When it rains it pours

I think you're supposed to say that when bad things are happening.  Is there a saying for when good things happen?

Last week was a good week.  A very good week.  The amount we brought in last week (no cash yet, but deal value) was nearly 50% of our total revenue to date.  True, much of this was from one project alone (a big deal with a bank covering nearly 6000m2), but this was actually 6 different projects.  On average, we've been doing maybe 2 projects a week.  The best part?  They were all commercial projects -- the direction I've been wanting us to go.  Doing homes is fun, satisfying, tangible, but in no way scalable.

The other interesting thing is that our business is growing into a relationship role.  In many of these projects, we were the general contractor, bringing subcontractor(s) to do some work that we billed for, coordinated, managed, and took responsibility for (and a sizeable cut).  In one project, however, we were contacted by a HK services provider to be their subcontractor.  They took almost the same size cut but did very little value add besides landing the deal.  But, it's worth doing because we aren't at that point where we can find business like that and we are learning about how to be a general contractor by being on the other side of the fence.  Pretty fascinating and really learning on the job.

Keeping fingers crossed, last week was really the first week where I felt like there was really promise beyond just feeling like we were doing a good thing, being professional, and meeting a market need.  I felt excited that this could actually make some money and be a real business venture.  Maybe not a coincidence that I averaged about 3-4 hrs of sleep too...

Oh, forgot to mention that at the end of the previous week, I gave a talk to a community of builders, architects, designers, and property managers on how indoor air quality is important to green building.  Way more  people showed up than we expected.  Normally, 50-80 people have gone to the events I've attended.  The organizer estimated about 130-150 at this one.  After some scares with the audio not working and then a challenge of all the pictures in my presentation not being displayed, I still went ahead and gave it.  Got some decent questions and then chatted with about a dozen people after the talk.  I'm pretty sure I should follow up with the opportunities and business cards a little better, but I'd like to think that this week's amazing uptick might have something to do with that talk.

Thanks for letting me share my bit of happiness!

Inc magazine...mmm good

For my birthday, my big bro L got me a subscription to Inc. Magazine.  He probably saw me browsing his back issues when during a visit.  Like probably most entrepreneurs or small business owners, there's so much we don't know and learning from other people or reading real case studies is immensely important.  I started receiving the issues a couple months back and I really enjoy the magazine and wanted to give a shout out of appreciate to my bro.  The best gifts are the ones you wouldn't go out of your way to buy yourself, but can use and appreciate.  

And, I hate reading online, so the added expense of print magazines was so much nicer.  It's weird.  I like and do all my research online.  But, reading newspapers and magazines online totally ruin the experience for me.  It may be generational.  Sitting back on a lazy Sunday morning with a Wall St Journal is really a relaxing time.  

Inc does a great job being relevant to the brand new one-person startup baking cupcakes out of their apartment kitchen to the $50M tech company with 30 employees.  I suspect larger companies probably find it less interesting, but that's the nature of the beast.  There's probably a graduate-level Inc. out there somewhere.

But for the moment, I really enjoy reading stories and different approaches, whether how someone dealt with trademark infringement, libelous claims by competitors, decisions on whether to expand into franchises, etc.  The best part is that reading these things, even how someone dealt with failure (always the best lessons) fire me up.

In other news....

Next week, I've been invited to give a talk ambitiously titled: "Managing Indoor Environmental Quality for Green Building Success" to a group of mostly builders, architects, interior designers, facilities managers, and people in the green and sustainable industries.  It'll draw on a few real project case studies we've done to highlight why indoor air testing and paying attention to indoor environmental quality can impact green building, from marketability to cost savings to productivity to health and safety to minimizing legal liability.  This is going to be big in helping us strengthen recognition as thought leaders in this space.   If you have any ideas (other than an email to a bunch of acquaintances inviting them to attend) on how we can market this or use it to increase our SEO or credibility, please post your comments!

Who got fever? I got fever. Scarlet Fever

This Saturday I woke up with a bad sore throat. It happens in China. I didn't think much of it, but then was chilled, and when I took my temp it was over 102F. Sarah suggested helpfully that I had the flu.

No biggie, but thought it was weird because I just had a flu shot (I always think those things are useless).

That night and the next day, my temperature hovered around 102-103 F and I got to enjoy a cold bath and other fun home remedies.

Then on Sun, the fever broke. But instead, I started feeling tingles in one foot -- how it feels when your foot falls asleep. My feet are pretty beat up, cracked, and always itching from being on the jiujitsu mats, so I didn't think too much of it. But during the night, the itching got intense -- I actually dreamed about it. And, the spots and itching spread to both feet.

On Monday, after a quick websearch suggested I might have anything from strep throat to foot and mouth disease, I decided I'd just get down to the doc's and get antibiotics started.

Good thing I did. The French doc diagnosed the strep throat immediately when she looked into my throat, but then when she saw my feet, she said, "Hmm....very interesting". That is not something you want a examining medical professional to say. She believes I have come down with either scarlet fever or hand and mouth disease. (Actually I just looked it up and I my symptoms match the classic symptoms of foot and hand disease 100%, but I'm just an amateur doctor) Doesn't really matter because both are related to streptococcus bacteria and both are treated with penicillin. It's often transmitted by children and according to PubMed, "Coxsackie virus is transmitted by contamination with feces". WHAT? Coxsackie? Feces? Now that I think about it, I went to a Chinese hospital on Friday and probably encountered about 500 people in two hours or so. Next time I'm wearing a mask and gloves.

Although I didn't even know scarlet fever still existed, apparently I have it and should be better after a week or so. In the meanwhile, it really sucks because I'm hungry all the time but can't eat much because I have these big white ulcers in the back of my throat and it hurts like heck to swallow. If you're trying to lose weight, I highly recommend this.

If you're in Shanghai, look me up and I can pass it on to you personally :)

Hope everyone had a more fun Fourth of July wherever you are...