

Ramen profitability is easier in Asia: Travel is perfect for micro-entrepreneurs - ollierattue
http://toomanytabs.com/blog/2422/ramen-profitability-is-easier-in-asia-how-travel-creates-the-perfect-situation-for-the-micro-entrepreneur/

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gexla
Yes, but there are drawbacks as well. Frequent brownouts. Frequent internet
outages. Slow internet. Large distance from other hackers in your home country
(more expense to travel to conferences and other meetings.)

Also, some things are cheaper, some things aren't. Global commodities such as
oil and food are just as expensive. Imports are more expensive. The big
savings is from labor (which in turn helps drive prices for everything down)
and in some cases land (some places in developing countries, especially big
cities such as China have land prices which can rival big cities in the U.S.)
Currency fluctuations can have a huge effect on fragile bugets, especially if
your earning / holding currency is in a relatively volatile period (look at
what the Austrailian dollar has done compared to the U.S. dollar in the past
12 months.)

For me, another big savings is not so much from being in a foreign country,
but rather the mental shift I made. Living simple is the norm here. Most
people who come to live here drop the majority of their personal possessions
and move into a far smaller place than they might have had back home. At home
you might feel you have to keep up with the Jones' but simplicity is accepted
here. If you begin to make a shift back the other direction, then your
expenses can rise to eat up your entire income, just like anywhere else.

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phlux
I am interested in doing this a little differently - I am trying to hire folks
that have some of the skills that I have and outsource myself. I find the work
here in the US and feed it to them.

I have only just made the decision I want to do this, so I am not sure where
to start other than Odesk etc...

Anyone done this yet?

~~~
gexla
Depends on what you are looking to outsource. The term "yourself" can mean a
lot of things. Simple tasks which aren't critical are fine. Technical tasks
such as web development are a bit tricker. You get what you pay for. Someone
who is good will understand that he / she is working in a global market and
can charge accordingly. I live in the Philippines but my rates don't reflect
this.

I live in a city which is a regional hub but not as big as Cebu or Manila.
There are a lot of universities here, so the talent pool should be great. Even
my local developer friends have a hard time hiring competent staff from the
surrounding area, and they LIVE here. I imagine hiring a remote team that
would function well would be even more difficult.

When I look at the types of jobs these low earners on Odesk pick up, I get the
feeling they are working for people going for "low but good enough" quality
and don't have a high standard.

Why not just jack up your rates, go for higher end clients and hire good
developers? Your margin for profit could be as good or better.

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phlux
Thats an excellent point, thanks - as I was specifically wondering about
hiring someone from the Philippines. Are you in Cagayan?

~~~
gexla
Dumaguete, which is a hub of the southern half of the island of Negros.

Edit: If you are serious about this, your best bet is to move here and get it
going. Then when you have it running smoothly, you can move on but still drop
by occasionally. However, as I mentioned, I know people who live here and have
a hard time finding good staff. Think about all those articles you see about
businesses in India trying to hire good staff from the pool of college
graduates. I imagine the Philippines is worse (smaller pool of people to
choose from, schools on average are probably no better) except that English is
an official language here.

