Living In Thailand

[wingcommander0]

i am 50 years old and since 3 years back me and my thai girlfriend own some land 40km east of Ubon ratchatani

the land is one rai and is in a small village and she want to build house there but i am not sure because i still have some time until pension.

I have work in sweden but its not a regular income but i survive. i have been thinking on start internetcafe and a webshop in thailand and spend maybe half my time of the year in thailand but im not sure.

I am thankful for tips and ideas of how to make a good living in thailand

[stoneyboy]

I to am looking for tips on how to make a good living in Thailand,but know I'm wasting my time,no one is going to pay me 15,000 baht per day like I get when contracting offshore in UK,sometimes it's best to stick with what you know,I still manage to reside here for extended periods,not ideal,but I know in my heart it's he only way I can make it work at this time.

[sinbin]

Easy for a Thai to live on earnings made here. A totally different ball game for a farang. All the 'Internet' shops I know of pay tea money to the police. They turn a blind eye to the fact that a child under 14 isn't allowed in until after 4pm, as I recall. Are you prepared for that loss of income ?

[transam]

Forget it. 10 bht an hour per PC IF they pay you. Seen them come and go with Thai owners.

[sirineou]

I to am looking for tips on how to make a good living in Thailand,but know I'm wasting my time,no one is going to pay me 15,000 baht per day like I get when contracting offshore in UK,sometimes it's best to stick with what you know,I still manage to reside here for extended periods,not ideal,but I know in my heart it's he only way I can make it work at this time.

Stoneyboy is right. There are many of as that are in similar situations as you, and wish for an early escape from the rat race in the west, bu unfortunately there is no easy solution. if opening a webshop in Thailand was a viable solution we all would be doing it.

In my opinion the solution for you would be to save some money, build a home in Thailand free of mortgage, buy a small car and have it paid for, in an other word have as little of overhead expense as possible in Thailand, and until you retire, spend half of your time in Thailand, and half of your time back home working, After a few years in Thailand you you will not need any "Tips" you will know what to do.

Good Luck

[sezze]

I agree ,

Build a decent home , decent does not mean expensive , and set everything up to have a decent lifestyle after . Making money is easy , making money enough to give it the effort is difficult and demands a lot more . Try to get your overheads as low as possible , to 0 or near ( and that means elec too ) ad after that start something small and see how it goes . I've played with the idea of game/internet shop but i cannot see it viable as most people would not have the money to pay you and how much of that money is going inside your pocket ? Remember the elec bills , computer problems , replacement etc etc . How many costumers vs working time would you get and how much this brings to you ? I am pretty sure to struggle to make more then 5000 a month ... not worth the effort . Do your homework and check the possible amount of clients .

[JurgenG]

Stoneyboy is right. There are many of as that are in similar situations as you, and wish for an early escape from the rat race in the west, bu unfortunately there is no easy solution. if opening a webshop in Thailand was a viable solution we all would be doing it.

In my opinion the solution for you would be to save some money, build a home in Thailand free of mortgage, buy a small car and have it paid for, in an other word have as little of overhead expense as possible in Thailand, and until you retire, spend half of your time in Thailand, and half of your time back home working, After a few years in Thailand you you will not need any "Tips" you will know what to do.

Good Luck

Agree with you except for the investment. Do not build a home, or buy anything, until you've reach the step when you know what to do without having to ask "experts" in an anonymous forum.

Investing in Thailand is very risky. If you don't have much money, don't gamble. Move in for a few months, learn the ropes, then decide.

[jamescollister]

I'll take it the OP is another computer person, seems that the SME section is full of people who want to set up computer based business, web design, internet marketing, internet cafes etc. If that type of business would not fly in your home country, what makes people think it can be done here. Thai universities are pumping out truck loads of computer grads, there is no shortage.

Now if the OP was say a diesel mechanic, air con engineer etc he may have a show at making a business that works, but setting up a car repair center or engineering business does not come cheap. There is no easy money in Thailand, or any where in this world. Keep your job and wait, may be in the years to come you will give up on dreams of life here and the way the west is going don't think many will be able to retire for much longer. Jim

[zzaa09]

Easy for a Thai to live on earnings made here. A totally different ball game for a farang. All the 'Internet' shops I know of pay tea money to the police. They turn a blind eye to the fact that a child under 14 isn't allowed in until after 4pm, as I recall. Are you prepared for that loss of income ?

As intercafes are concerned, one could make a decent turnover just by running/operating this business "different" than the average Thai that might be offering this service.

The caveat will surely be location. Some areas yearn for these types of places, where other locales are saturated - competition.

[bergen]

Sound advice from JurgenG and jamescollister!

The only way to make a small fortune in Thailand - is to start with a large one...............

[livinginthericepatties]

here's what you do, wait till you get here to build anything, if not get a price for 300,000 you should beable to build something nice enough, make sure you have plans and a list of what it includes and your girlfriend is sure of what it includes, a little more for tile roof, buy a car put it in your name. along with the house, or lease the house from your girlfriend for 30 years and your name goes on the deed, and never, ever let any of her family stay, for a day a week , they will never leave, i wish someone told me before i came here these important things..now i'm down to just her mother and counting the days or figuring out a way to boot her also, a little tricky, but been working on it.

[zzaa09]

I to am looking for tips on how to make a good living in Thailand,but know I'm wasting my time,no one is going to pay me 15,000 baht per day like I get when contracting offshore in UK,sometimes it's best to stick with what you know,I still manage to reside here for extended periods,not ideal,but I know in my heart it's he only way I can make it work at this time.

Stoneyboy is right. There are many of as that are in similar situations as you, and wish for an early escape from the rat race in the west, bu unfortunately there is no easy solution. if opening a webshop in Thailand was a viable solution we all would be doing it.

In my opinion the solution for you would be to save some money, build a home in Thailand free of mortgage, buy a small car and have it paid for, in an other word have as little of overhead expense as possible in Thailand, and until you retire, spend half of your time in Thailand, and half of your time back home working, After a few years in Thailand you you will not need any "Tips" you will know what to do.

Good Luck

I believe these situations amongst Farang circles might be more common than not.

This commuting back-and-forth cycle.....stemming mainly from around having the ability to be employed, independent, and self-sufficient in Thaliand long-term.

Attempting to get yourself settled, residing year-round, providing yourself [and family] with consistent income is not always the easiest task at hand.

Lifestyle and how one cares to live is the ultimate decider. Certainly, every situation will differ from the next. Some have fallen into businesses and work of some sort, which of course benefits there longer range plans. And others struggle for whatever reason.

[bergen]

Sound advice from JurgenG and jamescollister!

The only way to make a small fortune in Thailand - is to start with a large one...............

[zzaa09]

One important strategy upon examining business/self-employment for yourself in Thailand:

Find a niche that there is a market for product or service.

Do some investigating and research as to what other Farang residents are doing......ideas spurn.

[klikster]

Stoneyboy is right. There are many of as that are in similar situations as you, and wish for an early escape from the rat race in the west, bu unfortunately there is no easy solution. if opening a webshop in Thailand was a viable solution we all would be doing it.

In my opinion the solution for you would be to save some money, build a home in Thailand free of mortgage, buy a small car and have it paid for, in an other word have as little of overhead expense as possible in Thailand, and until you retire, spend half of your time in Thailand, and half of your time back home working, After a few years in Thailand you you will not need any "Tips" you will know what to do.

Good Luck

Agree with you except for the investment. Do not build a home, or buy anything, until you've reach the step when you know what to do without having to ask "experts" in an anonymous forum.

Investing in Thailand is very risky. If you don't have much money, don't gamble. Move in for a few months, learn the ropes, then decide.

+1

[SlyAnimal]

I did a few calculations on an internet cafe, would cost you around 70k for 10x computers, otherwise just desks (maybe 30k for 10x desks) and build the building you're gonna run your shop out of (Which you'd probably double up as a new house for yourself at the same time). Then get your wife to run the business, and she could probably do better than breaking even, depending on how you manage + promote it etc, she could probably earn upto 10k per month, maybe more, maybe less.

But that's for a pretty small investment (Since the house would be your investment in the house, not an internet cafe), and 10k per month would keep her happy + it'd be money which she earnt from working, money of her own which she made, not you. So that'd keep her really happy, make her feel like she's useful and contributing. Also it'd be a reasonably social lifestyle, for both her and you when you come over. Since it's laid back enough that she can still take care of you etc when you're at home, she could also get her sisters/friends to take care of the shop for her some days if she wanted too, and it'd guarantee you that you'd have a decent net connection when you're at home.

But yeah, not a huge money spinner, if you setup a chain of them, all well managed, with staff bills of maybe 6k per month, with shop rental fees of around 3000 you could make a decent return. Since once you have a formula and experience in the business, you could likely setup more without too much trouble.

Having been thinking about it though, maybe I'll look into doing exactly that over my summer holidays this year lol.

Edit: Oh and meh @ all of the farang saying that you can't run a business successfully in Thailand. You guys just have the wrong idea about how businesses work. You're thinking as an employee not a manager or business owner. A business is an investment, not a job. You shouldn't really work in your own business, and if you do, you should pay yourself a salary for what your time is worth, after paying yourself for your time, work out what your % return on investment is. Ideally however, you should employ Thai people instead, because they'll work for considerably lower amount than what you would, thus increasing your return on investment while allowing you to relax and enjoy life (or work in another job which pays you what you're worth).

Edited January 23, 2012 by SlyAnimal

[jamescollister]

I did a few calculations on an internet cafe, would cost you around 70k for 10x computers, otherwise just desks (maybe 30k for 10x desks) and build the building you're gonna run your shop out of (Which you'd probably double up as a new house for yourself at the same time). Then get your wife to run the business, and she could probably do better than breaking even, depending on how you manage + promote it etc, she could probably earn upto 10k per month, maybe more, maybe less.

But that's for a pretty small investment (Since the house would be your investment in the house, not an internet cafe), and 10k per month would keep her happy + it'd be money which she earnt from working, money of her own which she made, not you. So that'd keep her really happy, make her feel like she's useful and contributing. Also it'd be a reasonably social lifestyle, for both her and you when you come over. Since it's laid back enough that she can still take care of you etc when you're at home, she could also get her sisters/friends to take care of the shop for her some days if she wanted too, and it'd guarantee you that you'd have a decent net connection when you're at home.

But yeah, not a huge money spinner, if you setup a chain of them, all well managed, with staff bills of maybe 6k per month, with shop rental fees of around 3000 you could make a decent return. Since once you have a formula and experience in the business, you could likely setup more without too much trouble.

Having been thinking about it though, maybe I'll look into doing exactly that over my summer holidays this year lol.

Edit: Oh and meh @ all of the farang saying that you can't run a business successfully in Thailand. You guys just have the wrong idea about how businesses work. You're thinking as an employee not a manager or business owner. A business is an investment, not a job. You shouldn't really work in your own business, and if you do, you should pay yourself a salary for what your time is worth, after paying yourself for your time, work out what your % return on investment is. Ideally however, you should employ Thai people instead, because they'll work for considerably lower amount than what you would, thus increasing your return on investment while allowing you to relax and enjoy life (or work in another job which pays you what you're worth).

Well slyanimal

Think you want to go over your numbers again. 10 computers at 70k Baht, is that for 10 or each. No way will you get 10 PCs for 70,000 Baht.

Going rate in rural Issan 15 to 20 Baht an hour. So if you were full 10 hours a day, which you will never be on a school day possible turn over 200 baht per computer per day. 200 x 10, 2000 baht on a good day. Now lets say business is good and you pull in 40,000 Baht a month. Minus costs, electricity is going to be a killer. Air con and 10 PCs going none stop. Now you haven't even taken into acount replacement costs and repairs, none of which is cheap. The internet provider is going to sting for another 5000 baht a month or there about. Don't see a lot of profit in it.

Thai internet shops pop up and are out of business faster then you can count. If Thais can't make it work then farangs have little chance.

Does the OPs wife know how to fix computers, as he will not be getting a work permit for it.

I run a business here and the times people come up with ideas based on what is charged for a service in the west and the lower cost here amazes me.

The Op states his wife has some land to build the shop on. Well here's another shock, if you want to be legit, you need planing permission, especilly where a farang is involed.

Whole thing ends up costing more and more and the returns get less and less.

As for going big, shop rental in good spot even in hick Buntharik are over 5,000 Baht a month and at 6,000 Baht a month for staff, you may get the village idiot, but no one with computer skills. Jim

[bergen]

I did a few calculations on an internet cafe, would cost you around 70k for 10x computers, otherwise just desks (maybe 30k for 10x desks) and build the building you're gonna run your shop out of (Which you'd probably double up as a new house for yourself at the same time). Then get your wife to run the business, and she could probably do better than breaking even, depending on how you manage + promote it etc, she could probably earn upto 10k per month, maybe more, maybe less.

But that's for a pretty small investment (Since the house would be your investment in the house, not an internet cafe), and 10k per month would keep her happy + it'd be money which she earnt from working, money of her own which she made, not you. So that'd keep her really happy, make her feel like she's useful and contributing. Also it'd be a reasonably social lifestyle, for both her and you when you come over. Since it's laid back enough that she can still take care of you etc when you're at home, she could also get her sisters/friends to take care of the shop for her some days if she wanted too, and it'd guarantee you that you'd have a decent net connection when you're at home.

But yeah, not a huge money spinner, if you setup a chain of them, all well managed, with staff bills of maybe 6k per month, with shop rental fees of around 3000 you could make a decent return. Since once you have a formula and experience in the business, you could likely setup more without too much trouble.

Having been thinking about it though, maybe I'll look into doing exactly that over my summer holidays this year lol.

Edit: Oh and meh @ all of the farang saying that you can't run a business successfully in Thailand. You guys just have the wrong idea about how businesses work. You're thinking as an employee not a manager or business owner. A business is an investment, not a job. You shouldn't really work in your own business, and if you do, you should pay yourself a salary for what your time is worth, after paying yourself for your time, work out what your % return on investment is. Ideally however, you should employ Thai people instead, because they'll work for considerably lower amount than what you would, thus increasing your return on investment while allowing you to relax and enjoy life (or work in another job which pays you what you're worth).

Well slyanimal

Think you want to go over your numbers again. 10 computers at 70k Baht, is that for 10 or each. No way will you get 10 PCs for 70,000 Baht.

Going rate in rural Issan 15 to 20 Baht an hour. So if you were full 10 hours a day, which you will never be on a school day possible turn over 200 baht per computer per day. 200 x 10, 2000 baht on a good day. Now lets say business is good and you pull in 40,000 Baht a month. Minus costs, electricity is going to be a killer. Air con and 10 PCs going none stop. Now you haven't even taken into acount replacement costs and repairs, none of which is cheap. The internet provider is going to sting for another 5000 baht a month or there about. Don't see a lot of profit in it.

Thai internet shops pop up and are out of business faster then you can count. If Thais can't make it work then farangs have little chance.

Does the OPs wife know how to fix computers, as he will not be getting a work permit for it.

I run a business here and the times people come up with ideas based on what is charged for a service in the west and the lower cost here amazes me.

The Op states his wife has some land to build the shop on. Well here's another shock, if you want to be legit, you need planing permission, especilly where a farang is involed.

Whole thing ends up costing more and more and the returns get less and less.

As for going big, shop rental in good spot even in hick Buntharik are over 5,000 Baht a month and at 6,000 Baht a month for staff, you may get the village idiot, but no one with computer skills. Jim

Now Jim be gentle - he's got it all sorted out!

Edited January 23, 2012 by bergen

[rgs2001uk]

I did a few calculations on an internet cafe, would cost you around 70k for 10x computers, otherwise just desks (maybe 30k for 10x desks) and build the building you're gonna run your shop out of (Which you'd probably double up as a new house for yourself at the same time). Then get your wife to run the business, and she could probably do better than breaking even, depending on how you manage + promote it etc, she could probably earn upto 10k per month, maybe more, maybe less.

But that's for a pretty small investment (Since the house would be your investment in the house, not an internet cafe), and 10k per month would keep her happy + it'd be money which she earnt from working, money of her own which she made, not you. So that'd keep her really happy, make her feel like she's useful and contributing. Also it'd be a reasonably social lifestyle, for both her and you when you come over. Since it's laid back enough that she can still take care of you etc when you're at home, she could also get her sisters/friends to take care of the shop for her some days if she wanted too, and it'd guarantee you that you'd have a decent net connection when you're at home.

But yeah, not a huge money spinner, if you setup a chain of them, all well managed, with staff bills of maybe 6k per month, with shop rental fees of around 3000 you could make a decent return. Since once you have a formula and experience in the business, you could likely setup more without too much trouble.

Having been thinking about it though, maybe I'll look into doing exactly that over my summer holidays this year lol.

Edit: Oh and meh @ all of the farang saying that you can't run a business successfully in Thailand. You guys just have the wrong idea about how businesses work. You're thinking as an employee not a manager or business owner. A business is an investment, not a job. You shouldn't really work in your own business, and if you do, you should pay yourself a salary for what your time is worth, after paying yourself for your time, work out what your % return on investment is. Ideally however, you should employ Thai people instead, because they'll work for considerably lower amount than what you would, thus increasing your return on investment while allowing you to relax and enjoy life (or work in another job which pays you what you're worth).

Have you ever spent anytime time in Thailand, never mind the backwoods of Issan.

Take your western business practices and throw them out the window, never mind your Excel spreadsheets and expactations.

Come on down, the water is lovely, please report back in a few years.

Too many been there done that, still the dreamers keep coming, outsmarted by a girl with no more than a P4 education, enjoy the ride.

[jamescollister]

Trond, speaking of which keep those sausages. Wife was almost set on Tesco tomorrow, but is feeling sick now. I will be there for lunch before we go. Jim

[SlyAnimal]

7000 Baht per computer is based on computers which I saw being sold in RoiEt (including monitors, mouse and keyboard) and with specs capable of playing most games Thai high school kids would want to play (on board graphics cards, so wouldn't be running the latest games at full speed, but then all they want to play is FB games / CS Source and maybe a bit of Warcraft 3 / DOTA. Buying 10 at a time could probably get a further discount on that price.

As for running all day, you don't need to. Only reason to run it all day would be if it was the weekend or school holidays, no point during the day as you're right, it won't be full of school kids (Or shouldn't at least lol), and so you're better off just not incurring additional costs.

Instead run it from around 2 or 3pm until maybe 9 or 10pm at night, depending on what demand was like.

Computers are only turned on when they're being used to save electricity (or are expected to be used shortly, having 10 computers running and 0 customers would be a tad silly don'tcha think?)

Likewise Aircon would be needed sometimes, but as it's an afternoon / evening business, so it's not going to be hugely expensive. Particularly if the building is well designed with minimal walls that are retaining the direct heat from the sun. Likewise, remember it's just for people playing computer games not chilling meat in a freezer, around 28 degrees should be fine for the aircon (or maybe even just 29/30 if you're circulating air with a fan).

Revenue wise, I was basing it on 15 Baht per hour, at 40 x hours full (So roughly 50% full on average, for the 8x opening hours), so 600 Baht per day, or 18000 Baht per month. Weekends and holidays it'd likely be higher, so I figured that was a reasonably conservative estimate. Power usage would likely be under 4000 (Based on other threads where people have said their pool pumps + aircon in 2x rooms every night + lights / pcs etc in their home cost them on average 4000 per month), deduct 3000 for lost opportunity cost (could rent the space out for 3000), with around 1k for internet (Could however get a second connection if there were complains about speed, then have 1x dedicated connection just for online games rather than youtube etc). That leaves roughly 10k per month, or 13k if you factor out the opportunity cost of renting out the space.

Either way, it's not making millions, especially when you take into account that you need a staff member there to check on stuff. Can hire from one of the guys who regularly uses the cafe and seems to have a bit of PC knowledge, or alternatively advertise etc, tonnes of people with computer knowledge but who don't have a decent job. 6k is a pretty attractive offer considering that they get to just play computer games 8h every day, only occasionally actually doing stuff. Anyone who has a position in an internet cafe, even without existing knowledge, should be able to upskill themselves on how to fix most problems within the first few months so long as they have a general interest in computers. Either way, if you have a problem with a computer in a net cafe, you just shift someone to the next pc and fix the problem in your own time, so only hurts your business by decreasing your maximum capacity, rather than causing major problems.

And yes, the OP wouldn't legally be able to fix computers. Not that that'd be a particularly huge problem regardless. However even if he could fix computers, I wouldn't recommend bothering unless it's something which you enjoy doing for fun. Instead just pay someone to do it, a job which would cost you thousands of Baht in a western country, might only cost you a few hundred in Thailand.

Also as a bit of a disclaimer, no I haven't checked out the viability of all this yet, it's something I'm considering for in the summer though, would be a good job for my gf's younger brother after school lol. But I'm reasonably sure that most of them would be viable. If the cafe was managed well, to be more than 50% full, or to grow and include more computers, or increased p/h rate to get onto a dedicated gaming connection etc, then you could increase profits quite considerably. But of course, this is all in theory, would need to see how it went in practice, main thing would just be to get people to use it, which would be largely dictated by demand and supply, which would also dictate whether you were charging around 15 or 20 Baht.

[zzaa09]

I did a few calculations on an internet cafe, would cost you around 70k for 10x computers, otherwise just desks (maybe 30k for 10x desks) and build the building you're gonna run your shop out of (Which you'd probably double up as a new house for yourself at the same time). Then get your wife to run the business, and she could probably do better than breaking even, depending on how you manage + promote it etc, she could probably earn upto 10k per month, maybe more, maybe less.

But that's for a pretty small investment (Since the house would be your investment in the house, not an internet cafe), and 10k per month would keep her happy + it'd be money which she earnt from working, money of her own which she made, not you. So that'd keep her really happy, make her feel like she's useful and contributing. Also it'd be a reasonably social lifestyle, for both her and you when you come over. Since it's laid back enough that she can still take care of you etc when you're at home, she could also get her sisters/friends to take care of the shop for her some days if she wanted too, and it'd guarantee you that you'd have a decent net connection when you're at home.

But yeah, not a huge money spinner, if you setup a chain of them, all well managed, with staff bills of maybe 6k per month, with shop rental fees of around 3000 you could make a decent return. Since once you have a formula and experience in the business, you could likely setup more without too much trouble.

Having been thinking about it though, maybe I'll look into doing exactly that over my summer holidays this year lol.

Edit: Oh and meh @ all of the farang saying that you can't run a business successfully in Thailand. You guys just have the wrong idea about how businesses work. You're thinking as an employee not a manager or business owner. A business is an investment, not a job. You shouldn't really work in your own business, and if you do, you should pay yourself a salary for what your time is worth, after paying yourself for your time, work out what your % return on investment is. Ideally however, you should employ Thai people instead, because they'll work for considerably lower amount than what you would, thus increasing your return on investment while allowing you to relax and enjoy life (or work in another job which pays you what you're worth).

Have you ever spent anytime time in Thailand, never mind the backwoods of Issan.

Take your western business practices and throw them out the window, never mind your Excel spreadsheets and expactations.

Come on down, the water is lovely, please report back in a few years.

Too many been there done that, still the dreamers keep coming, outsmarted by a girl with no more than a P4 education, enjoy the ride.

Truer words. Some don't have a clue nor ever will.

[bergen]

Trond, speaking of which keep those sausages. Wife was almost set on Tesco tomorrow, but is feeling sick now. I will be there for lunch before we go. Jim

Tesco will still be there, the sausages too!

[cardholder]

I did a few calculations on an internet cafe, would cost you around 70k for 10x computers, otherwise just desks (maybe 30k for 10x desks) and build the building you're gonna run your shop out of (Which you'd probably double up as a new house for yourself at the same time). Then get your wife to run the business, and she could probably do better than breaking even, depending on how you manage + promote it etc, she could probably earn upto 10k per month, maybe more, maybe less.

But that's for a pretty small investment (Since the house would be your investment in the house, not an internet cafe), and 10k per month would keep her happy + it'd be money which she earnt from working, money of her own which she made, not you. So that'd keep her really happy, make her feel like she's useful and contributing. Also it'd be a reasonably social lifestyle, for both her and you when you come over. Since it's laid back enough that she can still take care of you etc when you're at home, she could also get her sisters/friends to take care of the shop for her some days if she wanted too, and it'd guarantee you that you'd have a decent net connection when you're at home.

But yeah, not a huge money spinner, if you setup a chain of them, all well managed, with staff bills of maybe 6k per month, with shop rental fees of around 3000 you could make a decent return. Since once you have a formula and experience in the business, you could likely setup more without too much trouble.

Having been thinking about it though, maybe I'll look into doing exactly that over my summer holidays this year lol.

Edit: Oh and meh @ all of the farang saying that you can't run a business successfully in Thailand. You guys just have the wrong idea about how businesses work. You're thinking as an employee not a manager or business owner. A business is an investment, not a job. You shouldn't really work in your own business, and if you do, you should pay yourself a salary for what your time is worth, after paying yourself for your time, work out what your % return on investment is. Ideally however, you should employ Thai people instead, because they'll work for considerably lower amount than what you would, thus increasing your return on investment while allowing you to relax and enjoy life (or work in another job which pays you what you're worth).

Well slyanimal

Think you want to go over your numbers again. 10 computers at 70k Baht, is that for 10 or each. No way will you get 10 PCs for 70,000 Baht.

Going rate in rural Issan 15 to 20 Baht an hour. So if you were full 10 hours a day, which you will never be on a school day possible turn over 200 baht per computer per day. 200 x 10, 2000 baht on a good day. Now lets say business is good and you pull in 40,000 Baht a month. Minus costs, electricity is going to be a killer. Air con and 10 PCs going none stop. Now you haven't even taken into acount replacement costs and repairs, none of which is cheap. The internet provider is going to sting for another 5000 baht a month or there about. Don't see a lot of profit in it.

Thai internet shops pop up and are out of business faster then you can count. If Thais can't make it work then farangs have little chance.

Does the OPs wife know how to fix computers, as he will not be getting a work permit for it.

I run a business here and the times people come up with ideas based on what is charged for a service in the west and the lower cost here amazes me.

The Op states his wife has some land to build the shop on. Well here's another shock, if you want to be legit, you need planing permission, especilly where a farang is involed.

Whole thing ends up costing more and more and the returns get less and less.

As for going big, shop rental in good spot even in hick Buntharik are over 5,000 Baht a month and at 6,000 Baht a month for staff, you may get the village idiot, but no one with computer skills. Jim

Too harsh Jim - don't forget the 2 Baht mark up on Coke and Pepsi.

[bergen]

I did a few calculations on an internet cafe, would cost you around 70k for 10x computers, otherwise just desks (maybe 30k for 10x desks) and build the building you're gonna run your shop out of (Which you'd probably double up as a new house for yourself at the same time). Then get your wife to run the business, and she could probably do better than breaking even, depending on how you manage + promote it etc, she could probably earn upto 10k per month, maybe more, maybe less.

But that's for a pretty small investment (Since the house would be your investment in the house, not an internet cafe), and 10k per month would keep her happy + it'd be money which she earnt from working, money of her own which she made, not you. So that'd keep her really happy, make her feel like she's useful and contributing. Also it'd be a reasonably social lifestyle, for both her and you when you come over. Since it's laid back enough that she can still take care of you etc when you're at home, she could also get her sisters/friends to take care of the shop for her some days if she wanted too, and it'd guarantee you that you'd have a decent net connection when you're at home.

But yeah, not a huge money spinner, if you setup a chain of them, all well managed, with staff bills of maybe 6k per month, with shop rental fees of around 3000 you could make a decent return. Since once you have a formula and experience in the business, you could likely setup more without too much trouble.

Having been thinking about it though, maybe I'll look into doing exactly that over my summer holidays this year lol.

Edit: Oh and meh @ all of the farang saying that you can't run a business successfully in Thailand. You guys just have the wrong idea about how businesses work. You're thinking as an employee not a manager or business owner. A business is an investment, not a job. You shouldn't really work in your own business, and if you do, you should pay yourself a salary for what your time is worth, after paying yourself for your time, work out what your % return on investment is. Ideally however, you should employ Thai people instead, because they'll work for considerably lower amount than what you would, thus increasing your return on investment while allowing you to relax and enjoy life (or work in another job which pays you what you're worth).

Have you ever spent anytime time in Thailand, never mind the backwoods of Issan.

Take your western business practices and throw them out the window, never mind your Excel spreadsheets and expactations.

Come on down, the water is lovely, please report back in a few years.

Too many been there done that, still the dreamers keep coming, outsmarted by a girl with no more than a P4 education, enjoy the ride.

Truer words. Some don't have a clue nor ever will.

The more calculations the truer it gets!

[jamescollister]

7000 Baht per computer is based on computers which I saw being sold in RoiEt (including monitors, mouse and keyboard) and with specs capable of playing most games Thai high school kids would want to play (on board graphics cards, so wouldn't be running the latest games at full speed, but then all they want to play is FB games / CS Source and maybe a bit of Warcraft 3 / DOTA. Buying 10 at a time could probably get a further discount on that price.

As for running all day, you don't need to. Only reason to run it all day would be if it was the weekend or school holidays, no point during the day as you're right, it won't be full of school kids (Or shouldn't at least lol), and so you're better off just not incurring additional costs.

Instead run it from around 2 or 3pm until maybe 9 or 10pm at night, depending on what demand was like.

Computers are only turned on when they're being used to save electricity (or are expected to be used shortly, having 10 computers running and 0 customers would be a tad silly don'tcha think?)

Likewise Aircon would be needed sometimes, but as it's an afternoon / evening business, so it's not going to be hugely expensive. Particularly if the building is well designed with minimal walls that are retaining the direct heat from the sun. Likewise, remember it's just for people playing computer games not chilling meat in a freezer, around 28 degrees should be fine for the aircon (or maybe even just 29/30 if you're circulating air with a fan).

Revenue wise, I was basing it on 15 Baht per hour, at 40 x hours full (So roughly 50% full on average, for the 8x opening hours), so 600 Baht per day, or 18000 Baht per month. Weekends and holidays it'd likely be higher, so I figured that was a reasonably conservative estimate. Power usage would likely be under 4000 (Based on other threads where people have said their pool pumps + aircon in 2x rooms every night + lights / pcs etc in their home cost them on average 4000 per month), deduct 3000 for lost opportunity cost (could rent the space out for 3000), with around 1k for internet (Could however get a second connection if there were complains about speed, then have 1x dedicated connection just for online games rather than youtube etc). That leaves roughly 10k per month, or 13k if you factor out the opportunity cost of renting out the space.

Either way, it's not making millions, especially when you take into account that you need a staff member there to check on stuff. Can hire from one of the guys who regularly uses the cafe and seems to have a bit of PC knowledge, or alternatively advertise etc, tonnes of people with computer knowledge but who don't have a decent job. 6k is a pretty attractive offer considering that they get to just play computer games 8h every day, only occasionally actually doing stuff. Anyone who has a position in an internet cafe, even without existing knowledge, should be able to upskill themselves on how to fix most problems within the first few months so long as they have a general interest in computers. Either way, if you have a problem with a computer in a net cafe, you just shift someone to the next pc and fix the problem in your own time, so only hurts your business by decreasing your maximum capacity, rather than causing major problems.

And yes, the OP wouldn't legally be able to fix computers. Not that that'd be a particularly huge problem regardless. However even if he could fix computers, I wouldn't recommend bothering unless it's something which you enjoy doing for fun. Instead just pay someone to do it, a job which would cost you thousands of Baht in a western country, might only cost you a few hundred in Thailand.

Also as a bit of a disclaimer, no I haven't checked out the viability of all this yet, it's something I'm considering for in the summer though, would be a good job for my gf's younger brother after school lol. But I'm reasonably sure that most of them would be viable. If the cafe was managed well, to be more than 50% full, or to grow and include more computers, or increased p/h rate to get onto a dedicated gaming connection etc, then you could increase profits quite considerably. But of course, this is all in theory, would need to see how it went in practice, main thing would just be to get people to use it, which would be largely dictated by demand and supply, which would also dictate whether you were charging around 15 or 20 Baht.

Well you sound like a fairly smart man and if you look at things in a business way you may find your opening. Don't think internet cafes will be it. but Thailand is ready for people who think and there are opportunities out there. Jim

[rgs2001uk]

Jimbo, what he has missed out on his Excel spreadsheet, who controls these internet cafes in his one buffalo town, lets suppose Sgt Somchai happens by tomorrow and puts his fat dy, plae wa, flash drive, into your computer system, then tells you, you have now breached "International Copyright" laws, this will now cost you 50k to make the problem go away.

Lets move onto the thorny subject of mp3, do you have a license for this, thought not, get your hand in your pocket and make this problem go away, arai wa, tam mai farang mai kao jai.

[jamescollister]

Jimbo, what he has missed out on his Excel spreadsheet, who controls these internet cafes in his one buffalo town, lets suppose Sgt Somchai happens by tomorrow and puts his fat dy, plae wa, flash drive, into your computer system, then tells you, you have now breached "International Copyright" laws, this will now cost you 50k to make the problem go away.

Lets move onto the thorny subject of mp3, do you have a license for this, thought not, get your hand in your pocket and make this problem go away, arai wa, tam mai farang mai kao jai.

Yes life can be interesting out here and lessons need to learned, but I would not live anywhere else. Somethings are easy others hard and you never know what they will throw at you next. All fun, just have to go with the flow. Jim

[waza]

the best bet would be to augment the internet business with the mia's english skills by helping the local pooyings write love letters and chat with their many suitors. Quite a lucrative business I hear.

[zzaa09]

To be more helpful for the OP [wingcommander] would be to suggest: get away from these hairbrain internet cafe considerations.

I could think of a situation as this fraught with misery and frustration - regardless of one's locale and start up capital.

I would seriously consider a more practical [and profitable] business of any sort. A viable and ready marketplace should be thought of as well.