Type of business that is lacking in the area

So that rules out 2/3 of the Dumaguete community of drivers!

But from what I have noticed in my half a decade in the Philippines is that #1 Filipino's prefer cheap vs quality, better to save that extra piso, and #2 customer service isn't important if that saved that 1 piso.

 

So, you are looking for a business idea for something that is cheap, doesn't require a lot of work, doesn't require employees, will give you an income probably 50 to 100 percent better than some of the best paying jobs here and is something that your wife could run if something happened to you?

You have heard the saying, "if it were easy, then everyone would want to do it."
Why put that much time and effort into something that would barely pay the living expenses for even a frugal expat lifestyle in a third world country? Of course, that assumes that the business brings in what you are targeting.

If I were really concerned about my wife, these are the options I would consider in no particular order.

Marry her and get her a golden ticket to citizenship to my country.

Send her to school to get a degree, even if it's in the Philippines. If money wasn't as issue, then I would have her take online courses for a degree from my home country.

Send her through a certification course to get something like a CNA. These sorts of jobs are plentiful just about anywhere.

Set her up on Odesk and Elance and have her try to land work for just about anything she could land. From there, have her keep expanding her skills so that she can move up the value chain. She could even possibly hire other people through Elance and Odesk to join her team and she could take a cut from their pay for managing them and bringing in the work. At least in this case, nobody could steal from you.

I would be more interested in helping her build a solid skill base which would continue to serve her in the future. A bricks and mortar business can quickly turn from money maker to money pit. Competition and dealing with local laws could easily knock you out. If she isn't good with managing money, then she may not be able to easily recover if something were to knock out the business and require her to put up the initial funds to start it back up again. Basic skills are portable and can't be taken away.

Starting a two person business in the Philippines (especially Dumaguete) that would be worth the time investment seems like it would be difficult to me. There is just isn't high enough value services that you can provide here that anyone can afford unless you are exporting those services outside the country. Any business where you provide a service or sell physical goods in Dumaguete would likely require you to hire employees to scale enough for it to be worth doing.

I'm a web developer. It requires little to no overhead and everything I do is 100% outside this country. All I do in the Philippines in bang on the keyboard. The people I work with, the servers and the markets are elsewhere. I'm sure I couldn't offer this same service locally in Dumaguete and be at an expat level of standard of living.

Good luck!

 

Dude, thanks for the input....my wife is educated, has an BA, is a certified teacher but has since realized that she hates being a teacher; she has no desire to go live in the U.S.; she wants a business to 1. give her an income that she can call her own 2. give her something to keep her active. She has no desire or willingness to work as an employee within the Phils as the pay is not worth her time and effort.

Whether we have a business is of no real concern to me, except for the ongoing income it could provide her if/when I'm gone. I'd be quite happy to be "retired" and do as I please all day and that may be exactly what we end up doing; but she is younger and believes that she needs to be productive while she is young enough to do it and I'l help her with whatever is needed.

"Starting a two person business in the Philippines (especially Dumaguete) that would be worth the time investment seems like it would be difficult to me. There is just isn't high enough value services that you can provide here that anyone can afford unless you are exporting those services outside the country."

This may the exact reason we don't start a business. I've done my work. Like many of you, I've been in the formal workforce for 40+ years and I have no desire to do anything that is going to just eat my day/life any more. If we can't find a need to fill that won't require hiring employees or letting the business own us, then we just won't do it. "Retirement" will be our chosen career path.

I have friends on other islands that are doing some small business ventures such as motorbike rentals, mass shopping for resident foreigners(taking shopping lists and then making a trip to the bigger cities to buy all that is needed/wanted and bring in it back to the small communities and then tacking on cost and profit for doing the transportation and shopping), boutique clothing stores, tour guides, etc. If we can do something like this, then great. If not, then motorcycle trips, hanging out, visiting friends, relaxing, traveling and being "retired" will be fine with me.:dnr:

 

That hold true for any business your """""Personality""""""" and and the tricks you use to get people in are invaluable...I don't see Jollibee's or Mc Do's going out of business

 

Just a Thought.

Works well in a lot of western countries, worth a try??
NO? Oh well, it was just a thought.:D


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I just don't see anything really possible that has any chance without hiring least 2-3 employee's. If willing and have *some* starting capital best idea and on the cheaper end I could think of is a small store that gets mostly *treats* for expats. Bring in things from Cebu/Manila that the large mass of foreigners would like and aren't highly expensive and work off of that. If can find a half decent location maybe even a deli bar could work.

There was one place that's been closed for 1 1/2 years or so I think called Trendi's. It was built on selling deli meats, cheeses, and western style bread and would bring in stuff from Cebu. It sold mostly out of freezer retail but also had a small deli-bar end. It went out of business do to very bad location, not creating a more enticing snack menu, split between the owners and the remaining one being around very little, and bad servers who just sat behind the counter with heads down and texting. The owner was a friend and was a great idea just had a few lacking key ends. Think they only had 3-4 employee's, great for a couple evening part-time college girls who are outgoing.

Still though what could you realistically do w/o any employee's other then a facebook type business selling homemade trinkets or such or working for someone else.

 

Depending on the market draw, that might be a good idea. It could be done with two people. Keep the operating hours and days to 8 and 5. A deli probably wouldn't do much business early in the morning so a 10am to 6pm schedule would probably work. The big thing would be target market and potential customers. I don't know how many foreigners are in the Duma area yet, and how many of them would like those types of products and be willing to spend the money for them, so some marketing surveys are needed. Wholesalers and suppliers would need to be reliable to service that type of market. Pre-sales and advanced ordering would need to be available for those that like to plan ahead. Internet or phone orders for faster service on arrival. AND, the quality of the products would have to be high. I know a lot of people that love good deli meats and cheeses. I don't know anybody that likes to gamble on quality differentials between orders.

Is there any other deli type markets/shops within the Duma area?

 

Big Boy Liquor on the south side of town brings things back from Cebu, S & R once a week, charging a fee for their service. Apparently they have a buyer who goes to different places for the things you can not buy here. They stock some foreign type products in the store.

 

hemmm maybe not so true, the old mcdo is running out of food and supplies, yesterday we asked what do you have?