Business and Personal Development

We’re hosted at a web-hosting company that offers up to 750GB of space and up to 7500GB of bandwidth for one low monthly cost. In spite of the fact that we host more than 50GB of multimedia training files on the various Glossika subdomains, or just over 6% of our allowed usage, we got a nasty slap on the wrist in April saying we had 24 hours to get our usage under 5GB. Since they showed me the fine print, I said, sure okay, I’ll do it, but I do have a few issues with their sales approach. As a side note, I needed much longer than 24 hours to figure out what to do, not to mention uploading that much data to a new location without interruption of service. Bottom line, it took me almost a week, and that was a week wasted in productivity that I could have spent doing a lot of other things which I’d already had scheduled, so I hope this entry helps you save a lot of precious time if you’re in a similar predicament.

First of all, if you’re only allowed 5GB of multimedia files (including pictures!), what the heck do you fill 750GB of space with? HTML files? How many of you guys out there have a website using 750 gigs of HTML files or text in a database? Come on! We’re not Wikipedia here! How many letters can you fit into 750 gigs anyway?

So to clear up their sales approach, this is what you actually get when you buy:

• unlimited space for text (there might be some fine print against that–I didn’t check.)
• 5GB of multimedia files

They say there are unlimited emails, so what if I started a service like Hotmail or Gmail, I bet you anything you’d get slapped on the wrists once you exceeded, say, 1 million emails…? Maybe not even that much.

So the only other alternative is one of the following:

• Host your own server (that sucks because there’s maintenance costs, and what happens if there’s a real technical problem or if the power goes out or any myriad of problems…)
• Buy a dedicated server (it’ll cost you one or two hundred bucks a month though, and that’s not to say there are still “limits” and that at one point you’ll get slapped on the wrists again)
• Cloud computing. This is probably the best choice because you only pay for what you use. Storage is virtually cost-free, accessing for your site’s members can easily be offset by your website’s revenue through ads or memberships or sales of products. And speaking of sales of products, I have some great news to announce to help webmasters make more money (no I’m not pushing one of my products here).

Cloud computing is great because your stuff is hosted on millions of computers, or nodes. If one of those computer’s hard drives die, and they do (and your HD and your backup drives eventually will too) all your data is still alive existing virtually between these millions of nodes like a water droplet in a cloud. When a node dies, it easily gets replaced. The great thing about cloud computing is there is no limit to the amount of stuff you want to store, and even better there is no limit to the number of people accessing your stuff. There’s virtually no down time and because of the system, problems in the infrastructure are greatly reduced or weeded out on their own. Imagine a million 20-gig hard drives, that’s somewhere in the ball park of 20,000 terabytes. And that’s small compared to their setup, so there’s plenty of room for everyone.

Peak usage on your site (let’s say you suddenly jump up in the rankings or suddenly get ten million hits in a day), or can you just imagine, a viral video you host suddenly gets a million views (this won’t hurt you if you put it on YouTube), you’re going to be eating mega bandwidth costs. As I was saying, peak usage on your site if you’re setup on cloud computing won’t shut your site down as there is no limit to exceed. You’ll just have to pay some dollars and cents for that bandwidth. So if you have a 20-meg video viewed by 1 million people, you’re going to have to pay for 20 gigs of bandwidth.

That 20 gigs of bandwidth on Amazon’s cloud computing service would cost you USD$2.60. My monthly bandwidth is still very affordable — not yet exceeding USD100 — and less than the cost of a dedicated server.

Recommendations:

1. If you’re looking for a place to backup all your important files and you want them safe and secure and inaccessible by anybody else, I recommend using Amazon’s S3 service. This service�doesn’t have any fancy interface and may require some scripting knowledge. But not to fear, there are now great packages that bypass all of this. Get a 3rd-party application so aptly named Jungle Disk to manage your adventure into the Amazon cloud. This application can be used for free or has a very small cost for power users. I would like to warn you that Jungle Disk does not allow access to your files via a website, for example, for your visitors to download files. This was not very clear to me at the beginning, but it is a very good and secure way to backup your data.
2. The program that I’ve fallen in love with is Bucket Explorer. This is just like my old FTP software. I see my computer files on the left, and I see my Amazon buckets on the right, and a list of all my files and directories listed under those buckets. (Oh and by the way I can also see the buckets that Jungle Disk created for me). Bucket Explorer has a free trial which is great to fall in love with this product. Then you’ll have to pay a small drop in the bucket to buy it, but it’s worth it. The best thing about this product is that it gives you complete control over the access of the files, including limiting access control to a certain email ID. Now I can host my files to my website and I can even use my own web address to host the files using the following method:
1. Setup a subdomain at your website. For example, “homevideos”. Then forward all requests to that subdomain to the Amazon server.
2. Using my Bucket Explorer I create a new bucket using the same name, in other words, homevideos.glossika.com using exactly that notation with the dots.
3. Then I might want to separate my files into different folders, so when I click on that bucket, a list of the files and subdirectories will appear below. I click on the star to create a new folder called “vacations” and I have a new folder.
4. Then I find the file on my hard drive on the left side, say for example, Hawaii20080401.wmv, and press the right arrow to upload it.
5. When it’s done, I have to give it access rights, so I click the access button, and click the Read-All Users button, and okay it.
6. Now I want to host it on a webpage on my site, or I can share the link via emails to my friend. The link I would use is (on my site): http://homevideos.glossika.com/vacations/Hawaii20080401.wmv (that’s not a valid link), and voilà, your multimedia can now be downloaded or played for your friends.
7. Or you could put it on YouTube if you so desire. But maybe this way you can limit access to certain people. I use this to allow access only to my site members.

Some of you may be thinking gosh this guy’s a huge fan of Amazon. Well, I think I’ve spent about US$100 at Amazon in the last 10 years–not sure if that qualifies as a huge fan. On a monthly average, I’ve spent more in the last month using their S3 service.

New Updates from Amazon:

1. Amazon has just reduced the price of their services. You pay 5 cents less for bandwidth now. And if you have a huge site demanding more than 150TB per month, huge rebates available for you.
2. AWS Premium Support Available. Now there’s a Service Health Dashboard.
3. Persistent Storage. Amazon just launched the EC2 service. And in their words: “These volumes exist independently from any Amazon EC2 instances, and will behave like raw, unformatted hard drives or block devices, which may then be formatted and configured based on the needs of your application. The volumes will be significantly more durable than the local disks within an Amazon EC2 instance. Additionally, our persistent storage feature will enable you to automatically create snapshots of your volumes and back them up to Amazon S3 for even greater reliability.” Still in beta but you can apply for an account. announcement
4. This looks like a great service: Amazon Fulfillment Web Service. This looks like a great new way for webmasters to monetize their sites. In their words: it “allows merchants to access Amazon.com’s world-class fulfillment capabilities through a simple web services interface. Amazon FWS makes it easy for merchants and developers to programmatically integrate the benefits of Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) into their own web sites or other sales channels. With FBA, merchants can store inventory in Amazon’s warehouses and Amazon will pick, pack, and ship products directly to merchant’s customers.” read on

Glossika and Worldwide Education completed talks in February 2008 and starting officially in March 2008, Glossika now provides an online MBA program from accredited universities in Europe geared for training the next wave of business professionals in the Greater China Region.

The more than 200 seminars provided through the e-training platform allows students to work through the courses at their own pace, on their own time, from home or work. Tests are conducted directly with the university and students are required to write and defend a dissertation in order to acquire a degree.

In addition to the MBA studies, Glossika is also offering the seminars as standalone courses with no obligation for completing a degree. For a fraction of the cost of attending school abroad, anybody can acquire the knowledge and skills required for today’s competitive workforce for as little as 300 Euros a course.

Course offerings are currently provided through our English training platform at http://english.glossika.com/mba/ and will expand to our business-related site for the rest of the English-speaking world. Glossika is already accepting applications and inquiries.

Dear Readers,

In our on-going effort to provide more effective language solutions between east and west, we officially launched on January 1st, 2008, an English training platform for Chinese speakers at http://english.glossika.com/. Although our number of lessons only reach 658 with�over 200 embedded�videos and over 400 MP3s, we plan to keep adding�until there are at�least 1500 lessons.

Our daily evening videocast from http://en.utv.com.tw/ was officially launched August 1, 2007, and UTV continues to be a technical partner into 2008.�

We now offer complete automated membership and purchase of all content and we will be adding much more user-interactive functionality in the months to come. Unassisted sales as of mid-January 2008 have surpassed US$5000. We have brought on two new salespeople and started a marketing campaign with goals to get membership up to 100 by the end of Q1.

Dear readers,

A new business blog has been created in a subdirectory at this site with the latest upgrades in blogging software. Most of the business-related entries at this site will be moved over to the new blog eventually. The new site is meant to be interactive for readers to leave their comments on business-related publications.�Here is the link:

Business Blog

Generate a Better-than-average Return on Your Investments

A high income is a good start, but in and of itself this will usually not be enough to provide you with a seven-figure net worth within seven years. To achieve that goal, you’ll also need to make investments that generate a better-than-average return for you. This will never be a matter of picking some investment and then sitting back and letting it make you wealthy. Again, you will need to make some astute investments and then work hard on making those investments appreciate in value by applying the skills and know-how you bring to the equation.
The 3 major investment types
There are usually only three investments you can make that will allow this intensive hands-on involvement on your part to generate extraordinary returns:

You can invest in the business that employs you by securing a profit-sharing compensation package.

You can invest in another business you run in your spare time or have a friend run.

You can learn for yourself the ins and outs of making money by investing in real estate.Essential investment knowledge
In order to achieve above-average gains on your investments, some inside knowledge about how each investment appreciates is usually required. These will be the closely guarded “secrets” of success the industry insiders guard jealously.

Even from the outside, however, you can make an educated guess about what you will need to know to make your investments appreciate in value. For example:

Marketing and finding new business cost effectively increases in value for any business or consulting practice.

Become an expert in your chosen field of expertise success in being able to build a consulting business.

Invest in businesses you know and understand  success in being able to pick stocks that will appreciate in value.

Find a mentor who will provide you with great advice success in being able to build stand alone businesses.

Understand the dynamics of the market that drive demand successful investments in real estate.The whole point is that to accelerate your rate of return on your investments, you have to work your investments. It isn’t simply a matter of looking far and wide until your have found the “right” investment and then sitting back and waiting for your ship to come in. You can generate above-average returns in any type of investment you choose as long as you know what’s required and you are prepared to work at it.

Taking action
Once you know what makes your investments tick, you can then go to work at adding still more value. You can:

Find new products for your business to sell.

Learn how to enhance the value in the products you already sell so you can charge customers more.

Develop new and innovative way to create additional customers.

Exploit “back-end” sales strategies that enable you to sell more to your existing customers.

Learn how to form and work effective partnerships with the right people and the right organizations.

Learn the ins and outs of what you need to be doing through hands-on experimentation.

Using the 3 Business Strategies

All of these different ways of optimizing and increasing your rate of return on your investments are really combinations of three general business strategies:

1. Secure profit-sharing packages

Put yourself into position to benefit from the good work you’re already doing by negotiating some type of profit-sharing arrangement. Typically, these are structured in such a way that you get a share of the additionl profits you generate for the business by introducing some new idea. If your employer is smart, this will be a no-brainer because you’ll become highly motivated to achieve something that benefits the business even more. There are many different ways to set these types of deals up.

2. Start a side business and grow it

Everyone should have a side business that allows you to generate money through the talents and skills you already possess. Not only does this add a second stream of income for you, but it also allows you to find the true market worth of your skills. If your part-time business grows large enough, at some point in the future you can decide whether to go into your own business full time or stay where you are. This gives you a good range of options. Set a goal to generate $25,000 a year through your side business by selling your services to noncompeting firms on a part-time basis to get started.

3. Invest in real estate

Real estate is th ideal investment vehicle. If you buy right, real estae will increase in value while you’re working away on other projeccts. To work real estate effectively, you don’t need to be actively doing physical work on your proerties. Instead, you make the most money in real estate by buying right. An active real estate investment program will mean you’re getting out in the marketplace and understanding value, getting on good terms with real estate agents who can steer good deals your way, and generally keeping tabs on what’s available. It also means watching for foreclosures and other great purchasing opportunities.
Learn more about Michael Masterson’s philosophies from his book Seven Years to Seven Figures.

Example #1–Helping the boss develop new products

Approaches used:

1. Do what you already do better

2. Develop a new skill or competency

In 1983, Michael Masterson was working as an editorial assistant for a printing company. He decided to study how the company marketed itself and got closely involved in helping the owner build his company’s turnover. In recognition of that involvement, Masterson was promoted to head up the editiorial department. That meant his salary increased from $35,000 a year to $70,000.

Six months later, Michael came up with an idea for a new and better type of financial newsletter. He approached his boss, explained that he’d been working on this new project in his own time and said that if his boss liked it and decided to go ahead with it, Michael wanted to have “a piece of the action.” His boss was reluctant at first, but ultimately agreed to give him a 25-percent stake in the new publishing project.

That was fine, but to bring the circulation of the new newsletter up to where it needed to be was going to cost about $2 million in marketing expenses. To suport his 25-percent equity stake, Masterson had to mortgage his house, sell his car and put everything he had at risk. Eventually, he owed almost $500,000 before the newsletter started to make any profits.

Within a year, however. the newsletter had turned the corner and was starting to do well. Just a few months later, Michael Masterson’s 25-percent stake in the newsletter was worth about $1.5 million.

Example #2–Finding a Partner

Approaches used:

2. Develop a new skill or competency

3. Supplement your income

Alan Silver was a successful self-employed businessman who made a good living selling office supplies in Boca Raton, Florida. When Office Depot and Office Max came into his home market, he decided it was an opportune time to make a career switch. A friend of his named Rick was a newsletter publisher, and Alan teamed up with him to start a joint venture company that would sell natural supplements to the newsletter readers. They formed the company on a handshake and agreed to split any profits that would hopefully be generated 50-50.

Alan wrote a 4-page flyer that would be inserted into his partner’s health newsletter. He then arragned to insert it into some other newsletters on a 50/50 basis where he would split the sales revenue generated with the publishers of the other newsletters. The responses to the ads came quickly, and within six months the new company had generated more than a quarter-million dollars in sales. It was only at that stage Alan learned that to allow his business to grow, he had to plow everything back into the business for the first serveral years at least. In addition, other vitamin supply companies were starting to use the same advertising approaches he had used, so the market was becoming much more competitive. Alan spent a few hours every day learning everything he could about the health supplement industry.

In order to differentiate his company from the competition, Alan and Rick teamed up with a doctor and started developing their own high-end, high-quality nutritional supplements. His marketing now emphasized the superior quality of his products and the company started making more sales. Alan also developed an entirely new product–a multivitamin packaged in an aluminum cannister. Inside were packets of the five or six vitamins most people take every day. Customers could just open the cannister and grab one packet to take in the morning and another packet to take in the evening. It was convenient and unique.

Example #3–Branching out into other fields

Approaches used:

1. Do what you already do better

3. Supplement your income

David Keller is a doctor with his own medical practice. While to many people that may sound like a license to print your own money, the reality is that increased government regulations, HMO reporting requirements, malpractice insurance and other administrative obligations now severely restrict the amount doctors can charge for their services. To compensate, Dr. Keller ended up working 10 to 12 hours a day, seeing 90 or more patients during that time.

Dr. Keller soon realized he couldn’t grow his business by seeing more people himself. He was already becoming exhausted and had not been able to take a vacation for the five years since he set up his practice. He was interested in some alternative medicine treatments that seemed to be generating better results than the conventional protocols he had learned in medical school. Dr. Keller did some more research on the topic and decided to establish his own consulting company to provide services to the maanufacturers of these nutritional supplements and to the marketers who were welling those products. He also began consulting with insurance companies, teaching them how to cut costs by improving the health of the people they were insuring.

Although his total income during the first year of consulting was only $20,000, by year five he was generating more than $400,000 from his various consulting activities. He used that revenue to move into real estate investing, publishing a natural health newsletter and selling information products over the Internet. Dr. Keller also worked to provide more education about new services and new lab tests to his patients. That allowed him to gradually increase his charges while at the same time keeping his patients happy because they were receiving better treatment options all the time.

As his medical practice grew in sync with his sideline consulting business, Dr. Keller was able to hire and train more staff. He cut back his own workload to five hours  a day, three days a week so more time could be devoted to both his consulting business and his family.

Example #4–From partnership to entrepreneurship

Approaches used:

2. Start a side business and grow it

3. Invest in real estate

Brad Solomon was a 27-year-old accountant in 1998. He met someone who convinced him the time was right to start an investor-relations business. This was natural extension of the kind of work he did as a corporate accountant, except it would also require that he learn how to write good public relations material that would appeal to potenial investors.

To get started, Brad contacted someone who was already active in the financial publishing industry. Since he had more business than he could handle, he agreed to contract some of the more mundane aspects of his work to Brad. That worked out fine because it gave Brad the confidence to quit his job as an accountant and plunge into building his own company. The arrangement worked fine for a year or so until his client accidentally e-mailed Brad an invoice he was sending to his client. When Brad realized the other company was taking his bills and then doubling or tripling them for their clients, he realized there was much more money to be made if he dealt directly with the end clients himself.

To build his profile, Brad started attending trade shows and industry conventions where he handed out his business cards. He also offered to do a few jobs on a love-it-or-you-owe-me-nothing basis. Gradually, he started getting clients and since he delivered more than they expected, he started generating some good word-of-mouth referrals. Within a year, he was regularly billing $10,000 to $20,000 per month. He then hired his first employee in 2002 and taught him how to find new clients.

To add another revenue stream, Brad then decided to start publishing an investment newsletter. He also started another business with his cousin to provide specialized healthcare workers. Brad agreed to put up the start-up capital and have his cousin run the company. By a stroke of luck, this industry was just about to enjoy some explosive growth and the new company literally took off.

By the end of 2004, Brad was making $400,000 a year from his investor-relations business and newsletter. He also made another $250,000 as a silent partner in the healthcare workers business. Brad started investing that money in small-cap stocks and real estate, where again he was fortunate to be coming into both markets when they were on the upswing.

By the time a large temp agency made an offer to acquire the healthcare workers business in 2005 for a very healthy price, Brad realized the value of all of his investments were rising rapidly. In fact, he ended up making around $2 million within three years just from his investment portfolio and the sale of his sideline company.

Example #5–Using sales skills to start a business

Approaches used:

1. secure profit-sharing packages

2. Start a side business and grow it

In 1975, 18-year-old Bruce Buffer got a job selling office supplies at a 50-person company. Within two weeks he was the company’s number one salesman and within three months he was promoted to sale manager. He was earning $50,000 a year, but he could see the coompany was earning a lot more from his efforts, so he quit to start his own business. That was fine, except his previoius company hit him with a million-dollar lawsuit because he took their best salespeople with him, so Bruce returned to work for his previous employer for twice his salary plus a bonus.

By 1993, Bruce Buffer got the entrepreneurial bug again. He already had a couple of part-time ventures going but he also wanted to help commercialize the success of his half-brother, Michael Buffer, who was a ring announcer for boxing matches who had the trademarked signature phrase: “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble.” Bruce and Michael decided to form a partnership to generate income from that phrase.

Within three years, Michael Buffer was not only acting as ring announcer for boxing matches but also doing the same for the NBA, the NFL, WCW Wrestling, the NHL, the Indy 500, NASCAR and the MLB World Series. Bruce even came up with the idea of using personalized audio recordings of Michael for other events so they could generate more revenue without being imited by Michael’s in-person availability.

By 1999, Bruce and Michael working together had generated more than $400 million in sales. Michael even managed to negotiate one deal that saw him become the voice of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (a martial arts tournament) because Bruce was contracted to a competitor, the WCW Wrestling League.

Example #6–Writing a success story

Approaches used:

1. Secure profit-sharing packages

2. Start a side business and grow it

3. Invest in real estate

In February 1999, Justin Ford declared bankruptcy. He had tried starting his own import-export business and then building a publishing business, but all his efforts had come to naught. As he had a wife and three kids to support, he looked around for something he could do to make end meet. The only job on offer was to become a copywriter to develop marketing materials for another publishing company. Justin didn’t have any experience in the field, but with no other options he interviewed for the job. The publisher liked him and offered him a job with two salary options: Justin could take a starting salary of $60,000 a year or he could work for the company on a freelance basis earning the standard rate for freelancers plus a royalty on the sales he generated. Justin opted for the freelance position.

Within a year, Justin’s income had doubled to around $200,000. About half came from copywriting fees while the other half came from the performance-based commissions he was generating as a marketing consultant. It was at about this stage that he came up with the idea to develop a program called The Seeds of Wealth, which would teach children how to save and invest money. Justin developed all the sales materials for his program and then approached a successful businessman to offer a 25-percent stake in The Seeds of Wealth for $25,000. The businessman loved the concept, was impressed by the marketing materials and made the investment.

With his new idea launched and solid success as a copywriter, Michael had managed to save $30,000 by the end of his second year as a copywriter. He used that money to buy a piece of real estate that turned out to be a very good investment. He would be able to resell his property for an additional $85,000 within a couple of years.

By 2005, Justin had four income streams in place:

He generated a six figure income writing advertising copy. This took between 30 and 40 hours each week.

He also earned a six-figure annual income acting as a marketing consultant. He spent between 10 and 20 hours each week on this work.

He had a property portfolio that generated a mid-five-figure income for him each year.

He also had a modest but steady income which rolling in from his Seeds of Wealth program with almost no investment of his time.Learn more about Michael Masterson’s philosophies from his book Seven Years to Seven Figures.

The single most effective way to become wealthy fast is to find a way to dramatically boost your income. In practical terms, achieving this usually means you do at least one of three things:

You find a way to do what you currently do to live a much better life

You develop and then harness a new skill that is highly valued from a financial perspective

You augment your income by reinvesting your knowledge and skills in areas outside your current job

Practical Methods for Increasing Your Income

To make some headway in building wealth, you’ll need to earn more than you so at present.  In fact, your aim should be to dramatically boost your income. There are logically only three ways you can achieve that:

1. Do what you already do better

Doing what you’re currently soing for a living a whole lot better usually makes you worth a whole lot more to your current emmployer. Of course, this is only helpful if you then turn around and make certain your employer is paying you what you’re now worth rather than what you previously earned. You may need a strategy for achieving that rather than merely hoping your increase in value will be appropriately rewarded.

2. Develop a new skill or competency

Develop and entirely new skill or competency that will be highy valued financially by your employer. In practical terms, the best way to do this is by learning a new skill that will place you directly in a position where you influence your company’s bottom line profits. For most enterprises, the most hightly valued skills are those that have something to do with sales or marketing. If you learn how to sell the products or services your company makes more effectively, you will be well positioned to ask for promotions, salary increases and sizable profit incentives in the future. It’s also very useful if you learn how to sell yourself to others more effectively at the same time. One good skill that is usually well worth developing is copywriting-learning how to write marketing pieces that sell.

3. Supplement your income

Augment and supplement your income. This usually involves turning around and reinvesting what you learn at work into another different application.  This may be whatever combination of these kinds of activities that make the most sense:

Consulting with other firms

Starting your own business to be run in your spare time

Entering into joint-marketing alliances with other people

Writing marketing marterials for other companies

Networking with people who can help you get ahead

Learning how different industries operate

Becoming an expert in some different line of business

Taking ideas from one industry and applying them in another

Learn more about Michael Masterson’s philosophies from his book Seven Years to Seven Figures.

I just returned from Zhejiang, China earlier this week where we conducted negotiations with some manufacturers.

On the surface, the Chinese seem to be very friendly and willing to help, but don’t get mistaken. For example, in our case we’re getting some designs manufactured in addition to buying some ready-made items, so it seems simple enough to just draw up an order form for the parts you want. Chinese people don’t necessarily mean to make mistakes or misunderstand intentions, but they quite easily do. Very few are college educated, considering the fierce competition that exists for getting into colleges in China. And this is where you have to be careful.

In this case, a simple order form with item numbers on it creates a lot of problems. First, if there’s no indication as to what items those numbers refer to, well, you’re screwed. They’ll just fill out the order with anything they have left in stock regardless of the numbers, because you’re paying them and they need to get stuff off their hands. This is usually due to miscommunications between� internal staff and your contact window who may be persuaded� by them into� believing what they guess you want is actually true.� A simple recommendation is to actually get pictures of products together with the serial numbers, and the pictures for what you really want should trump everything else where discrepancies arise. The reason is that somewhere down the road the company can say that the serial numbers for the products you want never corresponded with what you thought you were getting, even though you know what you ordered, the criteria you’ve used to make those decisions, and that they’re absolutely mistaken. Instead, they’ll insist that you ordered what they wanted you to order. Best thing is to cover your tracks with something like the pictures.

The next issue is how much work goes into what you’re ordering. For example, you may have made a deal and they say they’ll do the work you’ve requested, but the next day you get a phone call saying they can’t possibly do the extra work, even though you’re willing to pay for it. In negotiation, this is known as the “nibble” tactic–after a deal has been made they nibble away at you for as long as they can. Or worse yet, they don’t inform you at all and just send the shipment without fulfilling any of the requests that you’re paying for, completely against whatever contract you may have. But in the end, there’s nothing you can do about it. Make sure all these terms are discussed up front very specifically. Connect with a local or another company from your country that does business locally and pay them to help ensure that things are getting done correctly. You need to have back-up plans and insurance (i.e. strategy) and always expect the worst-case scenario, no matter how confident you think talks are going (yeah, even if your “talk” is in Chinese–I can’t imagine the additional complications arising using English or a poor combination of either Chinese or English: it’s better to be fluent and be understood than sorry, and call me crazy but I take it seriously enough to have even gone as far as learning to speak the local Zhejiang language, called Wu).

If you know all the negotiation tactics that people use, there really aren’t any cultural barriers at all: it all comes down to another tactic that you should be aware of. Always dig for the other party’s interests and the criteria they use to make decisions and you’ll come out with a much better working relationship with your suppliers in China. The reason the Chinese may use what seem to be tactics, or back-stabbing, or whatever else you want to call it, is because you probably just didn’t prepare well enough in advance. Anybody with that advantage over you would see how easy it is to use you. Start with giving yourself an advantage by laying the ground rules (you’ll need clout to even consider negotiating in the first place, and they should be willing to talk to you). Indicate that you’re well positioned locally and you have a lot of ties with the locals and the government, and back up what you say. If you don’t have this, then start working on it.

If you want to do business successfully in China, you have to do what every invader of China has done in the past: become Chinese. Start growing roots immediately in the areas where you do business. Assimilate and work on building those relationships. They don’t have to do business with you (unless your clout is big enough) because somebody else will come along knocking on their door anyway.

Also remember that the Chinese, generally speaking, follow laws very carefully. You may get to China and find that people seem to be doing things haphazardly, but just keep in mind that those haphazard areas are probably areas where laws are not so strict or well defined. In the system that exists in China, it is not the people who voice their opinions for bettering society with laws or regulations on this, that or the other, but it is the government, rather, that has to single-handedly figure these things out and initiate such changes. When laws are promulgated, the government is absolutely serious, and the people had better follow them or face harsh penalties! Believe me, do the Chinese follow the rules? 绝对 YES!

If you witness people doing questionable or unethical things while in China, all I have to say is that there probably aren’t specific laws making those actions illegal. Maybe nobody in your country would consider doing such a thing, but maybe there are laws preventing it as well.

Now taking these thoughts into consideration when in China will help you be a better business negotiator. Focus on what’s legal and uphold your counterparts to their legal obligations and you’ll find that in pursuit of their interests, they’ll be more likely to stick to the rules of the game.

Good luck.

Passion: Be passionate and enjoy the ride.

Invariably, the highly successful love what they do. They combine passion and vision with the ability to shrug off temporary setbacks along the way. This means they exude confidence that rubs off on the people they work with.

Startups That Work

Unique Offering: Make your offering unique and then brand it.

To give your startup some momentum, make whatever you offer high quality and unique. Once you’ve done that, you can then set about branding your offering so people won’t forget.

Most entrepreneurs start new companies to build and then sell better products or services than those currently available. That’s fine, but successful product development is never done in a vacuum. Startups need to get to customers as soon as possible and get some input on their reaction to the products under development and to explore product options. It’s the testing of the business concepts in real-world settings that helps a company develop producst customers value.

Too many startups function in a virtual “stealth mode” — where they refuse to share their concepts with customers for fear of having their ideas stolen. This is especially counterproductive, because customer feedback is a very valuable source of product research. Once the proudct gets into the hands o fthe customer and a conversation is initiated, the real product development work can then being. You can get alongside customers and mold what your firm is developing to meet the actual needs of people in the marketplace. Customers can also suggest how an dwhere they would anticipate being able to buy this kind of product, and what level of backup support will give them confidence. All of these feforts will help you develop an offering with a feature set that is truly unique.

Note also that startups always need to demonstrate revenue generation quickly if they are to have any hope of achieving future rounds of financing. Investors frequently balk at throwing more and more money into developmental projects that have not progressed beyond the lab. If you can show that you appreciate the balance between perfecting your product and actually getting it into the marketplace as rapidly as possible, more startup funding will become available.

Most companies are not anxious to be seen as one-hit wonders. For this reason, the product development vision often incorporates future versions or product extensions. This gives the company an opportunity to ramp up sales across multiple niche markets. Consistent with this expanded view of the future, it also makes good business sense to develop a brand that will be used right across the range. A good brand can become a company’s most valuable asset when it underpins and strengthens a potential customer’s purchase decision.

Startups That Work