Best Places for Building an Online Business

[Beyond Borders]

Thanks for your post, BB. It is a service business (copywriting/direct marketing). In all likelihood, I will start making decent money within the first month or two. I've been self-studying the concepts for a while now and I'm getting to the stage where I need to put together a portfolio, build a website, find clients,etc..

Obviously, I'm trying to get as much of that out of the way now while I'm employed. But after a 9+ hour day, my creative brainpower is somewhat reduced.

Could you tell me more about your experience in Chiang Mai? Is a nice place to live? Did you run into other internet entrepreneurs while you were there?

20K in savings and a service business, using a skill you're already studying?

Yeah, you're good then. Don't let any dissuade you from this - some people will always seek possible points of failure and as a result always discourage others from taking risks. They're simply cut from a different cloth than you, so don't even bother trying to relate.

You could be making money within a couple weeks. I've seen guys do it plenty of times. I've done it myself.

By your writing, I can tell you've got a decent head on your shoulders and know how to sling a word or two together. Given the savings cushion, the only thing way you could really fail at this is procrastination and self-discipline, which I admit are huge obstacles to conquer.

Chiang Mai is an awesome place to live. I've posted about my experiences in some of the Chiang Mai and Thailand threads here. There are definitely a ton of online entrepreneurs there, but I don't associate with other foreigners often so I only met a few.

 

[Bushido]

So basically I'm pretty set on Saigon for all of the reasons you've discussed. Oh and visas are simple there. Only downside to Saigon is that most women there aren't really "sexually liberated" from what I can tell, but we really can't have it all can we?

You can only corrupt what hasn't already been corrupted.

 

[berserk]

The hunt for online biz paradise is similar to poosy paradise, it probably don't exist.

For me the basics of strictly biz related factors needed:

- Warm weather year round or seasonal but with nature around (skiing in winter etc)
- Good value for money, ability to live cheap
- De facto ease of doing business
- Low taxes and strong property rights
- High speed and stable internet
- Good population of online biz people for networking
- Skilled and english speaking population
- Access to venture capital if needed

Few places match those. Thailand matches a lot of them but falls flat on ease of doing business legally and the locals lack skills. There are a lot of people working online though, Bangkok probably has the most of them in the world. Chiang Mai can be dirt cheap, but I have no idea of it would get boring after a while. Philippines has much of the same as Thailand, less legal problems, access to designers, customer support, writing etc at low rates, but is more unstable and noticeable less safe.

Berlin is relatively cheap and a hot spot for startups in IT, good location in the middle of Europe. I've heard that Budapest and other EE countries are on the uprise. Estonia has a big IT sector and very favorable laws and taxes. Southern Spain is an option, weather is nice, can deduct tons of stuff from your taxes. Bali seems to be an overlooked option, the guy from TropicalMBA.com talks about it very positively. Hong Kong and Singapore are excellent on almost all points but very expensive Singapore has a thriving affiliate marketing and online marketing sector. Taiwan is something I looked into and still consider once I leave from my Euro hiatus. Has a good sized tech and software dev sector, good weather, nature etc, reasonable cost of living.

Easiest place to pack your bags and leave on a whim is Thailand. The infrastructure is in place, lots of people have done it before, easy to get setup, but imo can become a trap due to lack of professional culture and legal protection and a temptation to adjust to tropical layabout lifestyle.

I've considered Poland as well, but I very much doubt I'd want to stay in the winter or even Autumn. Of course, you could split your time between the two.

I was in Saigon and really liked it, some great cafes to work from while drinking that local coffee with the caramelized milk. More of an entrepreneurial and growing place than Thailand. Some logistical problems though like healthcare and traffic, so make sure to get insurance at least.