Quote: (05-16-2018 09:38 PM)Fortis Wrote:
Suits has privately given me some insight into what he does, but I'll only go more into that if he decides to share more.
I actually haven't settled on a long-term strategy. I'm still trying to learn more about which products and services are in demand and then form a strategy to offer them while being smart about protecting myself and my work.
Currently, I only take cash payments for under the table work. I haven't taken a traceable payment for anything in over two years now.
Obviously, this is only doable as a small time player servicing other small time players. Larger companies are going to want receipts.
You're welcome to comment, Fortis, on some aspects of the direction I'm moving in, but obviously don't go into specifics that could threaten my privacy.
Quote: (05-16-2018 09:38 PM)Fortis Wrote:
I am pretty sure Suits' business is not your typical brick and mortar deal where he absolutely must have locals helping him run some aspect of the business.
I clued in a long time ago that it is basically inconceivable to run a business as one dude with a foreign passport in China. Just to register a WFOE in China requires two key corporate positions to be held by two different people, so having a partner/long term employee of some kind would be mandatory.
When it comes to a brick and mortar business, there are so many areas that are going to be an expensive pain in the ass, that I would only seriously consider opening that type of business if I had investors handing me up words of a million USD in starting capital.
Between requirement for a certain amount of local employees, fire code regulations, and various government agencies lining up for their piece of the pie, it's simply not the sort of thing one guy is going to want to put his own money on the line for.
Restaurants are about the worst type of business to open, because there are so many extra regulations to attend to and it's not really easy to fly under the radar as a business that depends on heavy public marketing to bring new customers in.
Retail is just about as bad. Manufacturing is something foreigners can't currently own more than 49% in.
Quote: (05-16-2018 09:38 PM)Fortis Wrote:
That said, if you really wanna make a go of it at a traditional business in Asia, you need to have rock solid connections and a skillset that is not easily stolen or mimicked.
The best way to do business in China (and arguably anywhere else in Asia including SEA) is to own and manufacture a product that would be virtually impossible to copy and then have other companies sell it on your behalf in the individual countries.
This is probably easiest if you create a custom product for each buying and if doing so requires a skillset that only you possess.
If you're a big corporation with deep pockets to pay lawyers, you can protect yourself with patents and trademarks, but good luck with taking on companies 100X your size if you're a small time player. It only counts if you win in court.
Quote: (05-16-2018 09:38 PM)Fortis Wrote:
One common thing that occurs in situations like these is that locals will eagerly work for you to datamine your skillset and then hop off and start their own competing business where they steal your customers using your phone list. The sad thing is that their competing business will probably collapse because the ex-employee learned the bare-minimum before hopping off instead of really mastering the skillset. The problem is that if enough of your employees pull this, they can put such a dent in your bottomline so as to make you less competitive over a period of time.
Virtually every Chinese (and I have to assume Asian) person you meet will be of the opinion that your only advantages are being white/having a foreign passport/being a foreigner and therefore automatically rich.
If you work as an employee at any company in Asia, your coworkers are going to largely assume that the only reason why you have the level of responsibility you do is because of your foreign status and that they are smarter than you and can do everything better than you.
It's very similar to women arguing that they can do everything a man can do, but better and in heels.
A common example for those who teach, is dealing with this attitude from the Chinese teaching staff at their school who have an English language level so low that they say "open the lights" rather than "turn on the lights" but are still convinced that they could do a better job teaching the English language than any Westerner and are pissed that someone who leaves their home in a first world nation earns more money that they do for doing what they believe is an identical job.
So, copying businesses is a pretty common activity for Chinese employees. Sure, failure is pretty common, but until that happens, they are completely convinced that they are absolute geniuses.