After Dongguan meetings and training sessions with new hires, came to Shenzhen to check out potential coworking office spaces. Met up with Gareth, who is working in the Overseas Chinese Scholars Venture Building, which was setup to attract overseas Chinese to return to China to open a company. I met him online and he has extra space there and is …
Example Schedule For The Next Few Days – Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Dongguan
I was writing this as an email update for those wondering where I will be the next few days….seems the most common message or email I get from people is “Where are you now? Are you in Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Dongguan, or?” So I thought I would share the next few days with everyone….. give an idea of the insane …
Featured on Chinese Tech News – Twitter vs. Weibo
While some may not believe, I survived to successfully enter China and speak about Twitter and Facebook promotion (amazing because the government forbids and blocks it). But Chinese businesses that need foreign customers (ie export businesses) NEED TO USE TWITTER AND FACEBOOK. Flat out, no questions asked, more and more, you need social media in order to compete in today’s …
Launching New Chinese Ecommerce Shop – CashnCarry.cn
After months of preparation, last week we launched cash n carry Chinese shopping cart to sell the products in our fiveislands ecommerce center. It’s exciting to see it come alive…I am working mostly on helping foreigners enter the Chinese market, via this website, as well as making their own ecommerce shop and Chinese brand. In Hong Kong I have been …
Settling in China / Asia the Next 5,10 years, or more?
I think I am getting a bit more settled on the fact / idea / reality that I will be remaining in China (or at least Asia) for the next 5 years. That is an important step for my own mind…balance, and business goals. But it took me a long time to accept. Since coming to China at the end …
Differences in Internet Marketing in China vs. America
Recently got an email from a NY times reporter doing research on the Chinese internet space…and yea, while giving free reply and probably no reply or a thank you, I thought I would share and expand on the questions I received and answered in the email. 1) What do Internet marketers need to do differently in the China market as …
Speaking About English Social Media, In China
At this years’s biggest Chinese SEO fair I just spoke about optimizing English social media channels (SNS) which I worried about, as we all know, Chinese government has been blocking these websites, so about 80% of my topic cannot be accessed by my audience, (legally)! So when I was asked to speak on this subject…..I had to take a second …
Example of Miscommunication & Culture Differences in America & China
So the roadtrip yesterday was fun….up until about 1 hour before I had to arrive at the VIP dinner for speakers and guests….We were so late, so lost, and under pressure, it took from 9:30am to 8:30pm (almost 12 hours!) to drive from Dongguan, China to Xiamen, China! Unreal…… Well, I documented it while on my mobile phone last night, …
Roadtrip – Dongguan, China to Xiamen SEO event
This will be my 3rd time at the Xiamen SEO event, in the 2010 China internet fair I spoke about helping China manufacturers export using the internet and in 2010 (SMX China sponsored) I was able to talk about keyword research, this year I’ll be blabbing about English social media (Facebook, twitter optimization), decided to take a roadtrip this year. …
Building a Marketing Team in Dongguan, China
Spent Monday in Hong Kong visiting a lot of my friend’s offices and apartments on Monday, and as I caught them up on what I am doing these days, they say “Mike, I thought you were opening a company in the philippines“, “hey man, didn’t you say you were lecturing at Stevens Tech in New Jersey, USA?” or “I thought …
Ipad 2 Mania! Buy in USA – Sell in China?
I have been chatting on twitter about the ipad 2 mania. Seriously, even apple is amazed as sales are a million sold in the first weekend. I’m sure iphone factories in Shenzhen are busier then ever, putting extra pressure and overtime work on factory workers. Lets just hope we don’t hear news about factory suicides soon, though I am sure …
Shenzhen / Hong Kong Border Hopping Exhaustion
Starting to feel like some special agent in a James Bond movie…seriously…while I thought this lifestyle would be so cool, there is that famous saying “be careful what you wish for”. As it gets quite exhausting going through borders, waiting in lines, dealing with people from all kinds of backgrounds, stress levels, and moods. Larry tells me switching it up …
Hong Kong Coworking Boot hk Featured in Fastcompany, Shenzhen Next?
Congrats to boot hk Hong Kong coworking space and Jon Buford. I am a member and its a great way to quickly meet and network with like minded entrepreneurs. I am so excited that it was covered the other day in fast company. Sure that will help Hong Kong be known for more then just banking and financial companies (BORING!) …
Hong Kong Fashion Night, Feeling of Not Belonging
Yesterday was another action packed day, leaving Hong Kong approximately 7am to head into Dongguan, China. The day was a typical day in my “new life”, working with the Chinese staff in the dongguan Fiveislands ecommerce warehouse, checking over websites, inventory, products, interviewed some new job applicants. On the way back to Hong Kong in the evening, we picked up …
Flipping from Cantonese to Mandarin to English…
Currently in a car heading back to Hong Kong from Dongguan, China. Thinking back to when I was living full time in Shenzhen, even though I was in south China, the city of Shenzhen is primarily Mandarin – which is the nationally recognized language of the People’s republic of China. It is actually one of the criteria on my checklist …