When I quit my job to travel the world for a year‚ the last thing I wanted to do was work. Well, at least not in the capacity that I used to as an editor in Manhattan. In fact‚ part of the reason I left the country was to take a break from the New York corporate rat race.
Recently, I struck up a conversation with the man sitting next to me on a plane. When he told me he’d been traveling on business, I asked what he did. “I have my own consulting business,” he replied proudly. “How long have you had your business?” I inquired.
Uruguay is one of the best places in the world to own a farm…and you don’t have to be a Uruguayan citizen or even a resident to buy agricultural property. While it is most famous for its grass-fed beef industry… Uruguay also has soil and climate that are ideal for growing wheat, rice, soybeans, olives, and blueberries. It is a water-rich country, minimizing the need for irrigation, and its soils are among the least degraded in the world. All Uruguay’s farmland is mapped by soil type.
Buenos dias from Costa Rica! My wife, two kids, and I currently live in the town of Atenas in the Central Valley region. We’ve been here for a touch over a year…and we love it. I established myself with a remote income before I set off. I am a partner in a small software development/consulting firm that we formed a couple years before my family and I moved abroad.
Vacation rentals are a great way for an investor to create an income overseas but, unless they’re living next door, anyone who owns a vacation rental needs someone to manage it for them. Property management is a business you can start with absolutely no investment. You are simply trading your time and effort.
There is business opportunity in overseas weddings…and Costa Rica is emerging as the new place to be. For some couples, the dream wedding doesn’t take place in a fancy hotel ballroom in their home town. They opt for a destination wedding in an exotic location. It’s estimated that about 8% of U.S. weddings are held overseas, with Mexico being a perennial favorite due to its proximity and established tourist infrastructure.
I ’ve noticed there is a trend that the more a population is used to going to the beach, the better in shape they want to be. Think Rio or Sydney’s Bondi Beach. On my last trip to Australia, I was completely blown away by the market penetration of fitness and health clubs. I counted up to three fitness clubs in the same block. Even the iconic family of brands owned by Sir Richard Branson had a share of the pie there, under the name of Virgin Active.
Jennifer Posner fell in love with San Miguel de Allende during trips there as a young girl. In 2007, when it came time for her “to unplug from corporate America,” San Miguel was the first place she thought of. Now she makes her living there from a quirky, but successful, catering operation. She’s taken the American food truck concept from the streets to private catering gigs and just about anywhere there’s a gathering that needs to be fed.
My husband, Kevin, and I both turned 30 this year, and while the rest of our cohort is punching a time clock and climbing up the bitter corporate ladder, we’re sipping sangria on the balcony of our seafront apartment on Spain’s Mediterranean coastline… savoring café con leche (Spanish coffee) as the sun rises…or celebrating with cava (sparkling wine) under the moon.
Imagine if work involved saddling up and taking to the trail instead of being stuck in morning traffic, heading into the office. You don’t need to have a lot of money to work with horses overseas. If fact you don’t need to own much land or spend a fortune buying horses to set up your own business.