Expat questions

[DonJuane]

My experience in watching Mexico forums for many years is that people who want to move here and make money usually look to other gringos as a base for their potential employment because that provides the most hopeful fee-base. Now while this "sorta" works in cities like Ajijic and San Miguel where the Gringo community has a lot of disposable income, historically speaking the GTO community could be considered as tight as a spring in an 8-day clock and in the very odd chance one of them has a bit of disposable cash, for the most part you wouldn't know it. Now I only say that because I lead the pack of tight wallets.

The very best potential of becoming an entrepreneur in Latin America that I can think of is something I once fell for early on during my "becoming an expat phase" and that included all the activities around the magazine "International Living". This organization works as sort of a pyramid scheme with the scope expanding all the way from "subscription level" to "seminar level" to "travel and seminar level" to "presenter and owner of seminar level" where at the initial level the subscription fees go to the magazine and ending up with the seminar presenters paying the magazine to write articles to send more expats to the seminars which brings more money into the circle of deception. So you find this organization is built totally around capitalizing on convincing Gringos how great it is to live in any one of I.L.'s "focus cities". I don't think GTO is on the list yet. Last time I read I.L (that I didn't pay for incidentally) they were hawking condos in Tulum (just shoot me) as well as their standard, those high rises in Ecuador (ditto) and ... well once you subscribe you'll automatically be funneling in cash at their first phase of the game. Your pyramid-graduate level here is when you start carrying out your own high-fee presentations and perhaps become a realtor and also begin your enterprise of selling (normally) Latin America to fellow Gringos. Oh and did I mention the Ecuadorian condo developer level - now THAT is "International Living" ;-)

Now you could create your own version of this scheme or a derivative or join up with this group but for the downside I would imagine too soon the cocktail party invites from your "used to be friends" might start to dwindle as you sold them out and their own new place of living to such commercialism. (It's always something!_

Otherwise the best way to make money in Mexico if you are not some corporate behemoth is relying on your old ties back in the US. Think "online sales, offerings and management opportunities" and then think "while the chance is small of getting caught for not paying Mexican taxes doing this, try not to get caught." Otherwise in terms of what would be good in typical Gringo-style ideas of commodities and services, these for the most part are still in the low-demand stages of the expats living here and while I don't want to discourage, I just don't believe much of that market is here. Also it would be good to note if you haven't experienced it already is that while the Mexico economy is rapidly expanding, still most Mexicans would be hard pressed to easily slip into the consumer lifestyle that most of us came from. And I'm not saying that the culture here is a bad thing and in fact I am one of the biggest proponents of it remaining genuinely traditional and void of Gringo exploitation. In fact I believe the best lesson anyone can learn by moving even temporarily to Mexico is that to improve your lifestyle, you work on removing your perceived needs rather than work to build your income to buy more of them.

Of course there's always the old standbys of yoga class, things dealing with specially cut glass and random philosophies of spirituality (after all if you aren't working, just how many times can you walk to the Pipila). Then there's also the one I step into occasionally, the drop dead delicious $5US per serving bake shop (calorie sales will never end). But since we already have one of those in GTO, a second one might be a hard-sell. So while I don't discourage people's entrepreneurial skills, I simply suggest to think hard while considering the income of your potential clients, both Gringos who most of which are on a severe budget and especially in this city, and add to that the disposable income of the the locals as well.