Let’s rock this. Halloween is over. I remember a joke I saw on Instagram, when the clock strikes midnight on Halloween, the pumpkins go away and the Christmas carols turn on in the department stores! Lol!
Well, I am even more ahead of them – skipping the Christmas mindset and heading straight into new years.
Are you ready? I remember always reading blogs in January about what to do for your new years resolution – but the serious people should start planning it now!
I want to print a huge calendar and put it on my office wall. But let’s start brainstorming now.
Q1 2017
The first quarter is a bit annoying in China for most foreigners – as there is the huge Chinese New Year holiday. Personally, I am “raring to go” after Jan 1, with big plans, hopes, and dreams. Yet, in Mainland China things start to slow down.
This year, Chinese New Year is Jan 28, and that means the whole country will be turned off in the mean time.
Before I used to do something we called “caving” – which meant stay at home and “grind” or work day and night – and watch a couple movies to take a breather. But with a growing family, it is harder to predict that. Still need to coordinate with Wendy on her plans and expectations for Lunar New Year.
Besides this big almost month holiday out of the 3 month quarter, I want to do another Qianhai Free Trade Zone business trip in Shenzhen. Try to squeeze it in before the Chinese New Year holiday – already people are emailing and waiting for the announcement on the next one.
Quarter 2
Then what is in store for the second quarter? This is April, May, and June – which are super busy months. I mentioned before the busy trade show seasons in South China start in April and go until early May. We have the 2nd annual Cross Border Summit in April (dates to be determined). We’ll do another Enter China meetup as well during the Canton Fair in Guangzhou.
So Quarter 2 will be “outside, hustle” mode with trade shows, events, and hyper networking.
The cold quarter 1 will be indoors and building and preparing, then when Spring time starts – it is time to thaw out and do people time.
Quarter 3
Then we pass through half way mark of the year – with quarter 3 including: July, August, and September. These are the HOT months in the South of China.
Summer is a bit quieter with people traveling (as its so hot) and a lot of the English teachers have their summer vacation.
I went to Europe for June/early July last year – but may skip that this year. Though a lot of digital nomads due that to cool off a bit, and Europe was beautiful in the summer. Maybe I will take a trip w/ the family. Miles will be in school in the spring time, so maybe go to USA at this time?
But Florida (where my family lives) will be so hot in the middle of summer.
But I have a feeling this will be when we go to America. I’m also considering doing some kind of business conference then too. Since I’m in USA anyway. I’ll have to just do Florida this time, as traveling with just 1 kid last trip was intense – with 2 will be insane. So I hope my family and friends from Northeast USA are open to taking a short flight down to Florida to catch up.
Q4 2017
Now back to the hyper networking – we will be in October, November, and December timeframe. Just like this past October – it will be jam packed with events. The trade shows, Global Sources Smart China Sourcing Summit, Canton Fair, DCBKK, Dcx Hong Kong, Enter China event, and more.
Mentally preparing for this now.
Yet once we get through the month of October – the weather cools down (as I’m typing this up in November, I need a light jacket.) and the Christmas manufacturing rush wraps up.
Year end is good for the HK agency division of Global From Asia – a lot of people are planning new companies for the coming year, or optimizing their current business structures. They contact us and we get a bit of a higher volume of new clients at the end of the year and early into the new year.
In Summary
So these are all – hyper active quarters. Probably summer is a slower time, and Chinese New Year. But by writing it out just now, it helped me think things through from a higher level. Hope you can do the same for your personal life and business too. Being reactive and just responding to event and calendar requests will get in your way – believe me – I was living like that for decades. When you take control of your calendar, and plan ahead – you can maximize your days.