Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Interviews with entrepreneurs and business leaders who’ve “made it” in Thailand. Real stories of ambition, setbacks, and strategic wins on the path to success. Built for founders and operators who want to win in Thailand.
Guests from the US, UK, Australia, and Thailand. Honest journeys and cross-cultural lessons. Inspiration for anyone building in the Thai market.
Apply to be a guest:
https://madeitinthailand.com/apply
Hosted by Scott Pressimone, a US expat based in Thailand for 13+ years and owner of Fractiond, a Thailand-based strategy consultancy.
#ThailandBusiness #ExpatSuccess #ThaiExpat
I think as a small company you can do
things that a large company can't do.
You can have like an
unstandardized hiring process.
In the beginning, I always try to hire
the absolute smartest person I could get
for a task, thinking if I get the absolute
smartest person, they will figure it out.
And I got some good people, but
the retention rate was atrocious.
So I kind of switched way more to
cultural values and say, let's find
somebody who's challenged by the job.
Because these are people who enjoy
challenge, which honestly is most people.
And then, um, you will be able to
transfer those people anywhere and
they will stick with you because you
give them something interesting to do.
Alright, so I'm here today
with Karsten Aichholz.
And uh, Karsten, thank you
so much for joining me today.
Thank you for having me.
the topic for today is really about how to
build a business in Thailand that lasts.
I know that you've been able to
keep a business running that hasn't
been solely dependent on you.
So to start off, I'd love if you
could give a brief background about
yourself, just the TLDR of who you
are, what you do, and what your
exposure to Thailand has been.
Gotcha.
Sure.
So essentially I came to Thailand in 2006.
24 years old.
Back then I had not much
of a clue of anything.
The very first rental contract we
signed for a business was in Thai.
Didn't understand a single word.
15 years later, I left, flew
in Thai with a million more in
the bank than I arrived with.
So a million.
And, uh, the company I've built
during that time is still running
today and it's running without me.
So basically over that period, I build
an organization that doesn't need me.
So I guess my greatest accomplishment
was making myself useless.
So yeah, here we are.
I think that so many business
owners here struggle with that.
They often get a little bit bitter
when everything's dependent on them.
And it seems like you have
a little bit more freedom.
I assume now that everything's
not solely dependent on you.
Well, I mean, nowadays, uh, I guess
I have the freedom to volunteer on
the school board of my little kiddo.
Yeah.
Try to find the power tools
to hit around the house.
But yeah, that, that keeps me busy.
That kind of management
rather than the other kind.
Can you sort of paint the picture
of what Thailand was like back then?
So I remember the very first
time I was in Thailand arriving
at Don Mueang airport back then.
And, and this was a time where
you kind of landed in Thailand
and you kind of expected there'd
be bicycles on the street.
Like just no clue what's going on.
I mean, obviously.
No YouTube, no anything.
So you kind of go there and you're
like, wow, this is actually a lot
nicer than I thought it would be.
So I think that was the very
first impression where I kind
of had this image in my head.
I spent some time in India before
where I thought, okay, this might
be rough, but it was really nice.
what was your first exposure
to doing business in Thailand?
So my first exposure to doing business in
Thailand was actually before I got here.
So we had a company in Germany
essentially making websites
and tools for online games.
And um, at some point we realized maybe
if you're a company in Germany and all
your customers are in the US it doesn't
really make sense to stay in Germany.
Mm. And my business partner had done an
internship in Thailand, so we're like,
could we move our company to Thailand?
And uh, that was literally a
reaction of everybody, right?
Like, right.
Yeah.
Okay.
And, uh, I think that goes to show like,
and to this day I have that where I'm
like, come up with some crazy idea.
And the first reaction is
always truly, that can't work.
I'm like, I'm not saying it's gonna work,
but I first want to figure out the real.
Why not?
So, um, in this case you
know, we had nowhere to start.
It was like 2005.
okay, Google was around.
That was about it.
And, uh, then we were like, well,
let's just start at the very
first place we can think of.
Let's call the Thai embassy in Germany.
Oh.
And ask them, Hey, we wanna
start a business in Thailand.
how about you, uh, talk to the board
of investment, like board of what?
The Board of Investment, it's the
investment promotion agency of Thailand.
And they handle basically
bringing business to Thailand.
And at the time we were like, you
know, 22, 23 years old sitting, I
wish we had a garage, but we didn't.
But so we sit now, sat in our apartment
together and we had like two student
houses and that was the company.
Mm-hmm.
And now we're supposed to talk
to literally the Thai government
agency in charge of bringing forward
investment investment to Thailand.
well, we called them up and they're
like, well, why don't you just come in?
We're like, well, why are you guys,
oh, with Frankfurt, it's like, that's
like two miles down the road from us.
So we literally, basically took
the bus over, walked into the
office, and there were like five
people and we're like, well.
Here's our business.
Can we take you to Thailand?
And they're like, we'd love to.
I'm like, really?
Yeah.
Wow.
And like, you have to fill out a
form and get to do a business plan.
I'm like, guess we can swing that.
Yeah.
But if you need help with the
form, we'll help you with the form.
And so we filled out a business plan,
you know, did the form ourselves
and uh, handed it into them.
Yeah.
And they're like, alright, we'll
send this to Bangkok and they'll
contact you with an interview.
So we essentially got on a flight,
like literally three days later, flew
to Bangkok, we went to the board of
investment office, presented our idea.
We're like, alright, well think about it.
You'll hear from us.
And, um.
We didn't, we did get a recommendation
for a lawyer that we ended up working
with who at some point called us up and
we're like, guys, why are you not picking
up your board of investment promotion?
We're like, what do you mean it's there?
It's like about to expire
in five days from now.
Like, we never heard of it.
Well, you're supposed
to pick it up in person.
I'm like, what?
We're back in Germany.
Okay, how about this?
You just sign a blank power of
attorney and I take care of stuff.
You are like, what damage could
you possibly do in Thailand
with a blank power of attorney?
So, uh, they're like,
f*uck it, let's do it.
Yeah.
So sign a blank power of
attorney, send it over.
Took care of everything.
Yeah.
And this whole thing of like
signing something we didn't
understand lasted for quite a while.
First office contract.
No clue.
Labor contracts, no clue.
We were like.
What could possibly go wrong?
I mean, if we can't unsign
it, we can't continue, so that
seems worse than the worst case.
So let's just sign it
and see what happens.
So that, what was like
20 years ago in Thailand.
My gosh.
I mean, that's interesting though
that how helpful they actually were.
I'm just, I'm surprised
they were that receptive.
Do you think it was just due the
time, were they just looking for a
ton of investment and just anything?
Or what was the reason you
think they were so receptive?
I think that was part of it.
But in general, I think what
people have this preconceived
notion of like how things work.
If it's one thing I learned everywhere
in the world that you have to find
the people who will be on your side.
You know.
The immigration officer as Don Mueang.
He's certainly not on my side.
But the guy who gets a target to bring
in forward investment, he's on your side.
He will want to like make this happen.
As long as your interests
are aligned, you're good.
And I think that even holds true today.
Yeah.
I mean I guess a lot has changed, but
I think maybe people tell theirselves
the stories that, oh, things are there's
no way to start a successful business
in there's no way to start a business.
I'm only 20 years I think people
make those excuses, and it seems
like you at a younger age, were just
like, we're just gonna make it work.
Or at least try.
a friend of mine likes to say
there's two types of people.
There's the yes buts and
there's the why nots.
Right?
Ah, yes.
I like that a lot.
I like that a lot.
Whoa there.
Hold up for just one second.
I'm sorry to interrupt, but if you are
struggling with business operations,
cultural challenges, or growing your
business in Thailand, you are not alone.
This market is really tough to navigate.
I know because I've been here
since 2012 and I've experienced
a lot of these challenges myself.
That's why I founded Fractiond, a
Thailand-based consulting firm aimed at
helping businesses succeed in Thailand.
My Accenture experience from the US,
and our community of top consultants
from around the world, allow us
to deliver top tier strategy and
execution to businesses in Thailand.
If you wanna learn more, you can book
a free 15 minute discovery call to
see how we can help your business.
You can email us at podcast@fractiond.io.
Alright, back to the show.
So I had first been exposed to you
through a website that was a very good
resource for me when I came to Thailand.
And I want to better understand how what
you were doing in the gaming industry
actually went into you producing a
website that was giving expats knowledge
for how to actually migrate to Thailand
or start businesses in Thailand.
How did that even happen?
How did you get into that game?
I always created educational resources
in some way, just instead of gamers.
Now it's expats.
But more importantly what happened for
me was over time, I've been doing this
for a long time, and markets come and go.
The gaming business was in decline.
And I'm like, okay,
what's gonna come next?
And I thought about doubling down on
that and I think, you would call it
throwing good money after bad money.
And but I actually decided now
this is the time to try something
new for my list of business ideas.
How about I start a personal blog I
just write about whatever, and I will
see what kind of reaction do I get?
And one of those was health insurance.
And I'm like, maybe I should
write about health insurance.
And there was this file where I
created a spreadsheet to decide
which health insurance I wanna buy.
Yes.
And, people create spreadsheets
and, they make, sometimes
they make decisions with it.
This spreadsheet took
me three days to create.
I asked a bunch of brokers for quotes
back then, and nothing was up to the level
of detail and analysis that I wanted.
I was like what about aids?
What about organ transplants?
What about these?
What about, and like, so I just
created, used all these fine print PDFs.
They're like 60 pages wrong from
every of those plans, and pulled out
every single clause and every single
number that I felt was relevant.
And created a custom spreadsheet for that.
It took me three days.
Yeah.
And at the end I'm like, that one.
And then I went to an insurance
broker and said I wanted that plan.
He's like, all right, here you go.
I'm like, wait, that's
how you get a commission.
That seems the easiest job in the world.
but anyway, I was like, so it kind of
was like, okay, all I need to do is just
tell people how to make better decisions.
So how about I use this mothership of
a spreadsheet and translate that into
somewhat, slightly more accessible
material a 5,000 word blog post.
And I did.
And it was literally one of the
first articles that went viral.
I think it was the first article that
went viral on that personal blog.
Yes.
I'm like, what?
It's a 5,000 word article about
how to buy health insurance.
You don't expect that to
be your first viral hit.
over the next few months I posted
more articles and what always seemed
to gather a lot of attention was
when I went full on Rainman on
some weird practical talent topic.
Right?
You know, was it taxation or whatever.
And, and then at some point I'm like,
well, I guess I'm a Thailand blogger now.
So I took all these Thailand articles.
And, uh, put them in a new website
and called it Thailand Starter Kit.
Okay.
And that's definitely
where I was first exposed.
Thailand starter kit resonated with me
because when I came in 2012, 2013 range,
that's where I was looking for things
like health insurance, how to get a job,
how work permits work, all that stuff.
And by that point, I think you
had created a lot of content on
those topic areas, is that right?
Yeah, I think that was like just the,
in true, I guess Karsten fashion, I
had used an expense tracker to write
down every single coffee I bought.
Every single Spotify subscription, every
single thing over a six month period.
Uh, the most detailed cost
of living overview ever.
Yes.
And I used that to kind of,
well, I published that as well.
It was also a. Very, uh, unique blog post.
Um, that got a lot of attention, but
also when I first came to Thailand,
I had a travel insurance plan.
First five years, nothing
but travel insurance.
Yes.
Interesting.
Five years on the travel insurance plan.
Yes.
If you need one now, I
have a website for it.
Oh, tell me again.
It's safe and not sorry.
Dot com.
Okay.
I created it with a friend of mine
who's an insurance broker who is
okay travel insurance is horrible.
You can't compare anything.
Yes.
What
if there were such a thing as
Google flights for travel insurance?
I'm like, that's cool.
Let's build it.
So it's like a little hobby project
and you basically enter your
details and it tells you what's
the cheapest travel insurance,
which has actually good coverage.
So it's like a very small project,
but it's just so incredibly useful
because it really helps you figure out.
For analytical people.
Yes.
What to get, the people who buy
a brand don't need it, but if
you're like an analytical person,
you are like, that's your thing.
When did you realize that
this was going from a hobby to
actually becoming a business?
when the health insurance article
launched, what happened is, like I went
to these networking events in Bangkok
and people started recognizing me.
Like insurance companies are like,
oh, you are the guy with a blog.
I'm like, yeah.
And I'm like, oh, this is impact.
And actually the health insurance I was
insured with at the time shout out ACS.
Hello.
Um, they're great.
They're like, you know what?
How about we advertise on your site?
I'm like, that would be terrific.
I'm like, how much are you gonna pay?
And they're like, how about we
pay you three euro per click?
Hmm.
Yes, please.
Yeah, take it.
Right?
I'll definitely take that deal.
And a few months later they're
like, yeah, maybe that was too much.
Um, but yeah, at three euro per click I
realized, okay, we're onto something here.
Yes.
Yeah.
You had built up, I guess, quite
a reputation by that point.
And so yeah, I can see that
adding up pretty quickly.
Very cool.
Um, now.
I want to then fast forward
a bit though, right?
So you are creating all
these blog posts by yourself.
Mm-hmm.
You're now getting approached by
individuals that are looking to advertise.
Mm-hmm.
Um, now can you take me to when you
hired your first employee or when you
started to realize, or maybe not even
employee, but whether it be freelancers
or others, how did you start to bring
more on board to help you expand?
the interesting point here is I never
hired anybody for that project because
all the people already worked for me.
So every single person who
ended up working on that side
had been hired years earlier.
And, um, they basically
just, I worked with them.
I liked them, they were good.
And I'm a big believer in like attitude
and willingness to grow and learn
matters way more than domain knowledge.
So I basically transferred all these
gaming people over to be expat people.
None of them actually being an expat.
Um, but that worked.
Yeah,
And so I guess that does say a lot
about your method of hiring, I mean,
you, do you feel that people mostly
have transferable skills like this
and are able to make that adaptation?
Or did you just get lucky?
Okay, so if you are open ai,
you can get whoever you want.
If you are a little, outlet in
the outskirts of Bangkok, you're
competing with maybe not open ai,
but at least with like Mercedes.
Or Deutsche Bank or all the other
potential employees in the city.
So what do you offer your
employees, because it's certainly
not gonna be more money, right.
Um, luckily it's Bangkok,
so you can't get anywhere.
So, Deutsche Bank is in Sathon
and that's like an hour away.
So not really competition.
Right.
Um,
but more importantly in the beginning,
I always try to hire the absolute
smartest person I could get for a task
thinking if I get the absolute smartest
person, they will figure it out.
And I got some good people, but the
retention rate was atrocious because
what happened is that those people
walked in and they did the job
and they got bored and they left.
Right.
So I kind of switched way more to
cultural values and say, let's find
somebody who's challenged by the job,
who kind of is curious about growing
and becoming better, but is challenged.
So that kind of aligns very nicely
with transferring them to another area.
Mm-hmm.
Because these are people who enjoy
challenge, which honestly is most people.
And then, um, you will be able to
transfer those people anywhere and
they will stick with you because you
give them something interesting to do.
Mm-hmm.
If you hire, we had actually one of the
for those people familiar with Linux.
There's a very popular business
distribution called Ubuntu.
Yes.
One of the core developers of Ubuntu
applied at our company for a job.
Wow.
As a system administrator.
And I'm like, what?
Yeah.
What?
And he's like, I just need to work permit.
Um, so I'm happy to do this.
And I'm like, yeah,
this is not gonna work.
Like, that's exactly the person I
don't want, I want to have somebody.
Who on his first day will copy
over a bunch of stuff from Stack
Overflow and we have to have a
sit down how that is not okay and
then it never, ever happens again.
That's kind of, I wanna have
somebody who can grow in that role.
And I think that's a lot of about
retention is like having people for
which you can offer, offer a growth path.
And as a small company, you don't have
like an endless promotional ladder, right?
So that having just the job itself offer
challenge is a really important aspect.
Yes.
Now if we can get a little bit more
into the details of h hiring in
Thailand though, because as I said
at the beginning, a lot of expat
owners or international companies,
they'll complain a little bit about
the workforce here and they'll
say, oh, Thai people can't do this.
Or There's all these generalizations
about Thailand, about Thai
people, about expats in Thailand.
And people kind of just say
all the reasons it can't work.
And what you've explained to me before
is how you've been able to build a
company that you can trust people.
They are working without you.
And I want to know if I can extract
any of the wisdom from you as
about how you were able to do that.
So if there's anything, if there's
just one thing you take away from this
interview it's when you interview people
in Thailand, people are very differential.
They will not ask you
challenging questions because
that would be inappropriate.
So how do you find out that this
is a match if they don't bring
their own concerns out to you?
Because you're not just vetting
the employee, they're vetting you.
And a lot of retention is issues
comes from them realizing this
is not the right job for them.
And the single most effective hiring
strategy I used is when I had somebody who
I felt, this is somebody who I could hire.
I'd be like, do you
have another two hours?
Because then you can just sit here
with a team and just join them
and ask them whatever you want.
You can see how they work.
You can see what their job is like.
You can see who would be on your team.
You get a full hands-on
experience of the company.
Mm-hmm.
You will not walk out with
any, you know, ideas of that.
We maybe just deal with
big brands or whatever.
Like this is a hands-on
immersion in the company culture.
And that just weeds out so many people
who notice this is not what they wanted.
But it also goes the other way
because, and this is maybe a
little bit mischievous part.
Everything, the moment you walk into
a door is part of the job interview.
So the moment they left, I went
to the employees, you know, who I
have a good report with and said,
what do you think about the person?
Yeah.
What did they ask about?
What did they seem concerned with?
What is your impression from them?
And they're like, well, this guy only asks
about the lunch breaks and the vacation.
I'm like, alright, we're done.
So your employees are actually some of
the best interviewers in the company,
especially if you don't sit them
at the interview table, but kind of
sit them together with a candidate
so they can actually get to know
each other in a much less formal
environment than an interview table.
And the candidate can see
hands on what it's like.
You know, maybe they wouldn't speak up so
much in an interview because it would be
very, it would cause a lot of issues if
you would do that in a Thai job interview.
And, um, I think that is
one of the biggest ones.
I love too that you said that
it's an interview that's not just
about getting the best talent,
it's about making sure that they
actually would want to work for you.
Right?
Yes.
And so this reminds me a lot of
something like dating, right?
If you're on a first
date with someone mm-hmm.
You wanna put your best
foot forward, right?
And so I think in a lot of job interviews,
what an employer is trying to do is
say how great they are, how great the
benefits are, how great the job is, right?
But then it can actually
take sometimes days or week.
Until you actually realize what the
real job is or what the limitations
of the job is or whatever.
Right.
But it sounds like through the interview
process that you laid out, you were
showing the real job, uh, in a way that
I think a lot of interviews wouldn't.
Right?
I think so, yes.
And I think as a small company you can
do things that a large company can't do.
You can have like an unstandardized
hiring process, and that
doesn't have to be a bad thing.
The one thing every single employee
I hired throughout the, all the
years in Thailand, all of them
will remember one moment in the job
interview, and that's the Elvis test.
Please.
Please explain.
So the eldest test is, and I
literally, it is one of those
things like 7:00 PM in the office.
I'm like, I just have to kind of, I'm
brainstorming how do I test English
skills because I can test spoken
English skills and there are like these
standardized tests, but they don't
really convey what I want people who
can write, like have a voice who kind of
can communicate good in a written way.
So I went to some website
and pulled a short story.
And this short story is basically
about a disgruntled employee
trying to kill his boss.
Okay.
I didn't even think about that part at the
time, but at an Elvis lookalike contest.
And the grand plan was to
dress up as Elvis himself.
And uh, so it's like a three page
short story, and I gave that to
people and said, summarize this.
and nobody has ever
encountered anything like that.
That is not a job interview test.
You're just confronted with like
a story about employee trying to
kill his past in, I guess it also
conveys a little bit, what kind of
environment are you working in here?
Like this is like, this company
might be a little weird.
It was actually surprisingly great
for evaluating English skills and
maybe that is a little bit less of an
issue today, but I think still it's
one of the main criteria in Thailand.
Because you could really say, first of
all, did they, can they write a sentence?
Second do they just kind of copy random
sentences together to make a summary?
Because I guess summarization is
not a super common taught subject.
And then if they summarize,
can they highlight the most
important points of the story?
And I mean, this doesn't make any sense
if you're hiring, you know, a coder or
so, but for people who are communicating,
I, and especially in written form on
the internet, I felt this was massive.
And uh, to this day, I believe
that was the best English
language test we ever used.
Ah, it's great.
I mean, 'cause it just points out,
like you said, how creative you
can be as a smaller company, right?
I guess it comes down to
what advantages do you have?
Big companies have
their advantages, right?
They have their referral networks
and all these other things,
but you have some advantages.
As a smaller company you can be
a lot more creative it seems.
Right?
I think you can also just do less rules.
I mean, when we first came here, we
literally had like timestamps, you know,
for our employees because that's what we
kind of knew from our corporate world.
And then I'm like, well
this is kind of stupid.
Let's just get rid of that.
Hmm.
And then I think in, back in 2016, we just
got rid of, uh, in person office entirely.
So about four years before everybody else.
Hmm.
Uh, where I'm just like, you know what?
You can work remotely and
in Bangkok, that's huge.
Some of those people are
commuting an hour and a half.
And that is not something
that anybody else would offer.
And did people mess around on
Facebook when they work time?
Well, you know, work time probably.
But this was an incredibly strong
retention mechanism because
nobody else could match this.
And our employers constantly had to
justify to their parents, between
parents why they're working for such
a company that is not so well known.
Because that's something I realized.
You kind of have to evaluate employees
in Thailand in a Thai cultural context.
So what do I mean by that?
For example, you would never ask
about parents in a job interview.
In the US you're probably not
allowed to do so, but in Thailand
it tells you so much like how
they talk about their parents.
In the US you always ask about which
universiThai you went to in Thailand,
the universities aren't that competitive,
the high schools are so, which high
school they went to tells you a lot
more about than which University.
I know a lot of foreigners, like I want
to have somebody who speaks up into a
meeting and will be like challenging me.
Like I want to have somebody
who behaves like somebody who
grew up in a Western culture.
And if you actually hire somebody
who grew up in a Western culture,
I think that's a good standard.
The problem is if you are looking
for those attributes in somebody
who grew up in Thailand, they
probably were like that always.
And in Thailand, those attributes
do not yield you a nice life, right?
They mean you are constantly
at odds and fighting.
And you, like a lot of the people who
kind of initially showed these Western
attributes of like confidence or like,
you know, being self-assertive, a lot of
them turned out to be sorry, assholes.
Like complete assholes.
Yeah.
so what I was thinking, what I
was looking for was a Western
attribute of speaking out.
Was actually just the Thai
version of being a dick.
And I feel like, so we're kind of
actively hiring against our own interests
by trying to kind of somehow replicate
this western cultural environment.
Whereas when we understand how you kind
of get Thai people to speak up in their
own culture, that works way better.
uh, a few years back, I remember you went
through a rebrand and you expanded, right?
So can you share a little bit more about
the status of your business today, what
it's called, and kind of what you provide?
So Thailand Starter Kit has Thailand
in the name and Thailand has not been
without its crisis over the years.
And, um, there was a significant
issue there of a. Fully dependent on
Thailand and b, I knew I didn't want to
spend the rest of my life in Thailand.
So, um, and running a Thailand
website from abroad would be
a, it's just, you, just worse.
I know actually some well-known
Thailand bloggers who kind of hide
the fact that they have left Thailand
because they feel it would be bad for
the branding and I guess it would be.
So to me that was a bit of a. Idea of
like, well, maybe I can use this idea that
we created for Thailand and replicate that
for other countries because there's other
countries like Thailand, so surely the
same advice in some form must work there.
So we did a rebrand to
a site called Expat Den.
It's expatden.com, and that is
kind of the home of the expats.
And we have this concept of the overly
analytical super in-depth content for.
Uh, everything from driving licenses
in Costa Rica to health insurance in
Mexico to retirement visas in Malaysia.
Mm-hmm.
And all of this is kind of a thing
that grew out of the idea of maybe
there's something we're doing right
and maybe there's other places
where it can be done the same way.
So essentially I rebranded it as
expert then put people, uh, in
charge actually sold my stake.
And um.
Left.
You know, and I'm still like sometimes
involved where I'm like helping out or
so, but this site is now run by my team
that I hired 13 years ago In Thailand, who
went on to work across different projects
and to essentially took on that project
and are still running it to this day.
Every single person who works
at Expat Den full-time has been.
It was hired by me in 2012 or earlier.
Wow.
Yeah, that's, uh, I feel like
have I built the next Google?
Nah.
Have I solved a really interesting
problem for small foreign
business owners in Thailand?
And I think so.
Yeah.
And uh, there's just these insights you
gather over the years and, you know.
Many missteps in between and where
you just mess up and you're like,
well that was a massive mess up.
Um, how do we do better?
Yeah.
And so this wasn't like
some linear journey.
It's like there were a lot of, things
where essentially, you know, signing
the rental contract and Thai didn't work
out, but it got you one step forward
and did you kind of stub your toe.
Yeah.
But you're now one step further.
that's incredible.
It's incredible how long it's lasted.
And again, something that wasn't even the
goal of the initial business, uh, that
you started and how it's transformed and
then how it's continued to, to last on.
Now, uh, you've been really generous
with your time, Karsten, I'd love, um,
what is the best way for anyone who
wants to either know more about you,
get in touch with you, or just learn
more about Thailand or other countries,
um, you know, what's the best way for
them to get in touch or learn more?
I think most people are
really interested in Thailand.
Probably don't wanna talk to me.
So how to best get in touch with
me would be my website, Karsten.me.
Mm-hmm.
Still around.
Um, there's a contact form, so if you
want to have something that you want
to have my perspective on, great.
Go for it.
If you kind of just want to learn
more about the things I talked about.
Those are things that I've written in
the past that are now carried on by other
people, whether it's expatden.com or
that travel insurance side at some point.
Created called SafeAndNotSorry.com,
which is kind of I guess my work.
Awesome.
Thank you so much for the time.
Really appreciate it.
Thank
you so much for having me.
All right, cheers.