It has been a bit more strange then expected with certain sales initiative, yes each country and culture is different. I try my best to be flexible and adaptive, but selling in china has been interesting to say the least. First of all, selling in china is difficult by definition. Chinese people are “tighter” with their money (i.e. don’t spend …
Visit to a China Hospital
Spent a few hours today with my trustee assistant Melissa Zhu at the local Nanshan Public Hospital, here in Shenzhen, China. Besides a blood test / drug test for my passport z-visa, this was my first time at a public hospital for a regular checkup. So let me note my experience, it wasn’t as scary as I could have imagined …
China now blocking more – twitter, hotmail, bing,
The 20th anniversary of Tiananmen massacre on June 4th is approaching, so it seems the Chinese government is adding more to the blocked list. My favorite new site, Twitter, has been blocked, as well as hotmail, the new search engine bing (microsoft), flickr, wordpress, and probably more we cannot find now. That adds to the list of blogger, youtube. I …
Dragon Boat festival begins in China
Tomorrow will be the famous dragon boat festival in China. Chinese culture says a famous poet was held unjustly by Chinese police and committed suicide by jumping into the river. So the idea of the dragon boat race is the people are racing on boats to save his life. “The boat races during the Dragon Boat Festival are traditional customs …
Expat Joys – Passport Visa in China
having dinner with Brent today, discussing chinese visas, passport expirations, all those worries one needs when traveling in a country that requires a passport visa, and then I realized my current visa expires TOMORROW!!!!! Basically, after dinner, quickly met Bas and Maritess and Charlotte, who have just arrived from the Phillipines, and rush to the border before midnight strikes and …
Featured on Chinese Radio – Laptop Stolen
Yesterday was invited to a special dinner party for a radio show. The radio show showcases new restaurants in the area and takes guests to rate the food and atmosphere. I was the only foreigner (white guy) in a table of 12 or so. The owner / manager of the restaurant was also there. I took my laptop bag with …
Easter Sunday in China
Scary thing is, I didn’t realize it was going to be Easter Sunday until yesterday (Holy Saturday)! Have been traveling the past few days, caught up with work, and in China there aren’t many reminders about a Christian holiday! Spending the day at Bas’s house with him, Brent, and Dave – Mexican Taco night! Including a photo from a expat …
China, Finland, Euro, RMB – how lucky US English is
The longer I’m outside of USA the more I realize how easy it was to do business. Everyone spoke the same language, everything was in US Dollars. The past couple weeks, i’m dealing with currency risk in my budgets, translating chinese legal documents for staff, and receiving finnish language website requests (a new website coming soon Sales Lion – let …
Re-structure, Re-negotiate, Re-evaluate
This past week…so much has been happening….between meeting current staff, partners and allies, re-negotiating on the phone with customers, allies, partners….it seems I have strong relations because talks have been easier then I thought. Seems the staff is very supportive, and we are setting sales targets and if we can reach them as a team the office may stay. But …
Merry Christmas from China!
Besides some scattered christmas decorations, there isn’t much christmas in China. Plus in southern china the climate is warm – so no feeling at all of the Christmas I knew growing up in Connecticut, USA! Christmas eve night though – the city is packed with people, restaurants jam packed with higher sticker prices due to the christmas holiday – bars …
Old Next to New
Move went pretty smoothly…haha….paid approx $10usd to two “lawn mower” motor 3 wheel bikers…hilarious, although nerve racking that all my belongings are hanging and strapped from these bikes…..but move went along nicely. Exciting to see the change, and its motivating the whole staff to work harder and with more room they can focus better…..its working
Thanksgiving – No Turkey but New Office!
Normally on Thanksgiving I’m chowing Turkey and watching football….this year I worked hard all day and signed a new lease for an office (pictures above) things are really moving along…..able to negotiate some good office prices and terms. This place needs some carpetting, but other then that its ready to go….really want to do rapid product development here, exciting to …
The world is changing fast, are you on top of it?
Wow, I always believed in the theory “the world is flat” but its definitely happening faster then I could have ever imagined!!!! While it is sad, it makes us as a human race realize that we have to be flexible. And we have to stay on top of our game! We cannot get lazy, we cannot get comfortable with our …
Get It Done – on a budget
Cash flow is tighter then ever these days, but I love the pressure…..especially when its the fact that an ATM machine takes your USA ATM card and mails it back to US to “protect your account” – oh..thanks, can I borrow money from you now??!? just makes things more interesting. I love critics too, I notice how easy it is …
China – transitioning from Export Driven to Self Sustaining Domestic Market
Great article below – China is going through tough times – BUT it will become less dependent on exports – and with the Chinese government last week investing INTO CHINA instead of the normal US Dollar, we’ll see RMB continue to strengthen (worse for exporting) but the Chinese people getting richer…..and spending more. What does this mean? CHINA IS GOING …