| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Should we diversify our business/careers? Thread poster: Preston Decker
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Preston Decker 
United States
Local time: 23:25
Chinese to English
TOPIC STARTER
Dan Lucas wrote:
Preston Decker wrote:
Agree with the idea of a bigger footprint, with the obvious catch being that I'd still be heavily invested in China in all of these scenarios. In fact, nearly all of my business ideas (some in translation, some not) involve China, which is not a bad thing as long as all of you are proven right in your optimism.:-)
I think China is in for a long period of economic stagnation, at least in comparison to what came before. The parallels with Japan's boom at the end of the 1980s, subsequent bust and lingering financial problems caused by problem loans are obvious, whatever the claims for exceptionalism made by old China hands.
Having said that, you can make money in a declining market and you can forge a career in an economy that's going nowhere. I did in Japan in the 1990s and 2000s and you can no doubt do it in China. So I wouldn't worry too much. The opportunity cost of developing expertise in another non-related area would probably be so high that it would offset any gains you could hope to make.
Dan
Dan--Agree completely. Of course, in both of our cases (China and Japan) it really helps that the "economy that's going nowhere" had already become a world leader before stagnation set in. As I wrote above, predictions of China's economic doom have been made for 15 years now, and I don't see it happening unless something happens on the political/diplomatic front (such as sanctions). What I foresee is exactly what you wrote--20 to 30 years or more of China "muddling" along with the world's second biggest economy (I suppose you're going to have to be content with being "stranded" with the world's 3-5th biggest economy:-) ). Not a bad situation to be invested in!
Lukasz- Appreciate the thoughts (especially the last sentence, which I thought was fantastic advice), and there's certainly much we can do to improve business-wise (including continuing to move upmarket as you wrote), but as stated in my OP, my main worry is not about a lack of current or future business, but rather whether the China market is a safe one to be invested in long-term for political reasons.
[Edited at 2016-05-28 09:46 GMT]
[Edited at 2016-05-28 09:53 GMT]
[Edited at 2016-05-28 10:20 GMT]
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Preston Decker wrote:
Lukasz- Appreciate the thoughts (especially the last sentence, which I thought was fantastic advice), and there's certainly much we can do to improve business-wise (including continuing to move upmarket as you wrote), but as stated in my OP, my main worry is not about a lack of current or future business, but rather whether the China market is a safe one to be invested in long-term for political reasons.
All we know is there can be WW3 next year, and there could be 50 years of peace. I don't think we're going to get anything close to a definite answer.
So perhaps I would do it this way: limit significant monetary investments, especially anything you'd need a loan for, unless it's a short-term high-yield investment, in which case the opposite is true and you should (IMHO, at least) not avoid it but aggressively pursue it. But don't be stingy with your time, effort, focus, and sheer endurance. And refocus from the long term to the short term with some loose reference to the mid term.
Once bad things start to happen, although it will understandably be a sad thing and a sad experience, your services will be more sought after, not less.
Whatever you learn in terms of marketing, management, analysis, strategy etc. will be transferable, so don't worry too much. Just don't commit huge money in the long term, again, and especially don't take loans.
By exception I would strongly suggest that you get a professionally made website incorporating some of the best modern design experience with freelancers and luxury brands. Lots of white space, Ogilvy formula, Show, don't tell and proper calls to action & user paths.
This will sound cynical, but the big chance is you'll be classified and paid according to what you look like, and a website is already much less expensive than normal enterprise branding. So get glossy. (The gloss will serve you better than a convential serious business look after the manner of finance news sites and blogs etc., because you need to play the personality card, and with rates being so poor in translation in general, you just have no choice but to move quite high upmarket to even make a decent income and get some breathing space.)
While at it, perhaps get some designer stationery for whatever you need to actually SSD (sign, seal, deliver), high-class business cards and the like (I would suggest having your wife's b-card on the one side and your own on the other side of the same physical card, if only because it's going to get people to remember you and the difference between you and translation agencies, plus family values inspires confidence and trust).
The goal is not only to get more business in but also to get better rates for whatever does come. Better rates means more time for each individual project, with less weariness and more job satisfaction, which will project on the quality and that will project on your image and generate advantageous word of mouth. This also is why you need the gloss, in case I haven't convinced you yet.
In terms of your hunting grounds, I would also use Twitter etc. to follow execs from companies that trade with China and go to events to just be there and eventually get noticed (better still if you can write something to be published with your name and face on it in the relevant press or conference/expo materials). But this is not something I'm competent in; if you're interested in it, you'll need to follow Chris Durban, who is the no. 1 speaker and writer on that sort of thing. People who follow her advice tend to end up quite successful, as opposed to the mainstream/broad market. In cany case, the ultimate point of that is actually making the effort, which, among other things, means nobody, not even Chris Durban, is going to tell you exactly how. (Which is also why I don't have much success with it in practice; my personality isn't a good fit for it, though I'd probably force myself to if I had kids.)
| | | | Preston Decker
United States
Local time: 23:25
Chinese to English
TOPIC STARTER
Łukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz wrote:
Preston Decker wrote:
Lukasz- Appreciate the thoughts (especially the last sentence, which I thought was fantastic advice), and there's certainly much we can do to improve business-wise (including continuing to move upmarket as you wrote), but as stated in my OP, my main worry is not about a lack of current or future business, but rather whether the China market is a safe one to be invested in long-term for political reasons.
By exception I would strongly suggest that you get a professionally made website incorporating some of the best modern design experience with freelancers and luxury brands. Lots of white space, Ogilvy formula, Show, don't tell and proper calls to action & user paths.
Thanks for the input once more Lukasz. You're right on about the need for a new website. Started design on it a few weeks ago in WIX, and we'll see--I think we can get it to where it needs to be ourselves, but if not, then obviously the next step would be to hire someone.
[Edited at 2016-05-29 10:16 GMT]
[Edited at 2016-05-29 10:16 GMT]
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