Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I've got a PSP Go- Black from my baby. Still a game freak I know.... I download two games based on my research on ign.com: Hammering Hero and God of War. Unfortunately, PSN doesn't have Crsis Core Final Fantasy downloadable.

So some updates on what I have been doing lately for the business.. I've been creating and organizing Purchase Orders, redesigning a logo from another line of ours, and researching about our lawsuit (there is a client owes us lots of money). And I will be going to Taiwan (for fun), Hong Kong (for Hong Kong Toys & Games Fair) , Dongguan (for visiting one of the 2 factories we have), Xiamen (another factory) for 3 week next January.

The best tool for tracking bills for company - Quickbooks

This week I started to play with Quickbooks 2009 by Intuit. This software is pretty amazing.. It allows you to create and track purchase orders, invoices, payroll checks, account payable, account receivable, and etc. It also saves item descriptions, its costs, and its sale prices, to let you know how much you make and how much clients owe you. I worked on 2 purchase orders and thought this software is interesting. However, I never expect I would be doing administration work like this. It is really easy compared with 3D artwork in technical aspect.

Dema Orlando. Seeing is believing!

Spent 1.5 days in Orlando. Exhausted, but I did learn lots of "how to talk to clients" techniques and "what our company does" from Dad.

At the boarding gate, Dad told me about all the companies he does business with, and what products we sell to them (snorkels, fins, dive masks, BCD's, dive knives, snorkel vests, dry bags, and boogie boards). Also, who are the big fishes and who are the small fishes? Big fishes are the companies that have many regions, small fishes are companies that have only one location. Our biggest fish is company S, who has locations in USA, France, Germany, Pacific Asia, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Italy. Once we get a deal in USA region office, and the rest of the region offices will have to buy products from us. We've also talked about payment terms for each company, some companies pay us before shipment, but some companies pay 150 days after the shipment.

I had two lunch meetings with 2 different clients. In these lunch meetings, it's mainly about the request of design changes or materials of the products, or issues they have when testing the products. They didn't talk about the money part at all, I guess that was already done in the email before. I didn't really participate to the meetings, but they actually chatted with me a little bit. Asking me about why am I here with my dad, have I been to the place where they live (Cancun, New York City). And I share a little bit of my travel experiences at those cities (Well I never been to Cancun, but I've been to New York City.) With different clients, Dad has different ways of talking to them. Dad told the Cancun guys almost everything he doe, such as all other companies he does business with. I asked him why and he told me it's because he has been friends with them for many years already. But to the New York City guys, Dad doesn't say much. When this client was introducing all nice restaurants in Orlando, and one of the restaurants he recommended was actually the Japanese restaurant we went last night, Dad didn't even say anything. I asked him why again afterwards. He said we should always let clients talk like he knows much more than we do. And we shouldn't expose too much of the information about ourselves, but to get more information from them. Clever. isn't it?

About the Dema show itself, nothing actually excites me besides getting freebies like I used to do at E3 Expo (annual trade show for the computer and video games industry). I had a walk with my dad's client Jessie, she showed me all the products my dad made at different companies. She also demonstrated me how to use a BCD. Looking at all the company names, I got an idea that what are the well known brands in this snorkeling/diving goods industry.

An interesting thing happened at the show.... At the first day, I bumped a cigarette from this Korean guy at smoking area. He asked me what we do and why am I here. I told him we manufactured snorkeling and diving goods. He asked me if I know the company A. I said yes, company A is the number one company of the industry. At the second day, he came to me and my dad, asked for catalogue or business cards. And then I found out he's the CEO from company A at Korea branch. However, Dad told me we wouldn't be doing business with them since we're already doing business with their biggest competitor. And that's the basic loyalty and reputation in this industry. That was pretty interesting, bumping cigarettes from people might get you potential clients.

The Orlando trip was worthy, getting connected, seeing is believing. No wonder people say if you want to start a business, you should go to its trade show first!

Before depature

Taking a red-eye flight to Orlando tonight. Mom was nagging me about the luggage bag I bring, the pants I wear, and hairstyle I have. She kept telling me "Now you're a business woman, you should dress like one and bring luggage like one." In fact, I never had any chances to dress like a business woman for all my prior works. Sr. Tester and 3D Artist stayed in front of computers. I actually have many business style shirts, but none of them fit as I got fat.

Dad told me to bring a laptop. But seriously.. What am I going to do with my laptop? Am I working at night during the trip? I have no idea what am I going to do and what's coming up. That makes me a bit of nervous.

DEMA coming up!

DEMA 2009 at Orlando is coming up! I'm taking red eye flight tomorrow night, and coming back to LA on Friday night. In this short trip, we're going to have meetings with Scubapro, Grupomak, Aquaborne, Ocean Management System, and Mr. Lee and Ms. Chen from Xiamen. For all my preparations, we'll see if it works or not.

Rate your you

After almost 3 weeks, I have finally finished reading Jefferey Gitomer's Little Red Book of Selling for THE FIRST TIME. Why too so long? I read one or two chapters a day, digested it, took actions, wrote a blog about it. In the last chapter, there is a section entitled "Rate your you." I found it interesting and rated myself in each category from one (poor) to ten (greatest):

(7) 1. Your image. How you look affects the way you are perceived. How do you look?

(6) 2. Your ability to speak. Your ability to convey the message. Are you a member of toastmasters?

(5) 3. You ability to establish rapport. Making the prospect feel at ease, and developing some common ground as a basis to move forward. Do you make the scene warm?

(8) 4. Your attitude. Your enthusiasm combined with your state of internal happiness. Not what you say, but how you say it. Are you positive plus.

(5) 5. Your product knowledge. Your convincability. Fo you know it cold?

(8) 6. Your desire to help. Desire to help shows through, so does greed. Does your help side outweigh your greed side?

(9) 7. Your preparedness. A confidence builder if you are, or destroyer if you aren't. Do you prepare for every call?

(7) 8. Your humor. Nothing builds good feelings like good humor and a good laugh. Can you make others laugh?

(6) 9. Your creativity. What separates you from your competition? How do you make followups that don't just beg for the sale? What makes them talk about you? Your creativity - How's yours?

(7) 10. Your sincerity. Shows through either way. Are you genuine?

(3) 11. You reputation (or the reputation precedes you). If you are well known in the community, or in your field, you may walk in with a slight adventure. How's your reputation?

(5) 11.5: Your glue. The way you handle your total package. Your stature. The way you carry yourself. The way you put it all together. The character of you is what leads to the credibility of what you sell. How well are you "put together?"

110-120 You are a great "you," with a great success story to tell, and are setting a great example for others.

99-109 Pretty darn good you. Climbing the ladder, and making daily progress.

70-98 You ain't as hot as you think. You're in need of a 20-minute daily progress.

50-69 You're mediocre at sales, and so is your success to date. You have a decision to make. Stay and get better every day, or get out before you're fired, and blame someone else for all that's wrong with you.

30-49 You stink. Go yo the nearest bookstore, buy Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. Don't leave home until you read it.