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Working During Golden Week

In now by Michael Michelini

What Mike Michelini is up to – Oct 4 – 10, 2020 In the middle of Golden Week here in China. Thursday and Friday last week things were shut down. Hong Kong opens up for business Monday this week, but Mainland China still closed til Thursday. I work online and mainly with the Western world so no changes for me …

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Why we still MUST buy from Chinese factories

In business, china business by Michael Michelini

With the many sourcing challenges being faced by entrepreneurs, many are wondering if there is a need to look for factories other than in China. There were identified contenders but nothing seems to offer as much as Chinese factories can. What do you think this is? Are you thinking of moving to another factory source? Before you do, check out …

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Re-Building to Fully Online community

In now by Michael Michelini

What is Mike Up To Now – Sept 27, 2020 If I can be honest, got close to burn out again last week. Just feel like “almost there” but then a pile of new projects and tasks and emergencies come. Have been meditating twice daily now (been doing mornings since 2014, but last month added mid-day) which helps. Still, I …

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CRMs, Online Events, Online Teams

In now by Michael Michelini

What Mike is Up To now – Sept 20 – 26, 2020 Quick bullet points: * Kids seem to be adjusting to full time school ok. Was a little rough making new friends, etc but going ok. * Studying deeply online event workflows and systems. Testing out one and been getting great feedback, plan to roll it out in the …

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Need To Learn To Let Go, Preparing to Sell

In now by Michael Michelini

What is Mike Up to Now? Sept 13 – 19, 2020 Burning out a little bit towards the end of last week – just a ton of projects from content to migrations, to IT integrations for clients and our own – just feels like everyone is getting used to the “new normal” of 100% online and pushing the limits. Luckily …

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Diving Deeper into Technical Marketing Automation & Integration

In now by Michael Michelini

What Mike is Up to Now – Sept 6 – 12, 2020 Kids going to full time Kindergarten, giving me a lot more time to work in the afternoons now. Realizing how much time it was taking, miss it already – but glad they have the social part of school. Stripped out more blog posts from this blog – as …

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Building Internal Tools First

In now by Michael Michelini

What is Mike Up To Now – Aug 30 – Sept 5, 2020 Summer is OVER and it is getting chilly here in Shenyang, China. Did “leave the 3 block radius” yesterday and went to a zoo with the kids. Released a turtle into the wild which felt great. So what am I upto now? Just basically grinding online. No …

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Building a Business Like a Bamboo Forest

In now by Michael Michelini

Quick bullets: * more systems, company handbook, software migrations * re-starting the personal branding content * Expat Philippines site re-structure * hiring and optimizing the writer system * hiring and onboarding a sales team Longer form: This lockdown has forced me to really focus on the systems and the team. I feel this is the most important part for a …

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Doubling Down on Content & Our Team

In now by Michael Michelini

What Mike is Up To Now – Aug 16 – 22, 2020 Yup, still here in Shenyang, China. Have barely left the 2 block radius of this apartment complex in a couple weeks. Working online – so fortunate almost all of our work is online (except those events). Making a ton of new tools and systems for the internal team …

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Improving Internal Systems

In now by Michael Michelini

What Mike is Up to Now – Aug 9, 2020 for the here and “now” * Yes, still here in Shenyang, China. No travel plans, but do any of have those these days? * Online content creation – trying to scale it up even more across more websites with more of our team. * Delegating more of the SEO tasks …

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Mini Vacation in China (Yes, in today’s Climate)

In travel, vlog by Michael Michelini

Been quite some time since last vlog, feels strange even recording and typing it up. A bit rusty with the video came – hope you can enjoy! A few of you have been missing the videos – but I do not want to just make videos for the sake of making videos. The point of the vlog is when I …

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Clarity in Community and Content

In now by Michael Michelini

You may notice if you visit MikesBlog – a lot has been stripped out. We are spinning off various sections of the site to standalone sites. XML blogger Templates – for those who are into blogger templates, we made a fully dedicated site for those at XMLbloggertemplates.com and would love your feedback on that. If you have your own template, …

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Sticking It Out in China (for now)

In now by Michael Michelini

What Is Mike Up To Now – July 26 – Aug 1, 2020 Can you believe we are almost into August. Well, it does feel like summer here in Shenyang – much hotter than I expected. And yes, I am still here in China. Even with the Chinese embassy in Houston closing and the American embassy in Chengdu, I’m still …