Should I focus on selling automations to local businesses in Indonesia (less competition, blue ocean) or target US/English‑speaking markets, considering I need to form an LLC due to Stripe restrictions?
He uses a simple success model (order value ÷ saturation × culture fit). Estimates Indonesian market: low order value (~$300), low saturation, low culture fit → ~0.5 success rate. US market: high order value (~$3,000), high saturation, high culture fit → higher potential. Concludes that doing both is fine; suggests starting with the US market then translating the approach to Indonesian, noting many other factors matter.
Focus on your local market first – Saudi Arabia or the UAE. The cost of living and average service rates are higher there, so you can charge more. Once you have traction locally, you can expand to other markets. Keep in mind time‑zone differences make remote work with North America challenging.
No, as a beginner you should not target local businesses first. There’s a big list of things to target before going local—always start with digital, and consider hybrid or high‑cost‑of‑living countries before local. Local businesses are much harder to scrape leads for; you usually need to pull data via Google Maps API or address‑based scraping, which is hyper‑limited and raises the bar significantly. You’d have to invest far more money than for digital businesses, yet the pay is low, so the return isn’t worth it. Generally, these businesses have a high barrier to entry and offer little pay. If you want context, I’ll link a video about niches; three automation‑agency niches come with criteria I use, one of which is that they tend to be digital. For newcomers, that means definitely not targeting local businesses—it’s just a lot easier to pull the digital lever. If you’re experienced and see a genuine market opportunity with a particular type of local business, then I might consider it.
Local Indian automations are more affordable but the market is price‑sensitive and less familiar with AI, so earning in dollars is harder. I recommend targeting tier‑one (English‑speaking) countries because they pay the most per unit time, even though they’re more saturated. Success in the program comes from focusing on those markets, using cold email, Loom videos, and lead generation, while recognizing that response rates depend on how many others are contacting the same audience.
Everything is relative—you need to sell your automation for less if average labor productivity is much lower. There's also a case to be made for the opportunity cost saved by automation: if your automated approach is better than humans at something, shifting all ops to it reduces errors, increases reliability and speed, letting your company make more money on the top line, not just save on the bottom. Because of geo‑arbitrage you can still charge a multiple of the local rate and stay profitable, but you must be cognizant that the comparative value will be lower.