Life just keeps throwing things at ya and you need to react and adjust. But one that I am set on is to be the best father and husband I can be. Some have noticed the struggle and pain I went through sticking it out in China for 2.5 years (even returning in March 2020 in the first place). Staying …
Trip to a Mountain Factory in North Thailand
With just under a month in Thailand – can’t help myself and had to do a factory visit. This is the factory of one of our brands – Akitai, handmade jewelry. Andres our business partner flew up from his home in Phuket Sunday morning, where we meet in Chiang Mai airport and drove 4 hours to a lake in the …
Arrival in Thailand (Allowed To Leave China)
Typing this up from a hotel lobby near the BKK airport, on the last day of the month of August 2022 – ready for a fresh start in Chiang Mai for the month of September and the rest of 2022. Still don’t want to reveal too much about the process of getting approval for my wife and children to leave …
Art Gallery Show in Dafen Artist Village, Shenzhen, China
My friend and business partner in Excalibur Brothers brand, Luciano, has a lot to celebrate – he has his art pieces on display at an art gallery – alongside blue chip artists’ work! As I prepare to leave China, I wanted to make sure to support Luciano and attend this art gallery beforehand. It took place in the DaFen oil …
Hustling and Launching – New Products Coming to Amazon (a story)
Still here in Shenzhen, China in the hot July heat! And it is hot for sure – after almost a year of hard work re-positioning Excalibur Brothers to a product brand, trademark, and tweaks in the product line. Back story, the original founder of Excalibur Brothers, Lawrence, and I had been friends since 2004. We met in ecommerce marketing forums …
Fathers Day 2022 – This is What Matters
And as a father of an 8 and 6 year old – this is what matters. The time I spend with them , support them, and encourage them to be good human beings. Maggie made a paper tie for me (in the photo) and insisted I wear it as soon as she returned home from school on Friday. Snapped a …
Trip To HuiZhou (Hunt for Next Home)
On the hunt, again. Wendy and I want to stick in 1 place longer than a year – but covid and current events have made that close to impossible. We move down to Shenzhen from Shenyang the end of last summer (August 2021) to get our kids into school for the Fall Semester. Also I had gotten an opportunity to …
Leather Factory Visit For The New Amazon Project
I took the vlog camera with me to the factory to keep myself active on the video blogs, ha! Luciano and I are working on Excalibur Brothers brand using the Blimp Method (Brand Licensing Improved) with the Global From Asia community. We have a very patient and amazing franchisee group with all the China lockdowns and delays to get these …
Visit to 1 Factory (But Rejected in Another Due to COVID)
Mid-February 2022, and we are grinding along as best we can, right? Luciano and I are upgrading / re-building a product brand that started in 2003, and bringing a new product line that we are launching on Amazon. It is called Excalibur Brothers (https://www.excaliburbrothers.com) and we have gotten great support from franchisees in the community via the Blimp Method. Now …
Where Were You When the Coronavirus Came? (Mike’s COVID-19 Story)
Two years have passed since the world learned of COVID-19. The question, “Where were you when it happened?” is a common one. Today, both in video and text form, I want to answer that question and document it here for all of you. While video form is much more entertaining, I’ll also recap it through text, and also link to …
Christmas in Shenzhen, China, 2021
Moving past 2021 and into the new year means passing through Christmas! Here in China you never really get the Christmas feel, but with kids it is unavoidable – ha! The school and kids pep them up and I felt a bit guilty this year not getting a big Christmas tree for our apartment. Eventually though, the kids finally accepted …
Reminiscing On Simple Days: Fishing With My Dad
As these extended lockdowns continue, many of us are reflecting on “the good old days”. One thing I look forward to doing with my son and daughter is to take them on a fishing trip. It was so cold while I was in Shenyang, China that it would have been an ice fishing trip! However, now that I’m down in …
HuaQiangBei Electronics Market Post Covid Tour with my Son
I’ve done a Hua Qiang Bei market tour video blog before, but that was all in the “pre-COVID” world. Friends like Andy Lee have been asking me for a vlog showing how the Hua Qiang Bei market has transformed since COVID became a reality. Today, my son received a DIY spider robot in the mail and made most of it …
Forcing Yourself to Take a Couple Days Away: Huizhou Beach
For months, since we were up in Shenyang, we’ve been discussing with the family about taking at least a few days. The original plan was to go to the Shaolin temple, but the heavy rains and flooding there caused us to skip those plans. Then we decided to come down to Shenzhen and I hoped to get a bit of …
Taking the Kids to a Factory (Field Trip w/ Daddy)
I remember my dad taking me to a construction site when I was a kid. Jumping up on a bulldozer was the greatest time. So my kids will maybe have a similar memory on visiting a factory and seeing some production line work. Being back in Shenzhen has been intense, and this is the second visit to a factory we …