Part III of an Interview with International Man

This is the third and final instalment of my interview with International Man:

Welcome to the Friday edition of the IM Daily Communiqué. Today, we'll finish our conversation with Jeff Berwick, entrepreneur and International Man...

Xavier Calendar: Going back to the discussion of your condo projects… because this is one of the questions that people will have… I internationalized myself, I travel the world, but now I have a condo project and have to be a manager. How do you handle that?

Jeff Berwick : With any business that's small like this one, you have to be hands on in the beginning. There are no two ways about it. However, I've been doing this now for about a year and a half, and I basically had my girlfriend manage it for me. That was really nice.

We've got about six rooms now and just sold another one or two in the last few months. By the end of the year, we'll probably have around ten or twelve rooms.

But now it's actually grown to the size where I've been able to hire a manager who will start in the fall and will oversee almost everything. I'll be almost completely hands off by the end of the year.

It's the same with any business. Usually you have to be fairly hands on in the beginning and then, after you grow it into a real business, you have some options. You can give it to someone to manage it or you can sell it.

In my own case, I could sell this business once it gets up to 20 or 30 rooms, at which point it will be a decent, real enterprise for a decent amount of money.

XC: How difficult is it for you to find a bank, access cash and have a bank account?

JB: Fairly simple. I just went to Scotiabank, which is actually a Canadian bank with a big presence here. I also have an account with another bank.

XC: Are there a lot of expats in the area where you're living and do you hang out with them?

JB: There aren't a ton of expats but there are a few.

There's a Canadian-Italian guy who runs an Italian restaurant here in town and it's one of the best restaurants here. He makes a ton of money, probably about a million dollars a year. His restaurant is always packed.

But do I hang out with them? Not necessarily. I've met some local expats almost everywhere I've gone, but I don't make an effort to hang out with them necessarily. To me, that's kind of missing the point if you go to these new places and then don't experience all these new things. I'd rather hang out with the locals.

XC: What's the single biggest difference between the life you used to live back in Canada and the life you live now?

JB: I don't see it as being that much different. I'm basically an entrepreneur - so when I was back in Canada, I was always starting up companies. Wherever I am now, I'm still always starting up companies… It's mainly the lifestyle that is different.

Here it's almost always sunny. I go to the beach here every day. I go for a jog or walk every day. I eat fresh fruits every day. It's just a very healthy lifestyle. So that's a main thing. When I lived in Canada, I'd spend a lot of time in traffic and other unhealthy situations.

XC: How often do you return to Canada to visit your family?

JB: As little as possible. Generally now I speak at a lot of conferences, but if I didn't have to go for business, I'd go less than once a year probably, and only in the summertime, obviously.

XC: What do your friends and family think of you becoming a citizen of the world?

JB: I don't know what they really think. I imagine they are confused. It's like they wonder why I'm doing this and I think that I couldn't be doing anything else. Almost all my friends and family are almost all still in Edmonton and Vancouver.

XC: Is there anything you miss about living in Canada?

JB: Not really.

One of the reasons why I like it here in Mexico is because you can still get US and Canadian TV this far south through Shaw Direct. You know, I'm Canadian and I don't hate everything about Canada. I don't like a lot of things - mostly government related stuff and how people have been trained to believe that all this government stuff is good. And there are some things I like, hockey being one of them. I've got my giant 60 inch flat screen here on the beach and I watch the hockey playoffs every year. That's something I would miss if I didn't have it.

Jeff Berwick's TV Setup in Acapulco, Mexico - Click to Enlarge

There are other things you can do. There is something called SlingBox.com. Let's say you're living in China but you really want to watch the TV from your home country. You put one of these boxes in one of your friend's houses where you're from, and it transmits the television over the internet to wherever you are. If the internet connection is good, it can be very good quality. You can change the channels and everything.

Whenever I go to Canada, I like to hit all the restaurants I love that I can't get in other parts of the world. Basic things like [fast food place] A&W. I don't like fast food that much but you kind of miss it after ten years. Or The Keg or Boston Pizza in Vancouver. I usually get quite fat when I go back.

Those are really the only things that I miss. So I don't really miss much at all.

Nowadays, with the Internet, it's almost like no matter where you are in the world, you log on, and all your friends are there. It doesn't feel like you're living far away from people.

I have a story about that… I happened to be in Vancouver after traveling the world for a few years on a stop over. I decided to walk into town. As I was walking, I saw my friend - we hadn't seen each other in about a year and we're like best friends - and we just said "hi" and kept walking. Then, we both turned around and said, hey, I haven't seen you in about a year. It didn't seem like it because we talked almost every day on the Internet.

A lot of people feel they will miss their family and friends. With the Internet, it's like you still live down the block. You can still have these connections from long distances.

XC: Many people think they need a lot of money to start traveling the world. In your experience, is this true?

JB: It's a little difficult to answer this because I sold my internet company before I took off. I wasn't a multimillionaire, but I had some money. I never really used a lot of it but every now and then I came into a situation where the only place to stay was a Hyatt at $300 a night. In those situations, yes, it's nice to have some money, because it's more comfortable.

In general, for someone to leave and live with like 10 dollars in their pocket is challenging, for sure. It is possible, but obviously more difficult.

It goes without saying that if you don't have a lot of money, it's best to go to places where things are very cheap - Cambodia for example. It's no trouble to live there for 5 dollars a day - a hotel room for around 4 dollars and food for another buck or two. It's unbelievable how cheap a place like that really is.

There are risks. I'm not saying you're going to go somewhere with no money in your pocket and everything is going to work out fine. But for me, the risk is living in some place you've lived your whole life and not learning and not changing and not opening your mind to the world.

A lot of people call me a risk taker. But I wouldn't go somewhere with less than 20,000 dollars in the bank. I want at least that much as backup. I wouldn't feel comfortable going somewhere with just a few dollars. I'm sure I'd probably be alright because I'm just that kind of person who always figures things out, but it's definitely easier with money.

But it's not like you need A LOT of money. In this area of the world, Nicaragua is probably better than Mexico, which contrary to stereotypes, is generally not that inexpensive. There are a number of places in South America that are also really cheap - Argentina and Paraguay come immediately to mind.

Ultimately, it comes down to doing your research - first on the Internet, but also by going there in person. You'll find the best opportunities by visiting.

XC: If you could go back and do it all again, are there any mistakes you would avoid?

JB: No. I'm sure I have made thousands but nothing really sticks out. I expect to have issues and challenges because of different cultures but I never call them a mistake. It's almost like a learning experience, it's something good.

XC: Are you happy?

JB: Oh yeah, definitely. I've never been happier.

XC: Any last words of wisdom?

JB: I don't have too much to say other than just do it. I've heard and talked to a number of people who've been planning for years and years. To me, that is a little bit crazy because you can't really plan these things too much.

You can definitely plan but more than a few months of research online is sufficient… No matter how much research they do about a certain place, until they've been there, they don't really know anything. It's never what you think it is.

Even if you get information from all the best people, it will still be different than making a visit - they have different backgrounds and so you see it through their view of the world. One man's paradise is another man's prison.

Canada is that for me. It's my prison. For many people it's paradise. But the only way you can ever know is just to get out there.

XC: That makes a lot of sense. Alright, if someone would like to know more about you, how can they find out more.

JB: Right now it's just DollarVigilante.com - it's basically a free-market financial newsletter. You can sign up for our free blog if you like. You can see our general content and we write that almost every day. We write about a number of things, including freedom, expatriation, how to invest, how to start up businesses in other countries, and all sorts of things.

Basically the concept of the Dollar Vigilante is to survive and prosper during the coming dollar collapse, which is a big theme that we believe in. And that's another reason why it's probably a good idea to get outside of places like the US and Canada for a while and see other areas of the world.

They call some of those other countries emerging economies, but I call places like Canada and the US submerging economies and that's what we're going to see over the next few years. It's probably a good idea to get out anyways.

Xavier here. My thanks again to Jeff for giving us this interview

Comments

[Laurence Hunt]

Jeff, all your ideas are easy to understand in the context of your life. Probably you should keep doing something like this in the blog form time to time, writing about yourself, what you're doing as well as thinking.