Starting a business in Udon

If you want to do bussiness in Udon - look for thai customer and do bussiness with them - forget Falang -
but this is hard work to have bussiness in thailand, 7 days a week - not so fun as you think, no holidays.

the trade bussiness here is the chinese and little bit vietman peoples bussiness

I think it is easier to make money in bandung.

stay Holland and enyou your holidays here.

next year will not be easy to make bussinees anywhere

Thaitanium wrote:

LoongLee wrote:Dave,,,,,,,,,, others have covered the pros and cons so I don't need to go down that street. Even though I don't live in Thailand I have given your idea a lot of thought over the last 2 years.

IMHO, I have come to the conclusion that the best chance a farang would have at making a living in the Issan (or Thailand) area would be to have an internet based business, probably in an urban area with the best internet service available. If you provide a product , you would have to have international shipping (FEDEX, UPS, DHL) available. Maybe start a business where you are, get it running, and then move to Thailand and run it remotely via internet. The most obvious would be a writer (travel, food, etc) that you could do anywhere and submit via the internet to a publisher. Have payments made to an "offshore" account. Other possibilities may come from your other interests. Use the new world idea of working remotely from an actual "bricks and mortar" job location. good luck

Someone, that actually writes, and thinks beyond the falang retiree box.
Good post LoongLee, and a breath of fresh air.
A falang business in Thailand is absolutely possible. The only thing I can't agree with, is the (travel, food, etc) idea. I do think it's a good idea, but a person can do a lot more, and anything else will pay more elsewhere, than in Udon, unless a person wants to settle for English teacher type wages. My brother works a restaurant in the states making double more wages than the most experienced teacher here and is a senior at Stanford.
There are many Thais in Udon doing much better than most falangs here. Most falangs are cheap.
Many Thais just simply have a businesses on coastal sites, where materials are less expensive, and can be quickly shipped from port. They're the one's with the hot women, expensive cars, and big homes.
I will agree about Udon not being the place to do business. This town, is simply that, simple, and a farmers town. If you want to compete as a banana farmer, or beer farmer, then good luck.
If a falang wants to farm potatoes to rubber trees, they still have to compete against the Thais that have 100% say, regardless what the Thai wife or girlfriend tells them.
Aside from cement and brick manufacturing, anything else, steel and such is imported from the coastal cities, and cost twice as much if you know somebody, or 3 times and more if you know them as well, or don't, and then you must have a Thai partner, that will lie, all the time. Same as a bar wife. There are no factories here or raw material smelting plants.
Udon is a transit and agriculture town. It's small here, with few people, and very little cash flow. A lot is credit flow.
Only the falang niche endeavors, with a falang following, can sometimes persevere here, and that is by slim chance in most cases. If a falang business makes money in Udon, it's most likely by luck or simple chance. It's nothing more. This is Udon. Even the rich Thais come here to simply relax, and have a part time home, away from the big cities. They invest little here, if ever. Udon is cheap for living, not business.

I am sorry your assumptions as to the future prosperity of Udon are obviously not shared by the big money professionals. Why would Central Group be planning a multi billion baht investment? Why would Tesco be building a huge new store. Why would Carrefour have invested so heavily in the town.? Look around you. See all the new hotels, mostly upmarket and price style. These guys are not amateurs. They have investment teams planning ahead, possibly beyond our lifetime.Nows the time to get on board if you have confidence in your plans. Tomorrow will be too late and quite possibly too expensive.

I do apologize for the lengthy time to respond. I travel a bit. My intentions were not to offend, but to infer, that everyone considering a business plan in Udon, needs to take careful consideration, postulate, and assess, possibilities within this particular location. Udon is just a speck on the global map. Only some make it happen here, and that is a very small percentage. I'll guess, less than 1%, meaning expats, non multimillion, and globally living, in whatever country.

Yes, I have noticed all the glorious endeavors, of multi- million dollar investors here. I have also noticed how long it has taken for Udon to finally come up to speed, since the Vietnam war.

I still notice it is still poor and poverty stricken.I have also noticed, it is so much better than the past decade, and still, it's been a very slow development progress. It has still taken decades to get this far.
It is still an uncertain time, globally, and basic economics still have a hand in this game.
Also, Thailand only has this tiny piece of the worlds pie. Udon's bit, is just a bit at best. These are very speculative times.

I never stated it was impossible. It is possible, but a safer bet, is in other Thai cities , VS a farm town. It takes 25 minutes to see everything here by car.

The multimillion dollar corps are not amateurs at all, but they are gambling, and they are mostly outside investment, that gives very little back to the community, aside from employment, and still with the same Thai wages. Profits mostly go to the home country, weather Europe, USA, China, etc. Time shall tell, and I do hope Udon will prosper.

Biz, is always a gamble. Nothing is set in stone. In my opinion only, Udon, is simply not a cash cow yet, and by it's simple history, never has been. It has taken 6000 years to get to a Carrefore, and that's progress?

Simple things like the Big C here, parking is empty most days, no lines at the cashier, and few people shopping period, and all this happened because of simple competition, from another foreign capitalist.

So, we shall see. Every thing is still speculative at best here. There is no sure thing. Biz here, is a crap shoot, and until I see some drastic, bold, and monumental differences that benefit Udon's people, I will keep my factories operating elsewhere.

I do hope the best for Udon, so don't beat me up too much. It's what I see, and my opinion. Best of luck to anybody that wants a crack, at hotels, bars, housing developments, an alternate Udon Mag/forum, or what ever, but for today, this year, it is not for me. If things change, I'll put money in this town.

For the time being, I'll enjoy the scenery.

hi,dave
just wondering what's up with a bkk or a pattaya bar girl ? If you buy your bar in udon thani,and you get your girlfriend to run it,won't she become a udon bargirl,

And won't there be girls in there that 'may' be available to the customers...?

And won't she become an Udon mamasam, using the barfine fee, to help cover the fixed costs in the running of the bar...? Is the barfine fee taxable under Thai Law...?

So many if's and but's to think about.All the best

For the love of god/allah stay away from bar's,if you do a bar you need your head read

well someone got to open one as no one will have anywhere to go in the evenings...

Just been doin a bit of searching and I was wondering if Dave got any kind of business going??? I'd be interested in hearing back from you.

Thanks,

Lee R.

Heyyyyy Dave you don't know Dave058 do you......