Going To Thailand In Januarie For The 2Nd Time.. Looking For Some Business Oppurtinities

[heavy]

Hello there,

As the topic title says.. i'm traveling to Thailand this januari and while i'm there i want to be prepared to get to know something about starting a business in Thailand or maybe making some connections so that i can do business with Thailand after traveling home to europe again.

So before i go i wanna know some options to look at. This can be already exisiting businesses or some interesting branches, maybe meet some people.. everything what i think is interesting and what i can learn something from. i'm there already.. so why not broathen your knowledge. i had some ideas myself already.

#1, buying a guesthouse or hotel. i've been backpacking through thailand for some while, and slept at a lot of guesthouses who also made money (I think). I think if you buy a guesthouse and just give your guests some extra's thinks they won't expect and what other guesthouses don't do who already make money that your business must work as well. I mean like really talk with them, give them tips, be interested in them, make them your friends and if there's a problem really work on that. Not like most of the guesthouses with a lady or a guy sithing behand the bali all day and not even looking up when someone walks in. but also when they come that there is a bottle of beer waiting for them in there room. and every morning a free propper breakfast (what are the costs of that?? nothing!). a real nice social area, etc. just give them NO reason to NOT choose you, or to NOt tell there friends they gonna meet on their future backpack trip about your fantastic hostel with good value for money. I think a lot of people will say.. yeah there are 100.000ends of them in Thailand.. yeah.. that's true.. but most of them nott really market there business or care for there guests what is my experience.. i really think most of them could do lots and lots better.. and if they are already making money.. why not you?

#2 buy some property and rent it to farrangs or thais. i dont know how this goes in Thailand? someone knows if its possible if i have (just a number) 2.000.000 baht.. and i want to invest in a few appartements of totall 3.000.000 baht. is it possible to get a loan at the bank in Thailand? in my country you can.. dont know if thats possible in thailand also.. and if they will do it to farrangs.. but then you have a steady and save income / investment (i think) and you have a lot of time to run a simple, not high investment, not risky business next to it. maybe sell some stuff on the internet.. you wont make a lot of it.. but i think with END those appartments and a good product to sell online you can make some good money, and it's not a big risk (i think)

#3 import / export, the only thing i can do if i will go back home (or not)).. just make some contacts and look at some interesting products.. i have no idea what and it could be anything.. maybe some people have experience in this and could tell me / us more about it.

The ideas i have are kinda basic / common, but yeah.. its just a start.. if people have some more complex ideas or other branches to look at and want to share it with me us.. let us know

all the information is welcome, things you've heard, things you know.. branches, idea's or businesses to look at, oppertunities, business IN Thailand, business back home WITH Thailand.. everything!.. but please lets keep it proffesional and no rubbish answers. I think other people could learn from this as well, different business or branches can be discusst and tips could be givven.

hopefully the answers are supported by the reasons why the answer is given, and how you get to that answer. and not with a simple "impossible" and then get asked "why impossible?" and then you get a response like "just impossible". I know a lot of people think it is impossible to run a proper business in Thailand. but as i see it, it must be possible. it is an economy with existing companies. who also import and export drive. if they all would fail the country would not be where it is today.

Hope to hear from you guys !

Edited December 6, 2012 by heavy

[55Jay]

Wow-ee!

[Dancealot]

Good ideas, gain more experience about living in Thailand first.

[smacko]

January?

[bushwacker]

I think you "wanna" take some time and read the various threads on this and other sites to truly see the value in your suggestions. You might quickly see work permit problems, land ownership problems, banking issues, etc. Wake up and have a double expresso!

[beano2274]

A few things to consider

1. Correct Visa

2. Work permit

3. Language skills

[ThailandInvestmentGuide]

Ok, and has already been stated, you have a lot of reading that needs to be done before you should think about firming up your ideas. There are countless relevant threads already in thaivisa (try forum search using key words like "business idea"). I'd suggest reviewing these earlier threads and then coming back with more specific questions to generate more meaningful input.

There are also some books available, one I have seen is by Philip Wylie (google on his name) called "starting a business in thailand" or similar. He has since followed up with another one called "how to make money in thailand" or similar. There are other similar ones in amazon.

[chainarong]

Why oh why do i always see these type of bloggs, once a week these crop up, as stated, there is plenty of good material in Thaivisa to read and follow up reading ,but if you do decide to pop into LOS, remove those rose colored tourist glasses.

[blossombkk]

Hi there,

I've been living in Thailand for the last three years and I manufacture leather handbags. The leather is of first quality and so is the work.

If you are interested in import/export from Thailand to your country pm me and I could give you more details.

Blossom

[Soutpeel]

I think you "wanna" take some time and read the various threads on this and other sites to truly see the value in your suggestions. You might quickly see work permit problems, land ownership problems, banking issues, etc. Wake up and have a double expresso!

I am suprised he never suggested becoming an "English" teacher or even opening a bar...

[prestburypark]

Invest in a dictionary?

[Khun Jean]

.... i had some ideas myself already.

Are you sure, because these ideas everybody has, even the sequence is the same. A well worn path.

#1, buying a guesthouse or hotel. i've been backpacking through thailand for some while, and slept at a lot of guesthouses who also made money (I think). I think if you buy a guesthouse and just give your guests some extra's thinks they won't expect and what other guesthouses don't do who already make money that your business must work as well. I mean like really talk with them, give them tips, be interested in them, make them your friends and if there's a problem really work on that.

Buy? Almost impossible on a good location. Most are on leases, and that is where the problem is. Many guesthouse starts with 3* facilities and 5* service and unfortunately to often with 0* marketing.

Even if you start good, the owner will notice it and raises the rent. This will continue until the owner makes the money and you work for a pittance. At that moment it will have 1* facilites, 1* service and still 0* marketing.

Most of the time it already starts spiraling down from day 1. You need to have large reserves to bridge slow times and unforeseen things typical to Thailand (Floods, blackouts, political turmoil)

Just to correct you assumptions.... most guesthouses not make money enough for upkeep and a reasonable profit. Choices have to be made, spend it on upkeep or on food.

#2 buy some property and rent it to farrangs or thais. i dont know how this goes in Thailand? someone knows if its possible if i have (just a number) 2.000.000 baht.. and i want to invest in a few appartements of totall 3.000.000 baht. is it possible to get a loan at the bank in Thailand? in my country you can.. dont know if thats possible in thailand also.. and if they will do it to farrangs.. but then you have a steady and save income / investment (i think) and you have a lot of time to run a simple, not high investment, not risky business next to it. maybe sell some stuff on the internet.. you wont make a lot of it.. but i think with END those appartments and a good product to sell online you can make some good money, and it's not a big risk (i think)

I am doing this, already more then 10 years. I did not have deep pockets so i had to be extremely carefull. I choose the small condos in the Thai lower middle class segment (100% occupancy!). Works out ok. Would i start now, no! Prices are way to high.

#3 import / export, the only thing i can do if i will go back home (or not)).. just make some contacts and look at some interesting products.. i have no idea what and it could be anything.. maybe some people have experience in this and could tell me / us more about it.

I have looked into this extensively. Almost all products are already exported. I have a few ideas that would work i think, but they need a growing economy in the west, not a rapidly shrinking one.

Maybe a #4

Manufacturing. Find something that is manufactured in your own country and move it to Thailand/China. Or try to manufacture a good product for a lower price or better quality.

Now for some more obstacles:

Visa, Workpermit, capital.

If a visa is a problem you would need lots of capital(40+MB). If a visa is easy (married to a Thai/50+ year old or retired) a workpermit is possible with a decent amount of capital (about 2-3MB, better around 5-10MB).

[heavy]

thanks for the reply's !

yeah i know i have a lot or reading to do first. but these idea's are just idea's. I proparly will start a business in my own country verry soon, but because i'm in Thailand already.. i just wanna look at the options, just that. and hopefully see something. The idea's i've suggested are just idea's to start of an discussion. and go further from there on.

So that's all, i just wanna learn something from my travel there. look at some things.. at this moment i have NO intenstions of really living there. i do think it is better to start a business in my own country, but i just wanna look at the options there, and if i would see something where i can make a future of then maybe start something there if i'm 100% possitive.

So that's why I opened this topic to just get some information about interesting things to look at and get to know something before my holiday starts.

Hopefully there will be some more reply's

[BlackPuddingBertha]

Lambs to the slaughter.

[jamescollister]

OP what do you do now for a living, easier to try something you already know about, rather than try something new. Jim

[marstons]

1 Join the que of hundreds of thousands of others. Beers are not for free, breakfast will cost you etc etc. You ar aiming at low bufget accmadation with low margins, you will loose it on your freebies. Where are you going to get your custmers from? where in thailand do backpackers go now. Low seasons are low and long now. oh yeah work permit.

2 you cant own property as a froeiger, but that si done to death already by Thai's. Laon no if you can get one in your own country to invest here go for it.

3 do you really expect people to pass on there idea's so as to become a competitor.

Basically heavy there are tens of thousands living here for years looking for "The" opening but 99.99999% done do death already.

There is one way to make a small fortune, come with a big one, just my experience of 15 years worth, saying that just so it maybe you get the drift seen most of it come and most of it go.

Hopefully not seen as negative but you asked and its how i see it. make your furtune at home, its easier then come here and chill on the procedes.

[jamescollister]

1 Join the que of hundreds of thousands of others. Beers are not for free, breakfast will cost you etc etc. You ar aiming at low bufget accmadation with low margins, you will loose it on your freebies. Where are you going to get your custmers from? where in thailand do backpackers go now. Low seasons are low and long now. oh yeah work permit.

2 you cant own property as a froeiger, but that si done to death already by Thai's. Laon no if you can get one in your own country to invest here go for it.

3 do you really expect people to pass on there idea's so as to become a competitor.

Basically heavy there are tens of thousands living here for years looking for "The" opening but 99.99999% done do death already.

There is one way to make a small fortune, come with a big one, just my experience of 15 years worth, saying that just so it maybe you get the drift seen most of it come and most of it go.

Hopefully not seen as negative but you asked and its how i see it. make your furtune at home, its easier then come here and chill on the procedes.

True, very few make the jump here and make a living. Some do very well, but 98 % fail. Jim

[heavy]

thanks for the reply's again

yes i also think its better to start something at home.. but my question was that i just wanted to LOOK at some business options in Thailand or with Thailand.. just LOOK and that's all.. just LEARN from it while im already there.. just wanted to make it an informatical trip..

I still hope for some suggestions.. im not looking to make a fortune or copy others ideas.. i'm just interested in business and wanna learn something from my trip to Thailand.. i do business back home.. and im just interested in doing business.. thats why I opened this topic..

[chainarong]

thanks for the reply's again

yes i also think its better to start something at home.. but my question was that i just wanted to LOOK at some business options in Thailand or with Thailand.. just LOOK and that's all.. just LEARN from it while im already there.. just wanted to make it an informatical trip..

I still hope for some suggestions.. im not looking to make a fortune or copy others ideas.. i'm just interested in business and wanna learn something from my trip to Thailand.. i do business back home.. and im just interested in doing business.. thats why I opened this topic..

Heavy , doing business back home and in Thailand are two unrelated things, I think everyone here is sorta saying, be carefull.

[USNret]

How much money do you have? Bring it to Thailand, give it to the first tout you see, go back to the airport & fly home.

It will have the same result of most of the ideas you're thinking about but it's a lot faster.

lol, sorry I just had to say it. I wish you the best of luck & I also wish I could figure it out for myself cuz then I'd be making my own living in Thailand.

[isawasnake]

Just pick and idea, jump in and do it. You'll lose all your money, then repeat the process. The key is getting the financing multiple times.

[mccw]

You mentioned 2-3mil bht

For this you could deposit on a house in farang land. Pick right and give for rent and you should make enough to live comfortably in Thailand. But be better to build up to 2or 4 properties under your belt first. Maybe towards the end of next year could be some nice buy opportunities.

About guesthouse n all that - do the maths properly and think about occupancy, costs, leases etc etc

[4evermaat]

no one has mentioned something that wouldn't be tied down into thailand specifically (portable), like freelancing or even better trading futures/forex. I think it would be a better use of your funds, and the risks would be much more transparent. You could still have a thailand residence, bank account, etc and it would open up some doors for you in terms of where and how you could invest. PM for some more detail.

As far as owning physical property, either guesthouse or ....it should be something that you and your thai partner want 100%. You should be willing to walk away from it the next day knowing that it was a risk anyway. The best way to look at it is somewhere where you live, and then the shop/guesthouse is just 'extra' income. Don't look at it as a standalone cash cow initially. If it fruitates into something, fine. I find that Thais tend to want to walk away from something quickly and painlessly the second it is not working out for them; unless they finished high school / university, the chances that they will have a work ethic worth anything is difficult. Good luck with the employee thing, especially your thai partner. With any real estate-based adventure, again, be prepared to walk away from it as if the deal never happened. And the rent should be such that you would live on site anyways and can weather the monthly payments until business picks up.

It seems much easier to make your money or have customers from outside and bring it into thailand.

[yoshiwara]

Wants to be a businessman with 2-3 million baht in the coffers.

Or maybe not. I sometimes wonder whether the dynamic to these questions is not really about business; it is more about finding an angle to enable the person concerned to stay in Thailand with sufficient income which they don't currently have.

So their starting point is absence of qualifications, lack of capital and little or no experience. Great.

[Blackandwhite]

I have had countless hours thinking about this for myself. I still live in the uk, I think you could be good for now to keep you cash in the bank. If you make you first lesson in business in Thailand to read learn and follow all you can in this forum you will soon get an idea about how hard business is. There are lots of money making ideas that come and go and many do not make money but loose very quickly.

Here in the Uk you could set up a sme for very little and make lots of money no risk. To do the same in a country you do not know or more importantly understand culturally is a big risk.

Time to understand will be of great assistance to you. Free advise within the forums will help you gain any knowledge you need to take any good ideas forward, but be careful nobody tells you how many businesses really fail out here as in admitting it and the ones that tell you how much they have made or how good business is well I think you might find some of that is often a little exaggerated.

Good luck with whatever you do.

[rekkie]

Here is an idea, and happy to assist...i have been in real estate here and son of a hotelier....

Buy land on motorway and build/set up a 500 baht a night hotel for stopovers.

Land and hotel in company and get your good lady to run the show.

This could be ramped up to be a nationwide business.

[Blackandwhite]

Here is an idea, and happy to assist...i have been in real estate here and son of a hotelier....

Buy land on motorway and build/set up a 500 baht a night hotel for stopovers.

Land and hotel in company and get your good lady to run the show.

This could be ramped up to be a nationwide business.

This sounds like a plan

[Hedghog]

I know of a good restaurant, in central region freehold,if you have a Thai partner leasehold if on your own.

Profitable good location,in your price range

[yoshiwara]

Here is an idea, and happy to assist...i have been in real estate here and son of a hotelier....

Buy land on motorway and build/set up a 500 baht a night hotel for stopovers.

Land and hotel in company and get your good lady to run the show.

This could be ramped up to be a nationwide business.

Putting your business capital in your girl friend's name is a business plan?

[Khun Jean]

Start a business repairing leaking roofs.

Do it good and mouth to mouth will get you enough customers because about 50% of the roofs in Thailand leak.