Team Development It is all about the team. Mike’s Blog 157 Damon commented on a recent video blog (the stress vlog) that it is all about collaboration. I totally agree there – and community – and team. Today, while here in Cebu, I spent time with team development. Making sure people have the tools and knowledge is critical, and a …
Back in Good Ol’ Philippines
Back in Good Ol’ Philippines Mike’s Blog 156 Welcome back (insert sound clip of the Welcome back pop song). Philippines is always a nice place to come back to. Well – I think most would agree the traffic is not the best part – and unfortunately something you need to accept and deal with as soon as you leave the …
Going to USA – Feb 1 – 18, 2018
It has been over 2 years since I’ve been back to America. Time is flying, and it was October 2015 when Wendy, Miles, and I had stepped foot on American soil (sounds so obscure!). My daughter Maggie hasn’t even visited yet. So that is about to change. In February 2018, during Chinese New Year, we are taking the whole family …
Taking a Tour of Hua Qiang Bei, Shenzhen, China
Taking a Tour of Hua Qiang Bei, Shenzhen, China Mike’s Blog 142 When you get a group of amazing people together, exponentially awesome things happen. Since we had the Cross Border Matchmaker coming up, why not organize a tour of the electronics marketplace center of the world – Hua Qiang Bei? And we did just that – some of the …
Keep Going When Others Say To Stop
Keep Going When Others Say To Stop Mike’s Blog 138 On the way to Bangkok, and bumped into Winson on the airplane – pretty awesome. Both heading to the DCBKK conference – one that always pushes me every year to break limiting beliefs and just do it. Which leads me into this blog topic – keep going when others say …
Creating a Side Hustle Out of the Cross Border Bus Lifestyle
Creating a Side Hustle Out of the Cross border Bus Lifestyle Mike’s blog 136 Are you a bus rider? I’m a bus rider. Is that a word? The 10 years I’ve been here in China, and bouncing back and forth between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, I have taken hundreds of bus rides, If there are 52 weeks a year, and …
Interviewing Top Chinese E-commerce Executives
Interviewing Top Chinese E-commerce Executives. Mike’s Blog 134 Going deeper into the China side of cross border e-commerce export. Spent a ton of time this past week interviewing top Amazon FBA sellers in China and service providers. What is crazy to me is the rest of the world has no idea who they are – they are like a faceless …
Hangzhou, China Campaign
Hangzhou China Campaign Mike’s Blog 133 We are here in Hangzhou, China. A city not as well known as first tier cities such as Shanghai and Beijing – but one we should take note of. I’ve been fortunate enough to have gotten to know Lorenzo a lot more while he was down in Shenzhen earlier this year. He had lived …
Foreigners Accepted in China
Foreigners Accepted in China Will We Always be a Foreigner in China? Am I Just a White Monkey? We have discussed “rent-a-white guy” in the past on the blog. In China, as well as other parts of Asia – the media, the image of foreigners has always been highly respected and value. Some say it’s Hollywood, some say because of …
No Excuses
No Excuses Mike’s Blog 131 Writing this on a bus in Evernote app using one hand. My Mac charger totally died and I can’t charge my laptop to do my morning writing. I’m rushing to Chinaccelerator office to hope someone can let me in so I can charge my laptop and resume work. Then I will go to a market …
Staying in Touch with Friends
Staying in Touch with Friends Mike’s Blog 127 How do you maintain friendships, especially when on the other side of the globe? It has been 2 years since I’ve been back home to USA. I spent a few weeks in September/Oct 2015 going to San Francisco, New York, and Florida. My son was about a year and a half year …
Foreigners Moving To China
Foreigners Moving To China Mikes Blog 126 What’s the deal, why would anyone actually want to move into Mainland China? Why would someone want to leave their home country, their roots, their friends and family, and move into the wild,wild, East. Good question. After the last video blog where I did vent a bit about the recent growing challenges of …
US Businessman Abroad
Us Businessman Abroad Mike’s Blog 125 Today I’ll vent a bit. I’m an American. I was born in USA. Yup, so I’m part of an association of human beings called US Citizens and other human beings born in another piece of dirt in the world outside of that imaginary line are non-US citizens. Oh, ya, and some people not born …
Preparing for the TV Show
Preparing For the TV Show Mike’s Blog 124 It is getting real! In this video blog, we are behind the scenes with Mariko, Wendy, and I as we prepare for the first episode of E-commerce Gladiator. I could feel the pressure building up as the video blog continued on – then it got so real once the lighting was set-up …
Doing Things That Scare You
Doing Things That Scare You Mike’s Blog 123 I’m scared. I’m afraid. Yes, I said it, I am nervous. Courage – is not – not being afraid. Instead, it is acting against the fear. It is taking action and going forward even though we may lose, we may fail, things may not turn out the way that we thought they …