I happened to end up talking to a guy who lives in Bangladesh, a country considered to be a bit ‘dodgy’ by a lot of global companies, and because of that, he is struggling to make money as easy as people with the same skills and services here in the more reliable ‘Western’ nations.
Where we take companies like PayPal and Stripe for granted, he cannot use these services as they are not available in his country.
Virtually all websites today use either of those payment processors, and we have come to trust them so much, that some people would rather not buy anything from a website if they don’t recognise the payment system.
It’s hard for people in these countries to set up websites and sell products such as eBooks, digital courses, and services.
He can use Payoneer which is the only company that seems to operate in this country, but they don’t let you make payment buttons, you have to request payment by sending an invoice by email, which is useless for selling eBooks and courses.
A lot of the third party platforms such as Gumroad, Payhip, Substack, and Patreon that allow users to sell digital products, use Stripe and PayPal to pay creators their earnings.
It’s not until you talk to someone who lives in a place where they cannot access these tools and services, that you realise how good we actually have it.
The only option he has is to set up a company in a different country which will require a whole lot of extra red tape and hurdles.
He said that he could set one up in the State of Wyoming, in the United States, as there is no tax to pay for non US citizens, although they do need to file a tax return.
For that he will require a lawyer, an agent, and an accountant.
I was told that it would cost around £400 to set up and then at least £800 each year to be managed smoothly, something which he currently cannot afford to do.
After asking a few questions, I found out that he was struggling a little financially but I came to the conclusion that the struggle could be eased if he did have access to services such as PayPal and Stripe.
It was a situation of him not doing it because he couldn’t afford it.
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The problem is that this is one of those paradoxes where you need something first in order to get that same thing.
For example, to be able to afford a place to live, a person needs a job, but an employer rarely gives a job placement to people who do not have a ‘fixed abode’.
Another is when a person needs a car to get a job, but they need the job to pay for a car.
They have to take a risk and get the thing they need so that they can make the money to do it.
The problem with this chap not getting this company set up in the United States because he cannot afford it is that it is most probably costing him more in lost revenue.
It’s possibly more of a case of he cannot afford not to do it.
What if paying the £400 to get the company up and running in the USA allowed him to set up Stripe and PayPal accounts which mean that he could start selling digital products and services to people resulting in him making £10,000 over the year?
He would be £8,800 better off.
The setting up fee of £400 is just a one off cost so the following year he would only need to be concerned with the management costs.
But until he spends that money and gets the company in the US created, he will not earn anything.
I suggested that he put a tin aside or opened up a second bank account where he could put money in for that sole purpose of funding the creation of a company in the US.
He may be struggling to afford it now, but with a bit of mindful planning, he could start to find the money he needs.
If he doesn’t focus on raising that money, what is likely to happen is that another year will pass, and another, and then another, and he will still be talking about it instead of doing anything about it.
It is a lot harder to make things happen if you are not actively doing something to make it happen.
By actively focusing on raising the money needed, it will happen because there is an achievable goal to work towards.
Until there is a manageable goal to work towards, everything is just an idea in the sky.
We here in the UK are fortunate to be able to use Stripe and PayPal, they allow us to be able to receive payment from other people by simply adding a payment button to a webpage.
That means we can sell virtually anything.
This article that you are reading right now could be turned into a PDF or put on a page that can only be accessed through a small payment.
I am not going to charge for it… however, it could be part of a subscription business where people pay a small monthly fee to access specific content.
That is such a simple and easy business to get into.
Create some content; add a payment button collecting a monthly subscription fee to a sales page, and sell a monthly newsletter.
You can charge as little as £5 a month and still make a decent amount of money if you get a large number of subscribers.
1,000 subscribers would give you £5,000 a month.
Now who wouldn’t like that?
I know that my friend who lives in a country deemed too dodgy for Stripe and PayPal would love it. That would mean freedom to him.
To discover more, go to:
How To Cash In With A Subscription Based Business
Kind Regards
John Harrison
PS… Once fully established, you could be earning thousands of pounds each month from work which could take less than a day… depending on what you are providing.
A subscription based business is all about the numbers.
Give a large group of people something they want and need at a price they are happy to pay, and you can be paid multiple times for the one piece of work each and every month.
Here’s that link again: