I Built a Tech Company in Jamaica (Without Moving to the US)

0:00 Most people when they think of starting a company or a technology company, especially in Jamaica, they think that they need to have a US visa or they think that they need to be in the United States to have access to that region. Whip re, what's up, wagwan? It's your boy sings in my back with another banger vlog video. And today we're going to be do talking a little bit more about the behind the scenes of what I do and who I am. More specifically, how I started a software company here in Jamaica. A lot of you guys know me as like the traveler and explorer and stuff, but if you didn't know, I'm a software engineer by trade, I guess. So, that's my profession and that's my career. I'm a software engineer. And because of that, I've also built a software company, which is Link

0:45 Up Tech. Well, if you guys don't know about it, click the first link in the description box below and check it out for yourself. But, before we get into all of that, I'm going to tell you guys how I got into it and why I started. When I was younger, I always wanted to build software and apps, more specifically applications and games. And so, I decided from about like 14, 15 that I wanted to build software. Didn't know what that would entail, but it led me to do IT and I fell in love with it. You know, I didn't fall in love with coding, but I fell in love with being able to manipulate a computer to have it do anything that I wanted it to do. Um I remember one of the first real projects we did was a Tic-Tac-Toe game and that took me probably a month to do,

1:32 but it showed me that there's endless possibilities with software. And so, >> [snorts] >> I continued through and um did the typical process, you know, go to high school, finish high school, went to college for computer science, um spent 4 years at UE. And while I was at the University of the West Indies, that's when I realized that >> [snorts] >> as much as I love to build stuff and as much as I love to build software, I'm not the greatest at coding. I don't love to code, but I love to build. And more than that, I also was always a business person. I always was selling something in high school and in college, doing YouTube. I'm always doing a side project. So, business is a fundamental part of who I am, what I do, and how I've operated throughout the years. And

2:20 while in college, I was like, "Okay, if I don't love coding, I can I'll still I'll still go to college. I'll still ace all my courses as best as possible, you know, with the help of my friends, of course. But, I want to know who the smartest people are on my journey through college, right? And then, so when COVID happened, obviously everybody went home, and it was more difficult to determine who is doing well or not. You only had access to your friends or the people who you've already spoken to. from software. Um, I focused really heavily on YouTube during that time, and I kind of just put the entire idea of building a software company on the back

3:06 burner, which is really sad, because I wish that I had started just a little bit sooner, but nevertheless, here we are. So, then came artificial intelligence. With AI, obviously in the beginning, it was mainly used for chats, you know, having conversations back and forth. And I didn't understand the power of it, because at the time when it just released in like what, 2021, 2022, it was just It was just casual at first, you know, you you you you give it something, it gave you back. Could write emails, um, you could respond to things, you could ask it questions to give you ideas, but it was a really simple and basic version. Um, but it was still smarter than most people. And if you guys remember, I mentioned I wanted to find somebody who is smart enough to handle the coding for

3:52 me. At that time, AI wasn't necessarily capable of building applications or building websites on software, but it was really good at helping in the assisting of building stuff. With the adoption of AI and technology and all of all of that stuff, right? Um one of the first things I utilized it for was to build a marketing company. So, I was always in social media. I was able to build a decent following for myself, and I thought, "Okay, how can we help other companies or businesses to do the same thing?" And that was the creation of my first company, Thrive Marketing. At the time, what I did was I reached out to companies, charged them a monthly fee, um pay videographers, um and

4:39 editors to create the content for me, and I would just take whatever is left for myself and manage everything on the back end from the social media posting to the ads. And I used technology to help me come up with video ideas, come up with contracts, come up with proposals. So, it was more of like an administrative assistant for me personally in the beginning, but it enabled me to scale much faster because I didn't have to think too hard about what's the perfect words to say, or I didn't have to come up with ideas from scratch, or come up with content from scratch. I was able to leverage the intelligence that AI had to move much much faster. Eventually, that company fizzled out because I wasn't really enjoying what I was doing.

5:27 Some of the clients moved on. I dropped some of them. One of them was a bit scammy. I'm I'll talk about that a whole other time, but I just decided that I didn't want to have the responsibility for as many people as I did have responsibility for. I wanted to do my own thing. I wanted to be able to be at home, work on my projects, and make my money at my own pace with my own effort. And then again, I got into a season of not really doing as much. So, I kind of get put put like starting a business on the back burner once again. Um went through a period of introspection and solitude where I just wanted to be alone. I just wanted to do my own thing. Um around that time is when I started

6:13 working as well for some stability. Um so, business wasn't really at the forefront of my mind. As much as I always had an interest in it, I didn't necessarily want to build anything in that time. So, I actually just did a delivery for my company, which is Link Your Tech. And basically, what we do, I build digital business cards for people. So, we build our site for free. Anybody can build a site for free. And then, we do customize NFC cards so that you can tap the card on anyone's phone, and your information pops up pretty much instantly. After a while, you know, after getting a bit tired of I didn't necessarily jump in this initially. How it started

6:59 was I wanted a NFC business card for myself. One day, I was like, "Okay, how can I do this?" And I used a random online free site builder page, and I built my first page, and I ordered an NFC card for myself. But, I also knew that NFC cards have multiple functionalities. So, instead of buying one, I bought 20 because I'm just OD like that sometimes. I brought them in, created mine, and started using it. And when I started using it, I realized that people were actually interested in what it was cuz it was like, "Yo, this is actually cool. How you do this?" or "Why you do this?" And I was like, "I could do it for you if you want me to." It started off with a couple friends at first, and my mentor through having a conversation or a couple conversations,

7:46 uh I decided that it might be my best interest to sell these cards. So, at the time there wasn't as There wasn't as many digital business card businesses, or maybe they existed, but I didn't see them. Um however, I guess a lot of people also saw the opportunity and decided to sell cards as well. So, because it was something that I was genuinely interested in and I knew I had the technical expertise, I decided to optimize the process as much as possible and make it easier not only for myself, but for other people to also have access um to the to the platform or to be able to build their own. At this point in time, AI was still was very powerful. It got even more powerful than when it just released, and you were able to use AI to

8:32 build websites and to build software and to build apps for yourself. Um obviously, a lot of people think that building apps is easy because they can just tell the AI what to do and then it will build it for you, >> [snorts] >> but most of the time if you try that, you're probably not going to get a really great result because you don't have the technical skill to actually build something that's functional and that can last a really long time and be robust and not crash after 10 uses. I spent the better half of I would say 6 months to a year going back and forth building out the software that is Linkyou Tech, which is the website, linkyou.tech. Because the company is called Linkyou Technologies,

9:17 um you know, I thought linkyou.tech as a site would be cool and I still think it's pretty cool. So, you want to check it out, go there. Over the months, um I worked on the main features, which is being able to build a page. It wasn't great at first. Over time, it just got better and better and better. And even now, I'm still adding new features at least once or twice a month there's a feature that I come up with or notice that there's a gap for and I spend the time to [clears throat] build it out. But then eventually I run into a major issue which is transactions. So, a lot of you guys know how difficult it may be to open a business account or start a business account in Jamaica and not only

10:04 opening a business account but also getting a payment processor to actually do transactions online um or through websites. I looked at a lot of different options like WiPay and NCB um their online platform for doing online transactions and I kind of got stumped because in the States, at least based on what I've seen online, it's so easy to just use your social security, set up a Stripe account, um and just get started receiving transactions and they handle all the taxes and everything that comes with that. But with Jamaica and the Caribbean at large, those things become a little bit more difficult. So, I've already built this platform, spent all this time making it work, but now how do I get my money? How do I make

10:50 money? How do I allow people to build their page and buy a car and automate the delivery process which is kind of where I'm working now, you know, operational hurdles. After doing a little bit of research I realized that my best bet was to open a US LLC to then open a Stripe account and attach my Stripe account to my website to be able to do credit card transactions safely and securely. Easier for my benefit in terms of, you know, collecting and managing, um but also easier for people who are using the site cuz they don't have to go to another software, go to another site to make a payment. Everything is integrated into the site. It took me some time and it took me some coin but I was able to create a US LLC through a company called Northwestern

11:38 Registered Agent. And they charge, I would say, 350 to 400 US dollars because paying for the the LLC alone is $150. Being an international person, since you don't live in the place that you would make the LLC in, you need a representative to make transactions, like having an address in the state, and sign documents on your behalf. And they offer everything. So, for the full service it was around $350, and my LLC is specifically in Wyoming just for tax purposes. After creating my LLC, I was able to get a ITIN, which is or an an EIN number, which is basically the equivalent of an SSN. You It's going to be very difficult for you to open a US bank account abroad

12:24 if one, you don't have a family member or relative who is already there and can help you facilitate it, and you need to have a joint account, which is how I got my first bank account. Or if you go through this method and get an LLC and get an ITIN to be able to open an online business account. A lot of the typical traditional banks like BOA, Chase um they require a US address, a US phone number um and they have some other requirements. So, as a Jamaican person, it's going to be hard for you, especially if you would just want to do business online. But there are platforms like Mercury um that allow you to open a bank account, like a US bank account online, um and give you a digital card so you can receive and process transactions. There

13:10 are lots of nuances and there are lots of possibilities if you open up your scope and do your research. And so, that's the method that I use. Obviously, there are some other alternatives, but I found that to be um the easiest way for me to get my account set up. So, that's just a bit of advice if you want to set up payments for your business online. So, even though I built my own platform, um and even though some people already knew me, it was difficult initially to gain trust, especially from strangers. What I ended up doing was I made the experience extremely bespoke and personal. So, anyone who works with me or most of the people who work with me to get a card done, I'm usually the one talking

13:55 to them. I guide them through the process. I build the page. Um and I ensure that they love the product that I give them. When you see things online like scan the code or go on a website, a lot of the times it seems like a scam, which is completely fair. But, through interacting with people personally on my personal page, on my business page, through emails, and having open and honest conversations about it, my suggestions, my recommendations, I was able to gain the trust of my potential clients. And the beauty of it is since I have this interpersonal relationship with them through my business, some of them mentioned that they want more stuff or better technology for their business, or they might want something a bit more bespoke. So, another service I offer, which is how I've been able to grow a lot, is website

14:41 and application development. Through conversations with my clients, not only people who want cards, but also casual conversation, technology usually always comes up at some point, um or a problem would come up like, "You know, I'm I'm struggling with dealing with this thing." And I've been able to utilize technology to build custom solutions for people. So, if someone has a business problem, I usually would be able to come up with a solution for them. And a lot of the times it's not necessarily that I have to build something new because a lot of tools already exist, but helping to guide people um to making their businesses more efficient to make more money

15:26 has enabled me to further get closer or build better relationships with those people. And if you can help somebody or if you can if you can help somebody grow if you can help somebody to make more money or if you can help them to save more money then they'll be more inclined to share your talents, your skills and your business to their friends because if something comes up again again technology always comes up in conversations at some point if the conversation does come up again you'd be at top of mind because you've built the relationship with that person. So I'll always implore you guys to especially in the early days or in the beginning I'm still in the early stages now so I would implore you guys to take the time out to understand your

16:11 customers, understand your clients and understand the problems that they're having and figure out how best you can solve it where in the age where AI can literally fix everything but not everyone understands how to use it and being a technical person or being interested in software in general puts you in an amazing position where you not only understand the technology but you're also able to use it and leverage it for yourself and for businesses. So obviously there are a few mistakes that I've made along the way especially in terms of operations and cost and my time. So there are lots of stuff that I've done for free and it's okay to do trials and it's okay

16:57 to do samples but there's a lot of things that I did for free that just took away a lot of my time and energy. In the beginning I built a couple of pages for a [snorts] couple people I won't really call their names but some influencers and some creators and um even though I spent the time to build up pages for them and ask, you know, have them push it or promote it or whatever, because it wasn't theirs, I don't think they had the passion or the drive to actually push it forward or to make any post or anything. And I mean, I built a lot of pages in the beginning for people and I think that kind of put me in a weird position where it's like I'm spending

17:42 money on the resources, I'm spending the time to build these pages, and in building those pages, I wasn't able to move the needle forward very much. I'm not saying it was a bad method to gain new customers, but I think I should have spent more of that time investing in building the page and building the platform myself instead of relying on other people or the potential passion of other people um to push my business forward. Currently, my biggest hurdle is deliveries. So, because it's a physical product, it's a digital and a physical product in one. Um having people being able to build a site for free is one thing, um but getting it to people is a different thing because there are people who are abroad who want it. There are people in South America who want it.

18:28 And we bring a lot of things in Ja- in Jamaica. To my knowledge, we don't export very much. So, I think that's where I'm at right now, just figuring out the best way to export my products um in an affordable way so that it can be cost efficient for me and my customers. If you guys have any ideas of how to do and manage that, then please drop it in the comment section down below. Your help will be greatly appreciated. Another big operational hurdle that I'm having right now is making the platform extremely easy for somebody who's non-technical to use. So, there are people who will sign up um and even though I make the sign-up process very easy and simple to understand, there are still people who

19:15 don't really get how to build a page. And there's just some people who don't want to build it at all, which is completely fine. But I think giving people the freedom and flexibility to build their own pages would have taken less time from me to do it. But again, a lot of people love that bespoke experience of having something done for them. It's like imagine you order a box food at a cook shop and then you have to make the chicken and rice. It's just like, what's the point of me buying the box food in the first place? So, finding the balance between having new customers be able to create their own pages as well as creating a bespoke experience where um I can build the pages for them or my team can build the pages for them is a weird balance to kind of figure out

20:02 right now. Some people have spent the time to really build out their pages and make it truly theirs um with different colors, different text, different fonts, different button colors because everything is customizable now. And um there are also the people who have built their pages but have no interest in the card. Figuring out a balance of having the convenience and having people be able to do things for free because another big part of it is obviously giving people access um while also being able to capitalize on that access as well is kind of where I'm right now. But again, my company is still a work in progress. I'm still building, I'm still scaling, and I'm still learning as I go along. If I had to start over again and if I wanted to build my company up from

20:49 scratch, on day one, I would build a solution for a problem that I have first. I think a lot of the times when we get into business, we start to think about other people's problems and how to potentially solve it. But it's harder to build something for a problem that you don't experience yourself. So, for me personally, I would start by identifying the problems that I have [snorts] for myself because nine times out of 10, there are other people who have the same problem or a market that struggles with the same thing that you struggle with. I would spend my time early on thinking through problems that I have. Going through my

21:35 day and noting whenever problems arise, noting when things come up that seem super inconvenient that I could potentially build something for or change or create a new process or system um to make it easier. As I mentioned earlier, for me, I hated business cards. I hated the idea of them because I have stacks of business cards at home that were just sitting down in a bag in my closet. And I never call them or I don't have a reason to call them. And when I do find it back, I end up just throwing them away cuz it's like these things aren't relevant to me anymore. And so, I always struggled with purchasing business cards and I actually have never purchased one myself because it just seemed like a waste of money to me. And I do see the value in them,

22:20 don't get me wrong in terms of, you know, exchanging information quickly. But, in this modern day and time, at the time 2023-2024, I didn't really see the need to buy a business card when I could just have one card that I can use, adapt, and change as I grow. So, you guys have your own lives, you guys have problems, everybody has problems. Find the problems that you have, write down the problems that you have, and see if you can build something for yourself before you can build it for other people. Another piece of advice that I'd like to give you guys is to not compare yourself to what you're seeing around you. You might realize that there are people building the same thing as you are. Um you might realize that it already exists, but that doesn't mean that you cannot differentiate yourself in the market. It doesn't mean

23:05 that people won't buy from you because a piece of a pie is a piece of a pie. It's very easy to compare yourself and beat yourself up because somebody may have been doing something longer than you. You have your own unique perspective. You have your own unique twist and you have your own unique experiences in this life and that will show through whatever you build. So, don't compare yourself to people and keep your eyes focused on your own path as you go along cuz comparison will come up. But, as long as you stay focused, you can't lose. Third and final piece of advice is to try a lot of stuff. Just try everything as much as you can. Anything that interests you, anything that can potentially be something that you do, anything that you're more interested in, give it the time of day and give it the proper time of day. Don't mix that much

23:51 and try to do everything in one day, but spend your time and really focus maybe a hour or two a day on um something that you're interested in. Learn and explore because the more you learn, the more you explore is the more you're exposed to different opportunities. Try a lot of stuff. Um explore all of your interests and give each of them the time of day that they deserve. And it through exploring you'll figure out what you like and what you want to spend more time on and at that point you can focus all in and go all in on the thing that you realize that you love. Doesn't mean that you have to drop everything else. You still have your human being. You have multiple interests. You have hobbies. Um you have activities that you like and it's okay to do everything. But, when it comes on to building and growing a business or anything at all in this life, you have to dedicate time to it. So, I would say

24:37 spend your early days or when you're just starting out, if you're just starting a business, to use your spare time to learn and find as many things as possible that you're interested in and just shoot at them and just go for it and see where it goes. And when you do realize that this is the thing that you want to build and grow, that's when you go all in and drop pretty much everything else. You only have so much energy and focus and typically the first two to three working hours of your day are what is when your brain is most active. And what you don't want to do is to split your attention on 20 different things at the same time. So, once you figure out what you like, stay focused on it and keep growing. And that's it for this video, guys. I really hope you enjoyed it. I have a lot more

25:23 conversations to have with you guys over time. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you have any questions, leave them in the comment section down below. I'll answer anything as best as I possibly can. And don't forget to like, comment, share, and subscribe, and we'll see you [music] guys next time. Peace out.