How to make money in Thailand with a small capital?

[AlfonsV]

You rather seem to be a greenhorn concerning Thai mentality, Thai society, Thai law, Thai business and the way it "works".

The experiences you will have will bring you more down to earth, perhaps after very short time or a little later.

If earlier you loose less money, time, nerves and illusions, if later more. Sorry to say.

There are very good hints in almost all answers and comments above - also in the sarcastic ones !!

Do not feel personally attacked, it's just the sound of reality.

This may be the real friends who want to prevent you from the worse mistakes and failures.

Come down to earth now for not get disappointed too much later (what is difficult to avoid in TH).

Apart from your obvious naivety you should recognize that truth, trust and reliability is extremely seldom to find here (even in Thai families and among Thai friends and partners).

I know from Thai people and from my own experience that one is trusting even his wife or his/her best friend but when it's coming to "the point" (means money) you get cheated with a shallow excuse or with irrational arguments or just like "take and run away".

It's a national common catch-as-catch-can play. If that happens between a western person and a Thai then the winner is almost always the Thai.

[zierf1]

many of us have been here for many years. many people have seen almost everyone fail at making a living in Thailand. the odds are so stacked against foreigners it is near impossible. I invested only what I could afford to loose and it was years before I got a return on investment. I only know a couple other guys that have been as successful as me. I don't blame anyone from being negative on this topic, they are giving you good advice.

Depends on how little you're prepared to live on. I can live in Thailand on 20,000 Baht a month easily. Takes me just one sale of a 20,000 Baht product and my bills are paid for the entire month. It's not hard to get that one sale either. I just keep calling and e-mailing people until somebody pays up. Usually takes me less than a week to get a client. Simple. Anybody can live in Thailand because the bar is set so low.

[thairay]

10000 bucks. just spend it then go home.

[shirtless]

I dont like your chances the world is in recession, Maybe you should go legal and get a real teaching job , until things start improving.

[siamcrut]

Why don't you become a SCUBA diving instructor. You don't need to invest a lot of money, the dive school will help you with your visa and as you mentioned before:

"I'm not a native speaker..."

Well, that means you do speak more than one language, and that helps a lot to get a job....

...and no, I don't run a dive school.

Good luck!

[ericthai]

You might want to save up some more cash and then try to open a business. I started my company in Thailand in 2007 but started it with about 5 million Baht.

We started from scratch and did good. We sold our company last year for several Million USD.

So it can be done, there are opportunities in Thailand, but dont do like everyone else and open a bar, hotel or restaurant. Not saying that wont work as I do have a few friends that have owned bars and restaurants in Thailand for more than 15 years and they do ok, they have their ups and downs, but they had experience prior to coming to Thailand.

All the people saying to make a small fortune in Thailand is to start with a large one or something like that have no idea what they are talking about as I'm willing to bet they never owned a business in Thailand.

If they did own a business and it didn't work out then I would say they had no experience or bad partners / workers stealing from them. If you do your home work, know what your doing you have a good chance to

succeed. So many guys on TV think they know everything about Thailand from sitting on a bar stool and getting all the stories from other expats in the bars. I lived and worked in Thailand for almost 20 years I have met Thai's that are good and Thai's that are bad. I have had an employee arrested for stealing, but then I have had employees invite me to their homes for dinner and to meet their families, just good down to earth people. So you cant judge all of Thailand from what you hear from other expats on a forum or in a bar.

Yes, there is corruption in Thailand but the system can work for an expat same as it can work for a Thai. When I was still working I had an issue with an employer and the labor board helped me take the employer to court which I won. You do need to learn how Thailand works too, it's not like back home. You need to show respect to the right people, know how to show the respect and know how to act. So OP I would suggest you spend more time in Thailand to learn how things work and at the same time save up more money. I wish you luck!

[timberpond]

OP, I hope you are not looking at a substantial amount of return but just to supplement your income in Thailand with that kind of capital.

First you would have to leave pattaya to lower your expenses.

Go to places with markets and look at the push cart stalls.

Pick a stall owner of your liking (can be your girlfriend, can be a business partner)

Offer your service in term of material not cash. (meaning you cook/bake/fermentation, etc and he/she sell)

You work from home and he/she outside. I know it is illegal. I don't think it is going to cost much to produce Mazzarella Sticks in your apartment or better still, her house. If it could generate 3-400 baht a day, thank god and learn to live with that kind of money. It will last you a long time.

I guess it's best to start with someone already owning a stall and not someone you finance a stall.

[2road]

OP, I hope you are not looking at a substantial amount of return but just to supplement your income in Thailand with that kind of capital.

First you would have to leave pattaya to lower your expenses.

Go to places with markets and look at the push cart stalls.

Pick a stall owner of your liking (can be your girlfriend, can be a business partner)

Offer your service in term of material not cash. (meaning you cook/bake/fermentation, etc and he/she sell)

You work from home and he/she outside. I know it is illegal. I don't think it is going to cost much to produce Mazzarella Sticks in your apartment or better still, her house. If it could generate 3-400 baht a day, thank god and learn to live with that kind of money. It will last you a long time.

I guess it's best to start with someone already owning a stall and not s

omeone you finance a stall.

Nice.

If i l knew how to make good pizza i would

try sell slices of pizza to the thais off a stall/minivan.

But i will have to compete with their traditional 40 baht

Chicken soup

[rws85]

Easy to make a small fortune in Thailand.

You just need to start with a big fortune.

[rws85]

It's simple....trade currencies.

we all knew the baht was getting weaker against the USD.......big time leverage, make millions of baht....

do that a few times.....or a few hundred times....

then buy real estate in NYC and rent to jokers for big money....

use that money to live like a GOD!!!!

or find some stocks going from 10 dollars to 1000.......do that a few times.....

simple!!!!

just remember to buy before they go up....buy low.....and sell high.....sell near the top!!!!

Easier said than done. Simple to make money, simple to lose money as well.

[timberpond]

OP, I hope you are not looking at a substantial amount of return but just to supplement your income in Thailand with that kind of capital.

First you would have to leave pattaya to lower your expenses.

Go to places with markets and look at the push cart stalls.

Pick a stall owner of your liking (can be your girlfriend, can be a business partner)

Offer your service in term of material not cash. (meaning you cook/bake/fermentation, etc and he/she sell)

You work from home and he/she outside. I know it is illegal. I don't think it is going to cost much to produce Mazzarella Sticks in your apartment or better still, her house. If it could generate 3-400 baht a day, thank god and learn to live with that kind of money. It will last you a long time.

I guess it's best to start with someone already owning a stall and not s

omeone you finance a stall.

Nice.

If i l knew how to make good pizza i would

try sell slices of pizza to the thais off a stall/minivan.

But i will have to compete with their traditional 40 baht

Chicken soup

It doesn't have to be pizza... My wife used to sell fishball noodles on a village... only 10am - 2pm... less than 4 hour job and she easily sell 20 -30 bowls at 25baht. The cost calculated to be around 7 baht so she is making a few hundreds baht for a 4 hours job.

It is not difficult to "make money in Thailand with a small captial". Just don't expect to have great return with no effort in it.

Btw, do you know that you could rent a 1600m2 (1 rai) farming land for 4000 baht a YEAR?

Imagine how many kilo of tomato/eggplants you could produce... and how many hours of your time/effort is required a day (really not much).

[Gutenberg]

To make a million USD in Thailand? Bring a million of THB.

[Guest]

as usual in Thai Visa all you pricks just want to bag everyone hardly a useful comment to be seen, you all make me sick

[cornishcarlos]

To make a million USD in Thailand? Bring a million of THB.

Should that not be the other way round or do you actually have a successful business model

[i claudius]

As i said before the wife earns good money , but that is only because she enjoys it , when we came back here neither of us needed to work as we had a nice nest egg and then my pension , unless you have a work permit and a really good job lined up to be honest i would not bother , now thats not trying to be negative , just the fact of life here for most of us , you either come here with cash , live on a tight budget ,or live in the boonies on the farm . They do not want us to work , here and remember you also are supposed to employ four Thai people for each foreigner , including you .

[Gutenberg]

To make a million USD in Thailand? Bring a million of THB.

Should that not be the other way round or do you actually have a successful business model

Nope. It is exactly correct how I wrote it.

[Cypress Hill]

as usual in Thai Visa all you pricks just want to bag everyone hardly a useful comment to be seen, you all make me sick

The irony

[OmegaRacer]

OP, like many here said, yes, it's not easy, but it's also not impossible to make money here. Some will tell you it's impossible, but I don't think they've ever tried.

One thing you could do is to check what sells very well on amazon for example, then go to alibaba or aliexpress and find a manufacturer for that product (or similar product). Rebrand the product with your brand/logo. Become an expert of this product.

Build a website dedicated to that item. You've done this before I think, so should be easy enough. With all the web hosting services out there it's a breeze anyway.

Get a designer to design your logo and ad banners on fiverr.com. They do a good job for just 5 to 25$.

Pay someone to do the SEO work, which is very important. I can recommend http://www.seopie.co.uk/. They did a great job for me.

Set up Paypal and Thai bank account.

Start selling.

Repeat with new product.

To give you an example. I was just doing some research about cat GPS locators. In the USA and Europe they sell them for 100 to 200$, on aliexpress you can find some for as low as 25-30$. Maybe not the same quality, but that would be your job to find out what works best and what doesn't.

Since I started selling stuff, I see potential products everywhere, but I only have 2 hands and a day has only 24 hours.

Most importantly of all, and I said that in my previous reply, is to enjoy what you're doing. Find something you can be passionate about. Life is too short to be doing something you don't care about.

Edited December 24, 2015 by OmegaRacer

[BKKdreaming]

you need an open mind , good internet searching tools and know when to walk away and start the next project ,

it is like a game of Chess , you need to have 2-3 moves ahead . because you never know what will sell or who will be happy to sell for less profit ,

I thought I could do good buying Vespa parts , but they were being sold on Ebay from someone in Thailand at less that I paid for them ,

its not easy , but fun when it works

[Bernard Flint]

sorry for laughing

[puukao]

I sell fake Chinese goods and ship to USA.....

I have 1,000 people working for me....all at 11 cents a day

I sell 100,000 fake iphones one day, then the next day i send them pencils instead of laptops.....good profit!!!!

once i have 10,000,000 baht in my account....i'll set up shop in India!!!

[OmegaRacer]

I sell fake Chinese goods and ship to USA.....

I have 1,000 people working for me....all at 11 cents a day

I sell 100,000 fake iphones one day, then the next day i send them pencils instead of laptops.....good profit!!!!

once i have 10,000,000 baht in my account....i'll set up shop in India!!!

And I have 1 good advice for you. Don't give up your day job (if you have one) to become a comedian.

[HikeFromLA]

What capital do you have? That you are okay with losing.

What is your background in terms of education and experience?

What capital do you have? That you are okay with losing. under 10K

What is your background in terms of education and experience? BD in economics. 20 yrs accounting experience

Google Mark Nestmann, just for fun. He's a smart CPA versed in international stuff, has a huge following, and wants to retire and pass the torch. Maybe you could "buy" some of the expat clients for whom he prepares tax returns.

Also you could offer your services to other CPA's and tax preparers anywhere. They scan the client's docs, email to you, you do the work, they pay you and then they charge the client double.

As long as the CPA or other tax preparer (or individual expat client) paying you is outside Thailand, there is no visa issue or work permit issue.

If you bank-wire in money that is freshly earned (past 12 months), into an actual Thai bank account, then that technically triggers Thai income tax. So what? You've paid taxes before! (But you can research that yourself, being an accountant.)

At least you'll be legal. And you can do it yourself, with the funds you have.

Great time of year, tax season starts NOW!

Good luck!

[2road]

What capital do you have? That you are okay with losing.

What is your background in terms of education and experience?

What capital do you have? That you are okay with losing. under 10K

What is your background in terms of education and experience? BD in economics. 20 yrs accounting experience

Google Mark Nestmann, just for fun. He's a smart CPA versed in international stuff, has a huge following, and wants to retire and pass the torch. Maybe you could "buy" some of the expat clients for whom he prepares tax returns.

Also you could offer your services to other CPA's and tax preparers anywhere. They scan the client's docs, email to you, you do the work, they pay you and then they charge the client double.

As long as the CPA or other tax preparer (or individual expat client) paying you is outside Thailand, there is no visa issue or work permit issue.

If you bank-wire in money that is freshly earned (past 12 months), into an actual Thai bank account, then that technically triggers Thai income tax. So what? You've paid taxes before! (But you can research that yourself, being an accountant.)

At least you'll be legal. And you can do it yourself, with the funds you have.

Great time of year, tax season starts NOW!

Good luck!

thank you. I will look into this.

I m not a CPA but I can do something similar online.

[rws85]

Nice to see some serious suggestions towards the end of these posts. I came here thinking maybe there could be some good ideas, as I myself would like to come up with a way that I do not have to return home and start FIFO work again. Leaving my family behind for weeks at a time.

[The Big Mango]

Quote.....

Depends on how little you're prepared to live on. I can live in Thailand on 20,000 Baht a month easily. Takes me just one sale of a 20,000 Baht product and my bills are paid for the entire month. It's not hard to get that one sale either. I just keep calling and e-mailing people until somebody pays up. Usually takes me less than a week to get a client. Simple. Anybody can live in Thailand because the bar is set so low.

Well youv'e nailed the buisiness acumen needed here then , 20k a month for your buisiness .

Of course less your social security payments , accountants fees , visa costs ( ie. Non B , WP ) overheads for running the buisiness , the list goes on and on ... and on.

For F sake that wouldn't even cover the gas bill

You my friend are a joke to reply to this OP.

[zierf1]

Quote.....

Depends on how little you're prepared to live on. I can live in Thailand on 20,000 Baht a month easily. Takes me just one sale of a 20,000 Baht product and my bills are paid for the entire month. It's not hard to get that one sale either. I just keep calling and e-mailing people until somebody pays up. Usually takes me less than a week to get a client. Simple. Anybody can live in Thailand because the bar is set so low.

Well youv'e nailed the buisiness acumen needed here then , 20k a month for your buisiness .

Of course less your social security payments , accountants fees , visa costs ( ie. Non B , WP ) overheads for running the buisiness , the list goes on and on ... and on.

For F sake that wouldn't even cover the gas bill

You my friend are a joke to reply to this OP.

Nope. 20,000 is enough for me since I pay Thai prices. I do everything myself so why would I have overhead expenses? The only thing we pay out is money transfer fees from my wife's merchant account(s) and the occasional virtual credit card. If I lose a PayPal account due to a dishonest client, I obtain a new one. Fortunately, most of my clients have been happy since day one. We have hundreds of glowing reviews posted all over the internet.

[flyDelight]

Small scale loan sharking, loan people who need small amounts up to eg. 5000 to invest in their business, weekly collection of the interest + partly refunds.

[dageurreotype]

Based on your previous topic, open a detective agency to find lost bargirls. You had lots of experience and advice there.

I have found her.

not interested.

thanks for the smart post. people must love yr sarcasm

You have found her? That is great! It just proves that you are successful at this, and that my idea is a sound one.

Think about it- nothing in terms of equipment or stock to buy, so minimal startup cost.

Only requires your time and effort, so minimal operation cost.

Your biggest problem is marketing cost - finding customers. Spend the 10,000 on advertising to find the lovesick punters.

Just Google 'private detective thailand'. The sheer number of competitors (albeit mostly crap) would sink you in a week. But I guess you're just joshin', right?

[ableguy]

You and thousands of others.