USA Proposes Rule to Welcome International Entrepreneurs

Posted on October 4, 2016 by money

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is proposing a new rule, which would allow certain international entrepreneurs to be considered for parole (temporary permission to be in the United States) so that they may start or scale their businesses in the United States.

Read the advance version of the notice of proposed rulemaking: International Entrepreneur Rule. To submit comments, follow the instructions in the notice.

“America’s economy has long benefitted from the contributions of immigrant entrepreneurs, from Main Street to Silicon Valley,” said Director León Rodríguez. “This proposed rule, when finalized, will help our economy grow by expanding immigration options for foreign entrepreneurs who meet certain criteria for creating jobs, attracting investment and generating revenue in the U.S.”

The proposed rule would allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to use its existing discretionary statutory parole authority for entrepreneurs of startup entities whose stay in the United States would provide a significant public benefit through the substantial and demonstrated potential for rapid business growth and job creation. Under this proposed rule, DHS may parole, on a case-by-case basis, eligible entrepreneurs of startup enterprises:

Who have a significant ownership interest in the startup (at least 15 percent) and have an active and central role to its operations;
Whose startup was formed in the United States within the past three years; and
Whose startup has substantial and demonstrated potential for rapid business growth and job creation, as evidenced by:

Receiving significant investment of capital (at least $345,000) from certain qualified U.S. investors with established records of successful investments;
Receiving significant awards or grants (at least $100,000) from certain federal, state or local government entities; or
Partially satisfying one or both of the above criteria in addition to other reliable and compelling evidence of the startup entity’s substantial potential for rapid growth and job creation.

Under the proposed rule, entrepreneurs may be granted an initial stay of up to two years to oversee and grow their startup entity in the United States. A subsequent request for re-parole (for up to three additional years) would be considered only if the entrepreneur and the startup entity continue to provide a significant public benefit as evidenced by substantial increases in capital investment, revenue or job creation.

As is always the case when rich countries seek to attract entrepreneurs they are seeking those that are already fairly well off and successful. And despite the difficult hurdles for entrepreneurs and business people to get working visas to the USA there are still many seeking to do so. This would be a good step, even if it leaves many people without an opportunity.

Getting Started Early on FI/RE

Posted on August 16, 2016 by money

I started adopting the mindset that set me on the path for FI/RE (Financial Independence/Retire Early) when I was very young. I collected baseball cards when I was a kid and added comic collections when I was a bit older kid.

Early on I was paying attention to the investment potential. I enjoyed not just the collecting but also the idea of making money by buying something and then selling it later for more money (which is the fundamental idea of investing). It came naturally to me.

I never much liked spending money on something that lost its value. For some things, like ice cream, I could happily spend my money even though I would soon have nothing to show for it. But more often I would rather buy something I could enjoy and also believe I would be able to sell later at a higher price.

When I started actually trying to sell baseball cards for money I learned about he difference between reported “value” and the ability to get cash for what you owned. Not only can’t you sell items to a store at the “value” reported in pricing guides you often couldn’t sell them at all (they didn’t want the items at all).

In high school I started renting space to sell at shows. There you were selling to the public (or other dealers). I learned vivid examples of the challenges of turning assets into cash. And I also learned about the weaknesses in the economic ideals such as the market being efficient. I saw how often the very same product (the same baseball card) for sale in the same hall would have very different prices (over 100% more was not uncommon) and the sales were often not close to the best buys. The friction in this situation was much smaller than the typical purchase (all the items were in the same room, just a little bit of walking created the friction).

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Becoming A Self-Sustaining Freelancer

Posted on July 26, 2016 by money

Despite the advantages of freelancing, few people understand why it’s one of the best decisions you could make in your career.

Working for other people brings many challenges. Sadly, often that can take the form of being micromanaged. In organization heavily weighted toward bureaucratic decision-making, you have to conform to corporate policies to keep your job even when the rules are outdated or don’t make sense.

Freelancing allows you time-freedom, allows you to make up your own rules on how to use the day, and allows you to focus on what you do well to the point of mastery. In addition, there is no cap on your income, no office politics, and nobody to ask permission from to go to the bathroom because you’re leaving your desk unattended.

Design Your Lifestyle

As a freelancer, you also get to make lifestyle decisions that thrill you. You can pick and chose what works for you, you can chose to call Directv, HBO and/or Netflix. If you’re a gourmet cook, you can spend time in the kitchen making your favorite meals. And if you’re a health enthusiast, you can stick to your special diet to build muscle and burn fat and then go to the gym when it’s less crowded to sculpt that perfect body.

As a freelancer, you get to choose your own lifestyle. You don’t have to be tied to a cubicle in a corporate maze to earn your living. You also don’t have to hope for a shred of cheese to be tossed your way now and then by your overlords, because you can pitch your work far and wide and get as much cheese as you like.

How to Flourish as a Freelancer

While there is much more that can be said about the pleasure of doing work you love all day long and the freedom to create your ideal lifestyle, let’s take a look at 3 ways to flourish as a freelancer.

Choose your weapons

In a duel, the combatants get to choose their favorite weapon because this gives them the greatest chance of winning and saving their own lives. Similarly, in freelancing you get to work at something you do naturally well to win at the game of money-getting.

If you love to write, create graphics, take photographs, design websites, write code, and so on, there is someone willing to pay you to do it for them. They either don’t know how to do it for themselves or they know how to do it, but don’t like doing it. What you find easy, they find difficult. In fact, what you love to do is probably more like play than work.

Master your craft

Whatever you’ve chosen to do as a freelancer, you probably have long aspired to do it better. Consider your work as a trained apprenticeship.

Let’s suppose you love to write blog posts.

When you set up your own blog, you probably won’t get paid for it until you’ve spent a considerable amount of time establishing your reputation as a blogger. However, other people don’t have the time (or inclination) to write for their own blogs and will gladly hire you to keep their content schedule on track so that they can build their brand.

While you can certainly get plenty of practice writing blog posts, which will make you a better writer, you can take it one step further. Reinvest some of the money you earn as a blogger to take a master class or two from top bloggers to learn how to create viral posts.
Meanwhile, there is nothing to prevent you from building your own blog while you work.
Similarly, you can upgrade your work as an author by ghostwriting books or as a photographer by doing photo shoots for clients and using photos to spice up your blog posts (like this one I took).

view of large lake, mountains and clouds

View from my room at Prince of Whales Lodge, Waterton International Peace Park, Canada

In other words, whatever your talents, you can use freelancing as a way to get really good at it.

Working at a job you hate is a recipe for unhappiness.

Think like a business person.

Even if you do get to do what you love all day, get generously compensated for it, and can get the experience and the educational opportunities to master your craft, freelancing is still a business. Besides mastering the golden rules of making money, you should also get good at building your platforms, growing your portfolio, collecting proof, and consistently pitching.

Let’s take a closer look at these four components to freelancing success:

Platforms. You build your brand through your website by creating a blog and by establishing a social media network.
Portfolio. As you work for clients you will be adding to your portfolio of work to show new clients
Proof. How do prospective clients know that you can deliver what you’ve said you can on your platforms? You have to show proof based on past work. Collect testimonials from clients whose business you’ve helped improve through your contribution.
Pitching. While people will come to you because of you brand name and referrals, you also have to get good at pitching. This means actively soliciting work.
Think of freelancing as a combination of farming and hunting to sustain yourself. For long term food supply, you can plant crops. This is what taking classes in your craft, building your platform, adding to your portfolio, and collecting testimonials will do for you. Meanwhile, you don’t want to starve while your crops are growing, so you also need to do some hunting. This is where pitching helps out.

Some people are happy working for others and that is fine. But for those that are constantly frustrated and unhappy there are alternatives to explore. It isn’t easy but it may be that it fits your personality and desires more to design your own job. If you are willing to meet the challenges it is a path that many have found to be very rewarding.

Reporting on the Noise Level of Lodging Options

Posted on May 23, 2016 by money

I would love a service that reports on the noise level of hotel rooms, apartments for rent etc.. I am far more sensitive to noise than others. And in my nomadic existence the most annoying thing for me was noisy places. Even in renting out apartments on a regular lease I had serious problems with extreme noise issues.

Reading reviews will provide some level of noise warnings when past travelers complain about noisy conditions. But this is time consuming (reading through lots of reviews to try and see) and not very accurate. Technology could provide a better alternative, even if it still isn’t perfect.

No solution is going to be perfect but it would be nice if there was a device that you could put in rooms and it would measure the decibel level and record loud noises. I would image smart engineers could design it to automatically categorize many noises. The device could then provide a report of how noisy it is and what kind of noises were recorded.

The idea is the device could be placed in empty rooms/apartments and create a record. That record could then be shared with prospective renters. I realize there are issues with making this work. But I think the market is significant.

One big market to consider (likely the biggest by far) for selling such a device and service to would be large hotel chains. They could gather data on noise issues in their rooms. They could make improvement and measure the improvements. They could gather data on what measures work and which don’t. They could use data to guide reservations for those expressing a desire for a very quite room to the rooms that best fit their needs. I also think for apartments there could be a bit market.

I realize the number of people that noise is as big an issue as it is for me is small. But there are a reasonable number of people that are bothered by noise that such a service would be worthwhile I think.

View from my homestay room in Yangshuo, China.

I sure hope someone fills this need. And if someone is already offering such a product and service I hope the market adopts it quickly.

Noisy fans are good for providing white noise to cover distracting noise. That is very helpful in many cases. It isn’t so great at covering up loud hallway noise (though with the right room setup and fan placement it can be ok in some rooms). The integrated units in the walls can be decent but for example are usually not good for dealing with hallway noise. And also some are designed so you can’t run the fan all the time (it only goes on if cooling or heating is needed): if you are creating a hotel (or the heating and AC system) make sure the fan can be set to run at all times.

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Golden Rules for Making Money

Posted on May 12, 2016 by money

P. T. Barnum wrote the Golden Rules for Making Money in 1880. He provides a few paragraphs on each of the 20 golden rules:

1. Don’t mistake your vocation
2. Select the right location
3. Avoid debt

Money is in some respects like fire; it is a very excellent servant but a terrible master. When you have it mastering you; when interest is constantly piling up against you, it will keep you down in the worst kind of slavery. But let money work for you, and you have the most devoted servant in the world. It is no “eye-servant.” There is nothing animate or inanimate that will work so faithfully as money when placed at interest, well secured. It works night and day, and in wet or dry weather.

4. Persevere
5. Whatever you do, do it with all your might
6. Depend upon your own personal exertions
7. Use the best tools
8. Don’t get above your business
9. Learn something useful
10. Let hope predominate but be not too visionary
11. Do not scatter your powers
12. Be systematic
13. Read the newspapers
14. Beware of “outside operations”
15. Don’t indorse without security
16. Advertise your business
17. Be polite and kind to your customers
18. Be charitable
19. Don’t blab
20. Preserve your integrity

From the introduction,

Those who really desire to attain an independence, have only to set their minds upon it, and adopt the proper means, as they do in regard to any other object which they wish to accomplish, and the thing is easily done. But however easy it may be found to make money, I have no doubt many of my hearers will agree it is the most difficult thing in the world to keep it. The road to wealth is, as Dr. Franklin truly says, “as plain as the road to the mill.” It consists simply in expending less than we earn; that seems to be a very simple problem.

The thoughts are worth reading today. You can update things a bit, from read the newspapers, to read the websites, but mainly it is sensible advice today.

"A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so." - Mahatma Gandhi

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Start-Up Chile – An Innovative Program for Global Entrepreneurs

Posted on September 13, 2015 by money

I am very impressed with Start-Up Chile. It is a Chilean Government run program that attracts early stage, high-potential entrepreneurs to bootstrap their startups in Chile, using it as a platform to go global. The goal of the program is to position Chile as the leading innovation and entrepreneurial hub of Latin America.

Silicon Valley provides huge benefits to the USA economy. Many countries are envious of this advantage and wish they could gain such economic benefits. But there is a big gulf between wishing and accomplishing. That path requires doing many things right.

Start-Up Chile alone is but a small step in the right direction. But it is a very interesting one. And they have kept it up for several years now. It is amazing how many efforts to create inviting climates for entrepreneurs start with a great flourish as diminish to nothing within 5 years.

Panoramic view of northeastern Santiago, as seen from the hills of Parque Metropolitano in Providencia. Visible in the background are Apoquindo and Sierra de Ramón. via wikimedia

For the current application (open during the month of September) Startup Chile is looking especially for startups in robotics; healthcare and biotech; clean energy; and education.

In my opinion the benefit for entrepreneurs is worthwhile (and especially strong for those in Latin America) but I am even more impressed with the sense the Chilean government is showing for talking concrete steps to boost the entrepreneurship climate in Chile. There are quite a few very good efforts to incubate startups. Few government though are doing much beyond talk. Singapore is another country that is taking fairly smart actions (which isn’t so surprising given Singapore’s long term evidence of smart government).

Many countries understand the benefits of creating a strong climate for entrepreneurs. And given the especially easy location independence of internet based businesses there is a public relations battle for attracting these entrepreneurs (even if most countries don’t seem to have caught onto this reality).

Chile has been getting great publicity from Startup Chile and if they can successfully build on that success they will gain a very nice advantage at very little cost. Like so many startups the Startup Chile program itself has to make sure it builds from the base it has built instead of just fading away.

Transfer Money Between Currencies Using New Providers Not Banks And Save

Posted on May 19, 2015 by money

One of the annoyances of travel and even more so with business (for digital nomads or expats) is converting money between currencies. It actually is fairly easy now for a traveler but can be costly. When you have a business and need to convert between currencies it can be very costly.

Using ATMs to get cash in the local currency normally give better rates than you can get in most other ways. And you are unlikely to be outright swindled any more than large banks do (which if you follow the news is a great deal, scandal after scandal of illegally taking from customers in violation of the law). The transaction costs of ATMs can be ludicrously high. In Thailand all banks seemed to have agreed to charge foreign cards $6 for a transaction. That is crazy. But you don’t have much leverage.

Schwab, and a few other, financial institution will reimburse you for ATMs fees. Many digital nomad and international travelers make sure to get such an ATM card which is wise.

And you can occasionally find banks that are must more customer friendly. The MayBank in Siem Reap, Cambodia didn’t have ATM charges for me. And I found a bank in Hoi An, Vietnam that didn’t charge either (I can’t remember the name). It may well be that they just didn’t charge do to deals between the banks so I don’t know who else it would work for.

Even though the currency exchange rates are normally not too bad on ATMs or using a credit card they are still weighted in the banks favor. And I don’t know of any banks that disclose how wide a profit margin they take for simple currency transactions (and I am sure it fluctuates depending on the situation).

When you need to transfer money (for example if you are paid in US$ but have a bank account elsewhere or if you are making a big purchase in another location) and convert currencies you can find the financial institutions taking advantage of you. There are several currency exchange services that have stepped into this business opportunity created by the large margins financial institutions have been taking from their customers.

One such service is Transfer Wise. As Transfer Wise says “Banks charge 5% in hidden fees. People on TransferWise pay 0.5%.” While banks might want to argue they don’t disclose the hidden fees and bad exchange rates they use so they don’t have much in the way of an evidence based argument to make.

TransferWise saves you money by matching your money at the mid-market rate. There’s just a small service fee and it’s all shown upfront. You can read more about our pricing here.

To demonstrate the possible savings you’ll get by using TransferWise, an average bank fee and exchange rate is shown. It’s based on independent research from Charterhouse Ltd, obtained on November 2014. The research looked into the costs of sending 1000GBP from a UK bank account, to another bank account in Germany. From this data, other currency route savings, fees and average exchange rates are worked out as well.

They still serve largely the USA and Europe but hopefully will expand further (they are also in India).

CurrencyFair is another good option and they posted a blog post looking at the costs of using old banks and even TransferWise – Money Transfer Companies Compared. The costs (including hidden costs of the banks are huge). The costs between these two are close (Currency Fair said at the time for express service they were significantly cheaper). CurrencyFair is actually a peer to peer service to match people needing to make transfers that balance each other out.

photo of currency: China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, USA

SE Asia, and beyond, currency: China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, USA. USA currency is used in Cambodia for most things and USA currency is used most airports to pay visa fees to the governments. Photo by John Hunter, see more photos of my travels.

If you are moving large amounts of money it definitely makes sense to seek out protection from old fashion banks ripping you off. These are the same banks agreeing to likely over $500 million in fines for currency manipulation (because even these huge profits on the backs of customers couldn’t satisfy bankers demands for multi-million dollar bonus for hundreds of employees at these banks every year).

CurrencyFair offers a peer to peer marketplace that lets you set a offer price and if someone agrees you can even been market exchange rates. Of course, if your currency happens to be a bit under-demand at the time you may get a bit less than market price. TransferWise sets the price based on the forex markets and then it is just up to supply on the demand on their marketplace to determine if you can find someone to take the other side of the trade.

Motivation and Delivering Solutions When You Work for Yourself

Posted on April 20, 2015 by money

When you work for a company you have clear expectations for performance. If you become your own boss, for example as a digital nomad, you operate in an system that doesn’t have the same structures to enforce you focus and deliver. In many ways this is exactly what people seeking the digital nomad life want, but it also can bring challenges.

If you find yourself having difficulty getting yourself to work without a boss what can you do?

Doing what you are passionate about is important. As an entrepreneur working for yourself, if you feel work is a chore that you want to avoid, you can easily to avoid it.

But it is likely it isn’t that you want to avoid work, you just don’t have the urgency to “deliver” working solutions quickly without some extrinsic pressure (boss or…).

To do lists work for some people. You focus yourself with specific targets. If that doesn’t work, a virtual assistant to track progress and serve as a personal re-enforcement mechanism can work, for some people. Publicly making a commitment can work for others (on your blog, or on fb or to your customer or to your spouse or parent…).

The virtual assistant is partially a combination of a to do list and a public commitment along with someone to enforce evaluating progress on the to do list.

Habits are a powerful influence on behavior. For some people all that is needed is creating the habit of working in the morning for 4 hours and then enjoying the rest of the day. They can then focus every day for a specific period of time and don’t waste time procrastinating or being distracted with other matters.

For some people setting up rewards for themselves can work. Once I achieve x then I can (get a new game, take a weekend trip to the beach…).

What is important is finding a solution that works for your psychology. Some digital nomads don’t need any of these tactics, but for some these tactics can be useful.

It is possible that the reason you have trouble focusing on work is that you just don’t care about what you are working on now, so you should look at the bigger picture and find something your are passionate about. But I think, in most cases, this type of issue with motivation or difficulty with procrastination is more likely to be a smaller matter of just creating a bit of urgency to deliver.

So the question is how do you do create an urgency to deliver in a way that works for you and leaves you with a situation you enjoy. Certain tactics would drive some people crazy. But what matters if not some perfect solution for everyone, but finding one that works for you.

Finding an International Business Bank as a Digital Nomad

Posted on January 17, 2015 by money

Dealing with banking issues is one of the most difficult aspects of a small digital nomad business. Finding a bank for a small business isn’t easy. Add to that dealing with international banking and things get very challenging.

Finding a bank that will accept deposits via wire, provide a credit card for your business, has good online tools and you trust isn’t easy. I ran across a very useful post recently:

The Best Offshore Banks of 2014 which includes a good deal of information on the 30 best banks according to them, for example:

Butterfield Bank

Established: 1858.
Jurisdictions: Bermuda, Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Guernsey, UK.
Minimum deposit/balance: 5,000 BMD/USD/GBP for business banking, 250 – 500,000 BMD/USD/GBP for private banking.
Personal banking: Residents preferred.
Commercial banking: Yes, international.
Private banking: Quite strong.
Remote account opening: In most cases.
Mobile app: iOS, Android.
Cards: Full coverage, available in USD and GBP.
Website: http://www.butterfieldgroup.com/

All things considered, the finest bank in the Caribbean and Bermuda. 2009 to 2010 were rough years for the bank, but they bounced back to profits by the following year. Although the share price took a massive dip, but the Butterfield signature quality was never compromised.

Card services are some of the best in the region, with two airline partnerships being available (AAirways and British Airways).

Internet banking is strong but the mobile banking app, although light-years ahead of other banks in Bermuda and the Caribbean, leaves a lot to be desired.

It provides enough information for you to screen through and find some good options for you. And then you can do more research and pick one to try out. I would definitely do more research, you shouldn’t trust 1 internet post to find a bank.

Singapore Merlion with the financial district in the backgound

Finding a bank that accepts EFT deposits from the USA makes a big difference but this can be a challenge. Many internet companies still are stuck a decade or two ago as far as banking is concerned. Many only pay via EFT or check. Some will also pay via paypal. The options are limited for people in many countries (with poor mail system and paypal is also not available to people in many countries).

Of all my efforts in creating a digital nomad existence banking has been by far the biggest negative surprise. It has just been a huge hassle. I may well look to using one of these banks if I can find a better option for me.

Some that look interesting to me for digital nomad businesses are: Butterfield Bank (Bermuda, Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Guernsey, UK), Crèdit Andorrà (Andorra, Panama), DBS Bank (Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia/Labuan, Taiwan), FirstCaribbean International Bank (Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands), Standard Bank (Isle of Man, Jersey, Mauritius, South Africa, Ghana, Angola, Singapore, South Africa, UAE)

It has been awhile since I created this blog and haven’t posted to it, but my plan is to be more active posting here in the future.

Freelance Lifestyle, Finance and Entrepreneurship Blog

Design Your Life

Category Archives: Entreprenuer

USA Proposes Rule to Welcome International Entrepreneurs

Getting Started Early on FI/RE

Becoming A Self-Sustaining Freelancer

Design Your Lifestyle

How to Flourish as a Freelancer

Choose your weapons

Master your craft

Think like a business person.

Reporting on the Noise Level of Lodging Options

Golden Rules for Making Money

Start-Up Chile – An Innovative Program for Global Entrepreneurs

Transfer Money Between Currencies Using New Providers Not Banks And Save

Motivation and Delivering Solutions When You Work for Yourself

Finding an International Business Bank as a Digital Nomad