What is Mike up to NOW?

Click into the blog post below for the latest NOW update :

Check out his official consulting website at MichaelMichelini.com

I have been doing the Derek Sivers weekly Now Now Now for a few years now. It is a concept where you have 1 page on your website someone can visit to know what you are doing RIGHT NOW. Different then an about page, as that is more static and can be years old. Some friends actually check my now page to know where I am and what I am unto the week ahead. So I started to keep an archive of the weekly “now” pages – all on Mikesblog.com/now – but am upgrading it even further by having a separate post for each week’s NOW update, and pulling it into the Mikesblog.com/now page.

Mike shares his knowledge and tools for free on his quick reference resources page.

What does Mike Do?
(Last Updated March 2020)

Blogger and podcaster at GlobalFromAsia.com – my passion since 2013, a weekly podcast about international business. This has become a hub for people to learn about Hong Kong and China as well as other parts of Asia, business. We put together a private membership for those who want to “upgrade” at gfavip.com for a library of private courses, books, forum, and monthly member mastermind calls.

CrossBorderSummit.com – our annual conference to bring together all the amazing guests from the GFA podcast, as well as the community of cross-border traders, ecommerce sellers, and international business veterans.

Loadpipe.com a group buy factory direct platform. With the power of a community, anything can be done. Putting together resources over the years, from the supplier side and the

BlogJV.com a network of websites with traffic that we partner with in the community. From ecommerce to service to content sites, over 100 sites with a few partnerships going and more in the worrks.

Shadstone-sourcing.com – Import/ export agency

Shadstone.com SEO and internet marketing services

Mikesblog.com – Affiliate marketing and blogging tips and tricks.

Cross Border Business Community. Loves podcasting and blogging about Hong Kong, China, and Asia business.

Convert your annoying wordpress site into static html so you can sleep well at night knowing you don’t need to update plugins every single day. Learn how Mike uses WP2Static

We merged our GFA Agency operations with an awesome CPA Firm Unipro Consulting Limited. Ray Ng is my business partner there and an awesome guy!

Buyout holding company for Amazon FBA companies

Learn more

As a Eagle Scout, and getting older, and a father – I want to give back and help with the boy scouts troop where I grew up. I help out with the website and online marketing.

This is a course and program to help business owners leverage the power of online teams and systems.

Over the year I have been in Asia, I have learned how to best manage distributed teams. To be extra clear, to make SOPs and systems to let the team follow them and do the work anywhere.

I packaged it up into an amazing course and program

Also we help US companies, mainly in local SEO rankings with our team. We also have an outsourcing company. We can also help you with VA (virtual assistants) managed and both part time and full time. Message Mike’s blog team for details.

I’m back in E-commerce, diving deep into Amazon FBA. Will be sharing the story and the blood, sweat, and tears in Global From Asia’s e-commerce series as well as a monthly TV show Ecommerce Gladiator.

Excited to get back into e-commerce since “Retiring” in 2012 after 8 years in the arena.

Para Living is the corporation.

Working with select number of brands to grow on Amazon FBA and beyond – by building their brand. A true brand, not just a logo on a box.

More coming soon!

 
going back in the archives, are we?…..

May as well keep the archives – after each week is over I put the previous week’s below (because I’m a packrat!)

(Nov 9, 2019 marks the last week manually pasting into the page)

Week of Nov 3 – 9, 2019

• Back in Chiang Mai a few days now, still resting and recovering
• Working on implementing everything I have learned from all these conferences (overwhelm)
• Checking out the venue for the Global From Asia retreat Jan 3-5, 2020 in Chiang Mai
• Thinking about 2020 already

Week of Oct 27 – Nov 2, 2019

• Writing this from Global Sources Summit on Sunday Oct 27 in Hong Kong
• Will be at the GS Summit and trade shows in HK til Thursday Oct 31, 2019
• Preparing for 2020 already! Intense few days
• Considering smaller / shorter length podcasts.
• Thinking of the future of Cross Border Summit

Week of Oct 20 – 26, 2019

• Writing this up Sunday morning ,day 2 of DCBKK. intense as always making deals
• Fly to China tonight for Cross border Summit in Guangzhou Oct 22-23, 2019 lets make this epic.
• China for the whole week.
• Kong Kong next week
• Book release for Ecommerce Gladiator

Week of Oct 13 – 19, 2019

• Last weekend with kids before a few weeks on the road.
• DCBKK this week in Bangkok
• Cross Border Summit next week in Guangzhou, China
• Launching my fourth book EcommerceGladiator.com/book
• Deal making for Alpha Rock Capital

Week of Oct 6 – 12, 2019

• My thoughts and big hug to the HK people. Curious how next week will pan out.
• More Cross Border Summit PUSHING – last week was a full Chinese holiday week (National week) – so many people will be back to work now. And more and more LAST minute people – seeing it is OCTOBER – will think they really need to make their plans now.
• This is my last week in Chiang Mai home office. Will be another full week of grinding at the desk, then Monday next week to Bangkok for dcbkk and a few business development meetings.
• Week after (oct 20) is Cross border summit week and canton fair insanity
• Plan to stick in Hong Kong after that and come back to Thailand on/around Halloween.
• November will be resting from this crazy October insanity.

Week of Sept 29 – Oct 5, 2019

• Back in Chiang Mai, Thailand after an intense 2 weeks in China
  

• It is a holiday week in China – China turn 70 years old
  
• Huge pressure for the upcoming Cross Border Summit, it will rock!
  
• Increasing frequency of the Alpha Rock Capital podcast, working on weekly.
  
• Business development and preparation for DCBKK in Bangkok
  
• Going full time into business development – although I still love the content creation and web marketing.
  
• More customer service training for Wp2Static with the team, and order reporting.

Week of Sept 22 – 28, 2019

• Typing this up in Shenzhen, China preparing for lunch w/ more Amazon community people here to make deals.
• Heading to Guangzhou tonight for more meetings and business development
• Sunday night til Wednesday morning in Guangzhou for Cross Border Summit venue coordination.
• Wednesday to Saturday in a Chinese government cross border ecommerce event where I’ll be sharing on a panel.
• Saturday back in Chiang Mai – 2 weeks away from the wife and kids is rough!
• Alpha Rock Capital Business development as always is ongoing. Some great deals coming on this trip.

Week of Sept 15 – 21, 2019

• Greetings from Hong Kong! Here w/ Marc from Alpha Rock Capital, a full work weekend and bonding time
  
• Will be in Shenzhen, China next week, GFA community, business development for ARC, making deals
  
• Less in operations work for Amazon and content, and more working on business developments and relationships.
  
• Preparing for another week in China after next, Guangzhou, and Henan – promoting and building up Cross Border Summit! A month away now – Oct 22-23, 2019 and looking to be the best one yet!

Week of Sept 8-14, 2019

• In Chiang Mai most of this week, go to Hong Kong Thursday.
• Will be in Hong Kong into the weekend, then Shenzhen on the Sunday Sept 15 for an ecommerce event
• Shenzhen all next week, Sept 15 to 21
• Making more deals for Alpha Rock Capital, Amazon sellers and investors
• Working on third episode for Alpha Rock Capital Podcast
• Working out a workflow with Leon as I finally made a deal with wp2static.com to leverage our team to take it to the next level as a business.
• Hosting a workshop in the morning Sat Sept 21 for a corporate company
• Hosting a business speed dating on Sat Sept 21 afternoon w/ Trustrade (check all GFA events)
• Guangzhou coordination for the Cross Border Summit Sept 22 to 24
• Going to a government meeting in Zhengzhou, China Sept 25 to 28
• Back in Chiang Mai end of Saturday Sept 28.

Week of Sept 1-8, 2019

• Still grinding in my home studio here in Chiang Mai. Full week mostly at home working and then picking up the kids from school.
• We are in September! Feel the summer is over and now it is time for everyone to come back to work!
  
• Getting bolder in Global From Asia with the HK protest, trade war – so many historical things happening in my niche I can’t shut up about it
  
• Wrapping up a big redesign for Alpha Rock Capital website
  
• Cross Border Summit tickets are selling smoothly, confident about it now
  
• Editing for Ecommerce Gladiator Book

Week of Aug 25 – 31, 2019

• Back in Chiang Mai, Thailand – feeling fortunate I moved here one year ago…
  
• Will be diving deep into Amazon FBA content and branding across 7 brands this week with the team
  
• Completing new website for Alpha Rock Capital and branding package with a design agency
  
• More Cross border Summit madness! 2 months to go, much more prepared than in the past
  
• Global From Asia news contributor network has grown interest due to trade war and HK protests
  
• More revisions and updates to fourth book: Ecommerce Gladiator

Week of Aug 18 – 24, 2019

• After a couple weeks w/ the family in Chiang Mai, Thailand – heading to Shenzhen for a business trip (via HK airport) Monday til Thursday
• Working on business development deals for Alpha Rock Capital
• Creating a ton of content for ARC (behind the scenes videos, podcasts, pages)
• Cross Border Summit insanity – more and more chaos with trade war – but means it will be that much more interesting!
• Optimizing the team and workflow after a lot of transitions and restructuring and mergers.

Week of Aug 11 – 17, 2019

• Still here in Chiang Mai, Thailand, kids starting school this week K1 and K3 – time is flying!
  
• Amazon FBA migrations – learning the workflow as this will be something we do a lot of in the future.
• With Sisitano acquisition it means Ecommerce Gladiator Book final chapter is ready, hope to launch the Kindle book in October/November.
  
• Cross Border Summit – team is expanding, the event is looking better than ever, save the date Oct 22-23 in Guangzhou, China and may spin it off to its own entity now

Week of Aug 4 – 10, 2019

• Back in Chiang Mai after a lot of travel (Bangkok and Manila)
• Sisitano/ Para Living now part of Alpha Rock Capital holdings, will do migration this week
• Let’s take things to a whole new level – now I am working with 7+ Amazon brands and buying more.
• Further developing leaders
• Cross Border Summit is tickets are SELLING our WELL, next price increase implemented, feels good, Oct 22-23 – CrossBorderSummit.com/china/buy/

Week of July 28 – Aug 3, 2019

• In BGC, Manila working a deal with Alpha Rock Capital
• GFA becoming a pure online media company with courses and member perks
• Really letting go and having my team take charge of their departments. Just too much to do.
• Will meet some of the team this Wednesday (Ara, April, maybe Mark)
• Cross Border Summit is tickets are SELLING, feels good, Oct 22-23 – CrossBorderSummit.com/china/buy/

Week of July 21 – 27, 2019

• Back in Chiang Mai from China / HK 10 day trip – with the family
• Going to Bangkok to followup ecommerce companies I met at Rise Conference in HK (monday to friday)
• Working hard on making GFA a media platform
• Team building is hard when totally online and flexible hours
• Cross Border Summit is tickets opened up, Oct 22-23 – CrossBorderSummit.com/china/buy/

Week of July 14 – 20, 2019

• Greetings from Yiwu, China – at the market for Sisitano products
• Couple days this week in factory land
• Doing a HK Airport blog post on Wednesday on 1 day layover
• GFAVIP member call Thursday night
• Cross Border Summit is coming up quick, Oct 22-23

Week of July 7 – 13, 2019

• Greetings from Shenzhen, China (on the road again) – but becoming the commute)
• Rise Conference in Hong Kong tomorrow til Wednesday
• Thursday and Friday in Ningbo doing Amazon FBA training, consulting for a factory
• Product development for Sisitano – gotta get these new listings online
• Cross Border Summit is coming up quick, Oct 22-23

Week of June 30 – July 6, 2019

• In Thailand – but on call to go to Ningbo factory for Amazon consulting and training project maybe later this week / early next
• Planning to go to Rise Conference next week in Hong Kong
• Still getting the team and flow for adding new Amazon listings
  Converting a ton of websites to static from wordpress (just feel more secure)
• Reworking the membership GFA VIP backend
• Enjoying being a daddy
• Cross Border Summit is coming up quick, Oct 22-23

Week of June 23- 29, 2019

• in Chiang Mai, may go to Bangkok/ Hua Hin for factory / business / Bloomberg meeting mid-week.
• Training new staff – building leaders and managers now – trying a new thought process.
• Being more data driven and KPI / number oriented.
• There is no limit to what I can do – I am also reading Unlimited Memory book, so far so good!
• Cross Border Summit is coming up quick, Oct 22-23

Week of June 16-22, 2019

• Happy Father’s Day To me 😉
• Back from China / HK in Thailand – with samples for content creation
• Learning how to buy from Thailand Factories (again) and assembly, FBA prep
• Training more writers, ecommerce, and content creators
• Cross Border Summit is coming up quick, Oct 22-23

Week of June 9-15, 2019

• In Yiwu, China now – last minute trip to visit factories for our FBA business
• Hong Kong, Shenzhen this week for meetings more on Amazon and content creation
• Back to Chiang Mai on Thursday afternoon
• Working hard on Content Investments website to monetize our content creation team
• Cross Border Summit is coming up quick, Oct 22-23

Week of June 2 – 8, 2019

• Still here in Chiang Mai – still catching up on computer work after an epic China trip a couple weeks ago.
• Sourcing and product design – a whole lotta listings will be coming out soon!
• Cross Border Summit Oct 22-23 – so much work still to do, got a nice lineup of speakers, venue coming together, lot of marketing materials in the works.
• Launching a US/China trade war survey on Global From Asia – working on more campaigns these days.
• Productizing our content creation service under the previous text only service content investments to include more multimedia and ecommerce content.

Week of May 26 – June 1, 2019

• Back from an intensive 4 or so days in China and Hong Kong (remembering why foreigners are leaving China)
• Tons of “computer work” to catch up on. Cross Border Summit preparations
• So many people want to speak at CBS, need to make a system.
• Working on more and more workflow for graphic designers and content creation process.

Week of May 19 – 25, 2019

• Preparing for a hyperactive 4 and a half days in China – let’s make the most of it.
• Monday will jam as much management system work as I can.
• Studying deeply the conversion of WordPress sites to static
• Working hard to make GFA into a more stable membership site

Week of May 12 – 18, 2019

• Deep work on ecommerce content creation process
  
• Tons of speakers for the upcoming Cross border Summit Oct 22-23
  
• so many SOPs and video tutorials for team, brain overload.
  
• Planning China trip may 14 – 25
  

Week of May 5 – 11, 2019

• Deeper into branding and selling on ecommerce platforms – Amazon FBA and Lazada are the focus.
  
• Collecting feedback on the upcoming Cross border Summit Oct 22-23
  
• Building out the team and systems. Systems set us free
  
• Appreciative of our sponsor at GFA podcast – goremit.hk – hope they get an amazing ROI from us.
  
• Planning China trip may 14 – 25
  

Week of April 28 – May 4, 2019

• Feeling more motivated than ever – the trip to Hua Hin was a big pivot point. The memory will be a lasting one. Also a great bonding experience with Wendy and the kids.
  
• Songkran holiday is OVER for the kids and school FINALLY starts back up Monday April 29. While more pressure was on Wendy, it was also time consuming for me. Now can focus more on work
  
• Preparing a trip to China May 14 – May 25. Ningbo, Yiwu, Shenzhen, Hong Kong. Make the most of it. My son’s birthday is 25th so will fly back that night.
  
• Just grinding on content, as always. Ecommerce products – Sisitano is in the works to add a few new ASINs (I know, finally!) and of course Global From Asia blogs keep on going.
  
• Some new strategic alliances coming soon. I am on a rampage to really make things happen.
  

Week of April 21 – 27, 2019

• Kids still off for Songkran festival in Thailand. Went to Hua Hin. (still burning season in Chiang Mai) no rainy season yet!
• Building out bar supplies ecommerce distribution site
• A few new consulting clients for ecommerce and internet marketing content.
• Building out Sisitano coffee accessories and Bavdan bar supplies brands
• Looking to make GFA more an online bootcamp – more online business focused.
• Thinking this is what I will be doing the rest of my life.
  

Week of April 14 – 20, 2019

• Kids off school the next 2 weeks for Songkran festival in Thailand.
  Back home in Chiang Mai from Hua hin and Bangkok business development (still burning season here)
• Working hard on the Global From Asia bootcamp, making it more of a platform
• Discussing with an old friend Bart about card system for Amazon sellers
• Building out Sisitano and Bavdan bar supplies brands
• Planning to take a trip back to Hua Hin with the family – considering to move there.
  

Week of April 7 -13, 2019

• Going to Bangkok Monday to Friday. Well Bangkok only Monday and Friday, taking a bus to Hua Hin for a factory visit and Amazon seller connection meeting.
• Continual development of the first GFA bootcamp July 19-21, 2019
• Rebuilding New York Bar Store more
• Developing wholesale strategy for Sisitano
• Hope to confirm some new internet marketing projects
• Planning a trip to Hong Kong / Shenzhen for May 18 to 25. Some training and some meetups.
  

Week of March 24 – 30, 2019

• Choking on the air pollution in Chiang Mai
• Discussing some new consulting client deals for internet marketing and content creation.
• May go to Laos for a website project (well, a bit bigger than a website, but technically it is a website)
• Filing trademarks as a service (we have a web property that is gaining traction)
• Brainstorming more products for Sisitano

Week of March 17-23, 2019

• Re-launching GFA podcast this Tuesday! 4 month offline, and can’t wait to start again
• Introducing a new GFA bootcamp, plan to make this the core offering at the blog Global From Asia
• More HR systems user guides at Regardingwork.com
• Re-launching another podcast, Sisitano.com/the-coffee-journey/
• Just being a content machine and applying to the portfolio of companies. Like a content investor in a way I guess?

Week of March 10-16, 2019

• Back from Bangkok – met a lot of new amazing opportunities that city is hustling!
• Building more amazing websites
• Focusing hard on HR management, even making a small HR management software tool on Regarding Work
• Planning to re-launch GFA podcast, have 3 interviews recording
• Enjoy learning and showing people about whiteboard videos
• The empire is coming back. Added an epic infographic to Opening a US bank account for non Americans (that blog post is epic!).
  

Week of March 3 – 9, 2019

• Planning to start the media “machine” again -took almost 4 months off and ready to come back bigger and better than ever.
• Will be in Bangkok this week for some meetings, a good friend and smart dude Simon Payne is in town.
• Brainstorming more productized services from my domain portfolio.
• Thinking of hiring a summer intern – but it may be a bit late.
• Studying about whiteboard videos
• Excited in becoming a creator again.
  

Week of Feb 24- March 2, 2019

• Greetings from Taipei, Taiwan! Here for a conference East Meets West Cross-Border E-commerce Summit and spending an extra day to see the city and do some meetings. Back to Chiang Mai, Thailand on Tuesday late morning.
• Thinking of how to deal with burning season in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It really is affecting me and my family – we underestimated the effects.
• Working on adding more products to our brands in Amazon
• Implementing some of the strategies I learned at the Amazon conference
• More operations work for systems and implementation of FBA.
  

Week of Feb 17 – 23, 2019

• HR transition post-merger – basically new and old people shifting fast .
• New IT system for managing amazon re-sellers
• amazon listing optimization
• Preparing to speak in Taiwan about content marketing for amazon
  

Week of Feb 10-16, 2019

Theme: As COO, co-founder of Brand Masters investment company, learning my role is optimizing a ton of projects and getting them rolling – and then handing them off. At first it was annoying because I would start something and then not do it anymore (feel like I wanted to keep doing it) but now that I am getting the hang of it – thats is my strength – defining a project, getting it rolling, and then getting the right people to do it.

• This week will be the last week for a lot of people on the team I brought into Brand Masters, a bit emotional but part of what happens in a merger.
• Working on more IT systems for Amazon sellers, making SRS, mockups, and building teams.
• Still transitioning GFAVIP members and new partners of it to Cross Border Association
  

Week of Feb 3 – 9, 2019

Theme: MORE IT technical requirements for FBA software – SRS, mockups – tons of screens.

• Made some HARD HR cutbacks last week post-merger, choked up a little.
• Transitioning GFAVIP members to Cross Border Association
• More Amazon listing optimization reviewing.
• Receiving samples sent from China to Thailand before China shuts down for Chinese New Year (but now stuck in Thai customs)
• Closed on some asset sales (CBC, EC, etc)
  
• Doing what I love – creation and building.
  

Week of Jan 27 – Feb 2, 2019

Theme: IT technical requirements for FBA software

• Wife BACK from India (phew) – kids so relieved.
• Deep in IT SRS working for a new ecommerce / Amazon FBA software (stealth mode, so can’t say)
• Preparing to launch new products on Amazon this week.
• Getting samples sent from China to Thailand before China shuts down for Chinese New Year
• Working hard at maximizing my own skills and getting through this merger – approaching 2 and a half months now, reviewing goals and milestones
• Close to closing deals for transfer of China Business Cast podcast and Cross border association / events.
  
• Doing what I love – content creation.
  

Week of Jan 20-26, 2019

Theme: Culture and management changes in the merger adjustments

• Wife in India until Wednesday! Trying to stay sane taking care of 2 kids by myself…and working like crazy!
• Re-adjusting my SOP and process style post merger into incubator
  
• Studying more and more of Amazon FBA
  
• Preparing to get more products to the studio in Thailand.
  
• Looking for new products in coffee and coffee accessory niche on Amazon
  
• Doing what I love – content creation.
  

Week of Jan 13-19, 2019

Theme: Still deep in systems and operations (but moving to content).

• Hope to move to next step in my parent’s visa processing here in Thailand (money in bank)
• Deep in operations for Amazon brands (2) – customer service, ecommerce fulfillment. Love being overloaded, but this is quite a bit
  
• Learning a ton about templates and systems for Amazon storefronts and funnels from web to Amazon
  
• Discussing with a few candidates about hiring a new ecommerce product manager to help with the brands.
  
• Collecting a lot of footage and content for the brands, on Amazon and off.
  
• Making a new training system with Meir for this program
  

Week of Jan 6- 12, 2019

Theme: Deep in systems and operations.

• Kids finally finished their winter holiday break – back to school Monday!
• Building out customer service portal and workflows for our e-commerce brands, DEEP into it
• Developing a better accounting / bookkeeping workflow for 2019
• Bargaining with hiring a new team member for the copywriting and marketing strategies
• Reviewing our current IT systems and development capabilities and may need to add more people there
• Further optimizing our growing content creation and marketing team.
• Still discussing with new organizing team for future of Cross Border Summit events, may form into Cross border Association.
• Booked flights for Taiwan Feb 22-26, 2019 for the East Meets West Cross Border Conference

Week of Dec 30, 2018 – Jan 5, 2019

A bit frustrated this morning – internet cut off – still dealing with “moving to Thailand” issues (auto-pay was supposed to be turned on but basically it wasn’t). Electricity was also cut off earlier this week – really need to have a Thai speaking person to assist you for living in a home it seems!

• Gave team a half day on Monday (31st) and of course a holiday on the 1st. Happy new year!
• Putting another ecommerce brand into the FBA incubator, now managing 2. Scaling up the team and the systems.
• Working on a customer support ticketing system for each brand, custom installed on each server (techie stuff).
• Studying another contact’s strategy for taking affiliate sites to build communities and then launch brands on Amazon / e-commerce. I love that strategy and am happy to find more doing it.
• Geeking out on blogging, content marketing, affiliate sites – this is what I am so happy to be doing more of in 2019 – and then leveraging that for ecommerce.

Books
Wendy is convincing me to read a Zen book Steve Jobs said was great – Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice.

Week of Dec 23-29, 2018

Last full week of 2018! Exciting times ahead and as discussed in 2018 year round up post, a big shift in what I am doing on a regular basis. For this last week

• “Hanging” in Chiang Mai – not allowed to leave Thailand til Feb (well of course can leave, but would interrupt my visa processing). Just spending as much time with wife and kids during the kid’s winter break.
• Training the team on more Amazon things – my recorded workshops are coming in handy!
• Making an incubator deal for the Sisitano brand
• Having year end chats with the team and seeing how they are doing during the merger transition

Week of Dec 16 – 22, 2018

What am I upto now? As I am taking a break from podcasting and vlogging, this place may be the best source of what I am doing now (which is the perfect use of this page)

• In person meetings for the incubator plans here in Chiang Mai, Thailand. May wrap those up these next couple days
  
• Making more and more systems for the studios, did a test photo and video shoot earlier last week, it is a lot to learn. Partners realizing this too
  
• The website marketing is going well, a great established team from GFA is adjusting well to the new sites and brands we are working on.
  
• Thinking a lot about what happened in 2018 and preparing for an epic, and new way of living and working, 2019 year.
  

Week of Dec 9-15, 2018

• Still digesting this huge shift in my career and merger
• Doing 2 amazing IT projects for the incubator
• Re-routing all the systems and workflows (still so much)
• Father in law leaves Thailand to Shenyang hometown Tuesday
• Kid’s Christmas party on Thursday
• Doing a brand ambassador ecommerce photo/video shoot Thursday
• Hoping the team all can adjust to this merger smoothly.
  

Week of Dec 2 – 8, 2018

• Meir in town for incubator business plan and development
  
• Bank account for Thailand
  
• FOCUSING
  

Week of Nov 25 – Dec 1, 2018

• Still working on this transition to full time ecommerce incubator will be a busy 2018 of that
  
• Got a 3 month visa for Thailand – hope no more travel til Feb!
  
• Hiring video/photo/rendering people and looking for new studio office
  
• Having a lot of difficult conversations and “goodbyes” as I cut more and more projects
  
• 
  Remembering the saying – the more difficult conversations you have in your lifetime, the more you are likely to grow bigger and stronger. Something like this.
  
• Will be visiting my kids school about stuff as I have been away a couple weeks.

Week of Nov 18 – 24, 2018

• Meeting Luisa for first time in Hong Kong Sunday to Tuesday as i’m trying to be a better manager.
• Typing this up from Shenzhen, China – last minute trip to see wife and get some documents – this Thai immigration is a hassle!
• Hong Kong for client work Monday-Tuesday, then Kuala Lumpur for Thai visa application O visa for 1 to 2 weeks.
• Building a new alliance
• 2019 plans – will be quiet til then
• Transitioning out of Global From Asia
  

Week of Nov 11 – 17, 2018

• Really “giving” the reins to management (Anna C and Luisa) for GFA’s future.
• Gotta clean up bookkeeping processes
• Discussing a new incubator
• 2019 plans deep on my mind.
• Colombia Cross Border Summit March 6-8, 2019 launch this week.
  

Week of Nov 4 – 11, 2018

• Management – never ends!
• Still working with Puii, our PA in Thailand on cleaning up the handbook, some are losing the links.
• Reading a new book “The Goal” Meir recommended
• Thinking about 2019’s EVENT CALENDAR plan.
• New association being developed
  

Week of Oct 28 – Nov 3, 2018

• Recovering/resting from an amazing Cross Border Matchmaker in Shenzhen, China last week
• Working with Puii, our PA in Thailand on cleaning up the handbook
• Studying more systems – from Clockwork Book readings
• Thinking about 2019’s plan.
• Bargaining on a new incubator opportunity, still early stage.
  

Week of Oct 21 – 27, 2018

• Typing up in Bangkok airport, will be another week on the move – this time in Hong Kong and then Shenzhen, China
• a lot of things to digest from Dcbkk – main point – focus on membership GFAVIP and webinars.
• coach and guide the management team in compay to operate independently
• Preparing for CBM 2018 – event mayhem. This FRIDAY
• working on prioritizing all the projects
  

Week of Oct 14 – 20, 2018

• Reading a new management book – Clockwork – loving it so far
• Go to Bangkok Monday for DCBKK
• further developing the management team of GFA
• Preparing for CBM 2018 – event mayhem.
• Wife stressing on her visa i’m trying to be supportive
• and working on GFA webinars and deals and partners programs
  

Week of Oct 7 – 13, 2018

• Settling into new house in Chiang Mai, Thailand
• Preparing to start Puii our PA – can’t wait – need so much help!
• more Traction book implementation, rocks, org charts, circles of life.
• Preparing for CBM 2018 – event mayhem.
• Happy I extended visa and got a ton of work done instead of a visa run.
• Trying to work ON the business more and instead of IN the business. Realize I am running 5 companies / organizations at the same time…..
  

Week of Sept 30 – Oct 6, 2018

• Moved my house in Chiang Mai! more settling in.
• Got Luisa to come on full time as sales manager
• Hired a PA for Thailand
• Preparing for CBM 2018 – event mayhem.
• Need to do a visa run / well a trip to Hong Kong anyway.
• Staying strong through all these changes. Also had to fire someone last week, it was tough for me.
  

Week of Sept 23-29, 2018

• Still working hard in Chiang Mai – barely leaving my home office to be honest – so much work.
• Still building out and training sales team for GFA. Luisa, Francis, Honey Bell, Mark Anthony
• Working on management team and people.
• GFA partners – more B2B deals.
• Cross Border Matchmaker (CBM) – and inviting more attendees, companies, and experts.
• GFAVIP member program UPGRADE.
  

Week of 16-22, 2018

• RECOVERING from Dealing with Kids’ immigration urgent issues that took 4 days last week
• Sales team building
• Team management, calls, recorded calls, SOPs
• Cross Border Matchmaker (CBM) – and inviting more attendees, companies, and experts.
• GFA Deals birth!
  

Week of 9 – 15, 2018

• Back from Yiwu to Chiang Mai, Thailand – catching up on work and functional internet.
• Dealing with Kids’ immigration urgent issue on Monday morning.
• Building out lead generation team for GFA expert database.
• More SOP and management – systems set us free.
• Cross Border Matchmaker (CBM) – and inviting more attendees, companies, and experts.
• Enjoying more GFAVIP member only events and perks.
  

Week of Sept 2 – 8, 2018

• Setting up my home studio in Thailand, getting a flow state.
• Back in Hong Kong Tuesday, then Yiwu, China Wednesday til Saturday for Yiwu sourcing trip.
• Have an amazing new GM and partner in our Amazon FBA business – announcing soon.
• More SOP and management – systems set us free.
• Kid’s immigration stuff on Monday.
• Cross Border Matchmaker (CBM) – and GFA experts database building
• Enjoying more GFAVIP member only events and perks.
  

Week of Aug 26 – Sept 1, 2018

• Moved out of China on Sunday (aug 26) lots of stuff
• In hong Kong sunday night til Tues night mikesblog.com/prd-aug2018 for agenda
• Finalizing new applicants a new e-commerce gladiator for Para Living inc (Ecommercegladiator.com/recruit )
• More SOP and management
• Going to kid’s school Wednesday to discuss Thai visa and other stuff
• Preparing for Yiwu trip Sept 6-7 and Canton Fair Pre-Accelerator and Cross Border Matchmaker China Oct 26.
• Enjoying more GFAVIP member only events and perks.
  

Week of Aug 19 – 25, 2018

• Last week was a lot of family / kid settling in stuff- took more effort and focus than I expected – trying to get back with a ton of backlog of work
• Will go to Shenzhen / Hong Kong later this week (thursday) mikesblog.com/prd-aug2018 for agenda
• Finalizing new applicants a new e-commerce gladiator for Para Living inc (Ecommercegladiator.com/recruit )
• Events and Unipro SOP and management
• Updating homepage of GFA to be more crypto and blockchain relevant look and feel.
• Preparing for Yiwu trip Sept 6-7 and Canton Fair Pre-Accelerator and Cross Border Matchmaker China Oct 26.
• Also preparing schedule for HK/ Sz / China returns.
  

Week of Aug 12 – 18, 2018

• At my new house in Chiang Mai, Thailand with kids screaming in the living room.
• Making sure kid’s first day of school on Tuesday goes smooth – buying a bunch of stuff!
• Recruiting a new e-commerce gladiator for Para Living inc (Ecommercegladiator.com/recruit )
• Realizing everything is about management!
• Preparing for Yiwu trip Sept 6-7 and Canton Fair Pre-Accelerator and Cross Border Matchmaker China Oct 26.
• Preparing to come back to Shenzhen / Hong Kong Aug 23 – Sept 5.
  

Week of Aug 5 – 11, 2018

• In the middle of nowhere, Nepal (Lumbini) where Buddha was born.
• HUGE Re-structuring for Amazon FBA business with new business partners
• more directory programming
• Management, management, SOP, management, SOP
• Preparing to move to Chiang Mai Thursday
• One day in HK Wednesday.
  

Week of July 29 – Aug 4, 2018

• Typing this up in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia -but will be in Nepal on Tuesday night for the rest of the week. Back to HK Aug 8.
• Still discussing the Re-structuring for Amazon FBA business with roles and responsibilities with the partners
• USA VIP packages and banking
• Starting to re-build an old project Spyble
• Built out an ICO directory in GFA (in addition to the daily listings and the reviews)
• Huge adjustment in life for Chiang Mai, Thailand move – nervous but excited!
  

Week of July 22 – 28, 2018

• School discussions in Chiang Mai
• Re-structuring for Amazon FBA business with roles and responsibilities
• Working on a USA incorporation package for GFA
• Heading to Malaysia with Wendy for her meditation retreat.
  

Week of July 15 – 21, 2018

• Greetings from Cebu, Philippines – had some amazing workshops in Manila and Cebu, as well as team building
• Making more and more SOPs and systems – content machine grows
• Making a few new mini online workshops (videos of the live seminars)
• Chiang Mai Thailand this week for the first time.
  

Week of July 8 – 14, 2018

• Preparing for Hong Kong / Rise
• Amazon FBA hustle, team is learning by pressure.
• Going to Philippines to start the 1 month exploration w/ Wendy for new home
• Workshops in Manila and Cebu, team retreat next Sunday.
  

Week of July 1- July 6, 2018

• hard at work on ICO reviews in GFA
• Amazon launch for Moka pots and french press
• working hard on team communication integrations
• Trend still – profitability instead of growth in traffic
  

Week of June 24- June 30, 2018

• Optimizing CRM flow for lead gen and new client onboarding
• Optimizing GFA web traffic, adding more travel and real estate conversion points
• Hong Kong Sunday night til Tuesday night
• Meetings with Alibaba, Amazon, and others for Cross Border Matchmaker event in October
• Trying to manage, not “do”- tough transition
• Looking to add more profitability instead of growth in traffic
  

Week of June 17 – 23, 2018

• Building out lead generation department
• Merging ICO Briefing and GFA Investments division
• Searching for schools for kids in south east Asia
• Training summer intern Shenyu
• Working on Cross Border Matchmaker event in Shenzhen Oct 2018
• Pushing the boundaries to make something great.
  

Week of June 10 – 16, 2018

• Hard core content creation week
• Starting GFA Investments division
• Looking into ICO reviews
• More Bank directory additions
• VR directory build out
• Planning Cross Border Summit Colombia for March 18-22, 2019
• Preparing to move to Thailand.
  

Week of June 3 – 9, 2018

• Been in Hong Kong since Saturday (Wife’s Buddhist retreat) and here til Tuesday night
• Content machine, developing more systems
• Further optimizing the GFA Help and GFAVIP membership programs
• Training new Unipro staff + new GFA TV co-host (exciting!)
• Building out more mini-sites for GFA
• Planning Cross Border Summit Colombia for March 18-22, 2019
• Big announcement about life changes coming soon (stay tuned)
  

Week of May 27 – June 2, 2018

• Hong Kong early in the week (as usual) – but China tax visit Monday first
• Lots of grinding on email marketing and funnel for Sisitano
• optimizing the GFA reviews, GFA banks and GFA immigration sites
• Doing email discount for GFAVIP yearly access
• Finding ideal time for talking to partners abotu Colombia CBS 2019, Yiwu in September, Philippines workshops in July
• Planning Cross Border Summit Colombia for March 18-22, 2019
• Content machine as usual
  

Week of May 20 – 26, 2018

• Hong Kong early in the week (as usual)
• Forming a new company for content creation (Content Investments) with Viena
• Creating a GFA Reviews Platform
• Merging an immigration forum w/ GFA Immigration and emailing the list
• Creating a bank directory
• Planning Cross Border Summit Colombia for March 18-22, 2019
• More content for Coffee, Virtual Reality, cross border business. Making a guest blog machine.
  

Week of May 13 – 19, 2018

• Hong Kong early in the week (as usual)
• Developing a more scalable online content creation team
• Studying subscription model for e-commerce products and Amazon FBA upsells
  

Week of May 5 – 12, 2018

• Going to Hong Kong Monday and Thailand Monday Night to Thursday (recording a China manufacturing workshop for Thai audience)
• Working on membership of GFA for CBS 2018 videos STILL – 33 videos!
• Improving Para Living Inc content management team – leveraging GFA’s
  

Week of April 29 – May 5 2018

• finally catching up after exhausting Cross Border Summit
• Working on membership of GFA for CBS 2018 videos
• Workshops and opportunities spinning from CBS 2018
  

Week of April 22 – 28 2018

• At CAnton Fair typing this up – on the GFA Canton Fair Trip
• Working on membership of GFA for ppt and videos
• Following up with opportunities that came from the summit.
  

Week of April 15 – 21 2018

• Fully focused on Cross Border Summit April 20-21 – its this week! 6 months of planning all comes down to now!
• VR campaign for Ennoplus
• Getting Phil into Para Living founding team workflow
  

Week of April 8 – 14 2018

• Thank you for all the amazing birthday wishes – and those who answered my birthday wish and shared Cross border Summit in your social media! 🙂
• Fully focused on Cross Border Summit April 20-21 – less than 2 weeks now so the pressure is on!
• VR campaign getting ready for the conference
• Roland from Para Living Inc is in Hong Kong trying to meet him since he’s only here a couple times a year from Europe.
  

Week of April 1 – 7, 2018

• Happy Easter (writing this up on Sunday morning as usual)
• Cross border Summit April 20-21, –
  Cross Border Summit is in a few weeks – full focus on this now, pressure is on and I am loving it
• Training Claire – looking forward to Claire our client services and business development team member, learning the systems and team members more to help take Global From Asia to the next level.
• Planning for new business expansion after the summit. A few big things in the works.
• Chinese Factory VR Experiences – so cool we are doing virtual reality for factories now.
• My birthday is Monday (4/2) . Getting older. Always put pressure on myself to break limiting beliefs and achieve greatness that is hidden inside all of us.
  

Week of Mar 25 – 31, 2018

• short week for western world – Easter holiday is starting end of this week
• Cross border Summit April 20-21, 2018 my big focus and pressure – more and more attendees, and so many want to be a speaker been on calls with a lot of potential new speakers.
• Working on a training session for visiting financial delegates from Colombia visiting China
• Training Claire Hu more on events and sales (even though I’m not so good at it! haha)
• Association / wechat app / community / block chain something to add more value to the community here.
• Finished recording first VR content at a factory, this week learning how to implement it.
  

Week of Mar 18 – 24, 2018

• back in Shenzhen / Hong Kong for the whole week
• Cross border Summit April 20-21, 2018 my big focus and pressure – more and more attendees, and so many want to be a speaker
• Global From Asia Espanol – some new projects already coming in Colombia
• Training Claire Hu more on business development
• New projects in the works, too early to say
• HK Virtual reality trade show developing with ShadowFactory.io
  

Week of Mar 11 – 18 , 2018

• Vietnam couple more days, mastermind + podcast interviews / biz dev
• Cross border Summit April 20-21, 2018 my big focus and pressure – more and more attendees, and so many want to be a speaker
• Global From Asia Espanol
• Building out sales and biz dev team for GFA
• Amazon package live! Working on launch strategy
• Hong Kong and Shenzhen hustling as usual. Virtual reality with ShadowFactory.io
  

Week of Mar 4 – 10 , 2018

• Last week finally back from USA trip exhaustion
• Cross border Summit April 20-21, 2018 my big focus and pressure – more and more attendees, and so many want to be a speaker
• Working on systems even deeper for content creation. hired 2 more writers
• Hired Claire Hu for business development on Global From Asia – already feeling it was a smart decision 🙂
• Still waiting for Amazon package to clear on Amazon and be live for Para Living Inc
• Going to Saigon Thursday night for DCxSGN conference over the weekend.
  

Week of Feb 25 – Mar 3 , 2018

• BACK! Recovered from jet lag and exhaustion of taking care of 2 kids in USA w/o my wife.
• Cross border Summit April 20-21, 2018 my big focus and pressure – it will rock – but still so much work to do!
• Hiring writers and business development people for various businesses
• Online version of China Business Workshop
• Launch the Amazon product on Sisitano finally
  

Week of Feb 18 – 24 , 2018

• Spend about “2 days” traveling back from USA back to China
• Reflecting on the US trip and Colombia trip
• Complete Recruiting for a Shenzhen based Chinese business development person
• Work on online version of China Business Workshop
• Still kind of Chinese New Year …things on the Eastern front still quiet.
  

Week of Feb 11 – 17 , 2018

• Last week in USA, being a dad with 2 kids (feeling what its like to be a single parent)
• Colombia business trip for GFA expansion
• Still Recruiting for a Shenzhen based Chinese business development person
• Chinese New Year …things on the Eastern front really quiet.
  

Week of Feb 4 -10 , 2018

• Getting over jet lag!
• Preparing for China Business Workshop in Miami Feb 8-9
• Recruiting for a Shenzhen based Chinese business development person
• Making the most while in USA – making deals and meeting people in US.
  

Week of Jan 28 – Feb 3, 2018

• Few days in Shenzhen / Hong Kong before USA trip
• Preparing for China Business Workshop in Miami Feb 8-9
• Hong Kong “hustle” all day Monday
• Thinking of writing up a Sales manual for GFA
  

Week of Jan 21-26, 2018

• Back to the Hong Kong, Shenzhen China border grind!
• Updating processes and workflows based on Cebu team meeting last week
• Promoting Cross Border Summit 2018 and China Business Workshop Florida
• Para Living Amazon launch is coming soon!
  

Week of Jan 14-20, 2018

• In Manila, Philippines just had an amazing GFA workshop w/ Digital Filipino + planning many more
• Team building in Cebu, Philippines mid-week
• Promoting Cross Border Summit 2018 and China Business Workshop Florida
• More systems, SOPs, KPIs, processes set us free!
  

Week of Jan 7-13, 2018

• Working on marketing systems for all our GFA events
• Working on ways to promote videos we are making
• Cross Border Summit 2018 is coming up close, getting more speakers – April 20-21,2018
• Preparing for Philippines Jan 11 – 17, Manila and Cebu. Manila meetup Saturday Jan 13!
  

Week of Dec 31, 2017 – Jan 6, 2018

• Building out massive network of drop ship websites
• Hong Kong on Tues / Wednesday for Shadow Factory web marketing work (new site!) and business meetings
• Cross Border Summit 2018 is coming up close – April 20-21,2018
• Let’s rock 2018
  

Week of Dec 24 – 30, 2017

• Studying closer drop shipping for various websites I have traffic on
• Reviewing our team’s ability and aligning that with our company’s projects
• Meeting with some good friends about new software and platform projects in the cross border ecommerce space for 2018
  

Week of Dec 17 – 23, 2017

• Reviewing Tools of the Titans book
• More Email marketing funnels and Dead Line funnel.
• SOP/ Company handbook review
• Cross Border Summit early bird with the top speakers and sponsors.
  

Week of Dec 10 – 16, 2017

• Got my passport back, so in HK Monday
• Working on email funnel – diving so deep into email marketing….
• HR handbook for company
• Cross Border Summit early bird with the top speakers and sponsors.
  

Week of Dec 2 – 9, 2017

• Stuck in Shenzhen as I have no passport during work permit renewal
• Thinking about 2018 and big initiatives
• Working on email funnel – diving so deep into email marketing….
• Working on GFA’s Cross Border E-commerce Association (GFA CBEA)
• New Virtual Reality portal site
• Cross Border Summit early bird with the top speakers and sponsors.
  

Week of Nov 26 – Dec 2, 2017

• Thinking about 2018 and big initiatives
• Working on email funnel for GFA free course
• Working on GFA’s Cross Border E-commerce Association (GFA CBEA)
• New Virtual Reality portal site
• Cross Border Summit early bird with the top speakers
  

Week of Nov 19 – 26, 2017

• Thinking about 2018 and big initiatives
• reflecting on 2017 – need to make a blog post recap
• Waiting for production sample of Sisitano’s first moka pot! (still!)
• Video systems – making a whole video interview series inside of factories and Chinese Amazon FBA sellers, need to make a system to make it smooth – each Thursday a new release.
• Working on finding venue for Cross Border Summit 2018 in Shenzhen, China – may stick with same one as last year and focus on quality people instead of quantity.
  

Oh ya and Happy Thanksgiving! Not much of a holiday for me though, no plans yet.

Week of Nov 12 – 18, 2017

• Content creation systems to scale more
• Working on an event in Philippines – Sat Jan 13
• Preparing to go to USA – Florida- Feb 1 – 18, 2018 – now doing a China Business Workshop for it.
• Working on an association for GFA, members driven
• Working on finding venue for Cross Border Summit 2018 in Shenzhen, China
  

Week of Nov 5 – 11, 2017

• Content creation systems to scale more
• Working on an event in Philippines
• Working on a Joint Venture in Colombia for Cross Border Summit
• Focusing back on GFAVIP membership after the CBM event
• Working on finding venue for Cross Border Summit 2018 in Shenzhen, China
  

Week of Oct 29 – Nov 4,
2017

• Recovering from epic DCBKK
• Recovering from epic Cross Border Matchmaker
• Implementing new email marketing strategies
• Catching up on content creation backlog and working with team.
  

Week of Oct 15 – 21,
2017

• Preparing to go to DCBKK
• Getting the first shipment for Sisitano coffee accessories sorted
• Launching a new podcast The Coffee Journey
• More promotions for Cross Border Matchmaker
  

Week of Oct 8 – 15,
2017

• Placing first order for our new FBA business, Para Living Inc
• Everyone is back from Golden Week holiday last week, time to push Cross Border Matchmaker which is Friday Oct 27 in Hua Qiang Bei, Shenzhen, China
• Training sales team
• Moving HK office
• Looking to open an SZ office as member’s community center.
  

Week of Oct 1 – 7,
2017

• Working on a more organized sales team for the company
• Cross Border Matchmaker! Is coming up quick, Friday Oct 27!
• Wholesalers Dropship / Hong Kong warehousing operations – office move, furniture, etc
• Editing TONS of video interviews with top Chinese Amazon FBA sellers – last week did a ton of interviews, now gotta edit them all.
• Making a GFA Awards site
• Starting an online mastermind group for GFA VIP members
  

Week of Sept 17, 2017 – Sept 25,
2017

• Re-engaging with VIP members of Global From Asia.
• Cross Border Matchmaker (CBM) inviting high level international sellers.
• Shanghai trip Sept 19-24 – CHat conference, also doing a GFA meetup Wed Sept 20. Doing GFA event in Hangzhou too, as well as a visit to Alibaba.
  
• Working on business model of Ecommerce Gladiator
  
• Finding a China sourcing Assistant for Para Living Inc
  

Week of Sept 10, 2017 – Sept 16,
2017

• Focusing on our GFA VIP members program. Have a mastermind rush starting. Also doing members town halls and 3 live podcast recordings with Q & A. As we have a lot of free content on Global From Asia – that will still be free, we are just adding premium paid content on top, as we’re figuring out how to monetize all the work we have been doing.
• Cross Border Matchmaker (CBM) this is lining up a massive event. Wendy is taking the lead and last week announced it – tons of sponsors and signups already.
• Shanghai trip Sept 19-24 – CHat conference, also doing a GFA meetup Wed Sept 20. Want to do some hyper networking. Lorenzo talking to me about coming to Hangzhou too. Need to figure this all out.
  
• Building out E-Commerce Gladiator into a proper TV show
  
• Working on better managing my finances, Shlomo is my coach! After leaving New York City in 2007 I always kind of let the budgeting slide….
  

Week of Sept 3, 2017 – Sept 10,
2017

• Para Living is getting samples delivered, still firming out the work flow between partners.
• GFA meetup long term strategy. Philippines? Hong Kong chapter leaders, dates for September’s.
• Announce and promote Cross Border Matchmaker conference for Fri Oct 27
• Video creation and marketing systems and procedures.
• Ecommerce Gladiator TV show PRODUCTION and EDITING – huge amount of work – STILL WORKING ON FIRST EPISODE
• Scale By Outsourcing – talk to Travis about webinar and more cross-marketing.
• focusing on GFAVIP member series + recruiting more premium members.
  

Week of Aug 27, 2017 – Sept 2,
2017

• Making more systems and processes for Para Living Amazon FBA Business on product selection and launching
• Speaking in Hong Kong on Aug 31, Thursday, at Naked Hub on Cross Border E-commerce.
• Banking and corporate, legal, contracts for Para Living Inc.
• Event marketing for GFA team
• Ecommerce Gladiator TV show PRODUCTION and EDITING – huge amount of work
• Video production SOPs and processes for Kelvin on the team
  

Week of Aug 20-26, 2017

• New ecommerce venture confirmed – Para Living!
• Contract confirmed for new venture
• sales training for new GFA team
• Ecommerce Gladiator TV show
  

Week of Aug 13-20, 2017

• Training new Sales and marketing staff – Wechat , facebook, email
• Still vetting applicants for ecommerce venture, legal contract signing
• New Ecommerce Venture name is – ParaLiving.com
• Get USA GFA Chapters going!
• Getting close to E-commerce gladiator Tv night – Tues Aug 22!
  

Week of Aug 6 – 13, 2017

• Hiring more sales and marketing people
• Interviews (calls) with ecommerce case study applicants
• Work on more GFA chapters – processes, SOP, and others
• Ecommerce Gladiator TV outline!
  

Week of July 30 – Aug 5, 2017

• Servicing new members of Scale By Outsourcing program, getting more signups!
• Work on vetting the applications for the new Amazon FBA business / case study
• Work on more GFA chapters – Thailand, and others
• more re-purposing of epic content!
  

Week of July 23 – 30, 2017

• Announcing our next big event – Cross border Matchmaker – for Saturday Oct 28, 2017 in Shenzhen
• Announcing a whole new direction in my life and business – need to wait til Tuesday July 25 to find out – will announce on all channels
• Scale By Outsourcing course is ready for purchase to those on the list
  

Week of July 16 – 22, 2017

• Back to the “grind” – I hope to travel less, do less meetings. I just want to focus on making amazing content and building out more systems for the business.
• Working on GFA Chapter organization – getting lots of questions for chapter organizers and working on making it smoother – but at the same time – need to figure out the best business model – it is a challenge – but an opportunity at the same time.
• Systems for getting new content online – Have amazing content being created – still the flow isn’t fully complete. Need to make a system for that and get people in place for it.
• Scale By outsourcing course – lead magnet delivered, sales page up, with target of 3 clients by end of month.
  

Week of July 9-16 2017

Back in Shenzhen, for a few days – but a lot of Hong Kong this coming week

• Rise Conference – will be a media at rise conference, going to be hyper networking, hope to get a few good podcasts in. Meet some more cool people and grow the GFA brand and network.
• GFA meetup in HK at Rise – Wed July 12 – have a GFA meetup during Rise – 7pm at Paperclip HK coworking Space with Ricardo Li on cross-border e-commerce into China
• GFA ecommerce pitch night Thurs July 13 in SZ – at TGN workhub in Nanshan, Shenzhen
• Building out more GFA chapters – Miami, Hangzhou, San Francisco, and more in the works.
• Make GFA into a cross-border business association – need to make a charter, get a board of advisors. Learning how that works, but seems taht is what GFA is becoming which is awesome!
• Strategic thinking about GFA – its 3 things – GFA media, GFA events, and GFA Platforms (jobs, experts, market). Pretty awesome how it is shaping up
• Monetization models – still need to work on monetization for GFA.
  

Week of July 2- 8 2017

Still in Vietnam, will be here till Tuesday night, July 4th.

• Launching PR campaign – it was leaked early, http://www.campaignasia.com/gallery/agencies-aim-to-provoke-with-altered-us-currency/437742 but we have press releases going out in both USA and China on Monday and Tuesday so it should be great
  
• Launching SBO – scalebyoutsourcing.com – after months of work, we have the course ready and a great offer, if you want to check it out, get on our email list on the homepage. Excited to regularly add knowledge and help for people growing their business by outsourcing.
  
• Design flow – we just added a designer to our team and he is taking charge of making smooth designs for all our meetups and events.
  
• Strategic thinking about our meetups and workshops – after this Vietnam meetup last week, deciding about the long term strategy of having meetups in various parts of the world. What is the business model, what is the value. Talking to some local Vietnamese potential organizing partners and getting some great insights. Each market here in Asia is so different, how to make them all fit together.
  
• Business model canvas – my buddy Wilson Blues pushing me to make one so he can give me more feedback. He’s afraid I’m not thinking a bout profitablilty enough. Will be a good exercise.
  

Week of June 25- July 1, 2017

Recovering from event week! But still a lot more hustling this week

• Goign to Vietnam Wednesday til July 4 – doing a GFA meetup there on Thursday June 29 at The Hive in district 2 from 7pm to 9pm, come by!
• Launching scalebyoutsourcing.com in beta!
• GFA meetup SOP flow tweaks
• Get to know Andrew Voda more, our summer apprentice, he’s with me in Vietnam

Week of June 18- June 24, 2017

EVENT Week!!! been preparing for this week for a while, will try to keep “computer work” up a bit but will mostly be at conferences, meetups, and more.

• Techcrunch Shenzhen – monday and Tuesday
• China Business Cast meetup – Wednesday night. With the afternoon me and Shlomo (co-host) together recording
• GFA meetup – Wilson talking about Amazon FBA on Thursday night
• Wechat workshop – GFA Expert workshop with Matt Brennan on Friday afternoon
• Wechat Mini China Channel event – I’m on a panel in SZ’s mini-meetup Saturday afternoon

Week of June 11- June 17, 2017

• Really working being a “manager” more than a “maker” as we add more and more people to the team.
• REsearch for n course for managing online teams and productivity, Scale By Outsourcing
• so many events, making systems for our GFA events and experts network
• Looking for local city chapter organizers for GFA Experts platform
• GFA VIP – paid membership, and basically, everyone else is a free member (email newsletter, etc) – helped me a lot to figure out that the GFA site is 2 things – paid member or free member, that is it.
• Made a public page of GFA VIP members GFA VIP members here

Week of June 4- June 11, 2017

• SEO analysis for Global From Asia
• Working on new course for managing online teams and productivity, Scale By Outsourcing
• so many events, making systems for our GFA events and experts network
• Looking for local city chapter organizers for GFA Experts platform

Week of May 28- June 3, 2017

• Keyword research and content generation – thinking of more epic content for Global From Asia
• Working on new course for managing online teams and productivity
• spending more time making GFA newsletter even better
• New summer intern starting, Andrew Voda, so preparing and he’ll be working from June 1
• funnel and tweaks to overall GFA site

Week of May 21- May 27, 2017

• Education and Members is the focus, seems this is what I have always been about and need to focus on what I am good at, as well as what people want (and pay for)!
• GFA Experts followup – Just had an amazing GFA Experts Meetup and GFA Experts Workshop at the end of last week! Want to collect feedback and make a long term calendar / schedule for future events.
• GFAVIP – I want to focus more on our current and new GFAVIP members. Adding all these new GFA Jobs, GFA Market, GFA Experts, I want to make sure the current members know that they have special priority and benefits on these platforms.

Week of May 14- May 20, 2017

• Working on meetups and workshops as part of the GFA experts division of Global From Asia. This Thursday have a meetup on logistics, and then Friday a full day workshop on Amazon Leverage. Also getting more interest in Vietnam for a meetup there June 23 (friday). Looking for community leaders to help drive these forward.
• Looking to bring back Global From Asia TV, monthly.
• Early stage discussions on an e-commerce incubator in Shenzhen. Not a “startup” incubator where the majority fail and look for 1 “unicorn” – but a more average risk with average return. Help these e-commerce sellers start, scale, and/or get to a new level depending on their level.
• Restructuring China Business Cast a bit so that it can operate more independent.
• Preparing for Summer intern starting on June 1

Week of May 7- May 13, 2017

• Launching a new GFA Experts platform to enable knowledgable experts on Asia business to organize courses, workshops, and events under the Global From Asia brand. Hope to launch in a couple days.
• Close to selecting an intern for this summer to take GFA to the next level.
• Working on more workshops for Amazon FBA with Meir Simhi, launched and people are buying it. Was shy about pricing but learning to sell value, and it will be worth it!
• Reading a book about mindset, and just not looking back. I have invested a lot in so many projects that didn’t pan out – but need to remember that those are what made me who I am today. Focus on what is working and I hope to double down on that.

Week of April 30 – May 6, 2017

• Digesting an amazing Cross border Summit April 21-22 STILL!. already talking to sponsors and speakers for next year. Seriously massive win here and trying to keep momentum.
• talking to summer interns and job applicants as I’m now full force on building out the Global From Asia market, after the summit is finished
• Working on more workshops for Amazon FBA with Meir Simhi, launched blog post about my belly dancing dinner and how it lead to the workshop
• Masterminds on the beach? sounds pretty awesome would love to make that happen.

Week of April 23 – 29, 2017

• Digesting an amazing Cross border Summit April 21-22 that just finished on Saturday. Writing up PR releases, dealing with the accounting, collecting feedback, and thinking about April 2018’s event.
• Now full force on building out the Global From Asia market, after the summit is finished
• Working on more workshops for Amazon FBA with Meir Simhi, as well as Wechat training with Matt Brennan.

Week of April 15 – 22, 2017

• All hands on deck preparing for the 2017 Cross border Summit April 21-22 less than a week away now.

I hate to delete stuff, so I’ll keep the archives below of the old “now” status updates.

Week of April 2 – 8, 2017

• All hands on deck preparing for the 2017 Cross border Summit April 21-22 less than 3 weeks away now. So communicating to early ticket buyers and sorting out logistics.
• Getting more service providers to list on our new Global From Asia Marketplace.
• And promoting and advertising our new FREE GFA Job board

(didn’t really follow the “what I’m doing now”) in 2016 – and got inspired by Dustin Ellard to archive the older ones each week. Started it up again on my birthday in April 2017.

From December 2015

Writing this up end of December 2015.

Family – 2nd baby coming Jan 2016 We’re expecting our 2nd baby next month! Will be a girl, and we picked the name Maggie already! Can’t wait

Global From Asia podcast + Asia business agency – What started out as a podcast has become my main focus – I’m helping people setup companies in Hong Kong and China, as well as a list of other products and services for business in Hong Kong and China.

Unchained Apps + Social Agent App Business Development Manager at the app company Unchained Apps which Social Agent merged with in Nov 2014.

3rd Book Coming soon: China Startup – almost ready to launch my 3rd book, China Startup – about my experiences and insights starting a tech startup in Mainland China. Launching in Jan.