Hi

I was wondering what the long-stay farangs are doing in Krabi for work? Do you have your own business ? Which? Or work for a company in Krabi? Which? Are there any stories of farangs stricking it rich in or near Krabi with their own business?

What are the perfered businesses to work in for farangs and what are the pros and cons for working in or around Krabi?

Cheers!

First explorer2011, please understand this is an extremely sleepy forum, it went a couple days without posts until Roel was kind enough to set us straight regarding transfers from Ao Nammao Pier (thanks Roel ! Good info).

Farangs striking it rich in Krabi, ha, ha, ha, striking it rich in Thailand (?) ha, ha, ha. For those of us longtermers here is the joke:

"How to you become a millionaire in Thailand? Show up as a multi-millionaire."

"How to you become a millionaire in Thailand? Show up as a multi-millionaire."

Pretty good advice. Another way of saying it that you need money to make money. And starting a business anywhere in Thailand is fraught with problems and folks looking to take your money away.

I am no expert on this, but what I can see are this:

If seeking employment then you are probably looking in the wrong place dependng on your particular work skills. The only employed farangs I know are teachers, English teachers and dive instructors. Oh, and swimming pool consultant.

Own businesses are the usual suspects: restaurant, bar, guest house/hotel (hostel!), dive shop, travel agency. A few farang real estate err...... enterprises - best way to put it!

I am not sure if any of them have struck it rich, but some of the early bird business owners may do IF they own the real estate and IF they can sell it.

Some of the business owners do have a comfortable lifestyle, but some do not.

As others have said, tread carefully if you are going down this route but the sponsor of this forum might be someone useful to ask as his business is growing.

Hope this helps.

Get a bar as an expensive hobby and use your pension/savings to live on....then in a few years when its all dried up you can go home and get a proper job.

The previous replies about sum it up. I think it would be almost impossible to find an employment offer in Krabi - most foreigners that I know who are working here are running their own businesses, in the restaurant/hotel/diving sector.

As a 'newbie' with little experience of doing business (successfully) in Thailand, the odds of business success are severely stacked against you, (as they are anyway in a new business).

My hostel is profitable after only a few months of business, but I put that down to my previous 5 years experience owning/managing my other hotel in Phuket, (so I have already learnt 'the hard way' about the mistakes not to make...)

But in any case, I wish you good luck - can you give us some more information about exactly what you want to do in Krabi and what your GF's name is?

Simon