Happy New Years everyone, I hope you all had a good time and are ready to accomplish your goals in 2017.
Anyway, this post will be my last on Chiang Mai, as I have a lot of other exciting things in the woodworks to talk about.
In addition, no-one has written the truth about the Chiang Mai digital nomad scene yet, so I really wanted to get this article out in the public before anyone else falls victim to the scam.
I know that this might be confusing to hear, so let me just dive right in to explain further.
It’s A Scam?
Before I start, I should first say that I love Chiang Mai, and I am glad that there was content written online about the city to bring me here. The city itself and most of the people here are truly awesome.
Unfortunately, there is a small segment of the population that got greedy and decided to prioritize money above all else.
They do this by heavily marketing Chiang Mai to people with no online business experience, and getting them to drop their lives and move to Thailand with dreams of becoming a “successful digital nomad”.
Once here, they are sold courses, events, and coaching, many of which are complete and utter bullshit. Even if the stuff was good, the online business newbies wouldn’t know what to do with it. They flat out shouldn’t be here in the first place.
If you can’t learn on your own and make something happen in the US or wherever else you’re from, it’s extremely unlikely that you can make it happen abroad, especially Chiang Mai.
Besides the fact that Chiang Mai is so cheap, it’s probably the worst place to start a business as a newbie. There’s so much stuff going on here and the weather is perfect, that it’s very hard to get work done.
Add in the fact that they are being taught and sold garbage, it’s a recipe for disaster.
It’s straight up disgusting how they are being taken advantage of, and it’s truly heartbreaking because most of them won’t ever understand.
What’s even worse is that they end up becoming affiliates of the scammers courses, and it becomes a whole ecosystem of misinformation and fraud.
The newbies truly think they are making a reputable business, while the scammers are laughing every night before they go to bed. I would ask how they sleep at night, but I guess that the scam money is all they need.
The newbies are learning from the newbies, and everyone who knows what they’re doing and makes legitimate money stays far away from the “digital nomad” scene.
There is a big divide amongst the expats here, with the scammers and newbies on one side, and the legitimate guys on the other.
And what I find very interesting, is that the vast majority of the scammers and newbies are Democrats (seek comfort in lies), while the majority of the legit guys are Republicans (seek comfort in the truth).
It’s literally a polar opposite of personalities and ideals between the two different sides of expats.
I have to admit though, the scammers did a good job of setting everything up.
My first week here, I didn’t see the truth at first. It took me a few different encounters to where I finally saw what was going on.
However, the newbies don’t know what to look for, so they are sucked in for a much longer period of time, if not indefinitely.
On a more positive note, I feel like more and more people are seeing the light. I’ve talked to people who have been here 5+ years, and they’ve told me that this “digital nomad movement” crap is still very new.
Furthermore, this scam is very similar to a Ponzi scheme, where they always need a new flow of newbies to keep it operating. The reason is because the newbies either go home after failing, or eventually see the truth and come over to the legit side.
Therefore, once enough organic word spreads, I’m confident that this bullshit scam will come tumbling down in the near future.
Final Thoughts
Well guys, sorry for the depressing article, but as you know, I write the truth whether if it’s positive or negative. We don’t sugarcoat things here.
One of the biggest things I’ve learned these past 3 years since changing my life, is that everything is bullshit.
So many sources that you trust like Gurus, Bloggers, YouTubers, anyone with influence – a huge majority of them have a hidden agenda.
The agenda is to make money, and these people will do whatever it takes to do so, no matter how many people they fuck over in the process.
Until you meet them in person, you really have no idea. These people are very good at lying – some would even call them sociopaths.
PS: Ironically, last night a Redditor posted pretty much the same experience as I wrote about, one of the first I’ve seen who has publicly told the truth.
I encourage anyone else who lives in Chiang Mai to share their “digital nomad” experience as well. Here’s another guy who has recently stepped up.
PPS: Me and Will Freemen of RLD also recorded a podcast on the subject, I highly recommend you give it a listen.
Alright guys, that’s it for tonight.
Drop me your questions and thoughts in the comments section below – there’s a lot to discuss on this one.
To wrap things up, don’t trust the term “digital nomad”, and anything you see that is HEAVILY marketed, is a scam 99% of the time.
Use your best judgement and trust your instinct – Brian