Reading some linkedin.com discussions, and one that caught my eye was “how did you get into your industry where you are today?” I answered it in the thread, but also want to expand on it more here.

Since I can remember, I always wanted to have my own company, back in 2003 after graduating university and starting a new full time analyst job at Deutsche Bank, I met Greg Schwartz, also a fresh grad in the new hire training program who turned his university senior design project (mobile phone java app) into a business - Mobatech LLC. It was rather funny, as I randomly sat down next to him during 1st day orientation, we became great friends, business allies, and i was in his wedding party! During our training in London, England - I came on board in Mobatech as a marketing & sales consultant (it was his idea for me to do sales…I didnt think I could do it!!!). I remember finding ways to increase downloads (not really purchases, but shows “top downloads” on some of the reseller networks) - it came to be one of the top selling productivity mobile applications. Soon those channels started changing it from top downloads to top sellers….hehe. But ya, I love finding ways to get ahead. Later he showed me his website server logs and asking me to understand it and grow visitors…..it amazed me seeing people from all over the world coming to his website. Sure, I had made websites before, but never analyzed traffic and sources before…it truly amazed me from that day forward.

Researching more into ways to increase website traffic, in 2004 I attended a “free” online marketing class in a fancy NYC hotel. I brought my roommate, Andrew Moran, and we got pushed/sold into a “package” with all the tools to start your own online internet business.

We had no idea what we were going to sell!!!!! Andrew would do the writing, logistics, and operations, I would do the financial, technology, and marketing - both of course pushing sales and sharing customer support. A 50/50 split and a handshake, on a street corner in midtown Manhattan. A new company was born - Parallel Phenomena (started as a general partnership in New York, later re-organized to a corporation in the state of new jersey - Parallel Phenomena, Inc) The name Parallel Phenomena represented Andrew and I (2 people in parallel) and phenomena meaning following our “gut” and feelings.

Sold on ebay, tried multiple online stores (first was pimp guide - your bachelor pad store mixed with nightclub VIP list) - and found success selling bar products…..so much that it didn’t make sense to have a general “everything i think is cool” online shop and ebay store - so being in NYC and taking into consideration the party nightscene and the current “pimp guide” bachelor feel - it seemed newyorkbarstore.com was a fitting name / brand, and the online shop was born in early 2005.

Taking it from there, working every night until we could keep our eyes open, and drinking beers on fridays watching TV (COPS TV show is still my favorite) and some Lower East Side bar hopping, Andrew and I kept on pushing to build up the online business. First we shipped products to our NYC apartment…knowing there wasn’t anyone to sign for it, I got the shoe shine guy downstairs (really cool guy, think Juan) to hold the goods for us till I got back from work. But that got out of hand quickly….so I got my younger university friend, George Couto, to help receive and ship products at the fraternity house while I had the dayjob. That got out of hand, so we found a UPS store….that was expensive and a nightmare - so George’s parent’s basement. Then I found a print broker (he printed the Pimp Guide book for us), Alan Kaufman, who had a storage unit for his business - so we rented a unit next to his, and he would receive and ship for us. Then that got out of hand…so we moved to Webgistix, a 3rd party fulfillment center - uHauled it ourselves on a weekend roadtrip.

That kept going on, a rollercoaster ride. I was the first, quitting the day job at Deutsche Bank in early 2007, with steadily growing online sales, toned internet experience, and a budding business network - it lead me to buying directly from China / Asia distributing into western markets. Started a UK company…but too many logistical problems…..maybe get back there one day

Frustrations trying to buy from China lead me to start Shadstone sourcing (Shadstone Associates, Inc) in mid 2007, spent some time living in San Diego, California w/ my good friend Piotr, I transitioned from the mind of a “9-5″ worker to the full time entrepreneur……..working on the beach, coffee shops, and couches via my laptop……it was cool…..but i wanted something more….it was kind of boring, I got a little lonely, and i wanted to expand.

in addition, I was still frustrated buying from overseas remotely, even though i was now a full-time entrepreneur so i had more time then when i was with a fulltime deutsche bank job, still so many miscommunications trying to buy from China while located in USA…..I felt could do it better if I was on the ground in China…..so I moved to Southern China (city Shenzhen) to have a better understanding and control of product development and supply chain - so I opened Hong Kong & China companies. Plus, China is where the future is, this is the emerging market - this is where the money is to be made, right??? Plus, I had my boys back in USA covering things there (Andrew, Alan, and other business allies), I would build up the sources and supply chain here in China / Asia. Get some ocean containers shipping out, automate order flow and marketing processes. Scale up. Life would be good, right?

Well….. I am not patient enough……and I learned I am not going to succeed in being that “white guy” who changes how business is done in China. I think thats the mistake us stupid foreigners make when we come to China. We think we can change the culture, change the history, change the world. What I have learned is, you have to learn how to go with the way things are, and adapt properly.

So, doing import/ export isn’t my thing. No patience, too crude, too much detail in specifications.

So, internet. But then there’s not just making websites for people (i’ve done that back since 1999). Can’t take that, because most people don’t know what they want (similar to buying products from factories overseas), the client constantly changes their mind. And the money isn’t big enough.

So, selling online, that is my thing, maybe that will work. ecommerce. I dont have to deal with people. I can scale it. I can automate it. Its a growing industry. I have sources and contacts now on various sides of the world - China, USA, UK, etc…..

But how to move forward from here. A lot of pieces in play…..

Just gonna keep on going with what worked and ride the wave. Never give up, keep your chin up, and don’t be negative.

Gonna do it…open the bar - this saturday - halloween night, will be the opening debute!

I’ve been back and forth in my mind, do it, or not to do it. But…I think it will be a good experience, and a good cross promotion for my bar products and liquor distribution businesses…..and I can learn the business where I am targetting anyway….how purchasing is done, decisions, etc.

So for this halloween party, this is what we’re planning

* Opens at 9pm
* Open bar all night for 100rmb - beer (san miguel + carlsberg) and “well drinks” (regular whiskey, vodka, with coke or sprite or tonic)
* Free Snacks
* Mechanical bull !!! (awesome, gotta get it fixed up, but have it)
* Beer Pong Game
* Halloween decorations & door prizes

Just want this to be a laid back bar - no nightclub, no annoying girlie bar annoying you to buy drinks for them, this will be a more local pub with fun and games, and friends.

Only gonna have it open Friday and SAturday nights, lets see

Still working out the website, but this is what it will be www.SambaNightsBar.com

When i first signed up for twitter, it was around summer 2008, i cant remember how i heard about it, i remember it was during a spyble all night development day. I signed up and it then said “what are you doing now?” i said, doing finances. Logged off, and never looked at it for a few months….
Kept hearing about it, also from gillian from seomoz at the seo event in xiamen, so i tried again…..but none of my friends were using it, so…i didnt know how to get more followers.
This back and forth went on, and then i heard enough about it in early 2009 that i read into it. I was then asked to make a presentation on it to an internet marketing group in shenzhen, so i had to really figure it out!
But after i got all the 3rd party tools (i rarely even go to twitter.com, normally log into third party tools like socialoomph.com and dabr.co.uk , plus the fact that twitter.com is blocked in china!) then i could truly find the value of twitter, and here is the list:

• Quick to the point
• All my friends can see what im up to
• Promote new ideas
• Ask questions and share information
• Network and find like minded people fast
• Internet marketing

Quick and to the point - i have ranted about emails being too long, so with twitter you are limited to ____ characters, so there isnt much room for fluff and other bullshit in your message
All my friends can see what i’m up to - i guess the internet has put my life in the public eye and i dont mind, like this blog, my twitter account shows anyone who goes to it see what i am upto. Maybe that scares some people, but when you really think about it, what is so secretive about what you are doing.? By publiclly showing what you are doing, you cab save time telling each person in your life the same story. Plus you can get input and ideas from what you are doing. For example, i was looking for a new cell phone, so i posted (on facebook and twitter) that i was looking for a new phone and needed to get input. My friends replied with their suggestions, and one friend, guilhem from intouch quality, told me he had a used one he could sell me! Haha, that is the phone i am using today! Plus when i travel, people can see what im doing, real time, and almost feel like they are with me. Especially being so far from home and family….i just wish more friends and family used it, but i speculate more and more will over time

Promote ideas - being a businessman,,,,selling and pushing my latest ideas is crucial. On twitter, i can blast a message that im promoting something new, and my friends, who know and trust me, can choose to get involved or not.

Ask questions and share information - this is a bit overlapping with above points, but basically i can ask a question and get real time, human being answers! The idea is the new internet is real time search. Seeing what is hot now! And when you search, you search what real people are saying, and what they are thinking right now…..crazy, and we will see how this develops.

Network with like minded people - twitter is all about building a following, and many people (i have to admit, myself included) get wrapped up with getting a high quantity of followers….but reallly we should focus on good quality. If we build a good following of people who like “basketball”, then when we check our twitter account, we will only get information on basketball….and we can talk to people who are experts. Since actively using twitter, i have found cooperations, friend, and customers from it. The networking is amazing.

Internet marketing - being an internet marketing guy, I see the value in twitter in promoting keywords and products I am selling - not just on twitter.com -  but on google and other search engines and social media platforms. Because  twitter is such a popular site, and so easy for search engines to see, it ranks high for keywords the users place on it.

But really, using twitter on a daily basis has made life more interesting, killed dead time waiting for elevators (I have it on my mobile phone), and allowed me to meet new and interesting people all over the world!  Check me out on twitter today - (@michelini  - twitter.com/michelini )

“A man who never made a mistake, never made anything” - Richard Branson.

that quote inspires me! I relate to it in the fact that I am taking risks, many of which people think I am crazy to do. But I think to myself, I only live once, and if I make a mistake, then who cares, I learn, I move on, lesson learned and I’ll be a better person the next day.

So while traveling, I picked up the book “Business the Richard Branson Way”, and it was definitely a great read! Not a long book, so I can get through it rather quickly and get the main bullet points from it.

Here are some main points I picked up from it:

1) Pick on someone bigger than you - You will never grow if you don’t go after the big boys. Fight any way you can, use marketing tactics that your big competitors would be afraid to be known to use, and get deals with questionable upstarts that may become big hits.

2) Do the Hippy, Hippy Shake - a hippy capitalist, Richard is a guy that works hard and plays hard. He inspires his staff to do the same, having big parties and long nights in the office. Get everyone in the organization to buy in.

3) Haggle - everything is negotiable - one thing about Richard Branson seems to be his ability to negotiate. Another thing is, he doesn’t give shares in his parent company Virgin very easily, Instead he sets up new companies where the shares are divided between the businessmen. Interesting…

4) Make Work fun - like I said up above, Richard has his team buy into the company idea. He says “people work cheaper if they like it”. Its not just money that has people work hard for a company, its about achieving a mutual goal. Inspire others, create energy in the company. Praise instead of criticize, motivate others.

5) Don’t lead sheep, herd cats - this chapter really inspired me. If you have a team of independent workers, let them take ownership of a project. Make a team of ENTREPRENEURS within your company. Master of Mayhem, Branson allows the teams to run independently, his Virgin network operates pretty independently, and Branson becomes an “orchestrator of chaos”, as if it were a rock band.

6) Move faster then a speeding bullet - push people to keep learning new things. challenge your team. When a joint venture opportunity comes to him, he brings the brand and the energy, the other side brings the experience and knowledge.

7) Size does matter - Branson wants to keep his operations to talk on a first name basis, so smaller is better . If the group becomes too big, he splits them up. He wants the workers to be in a startup culture, and have a web of startups. He is a builder of businesses, not a buyer of existing businesses.

Never lose the common touch - Branson has charisma. He is charming, and fun to be around. His energy brings people to him, and opportunities keep on flowing. Even though he is a billionaire now, he is still on the same level as the general public.

This book was an awesome read for me. I didn’t understand the Branson way that much before, and I really connected with his ideas in the book. I hope to apply these to my day to day life…

Yes. this can be a sensitive topic. But hey, thats why I am picking it as a topic in the first place! And that is - how an original idea in one country may be copied overseas without any financial compensation or even a “thank you” to the founder. I, being born and raised in the USA, always was brought up with the impression ideas are stolen and you have to watch carefully who you show it to, and that overseas, yes, it will quickly get stolen from you and you probably cannot do anything about it.

Being here in China now about 1 and a half years, I have grown perspective on this topic. Put yourself in this situation:

See a product / service you like that is sold overseas. It is not being offered in your country. You don’t speak the language where it is currently being made. You see opportunity of this product / service selling in your home country. Also, the original concept is not exactly how you think it would be best in your home country - the people here would want it differently.

WHAT DO YOU DO?

OK, so you want to do the right thing. You, what? Call a USA phone number, but you cannot speak English that well, and it is pretty expensive to call internationally. Do you consult with a company in your city? Well, they probably would say just do it, they would not say bother contacting this international company (and this is the main problem, no standard international policy on IP!).

but say you do speak good English, and you stay up late one night and make a phone call. OK - a customer service rep picks up the call - “who are you? hmmm, who to transfer you too”. etc etc, I mean, how do you get to the right person?

And then, say you get to the executive team who owns this great product / service in USA. If they even take you seriously, what are they going to say

Surfing around twitter and the overload of blogs, and its almost sad to see how people sell themselves out in hopes of getting some affiliate income. But this world where anyone can jump online and make a blog with some links to hope to make some money. Below I had to take some snapshots, they are pretty humorous.

How low will they go?

I removed the face on this guy, but I can just imagine the scheme he got himself into. Just hope he didn’t pay a fee to “get a free website that will autogenerate cash”. Push tons of twitter followers onto these scams sites, if they fall for the same scam you fell for, you’ll get a percentage of the crap they just bought. Sad.

Make anything up.

But its a good lesson, and I think it will get these people to learn more about the internet and online business. So in the long run, it would be worth it.

I guess I can admit I have fallen for some of these scams. Maybe they do have genuine possible returns, but the 0.0001% of people who realize it, the general masses will not be happy. I used Storesonline back in 2004 and I would say the majority of people who signed up

Like Those Stories in College
Look to your left, and look to your right, 1 of you will not graduate. That is a story I remember people would say happen during the opening orientation of university. I feel the same is in the internet world. So many blogs, websites, twitter accounts. All the hopefuls dreaming of big cash, logging into their online bank with 6 or 7 digits of cash. We all hav that dream, who wouldn’t. But not everyone can achieve it. Those willing to work hard, study hard, and adapt to the changing internet landscape will survive. And…oh yea, you have to enjoy it wholeheartedly!

Made a quick graph, kind of funny, but I would say its true. As people lose their jobs, and have tough economic strains, they fall victim more to online money making rings. And in today’s online environment, its easier then ever to get started and hooked….Sadly, there isn’t a shortage of companies willing to scam you out of your hard earned cash.

So don’t give up, keep your chin up, learn, and try. And yea, try to enjoy it at the same time.

Going through the travels, and mainly I’ve been always “tiptoeing” around the internet, but maybe not confident to do it 100%. Mobatech I was getting into sales and marketing, which lead to new york bar store, to shadstone - and in shadstone I was going to make it a marketing company, but decided instead of doing marketing for others, I would market my own new import/ export business. This was because, well if I can get on the top of google for “bar products” and sell a bottle opener, then try to get on the top for “buy container from china” and make a bigger average order size. After almost 2 years trying to do import/ export I moved into 100% internet SEO and marketing. With a little bit of spyble, mixed with influences from friends and business partners, I was convince to go 100% into what I have a passion for the internet.

Then I wonder why I didnt do this earlier? I remember always doing other people’s websites, and being overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated. Maybe its because I cannot sell the service correctly, maybe its because I cannot deal with people, or I’m a pushover / too nice. But I enjoy makeing internet technology, and getting people to interact with a website online.

Last week went to the biggest SEO event in china in the city of Xiamen, and was invited as a Speaker! Spoke about keyword tools, keyword research, and how to organize your website correctly. Met many like minded people and it made me wish I was doing internet marketing as a full time effort a lot earlier. better late then never!!

Dinner with the president of SEOMOZ.org - Gillian Meussig, aka “SEO mom”, visiting China from Seattle!

Speaking at the show, about 300 attendees.

In front of the entrance

Today is mid autumn festival in China, so a public holiday (Monday). Represents the full moon, harvest, families sitting around a table as the moon is symbolic of a circular table for the family. Spent Friday evening at a friend’s factory party. It stil amazes me the life of a factory worker…..lives in a dorm next to the factory, what else do they know? Makes me think of boarding school, they all know each other, see each other during the day, at meals, at night. I don’t see this continuing in China…..I see more development. Sitting there with the factory workers makes me think - how much lost potential is there in this world? Sure, they aren’t educated and that’s why they’re factory workers, but what if they were educated!? how different would this world be. And then someone may say, well if they were smart enough they’d figure a way to bigger and better things? Really? I would beg to differ. As this globe continues to flatten and coninues to develop, I pray for less lost potential.

Also spent some time with Andrew and Burt for the electrapour production….some rather disappointing pricing surprizes….its gettting too expensive!