Quick In & Out of China

Quick In & Out of China

That was fast- a few days in Shenzhen, China and then off.

Mike’s blog 208

Writing on the road in Hong Kong today. Strange feeling to go to a place you lived for over ten years and feel like a visitor – but it is what it is. We had our Cross Border Matchmaker event on Friday Oct 26 and it was an event we had been planning before I even thought I would move to Thailand (these events take 6 months or so of preparation). So – we had to do what we had to do. We are building out a local organizing team and hope to have them continue to run these events while we live abroad.

The life is a family on the move. I have talked to some other “digital nomads” and those constantly on to travel to the next place, and many say after a couple years it becomes a grind.

While I never have considered myself a digital nomad, and my plan now is 5 to 10 years in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Surrounded by those who want to be a digital nomad or are coming through as a nomad.

The Cross Border Matchmaker event went really well and we tried a new format where it is round tables with experts and switching every so often based on the amount of people and tables. A more “salon” style event that we hope to replicate around Asia and the world, this new event model being the first.

That transition of being an event organizer in one city (we have done  quite a few in Shenzhen) to being the brand of events is still a transition I am making. We have Colombia coming up in March and planning more in other parts of Southeast Asia in the second half of 2019.

There are some emotions about the transition out of living in Shenzhen and doing events there. But at the same time we are scaling things up and events should still happen there – it is just going to be organized by Sonia, our local Shenzhen chapter organizer. We are the brand of events, and we have franchisees helping us in various cities. Just as an emotional person, felt strange to come to a city you no longer live in and put together an event and then leave the night of the event.

Life moves really fast, and a skill we need to learn is how to adapt to our surroundings faster and not get caught up in the post.

Onwards and upwards.