Money Making Idea for Thai Relative

[Ken57]

Good Afternoon All

My wife often wonders about simple money making ideas for members of her family
in the north east thailand ( out in the sticks ) we have tried a few, but have yet to come
up with a good one.

Please can anyone who reads this post give me their opinion

The few times I visited the north east ( about an hour from Ro-it Airport) and I noticed the
fundimental lack of basic car maintainance eg checking coolant & oil levels, and oil changes
that seem stretch on for YEARS.

My wifes cousin has a small roadside motorcycle repair buisness

In the UK have a Sealey Oil Extractor Pump that can empty an engine sump via the dipstick
in matter of minutes !, it is hand operated and requires no special skills.

I use it for interim oil changes, it prevents having to grovel around under the vehicle
and remove sump pans to find the drain plug.

Here is how it might work works,

1. car/motorcycle/tractor etc pulls up with a warm engine, note .
a) driver has brought with him fresh oil of correct quantity/grade

2. dipstick removed.

3. 5.9mm extractor probe inserted into dipstick until it hits sump, back off a few millemetres.

4. pump extractor by hand, oil is removed at rate of approx 1 litre every 2 mins.

5. oil is collected in pump body.

The engine is re filled with fresh oil and waste collected oil poured straight into the old oil can
and handed back to driver for disposal.

Driver hands over a small FEE and drives away, all within 15 minutes

I wonder what the readers think ?

[chopsticks]

Reckon it won't be viable as you've already stated :

"The few times I visited the north east ( about an hour from Ro-it Airport) and I noticed the
fundimental lack of basic car maintainance eg checking coolant & oil levels, and oil changes
that seem stretch on for YEARS."

Doing regular oil-changes would just be seen as a non-essential expense as 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' will be the maxim applied to most vehicles.

Also, takes more time and effort at about 6 -8 minutes of hand pumping whereas it's easier to just remove the sump plug and watch the oil drain out within about 2 minutes.

Pig farming may be more profitable.

[johnnyk]

SELL the new oil to the customer.
Actually, I think chopsticks is right. They don't see any immediate benefit from an oil change, the car doesn't look better and it doesn't go faster.

[apinansukpeng]

Chopsticks said it all. My neighbor does pig farming. He's 28 and just bought a sports car that cost him over a million baht..... What do you think of that?

[quote][/quote]

[Takiap]

Chopsticks said it all. My neighbor does pig farming. He's 28 and just bought a sports car that cost him over a million baht..... What do you think of that?

He must be farming on a large scale. If not, he's either go some other form of income, or he's got a pile of debt. Small scale pig farming, from what I've seen, is not very profitable at all. Of course I could be wrong.

[russ]

my friend moved to issan brought a tractor he now hires it out to local farms with driver making loads of money and the locals are happy they not have to buy a tractor

[Spitfire]

Hmmm....business opportunities in the northeast huh?

Business is, of course, possible but it does often 'hang' on a few variables.

Firstly, who's going to run it for you? Most successful ones in such areas are 'hands-on' with the owner there all the time.

If you are going to 'farm-out' that position, or run via proxy, then it could be a problem as most of these types will devise scam upon scam to benefit themselves to your cost.....good to have the Mrs there all the time.

Also, if you just let the wife employ relatives then it could also be a problem as they may be more trustworthy than the average farm boy/employee but then there is the incompetence factor, so you'll end up doing social services for the family.

It is also worth remembering that many of these small to medium businesses on the side of the roads everywhere actually own the land they are on and the buildings they occupy have no rent for them to pay, which is probably why many of them survive rather than offering a good service and being locally successful in a business sense.

As for the tractor and farm machinery idea, then the market is becoming slowly saturated now as they have loosened the credit requirements on owning these things like tractors now, not to mention you need to know how to deal with Isaan farms on damage due to logs or concrete etc hidden on the land you are working on. It's not as simple as you might think or hear of from those driven by 'face' acquiring etc. It may seem OK now but in a few year there will be guys in villages with tractors everywhere.

If I had a million or two to spend on a business then I'd have a look at opening a 7-11.

Pig farming is profitable but hard work and if you are a foreigner then there are inherent problems with this. The poster above failed to mention whether the guy with a sports car from pig farming was Thai or foreigner....I think I can guess which one. And if he is a foreigner then you never know who's getting jealous and may report or try to screw you up.

Everything is organized on a governmental level to make it as difficult as possible for you to do anything.....but it doesn't mean it can't be circumnavigated as many foreigners do have businesses here and prosper.

My advice to you would be to spend a year or two observing and making notes plus gathering info from forums and through talking to people that have been here for a while so that you become well informed....then make your decision through being informed rather than just rolling the dice as the highway of business attempts here is littered with failures.

Don't be hasty man, as that will lead to head stress and it certainly is not as easy as some claim to achieve business longevity here.

Good luck.