Mariana Pimenta

Sam Marks, digital entrepreneur concentrating on scalable, high-growth start-ups. Building a $100m business the nomadic way

In 2009 he founded SKYCIG in the UK. While maintaining a nomadic lifestyle, he was able to scale the business, which became Europe’s largest e-cigarette company and was acquired for $100m in 2013. He currently is based in Chiang Mai, Thailand and continues to work full time in the start-up scene both as an operator and investor.

Sam will share key lessons and strategic insight on scaling and principles that can be applied to your business.

Travels constantly, typically 30+ countries a year investigating opportunities and getting a better understanding of the global marketplace.

Has developed business ops. and strategic partnerships spanning 4 continents

He views business as the ultimate sport… well, second only to ping pong.

We talk about:

- how he started from zero, built his online skills, and with affiliate marketing sold one of his start ups for 100 million $$

- why he decided to start www.coworker.com,

- the growing coworking scene around the globe,

- what his dream coworking space would look like,

- his tips for those who are starting a career and want to go digital, be location independent

- how he reshaped his life when he was 18 and put his mind on a business track

- his perception of China

- his future plans

quotes:

"if you can build a lifestyle business that supports some type of work lifestyle and ability to be remote I think for most people that's, pretty much achieving the work dream"

"the return on your time is probably better spent learning how to market something online"

"build a simple website, put an affiliate offer on there and buy some traffic and see what happens"

"I think the smartest thing to always do, when you’re getting started, is to have a reliable source of income and then work, don't go home and watch TV or play around go home and learn how to do something on the internet and don't quit your job until you're confident that what you're doing can replace your revenue stream if not fully at least partially"

(Feb 17, 2016) Ozzi Jarvinen - Founder of Iglu, a global hub for tech talent.

How Iglu can help you relocate your business to Thailand, give you a business visa, so you can concentrate on what matters and enjoy life.

If there are two words that best describe our guest today they are INNOVATION & ATTITUDE

Founder of Iglu, initially a software development company that has grown up to 500% a year, into a  growing community of 200 digital professionals + 37 nationalities, in 4 offices  in Thailand, goalkeeper of the Chiang Mai ice hockey team,

He explains how they can help you relocate your business and/or your entire team to Thailand, help you get a business visa that enables you to get into Thailand via express lane (same as the monks and diplomats, that’s right), your taxes, health insurance, give you a cool office, 98 digital coworkers from 24 nationalities, so you can concentrate on what matters and enjoy life. It’s not a dream, it’s the work future already here.

He also shares the benefits of paying taxes in Thailand, how outsourcing to India can be 31% more expensive because of Communication, work methodology and control, and because of different concepts of deadline.

We talk about:

-advantages of homeschooling kids

- how he got the strict Thai government to endorse his project

- the lifestyle one can have in chiang mai

- the Digital Nomad city he dreams of building

- how he got to test playstation games for the military

- how Iglu became the biggest employer of Finns in Thailand

- how Chiang Mai transitioned from having 10 digital nomads to thousands of them now

- why companies from Silicon Valley realized their technical work does not have to be done in Silicon Valley

- how Thailand could benefit from making it super-easy to set up a one-person company

Quotes:

"I’ve been kind of hoping to find a way where maybe we could build digital nomad city"

"ButI did good finding the right people, I did good finding those who are better than me."

"I’ve realized that I’m probably not the only person being in this kind of situation, that there must be other people who would like to stay and work in Thailand and actually pay their taxes here as well from the work they do."

I got pretty much told by the lawyers that dream on, it is never gonna happen. It’s never gonna happen, because your business is too small. (…) And for a moment, I thought, well, it’s not gonna happen, but it kept on bugging me, I was like, well, I do need to get the answer, so I flew myself there."

"You know, I’m actually quite happy to pay the taxes in Thailand, and also as a company as well as my personal income tax too, because this country has given us so much that I’m quite happy to give back."

"I got my hands on a study that was done in Finland about outsourcing to India. And it was quite shocking, the results of the study were that it’s 31% more expensive outsourcing to India than doing it locally in Finland. "

(April 5, 2016) Our guest today one of the most exciting careers I know…. PAULA PIMENTA. Brazilian bestselling author, sold over 1MM books to young adults in Brazil, Spain, Portugal and Italy so far.

10 of the 20 Brazilian bestselling books last december/2015 were written by her. In 2013, she was one of the authors included in the anthology “The Book of Princesses”, next to authors like Meg Cabot and Lauren KateHer

1st book: Shooting my life’s script – Fani’s premiere has been released in English. Was chosen by Epoca magazine as one of 100 most influential Brazilians in 2012. Also a columnist in “Veja” magazine and the newspaper “O Tempo”.

In this talk, she tells her story, in English, for the first time.

I’m sure this interview will inspire all of you to follow your dreams and never give up on having an exciting career like hers!

We talk about:

– How she helped the young adult Brazilian readers recover the passion for reading,

– her Success Habits, writing routine and tricks that help her keep her creativity so high and bestselling position for so many years.

– how she convinced the publisher of her book,

– why she got married at Disneyworld

– what she thinks of Digital Nomads

Quotes:“When you live abroad, it's kind of lonely so my characters made me company. They were my friends so I couldn't wait to meet them in my story."

"Yes I think this is the secret to write well. When I was writing my first novel, I wrote a book that I wanted to read. I didn't know yet that I was going to publish it. I just wanted to, I wanted to read a book that I couldn't find in anywhere, so I wrote it."

"Mari: So, can you tell people why is it that you decided to get married at Disney World?  Paula: Well it's because I wanted to live happily ever after."

"I'm always listening to music while I'm writing. I put songs that help me to construct the setting of the thing I'm writing." 

"I think we should write the same type of book we like to read," because you will spend a lot of time with your books. So, you need to like it, because the readers feel the passion that you put in the pages."

Links and Resources from this episode: 

Thanks for Listening!

Our guest today has one of the most exciting careers I know…. PAULA PIMENTA

Brazilian bestselling author, sold over 1MM books to young adults in Brazil, Spain, Portugal and Italy so far.

10 of the 20 Brazilian bestselling books last december/2015 were written by her.

In 2013, she was one of the authors included in the anthology "The Book of Princesses",

next to authors like Meg Cabot and Lauren Kate

Her 1st book: Shooting my life's script - Fani's premiere has been released in English.

Was chosen by Epoca magazine as one of 100 most influential Brazilians in 2012.

Also a columnist in “Veja" magazine and the newspaper "O Tempo".

In this talk, she tells her story, in English, for the first time.

We talk about:

- How she helped the young adult Brazilian readers recover the passion for reading,

- her Success Habits, writing routine and tricks that help her keep her creativity so high  for so many years.

- how she convinced the publisher of her book,

- why she got married at Disneyworld

- what she thinks of Digital Nomads

I’m sure this interview will inspire all of you to follow your dreams and never give up on having an exciting career like hers!