Happiness in Pursuit » china business

Presenting at Startups HK – Adventures of a Foreigner Doing Business in China

Michael Michelini — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 15:49:51 +0000

It was an hour to present tonight at #sumhk (Startup Monday Hong Kong), after attending so many of them, it was great to know the audience, and write a relevant (at least I hope so) presentation for everyone. I try to keep it real, but to be “politically correct” Startups HK asked me to title this presentation “Foreigner in China”, rather than “American Doing Business in China”. Taglined it Was Looking For A Challenge…and Haven’t Been Let Down Yet!….

Today’s Agenda:

We’ll be discussing the experiences I have had as a foreigner in China opening a business and managing the daily operations.

Personal & Business Background

Michael Michelini (Chinese name is 迈理倪 )
Grew up in NorthEast USA (CT, NJ, NYC)
3rd generation American born
Grandparents from Italy, Russia, France, Canada
First website in 1999
Selling online since 2003
Moved to China end of 2007

Shadstone Limited is an ecommerce company selling home & gift products B2C in USA, Sourcing & logistics office in China, Call Center & marketing dept in Philippines, acting as a bridge between USA & China ecommerce companies.

Recently Co-founded first Shenzhen coworking space, SZteam.

So How did this get started, how did I get to China

always wanted to start my own business, 2004 – started selling on ebay, signed up for ecommerce shopping cart package. Kept selling more and more, best success w/ bar accessories. Tried buying from China directly…maybe in 2006? Horrible experience in communication, logistics, payment. Thought to do sourcing directly, full time, and grow ecommerce business 2007, quit day job in NYC, moved to Cali to figure it out, didn’t consider full time living in China as an option.

Took first trip to China in October 2007, HK, SZ, Shanghai, Beijing

I love the chaos….I can only learn by doing. Returned to USA for Thanksgiving w/ the family….tried researching opening a Chinese company via google and I COULDN’T FIND any information! Wasting my time with expensive USA lawyers who didn’t seem to have a clue anyway, so I went for it…and moved to China!

Notice Specifically To A Hong Kong Audience

So many times when I told friends and business colleagues in Hong Kong they would repeat

“Going To SHENZHEN………………….mainland CHINA???”
You will be like a lab rat for a chinese factory.
They eat stray dogs!
One guy went to SZ hospital sick, and came out worse then entering!
Spiked drink, wake up w/o kidney

First Entering Shenzhen….I started Small….

So after some MSN chats to friends I had met in China, had my hotel booked when I landed and took my flight right after Christmas in 2007….with a return ticket booked 6 months later (return flights are so much cheaper than 1 way for some crazy reason)

Using the few contacts I had, i hired a trusted assistant for translation, company setup, factory sourcing. Again, worried “I’m a foreigner in China”, will I be flagged, will I get arrested for doing business under the table? Do I need to register all the companies, file all the proper paperwork and taxes.

Many of my Chinese friends there told me “don’t worry” you don’t need to open a company to do business in China. But then there were others with the horror stories of the American guy having 6 workers working out of an apartment, a police raid, arresting everyone, shutting down the operation, blah blah.

So….not know who to trust, and having my life savings already allocated for business in China, I went with the HK company owning a WFOE (wholly foreign owned entity). Paid the lawyers, accountants, and other professionals for the real advice, and went through the rather long, annoying 6 month process (for me at least, in early 2008)

Different ways to do business in China (legally)

Which type of company? What do you want to do

Sell in China?
Hire in China?

Do you need a separate office address from your home address?

Since I’m talking to startups in Hong Kong, I will compare it to Hong kong. In HK, you can open unlimited amounts of companies at a small apartment anywhere. But in China, you can only register 1 company at an “office approved” address.

Started Growing A Bit More

Getting Up to a Few Staff

Company Filing….6 Month Process

Office Check, Cannot Combine Home & Work.

Got The Business Licence….

Got The Work Permit
Got the “Official Office”
Still Kept the office in its Laid Back style, music playing, open desks, creative environment.

Now a “Big Family” in China

How Did I Get To This Point?

“I smile because I have absolutely no idea what is going on…”

“tread lightly”….Cannot Change China!

Good balance of advice from locals and expats.

Chinese Sometimes Are Just As Confused….

Embrace, Don’t Resist. (TIC)

Also, I think you need to just spend FACE TIME in China….I think Chinese see so many
once they know u have spent Ur time pledging

Can you BE FLEXIBLE IN CHINA
last minute business trips
urgent phone calls
constant delays
rapid development means new roads, uninformed taxi drivers.

Hit A Bit of a Wall, Change the Game….

INTERNET IN CHINA , Google China “exited”
Costs rising
labor
rent
food/products
internet slow

no more fulltime Shenzhen office

super Inflation in China

Trip to Philippines

Decided, Value is in Networking

Spoke to Ecommerce University Students

Speaking at Various Chinese Internet Events

2010-2011 Consulting…South China, SE Asia

Early 2011 Fiveislands ecommerce fulfillment between Hong Kong & Dongguan
boot HK
startups HK pitching

Whats Next? Sheznhen Coworking, Ecommerce

Shenzhen Ecommerce Monthly meetups since Jan.
50 – 100 people each month
Just opened first Shenzhen coworking space
SZteam.com (ShenzhenTeam.com)
Expand B2C ecommerce in home/gift market presence.
Continue to bridge-connect China/HK/USA/Foreign ecommerce

Fun Topic – Trip To A China Hospital

Minor Operations, no problem!
Had a small surgery operation in Shenzhen general hospital. Good way to liven up the audience and get a couple chuckles.

Conclusion – Don’t Let Things Get In Your Way.

Bonus – How / Why Did I Pick Shenzhen?

Why not Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing?

Beijing – too much traffic, too cold, too much “government”, not many factories
Hong Kong – too expensive, no factories, cantonese (wanted to learn mandarin)
Ningbo – friends in China told me I would be crazy to do that, too much “china”, I would go crazy.
Shanghai – affordable cost of living (depending where in the big city), but seemed mostly financial companies, slow internet, didn’t meet many entrepreneurs
Shenzhen – even though in my october 2007 trip I only spent a few days in Shenzhen, i was left with the impression this was the fastest developing, close vicinity to HK for visa issue and any government risk, and seemed to meet the most entrepreneurs and ecommerce / trading companies here.

So, there you have it, I really enjoy blah blah blah story telling and discussing my “business adventures”. Again I was told I should write a book….but have all the chapters been completed???

Here is the presentation:

Startupshk Mikes China Experiences

Why Chinese Don’t Reply To Many Emails…

Michael Michelini — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 14:55:15 +0000

I remember being “on the other side”, the American in USA, not having been to China and not really understanding the daily life of a Chinese businessperson, in a Chinese office. I would get sooo annoyed when people wouldn’t reply to my emails. And I’ll admit it, I had that common misunderstanding that China was still rice fields and farmland….maybe I thought they didn’t have many computers to reply from, shared computers or something?!?! I was really confused.

Even after taking a business trip here in to Asia (hit Hong Kong first) it didn’t fully sink in to how a daily business day really transacted, as I was rushing around factory to factory, city to city. Not until I really started working here, building up my office, watching how my staff worked, watching how other offices got work done….working inside factories….

And maybe I never thought specifically about blogging on this topic, but a business friend in USA just emailed me, and I thought I would answer publicly (Note: I changed names and edited some of it to be more general):

Mike,

I wanted to ask you about a Chinese cultural issue, if I may.

I sent the below message, as you will see, to Jack without a response back. This is my second attempt to contact him.

Here in the States we would have to conclude that we are being “blown off”, would that also be the same kind of conclusion one would assume in China.

Thanks for your input.

Regards,

Jerry

From: ‘Jerry’
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2011 10:52 AM
To: ‘Jack’
Subject: Discussion Follow-up

Jack,

Again, thank you for meeting me on your recent trip to the US.

I wanted to follow-up our different discussion points with you and ask you what you think the next steps should be.

Looking forward to your reply.

Regard,
Jerry

Now I have to admit, I myself hate emails, it just seems like its everyone’s answer to get things done “hey, I sent you an email, you get it?”, or, I need to reply these emails. I think its not “replying emails”, but rather its getting work done in general right…and email is a form of communication to transmit ideas and information from one person to another.

Here are my reasons why I believe maybe email is not the best form of communication, in China especially, but in general:

Demand to do business with China – come on, we see it in the news, I log into my finance news every day, and one of the top 5 headlines always has something about China in it. So what does this create, everyone in the west banging on China’s doors to buy something, to have some kind of “bragging right” to have at the cocktail parties that they are entering the China market. And what does this create, a lot of unnecessary emails into tons of alibaba factory directory accounts. I have looked at the “CRM” of factories…its exploding with tons of emails from all over the world of people who want to buy from them….and maybe 1% of them are serious, and 0.1% will choose this factory out of the others…..so therefore creating tons of emails in these Chinese businessman’s boxes to sift through, humanly impossible to reply to.
Timezone difference…..arriving to office with avalanche of emails….especially if you deal with USA business….their day is your night…and you come to your desk at 8 or 9am…and all those emails come flooding in…..a bit overwhelming to say the least.
Lack of management and organizational skills in Chinese educational system – What I and my fellow classmates in school used to call a waste of time, certain soft skill classes about email management, time management, people management was actually helpful. From my exposure here in China, I do not believe there educational system includes such material as these we have in the Western world. Therefore, the new graduate in school is exposed to a workworld where probably if they are doing international sales will be dealing with emails….and they probably never knew how to handle it!
Prefer face to face business talk – This is in tons of Chinese business books, but it is true, Chinese people really prefer to do business face to face. And to build a relationship with the person. If there isn’t that feeling of trust, as well as maybe knowing the counterparty’s family, friends, and social network diversity…they may hesitate to do business. And an email is COLD….its really hard to put feeling and passion into an email….so many times I believe I am probably misunderstood in an email by my wording, cultural tone, “American directness”.
Next step is phone – Maybe the below point (QQ chat) is becoming more popular, depends on generation….but again, because of feeling, tone, personality, trust, hearing a voice, as well as instant gratification of a phone call makes the Chinese business world go around. So many times I’ll get a call, day or night, with a request to have a rather last minute meeting that is urgent or not possible for the foreseeable future….making daily scheduling and planning almost a joke. Yet, the phone is the modern “business weapon” of the Chinese wild-wild-west….its a tool one cannot live without.
and next step is QQ chat This is a daily necessity to doing business in China….its always right next to the mobile number, you have QQ groups and QQ IDs….both personal and business…file transfers, funny cartoon animations, screenshot sharing….China would seriously be in trouble if QQ web servers were to go down…I’m sure this has been a huge key to efficiency in Chinese business.
Internet isn’t always so reliable – due to filtering, and basic infrastructure limitations, especially inland china where power outages are mandatory, sometimes emails just lag behind…

Hopefully this sheds some light on my fellow American businessman friends as well as the rest of those foreigners banging their heads against the desk wondering how to better get through to Chinese businesspeople.

Here are some ideas:

Work on different timezone sometimes – yes, international business is “sexy”, but this is one of those parts of the job that can drag…..sometimes you gotta work on their timezone. Maybe not even for phone calls, but for chat and emails….I remember being in USA and delay sending my emails to Chinese contacts until I knew it was further into their business days….just that morning overload of blast emails makes them all a blur….getting a fresh one in midday sometimes sticks out more.
Try different forms of communication – QQ chat has an english version, but also many Chinese have skype and MSN, some even google talk. I know chats can be distracting, and many Americans think its for high school kids, but chatting in Asia is a softer way to get through

Happy communicating!

Back in China – Work Week Plan: Shenzhen, Dongguan, Hong Kong

Michael Michelini — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 17:06:38 +0000

Sundays are always my reflection and planning days….back from a long trip in the Philippines late last week, transitioned back to “China mode” with meeting people and running between Hong Kong to Shenzhen…..quickly outlining my week and posting here for ya’ll to see:

Monday – in Shenzhen, China. Its July 4th, which is a holiday in USA – independence day, but I love these USA holidays while I’m in China / Asia…as I get to catch up on work without getting bombarded with more emails….have a few meetings for Shenzhen projects and staff.
Tuesday, day trip to Dongguan, catch up with fiveislands ecommerce center, been away for a couple weeks in the philippines, check in with everyone, bunch of meetings and strategy ideas to bounce around. Come back to Shenzhen at night (think there is power outage in factory city that night….sigh….
Wednesday Kingdee about the Shenzhen ecommerce meetups on a longer term, closer cooperation. Then hope to firm up the next six months of meetups – with July’s already coming up quick (still haven’t firmed up a date!). I also hope to have more Shenzhen meetings with logistics companies and others I’ve been talking to for a while!
Thursday firm up shenzhen coworking launch, location has moved, is being renovated…I’ll blog in full detail Thursday once I check it out. I’m excited! Shenzhen needs this!
Friday, open and flexible right now…but probably get to Hong Kong, meet Leon and the boot hk guys

1am now, Sunday night (Monday morning) hope to get some rest and rock this week! Short post, I love Sundays to reflect and plan!

Successful Shenzhen Ecommerce Meetup #5 – Mobile Theme

Michael Michelini — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 12:15:05 +0000

As I’ve been saying, doing tons of networking these days….I do enjoy it the most, its like link building people…and connecting people to add value to society does give me that sense of fulfillment. This saturday was our 5th Shenzhen ecommerce meetup, and trying to theme each meeting, we built it around mobile and location based services.

We had 3 speakers:

Larry Salibra, CEO Appartisan Mobile Apps, Guangzhou – speaking on apple mobile app development market
郑伟彤 (Peter Zheng), Product Director in Kingdee, speaking on Business Model of Kuaidi100.com
Ryan McNamara , Marketing Director, I-Contain Wireless Technology Solutions, speaking on how GPS tracking affects online businesses.

Like I always say, I need feedback and hear what people want in order to have a successful anything, and we had a rocky road with the internet meetups, trying different formats, rooms, lengths, and schedules. But seems the best situation is to have a round table introduction of everyone in the room, speaker, 10 minute break, 2nd speaker, break, and then the 3rd speaker, to a case study, and then open floor networking and business card exchange.

Some people have even said they would prefer just networking, no need for the speakers…but I think it “puts meat on the bones” and gives some topic and education to the event. Even when there is just pure open networking at the end, most people filter out after 30 to 45 minutes.

And we don’t have drinks or food at the event…again, this is a free event, and the only sponsor right now really is Kingdee for giving us the venue, and the volunteers helping organize and speakers for spending their time to make the presentation and deliver it.

Overall, I am really happy passing our fifth meeting, and hopefully will plan out the next 6 or 7 meetings upfront with dates and get a long term agreement with Kingdee for the room.

Already outlining August (I know, there is July still to determine) where we have a speaker who wants to discuss intellectual property in China and trademark protection for ecommerce businesses…looking for a second speaker to complement it, already have some leads to fill it in.

Other topics coming up are payment processors, social learning / collaboration, and maybe advanced ecommerce listing tools.

I really enjoy planning these events, but seems a long term project with long term value, if kept up and consistent.

Incoming search terms:

e commerce logo

Successful Network PRD meetup, more Shenzhen Networking

Michael Michelini — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 10:30:18 +0000

Last night Network PRD group in Shenzhen re-ignited the meetups after taking some time off (last event I see is November 27, 2010 – EUCCC 10th Anniversary Charity Event – The Kempinski. David Shomaker wanted to bring it back and asked me and 9 others to volunteer helping promote and organize a new series of monthly events.

This was the “new” first one, Thursday June 16th, and I would say overall a success. David organized it to be from 7pm to 8:30pm with a few company / personal introductions and then a feature speaker.

Mingling and cocktails – Get to spend time TALKING, trading name cards, this is what people love to do! I think this is the main reason people go, not to hear speakers or company presentations. But yet, the speakers are a good reason to get people out.
Company introductions – This time mostly was the 9 volunteers to help organize, and I was able to discuss the shenzhen ecommerce meetups and let people know they can attend those one Saturday afternoon each month.
Monthly case study – this time was a new corporate recruiter (headhunter) talking about ways to get new clients and keep clients happy finding good workers for their company.
10 minute keynote speech- This time Profeessory Edward Tian, 94 year old Hunan native, about his amazing life and history of Shenzhen. He learned English at 9 years old, invited to USA in 1981 to speak on family planning, and was invited to Shenzhen in 1988 by the Chinese government to teach English.
Question and Answer session – open forum to get help from experts in different fields.
help desk to tap our network – this was pretty cool, a table was setup, one chinese speaker and one english speaker, for people to come up and list questions or services they needed. Later it will be posted on networkprd and people can contact them to help out!

The event is 100% bilingual and DJ Nimbus was there rocking out some jams! Very classy event, I’m glad to be one of the volunteer organizers (helping with the social media promotions) and love to meet more people.

Its just when is networking too much networking…..
More photos coming soon, once people give them to me!

Focusing + Organizing Upcoming Week: Shenzhen, Dongguan, Hong Kong, Philippines

Michael Michelini — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 17:43:33 +0000

Maybe its insanity to say this, but bouncing around these places is getting to be normal life for me. I did take a break last week and “stay in Hong Kong” for 7 solid days straight. The chaos is being tamed….or I’m just getting used to it.

I’m taking the weekend in Shenzhen now, been trying to cut down meetings (thanks Leon and others), and just learning to better say “NO”, even though I may dissappoint people or miss out on some opportunities. But then so be it.

Here is the upcoming week:

Sunday – here in Shenzhen, working on preparing for week ahead, also hope to finish a book “Adapt: Why Success Always Starts With Failure”.
Monday – go to Dongguan at the Fiveislands Chinese ecommerce center, my trusted assistant Amy says everyone misses me….(awwww, I feel the love!) One of our clients of bike accessories needs a bike from his Shenzhen workshop to be moved over to our Dongguan facility, maybe I’ll ride it over (nahhh, not that crazy!) Oh, and yea maybe also catch up on work! (yes, I do work, not just blog and travel guys!)
Tuesday – Dongguan still, hopefully there will be electricity, hope to have more team and management meetings about the Chinese ecommerce projects and logistics. Plan to head to Hong Kong after the day of work is done.
Wednesday – in Hong Kong, meet with my friend Vlad introduce him to my Hong Kong business friends, investigate a new web project for the Hong Kong market (still a bit early stage for me to blog details). Also hope to meet some social media gurus like Kitty Cheung and @battlestars Jason
Thursday – still in Hong Kong for the morning and early afternoon, work in Boot HK coworking, in the evening there is the Shenzhen meeting for networkprd.com re-launch. More name card trading and networking over cocktails.
Friday – A day between networking meetings, probably stay in Shenzhen and catch up on work.
Saturday, afternoon meetup for shenzhen marketing, the fifth one, topic on mobile app marketing
Saturday night, Head back to Hong Kong, my friend Andy Englander from USA is in town for a couple weeks, spend a night on the town w/ him, wish I had more time, but have the Philippines in the morning.
Sunday morning – fly to philippines from Hong Kong airport, will be in Philippines from the 19th to the 30th. Plan to visit my staff, the scholarship program progress, check on progress of Clear Cafe center, hope to do a meetup, and get some beach time in Boracay (yes, I know MikeMo, finally!)

So there is my upcoming week. I am going to try my best to stick to this schedule….whats exhausting is not the traveling, but changing the plans due to others or some strange circumstances last minute….that is what really drains me…switching gears. I need to mentally prepare and plan.

But I feel more confident…I’ve learned the best ways to get around these locations….that took years of hustling to do…now its about planning and execution! DO IT!

Chinese Often Want to Escape China + Study Overseas

Michael Michelini — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 07:03:15 +0000

Yes, maybe a bit drastic heading, but so many times I meet Chinese that are desperate to study overseas. Similar to buying foreign products….Chinese seem to trust products not made in their own country more than their own domestic products. And its almost funny, because Americans and foreigners are buying up all the “Made In China” products, while Chinese themselves prefer to buy products made outside their country.

But in a way, everyone wants to buy “exclusive” products, imported good are always more sexy.

So back to foreign education….many of my friends in China have spent time overseas for the undgraduate or graduate (MBA) degrees. I think definitely traveling abroad, for anyone, Chinese or American or European, is sooooo valuable because you are exposed to different cultures, different setting, and it builds up your “away” time from your home country. It really develops you faster than anything else I can imagine….and for a student it is even better.

While I didn’t study overseas, I did choose a college away from my hometown – Stevens Tech was right next to New York and I wanted to start moving towards the “big apple”. It also meant I couldn’t live at my parent’s house anymore. I remember my parents were sad and also realized living away would cost much more money in student loan debt (sigh). But I knew it would force me to meet new people, get away from the “home nest” and develop my social skills as well as book skills.

I had a meeting with my friend Lavinia and she wants me to help promote Chinese to study overseas. She is representing a set of Canadian universities and has all the resources and tools to help Hong Kong citizens and mainland Chinese to get there.

Here are some of the ways she can help:

Direct University Admissions – No English required when applying to Dorset. Students are given a placement test when they register. Qualified students are eligible to directly enter University Transfer program. Students complete first one or two years of required University Transfer courses at Dorset. University Transfer year 1 and year 2 can be completed within one and half years
Students who do not qualify for direct admission can enroll in the Dorset Academic Preparation Program (ESL)
Letters of acceptance both from Dorset and one of Dorset’s partnering reputable universities – After completing the required courses at Dorset, students will transfer to Dorset’s partnering Canadian reputable Universities, such as Acadia University, Dalhousie University, Cape Breton University to complete their studying Bachelor or Master Degree. University year 3 and year 4 can be finished within 1 and half years
Reputable university BACHELOR’s or MASTER’s degree – By Dorset’s unique University Transfer program, students are able to gain a Bachelor within 3 years or a Master within 2 years. After graduation, and according to Canadian Immigration Law, students are eligible to apply for 3-year work permit, and plan for immigration.

Anyway, I’m really excited to help promote Chinese and Hong Kong people to study abroad, its a great experience to do international travel and doing it while you are studying is even better. I wish I had done that more when I was in university.

But Mike, You Cannot Live Like Them, You Were Not Born Chinese

Michael Michelini — Sun, 29 May 2011 03:47:54 +0000

I talk a lot, I am open about my life and let others give input to help me make decisions, and the blog title today “But Mike, You Cannot Live Like Them, You Were Not Born Chinese” comes from a recent meeting with my friend, who i will hold back on revealing their identity.

And yes, living in China (Asia) has changed my mindset about logic, reality…the reason of life. And I think its true, the longer you are out here, the more disconnected with “home” you get.

I was not born chinese, sure –> that is a true statement. Does that mean i cannot live like “them” (sounds kinda racist…)? i do agree, american way of life is much more……how do yo say….smooth, easy…..i think for the most part, western life is much easier compared to the majority of Asian countries.

I can hear my older generations back in USA shouting out loud – “thats what our soldiers and ancestors fought so hard for, to achieve freedom and the American dream, so that future generations of Americans can live free and be rewarded if they work hard”.

Yes, that is something truly unique about America, compared to China with still a rather “strong handed” government, and Europe with a pretty high tax structure, America still seems to give the most allowance for people to work hard and build a comfortable life.

So many times I am amazed at how hard working Chinese are. Today’s blog photo is a couple years ago (originally posted on Ningbo trip recap in March 2008), but I thought it would be good to dig up and use for today’s blog post. If you look in the background, there is a Chinese farmer taking a rest in the wagon of his cart! They live their job, work and earning money is the way of life and thinking for the typical Chinese….they really can sleep anywhere

But friends said i have already sacrificed anough living in Dongguan and that my role as a marketing, sales, and online social media dude does not at all require me to be in Dongguan. I have to keep networking with ecommerce and technical companies in various cities, and actively blogging and using social media (which is difficult from within the GFW of China (great firewall))

Heck, it is true, most of what i do can be done anywhere…..reading the four hour work week it over and over tells you how you have to organize and manage more. My main thing is training the staff, as well as potential client visits to the warehouse. But I think both of those can be delegated and trained, others need to know how to replace me anyway!

Those following my blog (LIFE!) have seen me bouncing back and forth from dongguan to shenzhen to hong kong for the majority of 2011. It started out a bit more scheduled, living in hong kong (really small place, but dont need much) driving in from hong kong once or twice a week to the Chinese fiveislands fulfillment center. But it got a bit more crazy, client signing up on saturday, ecommerce meetups in shenzhen, startup mondays in hong kong, jumping around trying to find my calling, to find a balance in my schedule, which part of the week in which city of South China?

As we are halfway through the year, I have been reflecting on where to spend most of my time. the hong kong apartment is only a six month contract so renewal is coming. I see opportunity to setup the shenzhen coworking and bridge shenzhen and hong kong.

I’m getting closer to building up a network and experience inside China and ecommerce and social media Pieces are coming together, and I am not losing sight of the goal….the goal of building a massive network of people between China (Asia) and USA…international business. I think it was that movie Lord of War that got me addicted to the adventure of international business.

Can I live like a Chinese person? hmmmm

Incoming search terms:

stephen chung rocket internet
alibaba
China Southern Power Grid Company Limited
derek kwik
social media signatures
derek kwik crunch
stephen chung groupon
stephen chung rocket-internet

Interviewed on Chinese Television, CCTV, Foreigners in China

Michael Michelini — Mon, 23 May 2011 10:09:05 +0000

Life is the path you make it…and when people ask me how I get myself into certain situations….its such a long string of events….networking, knowing people, as well as being in the right place at the right time.

James Sung, my friend in Shenzhen for a few years, has a consumer electronics factory (the bluetooth factory I visited earlier this week) and he invited me to a TV series his CCTV reporter contact is doing, foreigners in China and their consumer electronics inventions. He asked me to present about the electrapour and the ecommerce services I am providing.

The video was recorded last Thursday in Shenzhen, and then aired today (Monday) at lunchtime. Actually a few friends in China sent me a QQ without my even telling them that they had seen me on TV! CCTV2 is a fairly well viewed television show.

Watch the CCTV full Video (video site2 here , I am in the 21:30 minute for about 45 seconds. Youtube (for those outside China) below:

The reporter really liked the LED pourer, Electrapour, maybe he will become a reseller too! Haha, but I guess it is a simple, direct eye catching product….seems I got more facetime on the TV show because of it.

It was double translated, the reporter couldn’t speak English and I couldn’t speak Chinese, so we had to have a middleman translate his questions, and then translate my answers.

James Sung spoke about his Peel product, that converts an Apple Itouch into an Iphone. Askan was there too, talking about his mini projector product. Then they had us walk down the outside of the office to look especially professional to end the clip.

Some thought DON’T SHOW IT ON CHINESE TV! YOU WILL GET THE IDEA COPIED. Come on, if someone wants to copy it, it will get copied! That is one of the worst things an entrepreneur can do, is to keep quiet and not tell people their idea for fear of it being copied.

My friend in Hong Kong, Rayfil Wong, had been on an American Inventor reality TV show and said that 70 – 80% of a product’s success is based on the marketing efforts. Its also amazing I have been sitting next to him in boot hk coworking space for months and hadn’t had that conversation….Just amazes me again and again, even with the internet and social media, we still do not optimize the network surrounding ourselves each day.

So how does this happen? Maybe consistently trying, letting people know what you are upto. Not giving up. Not getting discouraged when people may tell you to give up.

It also comes from networking. I believe these Shenzhen ecommerce meetups have been helping, its all a long term investment….meeting people, learning, networking…..getting known. Its a test of will and determination.

Incoming search terms:

rayfil wong campusfork
tv interview foreigners in china

Factory Power Outages, A Reality Of Chinese Factories

Michael Michelini — Tue, 17 May 2011 11:02:20 +0000

Just another struggle with Chinese factory life…not sure if people here know, but due to high energy consumption and limited capacity of factories in China – they turn off power in certain factories. This is not the choice of the factory, but instead the local or province government forcing this to happen in order to prevent power outages (blackouts, brownouts) in the area.

But I was planning to take a trip to Dongguan today, but received this email from my assistant, Amy there:

Hi Mike,

I am sorry to tell you that we got power rationing today. Mr. Xu our electrician told me start from this week , we will got power cut on each Tuesday and each Friday. pls noted that.

http://english.eastday.com/e/100802/u1a5367173.html

http://www.subaonet.com/html/chinanews/2011428/1142894720634595755.html

http://www.china.org.cn/learning_english/2010-09/08/content_20886322.htm

Maybe this you can write a blog about this topic , Power cut

–

Best regards
Amy Gu
Office assistant

Its funny that she mentions I should blog about it! I am getting everyone in my life integrated into my blog…..yet I believe that is the future, the integration of social media in our work and personal lives.

Back to this power outage.. Its another reason China is different then other places….I think in America, this would not be allowed….the citizens would scream this is not freedom….there has to be power 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Then again, this is a government owned / controlled business in China. I believe there isn’t much the people of China can say to stop this.

I have to note, the factory has a backup generator, but its used on a limited basis. It keeps basic work going, but in the evening, the dormitories have no electricity. If I cannot get electricity in my dorm…then no internet, no blogging, no life!

I have been stuck there on days where there is power out…Amy knows how crazy I get. I am addicted to internet…therefore electricity.

I’ll have to stick in Shenzhen another night, wake up early, and bus it Chang An, Dongguan.

—- More follow ups from Amy —-
{{Amy, you know you can comment }} Amazing Amy read the blog and followed up with all the information below:

Chinese government wants to develop its economics, but power rationing can do nothing to help that , if we got enough power , do you think the Chinese government still want to do power rationing in many provinces at the same time , did the Chinese government benifit from the power rationing ?

On one hand ——> challenges

China’s booming energy demand is caused by rapid economic growth, particularly in heavy industry.

Industry by industry, energy demand in China is increasing so fast that the broader efficiency targets are becoming harder to hit.

These challenges are all the harder to rise to given that not everyone’s energy needs have been met.

Beijing is putting considerable pressure on local governments to reduce energy demand by shutting down obsolete industries.

Another victim of China’s energy demands is the global environment.

On the other hand——-> opportunities

Moreover, China’s mounting energy needs mean that it has a huge incentive to promote energy sources other than oil.

Renewable energy systems include systems (wind, solar, biomass and geothermal) that may be used to produce and sell electricity.

I also have to say, its also because summer is nearing, and all those air conditioners blasting all over the country…Chinese are becoming more and more like Americans….consuming more goods and using more energy. Sales of cars are exploding here, everyone wants to use their newly developed disposable income for convenience.

Incoming search terms:

China Southern Power Grid
china power outages 2011
China Southern Power Grid logo
power outage in china
shenzhen power outages
chinese government shut off electricity
Chinese government turn off electricity
power cuts in china 2011
power cuts china dongguan
power outage in china 2010
power outage china
power outage in china factory

Visit To a Shenzhen Bluetooth Factory

Michael Michelini — Mon, 16 May 2011 09:05:54 +0000

A rainy monday here in shenzhen, took a trip with my friend James to Long Hua district of shenzhen, the factory district of this massive city. Its a growing factory that wants to expand towards direct distribution, invited some foreigners to visit, discuss cooperation and assistance in marketing and branding. Late last year I had visited a mouse factory in shenzhen as well as a LED factory here, maybe this is the 3rd of some sort of series…..hmmmm…

Learning and seeing all kinds of things like PCB printing, SMT machines and assembly of consumer electronics.

I had been tweeting and weibo-ing (chinese twitter) photos and messages during my visit…..some chinese weibo guys feel work conditions in the factories are not suitable….noticing a fan next to some of the workers in the assembly line. Sure, I wonder too, but today has been quite a rainy day.

It is a network of a few factories, having general assembly in one, PCB printing, and then assembly dedicated purely for bluetooth headsets. they have capacity to make 3,000 units per day currently, with ease to scale up if demand is there.

They have a target for foreign sales department to increase their sales to 100,000 units per month, and would then expand to an additional facility if this goal can be achieved.

Hoping to cross promote thier facility with services from fiveislands fulfillment, as they are also looking to market and distribute consumer electronics.

Next we and video game accessories (this factory network also operates a game accessory factory, but didn’t have time today to visit.

Checking in on foursquare, I see other facilities in the area, it was funny to see Foxconn factory (OEM factory for Apple’s iphone and ipad) not too far away. We drove past it on the drive as well. A massive, almost unending series of factories along the highway. There is also talk of Foxconn leaving Shenzhen, moving majority of its production to inland cities of mainland China, such as Wuhan.

Chit chatting to people here about last year’s factory suicides at Foxconn as well as later doubling of salaries to factory workers inside shenzhen, there were some political initiatives behind it. For one, Foxconn only doubled wages inside Shenzhenl which it had been planning to close and move inland anyway, thus screwing the little factories surrounding it in Shenzhen. Another bird told me that it was also a slap against the Shenzhen government, as Foxconn officials and Shenzhen government were not making a lot of happy synergies lately.

Anyway, its good to get inside some fresh factories to get perspective, talk cooperations and brainstorm. Maybe this blog post can also bring some ideas and cooperation, feel free to contact me!

Incoming search terms:

bluetooth factory
bluetooth factory in shenzen
my trip to shenzhen
shenzhen bluetooth
bluetooth assembly line
foxconn longhua smt
one day factiory visit chenzen
the bluetooth factory
visit factories in shenzhen
visit to a shenhzen bluetooth factory
inside shenzen factory
inside a shenzhen factory

Example Of How China Market Is Its Own Market…

Michael Michelini — Thu, 12 May 2011 17:34:07 +0000

Spent a nice evening in Shenzhen with the local crew, discussing internet, mobile phones, china business… you know, normal geeky stuff.

Vlad had this hilarious phone, by Lenovo, he bought in China wal mart – and he described a bunch of the features….let me explain the different features to highlight, and reflect on these points and explain how this is directly made for the China market.

Dual SIM card – this is not so special, but can represent the Hong Kong / Taiwan / South China businessman. Its really annoying to keep flipping SIM cards when you cross borders…and you miss calls when one SIM card is out of its phone, etc.
Local Voicemail – VERY CHINA focused Set Phone Calls that you miss go to a the phone’s locally stored SD card!
Blacklist SMS – for those annoying advertisements you get on your phone, especially in China…we get bombarded with advertisements. Maybe also get bombarded with suppliers or contacts we do not want to talk to. Perfect for the busy, traveling businessman in China.
Blacklist Phone Calls – Have a pesky supplier calling? Or salesman? Maybe bill collector? Or an overseas customer who wants his money back? Simply add their number to this blacklist, conveniently on the main menu.
Various Background Noises – This is hilarious, you can set the phone to answer with the phone’s pre-recorded backgroun noise – such as MTR (metro, subway), restaurant, busy office, shopping mall. Why would you need this? hmmm, there are a few reasons, but if you are talking to someone who you told you were going to a restaurant, but you’re actually relaxing at home, or out with other people, you can say you are busy eating dinner. This can actually be pretty useful for getting out of phone calls.
Your personal robot companion – You have the option of having an animated cute robot bounce around the screen as you type. Totally useless, but maybe the cartoon keeps you cheered up throughout your stressful business day.
Pretty animated Snowflake background – Just use the stylus pointer to enable the background to be a nice scenic background of big snowflakes dropping sprinkling down the side of the screen….how cute, haha.

This article may make more sense for those of us doing business in China….but I can see how handy this phone can be!

We also discussed how this is the perfect example that China …is China….and you need to make localized products specially tailored for this unique, and wild, market.

Incoming search terms:

china mobile phone with dual sim with blacklist features available in manila
china own market
china phone blacklist -buy

Shenzhen Chinese Ecommerce Meetup, Google China Here

Michael Michelini — Sat, 07 May 2011 15:42:07 +0000

In 2010 and even more in 2011 I’ve been organizing twitter meetups and getting more professional with ecommerce meetups . As I’m doing these, been doing a lot of hyper networking, and met the “Chinese side” of the Shenzhen ecommerce meetups and was invited to one, without too much notice of where it was, who it was by, when it started, ended, etc etc.

Turns out it was a Saturday afternoon, (really, up until yesterday afternoon I didn’t get a confirmation of time and place) way out on the other side of Shenzhen in Da Mei Sha (a beach area) in the OCT East resort hotel, called Interlaken (A really awesome hotel based on German / European style and feel).

It was organized by Google China, and invited 30 companies in Shenzhen, mostly on export B2C from China to the worldwide market. Google says this is the first of 7 or 8 meetups it will be hosting in Shenzhen in the upcoming months. Focusing on export driven companies that sell B2C (business to customer/consumer) via online.

There were 2 presentations,

Introduction to the enhanced Google adwords platform –
Tips and Skills for Your Online Marketing –

After the 2 speeches, they had an open forum / roundtable for the 30 to 40 people who were in attendance. With my very limited Chinese skills, I could gather most were B2C online companies, mixed with some advertising platforms and logistics companies. There was also a VC (Venture capitalist) who promoted her interest to finding new technologies and investment opportunities.

The round table was a bit long, the speaker wanted everyone to get a chance to put their idea in. But it was a very nice environment, the hotel was 5 star (heck, maybe even 6!). Free gift (a laptop bag with google adwords logo), coffee / tea break. And they hosted a great dinner on the sea afterwards, seafood (oysters, shrimp, crab, etc).

As for foreign companies – Paypal was there (they are also eBay, but they seem to focus on the Paypal brand more), Google, DHL.

And I keep getting amazed that Google would host such an event, in USA they never budget these kinds of seminars. It just goes to show you how much different the China market is from USA….Google has to go out and push people, build face to face relationships with its clients….not like USA where we can’t even reach Google or Paypal, etc on the phone. In China, these massive foreign internet / tech companies have live customer support by phone, client meetings, and sales offices throughout the major cities.

And, like usual, I was the only white guy, or any foreigner for that matter. Well, in fairness there were some overseas Chinese who had returned to China for business, and could communicate to me in English. It was all in Chinese….

Damnnit, I have to master the Chinese language, I do feel its improving, but do I take formal classes. I’m traveling too much? Its getting embarrassing now….

Notes from web visitors:

冰清心2011-06-20 11:11:07
Just now I read your article about the meeting in Interlaken Hotel on May 7. The meeting was held by us–Foreign Trade Federation, not google. Google is the sponsor. All B2C members were invited by us, and we will hold another meeting in July, in Chengdu or Chongqing, the Southwest of China. Welcome to join us again!
冰清心2011-06-20 11:11:16
We will have publication of Foreign Trade Federation, now providing half or one full page of free Ad for all previsous meeting attendees. Please privde us your recent photo, your comments on our meeting and B2C industry and introduction about your company.Thank!

Incoming search terms:

Hyper-networking
china e- commerce
dhl e-commerce paypal china
e-commerce and seminar and export and China
foreign trade federation china e-commerce
google seminar shenzhen paypal dhl
oct east shenzhen speaker
themes e-comerce sale tea

Spending More Time on my Chinese Blog, mailini

Michael Michelini — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 16:34:13 +0000

I should cross promote the two blogs more, not sure if people even realize i have this blog translated to chinese. When I first came to China at the end of 2007 my good friend, Gao Xing, gave me my chinese name, mai li ni , which is a best effort to convert my family name, michelini, to a chinese version. I first blogged about disco Mai Li Ni 迈理倪

I then bought the domain mailini.com 迈理倪 and had it translated to chinese by my staff and friends.

Its not google translate, i have Melissa currently doing it on her part time, I have to upgrade the blog style, currently on wordpress too – mailini.com/blog and I asked my friends which style of the wordpress blog it should be….I don’t just want it to be the same style as the English blog, I know in China that Chinese websites are much different then American sites.

I’m also listening to my friend Larry and going to try to use Weibo more (the Chinese twitter) and link my Chinese blog feed to it. I have already gotten some buzz on the Shenzhen coworking space.

China is where the future is, I have to be more active on the social media, soon these next few weeks:

More of my english blogs here will be translated to Chinese
I will upgrade the Chinese blog theme
More effort put into Weibo (Chinese Twitter) with feed of my Chinese blog posting

I just need to learn Chinese, as I have friends and staff helping now, but when I get blog comments on my chinese blog, I cannot reply to them, I also need those translated to me.

Maybe one day, heck it should happen, I will be more active to be able to read and write Chinese. That would be amazing to me. It just seems like such a complex language, so many characters.

Another Hong Kong Trade Show, Reflecting On My First Trip Here…

Michael Michelini — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 06:12:15 +0000

Came to Hong Kong this morning from Shenzhen, crossing the border, taking the bus to Wan Chai, knowing where to get quick food, stopping off at boot hk coworking space, preparing which booths I would visit, walking in, already being pre-registered for the show (therefore skipping the long line), going directly to the sections I am interested in, shake hands with suppliers I have known for years.

Its great I blogged about it when I first came, the arrival to Hong Kong, the food poisoning and just reading those old blogs brings back the memories…again I feel blessed I have recorded it.

Doing this made me realize…..wow, I had no clue when I first landed in Hong Kong back in 2007….or I am just an experienced Hong Kong / China businessman veteran now – probably a mix of both….But yes, I am ripping through these trade shows like there is no tomorrow. I used to waste so much time being polite and talking to so many booths…now I know what I want, I know what to ask, and I find what I need. Why waste their time and my time?

About 1 hour ago, I stopped by one of my India suppliers and saw my old friend Shwetabh, he and I met that first time in 2007 when I arrived to my first Hong Kong fair. We just sat down for a cup of coffee and discussed business and life. This is why I love international business…I am talking to an Indian supplier, in Hong Kong, about his travels in Rio, Brazil. He says Brazil is his favorite country to visit and I should definitely take a trip. Yes…I do have this on my list of places to travel too….so many places on my list to travel to.

But Shwetabh said I look so tired….he suggests I take some more time in America. He reads my blogs sometimes (wow, I blush) and he says I have to calm down the traveling a bit. How can I have a base, a life, solid friends if I am every day moving from one city to the next. While I do agree, I believe my base is this travel. I have been bushwhacking these connections, bridging people from various cities, various cultures, various backgrounds….trying to find opportunity and make something different.

I don’t want a normal life.

But anyway, the trade show has been rather slow actually….all the vendors I have talked to mention each year the attendance is lower and lower. I suspect it’s a reduction in buyer’s travel budgets, also suppliers no longer wish to go to such lengths to find buyers, and the internet is making communication and connecting easier and easier.

Yet wow, I realize “what a little boy” I was a few years ago, but am amazed at how I even am still standing at this point. Just keep on going, sure my friends may tell me to slow down, but this is just the beginning.
So many more places to go – India, Brazil, Australia, Russia, Eastern Europe. I thrive in Chaos, and I am more experienced and equipped then ever.

Incoming search terms:

hong kong trip blog 2011
hong kong trip blogspot
hong kong trip blogs 2011
hong kong trip blogspot 2011
hk trip blogspot
hongkong trip 2011
hongkong trip blogspot
my first trip to hongkong
trip to hk blog 2011