| 25 July 2008
Some regard ecommerce as an entirely new way of doing business. Others see
it as simply a new channel to deliver their existing products or services.
Of course, if you don’t have to start from zero, you have an advantage.
But, I hear you saying, my existing business can’t use e-commerce.
Well, you would be surprised. Maybe, by thinking outside the box, you really
can adapt your existing business and expertise to an offshore, e-commerce model
- giving you the freedom to live where you choose, on your terms, while legally
paying almost zero tax!
Let me give you an example of how offshore e-commerce applies in real life
to the hotel business, which on the face of it seems about the most static kind
of bricks and mortar business. After all, you can’t move buildings offshore!
My friend Billy, a French-Canadian, is in the hotel business. He takes bookings
and collects credit card payments through a website hosted in Panama for his
chain of boutique hotels in the Caribbean. Most clients probably don’t
even know he is “offshore,” since their credit cards are charged
in US dollars and they don’t read the small print on the contract.
After making payment, they print out a voucher which they take to the hotel
as payment for the stay. The hotel operating companies then bill the Panama
company, which pays the hotel. All the profit stays offshore, tax-free
in Panama. Billy runs the entire operation from an office in Buenos
Aires, Argentina where he likes to live. Since neither Argentina nor Panama
tax foreign-sourced income, and Billy is non-resident as far as Revenue Canada
are concerned, he pays no income nor corporation tax anywhere.
Of course, if he gets bored in Buenos Aires, he can travel anywhere in the
world and still run his business from anywhere with an internet connection.
If you give the matter some more thought, you will see how this concept can
be applied to any business. Both products and services can be sold online. Often
it’s just a question of “intermediation.”
Other offshore, e-commerce people are better described as telecommuters, selling
their skills and services in the global online marketplace. Any job where you
spend most of the day sitting in front of a computer can fairly easily be outsourced
to any place on earth with a reliable internet connection.
That’s why I love offshore e-commerce. I have quite a number of clients
who are already doing this. Would you like to join them? If so, the place to
start is www.qwealthreport.com Or
email me directly.
Look forward to more blog entries about Freedom, Wealth and Privacy. I hope
you enjoy them and that you can use the information here to benefit your business
and your life. In turn I would much appreciate your feedback, comments and questions.
I can be contacted via info@petermacfarlane.net.
Peter Macfarlane is joint editor of The Q Wealth Report an established
newsletter dedicated to informing readers about creating, protecting and growing
wealth in a secure offshore environment. It also covers international living,
banking, retiring and investing. Visit www.QWealthReport.com
to see more.
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The Q Wealth Report
Peter Macfarlane of The Q Wealth Report blogs on Freedom, Wealth and Privacy
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