Business Ideas: Internet payment processors
June 30, 2007
Other than discovering various beautiful spots around the world, travel is a great way to meet new and interesting people. In my hotel in Vientiane the capital city of Laos I met a fellow Aussie who runs his own internet payment website, kind of like Paypal.
He is a solicitor by trade, so he has no technical skills. He is good evidence that anyone with a good idea for an internet business can successfully set it up and get it running without needing the technical knowledge. Sometimes I get the feeling that people who have great technical skills are actually the worst people to start an internet business. They generally have too much pride and want to do all of the design and programming of the website.
This results in the project getting delayed and by the time it is complete they don’t have the energy or possibly the finances to market it properly. I don’t want to downgrade people who have great technical skills, but with the ability to outsource website design and programming functionality it hardly seems worth the trouble of trying to do it yourself or employing an individual to do it.
A payment processor seems like a great business to run. Once it is set up, you basically just receive a commission for every transfer completed. Get a few big ecommerce websites using your service and you have the perfect cash generating system. Paypal doesn’t cover every country around the world, so I believe the market is still pretty much open.
Living and working overseas destinations: Cambodia
June 25, 2007
Following on from my post on living overseas, I am going to profile some of the countries I have been to for the suitability for living in to develop your internet business or perhaps to even start your own non-internet related business.
Cambodia
Famous for: Angkor Wot, Khmer Rouge, Killing Fields
Visas: Cambodia is perhaps one of the easiest countries to obtain a business visa for a 6 month or 12 month period. It is called a business visa pretty much in name only, because you can basically work, run a business or even just lay on the beach. You don’t need any proof of income, as Cambodians typically just expect you to be able to support yourself.
Living Costs: Cambodia is a very cheap place to live. A small apartment in the capital Phnom Penh can be rented for around $200 a month. A fan room with a shared bathroom in a cheap hotel starts from around $3 a night. There are even places in Sihanoukville which advertise free accommodation as long as you eat in their restaurant, which might not be the best option, but it does show that you can live for next to nothing. Food, beer is also cheap.
Infrastructure: Power outages are fairly common. Internet access can be a little expensive and is not super fast, although I am sure this should only improve. Roads between major cities are pretty good and transport is plentiful.
Downsides: Cambodia is an extremely poor country. The Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot killed over 2 million people, just over 30 years ago, which not surprisingly left a huge scar on the country and the people. Health care is very limited. Any major illnesses people (with insurance) are evacuated to neighboring Thailand. Land mines are still a problem in less frequented areas. Corruption is rife.
Upsides: Other than the cheap cost of living, the people are warm and friendly. It can be a good base for visiting neighboring Vietnam, Thailand and Laos. Several foreign banks are now operating in Cambodia improving the financial infrastructure. There is a fairly large expatriate community who work mostly for NGOs.
Running a business: There are plenty of good opportunities to start your own business in Cambodia. Many foreigners run bars, restaurants and hotels.
This is a good article on setting up your own bar in Cambodia.
Carnival of Money Stories #15
June 25, 2007
Welcome to the 15th edition of the Carnival of Money Stories. Andy has asked that I only include personal money stories and money experience - always be sure to check the submission guidelines! I had a very long list of articles to get through, but was able to find some new and interesting blogs. One lesson I learned was that a touch of humor helps to make your article stand out from the others.
My New Choice will be hosting the next carnival and you can submit your articles here.
Real Estate
Daniel asks whether he should get into the Thai property market: Jumping into Thai real estate market head first
Midnight Raider writes why they decided to buy their own property instead of renting: Homeownership Made Sense For Us
Mr Credit Card writes how his mortgage feels like credit card debt: My Mortgage Feels Like Credit Card Debt (Ask Mr Credit Card’s Blog)
Banking
MoneyChangesThings writes how her honesty resulted in his account actually being credited $300: My Ethics Reward: $300!.
Scams
Sheppard Salter writes on some new business scams: More Scams That Sabotage The Simple Life
Investing
Super Saver writes about his latest stock purchases: Buy Stocks Now? - Build Intestinal Fortitude
Allen Taylor looks at which years are better for investing: Making Big Money By Looking At The Seasons Of Investment.
Saving Money
MoneyNing has an interesting article on whether we actually waste time trying to save money: Maybe We Spend Too Much Time Saving Money
Smith has an interesting article on why getting a summer job is not always the best option for students: The Economics of a High School Student
Silicon Valley Blogger has an interesting article on the costs of beauty: How To Look Good On A Budget: The Business of Beauty
Frugal Living
Christine Kane has a very thought provoking article, something which I can strongly relate to: Are You Saving Money or Wasting Time?
Eric Stanley writes how he saves money by using coupons and making his own meals: Free Up 2,000 A Month - Easily
Matthew Paulson has an article on buying second hand jewlery, but I don’t think many women will agree with him: Buying Jewelry On the Secondary Market: It’ll Save You Thousands
Brett McKay has a funny article on why he hates cars: I Hate Cars
Personal Finance
Nina writes about her first argument over money with her partner: Sleeping with Money: Our First Big Money Fight
And to finish on a touch of humor:
Madeleine Begun Kane writes a limerick: Married To Money
Custom template for my Australia Forum
June 24, 2007
I just got the template I ordered for my Australia forum. I am pretty happy with the result.
What do you think of it?
In Hanoi airport
June 23, 2007
I am in Hanoi airport now waiting for my flight to Laos. I opened up my laptop and found they have free wireless here. It’s a great way to fill in a bit of time.
Mail from a Forbes reporter
June 22, 2007
Back in April I received an email from Andrew Greenberg from Forbes. He was writing an article on Google’s supplemental index. He found me through a comment I made on Aaron Wall’s blog. He wanted me to call him to discuss his story. (I need to get a phone one of these days!)
I was in Cambodia at the time so it would have been difficult to call him. The finished article was published some time ago “Condemned To Google Hell“.
I at least got close to getting a mention in mainstream press, but the point of this post is that journalists are going beyond the usual sources of information to research their stories and you never know when you might benefit from something you did months ago.
Travel to develop your internet business - where to go
June 21, 2007
Regarding my post: traveling to develop your internet business, Claire asks:
That being said, I have to say your blog post on how to reduce your living expenses by going abroad is very well thought out. However, if you don’t happen to be a citizen of that country, won’t they eventually kick you out? I would like to do this in two or three years and I am now investigating my choices but I am finding that my best choice may be in the U.S.!
My experience only extends to Asia but I believe there a number of countries in the world which let you stay for periods beyond a short vacation period.
Generally poorer, less developed countries allow foreigners to live for extended periods without having to hold down a job, or run a business, particularly in South East Asia. The governments of these countries welcome foreigners, often to stay as long as they want, as they believe that they bring in valuable foreign currency and investment.
Since local people’s salaries are so low, it is unlikely that foreigners will be taking away jobs from local people. Immigration officials basically assume that all westerners are rich and let anyone in.
Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and India allow foreigners to apply for visas that are longer than the usual one month tourist visas, that most countries seem to offer. Generally there are no special requirements to get a visa for people from most western countries. As Lonely Planet says, “if you have the cash, they have a visa”.
Cambodia offers a 6 and 12 month business visa. Once you have the visa you are basically free to work, start a business or lay on the beach for as long as you want. Thailand has become stricter in allowing people who do not have proper business visas to stay in the country long term. At one time Thailand was the place for foreigners to escape from the western rat race.
The big disclaimer to this post is that visa conditions and regulations can change at anytime. Immigration officials are corrupt and can change fees/rules at anytime they see fit. It is important when dealing with officials in any country, but particularly Asia to stay calm, don’t argue and to dress conservatively. Follow the laws and rules of your chosen country and you won’t have a problem.
No marketing, no traffic, no users
June 20, 2007
I think some people are interested in knowing how my sites are performing from my 28 Site Challenge. The challenge was to create one new website per day for the month of February. It seems such a long time ago now!
Not surprisingly performance is pretty dismal. If someone visits a site like jobseekchina and finds no jobs, they are unlikely to post their own company’s jobs. This is always the difficulty of starting a site like this. I have a couple of other job sites like dotjapan.com and jobsesl.com. I started dotJapan in September 2005. It has taken nearly two years now to get it to where it is today and last month it earned a grand total of $63 from Google ads. To be honest though, I don’t do much with the site at all.
The hotel mini sites I created get very little traffic, but they rank fairly well in Google and make a little bit of money. I think it could be possible to package them up and sell them to a company like asiarooms.com or hotels.com.
A few people have submitted links to affiliate-rank but most of the links seem to be a little spammy. My biggest success is my dating site Wealthy People Dating. Apart from the $25 I spent on StumbledUpon I haven’t done anything else to promote the site. I don’t have any ads on the site as yet, so I am defining “success” as people signing up to the site. I have had about 25 signups so far and 1555 people rating profiles. Again, it is hard to know if these are real people signing up or other dating companies trying to promote their own sites. The dating industry is extremely competitive. I started the site as a bit of joke, but if I can get a few more members I might put the site up for sale on Sitepoint.
Creating dozens of sites is crazy and totally unmanageable for one person, but I enjoy trying out different things. You are far better to concentrate on just one or two websites they are truly interested in. As I wrote the other day, I am going to test the waters by selling some of sites that I no longer want to maintain. I think it is fairly safe to conclude that unless you spend time marketing a site, getting links and getting people to actively use your site, it is going to go no where.
Having said that, if you have a site that is relying on users to generate the content, if you can the site to a stage where it appears to be active, you have a higher chance of new people signing up. A good example is my new Australia Forum. I am paying someone to help put some new posts up, but I have had a couple of “real” people sign up and are starting to use the site. Just a reminder, I am running a competition on the site and I haven’t had any great entries yet so there is still a good chance for someone to win by writing a decent entry.
Hosting Carnival of Money Stories Next Week
June 20, 2007
Andy from moneywalks.com has invited me to host the carnival of money stories on the 25th of this month. If you would like to get involved, you can submit your money story here.
Be sure to submit it to “carnival of money stories”. As Andy says on his blog:
“Carnival of Money Stories is strictly dedicated to articles with some kind of personal story and/or experience involving finance.”
I have read about carnivals before how they are a good way to bring in new traffic to your blog, but like many things this is the first time to give it a try.
To sell or not sell
June 19, 2007
Last year I created a tonne of different websites. Some still do OK with zero promotion, but others are just sitting there collecting dust. I am starting to think whether I should try and consolidate what I have and selling off the sites I have no interest in.
It is not really like I need the money and it is hard to know if anyone would be interested in buying them. One such site that I would consider selling is barandeventguide.com. It is a listing of bars and taverns in the US. The site is running on Joomla with the Mosets directory component. I bought the data and imported it into the directory.
I might list it on Sitepoint and see if I can get any interest in it.
