We launched NSjobz.com last week and were pleasantly surprised by the user response. Despite the fact that we are in a relatively stagnant economy, we found that more employers than potential new hires clicked over to have a look at the new site. This is very encouraging for two reasons, the first and most obvious is because we get paid for “premium” job posts (the first post is free), but more importantly for everyone else, is that there are quality jobs to be had.

At NextStep we like to partner with companies providing outstanding services. We have been talking about building a job website from scratch since the beginning back in 2007, but in this case partnering with CareerEngine made more business sense. A pool of 50,000+ resumes, and a network of sites taking postings across multiple geographic areas in China; it is the perfect fit for delivering a quality service to the NextStep community.

If you haven’t been, go check it out. If you are looking for a job, go check it out. If you are looking to hire, go post a job, and give us your feedback here or at info@nsjobz.com

And if you are wondering why we chose a “z” instead of an “s”, very simple NSjobs wasn’t available, and we wanted to stay under 6 characters, since all of our other websites are incredibly long at 16 characters. We weren’t trying to be trendy and cool, it was just the least expensive option at GoDaddy.

So NextStep co-founder, Edward Kim, is up to something new these days in New York City. Simple.PR is his newest creation and he is focusing on the power of the local web. All too often small companies; restaurants, service providers, theatres, etc are left with few if any ways of publicizing their “news”.

Typical news wires are just too big for these small fish, and a classifieds ad can get lost in the mix. Ed’s simple concept is to provide a service where “local” companies can distribute their news to “local” media. The companies need the exposure, and the media need access to stories — intersecting at Simple.PR.

Ed and his team, including the Scott Ballantyne here in Shanghai, have built the first application for the concept that connect Twitter accounts to the Simple.PR platform by incorporating a basic #pr or #simplepr to pool together all the chatter about companies and their news.

From there they will build a host of applications and services. Check out the site and show your support. The project is currently focused on the US, but there is no stopping you from using it for Shanghai and beyond.

So Ed Kim sent me a tweetpic just now of an American Airline advertisement from a New York City billboard located in lower Manhattan.

I will keep this post short and simple. The text that is difficult to read says “The most first and business class seats to LA.”

First, business class and first class is meant to be exclusive. This ad completely kills the exclusivity element of flying in plush leather seats with flight attendants waiting on your every beckoning call as you make the 5 hour flight from NYC to LAX. Second, I just flew from SFO to LAX on AA last week, and enjoyed the in-flight Wifi for $5.95. I have a new ad idea for you AA. It goes something like this “$6 - Coast-to-Coast Wifi”.

People want connectivity 24/7. AA please let them know you have it. Every airline has the “most” first class seats, not everybody has Wifi today, so use it to differentiate yourself. If an AA rep reads this, please also see to it that you put outlets at every seat so when my Macbook runs out of juice, I can plug it in and continue to get my $5.95 worth of wifi.

Please also note that NextStep has attempted on more than one occasion to get AA as an advertiser for an annual contract at a price point much lower than what it would cost to design the poor ad above and keep it posted in the outdoor advertising space in lower Manhattan for one week. It is tough to change the mind-set of dinosaurs.

So as the war rages on in the United States to fix the most broken health care system in the developed world, two American educated entrepreneurs steam ahead building the Expedia of health care portals for China, Meiloo.com. With 280,000 unique visitors just last month, Meiloo is marching to a new tune for getting the most out of the health care system.

Currently focused on elective treatments, Meiloo.com has solid revenue models through percentages of all surgeries and consultations booked through their platform. Obviously there are some potential holes here, but a good start in a $9billion a year business in China.

So the question we have to ask ourselves, will the answer to our health care issues in China, the US and across the world be answered by the best and brightest entrepreneurs who seek profit by caring for the tired, the sick, and the huddled masses? Or should we not leave it in the hands of small and big business, as we have seen the shortcomings in the US over the past thirty-five years?

Please leave your thoughts and ideas here.

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” -T.S. Eliot

The average entrepreneur will fail several times before succeeding or simply giving up and moving back into the corporate world. Contrary to popular belief, modern day starlets like Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook), did not strike it rich on their first attempt. In fact Facebook was Zuckerberg’s sixth attempt at creating a business on the web. Zuckerberg had the gut, and the time (he was still in university) to explore his ideas and business models. Unfortunately, most “entrepreneurs” do not have the gut, time, and money to wait and wait and wait until they hit it big. But, here is the thing, the luxury of time, experience, and knowledge of running a business is essential to success. There is no “Cliff’s Notes” (abbreviated readings of a novel) that can give you the tools you need from day one.

As one of the co-founders of NextStep I get an interesting perspective on the entrepreneurial drive of expatriates and a growing number of Chinese in Shanghai. There is something about China, and Shanghai in particular that drives many individuals into seeking out what it means, and more importantly what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.

You can learn how to open a business, manage a business, and even keep great books for a business, but the most basic skills that come along with being an entrepreneur are instinctual. There are one million great ideas conjured up every second, but 999,999 will most likely never make it to market, or will simply fail. The entrepreneur in the most pure sense has a gut instinct for what will and won’t work. Entrepreneurs are the drivers of change. Entrepreneurs cannot predict the future, but they help shape it. But, because we as entrepreneurs, and more broadly as human beings, cannot see into future, and if we are cognizant of the fact that the past is not a predictor of the future, than why do some entrepreneurs win, and some lose? Could it be luck?

Sometimes people do get lucky, and entrepreneurs get lucky too. Before counting on luck, a sound business must be created — the right team, business model, and market analysis needs to be made. Yet, even when the most diligent of efforts are made to capture a market, create a team, and build a go-to-market strategy are planned companies have, still do, and will continue to fail. This is where luck may be coming into play.

When I speak of luck, I am using it in a specific context, “a combination of circumstances and events operating by chance to bring good or ill to a person”. This is where we as human beings, unable to predict the future, are left unable to control what happens around us as business owners. Circumstances that are out of our control have a huge effect on what will happen to us and our businesses. It is absolutely necessary to be aware of what we don’t know, and what may or may not happen in the future. This may come across as being vague, but it is meant to be, because there is no clear cut answer.

What divides a successful entrepreneur from a failed one is his/her ability to make the right decision at the right time. Making the right decision comes from both careful analysis, and equally important, a “gut” call to implement a plan or strategy. The right timing also comes down to careful planning, but also relies heavily on chance. The question you must ask yourself is, do you have what it takes? Do you honestly believe you have the instincts and the skills to be a successful entrepreneur? If you do, welcome to the game. If you don’t, then it may be best to walk away while you are still ahead. Recall what I said at the beginning, it is only those who risk going beyond what others are willing to do that they gain the potential to see what may await them.

There will be no conclusions made here, this was simply designed to encourage discussion, please comment.

Across my Tweetdeck came a message, “rumors Apple puts offer up for Twitter”. Now if I were @biz stone and the gang over in Twitter-world I would be putting my company on the auction block. The hype behind twitter today is nothing less than amazing — CNN, NYTimes, celebrities–all hyping Twitter as  the best thing since sliced bread.

It is great, it is informative, and it has a lot of room for growth opportunities. But remember this folks, pigs get slaughtered!

If the money is on the table and it is a fair value for the company — take it. I love taking risk, but this is like looking a gift horse in the mouth. My three reasons to sell today-

1. The hype will fade before a monetization model is produced. Have a look at Yammer.com. They have already figured out how to monetize the Twitter interface, and they have beat Twitter to the game.

2. It’s like Allstate Insurance, “Your in good hands with” Apple & Google

 3. I must repeat…Pigs Get Slaughtered!

The best business directory in China, or at least we think so can be found at www.NextStepDirectory.com

Here you can find answers to your many business service questions. Looking for an accountant, a logistics manager, or a graphic designer? Find all this plus more. In the coming weeks we will be launching some new features that will enable our users (for FREE) to get quotes from multiple service providers with one push of the button.

Tell me what you think about our new tagline…”NextStep Changing the way you interact with a directory.”

 You ask, how can you possibly interact with a directory? Well I will let you find out about by exploring the comments, rating, and announcement section of the directory. Let your voice be heard and find out how you can take advantage of our ever-growing directory.

 If you have any comments or suggestions on the directory please let me know

joseph DOT constanty AT nextstepdirectory DOT com

This is really really embarrassing.  Today at the NextStep offices we had six US university interns brainstorming over different feature sets for the NextStep Directory.  One of the key value added attributes of the NSD are the company profiles and surveys.  NONE OF THE INTERNS KNEW THE COMPANY SURVEYS EXISTED!  There reasoning is that after clicking on a category, the information displayed looked like most other directories so they didn’t realize they could click on each company to find out all the additional information.  I was left speechless when Joe told me and asked the interns myself to make sure.  This is a clear case of the ‘Curse of Knowledge’ and why its so important to get outside opinions.  Hopefully, someone will read this and avoid making the same mistake.

A confusing turn of events over the past week that now has the Hong Kong American Chamber of Commerce spearheading the movement to get the US a pavillion at the 2010 World Expo. Am I the only one wondering why the HK Amcham is taking the lead on this matter? I know the Shanghai Amhcam has been working on this in coordination with the Beijing chamber for the past year, but to no avail. This really is a matter of American corporations coming together for the mutual good of our future face as business managers and owners in the China landscape. It will be an embarasment if we do not have a pavillion. This is now the second time I am petitioning for all American business owners to write your Senators and Reps, get them to make an initiative from the states. I don’t need to pull out a calculator to tell you that the money needed for the pavilion project is peanuts compared to the financial meltdown war chest that has been opened over the past 5-1/2 months. If you are reading this and you are American and you are a business owner, and you have not yet written your officials in Washington, then open your mailbox and get writing today! See a previous post for a quick copy and paste email text body.

Something for all business owners to think about is how they position themselves in the marketplace. I am not talking strictly from a branding and marketing point of view, but I am talking about your physical location. A great for instance is an old project of mine,Lucky Greens Mini Golf (yes back in the day I thought I could become the mini golf king of the Middle Kingdom).

Here was the problem, we knew that our first wave of customers, our low hanging fruit would be expat families, but we also knew that our second wave of customers would come from the growing middle class families of Shanghai. If you are keen to the Shanghai geography and demographic layout, you will quickly identify the dilemma we faced. Where to place the mini golf facility?

Well, we opted for the monstrous Cloud Nine Mall adjacent to Zhong Shan Park. This was to become the “new center” of Shanghai. For long term growth it was brilliant. It was at the intersection of three major metro lines, over twenty bus lines, and dozens of apartment complexes within a ten minute walk. But, it wasn’t convenient for our low hanging fruits. The expats were living far off in the hinterlands of MinHang or JinQiao in Pudong. We heard it from day one from these customers, “if you had just put it out by our home in JiQiao we would come every weekend”, “why did you put it here?”

So we were stuck between a rock and hard place. We had already put all of  our investment into this location with the intention of opening the second location in one of these expat compounds. Where we went wrong was creating a “destination-location” that could not easily be accessed by our first wave of customers, the expat-base. We closed up shop on Valentines Day 2007.

I see the same mistakes being made over and over again. Let’s have a look at Dunkin’ Donuts recent entry into Shanghai. Dowtown locations, perfect for the business crowd. But the locations they have chosen are just out of that 5-10min walking radius most office workers are willing to forgoe during lunch-breaks or smoke breaks. There business is most definitely not flourishing like they had presumed. Some of you may remeber “Frankies Italian Restuarant” on Fenyang Lu. One block off of Nanjing or Beijing Lu, but a million miles away from walk-by traffic.

Then there are places like “Pier 39″, just below my office on JinXian Lu (probably never heard of this small street), but the business is booming in this mini-cafe, becuase it sits on a street with a mix of dining and shopping experiences. It is a “known” destination, and gets considerable walk-by traffic. After two or so months of operation, you cannot reserve a table on Friday and Saturday nights.

Moral to this story is NOT location, location, location. But, IS first learn what type of location your business needs to be in, and then seek out the real estate to assist your business in becoming that location.