So the good news is that this past week was focused on filling two key positions: a marketing person and a client advisor and I made some headway.
These two positions are so key because I've reached the realization that I'm not going to be able to build the business by doing everything myself. Plus, at least in the case of marketing, I'm not the best person to do this. Finally, I leave for 3 weeks for my annual military reserves duty at the end of this month, so the business has to be able to keep moving forward. So, I finally quit my bitching, forced myself to write job descriptions, talked to a bunch of people and sent them out through a small local network of expat and local Chinese friends.
Here's what I've been looking for:
1. Expat marketing/PR person. This person probably needs to be a member of our target market (expat families with children) to be effective because he or she would know the ins and outs of the community -- what media parents go to, what appeal is most effective, and most importantly, have a big network themselves. I am looking for someone who used to do marketing, advertising, or PR work, but now is either taking a break, is a trailing spouse, or is a full-time mother with time on her hands.
2. A client advisor to interact with the clients during testing and take some limited samples. The ideal person would probably be local Chinese, because they need to give some directions to the non-English speaking lab techs and also to be in a position to build the Chinese market later. But, they would need to be strong English speakers, and more importantly, have experience with accommodating foreigner and knowing how they think, etc.
I got a call from one woman earlier this week who was interested in the marketing position. On paper, she sounds perfect -- former small business owner, currently building a business around advice for expat families, looking for part-time work, has a background in public health and policy, and has worked in sales and marketing. I'm meeting her on Monday, but unless she's really off or pay requirements are out of whack, I'd like to get her started asap.
As expected, the client advisor is a tougher find. I considered many sources: relocation agencies, bank client advisors, post-doc students (who have more time than money), and even expat compound concierges. Talking to my local friends, I found that estimates for hourly wages ranged from 20rmb - 250rmb. I don't know where my JD has been posted, but in the past several days, I've gotten about 4 emails from Chinese students. Holy cow, career offices here are bad. 3 of the 4 had no useful subject line, not even a description, just a resume. The JD even says to send a CV and cover letter. I think there could really be a business teaching students how to find jobs and that students would pay to get a decent intership, one that's carefully managed and vetted by the business placement agency.
Fortunately, I also have a front-runner here: my Chinese teacher. About 6 months ago, not long after I started the business, I decided that since I would be needing to conduct my business discussions in Chinese, I needed to start Chinese lessons again. So, I found this teacher online -- no spring chicken (maybe late 30s, early 40s), but a really nice person, and as we talked, I realized that she knew quite a bit about my business because she has a background in interior design and used to work for a renovation company. So, I approached her about filling more of her time with some project-based work and she seemed quite interested. This would be good because I feel I can trust her, I know she's smart, and I'd be able to afford her while still increasing her per hour fee by about 50%.
Keep fingers crossed....
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