Here’s a simple idea for making money. If you can buy something for 20 cents and sell it for $3 you can make a lot of cash.
Certainly you know that the bikinis you’ll see on the beach this summer—along with the sand buckets, shovels, beach rafts, towels and tank tops—
One look at Cotacachi, Ecuador’s famous leather street, and I knew—“I’m going to need a bigger closet…” Turns out I wasn’t far off the mark! The gorgeous, buttery leather handbags, wallets, backpacks, briefcases, and jackets were as inexpensive are they were irresistible. Heck, I almost bought a saddle…and I don’t even own a horse!
Ubud, on the Indonesian island of Bali, is a lovely place to spend time. Green rice paddies…mixed Balinese and Dutch colonial architecture…and a “big village” feel. Ubud has kept the artsy, Hindu feel that seems mostly missing from the modern beach fronts of Southern Bali.
Shortly after arriving in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, I stepped into the home of a family of weavers. The room was swept and straw mats were spread over the meticulous dirt floor ready for the day’s work to get underway.
If Ecuador isn’t on your short list of places to travel, add it. Ecuador has mountain towns…tropical coast…the Amazon basin…and it’s also home to the Galapagos Islands. But I won’t dwell on any of that right now; just suffice it to say that if you go, you’ll want to go back.
When my wife and I operated a Thai restaurant near San Francisco, we decorated it by putting Thai artwork on the walls. It was beautiful, and added to the ambiance of the restaurant. Then we had an idea. We started putting a few discreet signs up that the artwork was for sale—and people started snapping it up. Our extra business became very profitable. We already traveled to Thailand…
If Ecuador isn’t on your short list of places to travel, add it. Ecuador has mountain towns…tropical coast…the Amazon basin…and it’s also home to the Galapagos Islands. But I won’t dwell on any of that right now; just suffice it to say that if you go, you’ll want to go back.
Buy low in one place, sell high in another. That’s what import-export means. But you don’t need thousands of dollars to get started—you can turn a profit from what we call “suitcase shopping.” That’s how many people make money in the business. Even if you don’t turn it into a full-time career, it’s a great way to fund your travels. Whether it’s on eBay, at a street market or to work colleagues, you can resell almost anything.
I was in Mexico’s Colonial Highlands recently, strolling through a handicrafts fair, when I saw a display of little mirror-compacts with casings made from decorated, beaten tin. I thought they’d make perfect little gifts for girlfriends—a useful item they could toss in their handbags.
Every couple of months I fly down to Ecuador to spend time enjoying spectacular …
“What do I wear in bed?” mused Marilyn Monroe. “Why, Chanel No. 5, of course!” Perched in the hills above the Côte d’Azur in France, Grasse has been the world’s perfume capital since the 17th century. The countryside around this Provencal town is where the jasmine and roses that go into the country’s famed luxury fragrances are grown and harvested.
Carol Romano owns an online business and a store in Mexico’s San Miguel famed for its eclectic vibe and its unusual, one-of-a-kind merchandise. But the story of how she came to own her own business started a decade earlier…with a trip to Morocco.
I knew the basics…importing means bringing items from one country in to another and exporting, conversely, involves sending products from one country back to another. Mostly I was just eager for an adventure, and I was taking a leap of faith. At the time, I had no idea how profitable it can be— and how much fun it is.
Not everything is yet labeled “Made in China.” Throughout the world, artisans still produce handcrafted objects of desire that carry serious mark-ups when resold in North America and Europe. And if you like something, chances are other people will like it too.
With little more than a few hundred bucks and some determination Reece decided to give the import-export world a try. Now he has a nationwide business.
I arrived on vacation to Buenos Aires, Argentina and was seduced into staying. You see, I figured out how to hemisphere-hop for free. This way I get two summers a year plus the snowy New England Christmas I couldn’t give up. I’m not a true expat. I’m a cheater. At first I lived off savings, and then pieced together an income from freelance writing and editing.
A fun way to fund your vacations is by having an import-export business—it’s not as complicated as it might sound. It could be simply buying local products in Mexico, like handicrafts, and selling them back home when you return. Mexico makes so many handicrafts that you have plenty of options, from Mexican rugs to silver to pottery and more. Several regions of Mexico are particularly known for their handicrafts.
When Cheryl Finnegan lost her job, she considered putting up a fight. She could stay in San Francisco—maybe get back into another firm with another position in corporate marketing. Or she could do something else with her life. At the age of 39, in the middle of a divorce and with a generous severance package from her former employer, Levi Strauss, Cheryl did just that.
Reece Guth stepped off the bus at a sleepy town two miles from Nicaragua’s Pacific Coast. He was armed with two things—a vague business idea and a money belt filled with $50 notes shoved down his pants.
In Mexico, we buy pottery, baskets, and silver. In Jamaica, we went to the source and had baskets made for us. In Guatemala we bought scarves directly from the weavers. In Honduras we purchased sea glass jewelry, dolls, bark art, and baskets. With our Import-Export business, our working year ends in December and doesn’t kick into gear again until March.
One country above all others on our beat is a great place to try out your entrepreneurial side: Ecuador. The Spanish guild system is still at work here, so each town and village specializes in one craft—leather work, ceramics, silversmith, guitar making, etc.
I’m able to live in Buenos Aires, Argentina, thanks to my mini “import-export” enterprise. When I want a break from Buenos Aires, I hike to the villages in the north to negotiate delivery of llama wool hats, scarves and shawls—direct from the villagers who make them.
We’ve all gone on vacation and fallen in love with a place. You promise yourself you’ll visit again…but you really wish you never had to go home at all. Well you don’t, necessarily. You can figure out a way to stay. I did…
We are in Cotacachi, Ecuador, for the day. Here, one long road I’ve dubbed Leather Lane makes up the main drag…as far as shopping goes, that is. The street smells heavenly—of good quality, new leather. I could find something to please every single person I know here.
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