Starting a business in Thailand
Here is something we get daily from Guests to our Resort- "You are so lucky being able to live here!" Luck has very little to do with it, just like starting a business back home!
Most people will tell you that you need to form a Thai Company, have about 4 million baht and off you go. They will also tell you the multitude of ways you can maintain your residency. All this is probably perfectly true but it hides some stark realities which anyone wanting to start a business here needs to consider.
An often quoted saying, "If you want to make a small fortune in Thailand arrive with a big one" is so true.
The first is that starting a business in your own country is never easy but starting one here is harder. However well you think you know Thailand, unless you were born here you can never know it fully. Things are not harder to do here but they are different, which for a foreigner most often translates to harder. Your passage to success will be helped greatly by expecting things to be different and rejoicing when they are not. Also you need to drop any expectations that things will change and you will eventually be able to do things your way. They won't.
A friend of mine in Issan, who now runs a small rice paddy, duck farm and a thriving fish farm on the Nam Pong river, came here for the first time 7 years ago. For the first 9 months he did nothing except live in a small shack in the village he was thinking of calling home. He spent the time researching, watching and listening. Then he went home for 6 months to think. Finally he returned with his plan, joined with his Thai partner and today lives a successful life just the way he had planned. In that same area in 7 years he has seen 9 foreigners come with money and good intentions and leave with nothing. Most inside a year. Ask any long term resident of Thailand and they probably can give you a handful of similar stories.
Another major issue to confront is success. A huge percentage of people coming here fail for a variety of reasons. Most are because the "entrepreneur" did not understand the culture or business environment. Almost all are because they did not have a TRUSTED Thai partner. Without one its a sure bet you will fail. Your local partner is your eyes and ears to the extent you can never have. Your partner needs to trust you too! It's very hard in the Thai legal system for an overseas partner to win a fight.
You also need to ask yourself a hard question; "Am I a successful person?" If you can honestly say yes to that one then you may be able to be successful in Thailand. If not, why would you expect to do better here than in your own country?
To run a successful business you need to be the best there is to compete with locals who will try to copy you as soon as they see you make any money. They will undercut your prices to start with so that the margins you thought you could get disappear as you struggle to survive. This is especially true of any business where the startup costs are low and the "technology" is easy to obtain. You have to have a plan which is different and has elements which are hard to copy! And you need to expect to have to work hard to get there. The more time you spend planning the better your chances of success.
And a final note on income. There are of course exceptions to any rule but if you are coming to Thailand to start a small business make sure you count as a large part of the income the intangible that you are able to live in the place you have chosen. Unless you are really good your small business in Thailand won't make you wealthy!
If you are reading this and thinking of investing $150 million in a business and employing 500 locals then this does not apply - well some of it at least - because the government will welcome you with open arms and help you every way they can.
