Beijing business development trip

been exactly 2 years since my first and only trip to beijing. not sure how it always ends up that i come here in the winter….for those not familiar with the location of various cities of china- i live in southern china (guangdong province, city of shenzhen) which is right across from hong kong. for the climate there, it never snows, and only for 2 or 3 months in the year you need to wear a jacket (lighter jacket at that) – so i parallel southern china to southern usa – florida or california type climate with palm trees, large rainstorms, and rather humid.

here in the capital city of beijing, its up in the northern region of china. somewhat similar to northeastern usa, but i think a bit cooler here then new york city – maybe closer to a boston winter.

but the really noticeable differences is the dry air!! again, i noticed it being here, i become desparate to drink some water – my throat is anxiously awaiting liquid! and then there is the traffic, just the sheer volume of people in this city – subways, roads – all jam packed almost any time of the day or night. To control it, the government has issues license plates that only allow certain cars to be on the road monday, wednesday, friday and the other set on tuesday, thursday, saturday. Still, the roads are just overcrowded, and taking a taxi across town has the majority sitting in traffic.

so what is my plan here in beijing? well, firstly, its been a while since coming to this capital city, and i have made contacts here i really want to see. plus jonny from the bronx, my nyc friend, is ending his mba exchange program semester here in a few weeks – so i can hang out with him and have a couch to stay on too. Plus its my friend Yuki Sun’s birthday this weekend, so have a party with her and some mutual friends.

on the business side, I have arranged some meetings with ecommerce companies, seeing if there are synergies and ways to cooperate with loadpipe and online fulfillment, distribution, and promotion.

also for electrapour and bar products, meeting some marketing people in the bar and nightclub industry, hope to get some more representation up in the north of china.

so, rolling with the punches, exploring, networking, and seeing if i can get some business developments – the whole living my job is the real deal. but while overworked, under pressure, and a tad bit stressed, i enjoy this type of lifestyle more then anything..always thinking business and strategizing.