Are you a nomadic business owner? How do you market your business?

Hey everyone,

Looking for blogs by individuals who document their progress/business in South East Asia - ideally Vietnam, Cambodia or Laos - but also Thailand/Myanmar too.

Thank you,

Haiducci

Looking for recommendations for reliable accountants who understand how remote businesses with off-shore freelancers and clients work. Thanks!

Heyo folks! The idea to open up an own coworking space in Malaysia has been on my mind for quite a while and I would like to reach out on foreigners being a business owner/co working space owner in Malaysia, there are a lot of questions that would follow up but most importantly is to reach out to someone with experience.

Ideally would be someone who runs a coworking space in Malaysia, second best would be to just come in touch with a foreign business owner in Malaysia.
Cheers
Yamin

I’d like to invite nomad entrepreneurs in this topic to discuss what are the challenges you face in filing taxes, insurance and banking complications, while travelling and running your business remotely.

Please share your thoughts! I would be happy to help!

I heard from an American friend that he has several cards similar to the APEC Business Travel Card (link to Wikipedia ) that allow him to get priority treatment at immigration line in certain countries.
I was very intrigued and quickly checked up on the card, but it seems to be only available to citizens of APEC-member nations.

I was wondering if anyone here uses such cards, what your experiences with them are (specifically, I’m interested in cards available for Europeans/Germans).

Hello guys, I was wondering if anyone had any experience in opening a business bank account in Hong Kong. I’m getting all the paperwork ready to incorporate in Seychelles and open the bank account but the agency that is helping me says Hong Kong bankers are getting more picky. They are asking me for business ‘proof’ since i’ve always ran my sites as an individual I wonder if just proof of payment from ad networks is enough. If you have any advice it would be much welcomed.

Hello Everyone,

On January 8, I set off on my Nomadic Journeys. I have a one way ticket to Iceland booked for a film shoot, and a flight into mainland Europe on the 20th, and from there I have no idea, and I am completely on my own.

What advice do you have? Right now I am feeling everything, from bad to good about it all, really can feel that safety/wool from underneath me get pulled away, I know I’m jumping out of my shell here.

(To give some background, I’m starting my nomad journey after having started a successful business, so financially I am set. It’s the question personally, mentally how do you cope in the beginning of leaving everything and going?)

I am curious if anyone here is traveling while also working on their electronic music productions. I know there are a few “real” musicians here (respek!), but I am even more interested in finding my digital brethren.

If you’re out there, how do you manage to do it? Granted, it has become a lot more feasible in the past 5 years or so, but not entirely problem-free.

Do you have a more comprehensive set up at your home base that complements your mobile studio or are you 100% mobile? Do you have a MIDI controller in your backpack/suitcase at all times? What about the monitors? While we’re on the topic, would you maybe care to share your setup (DAW, interfaces, controllers, peripherals)?

Here’s my situation right now: MacBook Pro with Ableton Live, AKG headphones, a simple/tiny m-audio MIDI controller, an Apogee MiC for recording samples & voice. So far, nothing for the digital interface (apart from the built-in one) or monitors.

Hi fellow nomads !
Looking for tax representative offices, logistic solutions and Company incorporation in Netherlands. ?

I will be in Amsterdam coworking and checking these companies out? Honestly I do not want to end up with a hidden fees company…

Cheers from Berlin,

I am thinking to change my base to Singapore .

I have some queries regarding it,

Hacks of Price of Living : I don’t want to live in hostels where 4/8 persons live in a room, want to live in a room may be in a shared apartment, gym and other facilities would be nice, I am getting in 800 to 1000 SGD’s pretty good Condo rooms, can I turn it down to 500-600 ?

Food : I stayed there for a month recently, so pretty much know the food hacks now, if I am eating at home its cheap and hawkers places are also cheaper.

How’s it for business Base ?

I run a Software Development Company mostly into building MVP’s for Startups and running extension teams for SME’s. So I think it will be pretty good for me based in Singapore for finding new opportunities and Client Communications.

What do you think about it and any suggestions would be great.

Hey guys… I’m from a EU country but in the past 6 years I spent there just 3 weeks.

I have a bank account in Australia, since I spent there over 4 years. Now I’m mostly in Thailand or travelling around.

Because of my experiences

a) PayPal froze my account for several weeks until I was able to give them documents that are very difficult to get if I’m no longer in Australia

b) when applying for a tourist visa to Australia just to pick up rest of my stuff - it’s supposed to be done within 48 hours… well it took them 3 weeks just to ask me for additional details (that I already gave them with the application anyway) - I lost my tickets and bookings - of course no way to email them, call or whatever

This made me think about the fact that I have all my money in Australia. While I’m doing nothing illegal I can’t risk that some “officer” with a bad day decide to freeze my account to investigate whatever and I’ll be left with nothing for who knows how long. Not to mention they usually can’t grasp the concept of perpetual travelling.

So my question - anyone has RECENT experience with opening a bank account in SE Asia? Either personal or business (thinking about UK LLP or US LLC)

It seems that

a) countries such Singapore has assumption that everyone and his dog is laundering money… $500 at a time…

b) Thailand with lazy and incompetent staff where you ask to open non-resident bank account just to be told “don’t have” … you point on the 3x3 metres huge board behind them listing interest for non-resident bank account - answer “aaah, yes yes can’t open, new rules” (even while having a Thai with me)

Thanks!

I am looking for testimonials of non US resident nomads who incorporated their company in the US & have a business bank account at a US bank.
I would like to know if the process has been difficult if you have been denied a business bank account because of your status as a non resident alien. If you were successful i would like to know if you are able to do everything that a US resident could do with the business bank account. For instance, i would like to know if you are able to do international wire transfers to the country where you reside.

Hi everyone,

Starting in May 2016, I’m taking a year and a half abroad to work and develop my online businesses. I’m making more than 10k dollars per month at the moment from mainly 2 revenue streams. It works well but we all know how things change fast online - that’s why I’m always looking to launch new businesses.

We all know how the team is important in each profitable business. That’s why I would like to meet other nomads to launch online projects together.

I’m more a digital marketing expert and have as well some web design + web development skills. My ideal vision will be to rent a house at 3 or 4 (a programmer, a designer, a marketer and an operations/sales expert for instance) and work together on new online projects (eCommerce, saas, or anything else that can be profitable). We can even be more in the house and would work on other/more projects. Because the team will probably be international, our projects can have a quick international scope (I’m French and I speak English and Spanish as well). We would change our location every 2/3 months to enjoy the nomad’s life

Do you find my proposition interesting? According to you, how can I improve it?
Or, do you know any other way to find business partners as a nomad?

Thank you very much for reading me,

Best,
D.

Originally, I am from the Netherlands. Since january 2016, I have been working remotely all around the world. But even though I haven’t been in the Netherlands this year, I am still paying taxes there. I’m still registered as a citizen.

I have to unregister in the Netherlands as a citizen. But if I don’t register somewhere else, or have a freelance status or company somewhere else, I would still have to pay 50%+ taxes. This is, of course, not fun at all.

So I decided to move my business elsewhere. Either get freelancer status in another country, or create a business there to send invoices from. Which brings me to my question:

What is the best country tax-wise for a Dutch freelancer?

As of now, I found two solutions:

• Have an agency set up a company in Bulgaria. It will kost 3000 euro a year, once 3300 euros and extra money if I want residency. And then of course 10% income tax on my earnings.
• Have an agency set up a company in Dubai. It will cost around 2000 euro annually and 5000 euro once. No income tax.

Wether residency in an other country is required for the Dutch tax authority to not tax your world income, seems to be a grey area. However, if I unregister in Holland and send invoices from a company in a whole other country, it should be fine.

I have little or no experience. People with know-how: would you be so kind to comment on these options?

Are there alternatives I should consider?

I don’t really like to hire an agency. I’d rather just fly to a country, fill out paperwork, incorporate there and from then on invoice from that company. If it’s too bureaucratic, I wouldn’t mind hiring a local lawyer or accountant to do it for me.

Do you know a country where there is no or a low income tax and this process is relatively easy and suitable for Dutch freelancers?

Hey nomads,

I’m looking for the best location to incorporate my online business (offshore programming and so on).

The main requirements:

• Low cost incorporation/yearly fee
• Preferred with no audits (or other kind of paperwork)
• With no local office/secretary/director needed
• With low or 0% taxes
• Easy to get paid from US/EU
• Easy to send payments worldwide ( I can use Transferwise/Stripe or something like that, i don’t care )
• With corporate credit/debit cards

I’m only one owner of the company (not EU/US resident).
I’ve checked jurisdictions like BVI/Belize/Nevis and i’m interested in it. It would be appreciated if you could give me some kind of advice, if you have experience with one of these jurisdictions.

My budget for incorporation < $1500

Thanks!

Flying soon from Toronto YYZ to ICN Seoul so, most likely Asiana but maybe Korean Air.

Read a few of the websites/blog post reviews for both Airlines -Seems nice. First/Suite Class seems a little bit lacking in value proposition for me. But feel like I’m kind of at a point in life where I want to fly upgraded just to have an experience with it.

But from your experience as a nomad is it really worth doing?
… Maybe I’ve been home for too long haha.

Which is your favourite country in the world to incorporate and why?

I have a product that I plan to retail in the EU, Japan, the USA, Canada and New Zealand. Where should I incorporate?