I've seen those on the street already. Last week actually

WIA

Starbury kicks were the butt of many jokes growing up, but its good to see him recover in China after some unfortunate PR disasters while he was in the NBA.

Starbury's craziest moment to me was the handful of Vaseline that he ate for a sore throat. He did that on YouTube. Blew my mind.

I can already picture in my head a five-foot pale Asian FOB girl in an pink Arale hat, black Addidas pullover, and light blue jogging shorts walking down a Midtown Manhattan block, topping it all off with these seizure-inducing shoes

(08-02-2016 11:38 AM)WalkingMan Wrote:  

(08-02-2016 11:12 AM)Mentavious Wrote:  Funny you guys mention a trip to Africa. I plan on spending the first half of next year traveling Asia, Europe and Africa. Right now flights are set for Asia and Europe but it would be cool to have some dudes out in Africa in June/July as well.

What do you do for a living, Mentavious? Where I'm currently at the most I can hope for is asking to change my position to working from home, and then chilling somewhere in the same time zone. Like Brazil for example. And that's if they allow me, which I kind of doubt. I work with programmers, but I'm not a programmer.

I'm a engineer for a pharmaceutical company. I'm actually allowed to take a 4 month sabbatical without pay and I will use some vacation time to supplement it. That's my backup plan I should say as I hope to move into consulting. I've also thought asking to transfer to a different country with the same company.

It's something I've always wanted to do since I was in college. I just never had time because of school and now work. I've been saying for the last two years that I would do it but I never pulled the trigger. So this summer I booked the flights ahead of time in hopes that this would deter me from backing out again. I may miss out on some raises but I couldn't live with myself if I never got the chance to do this before the age of 30.

^awesome, dude. I realize i have a sabbatical option of some sort at my job as well. Not sure how it works, and I'm not even sure if I can actually use it, but I'll look into it.

The travel is worth every penny fellas if you decide to do it. Really opened my eyes.

(08-02-2016 10:46 PM)WalkingMan Wrote:  ^awesome, dude. I realize i have a sabbatical option of some sort at my job as well. Not sure how it works, and I'm not even sure if I can actually use it, but I'll look into it.

I travel a lot for work both domestically and internationally so the main point i used was that this would give me more international experience. Being able to live and learn about the culture where one visits for work will help the work visit go smoothly and more efficient. That was the basics of my presentation and it worked. It just means I have to spend a considerable amount of time in certain countries so I wont lose face with the higher ups.

It also helps that a couple of other veterans at work have done this and have came back better men/workers as well.

That's a good point you made there. It would be best to sell the reasons why I want to go in order to put myself in the best possible light. If I choose to go this route, that is. I'd rather start up my business and quit after another year.

I have two economic decisions in front of me

First opportunity - Sell an asset for $5,000, or grow the asset into something worth more, but with no guarantee

Second opportunity

Leave my current contract at 40 hrs, for 70 hours per week contract, and an extra 15-20k if the contract goes for 4 months (no guarantee here either).

Current contract is far more stable and predictable. And allows me to build my side hustles (see above). The other one is unknown, and I would not have a life/no days off until thanksgiving.

The real problem

An extra 5k (15-20k) would be nice, but I don't know how to turn a lump sum into recurring income.

Otherwise this would be a no brainer.

WIA

^Stocks?

Stocks are slow growth and for long term moves. Unless I was a day trader or forex. That's a whole new learning curve.

Real estate, i explored and i can't get into a property without having to bring on partners.

E commerce might be an option, but picking the right products and doing the proper advertising is what I'd need to drill down on.

One of the tougher decisions I've had to face.

WIA

Stocks are risky and something I stay clear off.

Money can be made on Forex, but you have to be on top of it. I am working on something similar.

Real Estate is a heavy investment and renting out places is a headache.

I have a great opportunity to do a business overseas in a market that is growing, the product I am offering will sell like hot cakes. The problem is I will need to stay in this place for a year to watch the business and I would need a few extra hands.

Any investors out there?

I am also looking into a side hustle at the moment... Importing certain items from Europe to US.

If you're felling froggy, jump on some bitcoin. It's bound to go up by the end of year.

@Kirdiesel

Buy goods
Ship to logistics house. (Google fulfillment services)

Set up e commerce shop
Advertise
Profit

Or

Find warehouse
Calculate shipping time from Europe to US
Build site
Run advertising - specify 5-6 weeks delivery
Buy product only when you get sufficient orders
Profit

If you already know what you can buy low and sell high, you're ahead of me.

WIA

(08-04-2016 11:23 AM)WestIndianArchie Wrote:  If you already know what you can buy low and sell high, you're ahead of me.

WIA

I have already put together a spreadsheet of the average selling prices of what I am planning to import and according to my numbers I am winning.

I am going to test my first sale/shipment starting next week or 1.5 week maximum.

There are some future hurdles to overcome (product supply) but well see what happens with the test shipment first... One step at a time.

Break out the data sheet weiwhen you win!

I'm hoping to do the same, but China to U.S.

WIA

I've been with more Asian chicks than Black chicks as well. I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood, so I never really knew many black girls (the few I did tried to act hood, which was unpleasant to say the least).

I've only recently, perhaps the past 2 or 3 years grown a big attraction for black women. I prefer women from actual Africa for the most part though.

What special products are you guys finding in Europe and asia that aren't in the states?

Most of the goods in your house are probably made in Asia.

Most cheap clothing comes from Asia (China).

They have cities in China that cater to one product, for example there is a city that sells mostly toilets and related stuff.

Look on Alibaba and you will see many of these distributors.

My Indian friend has relatives that make cheap clothing, he was complaining because Bangledesh makes the same clothing for half the price. If you shop at H&M, then your clothes are being made in a sweat shop in Bangledesh.

In the West, we desire cheap stuff.

In China, they desire luxury goods. A friend of a friend, was selling cars to China 20 years ago. He made a huge fortune.

@TravellerKai - feel free to jump in and give your views.

(08-04-2016 02:54 PM)rudebwoy Wrote:  Most of the goods in your house are probably made in Asia.

Most cheap clothing comes from Asia (China).

They have cities in China that cater to one product, for example there is a city that sells mostly toilets and related stuff.

Look on Alibaba and you will see many of these distributors.

My Indian friend has relatives that make cheap clothing, he was complaining because Bangledesh makes the same clothing for half the price. If you shop at H&M, then your clothes are being made in a sweat shop in Bangledesh.

In the West, we desire cheap stuff.

In China, they desire luxury goods. A friend of a friend, was selling cars to China 20 years ago. He made a huge fortune.

@TravellerKai - feel free to jump in and give your views.

My wife and I have a business doing this. The bigger your buyer list, the better it is. We send LV, Prada, Nike shoes, etc. back to China. All kinds of upscale stuff.

China changes so fucking fast at times it's frustrating from a business perspective. California wine was super red hot for a like a few mins until that market got saturated pretty nasty.

Often times being first is more important than anything.

The tariffs do not help either. If Trump could re-negotiate that, it would help, but I wouldn't hold my breath on that. He might only just be talking when it comes to that. We tried to import a certain cosmetic in (I'm talking about a shipping container's worth) and the tariff alone makes the profit barely worth it. I won't smuggle or try to get around it, so it's always smaller quantities if anything.

Just a heads up, if you want an Alibaba store you might need a bank account in China usually. Same goes for Taobao. I use my wife's so I don't have to think too hard on that. Our storefront is still a work in progress but I may have to put it on hold for a little bit when we go back there for a while soon. While I am there I need to find more buyers than anything. Maybe I can make that cosmetic stuff work out if I can secure the right amount of buyers.

If you want to talk about clothes send Global Entry a PM, he taught me alot about that stuff. I would say more about what he does with it, but I don't know if he would appreciate that or not.

I don't want to bore you guys to death on this stuff. I could talk about trade stuff for hours and I have no idea where to go with this direction wise.

@TKai - please continue, it is a nice break from women/game etc.

We ALL need to think outside the box, there are some very smart group of guys on this thread.

The corporate world has done me dirty for years, I have made others rich. Now it is my time to collect, slavery (corporate) has to stop.

VP has told me some crazy stories about China, I am sure Fortis can share some as well. I recall VP telling me about these white american guys living in China who signed a 7 digit deal to import California wine a few years back.

Stocks can be risky or not depending on your trading style. I usually go big or go home on some option's trading. Once took a monday flight to Mexico. Got stood up for a date so invested 1k into calls for BAC. By the time i came home friday it was at 3999. Been burned a few times too. But overall, i'm always willing to put a little something in when I have cash influx and some free time.

-CD

(08-04-2016 04:53 PM)rudebwoy Wrote:  @TKai - please continue, it is a nice break from women/game etc.

We ALL need to think outside the box, there are some very smart group of guys on this thread.

The corporate world has done me dirty for years, I have made others rich. Now it is my time to collect, slavery (corporate) has to stop.

VP has told me some crazy stories about China, I am sure Fortis can share some as well. I recall VP telling me about these white american guys living in China who signed a 7 digit deal to import California wine a few years back.

I hadn't heard that story from him yet, but that doesn't surprise me at all. Chinese wanting to look cool or gain lots of face will have Western red wine(hong jiu) at the table. Doesn't matter what it is. Napa Valley wines are dirt cheap here and you cannot pull snobby bitches with Robert Mondavi. Better have some trendy South American Cab, Australian Syrah, or some French Bordeaux to get some play off a bottle of wine here in the US. A bottle of Woodbridge would be more than good enough in China.

Wine can be sold at much higher markups because they do not really know any better.

They will pay for anything that comes from California.

I'm tempted to buy a bunch of Tom's shoes and take them there and see if I can get the young kids to buy them off the street. Chances are unless it's Converse, Puma, or Nike, they would turn their noses at it. You might can sell a box of Nikes for 50 dollars profit here and there, but it's not like you can send a boatload over there.

It's weird what interests them and what does not. Just because kids here are all over something does not mean they want it.

Clothes might be different to an extent, but some of the clothes kids are wearing here, is stuff I have seen Chinese wear (like those hipster skinny sweatpants with the weird pockets).

When I get there, I want to see what factories can hook me up with stuffed animals I know I can move back home due to a connection I have that wants them. Walmart won't take anything unless you have massive bulk. Gas stations and rest stops are a different matter. There are always some dude with cash to spend, no harm in being a middle man.

All those years in corporate will pay off. Don't let that irritate you. If you learned even some basics of billing, invoicing, logistics, how to conduct meetings, may pay off in the end. We are probably lucky to see good businesses up close in a way. A dude off the streets hustling can only take stuff so far unless he gets some training or education. For every successful business idea, there will probably be 10 to 20 flops. Just how it goes.