Well after more than 3 years of running NextStep we were approached by an American owned technology company in Shenzhen. We had been talking to Song & Wind Technologies for over a year, and it was just in the last few weeks that we came to a conclusion to seal the deal. As a part of the deal I will be advising on the launch of several of their web projects, including; Wufantuan.com (a group buying website that gets awesome lunch deals across Shanghai and Shenzhen) which we will launch next week on August 16th. We would love for you to sign up and support the new project, and at the same time get some great deals at lunch across the city!

We’re very excited about the deal and the future of NextStep. Don’t worry the NextStep Tuesday events will go on as usual, but we are looking for some new admins to help run it. So if you are interested please send an email over to info<at>nextstepdirectory.com.

So the next step for the directory will be its integration into Song & Wind’s Howtochina.com and Sourcejuice.com which is currently receiving tremendous traffic looking into China from across the world. An exact date for launch of HowtoChina has not been made, but its expected to be up and running some time later this fall. Sourcejuice.com is already up and running.

Thank you for your support over the past three years, and rest assured we will remain close to the NextStep project.

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.

“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.

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.

I have been emailing my Senator’s office, Arlen Specter, since I first learned of the near certainty of the US absence at the upcoming 2010 World Expo. His office has told me the 111th Congress would have a look at it. Well I have decided to go straight to the top. Let’s see how open and transparent this new administration is, do they practice what they preach? You can see below the message I sent to Barack Obama on day one of his administration. Let’s see if he responds. Keeping my fingers crossed…

As an American entrepreneur in China for four years, my livelihood is very much tied to the dynamic, and often shaky, Sino-US relationship. Something that will leave a black eye to kick off the Obama Administration with the Chinese will be our lack of participation in the Shanghai 2010 World Expo. This expo will be the highest attended world expo in history, with more than seventy million Chinese and expatriates expected to attend. The Federal Government, by an act of Congress in 1991, cannot fund US participation in World Expos. If there is ever a place to kill two birds with one stone, then here it is looking the administration straight in the face. You can help the endeavoring entrepreneurs and business managers in China while simultaneously shifting away from the Bush Administration policy of cold bully tactics with the Chinese. This is your chance to step forward with the Chinese and make the first gesture of goodwill and cooperation. It won’t hurt your standing with the regional party head Xi Jinping, who is most likely to become the next President of China.

There are literally on days left for an executive order. I have already contacted Senator Arlen Specter’s office on this matter, who have given me a positive response with their desire to work on this, but nothing has moved forward. “On this day” “we can” bring change to an extremely pivotal diplomatic relationship. Create the legislation, free up $10-15mil USD, and let’s change US-SIno relations today, not tomorrow.

There is an urgent cry from US business owners and architects in China to get Congrees and the new administration on board, and on board quickly. There have yet to be only limited plans drawn up for the US pavilion, and they must be done so immediately, but unforutnately the funding will have to come from an act of Congress. Click this link to find out more. Ground must be broken by mid-February. Action is needed now, because the Bush Administration and the 110th Congress dropped the ball on this small yet critical issue.

So I am not announcing any new news here, but something dawned on me today. Social Networking Sites are starting to become their own Treasury Departments of sorts. Let’s look at the recent failed deal between Facebook and Twitter, two SNS giants. Facebook attempted to buy Twitter for $500 million in Fb stock at the valuation given to Fb by Microsoft’s earlier $400mil+ investment. Twitter walked away fromt the deal believing that Fb was overvalued by Microsoft.

This has to be one of the craziest times in modern history for mergers & acquisitions simply based upon the transition of one unprofitable company’s stock to another as currency for assets. Fb is becoming the treasury and the bank all in one. It is pure genius. Here they are able to print Facebook bucks to buy Twitter “so-called” assets on the hope that one day one of these services will make some serious cash. To me this looks like the blind leading the blind. I am not a researcher myself, so I have no idea as to the precedent for similar deals between companies that have no revenue streams or maintain revenue streams that are weak at best, but this one surely must take the star of the show.

I found an interesting PR tool for all you PR gurus and start-up founders in need of new ways of spreading the word about your product or service. Check out PitchEngine. It was created by a PR executive with the idea to assist web 2.0 PR social media releases. If you don’t have a clue as to what I am talking about, well then your may want to start reading here. SMRs are becoming the buzz words in PR these days. To be honest I do not fully grasp what is going on with SMRs, but in a nut shell your press releases and press page need to be more dynamic. This may include RSS feeds, video, audio, applications, and a whole laundry list of other convenient media tools. You can have a look at the NextStepDirectory.com Press page to get a look at the basics, we still have a long way to go with that page. We are still learning ourselves. Another good Press Page to look at is Uptake.com, it can give you an idea of where we are going with our own press page. Take notes. Elliott Ng and the gang know what they are doing,they have been at it for quite some time. So if you haven’t updated your Press Page, or never really thought twice about the page or your current press releases, you may want to think again.

It has been more than a month since our Green Business Forum, and I have finally found the answer to a pressing question that was repeated several times that July 12th afternoon, “Can I personally purchase carbon offset credits on the open market, a-la Ebay or a similar auction site?” Surprisingly no on had heard of any projects offering such services, and to be fair I have been looking for this type of information for quite a long time without any luck. I happened to come across an interesting site today, PopTech!, that has a clear mission, “A network of remarkable people, extraordinary conferences, powerful ideas and innovative projects that are changing the world.” Being the serial entrepreneur that I am, I was immediately intrigued to dig deeper. In doing so I came across PopTech!’s carbon offset program. They got it right, they made it simple to understand, an easy to use platform integrated with Ebay, and a moderately successful PR campaign (frankly I never heard about it) to push the message. Although the auction period has long since expired, you can easily get the point of what they are trying to achieve–allow the masses to particpiate easily in creating a social change in the appreciation for the environment and a call to action at the individual level to effect change.

But, here is the thing that still has not yet been answered, and please someone comment on this blog. Does carbon offsetting really work, or are we just passing the buck to the guy who can do it cheaper that allows us to feel better about the CO2 we are individually pumping into the air? Does it not make more sense to simply reduce our dependency on the activities that necesiate fossil fuels that in turn pollute? That sounds a heck of a lot easier than any solution out on the table today. Combine that with actively taking the steps to offset whatever carbon emmissions you do emit, and you have a truely well armed environmental change agent.

Recently,one of the co-founders of NextStep, Gregory, opened my eyes  to DocStoc.com, and I have been more than pleasantly surprised by the offerings on the site. If you need legal, financial, or just about any kind of business document, they have it. If you want to be a contributing member to the community, you can register and upload your own documents that the free-sharing world may find to be useful. It must be said that these documents are definitely not your last line of defense, but at least it is a good jumping off point, especially for a cash strapped entrepreneur.

Check it out, DocStoc.com