Post: #26

(09-11-2012 09:55 PM)chochemonger1 Wrote:  Belo Horizonte has everything Medellin, Colombia has and more, especially with the world cup and olympics coming up. The women are better looking, less plastic surgery and more sincere. When I go to Brazil in October, I will talk to a lawyer and see what opportunities and difficulties there are. But if you can create something like Casa Kiwi in Medellin...you will make a ton of money and have as many hot women as you want in your 30s and 40s...enough to retire and have a happy life, like nowhere else in Brazil. It is a risk, since so few foreigners go there....but isnt anything worthwhile a risk. In a month or 2 if someones wants to PM me about this business opportunity I will have more info.

I'm currently in Rio and looking to move to BH soon. I met some of the best talent in Rio traveling from BH.

Post: #27

As for premium beer, you should research on http://www.devassa.com.br. This guys started up trying to make some handicraft beer but soon moved to a mass market scheme, which is working, cos they're all over the place and they kept that premium image which enables them to sell with a price higher than the old brands [InBev].

There are also some other smaller labels which seem to be following the same path. I think real handicraft would be just for fun among your friends, not profit.

Post: #28

Anyone have intel on where I can easily find "moneychangers" in Belo Horizonte? I'm going to need to convert Reais into Dollars upon leaving Brazil. I prefer moneychangers because you get a better rate (usually the exact exchange rate or even better) as opposed to currency exchange places that charge excessive commissions and surcharges.

This information would be invaluable. I may actually know people who would know but I figure we also have RVF guys who do this kind of thing in Brazil already. PM me if you have intel.

Post: #29

People say in BH Shopping there's a "casa de câmbio" with fair rates...

Post: #30

I read a while back that a lady from Mexico made Wrestling "Lucha Libre" masks of all the countries in the last World Cup in South Africa. She went back to Mexico a happy woman and sold over $300,000 dollars worth of masks.

Post: #31

I have a good friend who just bought property in Brazil. He said the bureaucratic paperwork and getting his financing down were nightmares even though he was paying in cash and speaks fairly fluent Portuguese. If you go that route, best of luck.

Post: #32

(02-28-2013 03:05 AM)lurker Wrote:  I have a good friend who just bought property in Brazil. He said the bureaucratic paperwork and getting his financing down were nightmares even though he was paying in cash and speaks fairly fluent Portuguese. If you go that route, best of luck.

I've bought property too and I co-sing 100% what you say. It's not for beginners. That's something you do after other endeavors ended up with good results and you can afford to waste time and cope with related costs and mindblowing legal shit. Profits are good, but are not there for you just to grab.

The best idea for Brazil is to close some deal, find some opening or opportunity, secure something, BEFORE you make any big financial commitments. To start with costs, especially if this goes along with constant overhead and lack of knowledge of the ins and outs of the byzantine bureaucracy and the insane taxation system, is something I'd not advise anyone to do. But to each his own and I'm no prophet.

What's the best way to secure some prospect of financial return or profitable action before you compromise a lot of your money? IMO it's social circle in the higher echelons of society in general or in your specific area of interest.

In the provinces, for instance, you can infiltrate in a short time the wider circle of movers and decision makers if you're cool, lordish and smart enough plus master the language (and fuck the right - attractive- women, that also helps a lot and is fun besides).

Conclusion: Become a member of the tribe's elite, see where you can fit in financially, get something going and only then think of putting a lot of your money.

But that's my personal opnion, put in very broad lines. Other people might have had different experiences, who knows.

Post: #33

(02-21-2013 03:01 PM)MidWest Wrote:  I read a while back that a lady from Mexico made Wrestling "Lucha Libre" masks of all the countries in the last World Cup in South Africa. She went back to Mexico a happy woman and sold over $300,000 dollars worth of masks.

I might have to bite that idea. After a few more trips and a few more contacts I should be good to set up shop. Start of with 2K worth of masks and work from there. Probably can get the masks made for less than $5 and sell them for $30 a pop. If they sell like crazy, raise the prices. Hardest part is either becoming a vendor or try selling to vendors. There is a shit load of money to be made during the World Cup. Just have to figure the how part.

Post: #34

(03-02-2013 09:26 AM)TexasMade Wrote:  

(02-21-2013 03:01 PM)MidWest Wrote:  I read a while back that a lady from Mexico made Wrestling "Lucha Libre" masks of all the countries in the last World Cup in South Africa. She went back to Mexico a happy woman and sold over $300,000 dollars worth of masks.

I might have to bite that idea. After a few more trips and a few more contacts I should be good to set up shop. Start of with 2K worth of masks and work from there. Probably can get the masks made for less than $5 and sell them for $30 a pop. If they sell like crazy, raise the prices. Hardest part is either becoming a vendor or try selling to vendors. There is a shit load of money to be made during the World Cup. Just have to figure the how part.

How risky would be to do this without having legal company in Brazil? You cant carry all that cash safely with you.

How did she DO IT?

Post: #35

After living here for several years, unless you're sure you want to PERMANENTLY move here, save your time and effort. Brazil is one of the hardest, most bureaucratic countries for starting a business. And, if you are following the news lately, not the best in terms of credit. S&P just put Brazil on negative watch. Remember, you'll also be earning in reais, which currently and probably for the foreseeable future isn't going to do that well against the dollar and other stronger currencies.

Brazil is an awesome place and I love it, don't get me wrong, but don't think you can start a business here easily. My advice would be to get a job, preferably with a multinational company and then just live here. Or, if you are planning on living for less than 4 months or so, work your ass off overtime doing whatever in the US or some country with a currency that has buying power, save it up, and then come here and enjoy.

Take a look at the link below.

http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/explor...es/brazil/

Of course, I'm just referring to legal businesses... if you want to do something on the black market, that's an option but for that you need some major connections, most likely with some pretty shady characters. Trust me, the novelty of living here wears off pretty fast. Come down, have a long-term vacation, see if you like the place, etc. but be careful about starting an actual functioning business that will make you a decent income. Whatever you decide, good luck.

Post: #36

I have some clients in Brazil for web design and mobile. The quality of web design work is absolute garbage down there.

Think of the throngs of tourists going to Brazil for the world cup and then the throngs that will continue coming afterwards. How are they looking for stuff?

In this day and age, probably on their cell phones.

Thus, local businesses that have mobile optimized websites or mobile websites will win out because people will be able to navigate their sites without doing a lot of pain-in-the-ass browsing around.

http://fiverr.com/alykhan/create-a-profe...r-business

You can get a simple mobile site on fiverr for 5-25 bucks

You can hustle mobile websites for businesses. Charge 300-500 bucks and see if you can provide dual Portuguese and English sites via that fiverr dude.

You can do this business entirely in cash in Rio or one of the second tier cities that will be seeing a lot of foot traffic. Is Floripa one of the world cup spots? Or Porto Alegre? Curituba? Aren't these where all the rich people live?

in Rio/Belo/SP you'd probably never run out of clients. You could run a "prepare for these hordes of world cup tourists with a bilingual mobile website" sort of campaign.

I bet you could do this on a tourist visa and basically just hustle a bunch of cash.

I'm not doing this because:

1. I don't much feel like going to Brazil - this country doesn't strike me having much bang for my buck (expensive)

2. The only clients I've worked with in Brazil speak fluent English and have been working with me remotely

I am helping out a German dude with a venture similar to this but it's more like SEO and lead generation.

Are you in Brazil right now? Try this little experiment:


1. Choose a city.

Then, within that city, choose a part of town that is particularly retail/commercial/social. If you don't feel like going out as much, go on the equivalent of Brazil's Yelp or White Pages online to scout out businesses. Hire a Filipino to send out Portuguese language scripts to their email addresses selling them on the idea.

2. Build a portfolio and get some cash moving


Try to convince ONE BUSINESS this week to get a mobile website built for 500 bucks in anticipation of the world cup.

Every restaurant you eat at, every bar you go to, every shop you visit - every time you go out you can see if you can hustle a gig.


3. Website and social media presence

If you start hustling enough gigs to throw up a portfolio with some testimonials, do exactly that. If you hustle 5 gigs through your network and you're pounding the pavement, you've made 2500 USD total (minus 125 expenses) tallying up at 2375 USD. If they're satisfied with your work, ask for a testimonial.

Then you can reinvest this cash into getting a wordpress site built to have an actual web presence and brand with a bona fide portfolio of mobile sites.

http://fiverr.com/alinam1/create-a-very-...te-for-you

This person's real rate for making sites is around the 100 USD mark. If you're serious about this idea you might wanna throw down 500-800 for something more substantial on odesk or elance. There are also designers/developers on here who I bet would take this project on.

Book the domain "UberKraft Design" or "NordDesign" or something similarly Germanic or Scandinavian sounding. Also dye your hair blond and get blue contacts so that the trust factor for your work goes up. Haha just kidding - sort of - I'm being sarcastic but I think that would actually help sales.

-------

BEFORE THE TROLLS START SHITTING ALL OVER ME ABOUT THIS IDEA.....


PROBLEMS WITH THIS BUSINESS IDEA:


1. How to move this cash out of the country? Paypal? Bitcoin?

2. You are definitely not working legally

3. A stranger on fiverr is hosting your clients' websites

4. Will a bilingual option work for these sites?

-----

Anyway that's the idea I just had as a result of knowing how terribly unprepared the mobile presence is down there for throngs of tourists looking around on their smartphones for things to do and finding directions etc. You don't need any experience in design or development to make money from this.

If you are in Brazil now, are entrepreneurial and great at sales, and want to collaborate on this or other similar projects, get in touch with me.

----

Post: #37

(06-07-2013 07:28 PM)pegador Wrote:  After living here for several years, unless you're sure you want to PERMANENTLY move here, save your time and effort. Brazil is one of the hardest, most bureaucratic countries for starting a business...

Since I speak the language I've thought about going there to open a business myself, but the bureaucracy, etc., made me change my mind. Maybe sometime in the future.

Post: #38

Ah... a classic fiverr arbitrage model.

There used to be a WSO (I think it had some special prestige akin to "WSO of the Year") in Warrior Forum I think at the end of 2011 where the business model was to find businesses and offer to create mobile websites for them. Mobile has caught on in the US pretty quickly, so it's probably not worth it to do anymore in the states, but non-US countries are surprisingly (or not) slow to adapt, so this is good to keep in mind for developing countries without much web infrastructure or standards.

Post: #39

As a brazillian I'm sad to hear all this. Lost oportunities for business which would improve everyone's life, including myself. But it's all true. These two events, World Cup and Olympic Games, will give money to big businesses that are able to cope with the load of paper pushing [and bribes] necessary to do something in Brazil.

Post: #40

this idea is boss. I'm gonna give it a try this week

(06-07-2013 10:39 PM)youngmobileglobal Wrote:  I have some clients in Brazil for web design and mobile. The quality of web design work is absolute garbage down there.

Think of the throngs of tourists going to Brazil for the world cup and then the throngs that will continue coming afterwards. How are they looking for stuff?

In this day and age, probably on their cell phones.

Thus, local businesses that have mobile optimized websites or mobile websites will win out because people will be able to navigate their sites without doing a lot of pain-in-the-ass browsing around.

http://fiverr.com/alykhan/create-a-profe...r-business

You can get a simple mobile site on fiverr for 5-25 bucks

You can hustle mobile websites for businesses. Charge 300-500 bucks and see if you can provide dual Portuguese and English sites via that fiverr dude.

You can do this business entirely in cash in Rio or one of the second tier cities that will be seeing a lot of foot traffic. Is Floripa one of the world cup spots? Or Porto Alegre? Curituba? Aren't these where all the rich people live?

in Rio/Belo/SP you'd probably never run out of clients. You could run a "prepare for these hordes of world cup tourists with a bilingual mobile website" sort of campaign.

I bet you could do this on a tourist visa and basically just hustle a bunch of cash.

I'm not doing this because:

1. I don't much feel like going to Brazil - this country doesn't strike me having much bang for my buck (expensive)

2. The only clients I've worked with in Brazil speak fluent English and have been working with me remotely

I am helping out a German dude with a venture similar to this but it's more like SEO and lead generation.

Are you in Brazil right now? Try this little experiment:


1. Choose a city.

Then, within that city, choose a part of town that is particularly retail/commercial/social. If you don't feel like going out as much, go on the equivalent of Brazil's Yelp or White Pages online to scout out businesses. Hire a Filipino to send out Portuguese language scripts to their email addresses selling them on the idea.

2. Build a portfolio and get some cash moving


Try to convince ONE BUSINESS this week to get a mobile website built for 500 bucks in anticipation of the world cup.

Every restaurant you eat at, every bar you go to, every shop you visit - every time you go out you can see if you can hustle a gig.


3. Website and social media presence

If you start hustling enough gigs to throw up a portfolio with some testimonials, do exactly that. If you hustle 5 gigs through your network and you're pounding the pavement, you've made 2500 USD total (minus 125 expenses) tallying up at 2375 USD. If they're satisfied with your work, ask for a testimonial.

Then you can reinvest this cash into getting a wordpress site built to have an actual web presence and brand with a bona fide portfolio of mobile sites.

http://fiverr.com/alinam1/create-a-very-...te-for-you

This person's real rate for making sites is around the 100 USD mark. If you're serious about this idea you might wanna throw down 500-800 for something more substantial on odesk or elance. There are also designers/developers on here who I bet would take this project on.

Book the domain "UberKraft Design" or "NordDesign" or something similarly Germanic or Scandinavian sounding. Also dye your hair blond and get blue contacts so that the trust factor for your work goes up. Haha just kidding - sort of - I'm being sarcastic but I think that would actually help sales.

-------

BEFORE THE TROLLS START SHITTING ALL OVER ME ABOUT THIS IDEA.....


PROBLEMS WITH THIS BUSINESS IDEA:


1. How to move this cash out of the country? Paypal? Bitcoin?

2. You are definitely not working legally

3. A stranger on fiverr is hosting your clients' websites

4. Will a bilingual option work for these sites?

-----

Anyway that's the idea I just had as a result of knowing how terribly unprepared the mobile presence is down there for throngs of tourists looking around on their smartphones for things to do and finding directions etc. You don't need any experience in design or development to make money from this.

If you are in Brazil now, are entrepreneurial and great at sales, and want to collaborate on this or other similar projects, get in touch with me.

----

Post: #41

You like that idea?

Try following this stack:


1. Walk into a restaurant/bar during their slower hours and order something cheap

2. Request to speak to the owner/manager - since you are a paying customer they will be obliged to come out and speak with you. Moreover, they will be approaching you from a frame of deference because you are a client. It's like the opposite of a cold call.

3. Instead of outright pitching the guy, tell him something along the lines of this:

-I love your restaurant and I wanted to tweet and facebook out the location and that I really loved the food here - but because your website is not mobile optimized I am unable to give you free marketing to my 800 facebook friends and 2000 twitter followers.

-Moreover, people who might be looking for you online might be having a hard time navigating your site (if you even have one) and might just close the site out of impatience.

-Here, please take a look at a successfully mobile optimized site (contrast a mobile optimized website to this guy's website and bemoan the fact that he's losing opportunities for free/viral word of mouth marketing)

-Tell him that you happen to run an American/European design company and that you can help him to optimize his mobile presence as well as preparing for the hordes of tourists that are going to be coming through to Brazil in 2014 - you can literally PUT HIM ON THE MAP (google maps)

-If/when you close the deal, coordinate with the fiverr provider to get the specs/content needed for the site - then launch!

-Collect a 20-30% deposit up front. This way you can cover the $25 development cost for the fiverr provider while also pocketing a little cash and making it look like you have a "no brainer" low risk deal going on.

--------------

Do you live in SP/Rio/Belo?

Can you do this approach 10 times a week? You definitely are eating out at least 10 times a week. You are probably cold approaching at least 10 women a week and usually women cost you money instead of making you money.

If you close at a 10% success rate then you're pocketing $450 USD a week - or $1800 bucks a month.

The worst thing that will happen is that you get a lot of experience in sales, get first hand experience with Brazilian business culture, and learn about mobile websites and outsourcing.


------

This arbitrage model is replicable in any emerging market anywhere in the world. You'd be surprised at how horrible the design services are outside of North America - even in developed economies like Australia and Singapore.

------

You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

-----

Post: #42

English theme brothel.

Now I know P4P is everywhere there, but when the hordes of chavs invade Brazil in 2014 (and to a lesser extent, 2016), they're will P4P en masse. To make you're joint stand out, decorate it like an English theme pub, except it's a brothel.

Travelling Poms, particularly when in large numbers are notorious for seeking out the familiar. Coronation St on a TV, English lagers in the bar fridge, screen for English speaking hookers.

Post: #43

Spot on! Just saw earlier today on the TV Globo news that Brasil are the most closed country among the G20 when it comes to ease of starting a business. As a matter of fact, they are ranked at # 67th in the world! Even Argentina who are thought as the hardest place in South America to open a business ranked higher than Brasil at # 63! India, ranked at it's easier to register and start a business as it ranked at # 64th. On that world ranking, the US came at # 38th, France # 35th, Russia 59th, China 57th, Japan 39th. And not surprisingly that Singapore and Hong Kong were the best places in the world to register a business.

Another thing that they said during that news bulletin was that the Brazilian government believes that the country must maintain its protectionist policies against imports from other countries because if Brasil were to open itself up, the Brasilian industry wouldn't be able to compete and this would cause a lot of harms to the country. I was quite shocked to hear that, specially from a country which is on the verge of transitionning into a 1st world country but who is still stuck with a 3rd world mentality.

The way I see it, is that Brasil is a goldmine, with tremendous opportunities for anyone who is bold enough to go there and make the investment of time and resources to learn the lingo, the culture and open their eyes and make things happen. I am very strongly considering going there in the very near future. I have been in talks with a Brasilian friend and future business partner about how to take best advantage of what Brasil has to offer, specially in the internet marketing world. It's absolutely mind blowing! That's all I'm going to say...

(06-07-2013 07:28 PM)pegador Wrote:  After living here for several years, unless you're sure you want to PERMANENTLY move here, save your time and effort. Brazil is one of the hardest, most bureaucratic countries for starting a business. And, if you are following the news lately, not the best in terms of credit. S&P just put Brazil on negative watch. Remember, you'll also be earning in reais, which currently and probably for the foreseeable future isn't going to do that well against the dollar and other stronger currencies.

Brazil is an awesome place and I love it, don't get me wrong, but don't think you can start a business here easily. My advice would be to get a job, preferably with a multinational company and then just live here. Or, if you are planning on living for less than 4 months or so, work your ass off overtime doing whatever in the US or some country with a currency that has buying power, save it up, and then come here and enjoy.

Take a look at the link below.

http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/explor...es/brazil/

Of course, I'm just referring to legal businesses... if you want to do something on the black market, that's an option but for that you need some major connections, most likely with some pretty shady characters. Trust me, the novelty of living here wears off pretty fast. Come down, have a long-term vacation, see if you like the place, etc. but be careful about starting an actual functioning business that will make you a decent income. Whatever you decide, good luck.

Post: #44

(02-21-2013 03:01 PM)MidWest Wrote:  I read a while back that a lady from Mexico made Wrestling "Lucha Libre" masks of all the countries in the last World Cup in South Africa. She went back to Mexico a happy woman and sold over $300,000 dollars worth of masks.

Money idea. Pun intended.

Post: #45

It seems brazil has been running into economic trouble lately.

Post: #46

The business ideas seem pretty good, anything catering to Western visitors should be a big hit. This opportunity may not come again this lifetime, World Cup and Olympics will track hordes of people. A nice restaurant with burgers, fries, hot dogs and such would be a good idea. I am thinking a greasy spoon that does breakfast, I realize overhead would be the biggest problem.
The biggest obstacle is that the country does not seem too open to foreign investment, perhaps a partnership with a Brazilian would work around that.
I wonder if Mr GM or Ms Chocolate would be interested or have any suggestions.

Post: #47

I have a buddy who set up satellite offices of his family's freight forwarding business in Sao Paolo and he's making a killing. Huge economic strides in Brazil has a new and upcoming middle and even working class demanding goods previously only enjoyed by the rich. I think the sweet spot is something cheaper than apple products but not the normal $.99 cent store bunk.

Post: #48

(06-07-2013 04:50 PM)xmlenigma Wrote:  

(03-02-2013 09:26 AM)TexasMade Wrote:  

(02-21-2013 03:01 PM)MidWest Wrote:  I read a while back that a lady from Mexico made Wrestling "Lucha Libre" masks of all the countries in the last World Cup in South Africa. She went back to Mexico a happy woman and sold over $300,000 dollars worth of masks.

I might have to bite that idea. After a few more trips and a few more contacts I should be good to set up shop. Start of with 2K worth of masks and work from there. Probably can get the masks made for less than $5 and sell them for $30 a pop. If they sell like crazy, raise the prices. Hardest part is either becoming a vendor or try selling to vendors. There is a shit load of money to be made during the World Cup. Just have to figure the how part.

How risky would be to do this without having legal company in Brazil? You cant carry all that cash safely with you.

How did she DO IT?

This was in South Africa, not Brazil. Not sure how she did it.

Post: #49

Sounds like an urban legend to me.

(02-21-2013 03:01 PM)MidWest Wrote:  I read a while back that a lady from Mexico made Wrestling "Lucha Libre" masks of all the countries in the last World Cup in South Africa. She went back to Mexico a happy woman and sold over $300,000 dollars worth of masks.