Getting Local Thai Help!
Sometimes you just need to put your hand up.
While Thailand is nowhere near as challenging as China for coordination – it is already a huge help to have a local Thai person on the team to help out.
Welcome Puii (Tanya) to our team!
Mike’s Blog 205
Thank you all for enjoying our “pain” lately. Seems everyone is seeing my video blogs as challenging – and yes I mean we are talking a lot about the immigration and the multiple moves. Yet there are a lot of good things (seems we are the opposite here than most on Facebook, talking about the challenges instead of only showing the good side of things).
But it is true- we need help! So after a couple of months here we hired a full time PA personal assistant. And she started this week! Puii – her English name is Tanya – but I plan to still call her by Puii – is a local Chiang Mai resident born and raised.
My job description was massive – heck – why don’t I just share it here
(begin Job Description)
Thailand PA Job Description – Shadstone Limited
PA Job Description For Shadstone Limited
Shadstone Limited, the parent company of the popular blog Global From Asia, is looking for a versatile PA to assist the host and CEO of the blog in both the business operation as well as personal streamlining.
The position is full time and based in Chiang Mai, Thailand with the opportunity to travel if needed.
What are the daily duties?
This is a very multi-task type job, so the applicant should be ready to have different projects on a regular basis for research and translation in Thailand as well as overseas markets.
On a regular basis, here is the workflow:
Business Related Tasks:
Start work 9am at the current first floor of the CEO’s 2 story home. The first floor is arranged as a studio for work and meetings and will have proper work environment for client and team meetings.
Login to email for both your direct email as well as to check the CEO’s emails. Ensure no urgent matters are in his email box, and coordinate with others on the team to ensure projects related to those emails are being attended to.
Use online project management tools (Slack and Asana and Google docs) to talk to the online based team overseas. Ensure they have the information they need to do their tasks. If there are questions or issues from the team, create a report to discuss with the CEO during the morning meeting.
Market research – We are looking to host workshops in the Thailand market – so you will help create a research report about the market opportunity.
Lead generation research and outreach – you will also reach out to local companies in Thailand to help setup appointments for various projects (virtual reality for real estate, ecommerce company cooperations, podcast interviews)
Video recording – The CEO has both a personal video blog (mikesblog.com/vlog) as well as a business video blog (globalfromasia.com/tv) since you are the main person working beside him – you will also help with recording video clips. The editor is overseas, so you will help to upload these video clips to the online cloud drive and explain to editor the type of footage.
Be on Video – we hope you are not camera shy! We hope that you can come on the video sometimes to discuss about the business developments.
Team calls – you will help the CEO to arrange team calls (1 on 1 calls, department calls, and town hall meetings) by Zoom rooms. You will be on many of these calls to record them in writing with bullet points and feedback to summarize.
Calendar management – you will have access to the CEOs’s google calendar, help to ensure the calendar is on track, and arrange meetings when needed.
Research opening a Thailand company and investing in Thailand property /real estate. We don’t have a local Thailand company yet so we want this PA to help gather the research needed to do so.
Coordinating with our Spanish Partners – we have a new Joint venture in South America and doing an event there. They have a spanish team with an english contact and need you to help coordinate with them and our team to ensure things are on track.
Coordinating with our investors and partners in other businesses – we (Shadstone) is an owner of other businesses and you will be a point of contact for those as well to coordinate with Mike on (HK CPA firm, Amazon FBA business)
CEO Personal Tasks
The CEO is a husband and father of 2.New in Thailand with limited Thai language, you will be the main family point of contact for school, government, and other matters. From school bus to driver’s licenses to other family research as it comes up.
We hope this wont take more than 10 – 20% of your personal time at the office but will help a lot.
Summary:
You are the “Gateway” for the company’s online based team (the CEO is working remotely) and ensure the team has their tasks and the answers they need. You will have the chance to learn about how an online blog, events company, and cross border business community operates. We see a lot of potential for your role to grow into a head of a division or involved in the future Thailand company office operations.
You should enjoy multi-tasking, working with many different people from different cultures (China, USA, Thailand, Philippines mainly) and smoothing out the often miscommunications between these cultures. You should also enjoy online content and media and have a passion to connect quality business people from the internet into a community.
The sky is the limit and this is getting in on the ground floor of the Thailand expansion!
(End Job Description)
And I talked to quite a few people (thanks Fern our first landlord for spreading it in Thai facebook groups!) and Puii stood out to me. During the interview she was in Australia – which is cool because she has that international travel and perspective that helps a ton. And she had a positive attitude and has already been helping out even before her first day of work.
We are taking a risk – I mean – we don’t have a Thai company and are hiring a full time worker to be in our home office. But Puii is aware of it, and when I was starting up in China I also had to do this – Melissa was that person. The idea is as long as we have the intent to open a company (which we do) and need a local person to help us with the administrative parts – it shouldn’t be a big issue with the labor department. Plus let’s hope she doesn’t call the labor department (reminder, don’t get upset at Puii!).
The other worry is – will this mean we don’t have a “location independent business”? By having someone working in a physical office with us in a location – will that make us have more challenges to be “Free”.
I should get over it – and realize – I have 2 kids in school – and I am not going to be traveling all over the place with the family. Well – Wendy and I do have that as a backup plan if things totally fall apart with immigration in Thailand.
But the plan now is 5 to 10 years in Thailand – so long as the immigration and government like us and allow us to stay.
And hiring a local person is a positive to them – and opening a company (if we do that).
Back to immigration – while in the previous video I said we are applying for guardian visa – maybe we can consider doing investment (company) visa instead. The dream is to be an investment platform (via Global From Asia) for people around the world to get exposure to business and real estate investments – and this can be what the Thailand office turns into – a scouting office, a business development office for investment opportunities.
And finally- Puii will be a bridge for the online team and me. With over 10 people now working online – I am overloaded. We are building a management level as well, but even still my Slack and Asana and Google drive comments are overloaded. So having a “physical person” that the online team knows is next to me can hopefully help ensure I don’t miss urgent work matters.
Also on the client and business partner side, she can be the communication buffer I need to ensure I am not missing important messages from our clients in various companies we have. From the Amazon FBA investment (Sisitano coffee accessories) to Unipro (HK CPA firm) to Global From Asia partners (business community) and the content marketing and lead generation services – talking to business partners alone is a ton of time.
Puii knows this is a ton of stuff to do – and is up for the challenge! I believe in her too – and I am excited to share this news with the video channel here. Trying to get business up to the next level and need good people around to help ensure we stay on track and execute.