What is the best shop to open in a mall?

ice cream ,bon, franchises seem to do well.

$400 p/m??

Maybe better to stay home since you don't have any clue and therefore have to ask strangers what kind of business to open. You already took the first step to failure.

pitt said:

first step to failure frank? Unless you have more money than me in the bank and had more successful businesses than me in the last 5 years (which i highly doubt it) then please stay away from this thread, let others that can help to answer my question.

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Grow up. You think you can open a mall-based business with an investment of 5-20 thousand dollars. Despite the fact you don't know what type business you are interested in, you don't have any grasp on capital needed for opening even the most basic of businesses. Your 5-20 thousand dollars is a spit in the wind when you need to come up with: upfront legal and accounting costs, upfront rent, rent security deposit, utility deposits, buildout of store, fixtures, equipment, etc, etc, etc. Don't expect any bank financing here in the DR. Keep dreaming.

Ridiculous

pitt said:

I am looking to invest 5 to 20 thousand dollars in a business in DR. If i make 400 dollars a month as profit, i would be happy, i just want to have a business that gives me regular income while im in DR.

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4,800 $ yearly from a 20,000$ investment??? :laugh:
(And yes, I read all your other posts.... :lick: )

donP

"And don't let the "door" hit you in your @$$ on your way out"!
Cris Colon
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"while I'm in the DR" is what caught me on his thread....so is this a part time job?

pitt said:

hahaah
im dealing with some immature people.

First of all when i say the amount of money that im investing and the profit im hoping for, thats just a strategy for me to get some ideas from you people, obviously that i wont just invest on what some of you dumb asses tell me to invest.

I wanted to know what are some profitables businesses there, the more ideas i get, the more i can investigate into it but some of you illiterate financial people cant understand it.

MODERATOR: please delete this question, im out of here.

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Pitt,

First, welcome to DR1. Your question is one that comes up fairly frequently on this board. The infamous saying around the island is "The easiest way to leave to DR a millionaire is to arrive as a multi-millionaire." While not impossible, it is very difficult for an inexperienced newcomer to do well right off the bat in DR.

The general advice, which I think applies here, is as follows:

1) First, move to the country, and spend at least 6 months to a year getting acclimated and simply paying attention to your surroundings. You can learn an awful lot by quietly watching what works and doesn't work in the country.

1a) You'll also learn what a realistic budget is, and how much money you'll need to make/supplement to meet those requirements.*

2) During that time, learn Spanish if you don't already have a solid grasp of it. Get to know as many people who can help you in business as possible.

3) Find a business opportunity (meaning some product or service in which an unfulfilled demand appears to exist) that a) YOU like, AND b) you seem pretty good at. Learn the true costs and requirements of it by working for someone who's actually got an established biz. You'll learn how it really operates, who your suppliers should (and shouldn't) be, which officials you've got to work through, and who your real customer base is and how best to reach them (might not be in a mall at all).

4) STRONGLY CONSIDER pursuing a business you can run remotely. Many people here work as freelance writers, translators, IT types, have e-commerce sites, consult, etc. That way you can run your business according to rules you are already familiar with, in your native language, and get paid at "home country" rates.

Either way, good luck. :glasses:

*MODERATOR/ROBERT - This is exactly why Pi2's foolishness should be heavily checked. Someone moving into the country expecting to live well off $400 is literally endangering himself.

pitt said:

first step to failure frank? Unless you have more money than me in the bank and had more successful businesses than me in the last 5 years (which i highly doubt it) then please stay away from this thread, let others that can help to answer my question.

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I reckon you've been helped now? Out of curiosity, what businesses were you involved in? Acting? Don't tell me are you Mr. Angelina Jolie?:speechles

DRob said:

*MODERATOR/ROBERT - This is exactly why Pi2's foolishness should be heavily checked. Someone moving into the country expecting to live well off $400 is literally endangering himself.

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Yes and no. We have a poster on DR1 that maybe lives on less.

Santo Domingo Diaries

You need to pick through Pi2's post to find the nuggets.
His lifestyle appeals to some, not to others, doesn't make him wrong.

Robert said:

Yes and no. We have a poster on DR1 that maybe lives on less.

Santo Domingo Diaries

You need to pick through Pi2's post to find the nuggets.
His lifestyle appeals to some, not to others, doesn't make him wrong.

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Thanks for stating the obvious.

While yanadau is certainly eccentric to ridicule him as a lier for apparently living off of a apparently an impossible low amount of money is to miss the obvious fact that millions of Dominicans do it everyday here in the DR.

Good Chice Of Words Robert!
pi2 does leave a lot of "Nuggets" here on DR1!
My problem is NOT with someone living a frugal,"Green" life,it is when they "Talk The Talk",but don't then "Walk The Walk"!
"Beach Condo,Swimming pool,etc.etc.
As for anyone,Expat,or Dominican,they may have a personal income of less than $400 US a month,but they don't live entirely from that.
In true Dominican Style,they live in a "Communal" setting.
Monies are "pooled" from family members to pay for "family expenses".
Housing,food,clothing,transportation,medical expenses,schooling.
No one pays for everything.Everyone contributes.
It works just fine,for many of us,who live in a Dominican Extended Family.
There are now nine,ten if you count "Refrigerator Perry",(the maid),and more who show up at meal time,and on weekends, in "our" house.
It's just that "My Contribution" is so "Phucking Much"!
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Robert said:

Yes and no. We have a poster on DR1 that maybe lives on less.

Santo Domingo Diaries

You need to pick through Pi2's post to find the nuggets.
His lifestyle appeals to some, not to others, doesn't make him wrong.

Click to expand...

So, because you have ONE poster on "the world's largest DR site" that may live on less, you don't consider what he dishes out to be, at best, misleading?

You know as well as anyone the likelihood of a newcomer coming to live in DR, likely with no Spanish and "connections" he met in Classico or someplace similar, doing well on $400 is highly unlikely. Frankly, his advice for a newbie is nothing short of hazardous.

Pi2 likes to promote an ultra survivalist/zero footprint agenda, which is fine. It's one he likely does not fully live himself, but whatever. There are lots of people on this board who do the same. I just don't like the fact that he acts as if anyone can easily and successfully live here on a pittance. That is knowingly and recklessly putting people (who are already looking for anything to enable them to come down) in harm's way.

For a guy who likes to shut down threads in a heartbeat if they venture slightly off track, you certainly give Pi2 an awfully wide berth. Even in America, we know the difference between freedom of speech (a beautiful thing), and someone yelling "fire" in a crowded theatre. Maybe it's a "balance" thing, maybe a Brit thing, but whatever.

Chip, your comments make more sense as applied to DOMINICANS LIVING IN DR. Pitt clearly is a newbie gringo who has no sense of how far $400 (or $1400, for that matter) will take him. It's a major, fundamental difference, my friend.

So now DR1 is the new internet nanny protector of gringos?

Chip said:

So now DR1 is the new internet nanny protector of gringos?

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That's not the situation here, what I believe DRob is saying is that normally if information is posted here that is incorrect, BUT doesn't adversely effect anothers life, no big deal. BUT, when information can POSSIBLY or DEFINITELY have an adverse effect, it should be dealt with. Misleading information can hurt any person coming here with certain expectations and then after arrival finding that the info they received here on dr1was misguiding. I am quite sure that is NOT the intention of this website......


B in Santiago....who has received and hopefully given correct information

belmont said:

Grow up. You think you can open a mall-based business with an investment of 5-20 thousand dollars. Despite the fact you don't know what type business you are interested in, you don't have any grasp on capital needed for opening even the most basic of businesses. Your 5-20 thousand dollars is a spit in the wind when you need to come up with: upfront legal and accounting costs, upfront rent, rent security deposit, utility deposits, buildout of store, fixtures, equipment, etc, etc, etc. Don't expect any bank financing here in the DR. Keep dreaming.

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And you didn't even mention hiring honest, trustworthy employees (hehehehe) .................

If we are going to start censuring post's based on their "worthiness" I think a lot more posts will have to be deleted.

As far as living off of US500 a month I did it on much less in 2000 when I lived with the inlaws in Moca. I had no house payment but then again I had to buy the food for 4 adults(less the plantain). I had three squares a day and a coke and often a hotdog for dinner and was not lacking(except no alcohol). We also had to go to a private clinic in Santiago twice a month as my wife was pregnant and had a severe kidney infection so those were additional costs. I am nothing worse for the wear and it can still be done.

At the end of the day there are a still lot of people that don't have to eat like three, drink like four and have five girlfriends.