29 Ways To Fund Your New Life In Belize
You could move to Belize… live a dream life on the Caribbean coast or in the rain forest of the Cayo… and generate enough income to support yourself.
I make the point directly in case it’s a lack of nest egg or cash flow that’s keeping you from pursuing your dreams of a new life in this welcoming, diverse, eclectic, beautiful, sun-drenched, and English-speaking country.
I don’t know if Belize is the place for you… but I do know that you should not allow a worry over how you’re going to pay for a Belize adventure be the reason you don’t pursue a Belize adventure.
Let’s get one important point out of the way before we look at options for how to generate an income in Belize—namely this:
If you move to Belize on a Qualified Retired Person (QRP) visa, you aren’t allowed to seek employment, though you can do business online.
Also, understand that if you start a business for or take a job in the local market, you’ll be earning a “local” salary. This is one reason most expats looking to earn money in their new home start online businesses to work with foreign clients or customers—which also puts you in the clear from the QRP visa point of view.
With that in mind, here are 29 ideas for making money in Belize. I know expats in Belize generating income from every one of these ideas right now…
Animal Breeding, Training, Farming, And Sitting
Belize is a country of wide open spaces—perfect for animal farming of all types.
If you have in the past or are interested in breeding pedigree dogs, there is a market for good stock. There’s also a small but very lucrative market for properly trained guard dogs.
The market is strong for exotic farm animals including guinea fowl, rabbits, and exotic fish.
In expat communities, you could easily pick up extra cash by pet sitting when folks go back home for visits and need someone to help take care of their furry or feathered loved ones while they’re away.
Bee keeping is a feasible business option. You could have dozens of hives on very little land and produce marketable amounts of honey, wax, and royal jelly.
Or you could go full-scale and farm livestock. Chicken, beef, pork, lamb, and fish are all popular meats in Belize. Thanks to the naturally ideal growing conditions of Belize, you might be able to farm without even having to invest in feed.
Growing And Producing
Consider yourself a green thumb? Put it to use in Belize—a grower’s paradise.
Specialty, novelty, and decorative fruits, vegetables, and herbs command premium prices on Belize’s resort market. Ghost peppers, edible flowers, and rare fruit are all great options.
Household plant nurseries are few and far between in Belize, as are landscaping services… but both services have ready markets.
Essential oil plants and biofuel stock grow abundantly in Belize, so oil production of all kinds is feasible.
Likewise, the oversupply of wild, locally available fruits means great opportunities for brewing wines for the local market—for profit and for fun.
Forestry is one of Belize’s most viable industries. If you’ve got the land, consider growing seedlings for resale, or fruit and/or spice trees for harvest.
Brick-And-Mortar Ventures
If you have an attractive property with extra rooms or cabins, rent out units by the night or week on Airbnb, or by the month or year through a local rental manager. If you’re up for making this a focus, you could manage your property yourself.
Or perhaps it’s not extra rooms you’ve got but abundant land. A campground could be your cash flow strategy.
A juice and/or smoothie bar in a main tourist area would be a fun, easy, and cheap way to generate income. You could open a small stall or make batches to order.
You could start a tour company and employ local staff to run it for you. Belize’s tourism industry is booming, from the cayes and the coast to the rain forest and the jungle.
Zip-lining through the jungle canopies, for example, is a hugely popular tourist draw and only a few companies offer it. If you have a suitable location, this or other “built” tourist activities, such as climbing walls, bungee jumping, etc., could become big draws, especially if you locate your operation within an hour’s drive of the Placencia or Belize City cruise ship ports that receive over a million tourists, all desperate for on-land adventure activities.
You could grow or buy flowers and make a small fortune supplying resorts with arrangements—with guaranteed windfalls every Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and other flower-friendly holiday.
One of the most asked about and least served demands is storage. The big and growing expat communities in this country are crying out for storage options. The key to success with this business would be the location of your facility. Make sure it’s in a place easily accessible to expats. That’s your market.
A turnkey business option can be to open a foreign distributorship. I know people who have acquired the dealerships for solar system manufacturers, Harley-Davidson franchises, tools and equipment distributorships, green technologies, specialty foods, and more.
There are plenty of niches Belizeans have yet to imagine. You could show up, identify a market niche, and then conceive a business to fill it.
Services
Are you a closet chef? There’s a growing demand for private catering in this country. Whether it’s catering events or baking pies, cakes, and lasagnas to order, there is room in this cottage industry for more suppliers of quality goods.
Or how about import-export? I know expats making good money importing used vehicles or boats… makeup and women’s accessories… power tools, televisions, and other electronics… furniture… and innovative building materials… and reselling these products locally for a profit.
Go the opposite direction and buy local crafts and artisan products and ship them to sell at a premium back home, either at crafts fairs or online using Etsy or another online forum.
Private taxi services are in growing demand. Long-distance taxis and shuttles around the country are expensive; many expats make money in their spare time by driving tourists to the airport or the borders.
Like kids? A home day care is another idea that requires little setup. In many parts of the country, there are only a few safe child-minding options. If you’re a kid person—maybe missing the grandkids?—providing this kind of service could be fun and would, indeed, be a valued service for your new community.
You don’t even need your own home to offer housesitting services. While rarely a paid service in Belize, plenty of owners of high-end homes want someone reliable to house sit for them during part or even most of the year. I know expats who manage to organize a housesitting schedule that allows them free accommodation year round, saving the cost of rent while enjoying life in some of the most sought-after spots in the country.
There are few properly trained masseuses or chiropractors in the country. The spa industry in Belize in general is underdeveloped. I see this as a big emerging market of opportunity.
Online Business Opportunities
In today’s world, the easiest way to make money anywhere in the world is through an online business.
Content creation is easy no matter where in the world you are. Get writing or snapping pics for travel magazines, websites, and blogs. Or take photos for local magazines, newspapers, or events. Belize offers endless options for adventure that could be converted into copy and/or photos.
Other online business options include teaching English, teaching in general, and consulting in your area of expertise.
Again, you could pursue these money-making options anywhere. Speaking as an expat with more than a dozen years’ experience in this country, I’d say they’re best pursued here in beautiful little Belize.
Con Murphy
