaibeachlovers]

  On 8/8/2023 at 2:52 PM, couchpotato said:

You seem to have some personal beef with the administration of the country that you're a visitor in. Let them run it as they deem fit...all we can do is relax, sit back and watch from afar. 

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Isn't it amazing how farangs visit Thailand for a holiday and then become experts on how the country should be run!

[Bassosa]

  On 8/8/2023 at 2:52 PM, couchpotato said:

You seem to have some personal beef with the administration of the country that you're a visitor in. Let them run it as they deem fit...all we can do is relax, sit back and watch from afar. 

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I'm not a visitor. I pay tax here. Plus I get asked for bribes all the time by these scum civil servants.

[swm59nj]

Your step daughter seems to have a lot of ambition.  She should be given positive reinforcement  Not told she shouldn’t move forward in her life. 
If a person stays stagnant in their lives.  They end up miserable.  And whine about their finances and how the world gave them a bad turn in life.  

Most successful people are successful because they took a chance in life.  They just didn’t sit around thinking they can’t do anything more. 
 

[Bassosa]

  On 8/9/2023 at 7:19 PM, swm59nj said:

Your step daughter seems to have a lot of ambition.  She should be given positive reinforcement  Not told she shouldn’t move forward in her life. 
If a person stays stagnant in their lives.  They end up miserable.  And whine about their finances and how the world gave them a bad turn in life.  

Most successful people are successful because they took a chance in life.  They just didn’t sit around thinking they can’t do anything more. 
 

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And they certainly don't become a civil servant. That's like giving up on life.

[Ralf001]

  On 8/8/2023 at 11:21 PM, Bassosa said:

I'm not a visitor. I pay tax here. Plus I get asked for bribes all the time by these scum civil servants.

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I pay tax here too and have done for many years.

Cannot recall the last time I was asked for a bribe by a civil servant.

You must be very unlucky.. or doing something dodgy to attract the requests.

[Fat is a type of crazy]

  On 8/9/2023 at 8:15 PM, Bassosa said:

And they certainly don't become a civil servant. That's like giving up on life.

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You may deal with the dodgy side of the public service but as a career public servant I can confirm it can be an interesting, productive, and satisfying career. In my cases saving millions of dollars. Stopping illegal acts. 

Good work life balance, generous retirement superannuation, helping the good people of Australia.

Sure many Thais the same.

Not everyone wants to spend long hours selling something or other. Good for those who do. Public servants do have a life thanks. 

[thaibeachlovers]

  On 8/8/2023 at 11:21 PM, Bassosa said:

I'm not a visitor. I pay tax here. Plus I get asked for bribes all the time by these scum civil servants.

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If one has to go to immigration to extend a visa, one is a visitor.