buying a small business for girlfriend

[Khon Kaen Dave]

24 minutes ago, Saladin said:

My advice is to stop listening to all the negative crap from Farang who have never started a business or taken a risk in their life and whose valuable time is spent drinking booze and denigrating all Thai women. 

And may i ask, dear saladin, that you enlighten me as to what business with a female Thai partner(whose hands would be the first in to till,as the BF wont even be allowed to be anywhere near the business) You have invested in ? To give such solid advice.

I did my apprenticeship here, learning from day one, but it was still hard to have eyes everywhere.Of the 2 bars we had, i put a manger in one, and even then we had to keep a check. We had electric tills in both, and i kept the books every day.Money in/out, stock, bar fines and tips,etc, etc.There are many reasons why this guy should not do it, but he probably will.

[Khon Kaen Dave]

pumpjack

 Also dear, Jack, dont forget to get your sale receipts, numbered at the print shop.

[Naamblar2014]

8 minutes ago, BruceMangosteen said:

10,000. Baht a month is never enough. Most young and attractive ladies in Pattaya get at least 100,000. Baht a month and even then run out of money early in the pay period. No mate, you can't begin to do things in a rational manner at your age and with your background. God Bless You.

Do you mean prostitutes when you say young and attractive ladies.  Can't think of any other jobs earning $100,000 baht a month. 

[Saladin]

Those who can - DO. Those who can't - PREACH

[louse1953]

On 16/04/2017 at 1:11 AM, ajarngreg said:

A real good one. In a country where people need a calculator to subtract 20 baht from 100 baht, it's almost impossible that a Thai gf who went through such a great education be successful in running such a business.

 Even the noodle soup vendors have no idea if they make plus, or lose money until it's too late. 

 I'd even raise your number from 99 % to 99.9%.  

I know an educated tech go bankraupt,owing 2  million baht,because he never did the paperwork.

[oldcarguy]

19 minutes ago, Khon Kaen Dave said:

pumpjack

 Also dear, Jack, dont forget to get your sale receipts, numbered at the print shop.

and mark the last one so they do not pull off the bottom of the deck :)

[Bangkok Barry]

On 4/15/2017 at 1:51 PM, colinneil said:

Can anyone give advice you ask.

My advice dont do it, keep your money in your pocket.

A recipe for disaster buying a business for Thai girlfriend.

Indeed. Ask her why she thinks anyone would buy from her rather than dozens of others selling the same thing sourced from the same place. What will she offer that others don't, to make her place the one to go to. Any Thai that I've met who has had the idea of starting a business has had the idea and then no plan at all on how to make it work, how to do the books, VAT returns etc. Sometimes, also, they just take days off when they feel like it. It's a bit like wanting a car but then not knowing how to drive it, and we know how that often ends up. A wreck.

[Bangkok Barry]

40 minutes ago, Emster23 said:

" Way to go. Apprenticeship first, know the business thoroughly, make sure she'll work. Then maybe take over a known profitable shop. "

 Amen to that. Does she have ANY sales experience? In clothing retailing? Have her do at least a six month stint in existing business to learn the ropes, see what people like, etc. A walk by at JJ ain't gonna do it. If she is not willing to that, you can bet she is not serious about business. Maybe even sign her up for accounting classes, marketing.

 If she is not willing, I would guess her dream is like 9 year old wanting to open lemonade stand in front of house.

 If you care not to take good advice, then buy her a medium size business. Like Levi 501's, she can "shrink to fit"

Perfect!

[cyberfarang]

Can anyone give advice about this type of investment / small business?

 

Yes, don`t do it, for so many reasons that it would require it`s own forum to explain them all. Believe me, you`ll only lose big time out of this.

[DILLIGAD]

My advice is to stop listening to all the negative crap from Farang who have never started a business or taken a risk in their life and whose valuable time is spent drinking booze and denigrating all Thai women. 

And what about the advice from the non-drunken farangs who have (unfortunately) done similar in the past and failed???
Should they be ignored too???


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[DILLIGAD]

Also does she understand (because some Thai people don't) that what goes in the till is not all profit, and not to go in her pocket.Does she understand that rent,overheads and buying stock, has to come out of it. Also the business will be subject to a simple double entry book keeping system, which you can learn, if you dont already know.Its important that you keep the books.Oh! and dont forget to have receipts printed, and given for every sale. None of this."i cut price down for her/him. so i not give bin"
I hate to say it too, but i also think you are wasting your time.We had 2 bars in Patts for five years, and that was hared enough,  and when this junta took over, i saw the writing on the wall. We sold and got out at the right time.
But, good luck.

Wise words


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[Lucky mike]

How to make a small fortune in Thailand ? Answer start with a big one !

[DILLIGAD]

Indeed. Ask her why she thinks anyone would buy from her rather than dozens of others selling the same thing sourced from the same place. What will she offer that others don't, to make her place the one to go to. Any Thai that I've met who has had the idea of starting a business has had the idea and then no plan at all on how to make it work, how to do the books, VAT returns etc. Sometimes, also, they just take days off when they feel like it. It's a bit like wanting a car but then not knowing how to drive it, and we know how that often ends up. A wreck.

I would actually say it's a bit like having a car and someone else proving the petrol and driver.
Never going to go good, is it.


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[Khon Kaen Dave]

48 minutes ago, BruceMangosteen said:

10,000. Baht a month is never enough. Most young and attractive ladies in Pattaya get at least 100,000. Baht a month and even then run out of money early in the pay period. No mate, you can't begin to do things in a rational manner at your age and with your background. God Bless You.

Brucie

Would you please enlighten me what professions that command a monthly payment of 100,000. Please dont tell me its bar girls They're lucky if they get 5000 a month.And there's no amount of cusotmers to make it 100,000 And the last time i was in Patts, about 2 month's ago, the bars in Bukhauw, second road, and beach road, had customers but nothing like they used to. Even Soi Diana was a shadow of its former self.I dont even think the Russian GoGo dancers get 100,000 a month

 The days of the felang laden bars is past, and the 'beautiful'  bar girl is now a rarity.And even the three week millionaires, are finding other places to go, due to the Pound being in the karsie.

This, of course if you believe your own eyes and not the TOT minster.

 So i think that 100,000 a month is a bit wishful thinking.

[CharlieH]

1 minute ago, DILLIGAD said:

I would actually say it's a bit like having a car and someone else proving the petrol and driver.
Never going to go good, is it.


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You mean someone providinng the "wrong fuel" and someone who "cant drive" with "no insurance" and "wearing blinkers".

[onemorechang]

1 hour ago, binjalin said:

yup don't listen to all this negative crap from us farang

 

1. buy her a business with a smile
2. trust her every word
3. have a joint account and fill it up - she will only take what she needs after all
4. give some gold to her mom
5. get her a new IPhone after all she needs it for the business
6. sit back and watch all those profits roll in from that great new business idea 'selling clothes'

You forgot

 

7) Employ one of her family members to just help a little bit.

    Guaranteed disaster that will ultimately  turn you into the bad guy forever

 

[edwinchester]

Going rate in our local area for a low ranking Govt Office job is 150k.

Seems a one off bargain price to me.

Edited April 17, 2017 by edwinchester

[merlen10002]

If you buy her a small business I give it three months to go bust, maybe being a kind , I know been there done that, have a look at how many small business are trying to sell that type of stuff, millions, same as selling food , on every soi and again millions, good way to waste money stuff the relationship. because it will your fault it did not work, not hers.  

[Khon Kaen Dave]

5 minutes ago, onemorechang said:

You forgot

 

7) Employ one of her family members to just help a little bit.

    Guaranteed disaster that will ultimately  turn you into the bad guy forever

 

No 8

When/if you have been going a fair time and see a few quid  in the bank, please beware the family member(sister/brother/cousin/aunt/uncle/ usually) who desperately needs a loan to pay for her/his life saving medicine.(that you never knew about"5000, will be enough thank you" and that's the last you will see of it)And if you dont, then see the result of no 7.

[JSixpack]

1 hour ago, oldcarguy said:

Who taught all the successful Thai businesses  how to make money ?

 

Did they all take business classes in University ?

 

it just seems that when I revisit shops after years they are still there and doing OK  ,  do they all have Rich Uncles ?

 

Re: stalls and small shops, most learned the old fashioned way, working in a similar business, often owned by their families. Families help out with the financing and the business--getting the whole family invested and involved (as won't be the case w/ the OP) can be most helpful in lots of ways. New businesses often do fail, however. Not unusual but true entrepreneurs learn from the failure, recover and apply the lesson to the next effort until they succeed.

[CharlieH]

Oh, and dont forget, if you appear to be making money, other stalls doing exactly the same thing will appear all around you. Thais love to copy. !!

[sgracer]

she could start a business online for zero $$

 

don't need any inventory to start

 

just advertise a bunch of uniquely thai products on ebay and see what works

[JSixpack]

2 hours ago, Saladin said:

My advice is to stop listening to all the negative crap from Farang who have never started a business or taken a risk in their life and whose valuable time is spent drinking booze and denigrating all Thai women. 

 

Advice from a farang who doesn't understand proper risk assessment. So easy to free with other people's money, eh?

 

Edited April 17, 2017 by JSixpack

[Tony125]

8 minutes ago, Khon Kaen Dave said:

Brucie

Would you please enlighten me what professions that command a monthly payment of 100,000. Please dont tell me its bar girls They're lucky if they get 5000 a month.And there's no amount of cusotmers to make it 100,000 And the last time i was in Patts, about 2 month's ago, the bars in Bukhauw, second road, and beach road, had customers but nothing like they used to. Even Soi Diana was a shadow of its former self.I dont even think the Russian GoGo dancers get 100,000 a month

 The days of the felang laden bars is past, and the 'beautiful'  bar girl is now a rarity.And even the three week millionaires, are finding other places to go, due to the Pound being in the karsie.

This, of course if you believe your own eyes and not the TOT minster.

 So i think that 100,000 a month is a bit wishful thinking.

As a newbie I guess you don't know how things work around here. The girls are not making 100,000 from wages or service to farangs from the bar they are making it from 1 to 6 or more farang boyfriends who send 10 to 35 thousand baht or more every month to their Thai darling to help out or not to work bar. I know a girl who was getting 35, 000 baht every month from an Australian guy not to work bar. He found out she was still working told her to stop she said no. I asked he why not stay home just take the money she said boring and can make more money here.

And for the original topic don't think its a good idea to open a business for her , sorry just my opiion

[SpeakeasyThai]

2 hours ago, Saladin said:

If she's a good girl then I think you are doing the right thing. Many Thai women are good at running street stalls and they are happy to roll up their sleeves and put in the hours. Of course you have to be careful but don't take notice of the Farang knockers who will never start a business in their life as they can only see the pitfalls and not the opportunities. You might also look at Chiang Mai which is swarming with Chinese and Korean tourists year round. They are the ones spending the money, not the Westerners. Good luck to you - I hope it works out.

 

'...Chinese ...spending money'.

?

[smotherb]

On 4/15/2017 at 1:43 PM, tomwct said:

Ask yourself this question? Would you buy a business for your GF in your home country? No, then why would you invest in

a business here? 80% of new businesses in the world fail in the first year. With a Thai GF running the business the failure

rate would be closer to 99%. Now, if you watched over the business, such as taking the money each evening and taking

inventory each evening, you could monitor the profits and/or losses. When your in your home country, the business would

close once the inventory is gone. They don't understand you need to replenish the inventory after some is sold. All the GF

wants is the money for her family and Thai husband.

Well, you certainly have a dim view of Thai women--or is it just bar-girls?

 

The first questions I would have are;  is your gf smart enough to learn, is she lazy, how does she keep your house, is she able to budget her money, can she think logically and act accordingly. If I didn't see the correct answers to those questions in spades; I wouldn't even consider a business. 

[deepcell]

Once my GF now wife, asked me the same thing, my answer that time was: "Sure, but first I need your business plan, then we can talk about.." of course she never drawn one for me, the business (one more coffee shop) never happened.

Put a condition for the business to happen and wait to see her effort.

otherwise

Do not do that, unless you will take full control over the business and you GF will be one staff working for you and will never ever touch the money, but you or some trusted part have to check inventory every since in while as well check balances, and so on..
As @86Tiger stated "Never be in business where you can not understand the spoken and written language." I would say the same thing.

 

[elgordo38]

On 4/15/2017 at 1:28 PM, pumpjack said:

names or number of landlords or empty lots for sale.

Rent rent rent stay away from buying. You cannot buy it and of course your aware of any consequences involved. Keep it a small business for starters to see if it will a starter or a non starter. Good luck. Don't let love overpower reasoning. 

[pumpjack]

On 15/04/2017 at 7:43 AM, tomwct said:

Ask yourself this question? Would you buy a business for your GF in your home country? No, then why would you invest in

a business here? 80% of new businesses in the world fail in the first year. With a Thai GF running the business the failure

rate would be closer to 99%. Now, if you watched over the business, such as taking the money each evening and taking

inventory each evening, you could monitor the profits and/or losses. When your in your home country, the business would

close once the inventory is gone. They don't understand you need to replenish the inventory after some is sold. All the GF

wants is the money for her family and Thai husband.

bullsh......     get to thev back of the queue

[Baerboxer]

 

All Thai ladies I know that are married to foreigners want to have their own business.

 

Dear Mrs. BB, an excellent well qualified and experienced head teacher, still prattles on about having a business - despite having zero experience in running any type of business. We've had beauty spas, nail and hair salons, pet grooming, traditional pizza place, som tam restaurant, fashion clothes, children's clothes. 7-11's, handbags, jewelry, and on and on. Every time she comes up with her latest get rich quick scheme I ask for a business plan. That usually kills the conversation albeit with me being accused of being negative!

The idea usually involves me financing everything, her employing others to do the work and "managing things", no idea about accounting or finance and her keeping any revenues. Oh yes, and everyone is a 100% guaranteed success. Impossible to fail.

 

Like I said, many other Thai wives I know come up with very similar suggestions. I do know one or two that have businesses. But it requires the husband to take a very active part in all decision making and constant checking that things get done.

 

Everyone who has put money up, IME, and just sat back and watched their wife / GF has lost their money. And of course, it was never ever the fault of the lady concerned who expects another venture will be similarly backed without question.

 

If your GF is a well educated lady, with business experience, from a business family, then maybe just maybe. If she's not then only risk what your prepared to loose.