I never want to grow up!

Read below:

When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life.  

When I went to school they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down “happy”.

Then they told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.

 

- John Lennon 

Its true….my parents just want me to be happy. Our friends….life is too short. What is it for, to accumulate wealth and die? Or is it to experience life and share with others.

I really hope it is the 2nd…but then again, on my deathbed I don’t want to have any regrets…and for the most part…I believe I am going the hard way in life and not listening to everyone around me.

Like Steve Jobs says – we need to look in the mirror every day and make sure we are living the life we want to live.

Maybe I will be a blogger writing his last blog post I hope to continue to share like this blogger did…hopefully make some people realize what are we really stressing about.

Incoming search terms:

• john lennon meaning of life
• poem about happiness
• john lennon merry
• john lennon poems
• inspirational christian poems about friendship
• Poems about hardworking dads
• john lennon poem
• john lennon meaning of life quote
• good poems about life
• meaning of life
• john lennon poetry
• poems about hard working dads

Read below, I’ll add my perspective after:

Enjoy your coffee this morning!

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups – porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite – telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: “If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups… And then you began eyeing each other’s cups.

Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. The cups are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us.”

God brews the coffee, not the cups……… Enjoy your coffee!

“The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.” Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly and bloom where you are planted! Leave the rest to God.

Again and again, I as well as probably everyone in this world thinks what is the point of life? I’m not going to get into religion here, and I know the end of the poem does get religious….but even if you take that part out (I didn’t want to edit it)….then you still get a great deal of value here in the read.

ITS ABOUT THE LIFE WE LIVE. Not the clothes we wear, not the car we drive, the house….its about spending good time with friends. Its about the life adventure. Its about “writing the book of our life, the chapters in it”, the people we meet, LEARNING ABOUT WHO WE TRULY ARE

And for me, its also inspiring people to think outside of the box, challenging themselves.

Enjoy your Friday morning coffee my friends in America today.

Signing out.

Incoming search terms:

• coffee adventure vintage
• sorry poems for dads

Here goes:

Pair of Old Shoes

A young man, a student in one of the universities, was one day taking a
walk with a professor, who was commonly called the students’ friend for
his kindness to those who waited on his instructions.

As they went along, they saw lying in the path a pair of old shoes, which were supposed to belong to a poor man who was working in a field close by, and who had nearly finished his day’s work…

Student turned to the professor, saying: “Let us play a trick on the man, we will hide his shoes, and hide ourselves behind those bushes, and wait to see his perplexity when he cannot find them …”

“My young friend,” answered the professor, “we should never amuse
ourselves at the expense of the poor . . . you are rich, and may give
yourself a much greater pleasure by means of this poor man.

Put a coin in each shoe, and then we will hide ourselves and watch how
this affects him..” The student did so and they both placed themselves
behind the bushes close by. The poor man soon finished his work, and came across the field to the path where he had left his coat and shoes…

While putting on his coat he slipped his foot into one of his shoes, but
feeling something hard, he stooped down to feel what it was, and found
the coin. Astonishment and wonder were seen upon his countenance.
He gazed upon the coin, turned it around and looked at it again and
again.

He then looked around him on all sides, but no person was to be seen. He now put the money into his pocket, and proceeded to put on the other shoe; but his surprise was doubled on finding the other coin . . .

His feelings overcame him . . . He fell upon his knees, looked up to
heaven and uttered aloud a fervent thanksgiving in which he spoke of his wife, sick and helpless, and his children without bread, whom this timely bounty, from some unknown hand, would save them . . .

The student stood there deeply affected, and his eyes filled with tears.

“Now,” said the professor, “are you not much better pleased than if you
had played your intended trick?”

The youth replied, “You have taught me a lesson which I will never
forget. ..

I feel now the truth of these words, which I never understood before:
“It’s more blessed to give than to receive.”

Morale of the story : If you want happiness, help someone in need !!!

I think this is a great poem, especially being a Monday when most people dread going to work, etc.

We just make life too complicated too much, we have to see what the true meaning of life really is, and it really is about giving back….because we can’t keep anything when we die

We are just shadows and dust.

Incoming search terms:

• poem with moral lesson
• way back home moral lesson
• moral lessons about friendship
• great moral lessons
• top moral lessons
• moral lessons blogs
• moral lesson of way back home
• not belonging
• MORAL LESSON OF LET ME IN
• poem with a moral lesson
• moral lessongs
• moral lesson friends

I am getting warning signs from a few of my friends and advisors on this shenzhen coworking project taking too much of my time and not getting enough return for my efforts —> but you know what, I ENJOY DOING IT…..thats what matters most right? I know these people are just out for my best interests, and I make my own decisions in life, but I am going to do it.

And sticking in China, I enjoy the “chaos”, I believe Shenzhen is a great city to be in, and my only setback is the GFW (great firewall of China) blocking the majority of websites I need to access on a daily basis. Basically, that is the main issue I am having.

I still have to figure out my living situation, still crashing at my buddy Dave Ho‘s pad, and commuting between the apartment here to coastal city, taking the metro to the szteam coworking office. My buddy James has a place out in Longhua district…but seriously I am trying to centralize my living and working environment….so tired of travel/commuting. Also considering a “tropical MBA” in China (ecommerce centered), so maybe rent a big place and have interns also get accomodations there. But for now, stay at Dave’s.

I’m looking to buy a bike again (my last bike in China was stolen), this time a folding bike as I can take it on the subway when needed. Also get some much needed exercise!

I’ll continue to grow ecommerce websites, help guide people on which carts and services to use, have more monthly ecommerce meetups. I enjoy meeting people, enjoy marketing, and enjoy the internet. I don’t have patience for doing services (web design, SEO) so making money online via ecommerce is where I belong. Scale-able, automate-able, outsource-able. Hoping to build a business that is not centered around me and my time.

I also see China to continue to grow and develop and mature….I want to be here as that happens. Since I’ve been here in end of 2007, seen so much already…whereas I believe USA has stayed about the same in the same period (if not decreased…)

But most importantly, I have good people around me every day, a supporting mom and dad back in USA, good staff supporting the operations, a cool new community in Shenzhen for entpreneurs/ecommerce, friends in USA, China, and Philippines I believe I can count on and understand me.

What else can someone ask for? Although I can’t say what the future may bring, I am excited for the adventure.

Incoming search terms:

• i am happy for where i am now

I have been in Asia almost 4 years now, and I used to not mind doing China daytime work and USA nighttime work (which is mostly USA phone calls)…but it wears you down. And as I get more and more clients and relations here in China, I have to build those relationships, by spending time at dinner and drinks with them. And on top of that my hyperactive traveling. I feel myself getting less and less connected to America.

Maybe this is what I wanted, I was always afraid of the future of the American economy, and a big driver of why I came out to China in the first place was for business opportunity and long term growth. In one way, I had hoped I was wrong, I don’t like to see America declining more and more…

As this blog title states, many people choose to ignore making a decision, to delay a decision, but by deciding to not make a decision is a decision in itself.

Sure, it is hard to make a decision, there is fear of making a mistake. There are so many moving variables in life. Many people want, or hope, others will make decisions for them. But that too is a decision.

And I have made the decision to be in Asia, to build my career, my business here. And my friend Sarah left a facebook post on my wall today, which sparked this post:

Sarah Zakarevicis –> Michael Michelini
Sarah: Reminds me of you!
me: nice it is inspiring! have a blog pot topic for it

So, obviously this got my attention, Sarah is a good friend from Jerzzzzy, and has known my through my travels and struggles since I moved out of New York City in early 2007.

Here are the lyrics, I’ll highlight the interesting points that maybe Sarah felt reminded me of her:

OneRepublic – Good Life

Woke up in London yesterday
Found myself in the city near Piccadilly
Don’t really know how I got here
I got some pictures on my phone

New names and numbers that I don’t know
Address to places like Abbey Road
Day turns to night, night turns to whatever we want
We’re young enough to say

Oh this has gotta be the good life
This has gotta be the good life
This could really be a good life, good life

Say oh, got this feeling that you can’t fight
Like this city is on fire tonight
This could really be a good life
A good, good life

To my friends in New York, I say hello
My friends in L.A. they don’t know
Where I’ve been for the past few years or so
Paris to China to Col-or-ado

Sometimes there’s airplanes I can’ t jump out
Sometimes there’s bullshit that don’t work now
We are god of stories but please tell me-e-e-e
What there is to complain about

When you’re happy like a fool
Let it take you over
When everything is out
You gotta take it in

Hopelessly
I feel like there might be something that I’ll miss
Hopelessly
I feel like the window closes oh so quick
Hopelessly
I’m taking a mental picture of you now
‘Cuz hopelessly
The hope is we have so much to feel good about

Yes, reading the lyrics I get to understand the song so much more (you know how you listen to songs and never catch the lyrics and true meaning of the song), yeap I’m a big traveler always on the road. Seems this is what everyone thinks of me, but hey its the life I love and glad that what I am, want to be seen as, are connecting.

To wrap up the post, at least I am

Incoming search terms:

• not making a decision is a decision
• sometimes not making a decision is making a decision
• to not make a decision is a decision
• not making a decision is a decision itself
• sometimes not making a decision is the decision
• the decision to not make a decision
• telephone number
• a decision not to make a decision
• not making a decision is a decision in itself
• making a decision not to make a decision
• how not making a decision is a decision in itself
• deciding not to make a decision is still making a decision

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

“Always do what you are afraid to do” Ralph Waldo Emerson

I definitely think working as a small business….in any country or condition is hard…but seriously, it’s ROUGH as a foreigner in China. I have gone through so many ups and downs….heck, when I’m at customs borders and they stare me up and down….I always wonder “did I do or say something, get tracked saying something???”

Man….

But the one thing about being afraid of something, you have to FACE IT. And also, face it with friends you know and trust. Being alone and afraid is SOOO much worse than being afraid but with a group of trusted friends.

Like most scary movies….the group of teenagers taking the weekend getaway to the woods….and one by one each one getting lost, killed, converted to a zombie, etc. It always gets way scarier to watch when you see the one person by themselves in a dark attic after their friend just got eaten by a werewolf. Alone and afraid….

So what do most of us do, we bond with others who are afraid of the same thing, share our stories, our perspective…..and realize it’s not just us.

And it’s not just foreigners – most major cities – Beijing, Shanghai, and here in Shenzhen – have immigrants from other cities…coming to the big city to “make it big”, prove their family they can make them proud. So we all polarize together and help each other succeed.

And in the blog post – April has been wild this year…and talking to my good friend and trusted main contact for SZ team, Ella Zhang, she is also buried with work in her sales job. In April there are the numerous trade shows – Canton fair in Guangzhou, Hong Kong Global sources fair, and many other city fairs showing off manufacturers, trading companies, and new design firms brands and new product lineups.

South China is a crazy place….at least I know I am not alone, seems we all are crazy here, some current events below

• zipping back and forth between the Hong Kong / Shenzhen Border – customs getting tighter on smuggling of iphones and ipads electronics slipped through INTO china without paying VAT tax, and sold online or through grey markets.
• Ferry Trips to Macau – various tourist trips, client meetings, and occasional trade shows or industry events. Oh yea, and don’t forget this is probably now bigger than Vegas in sheer numbers of gambling.
• Trade shows in Guangzhou – Canton fair twice a year, in April and in October, factories debuting new product lines, mingling buyers and sellers….massive floors and buildings of manufacturers in one spot.
• Electronics Markets in Shenzhen – massive networks of permanent trade booths, selling everything from “Grey market” mobile phones, LED bulbs, Bluetooth headsets, “hiphone”….its amazing sight to see.
• Dongguan Factory network for Hong Kong and Taiwanese – As China has grown…factories have moved more inland. Dongguan even is getting higher in its cost, but still a majority of factories lay here in Dongguan – or more specifically Chang An district.

But the more I network, the more I blog, the more I realize, I am not alone. And that makes me feel better at least…..still exhausting, but at least it drives me to keep it up.

I have said my father has done a lot for me in my life, one I can most attribute is hard worth ethic, when I was young he would always push me to do more work, not to get lazy, not to settle for average or compare myself with how my friends are living their lives, but to excel.

And now, I love that my dad has adapted to technology and started to email and scan things to send to me. Recently he sent a nice motivational email and my mom never uses the computer so typed a message she sent as well.

The other day, he scanned in some quotes I liked, one of which was a magnet I had stuck to their fridge down in Florida (emerson one), so here they go, typed out by my hand:

I recently came across an inspiring prayer, by Samuel

F. Pugh:

Oh, God, when I have food,
Help me to remember the hungry;
When I have work,
Help me to remember the jobless;
When I have a warm home,
Help me to remember the homeless;
When I am without pain,
Help me to remember those who suffer;
And remember,
Help me to destroy my camplacency
And bestir my compassion.
Make me concerned enough to help,
by word and deed,
those who cry out for what we take for granted.

I don’t like to push religion on my blog, but the first one there is great no matter what religion you believe in.

The second one here is the magnet I have on the fridge over there- from Emerson:

Finish each day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
some blunders and absurdities have crept in;
forget them as soon as you can.
Tomorrow is a new day.
You shall begin it serenly and with too
high a spirit to be encumbered
with your nonsense.

- Emerson

This one is good to read at night when you can’t sleep, and you head to the refrigerator to get some milk (this my mom always told me helps me go to sleep).

Incoming search terms:

• motivational poems
• finish each day and be done with it poem
• short motivational poems
• poems for my dad
• missing my dad poems
• missing him poems
• poems about dads
• dad poems
• memories dad poems
• MISSING MY DAD HD
• missing my dad verses
• missing poems

Yes, I think I have ADD (attention disorder something) but you know what – That is a good thing! Can’t believe they are drugging up kids in America now for being CREATIVE…….to “numb” their brain…but save that topic for a future blog post.

Some of my friends say to me

FOCUS problem:

“Mike, you’re so dang busy already, how can you really go to a full weekend for ANOTHER startup….”

Effective problem:

“whats the point, if you’re a programmer, you can work by yourself in your basement and build something in a weekend, I don’t need to work in a group with people who can’t program” (this spawned my blog post – do i need to be a programmer to be successful)

SUCH bullshit. I am so annoyed at NEGATIVE people with NEGATIVE energy…..Just try to separate myself from those people. THIS SPARKS CREATIVITY! This builds teams, this practices how to make something, quickly….with limited or no resources. NO EXCUSES. Execute! Maybe the majority of people are afraid of the rawness, the exposure, the pressure? So make up reasons to downplay the power of such a work weekend.

I was first of the startups to present, trendshare.com (I’ll make a full blog post out of it soon) but in a nutshell its a way to Share ANONYMOUS FEELINGS with the world…

View Others Around You Feeling the Same

Find Places Where There’s People Doing What you like….drinking, studying, sleeping

Karaoke battle
community for sharing karaoke, ratings, top 10
videos battling
build rank

hometasty.com

connect home cookers for professional chefs or amateur cooks

groups of styles of food, invite people over to try it.

targetting university students, freshmen that don’t have friends in campus.

expats who want try local food

local task platform, supply/demand

no time for laundry pickup? how much would you pay some grabbit to fetch it for you?

cloud site for real-time translation at public speaking events.

use your iphone as a speaker, receive translated chiense to english (for example) on your earphones from live translators remotely broadcasting over the internet.

Another thing mentioned echelon, singapore – in june, a major launchpad, one of the biggest in Asia. Applications close march 7…..and the guys here who are interested in getting VC or startup funding should apply…..

and the dream continues, the adventure…..

Incoming search terms:

• funny hat pictures

Maybe its because am I a middle man in this whole process? Is my role not as valuable as I think, being a connector, being a networker, being a marketer. I still think THE PERSON is the most important thing, but as technology continues to make things colder and more direct, where bottom line seems to outweigh trust and relationships ,am I overvaluing integrity?
It’s a dog eat dog world in the business world, and in the microscopic startup world, as a foreigner in a country that doesn’t seem to welcome foreigners, it’s a constant struggle. Just getting basic things done in China, as a foreigner, can be a fulltime job. Then there is actually starting or running a business on top of it.

So is it a balance of money, technology, knowledge, leadership, charisma? Is there one of them that rules more then another? Or should we, as a person born into the position we are born into, exploit that attributes were are given.

1. Some of us are born with money, titles, and privileges
2. Some of us are born so intelligent, with photographic memories
3. Some are born with natural charisma and sales abilities
4. Some are detail oriented, managers.

This leads me back to DISC personality method. I remember I had my personality taken, and I was a D and a I, D being dominant, and I being influencial. The seminar leader told us that in order to be successful we had to build project teams, departments, or companies that had at least 1 D (dominant), 1 I (influential), 1 S (steady) , and 1 C (comphre

I love the movie Oceans Eleven, just the group coorindation, the comedy watching such drastically clashing personalities coming together, kind of sucking up dealing with such opposite people in order to accomplish a common goal You had the small flexible guy to get into the safe, you had the bomb squad, you had the hustler card dealer to make distractions, it’s a great film. Another example is the dream movie Inception where a team is put together in order to accomplish a goal, all from various backgrounds – some as an investor, overseeing their investment, some as the builders of the dream, some as the mind manipulators, others as the detailed managers to keep on top of others – you can see the clash of personalities, and while there are some times they get angry at each other, they do put it aside in order to get the job done.

I think maybe this is why we, as human beings, have to learn how to work in teams. No one is perfect, and all knowing, we all need specialists, sales, investors, techies, etc in order to get something done. And it’s this fine balance of being able to handle strong personalities in others to get a common goal achieved.

So, money can’t be everything, there is plenty of money in the world. I think it’s about executing the idea, and getting everyone in a team on board to get the job done.

Incoming search terms:

• bling background
• bling bling
• bling bling gif small
• american bling bling
• money need to be successful
• mdo you need money to be successful
• i need money]
• i need money
• do we need money to be successful
• being successful does money have to do with it?
• paragraph on do u need money to be successful

I do not consider myself a programmer. I have the basic idea, I understand the language. Sure I have made websites and spent hours tweaking code to make things work. Maybe that is what a programmer is? A PATIENT person to keep on testing code and scripts and looking at help files and posting on forums. THAT IS DEFINITELY not me.

Some programmer friends say I should spend more time to learn programming….but I hate it. Really, I am a connector between business and technology, I switched my major at Stevens Tech from Computer Engineering to Engineering Management in my sophomore year BECAUSE I hated to do programming. I spent summer 2000 at an internship Kozmo.com doing database programming….I was miserable at the work I was doing, but I loved the energy of the startup. This will probably sound racist, but whatever – the majority of the IT department in this New York city were Indians and Chinese. They were nice, I am still in contact with a few of them to this day, but it seemed strange to me, and they were not American born Indians or Chinese, they were immmigrants on F1 Visas or whatever. Why weren’t any Americans there in the IT and programming department?

Most of the Americans I saw, whether they were white, black, indian, or chinese backgrounds, were in the business department, were in the project management department. I met a IT business liason, and I loved what he did. He worked between IT and Business departments to ensure proper communication was done.

So after that summer programming internship, where I dreaded debugging PL/SQL database trigger scripts each day, I switched my major to Engineering Management. I remember the comments I got from my IT friends at school. “don’t take the easy way out”, “EM is not a real degree”, and other comments like this. But at the same time, the smaller class of EM majors told me, let those techie nerds say what they want, but they can’t do what we do. The EM majors were the sales and marketing people, forget even about the course load, just clearly could see in a school function…..the EM majors were outgoing and natural charismatic personalities. And its always kind of been this love/hate relationship of IT managers and the actual IT workers. But I am noticing many excellent programmer SUCK at managing a project. They even prefer to stay in a lower position if they don’t have to manage a team. It’s a completely different skill all together.

Then we have link Mark Zuckerburg, and the facebook movie the Social network all over the news, who is an excellent programmer himself. And then people talk about Google too. So I am constantly in sometimes heated conversations with my fellow entrepreneur friends, and they use these as case studies that you have to be a techie yourself in order to lead a successful IT startup. Or have a programmer partner. Maybe they are right about the partner part, but if you watch the social network movie, doesn’t seem like those business partners were well treated as the facebook business grew, right?

Anyway, I am writing this rather emotional post based on some recent heated conversations I’ve had with programmer friends here. As the world gets more and more flat will there be less of a need for marketers and sales people? By saying that technology will be able to naturally market the “best” product and weed out the rest. Obviously I would not like to agree with this, as I feel I am mainly a connector and a marketer, but bias aside, I really think the world is going to NEED NATURAL HUMAN BEINGS to market and sell technical products, as well as lead them into the marketplace.

Pic is something i bought off fiverr of a cartoon of me, seems like a programmer nerd, right? hah!

Incoming search terms:

• i hate programming
• do you have to be a programmer to start a tech company
• i hate programming facebook
• i hate programming what can i do
• I need a programmer for my startup
• i want to be a programmer philippines
• programmer dont have friends
• social network need programmer
• tech company need to be programmer
• technology careers for people who hate programming
• want to be a programmer
• asia programmer suck

Thinking of that today, I think so many of us, myself included, have been raised to think that money and material things are what measures our success and our life. Getting a good job, buying a big house, filling that house with nice things that we can show to our friends and neighbors to prove we made something with our lives.

Is that what life is all about? Thinking of the last words or memories as we die, and as I grow older, I meet more and more people from various cultures and financial backgrounds. I have seen the happiest “poor” people and the most miserable rich people. We have to keep reminding ourselves not to correlate money and happiness. I think my time in the Philippines really helped me there, the majority of people are financially poor, but for the most part they are happy people living life to the fullest. Made me look back to some time living in America and hearing people complain and not be happy when they have such a beautiful house in a safe and clean neighborhood. It’s all about perspective.

Sure, maybe people will say I am blogging this to make myself feel better because I am not financially well off. But power is not having money, power is the ability not to be influenced by money. To be able to walk away from money. The ability to do what we want to do in life without money as a factor. Sure, and therefore having money in the bank account makes us feel that we have more freedom in our life, but if that money in the bank stays there only because we are not happy doing what it takes to maintain that money in the bank, then I do not see that as wealth.

I am going to die one day, that day may be tomorrow, that day may be in 20 years, 50 years, 80 years (medical technology keeps expanding life right). You will die one day too. We will all die. I know I want to die knowing I lived a “Rich” life of experiences and challenging the way people think.

Maybe I am thinking this way today because I heard my friend’s friend is on his deathbed today….got a text from Gary about it a couple hours ago. And I am surrounded by newborn babies as well, Marie is due to have a baby soon, I chatted to Maritess, the mother of my goddaughter Charlotte V, surrounded by kids in almost all angles of my life these days. So seeing new born life and death so close, maybe its just because I am networking with so many people that the odds are I am going to be seeing more and more deaths and new lives….just makes me think how amazing life really is.

I always try to think that when we die, our soul and our life is lived on by the memories in our friends. I think back to my friend Bob’s death so many years ago, and I still treasure the thoughts and memories in my mind. Even if its not death, when I leave a city and a group of friends that I know I will not see again for a long time….I try to remember that my memories wil live on, and that a new chapter in the book of life is coming.

So I hope to keep looking in the mirror every morning and know I am on track to challenge the normal day to day living. I know I may have not always made the best decisions in business and in life, but I also know I am going to move confidently forward to let the story continue.

Incoming search terms:

• mirror
• mirror pictures
• picture of a mirror
• mirror image
• a mirror
• picture of mirror
• mirror images
• зеркало
• mirror picture
• mirror photo
• pictures of mirror
• pictures of a mirror

This newest article in this generation comparison of my parents and myself is David Brook’s op-ed Today’s Experience Economy where is reflects on the current best selling e-book “The Great Stagnation” by Tyler Cowen.

I’ll do my best to re-reflect on this article.

Lets break down and compare INDUSTRIAL ECONOMY vs EXPERIENCE ECONOMY Lets compare….Maybe we are only talking about American economy here, but maybe in a way global.

Industrial economy – our parent’s experienced this…..wars created jobs. Created wealth. We invented cars, invested new products that NEEDED PEOPLE to make them. Work hard, do your job, follow instructions, collect your paycheck, get a job raise, a promotion. Get married, buy a house, get a loan, pay off the debt over time, have kids. Send them to school, use the savings from your job to help them in college.

Experience Economy – not much new products are made, at least not requiring large new manufacturing line like cars and large scale equipment. Stuff was outsourced overseas. Business leaders focused on knowledge and service. We made things that didn’t require PEOPLE behind them….actually most things we invented reduced jobs, not created jobs. Technology makes things faster, easier, more convenient.

Then we hear “the jobless recovery” that the stock market is rebounding, but where are the jobs? Also the whole Wall Street banking schemes, over-leveraged houses….wealth disappearing overnight….realizing money and wealth can be lost overnight. Why work so hard and be a loyal staff when people are hopping jobs so frequently and companies come and go. Retirement savings, whats that, live for now?

Maybe I am exaggerating a bit there at the end, but I don’t think I am so far off….I think our current generation is not just gonna keep our heads down and do busy work. We question more. What was this wikileaks crap? Is the US government really representing Americans the way Americans want to be represented internationally? Do Americans really have the freedom and choice we are promised? Or are we simply tools and lemmings to feed the governments and banks?

I don’t want to get too political, but I really and truly believe, and wonder who the future politicians in America will be.

I love my peers, we are sharp people, flexible people. Funny people. And we are getting older….I’m 30 in a couple months. We will soon be the country leaders….and I think we have our eyes open a bit more then our parent’s did.

We want a quality life, we want to travel, to experience, to be healthy. To have a full life, because we are starting to realize just having the house and the mortgage isn’t enough. We are not pawns for wall street, right.

Incoming search terms:

• how your generation differ from parent generation
• my parents generation
• Our generation has a different lifestyle than the generation of our parents
• how our generation is different
• Our generation has a different life style than the generation of our parents
• compare my generation and my parents generation
• how is our generation different from parents generation
• Parents generation and my generation
• how is our generation different from our parents generation
• my generation is deffernt from parants generation
• our generation and parents generation
• our generation and generation our parents

I have been so much busier then in my whole life…..maybe the last couple weeks I haven’t been up in the air flying between USA, China, and Philippines….but still border crossing between Shenzhen / Dongguan and Hong Kong….as well as so many networking events, sales meetings, and connecting meetings. But this is what I love to do…..MOTIVATING People. Connecting people.

Because I have been busier then ever…I have been really far behind in giving my dad and mom a call back home in Florida, USA. It is really hard to stay in touch with family and friends back home…as nights are days and days are nights (opposite) and my nights I’m normally outside in meetings or events…and mornings I am moving from my apartment to an office to a coffee shop….need to figure out how to get voice calls on my tablet so I can call internationally for free with my data plan. (skype seems to block my tablet use, can’t find on android market?)

But I really think your childhood, and the support and nurturing from your family, especially parents, is so vital to your future success. I have blogged about learning hard work ethic from my dad and how he would stay on top of me to get my homework done, and extra projects too…piling the books up on my desk, the paperwork, the applications for various programs….just embedded in my mind that I always have to be challenging myself…never get comfortable, never to settle.

And lately, I am only chatting to my dad in quick emails back and forth…..my dad has been getting better at using the computer and email, and today I got a great email reply, after I apologized for not being able to call as often lately – here it is:

your great
mom said hi
she knows how you are fighting the fight .
she is so proud of you

I shared it on twitter and seemed to get a good reaction from people…..its true to the heart…its the core of why we wake up every morning, right? Make our parents happy.

Of course this makes me so happy…..my family supports me being so far away from home. And not able to contact as often. As much as I miss them…I do feel I belong here in Asia. This is where the future is…..this is where the growth is. I need to build my network and my value bridging both sides.

Pressure? In a way, my dad always gives me indirect pressure. I know he loves me…but I feel I have to prove something….I was born into this world from my parents, and I have to make something of myself.

Why do I feel that. I think that is a common feeling all people have….right? That indirect pressure from family and friends to “make something of ourselves”.

Incoming search terms:

• motivational email
• motivational emails
• motivational mail
• motivational mails
• motivational e mail
• reply for motivational mail
• mtivaton email
• motivational reply by mail
• motivational emails to family
• mail motivational
• motivational email to myslef
• motivational email family

But tonight, as much as I wanted to go to sleep early, I forced myself to attend the regular “startup mondays” at boot hk….which has been one of my favorite places to go for networking and meeting like minded entrepreneurs and internet “geeks”. And tonight I was definitely in for a treat – it was a dry run practice run for tomorrow’s entrepreneur pitch…..so many presenters, I did my best to jot notes down in a notepad on my notepad (I’m sitting there with my tablet, phone, wifi hotspot, and laptop all at once) so here we go:

campus fork – founder is rayfil wong, calls it the hot or not for food images. leaderboard of best pics. end of feb release iphone app. in over 30 cities

shopdescreatueurs – founded by cedrik, a marketplace for small designers, small brands, a single platform best indpenednet fashion. commission based, win-win, worldwide shipping, flat rate. more then 20 designers. 50% hk/europe. opening office in paris to get closer to designers there. partner w/ crowfunding site. designer of the week series.

qbid –  online freelance C2C platform. Please type in what you need done.

qtrack – absent

rt traffic – absent

wizQ – absent

arkimet – absent

enterproid – by founders andrew toy, alex trewby, david zhu for android apps for enterprise use 3 main goals – unified, enterprise, cloud

asia daily deals – too many HK group buying sites, aggregate them, daily email, mobile app, stats, affiliate, featured, selling data

taxizu – by nagi, helping with taxi sharing in hong kong for long haul taxi routes….TAXI SHARING…….

crispy – apps of wonder, kids digital and more and tweens – funny mobile apps.

NEW CO by andrew layden – 1 device to rule them all….measure, temperature with your mobile device, and pass data to home depot / b and q to order the parts you need right away.

styles nearby – a mobile app to see small boutiques near by.

pandaforum online database to share data in a nice UI format, corporations currently stuck with lotus notes.

campus channels.com your english SUCKS was the idea, to help foster a friendly UI for hong kong people to learn english online.

timeable web platform for prioritizing events, pay to promote your events…iphone apps, gps to see whats happening around us. connect to personal calendar, auto data exchange, social plugin, potential for last minute booking promotions. run by mike ko

winehouse.hk – helping wine shops distribute their wine inventories on a B2B system. phil ingram – co-founder @winehousehk

beecrazy – flipter.com another groupon in Hong Kong, presented by queen bee, has a wanchai sales office, 24 people, 6 months old

So thats the rundown….hope I got it right…I was multi tasking (IM chats, email, projects…) while there…..but I have ADD anyway, so I can’t focus on 1 thing at the same time.

I just kick myself a little, why did I always “avoid” Hong Kong in the past…maybe it was the cost…it is almost as much (if not more) then in New York City….and I am always paranoid as a bootstrapping entrepreneur to burn my cash on overhead…but I think its well paid back now with the connections and opportunities of being in an international, global city. Alas, we cannot look backwards, but only forwards. and seize the opportunity.

I have also just been investing heavily in tech gadgets…..I have been known to be cheap in buying old / used electronics in the past (for fear of them getting stolen), but I just let it all out recently and feel its investing in PRODUCTIVITY, social media networking, and building up DATA quicker – as I feel life is not about physical things anymore, its about the information that is stored within those devices. So I dropped some money this weekend and bought a google android table – the viewsonic viewpad…..pretty slick, and it does fill that void of “phone” or laptop when I’m in transit……I’m still getting use to it to be honest…so busy running from meeting to meeting.

Incoming search terms:

• networking in hong kong
• networking hong kong
• hong kong networking
• networking events hong kong
• rabbit calendar 2011
• hong kong networking events
• networking events in hong kong
• hogn kong networking
• hong kong networking event
• networking event in hong kong
• net working hong kong
• alexander trewby