Diving Headfirst Into China and Riding Through Startup Adventures with Kent Zaitlik

Today’s show we have Kent Zaitlik – a friend and fellow entrepreneur who has been through quite a ride in China from startups to investments to biotech and Amazon FBA. We get him on the show to share his journey and inspire others to take action, follow your dreams, make mistakes, keep learning, and make things happen.

√ Kent’s VIP page
√ Kent Zaitlik on linkedin
√ Mozi.ai

Thanks again Kent! This has been awesome and fascinating. You have given us a lot of insights here.

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gfa319

[00:00:00] Episode 319 of the Global From Asia podcast. I’m always trying to figure the URL. I don’t know if y’all check out the website, but globalfromasia.com/china-ride. Quick, going for a ride. Welcome to the Global From Asia podcast, where the daunting process of running an international business is broken down, into straight up actionable advice.

[00:00:30] And now your host, Michael Michelini. Thank you everybody for choosing to download and listen to the Global From Asia podcast. You know, somebody brought it up to me. You know, a lot of people might be listening to less podcasts now at this pandemic and they’re not commuting or traveling or on the road or on a plane or on a bike. Sounds like a Dr.

[00:00:53] Seuss book. But you know, they’re not traveling right now. Maybe you’re not traveling. So you’re at home or you’re not moving much and maybe not listen to many podcasts. I don’t know. I hope you’re listening to us or me. Must be if this is in your ears right now, but I do hope you enjoy these shows and I hope, I hope they keep you company.

[00:01:14] You know, it is a lonely time. I’ll be honest. I’m lonely up here in Shenyang. I was fortunate enough to have a friend of mine, David Ho. He actually was on the show a long time ago, talking about this Chinese Employee management. And, uh, that was a good show and he shared interesting insights, but he just came up as a friend.

[00:01:33] He actually was the best man at my wedding. And he is also the godfather of my children. So it was really cool. He could make it up here from Shenzhen. Flights and travel seems somewhat normal in China. A lot of my friends in China said, Hey, you should come down to Guangzhou or Shenzhen or Shanghai or Beijing.

[00:01:53] And it’s true. I could, but I personally, I’m just too paranoid that there’s going to be some kind of news article I’m gonna read when I’m in another city and they’re gonna say outbreak in this place and nobody can travel and various quarantine. And I don’t know, I’m still kind of shaken up from being stuck away from my family for months.

[00:02:14] And so I didn’t make much moves, but Dave did take the trip and the risk, came out here. We went to a botanical garden. I don’t know if some of you listened to or watched my video, personal video blogs, Mike’s blog.com/vlog. I have a, those two, so much content, but anyways, I’m kind of rambling here, but I don’t know.

[00:02:33] Hope you listened to podcasts. This is an audio only podcast. We do sometimes do the videos lately, but Kent’s and I, our guest today, we did an audio only and we were hoping the connection stays stable as seems too, it was a longer conversation. I hope you enjoy it. I think it’s a really good one. Kent Zaitlik. Kent and I met in 2012.

[00:02:54] We’re talking about in the episode, but he goes through his whole journey. I guess what I call it, China dash ride, globalfromasia.com/china-ride. Talks about coming into China 2009, fascinated. You know, I think lots of us, myself included, were fascinated by what we saw and he went through the ride. He’s gone on through the house.

[00:03:14] He talks about the crash and he talks about coming back and he talks about going through all kinds of ventures. He’s been in finance, he’s been in biotech. He’s been on Amazon. So it’s, it’s really a wild ride of a discussion. And I really enjoyed it. I think this should inspire some of you and he gives a lot of tips and we wrap it up with some tips and after the show and blah-blah-blah session, I will share some of my insights cause it was a really long one.

[00:03:42] And I didn’t want to take up much of his time to put some of my own tips and insights from what he and I talked about. It goes through so much. So I, I really. Thanks, Ken for sharing with us so openly. Nothing to sell, just really sharing. So thanks Kent. Let’s, let’s tune into the show. We’ve been getting really good, good vibes and the gfavip.com member community.

[00:04:04] This is, the VIP is the people that love what we’re doing here. Love the show, love the content. Want to get inside? We have private calls, private forums, private groups, and we are doing even our next week. We’ll do it. A private Lazada workshop. One of the members don’t want to call him out, but he was not willing to do it on a podcast.

[00:04:24] Doesn’t want to do it publicly, but he’s willing to help out the members and share his Lazada experiences. They opened up a Hong Kong company, how he’s, you know, selling in the Philippines, how he’s getting his products from China. And he’s assured that we’re going to record it, but it’s only gonna be for members.

[00:04:37] I’m sorry. I’m not really a good salesman, but I’m just trying to say, we’ve got to support the show. So if you like what we’re doing here, we do have some, even more amazing stuff connecting with the other members. We have our hot seat mastermind and other events for members only that supports the show, but don’t worry.

[00:04:53] This podcast will stay free. I love sharing free content. But if you do like what we do, when you want to get even more, gfavip.com. All right. Thank you everybody. For tuning into our Global From Asia podcast, we always keep it real here and get you guys and gals some insights of things happening on the ground in China and other parts of Asia today.

[00:05:18] We’re in, we’re in China. Again, I’m here and my guest and friend with me, Kent Zaitlik is with us, CEO of Mozi.ai. And it’s really great to have you on the show finally, Kent. How’s everything? Yeah, it’s really good to be here as well. Everything’s great, man. I mean I’m well, apart from, you know, the whole world collapsing.

[00:05:45] Yeah, besides 2020, but it’s like, it’s pretty, it’s pretty good. Yeah, just a little bit of background about us. We met I believe 2012, you know, I can’t believe that was eight years ago probably was. I think it really was the summer of 2012. And I remember it was maybe one of my, I had been in Shanghai before, but I came up from Shenzhen and that was

[00:06:11] Maybe I’m just not in the scene as much anymore, but back then, I felt like that was really, the startup world was really kind of maybe just starting or are really so open. You know, there were these meetups everywhere, you know, I think you invited me to speak at, forgetting even the name of the brand of those meetups you were helping with.

[00:06:30] Yeah. There was a, there was a bunch of them, but I mean, yeah, we were called next step. Yeah. Next step. Yeah. That was fun. And yeah, I mean, I just, maybe I’m just getting older or maybe I’m just not, I guess we’re all stuck in our houses now, too, but, uh, you know, back then it was, everybody was just so open and meeting people and events and, uh, you know, sharing and it was really awesome times.

[00:06:56] And, it’s also great. You know, you’ve been to some of the Global From Asia events and the community, so that’s been awesome too. And yeah, I mean, you’ve done so many different kinds of businesses. I think when we met, I think you’re still in environmental biotech, even then you’re working with some various investments and biotechs at that time.

[00:07:16] So, um, I think it’s, I always like it for you to, you know, as a guest to kind of give us a little bit of intro. I hope I didn’t screw it up too much, but, uh, Well, you want to share a little bit about, about yourself, Kent. Yeah, well, I mean, I first came to China well, actually in 2009, studying abroad in Fudan Russia-Korea University.

[00:07:37] And so I was studying Chinese, and also finance as well in the university. And, I don’t know. I just, I fell in love with China. I love the energy. I love the pace. And I really liked what I saw. Like, man, this is really going strong and, you know, I mean, I was determined to learn the language. So, as soon as I graduated, I was like, you know, I gotta come back here.

[00:08:00] I have to become fluent in the language, which I eventually did become fluent after a lot of pain and suffering a lot of hard work. But, but yeah, so I, I. I graduated in 2010, stayed. That was like, sort of like a little bit after the financial crisis. And so, as you can imagine, you know, there was really not much going on and you know, me graduating in finance and I really hated finance actually.

[00:08:29] And it’s not really what I want to do. What I really wanted to do was start. I thought, you know, I had this grand ambition, like, Oh, if I, if I learned, you know, if I learned the business and the finance and how money works, you know, I can start any business I want, because at that time I didn’t really know exactly what I want and that was, I was totally wrong.

[00:08:49] That’s really wrong approach to that. Definitely understand the, the engineering, and like, you know, either with computer science, you understand the very sort of like very specific engineering detail or mathematics of what you’re wanting to build in that specific industry or some categories. Very important, but, anyway, I, you know, I realized I wanted to do tech and it was so hard to get into tech, like specifically biotech in China.

[00:09:22] I mean, sorry, in the United States. And I was like, you know what, I’ll go, you know, I bought a one way ticket to China, not really having any, you know, plan in mind other than just looking at getting really good in Chinese. And, and then, you know, we’ll see what happens from there. So eventually I actually ended up starting for us or working for a company called EA.

[00:09:41] It was a startup. Like a bunch of like, starry-eyed, you know, girls and gals, guys and girls trying to save the world and trying to import important technology from abroad, sustainable technologies from abroad and implement them in India, in China. Yeah, you might remember.

[00:10:07] But, but yeah, so, so when that happening was that, you know, I worked with them for a bit. I actually started a company, outside company that was focused on aquaponic technology. So we were developing commercial aquaponics, basically, and these are like, basically what aquaponics is, is

[00:10:26] You can kind of think that it’s combining aquaculture, to hydroponics. So you use the fish, and grow the fish and use the water from the fish. Actually pump it through a hydroponic system and use the nutrients from the fish that they excrete and use that to grow the plant. And it’s sort of like a feedback, positive feedback loop, fish, you know, their nutrients.

[00:10:50] And then, the plants then utilize the nutrients and then clean the water and it goes back to the fish. And then basically you’re saving like 95% of water that you otherwise wouldn’t be wasting, in a regular traditional, methodology of, of agriculture. So I’m trying to really like this. We were able to secure like a lot of land, from the government, the Chinese government.

[00:11:14] And we found an investor when we found. No, all these people involved and we came together to start this type of project and not the company and no, literally one week before, are you going to fly over from United States and start the project? The investor pulled the plug and ended up starting a whole new company, on the side, just kind of crazy.

[00:11:38] And then you can imagine the legal battle that actually incurred, then everyone wanted to sue everybody at that point. It was a nightmare and I was in the middle of that thing and everybody, you know, just, it was just a. No, it was, it was great. Anyway, so, you know, my first company didn’t collapse because of that.

[00:11:59] Yeah. Yeah. I was, I was in here and about, on the side of hearing that. Yeah. Yeah. So I, I was, I was sort of an indirect result of the collapse of the first company I joined ever in my life. So that was, that was great. You know, collapsing your first startup, but from that chaos came like, you know, three other sort of after the dust settled and everything like that, three other companies actually ended up being developed.

[00:12:28] That’s focused on different types of like hydroponic systems, the new type of aquaculture, and those pumpings actually went on and did, did quite all right and I actually, you know, I was sort of, I was very happy to see that, you know, No, I think three or four companies were developed after that first cataclysmic event.

[00:12:46] And of that, I think only one really sort of made it, you know, sort of thing through four years later, they actually kept on building. So, yeah, that was quite cool to see, to see that happen. Yeah. But I, I just looked like, okay, well, I mean, let me retreat back and, and, you know, I wanted to get my hands involved into the VC world.

[00:13:10] So I got involved in venture capital and started investing in like early stage high tech startups and understanding how that mechanisms work. And that was associated a company called , um, you know, two very smart PhDs who started this company. It’s also another startup. It’s not a VC. They only had at that time, 80 million RMB in management.

[00:13:30] And as I recall, you were one of the ones who were actually interested in getting some investment from us. Yeah. I went there and I pitched at your office. Yeah, I remember that. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yeah. You’re you’re, you’re having a wechat like a special, wechat, right. Social agent. It was called Weibo agent, but we moved.

[00:13:49] Yeah. We rebranded to be more diversified, but yeah, it was like a social search app and lead gen app on, on Weibo or Chinese social media. Yeah, that was, that was quite, that was very cool. And that, that was a very cool experience. Not only we were investing in early stage high tech startups that were really focusing on sort of the cutting edge of technology.

[00:14:10] And basically because they were material scientists, they were trying to actually bring in, um, unique, uh, busy, you need technologies, um, angel into China. And so these were like what we call high grade, right for Chinese. And so these were people from Stanford, from Harvard with unique technologies. And implementing them in China.

[00:14:33] And these guys had 10, 15 years of experience of research. And so it was very cool. You know, one of the key aspects they’ve been working on with actually like called cold cathode nanotubes, carbon nanotubes. Yeah. Which was really interesting so that we can actually sort of like create quick burst of electrons.

[00:14:56] You know, just instantaneously and this actually was kind of, you know, what we actually tried to do was try to find like new markets for them to actually utilize the technology. Because a lot of times scientists and also, you know, many times like entrepreneurs, we come in and we had this great idea, or we had this great technology, but we have no idea how to use it.

[00:15:17] Right. You know, where do you use it? So what we did was at the VC is like, we actually did a lot of consulting work for, for these types of companies where they had this technology and they didn’t know how to use it. And so you would help them find specific markets, uh, to utilize, uh, and basically, you know it just basically tried to tap into those markets.

[00:15:40] And so for this market, they actually had to create an X Ray system using the cold cathode, carbon energy. And so, but then that became a whole ordeal. And very costly process because, x-ray they couldn’t find any of the component parts to actually, manufacture or develop the X Ray in China. So they actually had to then move and transit and locate and exit and then move to Japan.

[00:16:06] Do you get all those specific parts for this, for this? Yeah, for this x-ray, but the X-ray was so precise that you could actually x-ray the beating of the heart. Like as a heartbeat, you could actually literally in on a Millnet millisecond sort of moment, you can actually completely capture the moment that they, the heartbeat.

[00:16:26] That’s how precise this x-ray system was. And as you know, China, you know, having x-rays everywhere, right. When you’re going into the, yeah, I go, you know, when you go anywhere, you have that right. Following you around and trying to specifically thing that into it. In the Metro area, which most foreigners don’t really know or understand because in, in Europe, no, there’s nothing like that.

[00:16:48] You don’t even have it like to pay if you don’t have to. In Europe, you can just kind of like there’s no, even like anything stopping you in Europe. So in China, no one knows this, but it’s like every MTR station that you go to every Metro station has, you had to put your bag through these huge x-rays right.

[00:17:04] So, yeah. So then I was, my main focus is to actually create x-rays and they did that. They launched that and everything, but it just became a real, so sort of like struggle for them because they, you just get the logistics rate on all the sourcing and the materials and everything. It was just like, and so we actually had to come in and help them with that as well, because we came with the ideas like, okay, let’s do X-ray and be, that’s a very big market in China.

[00:17:31] And then we actually had to figure out how to source off of that. Uh, to kind of create a whole sort of like very intuitive system, right. A very efficient way to actually break the chain. Right. Because then if you’re, if you’re in create manufacturing in Japan, then you actually had to go through all of these, then you have tax, you have plenty of tariffs and you know, all these things.

[00:17:50] Right. So it’s a big nightmare. Yeah. Yeah, man. You know, so this is pretty, this is pretty cool, man. I’m sorry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then, and then after that, I, I want to get, you know, after that, I also. We also did, what’s called a multinational. We worked a lot with more than nationals and we did open, it was called open innovation consulting.

[00:18:11] And so we were consulting and like, you know, several different, um, companies basically, uh, you know, there were some large companies like shell, shell oil and, and others, but they were interested in actually understanding the technology that was actually in China and trying to piece together a solution.

[00:18:30] And, um, For shell, for instance, what they were trying to do is they were trying to actually drill holes extremely, you know, very, very, very far down. And what they actually ended up doing was actually finding, um, the same, uh, camera that, right. So using the international space station, we’d actually dock the station.

[00:18:51] They use those same cameras to, to, um, develop. A new type of camera for drilling extremely low depth, like 2000 meters or more actually. Cause I think it was like two miles. Yeah. Mmm. So they have to be very precise when actually going way down. And so then they really created these like really intense, like, um, Lenses for that.

[00:19:16] And so we worked the shell for several, uh, for similar sort of aspects and doing also like mergers and acquisitions, uh, in China, uh, to acquire this impact technology or to acquire specific manufacturing, um, uh, like that logistics or logistical sort of, uh, um, Yeah, distribution channels, or if you’re looking at like different parts of logistics, uh, you know, in terms of like manufacturing differences, arts, you know, they, they were looking at different ways to, to make, um, this area more efficient.

[00:19:52] Right. Okay. That was very interesting. Uh, and then from there I went to engineering, uh, for like sustainable engineering. So then we were great. We were doing sort of like I’m working with, uh, Uh, Alex Alessandro  Alessandra, right? Yeah. I remember him. Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, incredible, incredible guy sky is like super, just me.

[00:20:18] And he’s probably one of the best bosses I’ve ever come in contact with. I mean, he’s really just incredibly sharp, very hard working. It just, just pushes you to the edge, but I learned incredible amount from him, but, Yeah. I stayed at that company, which be the biotech environment enterprise for three years, what we were doing is like trying to actually make, bring sustainability to the luxury market actually.

[00:20:44] Cause we found like a niche in the market cause nobody was really doing it. And so he cornered the complete, he cornered the whole market, right. So he was doing, and he started off when I got to him, he was like, I think five years in. And so he just became cash flow positive. And so I came in. And we were doing a basic, you know, lead certification.

[00:21:05] I can know what lead is, but it’s basically sustainable certification for, you know, um, different building structures. And just to show like, you know, Hey, we were able to accomplish X, Y, and Z sustainability metrics, right. And we help them achieve those metrics, you know, working with architects and engineers.

[00:21:24] And so that’s kinda like how, how we got in. And so he started working with Chanel, Gucci, you know, Yves Saint Laurent and Prada, you know, and then we start to then become the number one, you know, go to OT company whore, these specific new certifications. Okay. And, and so, and then he, we were like, he started off, I think when it, when I first started, we did, I think we did, like, at that point there was like 60 projects.

[00:21:53] And then by the time it ended, uh, I think we had over maybe two or 300 projects worldwide in 25 countries. It was ridiculous. This is great, man. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, give, gave me some flashbacks from, from a. Yeah. Back in the day. I would say so, yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. Sorry. Yeah, yeah. And then, and then what was cool about that?

[00:22:18] Well, so yeah, I mean, so just fast forward, like towards the end of it, we didn’t create a product, um, which was very cool. We created a, so, you know, we’ve got this idea, you know, he wanted to actually start doing, I don’t feel remember I’m in Shanghai, you know, working with different companies, but there was a IQ testing equipment.

[00:22:40] I don’t know if you know the indoor air quality. I know that. Yeah. I remember I have apps that tell me like the air quality. Yeah. Yeah, no, but there was, um, uh, I don’t know if you remember, so there’s a company, uh, and you know, another startup that was in Shanghai from Shanghai, uh, there was focusing on indoor air quality and what they did was they created this sort of, um, a, uh, indoor air quality unit.

[00:23:06] Right. And they actually started manufacturing in China. And what they did was they, it was basically like this whole, uh, Barry. It was sort of like very sort of high grade indirect quality, uh, looking at like CO2 levels, looking at PM 2.5 PM, 10, you know, I had five different levels of indoor air quality metrics.

[00:23:29] So they were measuring and these were extremely, very, very like high-grade machines that they were utilizing, uh, inside buildings. And so they would, they would basically put these with these. Machines with these, yeah, I guess these machines inside, uh, these buildings skyscrapers, and we worked with them to actually create a completely different service, that actually also, looked at air, energy usage.

[00:24:03] Cause then we started to actually create a complete package, a complete system that actually looks at the air and energy within buildings. And we started to actually, so I actually built that out and I worked with Chanel and Prada, Gucci, actually put them into their stores in Shanghai and then also in Korea and in Egypt.

[00:24:24] So that was like, that was a really cool, interesting sort of like, uh, aspect. And then from there, okay. You just kind of got the, um, the drive or I got a confidence. To then, uh, start my own company. And that became the biotech, AI company, most of the AI. Okay. Um, yeah. Yeah. And then, so, so then I’ve been doing MOZI.ai for the past five years and we raised, we raised money, we raised a hundred thousand dollars.

[00:24:53] And yeah, so it’s about thematics and AI and you might know Sophia the robot. Yeah, of course. Yeah. So, so the AI doctor. Behind the feeder advise my cofounder. Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So Dr. Vanguard. So, and so basically I, I basically reached out to Ben. I got connected to him by someone, and this is before he was like famous now, but then sort of before Sophia was famous.

[00:25:23] And so I reached out to him in like 20, I think it was like 2014 or 2015. And, uh, I started working with him actually, like while I was at B. And, um, yeah, you know, he had this sort of like, you know, this state is his project he’s working on basically combining AI and robotics. And I was like, uh, you know, I got started struggling.

[00:25:46] Yes, this is great. I realize that, you know, that this company will not go forward unless I just, you know, quit my, quit, my job I’d be and go for well problems with the company. Okay. So that’s exactly. Yeah. That’s exactly what I did. So I went full throttle. Mozi and, and, you know, I basically ended up moving to Shenzhen.

[00:26:08] That’s where we met up again. Yeah. Remember he reached out to me, he came down to Shenzhen so, yeah. So yeah, I mean, I, um, I’m even, I’m not so sold, so sign into a, on science, but, uh, maybe you can give us kind of a layman’s explanation of what year, what the current way our current business is doing. Yeah. So, so, so what basically we’re doing is you’re creating, um, machine learning applications and, uh, basically just the applications to accelerate biomedical research.

[00:26:47] And the way we’re trying to do that is trying to understand how the disease, right from the genes all the way from other different parts of, parts of the body actually boiling to disease. Right? So no. Why, why does it disease, you know, in common disease, right? There’s genetic or genetic, or there’s some type of like keeping a body, right.

[00:27:12] That happens. So the farm is that there’s so much information out there and they’re all sort of like nicely fit together. So what our system does is, is incorporate many different types of databases with all his information. And it comes all these information together and based on the users and what they’re trying to look for, it connects to this data and helps them figure out the connection between, basic, you know, public data and their own private data.

[00:27:42] And look at the connection between that and going to the right direction of how to actually celebrate their, uh, basically just like the research. So they don’t have to like comb through all this data. But during this process, I actually, um, I have a very good friend, uh, who, who’s been actually building products on Amazon and selling products on Amazon.

[00:28:05] And, uh, he has over, I think, 70 or 80 products that he’s created and sold to Amazon. So he creates like 12. Or two 15 new products in private labels every year. And, um, he came up to me and he has been, he’s been, he’s a really good friend of mine and they were my best friends. And at the time actually, um, my four sisters, great company, like 14 or four or five years ago.

[00:28:31] And so it’s just, you, you started off with, um, actually just like sailing that I created with this business partner, they created a, these jar openers, right? And all they did was like recreate these jar openers. And they, they, you know, they’re very good. He’s very good at doing design work. So he does design work and they saw Joplin.

[00:28:50] They each put in like $200. Right. And, uh, so they did that and, you know, then they, they railed to make some money from that and they go, and so they invested back that back into another product and then another part and another part. Uh, and so they work with factories from India, from China and from Argentina.

[00:29:09] And, and they’ve actually never, you know, at this time they never met me after four years, for four years at any of the factories or the people, they were basically just, you know, they, they found them online or they found them through different brochures. Uh, if they had these catalogs, right. They just find most of these guys, the catalogs.

[00:29:28] And then, um, you know, they, they looked through all the things and then. Uh, they found and tested the right one. Right. Um, and in the record products, and then they found, and then they just like that, Oh, this probably looks very good. Or this, this specific manufacturer looks good. They have a pretty interesting product.

[00:29:46] And then what would they do is they would work with the manufacturer to make the product better and they would iterate and iterate and iterate. And my friend, you know, so they actually the best sort of couple for this. Like, this is a couple, our business partners for this, because my friend is one of those, like, sort of really crazy, um, uh, thinking and, and just intuitive types.

[00:30:10] Right. And he stays up all night. And so he works. He will work. He will get up at like one and then he’ll start like working around like 9:00 PM or 8:00 PM and then all the way 6:00 AM. And then he’ll go to bed at 6:00 AM and that’s sorta because most of the faculty that he works with now, I’m trying.

[00:30:28] Yeah. Yeah, but then you also likes to, you know, he’s one of them, you know, not hours like extreme at ALS where he just likes to work at that. I worked for him. I know that’s I’m the opposite man. That’s why I moved here because yeah. I was tired of being up late talking to factories when I was in the U S but, but that’s cool.

[00:30:47] So yeah, I mean, this is this really cool story. So, so then, um, yeah, of course I think probably listeners are interested on the Amazon side here and. Do you, I know some people are sensitive to this share too much about the product or, or what, but, um, I’d love to hear how you’d found this product or, or, or discovered it well, well, I mean, yeah, I mean, it’s pretty, I’m pretty open to it.

[00:31:15] I mean, the thing is like, uh, I mean he doesn’t yeah. 70 products and he’s working on 15 new products every year. And so, um, one thing he’s been doing is, uh, so, you know, he, he created all these products, right. And he started to, um, and he stopped pulling in. I used that he’s just slowly starting to maybe, you know, do more and more and more, and I would help him here and there.

[00:31:38] And what happened was he know you’re not coming to China and he flew here eventually. Yeah. Four years eventually flew here and I met up with him and. And he ended up like, like, you know, uh, the factory that he, he, uh, and so what happened with actually right when I moved to Shenzhen, that’s when he actually started coming here for the long journey.

[00:32:02] And so we started to actually, yeah, no, I said, okay, I’ll, I’ll go to the trail with him. So I went to the fair with him and we started to go over there and walk, you know, treasure hunting. Right. It kinda like have it call it. Yeah. And so, you know, when he first came for the first time, he, he, he did the whole fat.

[00:32:18] And that was, that was a very, yeah, four weeks. It was, yeah, it was like a, there was no, no reason for him to do that. Um, but when it being, doing ways that he ended up going there for like, until now, when he does, he’ll go just for the specific, you know, phases that you find of interest and stuff, we’ll just have to phase and, or do like a phase, like for maybe like three days.

[00:32:44] And that’s it, that’s all he really needs to actually get what he needs and that. And it’s much faster because they’re needing to roll through like, you know, when you get like maybe 10, 15 new product ideas, right. And new products that we can work with. Um, but the way he’s very different from most people is that he’ll work on a product.

[00:33:01] So our recent product that, you know, you’re screening, it was like socks. And like you were working with him on, on the sauce for like, uh, he put about a year and a half of research and development. There was research and development on just working to solve. So you work with the main fact. Yeah. And the manufacturer actually never really created a soft before, but he’s created other items that were very similar to the, these kind of similar, right.

[00:33:28] They created stuff similar. And so they started creating a sock and I know they had to go through these, the threading in a near, not any secretaries, like bamboo socks. Right. And, uh, man, it’s just, it just takes, it takes a lot of, um, focus and. So he just keeps on going at it and going at it and going at it and he’ll test it and test it.

[00:33:49] So we’ll do, we’ll get this off, you know, get a sample and then bring it back to United States, test it out and then, you know, kind of put the wash and stuff in some socks. Right. And then again, we’ll do it again and do it again. I think he had like maybe nine or 10 iterations of that. Awesome. Yeah. So, and, uh, before he got the right one, before he actually started selling, so how are

[00:34:14] So, yeah, so it’s good. You need somebody like new here, for sure. So how does he protect, protect all this IP and all this work that he’s doing? You know, it sounds, I don’t know. I mean, sounds like, I mean, he just, he just has like really good reports. So he’s been working with this one factory for like three years.

[00:34:32] Um, and they’ve made a lot of my, so, you know, he started off, like I said, like, you know, to, you know, putting $200, I think him and his buddy put $200. Right. And just the first product now, now they make about two, $2 million a year between the Institute okay. In their product. So they make about a hundred thousand dollars in sales and I’m not, and that’s increasingly, they want to double that for next year, double that for the following and double, double, double.

[00:35:03] So that’s why they’re coming with better and better products. But the way that they do it is they have just a really great relationship with their, with their factory. Okay, thanks. Like number one and then the factories. I mean, sometimes they’ll, and then, you know, of course like on Amazon, people will start to copy them because they’re, you know, they’re like number one, I think they’re the 10,001 in 10,000 cells.

[00:35:24] Do you know about that? Hmm, can’t say I do. Okay. So once you reach a certain level on Amazon, you become like you guys certain like, you know, level. So I mean, part of it, it is like you’re working with the algorithms, right. Working with the selling algorithm, you’re working with the PB, you know, the PPC, uh, algorithms actually get, get that game.

[00:35:48] Right. And then, yeah, the other part of it is actually like, you know, the logistics and warehousing, so they have those warehousing and then they, you know, then you actually have like Amazon prime and actually like get involved in that area. So then yeah. You’re playing accounts, you know, or store, you know, to the warehouse or refining product for their storage warehouse.

[00:36:07] Right. Um, so you reached that sort of level, but they’ve, they’re the one in 10,000 South, uh, may meeting that they’re, that they do, they they’re one out of 10,000, you know, they, they, they rank month the highest percentile in selling. Got it. Got it. Okay. So they’re one of the best sellers on Amazon and they have, and if, you know, I mean, they’re doing easily more than a hundred thousand dollars of sales a month, so they’re pretty good.

[00:36:38] I just, for two guys in the operation. Yeah, definitely awesome. But they had, but they have, yeah. Designers, uh, you know, all throughout the world and, and of course the manufacturers in China and they just work really well with manufacturers and, you know, my friend being able to stay up all night, he just is able to just work with them consistently.

[00:36:59] And then me being here has been able to speed the process up for, um, our particular product. So one thing is that he, you know, he reached out to me like, Hey, you know, like now let’s get a product going with your part of growing. So eventually, like we started working together on that product. And so.

[00:37:17] So, yeah, I mean, basically it’s just his underwear, but, um, me, I have a very specific focus on environment, sustainability and environmentalism. And so that’s why I decided to like, you know, we want to work with new types of materials that are more sustainable. Yeah, that’s true. I like it too. I mean, especially nowadays we need to all focus on sustainability and it’s also good.

[00:37:41] It’s also a good story. You know, I, I can picture the branding even I can picture the, you know, the story of the brand, you know, it does make sense to, um, yes, this has been a cool little story. I mean, I think. I think, uh, you know, what, what would you say somebody like, you know, Kent, on 20, 2009, you know, I know you, you kind of mentioned some things earlier, like you, you thought you could learn finance and do any business and that was wrong.

[00:38:12] I mean, is there things, you know, maybe we can kind of, I know it’s been, it’s also been amazing catching up and hearing and. Maybe some lessons learned the school of hard knocks from Kent in China and all these ventures you’ve done. And yeah, like, but you know, you kind of hit your, you kinda say, Oh, first one was a failure, but I think that’s part of the game, you know?

[00:38:33] And as part of the process, you know, I don’t, I don’t, you know, I, I, I fail multiple times too, you know, I think that’s just, it’s better than not taking action. Right. And I think that’s the only way to learn and to grow, but is there some things you want to. He shared like lessons learned school of hard knocks for maybe people are inspired by today.

[00:38:55] Yeah. I mean, it really depends on what you want to do. Right. I mean, I’m like, like my friend, I mean, one of the major things for him, like he just jumped in and just did it, you know? I mean, you know, we’re the one who started creating products in China and he just, I mean, if, if that’s what you’re really focused on, then, then yeah.

[00:39:12] I mean, I think just getting involved in knowing all of the, you know, Not a lot falling, a lot of people, um, who are doing well in the industry, but then, you know, trying to like no learn for yourself and investing in yourself and invest in courses. That’s what he did as well as he invested a lot of courses.

[00:39:30] And, you know, he does a lot of his own designs, illustrator, Photoshop. No, like he takes a lot of courses and he actually goes off and we’ll go to these like, events that actually he’ll pay. Like, you need some time to $2,000 for, to just go there and learn how to actually get, you know, for instance, how to do products into stores and such.

[00:39:53] And so just never stopped learning like that thing. That’s one thing you have to really, I mean, learning is so central. It’s so key that the people that I see who do best. If they continue to learn no matter what. And they learned the really hard stuff too. Um, and I think like, just focusing on things that interests you, you know, rather than like what other people are doing really focused on the thing that really interests you and focus on that and that learning if I were to go back in college, you know, uh, as you know, entering college, I would definitely focus on like engineering.

[00:40:29] And, you know, Bobcat type stuff. That’s, that’s what I’m trying to do right now, because what I eventually want to do that, I want to actually start creating synthetic file materials and apply that to, you know, into the processing  building right now for like underwear socks and that, and other sort of things.

[00:40:45] That’s what I’m interested with like to do. But I mean, having that, that very technical knowledge is so key and so important because. No Austin pine, it’s hard to find that person. Or if you do find that person and they’re going to be employed, you pay them a lot of money that becomes the most sort of like central area.

[00:41:06] And the thing is like my previous startup, like remotely AI and stuff like that. I mean, the, the biggest thing that. I really just, I hated most. And what’s preventing me from actually being able to go further with me. I didn’t understand the technology side, but they understand the computer science. I didn’t have a primary saying at the biology and I couldn’t speak to my customers and I couldn’t relate with them at all.

[00:41:33] It was, you were assigned to, so that’s, that’s very, that’d becomes very tough, like, you know, and I would say that every. Every area that I failed in, I feel well because I didn’t have a very firm technical knowledge of that area. And before jumping in, because usually what I do though, just jump in before actually having a firm grasp on understanding of what’s going on.

[00:42:00] Cause I felt like, Oh, you know, I’ll just learn as I go. That’s how she, yeah. Not the case because the thing is when you’re going, you’re too busy going and you’re not busy enough, like actually learning. So, so you really have to set aside. A significant amount of time and to learn it, uh, and learning correctly and learning.

[00:42:18] Right. And then applying that and not just like running around, you know, like a, like a hamster wheel, right. You’re running around, but you you’re oftentimes not going in the right direction cause you don’t actually have a firm understanding actually what’s going on. So developing a firm, understanding of this specific industry or area that you want to get involved in is key.

[00:42:40] Super key. It’s very central. And then also understanding yourself and understanding like what, what are your strengths and weaknesses and understanding. And then if you, if you have certain weaknesses, find the people who can fill in the void, right? Like that, that’s also extremely central. I mean, my friend was able to do so well because he found somebody who was more business focused.

[00:43:02] I mean, they make an incredible team, you know, because they were able to find that. And, and yeah, I mean, business partners. It’s very important to me to find people that you respect. I mean, that, that, that you can get along with, um, that are just not, and I guess also who are closer to your age, that’s another big problem of mine before then I went and gotten myself involved.

[00:43:25] Then I thought, Oh yeah, be fine. But you know, he’s 20 years my senior relating to those kinds of people. I mean, it’s very hard. And then they don’t take you seriously. And, um, it’s, it’s very, it takes a lot of efforts. You drive the company and then they just won’t really give you the time of day. They don’t, they don’t think that you’re, you’re willing.

[00:43:45] Um, so yeah, I think it’s very important to me to be truly good at selecting your business partners. Um, you can’t just pick whoever we need to really be, um, methodical or who you pick to be on your team. [00:44:00] It’s very, very important. And especially understanding yourself and where we’re weaknesses lie and, uh, the strengths of the weaknesses of, of everyone around you, who’s working with you.

[00:44:11] And then like, realizing that, you know, certain weaknesses and trying to strengthen yourself and especially like knowledge, you know, um, and outer chain of knowledge to the best of your advantage by any means necessary. Right. And, and, and really strive for that. Cause that’s, that’s, that’s so key and central to your success and never stop, right?

[00:44:31] Like set aside every day, like two or three hours of just learning, because that’s so important to what you’re doing and then execution of course, and then build building, continue to build it. I think also is very important is that we have this sort of idea that, you know, um, oftentimes it’s like, you know, you know, to be successful, you have to be lucky, but that’s not really true.

[00:44:53] To be successful, you have to be consistent and you have to be diligent and it would be discipline. And you have to just attack every day with the same amount of effort. Right. Um, and you have to also be, um, you know, you have to understand that bad things will happen if that COVID-19 right. Like this is a black Swan moment, but it always happened.

[00:45:18] And the company that will prevail. Are the ones that already thought about something like this happening, right. And for it, you know, having a lot of cash on it and, and, and, you know, having preparing for the worst. So preparing for the worst and, and really striving, yeah. Building be consistent and being disciplined, uh, with learning and building and execution is key.

[00:45:43] You know, what they call it the 20 mile March, like every day be consistent, you know, put in, you know, the. The eight hour work, you know, they necessarily say actually built it. If you want to have, you know, 12 products every year will be consistent and build 12 products every year, you know, and make that whatever your goals are, make sure you frame those goals.

[00:46:08] Make sure you have very, uh, focused and actually empirical evidence as well. I mean, test, test, test as much as you can, like your products will probably show up in the beginning, but you need to understand why end of the day empirically focused and data driven. So before you make any choices, need to understand, know all, you’re actually really solving the problem, right.

[00:46:33] Is there a problem, like what are the customers, you know, and, and, and be just extremely ruthless about understanding the problem that you’re trying to solve. And then when you actually saw the problem using MBP, right? I mean, put limited amount of resources into figuring out, okay, like let’s, let’s create this MBP because then we understand from all the data we’ve gathered that this is going to solve this, lose myself a problem.

[00:46:58] And then [00:47:00] you fire that bullet. Right. Uh, and you see if it works. You see if the NDP actually is working on solving the phone and if it does great and then build upon that and then, you know, iterate and become better and better. And then you can put more and more money and resources into that, right? So that you can actually, you know, go big and uncle big, you know, in the beginning, I would say you want to cheat on a test a lot because most of your assumptions may be wrong.

[00:47:26] The beginning and, and iterate continually iterate, continue to improve continually innovate. If you don’t innovate, you’re going to die. And that’s actually how you defeat the whole IP problem that people think they have to continually innovate. Right? I mean, people always get all, they see my IP. We’ll just keep on innovating.

[00:47:45] You have to be, everyone’s going to copy you no matter what, and you have a great product. You’re going to be copied. Yeah. The key to actually, you know, the key to doing what my friend does is he just innovates like crazy and he continues to innovate all the products no, every year, better and better and better, better, like, you know, and it was no one is doing it, especially in this industry and, and, you know, selling on Amazon, like no one thinking about quality, right?

[00:48:10] No, one’s thinking about that kind of stuff so you have to really be consistent in quality and, uh, To win in Amazon. You have to make sure you’re going to do, you’re going to get at least a 400 or 500% ROI. Right. So that’s, that’s also very key. Um, you know, you need to be able to, to, to do that, um, you know, uh, because if you’re not going to be able to actually sell a product, you know, at it at as cost at 400%, a hundred percent.

[00:48:38] Yeah. Then you’re not gonna be making any money, right. So you have to actually, you have to at least saw that. So that means you have to, you have to really focus on quality rather than trying to barter, like better prices, bartering, better prices. Everyone is doing that. You’re just going to get left in the dust.

[00:48:56] Then it becomes a price competition. You’re not going to be making any money. I mean, I’ve seen guys who are trying to set up companies and I asked them, okay, what is your margin? And anytime you like 10% or 15, I’m like, that’s nothing. I mean, you’re not gonna be able to start a company and yeah. 10 or 50% margin, right?

[00:49:13] Yeah. My friend is my friend. His margin is 40 50%. That’s where you want to be in a way you’re able to get there is by creating very high, probably products and folk, and really putting a lot of effort, and working very closely with, with the manufacturers create better and better products and keep on innovating every year.

[00:49:34] Like, you know, keep on adding new themes, keep on trying to make things better and better and better. And that’s the only way you’re going to be able to be with people, not by, you know, trying to beat on better prices. That’s kind of like what the lowest, uh, of the Amazon sellers do, because then they’re not going to be making that much money in that.

[00:49:51] And it’s just become like a rat race at that point. So yeah, if you want to sort of like really sort of operate at the, at the height. You need to really focus on research and development. You need to really focus on innovation, innovating, you know, iterating consistently, um, and trying to beat whatever’s on the market as best you can by continually bettering the product.

[00:50:15] Right? That’s the only way you can be able to beat your, your competition, especially if you’re working with, um, manufacturers and China, right. Agreement. Yeah. I mean, damn, he just unloaded a lot of tool. Appreciate. Yeah. Uh, there’s so many ways we can go here, but we’re already past again to the hour mark. So like, you know, but I guess my, just for the margin parts, I think just to make sure people understand, so 400% from China cost, right.

[00:50:44] So if you buy it for, yeah. You buy for a $5. Sell for $20. Right. Just so people understand that. Um, okay. And then, uh, my last one, I do want to ask, you know, there’s people listening and. You’ve been in China, you know, I think he had similar intentions, either the energy and the hustle and everything. Uh, we attracted here and you’re still here.

[00:51:12] Is that, I mean, do you think that’s an advantage or disadvantage, you know, within of course, Amazon, I see the advantages of, for price, the development, but maybe even an a in what year we’re working on with this science and technical is. Is it, you think you’re better hustle, hustle? You mean, you mean is hustling an advantage, you said, Oh, no.

[00:51:32] I mean, just being in China. Oh, I mean, for, for specifically, uh, Amazon or a type of app or for what? Maybe I can just leave it open ended, but I guess definitely first, I don’t know for the science stuff, I’m thinking, you know, I know we’re not in that topic anymore, but maybe, maybe for. I think Amazon, I think is clear, there is advantages for the factory manufacturing.

[00:51:59] So I guess I’m just thinking. Yeah, I think it depends like, I mean, you know, I think it, I think it makes sense though, to be closer to your, should you be closer to your customers is very important. Because the thing is, as long as you are sort of connected by, by wechat and stuff. I mean, the advantage I have here that I could actually get meet in person, the factory, well, before this whole COVID thing, but I couldn’t, I was meeting them like every week and or every other week or, well that’s because I, I set up this thing, but I would like the iteration, you know, the development process.

[00:52:39] So it’s much faster. So, you know, I think if you’re just starting out then it’s clear that it’s better to be in America because that’s where we actually have to like, deal with the warehousing, deal with like near the pro like actually shipping and all that kind of stuff. And actually, you know, be close to your customers.

[00:52:56] Like you want to be able to be able to get the products and then test on your customer, which is going to be in America. Right. I think that’s very important. I’m like, you can’t really do that here. I mean, you probably do that here in Hong Kong a little bit. You can answer a few testers, but, um, So the advantage of being in Hong Kong and within, just really sort of like the development part, uh, which I think it does have an advantage.

[00:53:18] Uh, it, isn’t just looking at Amazon. Um, me being here in China in general though. I mean, I haven’t really, I have a really strong understanding of like, I can speak to your Mandarin now. And I have an understanding of how Chinese people work. Um, and I can connect with them very well. I understand we try normal things, but at the same time, my friend was able to actually have all these really strong connections and build up this company already being in America.

[00:53:43] I never had set foot in China ever in his life, uh, and had already built up a pretty strong, robust company. And only he started making 2 million a year. That’s when we actually decided. And so, um, Yeah. So he was already doing very well, but then, you know, he realized that making strips to try it. Well, actually, you know, was a way more efficient way.

[00:54:04] And it actually, me being here, I was able to get to QC, see I’m much faster for him. And, uh, so right now what happens is like we’ll have sort of factory send me some, some sample and I can test out those samples. And then rather than actually taking a few weeks or a week, you know, maybe two weeks or something, you’ll take it like, you know, a day or two, right.

[00:54:24] And then be around my, your stepping, set them out. And I could see how they work. And then, um, you know, I know w and then we work our way to a final product, and that will probably be sent, uh, you know, we’ll have a major milestone and then that will be sent to America and then they’ll test it over there.

[00:54:39] But I think, yeah, I mean, having China definitely has developed, uh, in me a very sort of like hustler mentality. And you definitely get that by being here, but I think, you know, in general, like, If you’re a hustler hustler, right? I mean, I think you can be asked to anywhere in the U S and otherwise I think, but learning language and having the opportunity of being here, you get into the slot inside the mind of China in Chinese and how they operate.

[00:55:08] And you can actually work with them because I don’t think China is going to be going anywhere until the things that me capturing, you know, basically of the world. So I think that’s going to be clear, um, and you definitely have an advantage of disadvantage, but. Um, I think it’s best though. Uh, if you can, if you can do it, having a base in China and also in the United States at the same time.

[00:55:32] But if she can’t and then starting off in the U S is better because it’s better the cost to customers. That’s, that’s who you’re really trying to serve. Right? Yeah, man. Um, I think that’s a great place to wrap up. Today’s. You really a him, eh, episode. I, uh, um, got a lot out of this and I hope, I hope that I I’m sure listeners do too.

[00:55:57] And I hope you enjoyed sharing Kent. So where, where can people find you or do you know any links or websites that you’d like to share with us? Yeah. I mean, you can just go on on LinkedIn. I mean, search Kent Zaitlik, yeah, I guess probably the easiest way that I’m usually sort of connected to people both professionally and then, mozi.ai

[00:56:26] The AI is my website. It’s not really much there and serve in the process of transitioning, uh, through mosey as I want to get more involved in synthetic biology. Okay. So I’m focusing more on synthetic biology and also in, in, uh, my underwear, uh, company. Awesome. But I want to eventually my goal is eventually to apply, you know, synthetic biology, um, and develop new types of synthetic and new types of material just as sustainably based materials and then develop new products or apply that to new products and sell them in, in the United States or the whole world.

[00:57:07] Awesome, man, this has been fascinating. Thanks. Thanks, Cannes. And, uh, yeah. Keep on like, keep on, keep on grinding man. Three, two to three hours learning a day, dude. I dunno. I’m behind you out there. I even heard, I don’t know. I think at least even 10, 15, 20, 30 minutes. Uh, but of course, if you can get to those two to three, but that’s a.

[00:57:27] That’s a great, yeah. I mean, that’s major. I mean, if, I mean, yeah, if you could at least do one hour of study, I think, I think it’s, it’s very good. I mean, at least at least one hour, but I mean, two hours is good. But I think one hour really solid, like studying, uh, really makes a big difference every day. I mean, even just like even 20, 30 minutes, I mean, what’s most important is consistency doing it every day and having very structured, a learning plan.

[00:57:54] So that. Okay. That’s a wrap man. Thanks so much. Yeah, thank you so much. Are you looking for a new product or service in the cross border e-commerce cross border trade industry? We do have a pretty extensive directory of reviews that gets some pretty good attention. Globalfromasia.com/reviews. At least where we try our best to write up some overviews of different services and logistics and software in, in treed, uh, in communities events.

[00:58:26] A lot of times they are from our partners and our community, and we try to be as unbiased as possible. And we try to let you in the community also submit your review. You there. If you want to check it out, some reviews, give some feedback, suggest some other coming to be added. globalfromasia.com/reviews.

[00:58:43] Check it out. Thanks again. Can’t I really, I think the, again, after the recording and he was, we’re still talking after the show, after the recording and, you know, I was saying, you know, he, he gives us so much insights and, uh, There’s other ways to think about it too. You know, he, he studied like finance and business in school, and then he, he decided, like you said, he switched into becoming like the scientist, the, a technology person.

[00:59:10] So he’s, he feels that he had had a lot of catching up to a lot of learning to do. And then after the recording, we were also discussing with the partners in the Amazon business. He says one partner is to designer or the artist and the others, like the PPC, the analytics to inventory. And I said, uh, and again, this is, I wish I had kept recording.

[00:59:32] It was already an hour call discussion interview, but, uh, You know, he was saying, I said, this is what I call the artists and the garbage man. So what I say with Amazon or eCommerce businesses or product based businesses, you know, I’ve also worked in tech startups, you know, like he said, we talked about it and show the tech, startups, tech, startups.

[00:59:51] Usually you need like a programmer and any new, like a biz dev sales. And then sometimes there’s like a third partner is kind of like the designer, the UX, the, maybe understands how to like, kinda make the website a usable. Which is very important for a web based business. So usually, you know, at least two, and I think in eCommerce businesses too, at one partner is the product person.

[01:00:18] Maybe I call it the artist. In my course, I have in Global From Asia VIP, I talk about the artists and it’s like about the garbage man. So the artist is the person that knows the product that loves the product that loves the customer to avatar that understands the consumer, the buyer, the market that likes to go to trade shows or likes to kind of understand the trends in the market.

[01:00:43] And I think the other person is the garbage man and no offense, but I kind of came when I, I think I heard it somewhere many years ago, but that’s the person that’s. It doesn’t care if they own a garbage bag business, they don’t care what they sell. They’re not attached to the product. You know, as I call Chinese sellers, many of them garbage men because they don’t care.

[01:01:02] What products they sell, they just care if is it profitable? Is it good? A niche? You know, can I get a do, is it not too competitive? But it is enough enough demand for me to make money. That’s what they’re looking at. They’re the numbers person. So. You can say, and he’s kind of transitioned from learning a school to be the numbers person, to moving towards the artists or the scientists or the programmer or the experts.

[01:01:28] But I think, you know, you can’t do everything honestly is my mistake. I try to do everything. I want to know everything. You know what I think that’s almost a weakness of trying to do everything. You have to build a team. I’m not saying I know how to do it perfectly, but I think that if you look at successful, successful ventures, you know, you it’s like the left side of the brain and a right side of the brain.

[01:01:51] Right. So you can’t really switch. I try to do that. Honestly, what I try and do is my morning is my maker time. I think it’s a. Paul Graham, I don’t want to mess it up, but some smart VC in Silicon Valley says, make your time, manage your time or may maker partner, and manager partner. And the maker obviously is the one creating, you know, whether, whether that’s a, you know, these podcasts, I think I’m more of the creator or it’s a, you know, creating a new product for Amazon or eCommerce or it’s creating a new, uh, programming for a SASS.

[01:02:27] Start up the CTO and then that’s the person they can’t be interrupted. Right. They can’t be on chat on Facebook messenger and they can’t, you know, do sales pitches. And I’m not saying they can’t, but it’s also like a different mindset. And then there’s the management time to manage your time. And a person that’s grinding off phone calls is.

[01:02:48] That’s a doing email outreach. That’s doing social media. That’s pitching investors is getting a big customers, you know, depending on the business or running the numbers, running into inventory numbers on a profitability, you know, and maybe some of you thinking I can do both. And I try to say, I try to do both.

[01:03:05] I think I do kind of do both, but it hurts my brain. I swear. I have my maker time on my morning and then I have my management time in the afternoon. And where I do the calls and I do, if you talk to me, no, I notice I usually do calls in the evening or calls in the afternoon. I do emails or replied. My morning is my maker.

[01:03:25] Time is my creating time. It’s my time where I get to work on it with my, um, my team. Yeah. I get to create all this content. We’re making out so many websites and so much content. So it takes that. That brain, that side of my brain, I think it’s the right side. And then the left side is the middle. I’m not saying I’m not sure what she’s the right side, but the better way is probably have somebody dedicated to making all day in all time and in that mindset all the time.

[01:03:52] And then there’s this other person that’s got the mindset of the selling and the BizDev and the numbers and the profitability and the Excel, the garbage man, the businessman, business woman, finance, you know, I hope I’m not disrespecting anybody. But I think if you’re listening to this, I think you should probably say to yourself, I, Oh man, hope my microphone is not broken.

[01:04:14] And if you’re listening to this right now and you probably call yourself one or the other, right. Are you the artist to creator the programmer? You know, the maker, or do you think you are the sales one? The Excel one, the inventory control one, you know, I think knowing yourself and maybe change, you know, like I think I’ve kind of gone through phases where I’ve gone on both sides can seem to have gone on both sides, but I think, you know, if you’re one or the other, you have to spend time doing what those types of people do and be really strong in that type of role.

[01:04:51] And I think that’s, that’s the key, cause we can’t be good at everything. So study and learn. It’s also called emotional intelligence and a team where, you know, who team would be responsible to do that thing. Right? So something comes into the company and email comes in a request from a client, comes in, we know who is that person that should be doing that right.

[01:05:12] Um, and that person’s studying those news articles and those things that are happening in industry. Following that part of the process, whether it’s Amazon PPC, or whether it’s product developments or trade war crap or tariffs, you know, who is the person they’re responsible for knowing these things. And maybe I’m rambling.

[01:05:31] This is a longer show episode, 319 of the Global From Asia podcast, we have some more amazing shows coming up. I mean, man, there’s, more and more requests to come onto the show from, from people and getting lots of good feedback from people. We do try to get iTunes reviews. Although I barely, you know, honestly, we don’t have so many, but, if you could figure out how to do that, we do have a link in the show notes and we do have show notes.

[01:05:58] We have long show notes. We had images of the guests. We have profiles. We have, you know, bullet points. We have links to things mentioned in this one’s at globalfromasia.com/china-ride, R I D E. All right. Thank you so much. I really appreciate you. I do appreciate listening and a feedback is always appreciated and we are just pushing forward.