A Student Presses

Hi John, thank you so much for kindly answering all the questions I've put to you in the chat and by email. I've asked about it before but I'm interested in your view about how to combine the work with travel, and how much it is possible.
On Jul 15, 2008, at 6:35 AM, D wrote:

Hi John, thank you so much for kindly answering all the questions I've put to you in the chat and by email. I've asked about it before but I'm interested in your view about how to combine the work with travel, and how much it is possible. Perhaps others may be interested in your answers since the international element, or travel, appears to be one of the main reasons people get into this from what I've heard anyway.

*** Yes, it is a good topic, I'd be delighted to develop it ... travel is the #1 reason people want to be in international trade... travel is the #1 complaint of people in international trade... careful what you wish for... (one the other hand, that tells me there is a product or service needed to solve this problem...) there is an entire generation of anglophone who have been malinformed as to how business happens. They beieve the 80s finance, 90s dotcom and 00s housing booms are normal.***


My questions are about creation of product, because we're both in agreement that this is by far the biggest challenge.

***The most important thing is customer, the hardest thing is product...***

To me the rest seems pretty straight forward, so I won't really have many questions about that going forward.

***Good, just remember, talk to customers first... Everyone says "customers first" teaches that, writes about that, celebrates that, but it is all talk. Exactly how does one put customers first? What does "customer first" actually look like? Well, first, you make sure the first thing you do, once you have a problem to solve, is go talk to the people you would expect to be customers. All other business advice is "Customer is king, to serve your customer, get a business plan, finance, market research, biz card, logo, stationery, offices, business licenses, and pick a hot product or service, study your competitors. Of course all of this is important AFTER you have customers, and a waste of time BEFORE you have customers, because it is customers who tell you how much and what kind of everything you need. Everyone talks customers first.but no one does anything about it.***


- You mentioned that being an importer and an exporter is difficult due to the workload. So it would not be feasible to set up an office in my country and another or simply spend an equal amount of time between the two? I'd like to spend time in Spain and Japan. Couldn't I find the best company in the world making a particular product in one of those countries, offer to export it for them, and then do the importing in the UK (my base)?

***Of course, anything and everything in life is possible. But it is not me or you who would decide if this is feasible, it is your customers. I bet there are 1000 people either japanese or spanish at the small biz level doing exactly what you propose. Not because they imagined it, but because their customers require it, and the entrepreneurs passion is the product, and desire to please the customers. In big biz there are both top people doing this as in oversight, and low level people doing this as gophers. In my 20's I was 2 months a year overseas buying and 2 months a year around usa selling. I was a buyer, which is a gopher. Now I guess I am a self-employed gopher.***


- Is being an export agent, a middleman that doesn't take ownership, more conducive to this kind of lifestyle - travelling around, spending large amounts of time in different countries? I know from what you said in the book that it would take a lot of time to get into that position in a particular industry.

***Yes, do you see you are trying to organize around a lifestyle? The harsh reality is about the only people who do the work you describe are soldiers. ***

- I recently spent 8 months in Italy and got to know the language and consumer preferences somewhat. Could I go to another country, say Japan, immerse myself in the culture and do research into current products and consumer preferences, then create products for the Japanese market?

***The #1 restaurant in Shanghai is run by a 30 year old brazilian woman who speaks no chinese. Three languages are spoken in the kitchen, nobody knows all three. anything is possible. ASk your customers this question. Ask Japanese customer "Could I go to ... Japan, immerse myself in the culture and do research into current products and consumer preferences, then create products for the Japanese market?" You can anticipate their questions and their objections, I am sure.***

Or is it so that I only have sufficient knowledge of the UK market (i.e. most products in the UK are designed in the UK)? If I simply came up with the idea whilst living in Japan for a few months and contracted designers in Japan, would that be sufficient? Or does it still require inside out knowledge of Japanese culture (which would take years of immersion) and consumers to design products for Japan?

***Passion trumps knowledge. Knowledge can be hired, that why we contract designers to get our passion on paper. I have no particular criticism of your ideas, it is the orientation that I think confounds you. I understand you have a particular lifestyle and arrangement you would like, and the work to support it. the work is secondary. I think you will have difficulty as long you as you follow this method. I think you should forget about what the future might look like, and get to solving problem for which you have passion.

You have gifts that for whatever reason you are subsuming to an ideal of some sort. If you were to develop these ignored talents, exercise those passions, you would produce something that made you happy, and the ideal lifestyle would follow. It may not be what you say you now seek, it may be better. Or perhaps it will be the same thing, but you will be happy doing it, since you are doing it right.

It seems to me your orientation is about you and your situation. I think that will deny you access to thriving in biz, because in the measure you are not customer oriented, you will not develop what they will buy. In effect, you will deny the rest of us the good of your contributions.***

- You mention that there are successful importers in all countries, Sweden for example, however importing to Sweden and Rome is a different matter. On the other hand it's the same to sell to Seattle as it is to Miami. Would I really face massive difficulties expanding sales from the UK to other european countries?

***The point in that spiel is USA is one large relatively easy market, so much so the euros are trying to copy us. How easy or hard does not matter if customers make the work worth your while.***

Or could this be overcome with simple tweaking, or contracting designers in each of these countries? If I could only design for the UK this would make it more difficult to get sufficient orders in a workable amount of time profitably, because in the US you're dealing with more retaliers = more chance of getting the minimum order. If I was able to contract sales reps in the whole of europe I'd have a situation similar to yours in the States.

***Yes, there are plenty of world-class designs that will sell in all countries... you could design those too, but the salient point is not cultural differences, but customer satisfaction. Whatever scenario you conceive, it will be up to your customers to support it or not.***


To put it in a nutshell, the lifestyle element which you also say is so important, I'd like to be travelling, spending 50% or more time outside the UK, or moving abroad. Is there any way in this business you see that I could achieve this. Basically I'd like to be able to decide where I go and make a good living while doing it.

***On the lifestyle, which is the motivation, I believe it is the work that is the lifestyle, grounded in passion. Where you are and what you have will flow from the work. The point is you will be happy doing good while doing well. Location may be important, but it would be subsequent, not primary. I know a pilot who loves river rafting. He decided when he retired he would open a river rafting company. Then he decided to quit and open a river rafting company. Finally he is happy.

Since you will not say where your passions lie, it is hard to suggest anything except in principle. But if I listen to "travel... various countries.... extended stays..." I think "tour guide." Possible. Check out www.ricksteves.com. The fellow is a millionaire off of this. he starting hitchhiking around europe. there is no sia or africa or middle east version of this ...

John.

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