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 …
Walking Into A Live Video Streaming Studio + Creating Opportunities
Jumping full steam into living in Shenzhen again. And as you can imagine, there is just so much to do. My buddy James Sung at Zocus invited me to an amazing opportunity: a brand new live streaming studio office operation in Nanshan High Tech Park. They are still working out the details and pulling together resources, but over the last …
“Fight For Love” – A Saturday with My Son
Getting into the groove of these regular vlogs again now that I am out and about (it’s hard to do vlogs when you are isolated in an apartment). We are now back in Shenzhen and I’m trying to take this vlog camera around with me. A great time to do this was Saturday with my son. Last Saturday was Chinese …
Back to Business in Shenzhen
After an overnight adventure landing and settling in to Shenzhen, we settled in a bit and then hit the ground running! Today I took the vlog camera out with me to some business meetings to give you a little sneak behind the scenes on “what does Mike actually do”? Anyone who is in the know knows that Shenzhen is the …
Journey BACK to Shenzhen Living
It’s just like those mobster movies I used to watch as a kid. They always say, “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” This is definitely the case for business and life in China, but it especially applies for the city of Shenzhen. After about a year and a half in Shenyang, China (a northeast …
School Hunting for The Next Journey
We’re approaching a year and a half here in Shenyang, China. And, the school situation is the main topic. The whole world has been locked down and we’re doing various forms of online and home schooling. We did find an in-person school in our neighborhood for the kids. But it is only for kindergarten. They call it a kindergarten prep …
Got A Second Dose of Sinovac Vaccine
Yes, still here in Shenyang City of China. I have been trying to make a trip down to Shenzhen (the south of China) for some Amazon FBA acquisition broker deals and general meetings. But now, the south is on a lockdown again due to an “India strand” of the Covid virus. So may as well get my second dose of …
Snacking in China with the Kids
Just enjoying the Saturday “cheat day” and family day. Camille on the team inspired me to just have a laid back video blog today. We are all stressed STILL about lockdowns and other mayhem. But the family snuck out to a nearby mall that has a sauna/pool lounge we head to on a regular basis. Loaded up the bag with …
First Vaccine Shot – Journey Of New Normal
Shot #1 – First Dose of Chinese COVID Vaccine. A few of y’all been asking for VLOGS – so here we go. Finally leaving my apartment complex for the first shot of a COVID vaccine. Let’s do this. It’s been a while since the last vlog. There’s not much to show when you are basically sitting at home all day …
May 1 Holiday – Local village + Culture Shock
It’s been a while since the last vlog that I did. But with all of us locked down, there’s not much to vlog. I have barely left the 2 block radius of this apartment, ha! But we did take a TRIP! We took a 2-3 hour normal drive (4 hours with the holiday traffic) to a lake / beach near …
Adjusting to New Normal – Online School For Kids (and your kids?)
One year into a new post-covid19 world, we are preparing to launch a new online school. This will be under the brand of our cross border business community, Global From Asia. A small pilot summer program is coming in June and we even did a podcast about it. You can check the GFA podcast here. In this short clip, Mike …
Tip for Those Working Online
How will it work? Will it really work? These are just some of the questions being raised about working online. Yes, it’s not the typical office set-up. But, with everything that’s going on in the world right now and more and more people are getting in on this work-from-home set-up, you just have to make it work for you. Here’s …