November 22nd 2013, Accounts of My Start Up - II Part

It would have been wise to have had a client before opening operations. It would have been wise also to have marketing material prepared to approach possible clients. I had none. I learned the hard way.

My Dad is pragmatic man, hard and cold when it comes to business. I was hoping that he would be my first client but when I approached him about the subject he said: You are not Chinese, how can you get better prices? Your company is based in Beijing, not where all the factories are, like in Guangzhou, so how good can your service be? Tough man.

After this I decided to sit down and make my marketing material and business plan. I created a list of services that could be tailored to any client, I also listed my Pros and Cons. This helped me answer my Dad's question: The fact that I'm not Chinese actually gives me an advantage over Chinese Intermediaries / Consulting firm, because factories take us more serious and believe that we mean business, we are not speculating.  To his second question:  yes, the south probably have more factories concentrating on textile and consumer products, but the norther part of China has factories that concentrate on industrial equipment and accessories (products that we focus on because of my involvement with the energy sector); and anyways Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Ningbo, Shanghai, Suzhou, Nangtong are only a few hours by plane. But most important, Beijing holds an elite group of investors from all over the country, where better to meet them?

The first documents were not at all good. It was later on when my friend +William Dey Chao pointed out some deficiencies on my presentation I was able to create something good. This is important, the people that surrounds you is the most important asset when you start your own business. William's insights on my business have been really helpful.

We did many small projects in the beginning: medical accessories, construction materials, furniture, car accessories, solar products just to mention a few. It was until almost a year of being in operation that I got a steady client who started just buying 200,000USD a year of products in China and with our help now they are buying closer to 2 million dollars.

 

November 21st 2013 - Accounts of my Start Up Part 1

It's always hard to start. Beginning are usually full of complications, insecurity and distress. If so, I guess every day is a new beginning.

I started International Partners Consulting Asia more than 4 years ago with the idea that companies in Panamá and Central America needed a secure and practical way to find qualified suppliers in China and keep an eye on the whole process of acquiring products from those suppliers. Later on, as we got more experience and clients, it also became necessary to handle our client's suppliers relation, which is important when it comes to negotiations.

In late 2008 I started registering the Representative Office in Beijing. I used this form of incorporation due to the fact that it was the cheapest way to do it in those days. The other forms of incorporation for foreigners have an initial investment of a minimum of a 25,000USD, which I think is a consulting WOFE. I did all the paper work an registration by myself, it was hard but by February 2009 I was running.

Doing the paper work gave me a lot of insight of how the Chinese government works. It also made me understand which branch regulates what, and that as a foreigner, it was going to be hard. Half of the population thinks that as a foreigner you are wealthy, the other half thinks that you come to make money off of them, net very helpful thoughts.