ESPECIALLY FOR WOMEN: Ambassador of New Education and Bridge to Asia Pacific Shares Her Humanitarian Mission of Abundance World-Wide

Especially For Women with Ann Barczay Sloan

Introducing: DC Cordova

CEO, Excellerated Business Schools^® / Money & You^® Program

“The Universe is abundant and there is only ONE PERSON
who can deny you ANYTHING! YOU!
Get this one and you’ll create freedom.”

Article Part One

Long-ago connections, new re-connections

DC Cordova ─ the brilliantly successful subject of this article ─ and I first met in Los Angeles in the early years of this century (that sounds so antique, doesn’t it?) We were both attending an IBI (now CEO Space) Forum, and DC was a good friend of a woman who’d been my business consultant for a while: the late Rachel Best. I stood more or less quietly on the sidelines as Rachel and DC chatted – simply content to hang out in DC’s charming yet powerful presence.

Since those faraway days, my life has gone through numerous twisted turns, several psycho-spiritual and geographical relocations – and now here we are: a new turn of the spiral! I have morphed into a Featured Columnist for an internationally known on-line business publication (wow, I’m so impressed with myself!) and I get to converse one on one with the incalculably more impressive, unutterably more internationally known educator, global entrepreneur, and dedicated humanitarian, DC Cordova!

Who is DC Cordova and what is she all about?

A powerful summary of her achievements can be seen at: http://www.dccordova.com . Here is an excerpt:

DC Cordova

CEO, Excellerated Business Schools^®/Money & You^® Program

DC Cordova is the CEO of Excellerated, the international organization that presents the famous Money & You^® Program and the first ever Business School for Social Entrepreneurs, the Excellerated Business School^® for Entrepreneurs. Since 1979, DC has led Excellerated to pioneer high-speed, experiential entrepreneurship educational programs that have transformed the lives of tens of thousands of participants – and through them, millions of people around the world.

To date, Excellerated is a global organization with more than 70,000 graduates from over 60 countries, with entrepreneurial programs mainly conducted in both English and Chinese languages in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Brunei. In Europe other Excellerated programs have been translated and presented in various languages, including Spanish, French and German. These programs’ markets will continue to expand globally.

I have chosen to skip the next lengthy paragraph, but let’s at least look at its first sentence:

Her graduates read like a “Who’s Who” list of wealth/business gurus, including her partnership of nine years with Robert Kiyosaki of the Rich Dad/Poor Dad Series…

If you’re curious about the numerous other celebrities, see Notable Grads on http://www.Excellerated.com .

For the sake of brevity, I am omitting a lengthy summary of DC’s writings and media appearances… But I can’t resist including an additional “short” list of DC’s achievements:

[DC] is a Founding member of the Transformational Leadership Council (TLC); a facilitator for the Pachamama Alliance Symposium; a Founding Faculty member for Humanity Unites Brilliance (HUB); and the Asia Pacific Business Developer for WOMBAT – a breakthrough Media for Transformation company; and Director of International Relations for the Women’s Information Network (The WINonLine.com)

She is a “Connector” because she has a special gift for bringing together projects and people from around the world. She is considered an Ambassador of New Education and a Mentor of Nurturing for her work with high-level entrepreneurs and persons of high influence.

Primary Web sites:

Money & You^®

http://www.moneyandyou.com/

http://www.moneyandyoublog.com/

Excellerated Business Schools®:

http://www.Excellerated.com

DC’s site:

http://www.dccordova.com

Click below to get special details on Money and You ─ DC Cordova has decided to share the first step of the program with you:

http://twitlik.com/absdcmy

And now, at long last – the interview!

Now that I have loaded you up with background information, let’s proceed to our interview. FYI, DC and I conducted and recorded it via phone ─ unlike my usual method of using an e-mail questionnaire.

This has resulted in an unexpected bonus. Unhampered by space limitations of my questionnaire, DC got deeply into her flow of conversation and shared much more information about her activities, past and present, than could fit into my usual article page count.

Unwilling to deprive my readers of any of DC’s rich material, I have decided to write this interview into two parts. Therefore the second half of this article about our super-achieving yet delightfully accessible subject will appear in TNNW in my January 2010 column.

Hi DC ─ I so appreciate your taking time to share yourself with me and our National Networker readers!

“You’re very welcome, Ann… It’s an honor for me to be able to empower women and networkers!”

First of all, how would you briefly describe what you do ─ your elevator speech, if you will?

“I do three things:

First: For the past 30 years I have been presenting entrepreneurial transformational programs. I have two main programs: Money & You^® (3 1/2days) and Excellerated Business School® for Entrepreneurs (8 days.) We teach Sales and Marketing, People and Organization, Money and Finances: all the things that an entrepreneur needs to know. Money & You^® is based on the principles of Buckminster Fuller and other masters. It’s taught through left/right brain teaching techniques. We have several other programs – Money & You^® is our signature program – it’s transformational entrepreneurial education.

Second, I am a bridge between the Asia-Pacific region and North America. After working in both regions for over 20 years, I am now considered an authority on the difference of the Chinese and North American cultures, as well as with the Islamic world.

Third (and my favorite) is my mission, which is to transform educational systems around the world to eradicate poverty and hunger.”

And how exactly do you accomplish all of this astonishing work?

I meet with business people, leaders – people of tremendous influence. My first was Fidel Castro in 1984, at the height of the Cold War. I had a transformational experience around him. I realized that if I were to work with leaders around the world, I could leverage my mission more easily. I was only 34 years old. It overwhelmed me tremendously…

When we don’t see ourselves in a place in the future as grand as we really are, it’s hard to see the opportunities in front of you. I was only 34 years old and I didn’t work with people of tremendous influence ‘till about six or seven years later, when I started working in Singapore and I first met Dr. Dato’ Jannie Tay. She began to introduce me to amazing leaders and persons of influence.

What exactly do you do when you meet with these top leaders?

“When I go to a new country I ask: ‘Who is the most influential entrepreneur in this country, in this city?’ When they tell me who it is, I arrange for an introduction through our powerful network of successful entrepreneurs, or I literally go knock on doors. Very few people turn me down because they always want to meet someone who has met Fidel Castro.

I have met with Heads of State, Prime Ministers, Ministers of Education. Over the years, I began to learn you need to meet with people of tremendous wealth because they influence the politicians world wide.”

That all sounds amazing! So this is the way you got started?

“Yes, that’s how I started my task as an ‘Ambassador of New Education’. This evolved from my doing transformational programs and being supported by our graduates to share with persons of influence. I represent the industry of transformational education: an industry of New Education.”

So then do you tell these leaders about your programs?

“I don’t talk about my programs much; I don’t share that ‘I do a program called Money & You® and Excellerated Business Schools®…’ Not at all! I talk about left and right brain teaching techniques; and how present-day education in most countries is hundreds of years old. We need to teach teachers how the brain takes in information using the kinesthetic, visual, and auditory modalities. We need to begin to teach teachers to use cooperative studying, where children with various levels of knowledge help teach each other. At present we are teaching separation and competition. The Bell curve is a very antiquated system.”

That’s so powerful and so true!

“The awareness that I bring to billionaires, ministers, and persons of high influence is that we have to come from a place of abundance. Most people live in a world of scarcity. We have to move them to sufficiency – and from sufficiency we move them to abundance. But that’s a process that most people have to go through.

Bill Gates has spent nearly 20 billions of dollars in attempting to correct the educational system in this country. He has failed in many ways ─ because no one has told him that a personal transformation needs to occur in order for the teachers, principals and educational leaders not to feel wrong about what they have been doing. They are products of their own system; we are all products of our own environment ─ unless we have learned from masters like Buckminster Fuller, Dr. Georgi Lozanov (Creator of Suggestopedia, the basis for Accelerated Learning) and others.

We then present new ideas, a new menu of new references for the leaders to delve into – and huge new doors, new portals are open for them… I am a walking portal, so to speak! We tell them: ‘Go learn about Left / Right Brain Education! Go learn how the brain works! Go and learn about subjects like eco-capitalism!‘”

Eco-capitalism ─ what a great term!

“Yes, I am an amazing library for them – and then when they say: ‘What do you personally do?’ I mention that we conduct business schools that churn out social entrepreneurs – and I have social proof that they will go out and create change in their own industries. They will become agents of change – and all I have to do is to put them through this experience – because education is a process of discovery. They discover for themselves where to best contribute to others.

They also find out that first you contribute, and then the money comes. This is true for people of little money, and for people who are millionaires who have found out that money is not it – that they can still be unhappy even with all the money they have ever wanted to accumulate. There are those who have inherited tremendous amounts or come into a family with tremendous money but they fight, everyone’s unhappy, no one trusts each other… and they find out sooner or later: ‘Oh my God, I am not happy!’ and that’s when the idea of making a contribution to society or leaving a legacy can be introduced to them…

So that’s what I do. I am a messenger of this beautiful technology created by masters.”

Super-powerful stuff, DC! So now I have to ask: What makes your company, your programs unique?

“We were pioneers of left/right brain teaching techniques; created the original transformational entrepreneurial program. My mentors literally created the industry and I inherited the work. We are the sixth oldest transformational company in the world, the first one in the arena of business. We have social proof: look at the caliber of graduates of our programs and what they have created… Go see our list of Notable Grads in our Web site: http://www.Excellerated.com !

Most of us came from Est, the original personal development program that made history in the 70s: Bobbie DePorter, Marshall Thurber, Robert Kiyosaki, Sondra Ray, and others. Many of the educators that use left/right brain teaching techniques are either graduates of our programs, or students of our graduates. Best selling authors like Robert Kiyosaki of Rich Dad/Poor Dad was my business partner for nine years. We published his first best selling book, If You Want to be Rich & Happy, Don’t Go to School? His best work is based on our teachings.”

Est – of course! I did the Est training back in the old days when Werner Erhard was still around.

“Yes, that’s great! And by the way, journalists who do research on the background of some of today’s top money gurus eventually discover that some started their education and profession with Money & You®. We are very proud of that.

All of this goes along with my mission – because I don’t want to leave this planet before this essential issue is handled.“

Now we’re getting to the heart of it, DC. What exactly is your mission, the aim of what you do?

“My Mission is to transform educational systems around the world to eradicate poverty and hunger.

My Purpose is to Uplift Humanity’s Consciousness through Business. I do this through our Excellerated Business programs.”

And your humanitarian / philanthropic activities?

“We contribute to many foundations that are created by our graduates of Money & You® and the Business School. We support over 1000 Chinese orphans from the earthquake in China and their new families. We have many other organizations that we support. So we not only do the transformational work, we also support Foundations that we believe in.

This is so great ─ thank you, DC! Now, as I know you have much more to share with us, I propose we publish Part 2 in next month’s issue of this Newsletter.

“Good idea… Thanks, Ann!”

[ ---------- Article to be continued! ---------- ]

Next month, in Part Two of this article, DC answers such questions as:

-- Which of your projects are you currently most excited and passionate about?

-- How far does your network extend?

-- What’s the achievement / accomplishment you’re most proud of at this time?

---------------------------------

Reminder: DC has decided to share the first step of the program with you!

Click below to get special details ─

http://twitlik.com/absdcmy

---------------------------------

Contact Information:

http://www.dccordova.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Key Words:

DC Cordova, Money & You, Excellerated, Transformation, Education, Left/Right Brain Education, World Leaders, Buckminster Fuller, Asia Pacific, China, Ann Barczay Sloan, The National Networker, TNNW

---------------------------------------

Ann Barczay Sloan, M.A.

Author & Editor / Creative Writing Coach

www.GeniusUnbound.com

www.linkedin.com/in/AnnBarczaySloan

Featured Columnist,

www.TheNationalNetworker.com

---------------------------------------

Author of the forthcoming book:

How to Use the Pieces of a Broken Heart:

Recipes for Rebirth

http://AnnBarczaySloan.blogspot.com

For more information, please visit Ann's TNNW Bio.

Published by THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter. All rights reserved. Subscribe Free For Your TNNW Newsletter and THE BLUE MONDAY REPORT! - Click HERE.
The National Networker Companies

Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

ESPECIALLY FOR WOMEN: Ambassador of New Education and Bridge to Asia Pacific Shares Her Humanitarian Mission of Abundance World-Wide

VICTOR CATTERMOLE: It’s All About the Money

At times this city of Hong Kong never ceases to amaze me for reasons good and bad. Hong Kong is undoubtedly one of the financial hubs of Asia and will continue to be a gateway to China for the foreseeable future. The last couple of weeks I observed a few things I felt worth sharing with the readers.

The world is in an economic crisis and so Hong Kong Government has initiated a stimulus package where they will guarantee a business loan up to 80% and HK$12 million. (around US$1.6 million) What is even more amazing about this is that the Government website shows of the around 15,000 applications for the loan scheme less than 60 of them had been declined.

Further financial news was the first IPO from China for around seven months was released in the past week or so. The IPO was 750 times oversubscribed.

Finally in the busy area of Mong Kok a man who had regularly parked his wheelchair on a busy corner and begged for money passed away whilst sitting there. The people passing by just pushed him and his wheelchair over and parked him by the rubbish bin so as not to block the busy pavement.

Having the money is one thing, what we do with it is another. Big cities around the world like Hong Kong will cast you aside to a rubbish bin without missing a step. It's time society had a good long look at itself.

Victor Cattermole

For more details, please visit Victor's TNNW Bio.

Published by THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter. All rights reserved. Subscribe Free - Click HERE.
The National Networker Companies
Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

VICTOR CATTERMOLE: It’s All About the Money

ASIA PACIFIC: Assumptions

by Victor Cattermole

Asia Pacific Bureau Chief

Over the last month I’ve been giving some serious thought to the power and persuasion that a simple assumption has over people. We have all done it, assumed something that turns out to be wrong, chosen not too look closer perhaps because “we know already” or even more likely because we are too busy too care. Three separate incidents have spurred me to question my assumptions though, one small, one big, and one personal.

The small, well perhaps not so small (with over 50 million web views) is the british singer Susan Boyle on Britains got Talent. And in fact many of the performers on shows like that. Ms Boyle is a great example, an amazing voice looked over for so many years because of what, I have no doubt, is a great many assumptions. Because surely no-one with a voice like that simply hides away, and so no-one went to look (until now).

The second is the global crisis we find ourselves in now. Not so much the crisis itself, but the news coming through that we should have seen it coming, that the writing was on the wall and that so many people simple assumed that the world would continue rising. Technically it could be considered ‘business confidence’, which is just a nice way of saying we are willing to assume things are still going to be going well in the future. I have the blessing of living in Hong Kong, where so many markets are assumption based that there were still apartment complex launches, even as the global market turned in on itself.

The third great example is a friend and fellow New Zealander Denyse Saunders. I chose her as an example of what assumptions can do for one simple reason, she blonde, beautiful and was a cat walk and fashion model. So easy to put her in to a category that by many business people would be dismissed. Denyse has built a following and credibility in the business of fashion and beauty based on simple moral principals she holds that is the envy of many.

Her achievements are too many to list, they can be found on her website http://www.denysesaunders.com/index.html Some of the great ones for me include:

· Being a 50 year old grandmother and looking 30 something with no surgery

· Over a decade of successful involvement in Miss World contestants

· Numerous celebrity involvement including people like Elle McPherson and Julio Iglesias, the list goes on.

· Her own weekly TV show on SKY TV

When it comes to event design, marketing and production Denyse has an extensive network of contacts at all levels and is unquestionably the Australasian provider of quality. A real gem in the Pacific.

Through her life she has built herself up to be a great businesswomen, a great networker and a great person. I can only wonder as I talk with her and listen to some of her wisdom, how many people may have written this woman off in her life as “just some blonde” or “just that model”. How many of the business men that ogled her on the cat walk assumed so much about her that they failed to see the amazing and gifted person behind the glitz and glamour.

It is a lesson all business people should take, especially in these tougher economic times, that sometimes taking a second look, giving just a moment of your time and pushing aside any preconceived ideas can uncover things you may have never thought possible.

*******
Posted to THE NATIONAL NETWORKER (TNNW). All rights reserved.

To subscribe for your free TNNW Newsletter, go to http://www.thenationalnetworker.com/ For the complete National Networker (TNNW) Relationship Capital Toolkit and a free continuous RSS feed (available either by traditional RSS or by direct email), go to: http://thenationalnetworkerweblog.blogspot.com/

You are also invited to click our buttons:




-------
Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

ASIA PACIFIC: Assumptions

ASIA PACIFIC: Relationship CV

by Victor Cattermole

Asia Pacific Bureau Chief

This past week I had to venture up to Japan for some business and pleasure.

While there I met with some friends who it turns out were feeling challenged in their personal relationship, after more than 20 years of marriage things were really a battle.

The interesting thing about this is that in the Japanese society everything relationship wise appears to be so structured and disciplined. These wonderful little Japanese wives shuffle around the house as quiet as a mouse serving in such a humble way, society seems so passive and respectful and yet behind closed doors you can’t help feeling things are different.

All of this and lots of discussion with my friends got me really thinking about our relationship compatibility and what it would be like if we had a Relationship CV.

I really felt challenged by the concept of a Relationship CV and so it’s something I plan to introduce in to my business in the Endeavor Plan Life Planner later this year. My dyslexic thinking and sense of humor could spend days on this, the challenge goes out to readers to consider what does your Relationship CV look like (compared with your career CV) and what are you looking for in others.

Some things to consider:

· Is experience important?

· What are my long term goals?

· Am I looking to continue part time experience whilst maintaining a full time relationship?

· What are my references like, are their many?

It’s easy to have a laugh about it, and good to as well, then there is a serious side …. Time to draft your Relationship CV, how does it look? Would you enter in to a relationship with yourself?

______________________________________________________________

####
Posted to THE NATIONAL NETWORKER. All rights reserved.
####

To subscribe for your free TNNW Newsletter, go to www.TheNationalNetworker.com. For the complete National Networker Relationship Capital Toolkit and a free continuous RSS feed (available either by traditional RSS or by direct email), go to: http://thenationalnetworkerweblog.blogspot.com.

You are also invited to click our buttons:




-------
Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

ASIA PACIFIC: Relationship CV

ASIA PACIFIC: A Lesson in Networking: Sunday School

by Victor Cattermole

Asia Pacific Bureau Chief

I recently gained a new staff member, student and protégé with my son moving up to join me from New Zealand a few weeks ago. While well educated by his university like so many students he lacks the knowledge that only experience can bring. As such I have been doing my best to educate him and provide him with experiences to help develop his business knowledge.

Recently we moved on to the importance of the business network. Aside from referring him to a certain website I wanted to find a working and real example of a good network so he could experience it first hand. Fortunately being in Hong Kong there are many varied and interesting examples of networking in action, from the high rise office towers to the city markets and streets.

My chosen example came from a walk through central with my son last Sunday. It was somewhat unexpected but I think shows what good network connections can provide for any person.

Like many Asian cities Hong Kong works 6 days a week, with most companies closing Sunday. Sunday therefore becomes a day of relaxation and family. Another key thing happens on a Sunday, the service staffs of the households, around 300,000 people, have their day off. As such areas in Hong Kong become inundated with hundreds of thousands of people, chatting, playing cards, catching up and generally enjoying their day off.

This gathering encompasses so much more then just a catch up, it is a true network in action. Wandering along beside these groups of women and watching them interact my son was able to see what this relatively poor, but very large, network can provide. Almost anything a relaxing worker could want is catered for from within the group. It is not uncommon to see groupings of women cooking for those around them, a haircut being given while others wait their turn, clothes and jewelry being sold and exchanged and even a small bar of sorts, with wine being drunk and cards being played.

And through all this the network takes place with no major vehicle, no website or union, just friends meeting, relaxing and providing for each other. It is a bare and simple network yet it is effective in that it provides for the needs of its members. As a networker we can sometimes lose sight of how effective a simple network can be, even if it is just a bare verbal connection. In the age of global communication technology it can be beneficial to look at our simpler connections and the great benefits they can provide.

___________________________________________________________

Posted to THE NATIONAL NETWORKER. To subscribe for your free newsletter, go to www.TheNationalNetworker.com. For the complete National Networker Relationship Capital Toolkit and a free, continuous RSS feed (available either by traditional RSS or by direct email), go to: http://thenationalnetworkerweblog.blogspot.com. You are also invited to click our buttons:


Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

ASIA PACIFIC: A Lesson in Networking: Sunday School

Great Networking Spot of Hong Kong

By Victor Cattermole

Asia Pacific Bureau Chief

This month I was fortunate enough to get in to the halls of the famous Foreign Correspondents Club in Hong Kong. Without a doubt one of the most prestigious networking venues in the city.

The first impression of the FCC is that the British defiantly left their mark in some spots around Hong Kong. This great character building sites on a prime piece of Hong Kong central real estate just at the top of the famous Lan Kwai Fong night club zone. Diving in to the history of the club is most interesting and dates back to 1943 when a group of journalists were fighting for the right of freedom of speech in the media. This of course at a time when communism was sweeping over China and threatening Hong Kong.

The venue oozes history, style and elegance from the first step in the door. The majority of the building has a cell phone ban, which is great, and a dress code although not a written rule clearly the members are proud and like to maintain a standard fitting of such a great venue.

If you need to know what’s going on in Hong Kong this is the place to come. Obviously there are the usual media people frequenting the place but also several prominent business executives, diplomats and a wide variety of people are welcomed here.

The FCC provides facilities over several floors, includes several bars and eateries from local cuisine to fine dining dishes from all over the world.

A look over the FCC website (http://www.fcchk.org/) and you will see the history including past presidents from so many of the great established names of global media.

The FCC in Hong Kong is undoubtedly one of those places you must visit, you can’t help wanting to base yourself there for a week or two because you know at any moment someone famous is going to walk through the door.

The cost of membership is quite high, around US$200 per month, being a thrifty kiwi though I worked out they have reciprocal rights with other clubs around the world and so for US$20 a year in my club in New Zealand I get to use the Hong Kong FCC for 6 weeks of the year. That’s ample time for me to soak up the presence of this great historic meeting place in Hong Kong.

________________________________________________________

Posted to THE NATIONAL NETWORKER. To subscribe for your free newletter, go to www.TheNationalNetworker.com. For the complete National Networker Relationship Capital Toolkit and a free RSS feed, go to: http://thenationalnetworkerweblog.blogspot.com.
Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

Great Networking Spot of Hong Kong

The Network Hubs of Hong Kong

By Victor Cattermole

Asia Pacific Bureau Chief

I was really struggling to find an interesting topic this month. I had a few people on my list but with one thing and another I just couldn’t connect with them. With busy days of my own in meetings I started to give some thought to where we meet and why.

My day started with the computer turned on and email and instant messages flicking up before my eyes. Before the first coffee I have 6 people talking with me on Skype, MSN and Yahoo. Top that off with SMS messages on the cell phone and I have hit the day running. At this time of the morning its best to have that coffee first for fear of sending the wrong message to someone as I am still half asleep.

Oh how I have realized the importance of this technology for me to connect my USA, Europe and Asian Pacific contacts together. It gets worse, my girlfriend pops up on screen asking can I help her with a document, she is only sitting 5 feet away (man, she looks so cute in that picture!). I am then reminded of reality as I turn around to see her and hear the rattling noise of her gas escaping, as she describes it.

A trip to central Hong Kong for me and my first meeting is in the local icon coffee shop, Pacific Coffee. This place is a hub of meetings, the whole place is geared towards customer demands, there’s wifi, free computer terminals and in some stores even workstations where students complete their home work. The whole environment is geared towards doing business and supplying coffee while people network. When it comes to arranging a meeting everyone knows where the Pacific Coffee stores are.

From there it’s off to meet one of my HSBC bank managers, he suggests a juice bar near by, called Mix. This place in so many ways emulates the coffee shop, geared towards business networking, wifi, tables which make it easy to lay documents out. The place is full of bankers talking deals and money.

A ten minute walk to my next meeting, it’s in the Marriott Hotel. I have to wait a while for my contact to arrive (I hate lateness) but I make the most of it and spend some time in the foyer watching what is going on. It’s non-stop; taxis coming and going, hand shaking, cell phones, folders, people at tables with documents and plans. My contact arrives, the coffee is crap, yet again its business as usual.

My day ends on Skype, MSN and Yahoo as the rest of the world fits in to my workable time frame.

Oh how we interact with each other has changed, my online conference calls conducted in boxer shorts, then in a chain coffee shop millions of dollars of deals are being discussed while women with babies talk with their girlfriends and kids gather together doing their homework. I realize the bankers are leaving their offices for the comfort of a more social environment, the juice bar, and the suits are still schmoozing in the big name hotels, pressing the flesh, talking the talk and between you and me ….they are still wearing boxers under that suit just like me in front of my computer.

The environment we network in is changing, the market place is where we stand.

Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

The Network Hubs of Hong Kong

The Dynamically-Changing Nature of a Relationship

By Victor Cattermole

Asia Pacific Bureau Chief

This month I am writing about a long time friend of mine Glenn Aikin, and how our relationship changed and the impact that has on how I value friends and family. I am hoping that this will help all that read this column, wanting to learn more about networking, to understand in order to develop a strong network we have to work one at a time and be prepared for changes in relationships.

I have known Glenn almost 30 years, our roots go back to days gone by of rock bands, booze, girls and …. well you don’t want to know all about that.

It must have been early 1990’s Glenn was in his early 20’s and he got diagnosed with melanoma, a spot on the back of the neck, quite common for men in New Zealand. It was operated on and successfully, Glenn has the scar half way across the back of his neck to prove it.

Our relationship as friends took a fairly usual path sometimes not seeing each other for weeks on end and other times every day. It was around 2002 when Glenn through a variety of reasons came under a considerable amount of stress. As a friend I could see the signs and changes in his life and this started to impact on how our relationship developed.

I recall the day Glenn noticed a lump in his throat, didn’t think a lot of it, we talked about it and over a few days it got larger, then one night a significant pain next day it was gone. Within a week it was back even bigger than before. So off to the doctor, hospital for a biopsy and 2 days before Christmas the doctor advises the tests say melanoma of the thyroid.

Glenn and I go to work on the internet and as readers here will see you don’t find a lot of positive information about sufferers of melanoma on the thyroid. The best we could find at the time was 13 months to live.

In New Zealand over Christmas and New Year the country basically shuts down and by the 8^th January Glenn looked like he had a mobile phone shoved down his throat. A trip back to the doctor suggested if they don’t operate he maybe has one week to live, Glenn rushed in to hospital to be told the surgeon dealing with him was away until end of January and would contact him on his return and that there appears to be large black marks on the scan of his lung which they assume could also be cancer.

After getting back from the hospital Glenn managed to contact a surgeon at Sydney Melanoma Clinic who arranged an appointment for Glenn in Sydney three days later and two days after that they operated and removed his thyroid and a 188mm tumor. The photo I received of Glenn after the operation was like something out of a horror movie. Six weeks later they operated again and removed 1/3 of his lung with melanoma tumors attached. Three days after returning home from the first operation the hospital in New Zealand sent an appointment for the original surgeon, if he had waited for that he would have been dead.

The sad reality was Glenn had melanoma on two internal organs and as awesome as the staff at Sydney Melanoma Clinic were the harsh reality was statistically he had six months to live.

During this ordeal tough decisions had to be made, there was a high chance Glenn would lose his voice from the first operation and so he made a video for his kids, last words they may hear him speak. His life insurance company paid him his life insurance, which covered hospital expenses. At this point life becomes a lot clearer in the devastation of reality.

So that kind of brings me to the beginning of this article.

My good friend’s life has just drastically changed, how does that impact on our relationship and the relationship he has with others?

It’s a good question to consider when it comes to our network. Life is changing, relationships are changing, are we dynamic enough to see, receive and deal with change in order to maintain our relationships? In so many cases I have seen change in one persons life impacts on others in such a way that relationships end because we are so set in our ways when it comes to the connection we have with people, we don’t like change.

Consider applying the drastic change thought to our relationships and even consider what you would do now if you knew in six months time they could be gone completely. What value do we put on the relationship when we do this?

Six months after Glenn’s second operation he returned to Sydney for a PET scan. The doctors could not find a cancerous cell in his body. Three months after that he also returned to Sydney for a PET scan and again they could not find a cancerous cell in his body.

In February 2005 I stood on Sumner beach in Christchurch, New Zealand and watched my good friend Glenn Aikin run across the finish line after completing the one day grueling 243km Coast to Coast Multisport Championship. He got 150^th and completed the course in 16 hours, 38 minutes and 39 seconds.

I talk to my miracle friend every week I can, because the dynamic of our relationship changed and the value and importance was only fully realized when it potentially could have been stolen away. Glenn taught me the reality of the situation is one thing we accept and deal with. The opinion of others, in this case doctors giving him six months to live, does not have to be something we accept and receive as reality.

Apply some life threatening reality to relationships and get them in to perspective.

Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

The Dynamically-Changing Nature of a Relationship

Emporio Nomoney

By Victor Cattermole, Asia Pacific Bureau Chief
Victor's Bio Email article RSS feed Share on facebook

Last month I wrote about Elizabeth Liu the billion dollar real estate tycoon in Hong Kong. This month I have dashed across the boarder into China and met with a Chinese business woman who is probably at the other end of the scale.

A thirty minute train ride from Hong Kong, through customs and across the border into China. It’s a simple process unless you are American. Basically if you are traveling on a US passport it takes 2 days to get a visa.

Less than one minutes walk from the border crossing and I enter the Lo Wu shopping center which is in the city of Shenzhen. This shopping mall has over 400 shops per floor and a total of five floors. It is one of many in the area, because of its location this one is a popular spot for tourists.

I head up to the third floor and along to one of the far corners of the building. The trip is exhausting in itself with a continued barrage of “Mr do you want a copy watch” and “Mr cheap Viagra”. What an insult, how old do I look? This whole shopping center appears to mostly sell copy goods, bags, watches, clothing and electrical goods. I learned the tough lesson early on the electrical goods, basically the fakes look great but don’t work.

What's amazing about walking through this place is the relentless attempts to sell goods by these people even when they have observed you turn down ten or more vendors all pitching the same goods. Their never give up attitude is a credit to them and I personally learn a lot from their commitment to the process.

Vicky is in her usual position next to her 1.2 meter square watch stall. From this small $9,000 a month stall the whole family bases their business selling predominantly copy goods. Vicky is the eldest of five children which is unusual in China of course. All 5 children work from the stall and the mother keeps a close eye on whats happening. Vicky’s English is quite good although she never misses an opportunity to learn a few new words.

On the face of it there is nothing that sets this stall apart from the other hundreds of stalls in this centre selling similar goods. What's clear to me is there is no business plan and no banker funding any of these businesses. Looking at it from a western perspective quite seriously how could you. If someone arrived with a business plan to sell illegal goods in amongst other shops all selling the same goods no one in their right mind would provide funding. Despite that these businesses set up and survive.

I am fortunate enough to have known Vicky for about three years and so over that time I have found out a lot about how this business runs.

First of all the rent for the is RMB9,000 per month which is around US$1,250. Maybe not a lot to many of us but to a family in China it’s a fairly big commitment. The average income of a general worker in somewhere like Shenzhen is around RMB2,000 per month.

Whilst talking with Vicky she doesn’t hesitate still to offer her goods to passers by. Any interest means my discussion is dropped and within seconds she has her brothers, sisters and even mother racing around obtaining samples, books and complimentary bottles of water for any potential buyer.

Anyone clearly not local is fair game here as they will generally pay a lot more than a local. A typical sales negotiation on say a copy watch may start at US$300 and end up anywhere as low as US$20. The classic con with watches is that there are three different qualities and mechanisms, the sample is usually the best quality of course, the one the customer walks with is usually the cheapest.

I finally get to ask Vicky some tough questions on what it’s like to do business in China. She and her family work seven days a week, the day starts at 10am and finishes between 10pm and 11pm. She is 25 years old, doesn’t have a boyfriend, no time she says. Her take home pay is nothing, basically all the profit goes to her mother and father and they provide anything she needs.

So all of that is pretty interesting but not that amazing. What is amazing about Vicky is that her clients come from all over the world. She has photos with customers from just about every country you can name and she maintains regular contact with them through email. People in the know who make the trip to Shenzhen walk past vendor after vendor to shop at Vicky’s one square meter store and you have to ask yourself the question why?

It comes down to relationship with her customers, maintaining contact and being honorable in her promises.

Vicky is the only vendor in the whole mall that offers a 12 month warranty and means it. She may not be rich but she is effective, we can all learn a lesson from her.

Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

Emporio Nomoney

The 102nd China Import and Export Fair, Part 2

By Victor Cattermole, Asia Pacific Bureau Chief

Welcome to part two of the 102nd China Import and Export Fair. A recap of the past two days had me with a small group heading from Hong Kong to Guangzhou. The trip itself had been an adventure and we hadn’t even got to the trade show yet.

The show we are visiting is the 102nd China Import and Export Fair, this was formally known as the Canton Fair.

It’s the first day of the fair and the hotel has agreed to provide a bus for us to the fair and back. Initially it was booked for 8:30am as it is one hours ride and the fair opens at 10am. For some reason this time gets changed over night to 9:30am which is not so bad because we have our registration all completed in any case.

Breakfast starts at 8am and we are all sitting and chatting, 9:30 comes around and no bus. By 10am I am getting a little frustrated as the hotel is now saying the bus driver got lost and can’t find his way to the hotel. They have suggested maybe we should get a taxi, but they refuse to pay. Whats amazing is that when something goes wrong in China there is no one about with any authority to rectify matters. The young lady behind the counter has a double masters and a doctorate in poker face negotiations. She has mastered what we call the rule 46 response “can not” effectively she negotiates time and by 11:30 am the bus has finally arrived and we are on our way. Welcome to China.

We finally arrive at part of the fair and the scale has to be seen to be believed. Here are a few rough specifications.

• Firstly the fair runs for five days, then there is a break for five days where many of the exhibitors move out and new ones move in.
• The fair is housed in two separate buildings across the city from each other. Quite simply at this stage there is no venue large enough to house the show. I couldn’t find figures on the on the size of the venues but note that one of the pavilions will be increased in size by 800,000m2 for the 103rd fair.
• This is known as the Autumn fair which is usually the less popular fair. Figures provided by Mr. Xu Bing, the Deputy Secretary General and spokesman for the Canton Fair show, around 190,000 overseas buyers visited the fair, export sales from this fair alone reported at US$37.45 billion.
• On average there are around 32,000 exhibitors at the fair.

The scale is ridiculous. It would be physically impossible to walk around the whole fair over the 10 days and see everything. I only have two days here and so have planned out carefully who and what I want to see.

There is no doubt the fair has to be seen to be believed.

Construction is underway for two more pavilions in the area we are at which will enable the whole fair to be conducted in one location. The place is swarming with buyers and as we wander around you can see deals being done, order books are out and the customary card swapping is going flat out.

This whole fair is about contacts, I bought about 500 business cards with me and expect to run out, I also bought an empty suitcase just for brochures. A day in this place will exhaust you, the business, walking, noise, smell and just everything drains your energy.

Time to eat again so Sunil and I head to the food court. One thing about a show like this is they are organized and prepared for the scale of the things. Prices in the food court a little high compared with China but still cheap compared with rest of the world, we have 4 great bowls of dumplings for US$6.00. Have to say I am a little cautious about what I eat, last trip here I got as sick as a dog and had to take 6 panadol to get my temperature down so I could get back through Customs to Hong Kong.

The fair closes at 6pm and so we catch the Metro (local train service) to an area called Beijing Lu which is a popular pedestrian shopping area. We wander the shops and have a light bite to eat before heading back to the hotel. Getting back to the hotel turned out to be a bit of a mission. We needed either a van or two taxis, so two taxis came along, we jumped in but they refused to take us saying it was too far. I really had to think about that for a while, we were prepared to pay, but they simply didn’t want the business. In the end a guy with a Suzuki van that comfortably seated 6 took 8 of us back to the hotel.

Next day we are far more organized and the plan is to visit the other location of the fair. This is the area where most of the clothing, textiles and Chinese medicine are on display. The same van driver is there to take us and on time. He is really not confident driving through the main central part of Guangzhou and it really shows. To say some of the maneuvers are hair raising would be an understatement. Chinese like to drive with one hand on the horn and lanes appear to have no real purpose other than to use up excess paint that can’t be used on Mattel toys.

Obviously the driver made a bad maneuver and its not long before he is pulled over by the Police and issued with a ticket and a 20 minute warning. The driver is not so happy, we are now 30 minutes late but that’s ok. We only get 5 minutes down the road and get pulled over again, I think for the same issue. The driver can’t believe it, he tells the police officer that he has just been pulled over and its not fair, the police officer asks to see the ticket and to add insult to injury he just copies all the details on to another ticket. Now we are nearly two hours later than first planned and to top it off the driver starts driving like a granny to ensure no more mistakes.

Finally we are at the show and there are people for miles from all continents of the world. We walk through lines of local people, mostly students, offering their service as translators for anything from RMB$100 a day up. Mostly these kids want experience, it’s amazing to think that on the street though you can just hire someone who can translate for you from Mandarin to pretty much any language you can imagine.

The area we are in provides just a glimpse of China garment manufacture, shoes, textiles and medicine and yet again it would be impossible to see the whole area in the 10 days available. I am fortunate enough to only have a handful of people to see and be ready for the trip back to Hong Kong later in the day.

We decide to eat at McDonalds which is across the road from the expo centre and the queue is amazing, the prices are ridiculously high also for China, like US$4.00 for a Big Mac meal. What we observe though while eating there is a realization of how volatile China can be, a quick scuffle and commotion outside the Mc Donalds followed by Police chasing someone. A purse has been snatched from an unsuspecting visitor in broad day light. Realization that the economic boom that China is in doesn’t necessarily filter down to all of society here.

Finally time has come for us to bus back to Hong Kong, in hindsite I wouldn’t recommend this, we saved about US$5.00 compared with taking the train system but spent like 40 minutes in road works. What was pretty entertaining was the driving after that. This was a 40 seater coach and the driver I am sure thought he was in an Indy car. Once we were clear of the road works there was no stopping him, we went from one side of the 5 lane highway to the other as we wound our way through traffic like a boy racer being pursued by 50 police cars. On arrival at the border I checked with Irene on what she thought of the driving and she thought he was great as we didn’t have a single accident.

The whole trip to Canton Fair was pretty eventful. For the Chinese it’s all about a global network of potential buyers. Some companies are better than others at their client follow up processes. Since returning from the fair the email box has been regularly hit with acknowledgement of seeing me at the fair and promo info on the latest developments from several companies.

The Chinese still have a lot to learn about relationship capital though. In so many ways they are great at copying products but have no idea of the value of service.

Canton fair is a must for all of you in business.

Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

The 102nd China Import and Export Fair, Part 2

The 102nd China Import and Export Fair, Part 1

By Victor Cattermole, Asia Pacific Bureau Chief Victor's Bio Email article RSS feed

China’s economy is unquestionably booming and it is near impossible to spend a week not being the recipient of a product that has not come out of China. I decided to take a road trip from Hong Kong to Guangzhou to visit the 102nd China Import and Export Fair to see just how China does business.

The first thing about travel in to China for business is it pays to have a local contact someone who can speak the languages, I say languages because Chinese generally speak either Cantonese (in the south) or Mandarin (in the north).

Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

The 102nd China Import and Export Fair, Part 1