I just got back from 10 days in New Zealand ๐ณ๐ฟ
And I think I'm in love.
I fell asleep on the plane from Vancouver and woke up groggy and out of it 10 hours later.
I was confused.
It was as if the plane had diverted back to British Columbia, except everyone had a mild stroke and talked a bit funny.
First of all, it's gorgeous. Unlike any place I've seen.
It's like British Columbia had a three way with the English countryside and Hawaii.
NZ is the baby that popped out after.
I'm from British Columbia, which is widely considered to be one of the most beautiful places in the world.
NZ puts it to absolute SHAME. It's mind bendingly beautiful.
It's also totally unique. Because New Zealand's ecosystem evolved independently from the rest of the world, it has totally different birds, animals and plants.
Looking around, you feel a bit like a toddler again. Everything is vaguely familiar, but different.
Also:
โ Despite being a LONG flight (14 hours from Vancouver), it felt like nothing. The plane leaves at 8pm, I read for a few hours then went to sleep. Felt like 2-3 hours.
โ It's only a 3 hour time difference from the west coast (PST), so there's almost zero jet lag
โ Despite its size, you can get a wide variety of weather and experiences. It's one of the longest Island Nations vertically, so you've got Hawaii vibes Northlands and snowy mountains in the South Island.
Business wise, it's fascinating:
Because it's only 5 million people, it is often one of the last places that global companies move into.
This creates limitations, but also huge opportunities.
Like the nature, almost every business is a unique brand that we've never heard of.
There's the Home Depot of New Zealand (Bennings).
The Best Buy (Noel Leeming).
Etc. Aside from some big 5 accounting firm and fast food joints, it seemed like most of the big businesses were home grown.
The same thing goes for tech.
For example, Ebay and Craigslist didn't take off. Instead, someone cloned it before they could and became a billionaire (Trade Me).
The market is small, but if you build dominance there, there is riches in this niche.
It's also incredibly accessible. With one tweet, I met a ton of the most successful folks down there (who all seemed to know one another) and even had breakfast with the former Prime Minister!
I'm a pretty big proponent of Canada, but New Zealand is a close second. I could easily see myself spending more time down there.
If anyone has a profitable NZ-based business ($500k+$30M of annual profit) and is looking for a minority or majority investor, I'm all ears.
I'm a convert ๐