Sold Everything, living mobile. Where to start my move?

[Guest682]

So I'm single, and just dissolved my consistently breaking even (failing) technology company. I don't own anything anymore except some clothes and my laptop & iphone (mobile office), and 10k in the bank.
I'm on the east coast of the US and its simply not working for me anymore, I hate this place, the weather and the people.

I've recently registered a Delaware corporation and am building an online store to sell custom build IP Camera systems, I've hooked up with one of the largest east coast distributors and hes giving me warehouse access @ 15% markup from the manufacture in china. They're going to drop ship for me and handle the support on my online store. I believe this is an opportunity for both of us because they don't have an online store and only sell locally. I plan to sell nationally. Is there anything I should watch out for with my distributor?

To me this is not a fast lane plan, but something to maintain an income. (Watch my blog for how I incorporated out of state in Delaware in 10 minutes for $120 instead of going through a lawyer or one of those business services which would have cost me $900.)

My move. I no longer want to be in the US and want to explore international opportunities. My plan to save money and maximize international exposure:

I will couchsurf for as long as I can. (couch surfing is free way to be hosted in other people's homes)
I will join expat groups and business meetup groups wherever I am staying at.
I will keep my gear light.
I am most likely not going to stay in any country for more then 90 Days to avoid visa issues.

As I trek through these countries I want to see if I can offer myself as an American liaison between non-American citizens & registered agents in American for anyone who wants to establish online businesses within America.
I can build online stores for my clients and set them up with online marketing packages which I plan to outsource. (PM if you want to help.)

While I'm on the move I'll keep a blog about the adventure & def post on the fastlane forums!

Long term:
For me this lifestyle decision will serve as an active case study for an online travel community that I've been wanting to establish for awhile now. Or maybe I'll realize its not viable and move on to other opportunities.

Back UP abilities:
In case none of this business stuff works out, here are some back up ideas so that I can at least sustain myself until I exec my fastlane plan.
I'm also a photographer, graphic designer, web developer, I scuba dive and could become a scuba dive instructor, computer repair, network security (CCNA/NP, MCSE, A+, etc..).

So thats my scenario. I know in some ways this could be stressful to some, but I'm seriously living a minimalistic lifestyle and even though I currently live in a 3 bedroom home by myself (renting), I haven't used the air conditioning all summer, and currently sleep on the couch and work from my coffee table. I no longer have a bed or any other furniture or a car anymore.

What countries should I focus on? I was thinking about Austria & Ukraine to start things off. But I've been hearing good things about Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg. Also if you're from or know anyone from these countries please lets network!

Also I'm currently studying Russian and plan on German then Chinese.

Please tell me what you think? Any advice, critique, warnings, or shared similar experiences would be great! Thanks everyone!

 

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[splok]

10k isn't going to last you very long at all in the countries you mentioned unless your business is already generating significant profit. Generally speaking, when people do this sort of thing, they're mostly considering low-cost countries, at least to begin with. SE Asia (Indonesia or Thailand maybe) would be a much more economical bet than anywhere in Europe, though the language barrier will be more of an issue. Also, you might consider focusing your language studies on the countries that you're going to be in. Knowing a bit of the local language can help a lot.

 

[Jake]

Thailand is my destination of choice. If you want to live extremely cheap, you can. I know plenty of guys living off of less than $1k a month. I wouldn't do it but it's possible. Good luck and have fun.

 

[MyMotivation]

To me this is not a fast lane plan, but something to maintain an income.

Why not?

 

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[Kak]

I can't wait to move part time to Panama and scope it for opportunity.

 

[The-J]

I hear Laos is looking quite good, if you're willing to learn a little basic Laotian. The civil wars are over. And it's quite cheap to live there: probably cheaper than Thailand but I can't be sure, I've never been. Just don't go tubing. Not only that, their healthcare is substandard: luckily, it's easy to go to Thailand for a medical emergency.

Thailand is, of course, popular with the 4HWW crowd. Many affiliate marketers are living there on less than $1k a month, like Jake said. I, personally, LOVE Thai food and it's much cheaper there than it is in the West.

Or you may wanna check out Brasil. They've got a booming economy and hot women. A bit more expensive in the cities.

On your budget, it might be worth your while to go backpacking for a while. How many people in other countries do you know? Would they be letting you sleep in their house for a few days or weeks? If you want to go somewhere without friends, what kind of hotels would you like to stay in?

http://www.retire-asia.com/retire-vientiane-laos.shtml

For more Laos information. Beer is ridiculously cheap!

 

[911Carrera]

Try it and even if you don't succeed, it will be a good experience to talk about. 10k is not a lot but you plan to continue working so you should be able to start earning some $ before that money runs out..

 

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[Trevor Kuntz]

You should really read About | Exile Lifestyle. It's written by one of my favorite writers, Colin Wright. He travels to a new country every 4 months based on the votes of his readers and is currently living in Romania, after living in India, Iceland, Thailand, New Zealand, and Argentina. He's also a minimalist and has fewer than 100 possessions to his name.

Anyways, I admire your determination! My goal is to eventually sell everything (I've already drastically downsized the amount of stuff I have) and will move to Central, Eastern, or Southern Europe to live off of a few thousand a month. I live very cheaply day to day and only buy stuff that I know will last a long time, so hopefully it will only be a matter of time.

Please keep me posted on how you transition into your new lifestyle!

 

[JaySoriano]

You have a blog, twitter, et. al? I'd love to follow your journey...

 

[Analyzer]

If you want to be in Europe consider Lisbon, Portugal

business
[video=youtube;8NkJ9QrO2xo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NkJ9QrO2xo[/video]

fun
[video=youtube;sC73r8vcnIM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC73r8vcnIM[/video]

 

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[Guest682]

10k isn't going to last you very long at all in the countries you mentioned unless your business is already generating significant profit.

I believe this is true under common conditions but as a minimalist I believe I can make it last and with the online company based in the US I should do fine even if I can pull in (worst case) 2k a month starting. Also I will be CouchSurfing although short term is free to chill at many people's houses =)

Thailand is my destination of choice. If you want to live extremely cheap, you can. I know plenty of guys living off of less than $1k a month. I wouldn't do it but it's possible. Good luck and have fun.

Yes I hear it is cheap to live I really feel this is one of the places I want to visit for awhile. I'll keep you in mind hopefully one of your friends would be willing to network and give some tips about the area. And seriously thank you for the support!

Why not?

I believe my online business can be fastlane but considering the Entry and Time Commandments, trying to translate the value of my systems over cheaper systems of less quality may be prove to be difficult considering how saturated the security market is currently. However I will try and do have a considerable amount set aside for adverting.

I can't wait to move part time to Panama and scope it for opportunity.

I'm hearing great things about Panama, especially from member 'GlobalWealth'.. The stability offered by the canal seems like a no brainer, I figure if I were to go I would show them how to save money on better technology, since I've done this in the past for local school systems. What do you think you would like to do there when you get there?

On your budget, it might be worth your while to go backpacking for a while. How many people in other countries do you know? Would they be letting you sleep in their house for a few days or weeks? If you want to go somewhere without friends, what kind of hotels would you like to stay in?

I unfortunately don't know many. A friend in Australia, Spain, and an acquaintance in Austria. This is why I hope to make friends as soon as possible, hopefully my blog would increase my exposure in this area. I'm unsure if this will be effective but hopefully meetups or maybe even groups on the similar but more 'social' social network vk.com will assist me. If you know anymore sites or anything don't hesitate!

Try it and even if you don't succeed, it will be a good experience to talk about. 10k is not a lot but you plan to continue working so you should be able to start earning some $ before that money runs out..

I agree! Your support helps considering I tossed the idea around with a few slowlaners and ofcourse i'm "crazy" for wanting to do something like this. lol

I admire your determination! My goal is to eventually sell everything (I've already drastically downsized the amount of stuff I have) and will move to Central, Eastern, or Southern Europe to live off of a few thousand a month.

Thank you for telling me about ExileLifestyle! I've already checked out some of his stuff and its great and very aligned with what I am trying to do! Seriously thank you for this! You can really do it. My lease is up and I currently have my expenses at about $400 a month now, thats with the business and feeding myself. You can do this too. Thank you for your support.

You have a blog, twitter, et. al? I'd love to follow your journey...

Not yet, well, I just created my twitter and started following you, @SurfCEO Thanks for encouraging me to signup =)

If you want to be in Europe consider Lisbon, Portugal

Dude Lisbon seems like a dream come true this is definitely a place that I could see my ending up for a long time and be happy, thank you for the vids, the support for businesses seems unreal "Register a company in an hour" wow! And the Food, if I go I am definitely going to that restaurant! thank you for the tip!


Thank you everyone! The support is really helping!

 

[AndrewNC]

https://startupstay.com/

I just read an article on CNN about this company. It's pretty much couch surfing for entrepreneurs. I don't know much about it, but it looks like you are their target customer.

 

[Hlaz]

Dominican republic is cheap

 

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[Barry]

Jamaica Is Cheap

 

[458]

Move to Brazil... Brazil is a rising star, you can live their cheap and the women are amazing.

 

[1PercentStreet]

I want to move to Romania for a month. Not sure why but just always wanted to. It's cheap too, just need to pick up the language quickly.

 

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[Victor Santiago]

Move to Brazil... Brazil is a rising star, you can live their cheap and the women are amazing.

I agree about the women and maybe about being a rising star, but it's definetly not a cheap country to live in.

I'm Brazilian, and lived here in Brazil my whole life, so belive me when I'm saying, it's NOT a cheap country to live in. Just to give you guys some idea of what I'm talking about, I recommend this great article from Forbes: Brazil's Ridiculous $80,000 Jeep Grand Cherokee - Forbes

But, there are a lot of oportunities here, especially in the internet and mobile business. The brazilian mobile and internet industry is not well developed, and it's growing (a lot!). So there are lots of things to do in this area, lots of potencial costumers. Also, there's a lot of money coming from oil, and other natural resources, investors and government wanting to invest in this business, and the country may gain a great visibility with the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic games coming (btw, the country's a mess, so I would consider invest in the public transportation business, airports and etc).

However, thanks to high taxes and bureaucracy, it's a painful country to invest in. Oh, and portuguese isn't an easy language to learn.

I would recommend to invest here, but not to live here. The best alternative would be start your company there in the US, but act here. Something like having your office in the US but making some portuguese app/website for the brazilian audience.

If anybody has questions about Brazil, I would love to help as much as I can.

 

[DeletedUser2]

ori bengal,

couchsurfingori.com



CouchSurfingOri, a Public Speaker, Adventurer, and Couch Surfer

 

[Ivan]

I was thinking about Austria & Ukraine to start things off.

I'm curious as to how Ukraine made your list. I'm from there, and it's probably one of the last countries on my list. If you want to do Eastern Europe, I'd do Estonia. The people are much nicer.

Also, if you've lived in the US your whole life, it might take some time to get used to the corruption. You have to bribe everyone and can rarely trust the police. It's just part of life in most of the world.

 

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[Kak]

The Dominican Republic would be a good bet for someone who wants to start a cigar label. Not to mention it is great! I went to Punta Cana for Christmas this year and had a blast. Stayed in a Paradisous all inclusive Melia.

 

[Steele Concept]

The Dominican Republic would be a good bet for someone who wants to start a cigar label. Not to mention it is great! I went to Punta Cana for Christmas this year and had a blast. Stayed in a Paradisous all inclusive Melia.

I have a buddy who helped start a cigar line based out of the Dominican Republic.

From my friends, I've heard great things about the Big Island of Hawaii, Thailand and some countries in South America, like Columbia, Costa Rica, Panama.

I like the Carribean. Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands have some pretty water

 

[Kak]

It wouldnt be very hard to find a cigar factory and work out a wholesale agreement and then rebrand to something that sounds cooler than Rocky Patel or Aurturo Fuente. I would want the brand to sound very opulent like Conquistador Tobaccos or something and package them better than others.

The fact of the matter is with cigars. If you smoke them on a semi reg basis you have your favorites and stop experimenting. Id want to make a cigar for once a year smokers who think because it is 16 dollars, comes in a fancy tube and has a cool label that they are smoking some bad a$$ cigar.

Import to US...

Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2l

 

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[Guest682]

I'm curious as to how Ukraine made your list. I'm from there, and it's probably one of the last countries on my list. If you want to do Eastern Europe, I'd do Estonia. The people are much nicer.

Also, if you've lived in the US your whole life, it might take some time to get used to the corruption. You have to bribe everyone and can rarely trust the police. It's just part of life in most of the world.

I was invited to do a guest photoshoot by an agency there, other then that I would to see if theres a market for people wanting to start businesses in the US. I am aware of the market conditions there so I feel people are looking for opportunities elsewhere and I'd like to facilitate.

If anybody has questions about Brazil, I would love to help as much as I can.

I may go!

It wouldnt be very hard to find a cigar factory and work out a wholesale agreement and then rebrand to something that sounds cooler than Rocky Patel or Aurturo Fuente. I would want the brand to sound very opulent like Conquistador Tobaccos or something and package them better than others.

The fact of the matter is with cigars. If you smoke them on a semi reg basis you have your favorites and stop experimenting. Id want to make a cigar for once a year smokers who think because it is 16 dollars, comes in a fancy tube and has a cool label that they are smoking some bad a$$ cigar.

This type of approach to cigars sounds cool but I just cant imagine selling cigars lol. I also don't smoke anything so it would just be a problem for me.

Update: I really haven't decided where to go but I know I am not happy where I am and I basically have nothing but a laptop a few changes of clothes and a backpack. I'm leaning more towards south america now I am interested in seeing what the technology industry looks like in Panama, in the realm of cloud computer / virtualization. However it doesn't matter where I'll end up as long as I have an internet connection to run my online store. Thanks for all the tips everyone.

 

[Vigilante]

I've heard great things about the Big Island of Hawaii

Great place to visit, but you could never base out of there as Hawaii is one of the highest taxed states in the U.S.

 

[GlobalWealth]

You have to bribe everyone and can rarely trust the police.

I'd rather bribe a police officer 10euros to get out of a speeding ticket than pay $500 plus get points and an increase in my insurance.

Plus Kiev is rated as having the hottest women in the world.

 

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[GlobalWealth]

Austria & Ukraine to start things off.

Austria's nice, but very expensive. 10k wont go far.

Ukraine is cheap and the women are hot, but it is hard to do business.

Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg.

All very expensive. You won't last long with 10k.

Also I'm currently studying Russian and plan on German then Chinese.

There are about 300m Russian speakers, so if you want to live in Eastern Europe this is a good idea. German seems like a waste of time to me unless you are trying to get a local job in Germany, Austria or parts of Switzerland. Mandarin would also be good, but like Russian it is very hard to learn. Spanish may be a great option as well since it is the 2nd most spoken first and second language in the world. Plus the latin base may help with Italian, French, Portugese, Romanian and a few others.

If you are learning Russian and like Eastern Europe my favorite places to live would be Riga, Vilnius or Budapest. Of those, Vilnius is the cheapest.

 

[Guest682]

Update: Well thank you everyone for your advice! Looks like I'm going to check out south east Asia for as long as possible. I am going to start in Bali and I'm pretty sure I'm meeting up with an INSIDERS from here in Singapore which is like a $80 plane ride =)

Heres my loadout! One Back pack fits my 60 or so items, I had to downsize about 4 times to get it to this level. To me the less I have the more agility and less I have to maintain. I also feel more empowered!


While I'm nomading around Asia I'll be trying to meet up with as many expats as I can. In singapore I'm going to check out the security infrastructure, from what I hear they have a rivaling anti-cyber threat taskforce that also employs consultants.

I'll also be researching thin-client / virtualization and see how this field is developing in Asia.

My online store is almost ready to go! I thought of completely taking on magneto myself, however, I decided to outsource it to save time. Along with that I already think my distributor is giving my problems so maybe i'll check out warehousing operations out in Taiwan or Singapore, the products I'm pretty sure come from Taiwan.

So I leave tomorrow. I will post as much as possible in the meantime if anyone wants to connect or wants me to research things out there for them I'll definitely love to do that! If you have something solid and want to move ahead like now I have a marketing / branding company at my disposal along with industrial designers, project managers / process consultants, I'm sure there's something I could help anyone out with. =)

Eventually I'll have surfceo.com up (anyone want to recommend a good wordpress / blog plugin?) but if you want you can follow me on SurfCEO (SurfCEO) on Twitter

Thanks everyone lets keep the dialogue goin!

 

[skipper]

If you are learning Russian and like Eastern Europe my favorite places to live would be Riga, Vilnius or Budapest.

How does Russian and Budapest go together? Besides, Hungary is in big trouble and they have VAT of 27%.

Of eastern european countries I like Poland. Krakow is a very nice place, for example, and Warsaw is quite unique and it seems a lot of money is being invested there. And prices are very low compared to the EU. You will not get very far with Russian there as well. English is still your best bet

 

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