Cultural Chameleon, even at 176 and blonde

While that’s a nice tagline, it should really say:

Corruption is working

or

Corruption is alive and well

When you have corrupt leaders in Africa who refuse to participate in the international capitalist system and instead hoard assets, engage in genocide and starve their peoples to death, this is not a failure of capitalism. This is corruption and a refusal of other nations to breach the sovereignty of said African nation.

Capitalism has raised millions of people in China and elsewhere in Asia and South America out of poverty. We’ve shown the failure of Communism. 50 years ago the Chinese kid would have looked the same as the African kid. While the current Chinese kid does not exemplify the ideal outcome, it is definitely a better outcome than his continuance in the situation on the left.

Capitalism certainly isn’t perfect, but then again nothing is. Everything must go through growing pains.

We need to think of the next stage as Compassionate Capitalism. This is an opportunity for entrepreneurs to solve problems of people, not of business, to work towards a better future for all and think of the triple bottom line (people, planet, profits-in that order).

If this picture inspires something in you, it is your responsibility as a world citizen to use the best tools at your disposal: you, your abilities, and entrepreneurship to take action and solve these types of global challenges. Grassroots level (i.e. with the entrepreneur) is the best place to start.

That being said, anyone of us could start the next Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which does tremendous work to increase access to healthcare and education around the world. Or choose your issue, maybe it is clean water (such as charity:water), maybe it is starvation, maybe it is corruption. The point is, what are YOU going to do about it.

TAKE ACTION

Popularity: 2% [?]

March: After returning to Shanghai after the Olympics, I decided I wanted to work for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.  So I left italki and made Expo my mission. Success!

March-May: I took my first Traditional Chinese Medicine Class and a photography class at the Expat Learning Center.

March-November: I worked for Aden Services on the Expo project, first as hostess recruitment manager and later as Key Account Manager of Luxembourg Pavilion.  As KAM of Luxembourg Pavilion, I had about 130 Chinese staff underneath me, which challenged my language skills, my management skills, and my cultural knowledge.  I also had to manage the client relationship, including most notoriously, my first day as KAM when our security guards for the Pavilion went on strike.  What a way to start!  All ended well with a very successful Expo, Pavilion, and Aden team performance.

My colleagues at Aden were fabulous people, who knew how to work hard and still go out and have fun.  They were some of the best, most diverse group of people I could imagine working with.  And all of us were under 35 which added to the camaraderie.

May: The Expo Started!

June/July: Starting dating Adam, who I met as we worked together at Aden Services on Expo project.

August: In the middle of August I flew to Tokyo on an invitation from Sarah, a high school friend I hadn’t seen since.  We had a whirlwind 3 day trip of the major shopping districts, parks, and restaurants of Tokyo.  Good fun and great to catch up with her after all these years.  Thanks, Sarah!

In late August, I convinced Adam to get on a plane for the first time in his adult life and go with me to Qinghai, including Xining, Qinghai Lake, and into Gansu to Xiahe to see Labrang Monastery, and ending in Lanzhou. It was a nice chance for us to spend time together and enjoy cooler weather, see rolling hills, some spectacular scenery, and China’s ethnic minorities.

At the very end of August, I managed to hop on a plane again to do Qingdao Beer Festival, my first and (probably) only trip.  Considering I can’t stand beer, once was enough.  But it was wonderful to have so many good friends around; we stayed in an old German castle style hotel near the water.  We went to the beach and ate fabulous Korean BBQ.

October: In early October, I had to notify all the Aden staff of the termination of the employment contract: think Up In The Air. Not that this isn’t stressful enough in of itself, I had to do it all in Chinese. And I had to do it immediately before Luxembourg Pavilion Day, probably the most important day of Expo for our Pavilion.  In the end, everything worked out. The staff did a fabulous job with Pavilion Day and we got to see the Grand Duke of Luxembourg.

Besides the stress that certainly weighed on me, the process put extreme pressure on my moral center, and added strain to my relationships with my colleagues, especially Adam.  If I can point to one defining circumstance in my life as an employee, that is probably it, which was the final straw in committing me to entrepreneurship.

And then the Expo was over. In total I saw about 154′Pavilions,’ at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, and even that is probably only half. In November, after Expo finished, I went back to say goodbye and was sad there were so many restaurants I never got to try, so many bars I never drank at, more stuff I wished I bought or tried, Pavilions I never visited, and I had all the opportunity in the world.  Strange how work always got in the way.  But I truly cherish the many fond memories I have of visiting (and drinking in) Expo with different friends.

November: My contract with Aden Services ended. At midnight on the night my contract ended, I flew to Boracay, Philippines for 5days of sunshine, reflecting, and relaxing.

Throughout November I pondered what my next steps were, how I could follow my passion, and become ‘location independent’ and what that would mean for my career.

November 28th: After years, and weeks of intense preparation, I took the test of proficiency in Chinese language 汉语水平考试。

December:  In early December, I jetted 0ff  (well, took the train, actually) with 3 girl friends to Huangshan for my last trip of 2010.

After Huangshan trip, it was time to start moving toward the next phase of my life: following my passion.

December has been consumed with projects, gearing up to start my next business, and the usual holiday and going away parties (so sad Rachel & Helen are gone   ). The projects I’m working on for December and January are: helping a TCM doctor to write a book about functional foods in English and helping build the web presence and generate PR for PureLiving China.  Besides my continuing Shop My Shanghai.  In the middle of the month I took another TCM course, this time focusing on medical massage (tuina).

I also completed another major step towards becoming location independent and following my passion: signed up for a longer TCM course and started my new blog about health and wellness: World Vitae.

2011: So what does 2011 bring? After those projects are completed in January, I will be in the US for 3weeks, before returning to China to move directly to Hangzhou to study TCM at Zhejiang University of TCM.  If you’re interested in TCM, health, wellness, or Oriental Medicine, please follow my new blog.

Therefore, I’m now in my last 3.5weeks of living full-time in Shanghai.  (tear) I’m looking for a small room I can stay in part-time on weekends in Shanghai, if you know of any cheap cheap cheap places.  And I’m looking for a room to rent in Hangzhou.

You can imagine I’m quite busy,

so goodbye for now!

And goodbye 2010! You have been another fabulous year.

Popularity: 2% [?]

The Year in Review: 2009

January started out with a New Year’s Day flight from Phoenix to San Francisco, which included watching the USC Rose Bowl game as soon as I got off the plane in San Fran.  Then more game watching downtown with my awesome cousin Kelly and her friends.  The next day I grabbed my passport from Alec who I hadn’t seen since 2006, many thanks to him for getting my Indian visa.  That same day I caught my 1st transpacific flight of the year and headed back to Shanghai.

Back to work in Shanghai for a week, then birthday celebrations galore start.  I’m not sure how its possible but I managed to have 3 celebrations during the week of my 25th bday: dinner on the 13th with a few girlfriends, then co-party night with Sian, Sherry, and Yi, and finally birthday brunch.  Thanks for organizing that brunch, and every other one, Sherry!  This is was also the first time in 2.5 years in China that I really got on a work permit.

Late January, at the start of Chinese New Year, Sian and I headed off to India for a whirlwind 10-day trip around Delhi, Varanasi, Agra, and Jaipur.  India is an immensely fascinating country.

From February, as everyone got back to Shanghai from CNY, we started having more tweetups, including Twestival, where I met a lot of the people I’d only ‘met’ online, including @IrisJumbe and @PDKay.  At the SXSW Shanghai party at M1NT in late February I got to meet a lot more of my twitter friends, including those who don’t live in China and make better connections with them.  To round out February, I changed the theme on my blog to center around life-streaming, (which I’m now coming to hate…)

In March we had our first !talk! Chatfest and finally launched the open beta of the teaching platform.  Despite this, the !talk! situation was in somewhat of a flux, so after awhile I decided to work less hours there and spend more time on my multitude of other activities.  Since November of the previous year I was already teaching English a few nights per week.

With the start of spring, I still didn’t feel that my health had completely recovered from all the illnesses of the winter, so I decided I needed to take drastic actions (haha). For Qing Ming festival, I booked myself a week at a cleanse resort in Thailand.  It was a much needed flushing out of the system that kept me much healthier in the ensuing 8 months, especially compared to the previous 8.  Besides meeting some like-minded people during the detox, I also met some other awesome people at the #BangkokTweetup, some of whom have become really helpful to me recently.  This spring, I also got to connect with fellow Shanghai transplant Arizonan @Mark_E_Evans and another China-interested tweeter @lparsons, whose dream is to move to China–good luck to him.

By late April / early May, when the Dragon Boat festival rolled around, Jai, Allison and I headed to Seoul for a 4-day weekend.  They say Seoul is a city with no soul, but I loved it and think that’s in large part due to our excellent tour guide, my long time friend, Irene.  Check out the DMZ tour, really interesting, including a step into North Korea.  Literally the day after I got back from Korea, I did my first set of factories tours in 2009.  It’s amazing all the crap that gets produced in China!

In Late May, I spent a weekend in Hangzhou with Al & Jane, when they generously took me around to all their favorite sites and restaurants.  Tea plantations, China’s Grand Canal, Pagodas, and spicy wings, the spiciest food imaginable.  I was crying, literally.

As June rolled around I was just starting planning tech events for the Shanghai community and welcoming 妹妹 (little sister) for her summer in Shanghai.  Eliana arrived on June 3 to spend 5 weeks with me and exactly the day after she arrived, we set off to see the ‘real’ China.  The real manufacturing China, that is.  This was my second factory tripping of 2009.  It’s amazing all the crap that’s produced in China!

Around mid-June the Geeks on a Plane tour rolled through town to attend Shanghai Barcamp on June 14, and then celebrated the end of the trip with the Geeks and Glamour afterparty at M1NT.  It was awesome to meet entrepreneurs, VCs, and other twitter friends from the States including @DanMartell.

Throughout June and early July, Eliana and I went revisiting or exploring new parts of Shanghai.  And of course, we went to Beijing and saw the not-to-be-missed, Great Wall of China, Tiananmen, Forbidden City, and she went swimming in the Olympic Watercube.   I also got to see to see Ian, Leslie, Jeremy, and Jenny, and join yet another Tweetup to meet twitter friends in Beijing.  To check another place off my list, we took the train to the old walled city of Pingyao. At nearly the end of the trip, on the bus ride to the airport, my cosmetics case got stolen from my backpack A very sad day.  In this case, Eliana was the rock–thank you girl, I love you!

Just around the 3 year anniversary of my life in China, the internet went on lockdown in China and ever since then Twitter, Facebook, Twitpic, and since even earlier Youtube have been inaccessible, seriously hindering multimedia communication with the outside world.  Mid-July Eliana went home and I took my 2nd transpacific flight, this time to Vancouver.

On the bus from Vancouver to Seattle there was free wifi! And unrestricted access to twitter, facebook, youtube, which was like heaven until my laptop battery died and I realized my power cord didn’t work in N America… A busy 3 days in Seattle with my Dad and friends, Burt and Dawn: food festival, hiking Mt. Rainier, and the 4am launch of !talk! Marketplace for companies, but the weather was gorgeous, the food good and fresh, and the air clean and refreshing.

Next it was time to fly up to Alaska for my grandparents 60th Anniversary.  We went ATV-ing near Denali National Park, watched the sunset at 11pm, pet huskies, took the Denail Express train to Whittier, cruised on the Diamond Princess, went to Glacier Bay National Park, sea-kayaked in Ketchikan, went Geocaching, and had a good week of family time.

For the first week in August, I reconnected with friends from China now living in Victoria and Vancouver, including Heike, Brook, Scales, KK, and Danielle, and made other new friends through them, include Mariska.  The Pacific Northwest from Seattle, to Vancouver and the Island, all the way up to Alaska has truly spectacular natural beauty, clear blue skies, snow covered peaks, stunningly colored flowers, green trees and grass, fresh healthy foods, all enough to satisfy me with what often seems lacking in the grimy urban grey of Shanghai.  Catching up with friends from China who are no longer living there really helped me to get perspective on life there and what is most important.  Getting on my 3rd and last transpacific flight of the year to head back to Shanghai, I was feeling very refreshed and refocused with resolutions for my life in China.

Back in Shanghai, I jumped head first back into activities related to tech, work, events, and, from all my discussions with friends who formerly lived in China, recommitted myself to learning Chinese.  I found a private tutor to work with 2 times per week, started reading Chinese magazines and newspapers, listening to ChinesePod again, decided to more actively seek out opportunities to practice Chinese including looking for new Chinese friends, and eventually more Chinese shows and movies.  I am listening to countless podcasts on entrepreneurship, as well as lectures on world history and geopolitics to start brushing up my knowledge for the foreign service exam.

With my September trip to Hong Kong to see Coni, Brenda, Amjad, Daniel, Stanley, etc, and Stephanie (who I hadn’t seen in 5 years, since USC), I finally gave into pressure and got an iPhone.  Podcasts, apps, Chinese dictionary with handwriting, plus GPRS allowing me to be chatting to someone through Skype while walking down Nanjing Road, I can’t believe I waited so long.  iPhone convert, admitted.

By the time October holiday rolled around, my work permit was expiring, and still reeling from all the traveling I’d already done this year, with additional complications, I was compelled to spend China’s 60th Anniversary National Day in Shanghai, much to my chagrin.  (Randomly, I just realized the CCP was founded the same year my grandparents got married).  It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I got to reconnect with another friend who used to live in Shanghai and was back for a visit: Matthias.  October and November were spent with friends who were in town visiting, including a week with that friend from Germany, Ian down from Beijing and his friend from USC, then in November Sean came back for a visit and the HSBC Golf Tournament, followed by Luke from Toronto (I met but hadn’t seen since 2006), who came to visit family and attend his sister’s wedding

In late October, USC opened their first office in Mainland China.  Also in late-October, I went to yet another manufacturing town, this one specializing in textiles for the Keqiao Tradeshow and also saw the canal town of Shaoxing.  A month later, Bryan, Vivianne, and I were off for a day trip to the Commodity City: Yiwu.  It’s amazing all the crap that’s produced in China! Since getting back to SH in August, my Chinese slowly showed signs of improvement after months of stagnation, I signed up to an internet dating site (thinking about it now, am I that desperate?), and I continued to spread myself over many different involvements.

For Thanksgiving, I met mom in the Philippines for my last international trip of 2009, bringing the total to 50 countries in 25 years.  Ten days in the Philippines renewed my health (after 2 brutal days of facing the Chinese hospital system just before the trip) and helped me to realize I was stretching myself in too many different directions.  This feeling was further brought home by another conversation in early December that’s been forcing me to take stock of where I am, where I’m going, recognize my passions, and figure out what I want out of life.  As 2009 draws to a close and I face yet another round of visa applications, I’m reading Think and Grow Rich (again) and Getting Things Done, and most importantly I’m reflecting on those issues and what they mean for me in 2010.  The most influential and memorable book I finished in ’09 was The Go Giver–great book, go read it, especially if you do business or work in social!

Happy New Year!

Writing this made me realize there were a lot of photos from this year, I hadn’t yet put on Flickr, so if you didn’t click on any of the links above, go look at my photostream now, its been updated: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tofflerann/

Don’t forget, 2010 is the Shanghai Expo and among other reasons, a great opportunity to come visit me in Shanghai! I’d love to host you if you’re coming this way.

Popularity: unranked [?]

I hadn’t really thought about it…maybe I’m just that good at managing my time…or maybe I’m just not fully committed to anything…  I didn’t even realize it until my friend said something to me about it at lunch today: I do a huge variety of stuff here and I’m still trying to do more.  Here’s the list, I’m curious what you think…

(Nearly) Full-time job: italki
Part-time job: Talk English
Run my own business: Shop My Shanghai
My personal Blog (rarely): this one
New Tech Blog I’m starting with said friend: http://RedTe.ch
Study Chinese and prepare for HSK Exam (a priority)
Study for the Foreign Service Exam (target date: H1 2010)
Organize (mostly tech) events: Lunch2.0, BarCamp (soon to be more)
Create Content (besides above blogs) and connect with people online: Twitter & Flickr (@TofflerAnn), Youtube, Facebook, LinkedIn

And yet I still find time to look for and evaluate new projects and business opportunities, hang out with friends, date, exercise almost everyday, read actual books offline, listen to lots of podcasts, travel quite a lot, and whatever else.  Am I crazy or is this actually all possible?  I just figured this was normal Shanghai expat life, everyone trying to do everything (except for those who drink themselves into oblivion, obviously).

So when people ask me, what do you do?, hence the hesitation. Also, probably the same reason I’m not sure when the last day I didn’t do some kind of work was.  Does checking and responding to emails count as work?

Popularity: unranked [?]

Apparently my previous post wasn’t lost to the mysteries of WordPress but rather to the prying eyes of the Middle Kingdom’s national internet spying feature.  Nonetheless, very frustrating!  Well, I’ve learned my lesson: use a VPN when reviewing or writing on my blog.

Popularity: 1% [?]

You’re planning your next internet company, you intend to reach out to a broad audience-the whole world, so where do you base it-West Coast of the US, Europe, or China? (This is by no means a comprehensive analysis of this topic.) These are a few thoughts I have on the relative advantages of each location, based on what I know about the SNS (social networking) for language learning industry, including my Shanghai-based employer.

Advantages of China–

1. Lower cost structure (labor, facilities & equipment)
2. Huge market, the Chinese love their interactive, instant gratification web apps
3. Entrepreneurial spirit, try anything, wild west gold rush mentality
4. VCs (Venture Capitalists) may be looking more at China’s internet players because China now has the most internet users in the world, and China’s internet players have more solid histories of revenue flow than Western internet players
5. Western students will intern for free just to say they’ve worked/interned in China, ‘the hot new place to be’

China’s distinct Disadvantage

1. Relatively inefficient, unproductive programmers, engineers

US’s Advantages–

1. High quality technical staff
2. Proximity to Silicon Valley & VCs
3. Proximity to a lot of tech conferences where you can meet VCs, influential bloggers, potential partners
4. Ample opportunity to get your message out because of proximity to influential tech related media

Europe has similar advantages as the US, but not on the scale they exist in the US. There are some tech conferences in Europe, there are VCs in Europe, but the media coverage for tech stuff is relatively limited in Europe.

America’s & Europe’s distinct Disadvantage–

1. High costs of labor, office space, infrastructure, etc

In conclusion, Europe seems to offer the fewest benefits. Not surprising, the cost differential makes China a very attractive place to base your start up. The US is the best for getting very influential and widely seen English-language media coverage.

Perhaps the optimal solution is to have the marketing/PR person (or firm) in/near Silicon Valley, the technical team, led by a capable Western project manager, based in China, and the executive going back and forth.

If you thoughts on aspects I’ve overlooked or other ideas, please post them in the comments section below.

Popularity: 1% [?]

For the non-lawyer among us, forming the legal entity for a new business can act as a small roadblock in the early stages. In China, formation can be a much larger roadblock, especially as a foreigner trying to navigate countless ministries, language barriers, develop the necessary guanxi, and just generally figure out how the system works.

Due to this, my idea was to have my business started in China in the name of a local partner who’d be responsible for all government, incorporation, and tax issues while leaving me with execution and operations side of the business. In fact, its much easier for Chinese to start a business (in China) than foreigners. Indeed, Chinese persons only need CNY1 to be able to start a business. Anyway, I thought this was the best plan, but then questions of selling, repatriation of profits, etc started to creep into my mind so I sought additional advice.

A fellow American entrepreneur in China suggested I incorporate a holding company in Hong Kong which would then open a wholly foreign owned subsidiary (WOFE) to operate in Mainland. This allows the HK parent company to be bought and sold without ever touching the subsidiary and therefore having to deal with title transfer in Mainland (apparently a nightmare).

I cross-checked this advice with another Australian entrepreneur in China who said this only works if you have operations in another country. According to her, the Chinese government doesn’t allow this method if you don’t have operations in another country, which I have no intention of having (initially, if ever).

Further research suggests I may not be eligible for a WOFE anyway as I intend to ‘sell to the Chinese market,’ well, more accurately provide a service to expats (and some Chinese) within China but I guess that’s still the same. According to that same site, my local partner could act just as I had in mind: “The local partner [...] may be a silent partner who was acquired by the foreign firm simply to gain domestic market access.”

A different site suggests that information is outdated and therefore “With China’s entry into the WTO, these conditions were gradually abolished and the WFOE is increasingly being used for service providers such as a variety of consulting and management services, software development and trading as well. [...] The advantages of establishing a WFOE include: Capable of converting RMB profits to US dollars for remittance to their parent company outside China.” By comparison to the Chinese who can start a business with CNY1, a WOFE requires registered capital of USD120,500.

Guess its time to consult a lawyer. In the meantime, I welcome anyone’s advice who has had experience with this.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Check out this report from the UNWTO:

WTO: China Will Become The Largest Travel Destination By 2020
February 5, 2007

The World Tourism Organization says that by 2010 China will exceed Spain and become the world’s second most popular travel country, and by 2020 it will become the largest travel destination in the world.

The Madrid-based organization says that despite the appreciation of RMB value in 2006, China’s inbound tourists increased by 6% in the year and reached 49.6 million.

WTO Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli and Marketing Information and Promotion Department director Johann Kestner both estimate that China will see faster growth and will exceed Spain in the next four years.

Frangialli says that China, which has abundant capacity in tourist reception facilities, will probably surpass France by 2020 and become the most popular travel destination in the world.

WTO statistics show that China’s outbound tourists increased from 20 million in 2003 to 31 million in 2005.

Wow!  With so much growth, that means there’s a huge opportunity.  And I’m already in China!  Especially in China, where the industry is not nearly as developed as in the US or Europe, there are so many issues yet to be worked out, such as service, transportation, language difficulties, the intimidation factor, etc. So now the question is, what is a good business plan to take advantage of that report?

The problem with businesses in the travel/tourism industry is the margin is tiny.  People start businesses and work in the travel/tourism industry for the sheer love of travel and helping others to travel.  The barriers to entry in this field are quite low, buyers power is high (brand recognition is low), and the threat of substitutes is high. (Porter’s 5 Forces.)  These factors combine to keep margins in this industry quite small.
Nonetheless, I, like so many others want to start a business in the travel/tourism industry, particularly related to China.  I’m starting to brainstorm and have a couple of ideas, but I welcome any others however wacky they may be.  Feel free to offer suggestions or business ideas in the comments below.

Popularity: 1% [?]

This interview by a China blogger with an—dare I say—expert on Chinese outbound tourism is quite interesting and very informative. Roy Graff’s business concept is brilliant, just wish I’d thought of that. Tourism is fundamentally a good thing and Chinese outbound tourism helps to reduce China’s astronomical trade surplus. And I’m all for speeding up the ADS (Approved Destination Status) procedure, especially so that countries like Canada and the U.S. will benefit. With the recent opening of the Los Angeles VCB office in Beijing, places like LA and Vegas will certainly be among the first American cities to benefit when the U.S. finally obtains ADS. But the question is, are they ready? Can they handle and service that many Chinese tourists? Do they have the cultural sensitivity? Do they have the language skills? Certainly, with large Chinese immigrant communities (particularly in LA) they have the food to satisfy Chinese tourists. But what about the activities they will do and the fact that the majority of Chinese people can’t drive? These are the issues that Roy Graff and his company, Ccontact, help overseas tour companies and destinations work through in their China strategy. How genius is that?

In the interview Roy Graff said he expected the trend in outbound tourism for experienced Chinese travelers to be

More people will choose to stay more time in a single country or go on ‘theme’ tours, such as cultural Europe, sports activities etc.

In this case, I’m going to have to disagree with the expert. I don’t think Chinese tourists are going to choose ‘theme’ tours, unless that theme is shopping. The Chinese usually aren’t interested in culture when they travel overseas, evidenced by the fact they travel in large groups which minimizes interaction with native peoples, they refuse to eat local food, and their favorite activity is shopping. A large part of the appeal for the Chinese to travel overseas is to impress friends and relatives back in China with where they’ve been and bring back designer goods and photos to prove it. Therefore, I expect the more well-traveled Chinese will seek out iconic places like Los Angeles where they can go to Disneyland and Universal Studios or Vegas where they will stay in the MGM Grand and say they’ve rubbed the lion’s foot and gambled in Vegas. And after that, they will look to more exotic destinations like Africa and even Antarctica. Despite the fact the Chinese people shun the sun, they are surprisingly in love with places like Hawaii and the Maldives.

Although Chinese outbound tourism has huge potential and will do a lot to expose the Chinese, one group, or one solo traveler at a time, to the outside world, I have to say I’m more interested in inbound China tourism. Hence, why I have a Shanghai shopping business catering to inbound tourists and work in a local hotel that receives many foreign guests. (Just a clarification: outbound tourism is people of the country being mentioned going abroad for travel; inbound tourism is people of other countries visiting the country in discussion. For example, my family would be China inbound tourists, whereas my colleagues wanting to go to the Maldives are potential outbound Chinese tourists.) This is why I proposed doing research on and working with local governments and the China National Tourism Administration to promote to foreign tourists the appeal of remote inland locations such as the Dragon’s Backbone Rice Terraces in Guangxi or Shangri-la in Yunnan. But alas, my proposal was not accepted; instead, here I am offering Shanghai inbound tourists custom shopping tours as well accommodations at a local boutique hotel.

Yay! Power to tourism!  Power to entrepreneurship!

Popularity: 6% [?]

Saturday night, Andrew and I sat at a bar discussing how we could get our picture on the cover of Entrepreneur magazine, ie what either of us could do to become a successful entrepreneur. Not long after this conversation, a few USC alums walked in, including a couple who have started a number of their own businesses. The coincidence of this situation got me thinking about all the entrepreneurs I know in Shanghai. This led me to think that perhaps this wasn’t so much coincidence but rather a very expected situation. If it weren’t for the fact that we are in constant contact with entrepreneurs, we probably wouldn’t have been having the conversation at all, and with how many entrepreneurs we know in Shanghai, it’s not all that surprising that at least 1 would walk in.

Even though we didn’t come up with the next big thing, we do know plenty of entrepreneurs we can call on to ask for advice when we do. As such, I’ve decided to make a list of all the entrepreneurs I know in Shanghai.

Alex Cureton-Griffiths – Shanghai Networking News — www.shanghainn.com
Camille – Fashion Design
Charlie Chen – Swisstar Communications Consulting — www.swisstar-global.com
Chun Xu (USC alum) – Kingsway Investment Advisors Co. Ltd — www.kingsadv.com
Daniel Benefield – One Stop China, Ltd — www.onestopchinasource.com
Dave Whittingham – Consulting
Dilong Zhao – Black Card Life — www.blackcardlife.com
George M. Felbinger – China Golden Source Ltd. — www.chinagoldensource.com
Josh Steinberg – Software/Technology
J. (a USC alum) – Teavalize — www.teavalize.com
Keith Wang – Custom Printing
Kevin Chen– A social networking site for China
Lawrence Liao – WizHouse Consulting — www.wizhouse.com.cn
Marcus Lee – Ewarcus – www.ewarcus.com
Maria Trombly – Source Media — www.SecuritiesIndustry.com
Michael Bulter – an English teaching company — www.uru.net.cn
Paul Kung – Pacrim Martec Company — www.pacrimusa.com
Robert Tagg – Herbert Software Solutions, Inc — www.herbertsoftware.com
Sean Regan (USC alum) – Axis Industrial — www.axisindustrial.com.com
Toffler (USC alum) – Shop My Shanghai — www.ShopMyShanghai.com
Wen-Lee Ying (USC alum) – A wedding consulting and services company
Zhijie Wang (USC alum) – Shanghai Double-PhD Info-Tech Co. Ltd — www.haiguichina.net

If I forgot to mention you and your business in this list, my apologies. Please add your information in the comments section below.

Popularity: 5% [?]

As I embark upon starting another business, this time with my friend Rola, it seems time for another entry on entrepreneurship. When I think of entrepreneurship in China or am asked why are you here or asked how long will you be here, I recall a brief quote from The Wall Street Journal. (The WSJ is an excellent publication with many interesting and in-depth articles about China.) The article in the WSJ was read to me a couple of years ago by mom, already knowing my interest in China. The quote, as I remember it, is: “If I were young and fluent in Chinese, I’d go to China and get rich.” This quote inspires and pushes me to look for new opportunities because I AM young, trying to become fluent in Chinese, and just as capable as anyone else. Furthermore, since being in China only 4 months, I’ve likely met more entrepreneurs here than I had previously in my entire life.

Granted, this guy’s quote was referring to China’s boom days of the 1990s, but with annual GDP growth still exceeding 6%, I think it’s still a great time to be in China. Now, perhaps may be even better that the 1990s because there’s slightly more transparency in the government and government regulations regarding businesses, as well as the opening up to foreign competition as a result of China’s WTO accession. Not to mention, Chinese consumers are getting wealthier, with more disposable income, and presumably, there’s also been an increase in B2B spending.

So, when foreigners ask me, how long will you be here, I’m tempted to offer them that quote and respond with ‘as long as I can make money.’ When Chinese people ask me, ‘why are you here?,’ I’m hesitant to offer that quote, lest it sound exploitative and too counter to the ideals of communism. But on the other hand, my native Chinese teacher helped me improve my response to this question from 赚钱 (‘make money’) to 赚很多钱 (‘make lots of money’), so…

When discussing this quote and my intention to make money in China, my friend said to me, but can’t you make money back home or anywhere? And I get that response a lot. Well, it’s kind of like the stock market–some are winners, some are losers, and some offer slightly better returns that others. You just need to know how to allocate your time and money wisely, and for me, right now, that’s in China.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Last night I went to a meeting of the Shanghai Entrepreneurs Group (SEG), so thought today I’d write my first post about Entrepreneurship. But first let me comment on that group. It is a rather eclectic group of both entrepreneurs and people interested in entrepreneurship. Although the majority of the fields were something related to the internet there were some diverse industries as well, from agriculture to coffin export. As I predicted, there were only 5 women there (out of ~35people), including myself. And one was there simply for ‘entertainment’ as she put it, so clearly not an entrepreneur. Which makes it less than 5 women attending for the actual entrepreneur group. Not surprising. Fairly good mix of locals and expats, though.

Anyway, on to today’s topic:

My Encounters with Entrepreneurship

Prior to college, I had never even thought of entrepreneurship, didn’t know what an entrepreneur was, wasn’t even aware of the concept. This is a bit strange, though, since my mom had co-founded a construction company when I was in high school and my newly acquired step-father is a serial entrepreneur. But I apparently didn’t put their efforts in beginning those companies together with the term ‘entrepreneur’ and had never really thought of that as an option for myself.

Freshman year at USC I dated a guy who had a concentration in entrepreneurship through the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurship. During this relationship I started to understand the concept. As he struggled to write a business plan and come up with as accurate as possible financials, I thought this is not for me. (I wasn’t even a business major at this time.) I thought, I definitely won’t take that class, I’m meant to be in the corporate world, not starting my own business, let him have that and deal with the seemingly overwhelming task of writing projected financials.

Then freshman year was over, he graduated, and I moved on to my interests in promoting women’s advancement in business, conducting business in cross-cultural settings, etc. So sophomore passed and I never again thought about it. After my summer in Europe or sometime during my junior year, my mom contemplated retiring from the law firm and questioned whether to start another business. I gave her advice on the aspects of her proposed business that I was familiar with. And we kind of joked well after I graduate we can start a business together. But I still felt so removed from the actual concept of being an entrepreneur that I thought, yea funny, it’ll never happen.

After junior year and my internship in Hong Kong, I returned to USC for my last year. Partly because of my excitement in returning from my exchange program and due to my ever-lasting interest in cross-cultural interaction, I volunteered to be a host for exchange students. And I asked them why they chose to come to USC and many said for the entrepreneurship program. I was surprised. We have an entrepreneurship department? Is it any good? (Well, yes, actually it is. That was the main reason my boyfriend freshman year attended USC). Ok, whatever, still not interested. And they asked me, ‘can you recommend any entrepreneurs I can interview for my class?’ No, I thought, I don’t know any entrepreneurs.

Spring break of senior year I had the choice of 2 different business trips: one to Tokyo or one to Rio de Janeiro. It was a difficult decision, but I chose Rio and that seemingly fun decision could prove to be one of the most pivotal decisions of my life.

The unique thing about the trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is that is was co-sponsored by the USC Entrepreneur Club. I never would have had any interest or any reason to join this club. But since they did much of the planning for the trip and had a professor of entrepreneurship as a chaperone, much of the trip was focused on entrepreneurship. We listened to social entrepreneurs and very successful heads of now some of the world’s largest corporations that started out as mere entrepreneurship ventures a few decades ago. And especially beneficial for me is that I learned about entrepreneurship in a cross-cultural setting. I also found out many of the students in the group had their own (successful) businesses and they were younger than I! Wow! Suddenly entrepreneurship didn’t seem so remote anymore. Finally, it was a concept I understood, and a name attached to a specific concept. And there were people my age doing it successfully. From that standpoint, it was truly an eye-opening experience.

After that trip, I started to look back over my family and my life and wonder why I hadn’t been exposed to this before. Well, actually I have. My uncle is an entrepreneur, my step-father is a serial entrepreneur, and now my mom is a two-time entrepreneur. Some how I just didn’t put their businesses together with the name and the concept and definitely never thought I’d be in their shoes.

About this time I also started exploring the option of moving to Shanghai after graduation, so I started talking to my friend Ian, who had recently moved to Beijing, asking him for advice and whatnot on moving to such a foreign country. And besides giving me great advice he told me he and a partner started their own business in Beijing. I was shocked! Here was another person my age that had started his own business, and in the country I was moving to! Amazing! Slowly, I started to put the pieces together. I could be an entrepreneur and start my own business in Shanghai.

When I look back now, I wonder why I never put all the pieces together. I apparently have a family history of it and therefore have been exposed to it for years. In fact, my mom has become my most important personal and business mentor. Despite all the signs, it was definitely Brazil trip that put it all together for me and made it all clear. So, now when USC business majors ask me for advice, I tell them to take an entrepreneurship class. You just never know how close you may actually be to becoming an entrepreneur and even if you don’t ever become one, you’ll still learn valuable business lessons in that class. Not taking such a class is now my biggest regret from college. I don’t have any formal training in entrepreneurship and I missed the opportunity to be taught by some of the best entrepreneurship professors in the country.

So my advice, look around you. My bet is that you know far more entrepreneurs than you ever imagined. Entrepreneurship is a global reality, without it the world would be a far less efficient place. You, too, just may be destined to be the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates.

Popularity: 1% [?]