If you could live legally in another country and run your internet business or work your current position from an internet connection in the rainforest while living for next to nothing, would you do it?  Well we’re doing it as we speak.  We can currently use a high-speed USB device with our laptop in the rainforests of Paraguay to process orders on the internet.  So while we’re pullin’ fresh water from the spring in the ground, pulling potatoes out of the ground and tossing them immediately in the water, cutting up a chicken and banging some fresh grapefruit off the trees, I can ship you your products in one click or while using voice recognition software and basic commands using a wireless headset for phone and internet, at the best price, anywhere you want and not have to worry about when I’m going to start living my life.  Of course I want to continue living here and paying my taxes, making money and hiring more employees, but it’s becoming almost impossible to do that and be happy about the future at the same time.

I don’t know about the rest of the industry, but I know what I know, and my associates in the automotive aftermarket including I, are slowly but surely getting off this sinking ship.  ‘Land of the Free’ and ‘Home of the Brave’ pride phrases are quickly losing their kick as the rule book just keeps getting thicker and thicker and our politicians play their marketing games on the big networks.

Honestly, I’m starting to get paranoid, beginning to think this debt ceiling issue at hand has already been scripted.  Of course they’ll come to an agreement, but they’re scaring the hell out of Americans and know that when they do finally come to an agreement, probably minutes before the deadline, they know the majority of the country will be wiping the sweat off their foreheads while Obama looks like the hero in order to sway more votes.  Hopefully we’re not that stupid.  Of course this is just my opinion.  Who knows what the ultimate plan will entail, but I think regardless, this country is going to hell in a hand-basket, unless we get somebody with balls to run this country.  Sure, Obama’s a great speaker, but he’s not a great leader.  We all know that big government is not the answer.  Enough said here.  I could go on for hours about this crap, and I don’t even want to touch Boehner and the Tea Party, I think they’re doing what they can and I have faith in checks and balances, but give me a break.  It will be interesting to say the least to see what happens.  And if things crash, I’m out.

While these babies in Washington D.C are trying to kick each other out of the sandbox, we hard working entrepreneurs who are trying to build our businesses are stagnant.  Sure, we may be doing our due diligence and getting by, but let’s face it, why work so hard and spend all this money, when really all we’ll be doing in the long run is bending over for the soap?  Why not start living the dream now while we work.  So, we’re taking paradise to the office, or vice-versa.  Sittin’ around waitin’ for the money to come out ain’t gonna git me nowhere no time soon, so it’s time to at least look at heading out, maybe not now, but who knows?…at least that’s what my gut is telling me.  It may take some time, but in good time I will be sitting in the forest with my animals, self-sufficient on the farm, with a high-speed connection and an internet bank.

Manufacturing costs in China for many of the auto product makers have sky-rocketed.  I heard one vendor the other day got hit with a 20% increase, and that taxes and shipping are going up.  Go to Mexico?  Yes.  Mexico will be I believe the next China if they can get their security issue under control.  We do a lot of great work in Mexico, and we could do a lot more.  But South America looks tastier and tastier as time goes on…and it’s a heck of a lot safer than Mexico.

So, what do we do now?  Where do we go?  Well, if your kids are already grown, then you can leave the U.S. and build your dream somewhere else.  If you’re in the process of raising a family, then you might as well start planning your escape now.  Hell, think of it this way, you can always have the U.S. as your home base.  You don’t need a home or any property here, you just need your passport if you desperately need to come back, which you will, maybe.

There are a lot of pickup trucks in South America.  And there is a lot of money there.  We are currently working with a South American distributor to get some products such as the CargoCatch pickup truck cargo holder, the Loading Zone Cargo Gate, the Load Handler pickup truck unloader and other products being used in trucks that need these accessories.  Many of the aforementioned products fit the Nissan trucks in South America and Australia as well as all of the American trucks that are already there.  We can either set up manufacturing easily there in SA, or we can ship there.  However we do it, we need to get centrally located.  That central location in South America, is Paraguay.  Setting up shop in Paraguay is not easy, but it’s possible.  We have contracted an American living in Paraguay who is a retired Special Forces Marine married to an influential Paraguaya living in Asuncion who has set up a business development system there including security and manufacturing and is currently in the process of streamlining this.

Paraguay is a relatively small, land-locked country right smack in the middle and slightly to the south bordering Bolivia to the north and Argentina and Brazil to the East.  There is a lot of trade there.  Paraguay has virtually no debt.  Yes it is the Wild West.  I was speaking to a Paraguaya who works in the legal system there as a Notary’s assistant, and she said ‘Nothing in Paraguay is legal…doing something legal in Paraguay takes forever…it’s better to just be free and do it how you can and use the law where it’s needed’.  I found this statement profoundly interesting with a hint of corruption, but who’s to say Paraguay is more corrupt than the U.S. government?  And who’s to say that her understanding of the word ‘legal’ is the same as mine?  I’m anxious to learn more.

Paraguay considers themselves a constitutional democracy.  And it’s a free country to live in for Americans if you do things their way.  If you want to become a Paraguayan resident, you can do it, you just have to work it, and before you know it, you’ve got an internet connection and your ID card, living free in the Wild West.  It would be a good idea of course to know someone there, so you’re not running around blind and stupid, and that’s why you go and visit.  Get to know some people there, make some connections, come back and plan your next trip.  And what about Brazil?

One of my partners the other day called me and said he’s outta here.  He and his wife bought a vacation home in Belize and are moving to Costa Rica and he’ll run his business from there via internet and local as well as world-wide manufacturing.  Another friend has a house already in Costa Rica but wants to move to South America asap and set up his manufacturing there.  And yet another manufacuturer of pickup truck accessories is ready to start exploring the Southern Hemisphere as he’s tired of it here and he says all he does is work and pay the banks and the government.  All of his employees have health insurance, he doesn’t.  He’s killing himself here.

I am only one guy with one company and a few good friends in the industry.  Can you imagine what everybody else is thinking?  Something is happening.  Something serious.  It’s par for the course and this is what life is.  Deal with it.  Do what’s right by your family and make plans for the future, conservatively.  Keep your options open.  Travel light.  Dispose of material objects.  Prepare for exit, prepare to be a pioneer.  And remember, when you start fresh in a 2nd or 3rd world country, remember something very important, you’re starting your own ‘mafia’ in a way, so keep it safe and keep your word.  Things are not as they seem or as you think as an American.  Wake up and smell the world, cause it’s out there!

We will be in Paraguay between Aug. 11th and Sept 1st, 2011 finalizing some ‘legal’ issues regarding setting up shop and internet there.  We will keep you posted as the bribes take time.  And no we are not leaving the USA, we are simply preparing for disaster and opening our eyes to the rest of human kind.  Life is short, live it.

William Graham