Posts Tagged ‘Business’
April Fools Day… NOT!
March 29th, 2010 | 
Author: I’m sure you are all surprised by how I am writing another blog post so soon after my last one. Well it’s for several reasons: I’ve got a lot of things going on, but they’re good things and I’m much happier now! So without making you sweat, let’s get to the update:
Last time I wrote I still hadn’t found a girlfriend; I began dating an amazing girl named Jessy about 2 weeks ago. She’s a few months older than me (which isn’t important because age is just a number), and unlike most Chinese people, actually has some life experience. She lived in Kunming (Yunnan province) for 2 years and worked as a journalist for a Hong Kong based newspaper. They sent her on trips to India, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand to cover various news, which already makes her rare because most Chinese people have never left the country before. She is going to start studying for a Masters degree in International Relations in September, so she knows a lot about the world, its history, and how countries deal with each other. On top of all these great things, she can speak Spanish, dance Salsa, and has a great sense of fashion. She’s also very mature, caring, and funny.
On the work front, things are great too! For the first six months of work, I was constantly arguing with my co-worker Susan. We just couldn’t get along, and it didn’t help that she and some of the other Chinese teachers thought I was a lazy sack of shit. Well, when I came back from Australia I was determined to show them I was a good teacher, so I began writing my lesson plans in advance and asking for input and taking control of my classroom. One day, Susan had to miss work so I taught with my boss, and she thought I did a great job. As a result, I know my job is safe, and the only thing keeping me from signing a new contract with the school is me failing the “test,” where I have to teach a lesson on my own in front of my co-workers and bosses (with the children as my students, of course). I know this won’t be a problem because I had to do this as my job interview when I was looking to get hired by them.
On the other side of work, I’ve been working my ass off doing part time work varying between proofreading, editing, voice work, acting, freelance writing, and teaching English. As a result of doing these different types of jobs, I doubled my salary this month. My normal salary is 5000 RMB + 1200 RMB for an apartment allowance, but this month I earned 9900 RMB + 1200 RMB. I have a new part time job that has me working about 15-18 hours a week, which means if I don’t mind working 7 days a week and suffering 6 hours straight with no break, I can earn about 12000 RMB every month, which is AMAZING money. (12,000 RMB = $1751)
Next up is my business: I have finally gone to the market and negotiated with the store owners all thanks to my co-worker Summary who was gracious enough to come with me. I’ve bought some items I hope will sell. I’ve started a Basic eBay Store ($15.95/month) and am in the process of listing my items and hiring someone to create a custom template which will make my eBay Store look pleasing to the eye. I am also going to buy a new domain and have a matching template be created for that so people can check out all my items and buy from me without having to pay eBay fees! I am also talking to Jessy’s friend about getting ethnic minority art to sell. On top of all of this, I’m looking into selling products to BBYO (my old youth group) and Soriorities.
The last thing worthy of noting is my new Excel spreadsheet: I’ve discovered a website called NetWorthIQ which has got me into keeping up with my assets. As a result, my spreadsheet has 3 tabs: one for my total net worth (updated monthly, including a column for “last month” so I can see how last month compared to the current month, and in fact a graph can be constructed from the data to neatly show if my net worth increases or decreases on a monthly basis), one is for my expenditures for month (how much money do I spend, what day am I spending it on, and why am I spending it), and the last is for my income earned (this is important for me because I receive income from different jobs, so it is good for me to see if the jobs I’m doing are worth continuing or not).
On the Chinese language front, I’ve been working so hard doing all these other things that I haven’t been online that often, which means I have no real opportunity to practice Chinese with other people. I also don’t have time to teach myself, so my Chinese has taken a back seat. Once I finish this awesome Jeffrey Archer novel called “The Fourth Estate,” then I’ll focus my attention back to my new Chinese books.
I called this April Fools Day, but it’s being released before April Fools, so this is not a joke.. it’d be really hard for me to make ALL this up (and I’d be pissed if it wasn’t real because of how much work I’ve really put into all of this.. haha)
Posted in Daily Life | 
Tags: april, Business, China, day, eBay, expenditures, fools, income, net worth, Teaching | 
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After It All
The last time I bothered to write on the blog, I mentioned the cold weather and the problems I was having with various things, so here’s that update. It’s still cold every day, but thankfully it’s been about 10F warmer on average, so at least my fingers and toes don’t become icicles while I’m riding the bike. Speaking of bikes, the company that manages the system decided to cut down our allotted time from 4 hours to 2 hours, but if you need the bike for longer you’re still able to ask them to add time as long as you go to a station before the 2 hours are up.
Being on a 6 week holiday might seem really nice to some people who have to work all year round and only get a few days off per year, but trust me it’s not as fun as one would think. For a good part of the day I find myself as I am right now: wrapped in a blanket sitting on my leather arm chair in my room playing on the computer. Since everyone I know is still working, I usually wait until mid-afternoon or early evening to go out and do things with them.
You may have this image in your mind that my hair is down to my back and my face hasn’t been shaved in months, but I can assure you I’m at least taking care of my myself in that sense! I’m also quite busy working on different ideas I have that would take me down different paths, because I’m quite bored/sick of being a teacher, and although I do want to stay here for a while longer, I refuse to do it as a teacher.
Some of the things I’m working on are the following:
Meanwhile, in my spare time I’m watching a lot of movies and practicing my Chinese, because since I didn’t mention it above, the American job would require me to be fluent in Chinese, which I’m currently not but on my way there.
I’ve begun dating again, but there are several factors which plague me. I still love Lily and I’m trying to get over her because I know there’s no chance of a future with her now after all the things we’ve been through. I want to date people and enjoy myself, but I think the best thing for me is to focus on myself and meditate and figure out my issues and why they’re giving me problems. Only after this is done will I find the strength from within to see new people and hopefully forge good relationships with them. The downside to it all is that I feel a bit bored of Chinese girls after being here so long, but that doesn’t mean I’ll move back to America just to date white women, sorry Mom!
Beyond the Land
In this extremely trying and hot time, all I can think about is Australia. Beaches, Water, BBQ, oh my! As much as I spend my time thinking about my trip, I know it’s not for another 5 months, which makes it all the more exciting and depressing. I already bought my visa to Australia. It cost $20 and will not show up on my passport as a piece of paper, but rather, the Australian computers will show I’m allowed to enter. We’ve also begun working on Lily’s passport and visa! Her passport will be available for pick-up on the 5th of August. In other news, her rich uncle took $15,000 (A LOT of money in China) to Macau and won $8,000 more in half a day! As a result, he’s either giving her or lending her (She didn’t tell me the specifics) all the money she needs for the trip to Australia, and hopefully she’ll earn a lot on her own from our own businesses to pay for the trip after Australia to India and Malaysia!
For now, all I can do is work my ass off and earn as much money as possible from as many different sources. What I mean by this is, I currently still have the part time job at Rise, and they gave me an extra 24 hours for August! In addition, Lily and I are still doing our private teaching business and are looking to run 2 10-day intensive summer camps. One class would be for primary school students, and the other for middle school students.
Some of my other ventures include writing an eBook about increasing your confidence, becoming a better speaker, and from that, becoming a better leader! The idea came up when a stranger on twitter wrote he was looking for tips on how to increase his speaking ability.
Another venture, which is astronomical in size and will take quite some time to completely organize, but which I’ve already begun a massive operation to get it started, will be a distance eLearning school for people wishing to learn new languages. That’s all I’ll say for now, so my idea isn’t stolen, hehe!
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On the more personal front, Lily has begun putting herself in the position to be a wife. She took up cooking, which I must profess is really damn good. She’s also taken an interest in salsa dancing, so I’ve been teaching her. We’ve been bike riding together too. Her family is very sweet and caring to me too, which means they’re trying to show me what married life will be like, hah. I mean, we’ve ONLY been together for a little over 4 months. I told her that I do really care for her, and I really enjoy everything we’re doing together and what she’s doing for me, but we need to slow downnnnnn because I’m not getting married yet or having a kid. It’s something I do want, but not now.
Posted in Daily Life |
Tags: Business, China, Cooking, eLearning, Food, Teaching, Work |
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New Business
Mark and Mary decided to go to Sichuan province in the west of China to see her aunt. Before they left, however, they bathed their 2 week old puppy, causing her to become very sick. 3 days and 270rmb ($38) later, Lily and I have been the ones dealing with her. Little Puppy While doing this, we’ve been working hard to prepare lessons and strategy for our new teaching business. We had 220 business cards printed for 40rmb ($5.80), bought 3 books for 278rmb ($39), and we’ve begun handing them out to her friends and family to distribute. Last night we had dinner at her uncle’s house again, and this time I had the pleasure of meeting his girlfriend. Besides that fact, he made another amazing meal! Lily spent a good deal of time talking to his girlfriend about our plans, as she’s very wealthy and has a daughter with many friends. Her uncle offered to drive us home in his brand new Subaru, a car one in America might scoff at, but after living here so long is a nice change. It even uses an automatic transmission and he offered to let me drive it whenever I wanted. I’m definitely taking him up on this deal sooner rather than later. — The other night I met a Mexican girl at Mike’s by the name of Paula. After a great deal of talking and plotting, we’ve tentatively decided on April 2010 for a 1 month Mexican-style run through her country. I know that with my new business I’ll be able to afford the 25,000rmb ($3,700) trip in a years time. What excites me the most about this trip is the fact that I’ll be staying with locals, eating local food, and seeing what locals see (and how they really live). The less touristy this trip is, the better. I’m talking full-on Mayan ruins, jungles, whales, hiking, kayaking, and whatever else I can do! — As of 3 months ago, Wuhan installed free public bike rentals throughout the many city districts. It’s free to apply for a card that’s valid for 3 years, and it’s available to foreigners as well. They give you 4 hours before you have to return the bike (to any station in the city), but the best part is that you can take a bike from 1 station, drop it off at another one, pick up a new bike, and your 4 hours allotment is back! I plan to take full advantage of this, but have to wait a few more days for my ID card to return. I’m also going to get my Chinese drivers license so I can legally drive Lily’s uncle’s car.