Small business ideas

[builderstu]

I know many people have asked and will continue to ask, but what is the general view on what type of small business can be started here? I want to try do something to pass some time but make a little extra. I would be happy to do something that can generate about 15,000 to 50,000 per month.

All suggestions and ideas welcome.

Cheers

[pigeonjake]

are you a builder?

there you go then

[builderstu]

Yes we do building, actually we build houses and sell them but I'm wanting to do a little extra something in the free time. Also it is to help a friend out as well. That's why I'm looking for some ideas

[builderstu]

Yes we do building, actually we build houses and sell them but I'm wanting to do a little extra something in the free time. Also it is to help a friend out as well. That's why I'm looking for some ideas

[CharlieH]

What area are you in ?

[builderstu]

We are in north east, just south of Surin and about 30 minutes from Cambodia.

[whiteman]

grow poppies

[catweazle]

Hi BuilderStu, if you are a good handyman, try a "house- and pool doctor" biz, as it is very difficult to find good plumbers and service people in almost any province here in Thailand. The Thais have had it too good for a long time and often reject small jobs, not understanding that a small job will lead to a bigger and that to an even bigger job if the small job client was happy with you in the first place.

As far as I can see it - I'm here for 23 years permanently - the trend goes back to good old handywork, food / food stock / farming, handmade arts, real human interaction, performed arts, etc. - away from the digital life. Sooner or later most people and also Thais will realize that Facebook would neither fix your air-con, nor bake you a cake, nor visit you in the hospital when you're dyin'.

Should be more than enough food for thought for you for today - good luck!

Edited June 5, 2014 by catweazle

[cloghead]

start a ferret ranch...

[Saradoc1972]

I see some problems with being a builder in Thailand.

Some of the above posters seem to sse some possibilities there, so they might have better information than me.

There are some prohibited professions for Farangs, see http://www.thaiworkpermit.com/prohibited-occupations-in-thailand.html and the TahiVisa post http://www.thaivisa.com/330-0.html and a translation of the apparently applicable Foreign Business Act of 1999 here: http://www.bsalaw.co.th/en/foreign/foreignbusinesslaw.html.

I have no knowledge of Thai whatsoever and so depend on these translations, but those would effectively prohibit (by yourself, your friend or by anyone but a Thai national employee) :

- being a bricklayer or carpenter or doing any other sort of construction work (as far as that is not already considered manual work and hence prohibited)

- Supervising, auditing or giving services in accounting

- Brokerage or agency

- Engineering work in a civil engineering branch concerning designing and calculation, organization, research, planning, testing, construction supervision or advising excluding specialized work (I don't know if that emcompasses electricity and plumbing, or thatching)

- Architectural work concerning designing, drawing of plans, estimating, construction directing or advising

That would leave very few things open to you or your company and it's employees apart from projecting a building, marketing and raising funds, and possibly promoting financing.

It might upon proper application be permissible if you manage to convince s.o. that you do things outside any Thai's ability, i.e. build s.th. with e.g. insulation or electrical wiring not making farangs want to vomit and hence attract foreign funds.

No experience whatsoever here, so I myself would be interested academically in what is actually possible in that area of work.

[Craig351]

This is the main question we all ask ourselves I think

Hard to know what is going to work or not as I have a business background and from what I've seen its hit or miss here

I have seen people (Thai's and westerners) do all the right things setting up a business doing the ground work research bla bla ..

Opened failed, dead, zippo, nothing

I've seen people no idea of business, no plan, no system, just hair brain idea make millions of baht I know of 2 making a killing

so who knows what the answer is in Thailand just think of something give it a go you never know

[Paulzed]

Self Dragging flip flops

[Kwasaki]

What I find funny is that someone sets up a by the road stall and sells whatever and if they do well, they find in a short space of time there's people either side that start doing the same.

[Saradoc1972]

are you a builder? there you go then

grow poppies

Hi BuilderStu, if you are a good handyman, try a "house- and pool doctor" biz, as it is very difficult to find good plumbers and service people in almost any province here in Thailand.

start a ferret ranch...

This is the main question we all ask ourselves I think.

Hard to know what is going to work or not as I have a business background and from what I've seen its hit or miss here

Self Dragging flip flops

That seems to be a tad unhelpful given the legal situation, unless any of you care to enlarge ... ?

[Saradoc1972]

What I find funny is that someone sets up a by the road stall and sells whatever and if they do well, they find in a short space of time there's people either side that start doing the same.

That is what I've read about as "the Asian disease" as in:

- starting some business based on unskilled labour (as in pushing your mobile barbeque)

- make good money for some 2 weeks

- get some competitor doing the same-self thing as you on the next corner, still making good money

- get some 4 more competitors doing the same unskilled work within the next 2 weeks, now doing only okay money

- get the double number of unskilled competitors in the next two weeks because word got round, business now being poor

- caravan trails to the next location, rinse and repeat

Be aware (as my diving instructor told me some 3y ago) that Thais will *hate* you if they feel you are taking business away from them by doing anything they feel Thais could do themselves, such as opening a Jet Ski rental or a copy shop, and you may well find your business literally torched one fine morning. If you take over a "Bar Beer" in Pattaya there will obviously be no need for torching, that will take care of itself with all the protection money.

Whatever you do, you will need to do a somewhat educated job not in direct competition to Thai businesses and within the legal scope.

[builderstu]

Thanks guys for the input. I'm still not sure what ideas to look at. Any suggestions on import export stuff from thailand? We want to do a little work but not to much but it has to be able to make some profit. We don't want a shop cause we don't have time to commit so needs to be simple and easy done.

[iancnx]

Don't do it!

[Saradoc1972]

Thanks guys for the input. I'm still not sure what ideas to look at. Any suggestions on import export stuff from thailand? We want to do a little work but not to much but it has to be able to make some profit. We don't want a shop cause we don't have time to commit so needs to be simple and easy done.

Whatever viable thing you come up with, give me a shout.

Ex-lawyer, moving to Thailand next month, can translate English to German, or the other way round whatever it is, and a couple things more.

[332]

Farang small businesses = taking up your time and losing you money.

Just find something else to spend your money on.

[FredNL]

You can always become an independent distributor for Top Secret Cosmetics..... Reselling / distributing perfumes, showergels and body lotions. Makes pretty good money. Company name is Top Secret International Co., Ltd.

[sirchai]

I'd suggest to sell remote controlled boomerangs to Isaan farmers.

Edited June 5, 2014 by sirchai

[pgrahmm]

I've always thought it would be fun to own/operate a massage parlor here.........

[belg]

dont expect anyone on this forum to give you any usefull tips

if they are as succesfull as some claims, they will certainly not tell you , because competition, thais do not like it, neither do those succesfull farangs "on paper"

[CMKiwi]

Ideas for a small business??? How about starting with a big one? Give it 3 months under Thai management and Im sure it will become a small one!!!

Just joking. Any business will be hard in Thailand if there is too much competition. My GF opened a restaurant and bar, silly idea with so many already in existence... but she had to try.

Whatever you take on, I wish you luck

[sirchai]

Selling them electric yoyos would be the hit. But you'll have to sell them LSD first to have the "want to do that now" effect.Drugs are not allowed here, so might not be the best idea, but a good one..

[smotherb]

Back in the day, I would perform fortunetelling sessions using, shall we say, pre-natal exam techniques, instead of palm reading, to forecast marriage, children and potential customers for the working girls. I never ceased to be amazed at how gullible/impressed they are when I could describe their next customer and tell her exactly how much he will offer--duh, he and I just happened to be in cahoots. All you need is to do it successfully in one bar one night. By the next night--even later that night--you'll have to take appointments. Of course, it has its drawn-backs; it only works for a day or two, so you move to another location; and the pay may not cover expenses, but it has some great benefits.

[smotherb]

Back in the day, I would perform fortunetelling sessions using, shall we say, pre-natal exam techniques, instead of palm reading, to forecast marriage, children and potential customers for the working girls. I never ceased to be amazed at how gullible/impressed they are when I could describe their next customer and tell her exactly how much he will offer--duh, he and I just happened to be in cahoots. All you need is to do it successfully in one bar one night. By the next night--even later that night--you'll have to take appointments. Of course, it has its drawn-backs; it only works for a day or two, so you move to another location; and the pay may not cover expenses, but it has some great benefits.

[brain1]

Have a look at the franchise offer from the likes of Asia BackPackers

http://asia-backpackers.com/

[CMCMANGOMAN]

I have had this idea for several years but have never acted on it primarily because I'm already swamped with projects here in my hobbyshop.

Here is my idea for you: Design/engineer a small portable horizontal band saw that would quickly saw flat boards out of short logs from the miscellaneous trees that the local Thais cut down. Currently, the Thais use a crude chainsaw method that is noisy, inaccurate, dangerous, time consuming and wastes a lot of good material. Now, because I am a mechanical engineer I have stood by and observed these silly little village monkeys spend days cutting thick, crooked boards out of a few choice logs. Lots of noise and lots of waste. And they charge a pretty decent rate to do this horrible job.

So, the machine I have in mind is small enough to fit into the back of a standard toyota pickup. Yes, it would hang out the back but who cares. It would slide off the back of the truck and sit on the ground anyway. It would accommodate logs up to 3 meters long and 50 cm in diameter. It would be powered by a simple 5 hp gasoline engine. No need to worry about electricity.

In any case, this is a quick money maker and the thais will talk. You will get well known for having this machine and doing a superior job very quickly and efficiently. Also, and most importanly, the thais will be hard pressed to copy your machine. It takes contacts back in the states or europe to aquire the parts and especially the bandsaw blade used. That is the real key.

I've already calculated the costs of building a portable band saw here in thailand and it is less than $800 dollars. All the specialized parts are available on ebay and the building instructions are free on youtube. Of course, you should know how to weld in order to control the project yourself.

Do this and you will make good money in the surrounding local villages. Your reputation will procede you and people will pay you cash to come and slice their tree into boards. The bonus is you get to meet many new thais and make good friends, spreading good will for all other falangs that come along behind you.

It's a great idea. I hope you do it and let us all know how much fun you had setting it up. Good luck!

[Saradoc1972]

I have had this idea for several years but have never acted on it primarily because I'm already swamped with projects here in my hobbyshop.

Here is my idea for you: Design/engineer a small portable horizontal band saw that would quickly saw flat boards out of short logs from the miscellaneous trees that the local Thais cut down. Currently, the Thais use a crude chainsaw method that is noisy, inaccurate, dangerous, time consuming and wastes a lot of good material. Now, because I am a mechanical engineer I have stood by and observed these silly little village monkeys spend days cutting thick, crooked boards out of a few choice logs. Lots of noise and lots of waste. And they charge a pretty decent rate to do this horrible job.

So, the machine I have in mind is small enough to fit into the back of a standard toyota pickup. Yes, it would hang out the back but who cares. It would slide off the back of the truck and sit on the ground anyway. It would accommodate logs up to 3 meters long and 50 cm in diameter. It would be powered by a simple 5 hp gasoline engine. No need to worry about electricity.

In any case, this is a quick money maker and the thais will talk. You will get well known for having this machine and doing a superior job very quickly and efficiently. Also, and most importanly, the thais will be hard pressed to copy your machine. It takes contacts back in the states or europe to aquire the parts and especially the bandsaw blade used. That is the real key.

I've already calculated the costs of building a portable band saw here in thailand and it is less than $800 dollars. All the specialized parts are available on ebay and the building instructions are free on youtube. Of course, you should know how to weld in order to control the project yourself.

Do this and you will make good money in the surrounding local villages. Your reputation will procede you and people will pay you cash to come and slice their tree into boards. The bonus is you get to meet many new thais and make good friends, spreading good will for all other falangs that come along behind you.

It's a great idea. I hope you do it and let us all know how much fun you had setting it up. Good luck!

There's one old chap and his son in my home town that are engineering specialized machinery, particulary anything to do with saws (that appears to be Remscheid's speciality).

It's not exactly a small firm, they've been in business for some 30 years. Dad is kind of entrepreneurial having done some trading business apart from machinery in the Czech Republic for decades.

Interest on their side would depend on if you can produce some volume, they are as of the moment a little short on contracts.

Check this out: http://www.haas-gmbh.com