Striking out on my own. I want your opinion!

[Caesar]

Hi everyone. This is my first post on these here forums and I look forward to hearing from you. So here's the deal...

I'm going to be graduating from college this coming May and want to try to avoid falling into the trap of traditional employment. My major is Chinese and I've spent 2 years living abroad in China, so I now speak pretty fluent Mandarin. My vision is to use my language skills in various ways to earn a decent income. I would love your guys' advice / opinions / constructive criticism regarding the following potential endeavors. If anyone has done similar stuff and has experience to share, I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks in advance for your input!


So, basically what I want to do is contract myself out to businesses who operate in China or have interest in sourcing products from China. I'm still trying to work out exactly in what capacities I'd be able to assist businesses (again, advice / feedback is appreciated) but some of the ways would be:

1) Interpreting / being present in business meetings and other situations where an English speaking party would want their own trustworthy set of Mandarin-comprehending ears.

2) Assisting with basic hospitality concerns. In other words, everything from booking hotels, hiring drivers, and acting as a tour guide to making sure my client is not getting ripped off when shopping or ordering something excessively strange when sitting down to dine.

3) Assisting in sourcing. I could scope out factories in China to make sure the product fits the needs of American companies, help negotiate prices, compare products / prices between companies, and just overall be an import/export company's man-on-the-ground in China. It could also work the other way where I would assist in looking into and developing markets / distribution channels in China for American products. Thoughts on this?

4) Assisting in the relocation of expats. I could show relocating expats the ropes regarding how to successfully and comfortably live in China.

5) Cultural awareness consulting. I could instruct traveling businesspersons / relocating expats in the basics of Chinese culture and custom thereby increasing their effectiveness and ease in operating in a Chinese business environment. This could include some basic language instruction.

6) Interviewing / scoping out Chinese employees for US human resources companies.


Okay, so these are a few of the things I've been bouncing around in my head. What do you think? Are any of these ideas unrealistic? Are any much more feasible / potentially profitable than the others? Will businesses hire a 26 yr. old fresh out of college with limited (albeit, some) work experience for these kinds of things?

My ideal would be to live in the US and plan 1-3 month long trips to China where I could be working for several clients simultaneously or in quick succession. Is doing this kind of thing even possible?

If anyone has thoughts on how to get started, what steps I should take to do this successfully, or what pitfalls to avoid in doing something like this, I'll be infinitely grateful.

I'm really glad to have this forum as a place to write these thoughts down, and I look forward to hearing from you!

[SimonaRich]

These are all great ideas but just think where they will lead you in 5 years time. You will end up having no time appart from work.

Selling your time is not smart. You will not be able to significantly increase your income later on because you have limited time.

I would rather set up a system that would generate money without me. Or invest more time now so that later on you would have to invest less and less time and the income would just keep growing.

For example I would rather make a great informational product and sell it for years than to go somewhere to teach one individual for a fee.

But it is up to you, of course. Maybe you like spending your time every day interpreting or interviewing. Then it's ok, I suppose.

[Caesar]

Thanks for the reply, SimonaRich, that is an excellent point. I was hoping with the import/export sourcing I would be able to make ongoing commission as a % of sales of a product. But all the other options are, indeed, time ---> $ equations.

[profess]

Originally Posted by SimonaRich

These are all great ideas but just think where they will lead you in 5 years time. You will end up having no time appart from work.

Selling your time is not smart. You will not be able to significantly increase your income later on because you have limited time.

I would rather set up a system that would generate money without me. Or invest more time now so that later on you would have to invest less and less time and the income would just keep growing.

For example I would rather make a great informational product and sell it for years than to go somewhere to teach one individual for a fee.

But it is up to you, of course. Maybe you like spending your time every day interpreting or interviewing. Then it's ok, I suppose.

That's a very good point. Trading time for money is a very inefficient way to earn a living. Robert Kiyosaki says it best when he says that in order to be wealthy you need to set up assets that pay you money whether you work or not. Risidual income is probably one of the best things because you can do something once and get paid on it for a lifetime. Great post.

[Caesar]

I appreciate all the feedback. Thanks, guys! Anyone else have any insights / comments regarding my list of ideas here?

[Raymond Edeh]

You can join the internet marketing industry. Many Chinese people are looking for information products written in Mandarin.

All you have to do is to contact information product owners if you cannot create one and translate the product to Mandarin.

There's a lot of money to be made on the internet if you know what to do and do it well.


Best wishes,
Raymond Edeh

[Caesar]

That's a great idea, Raymond, thanks.