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...

Blogger's block?

I have been stricken by a weird sort of writer's block over the past several months.  Growing up, I kept a journal (dozens of these stashed in my parents' homes).  I write trip reports whenever I travel.  I blogged every few days when I was deployed on Line of D.  And up until recently, I regularly blogged on my company's website.  But strangely, I have been unable to blog lately.  I think it's that the idea of catching up seems overwhelming, so I don't know where to start and then I don't want to.

So, even though it's midnight and I'm jetlagged, I'm going to quit putting it off (at least on my personal blog) and update with what's gone on in the past couple months.  Forgive me for being so mechanical and bullet-like, but this is after all, also a personal record of eventful moments, so I'd rather be cryptic than forget to record something down at all.

1. I became an uncle again!  CEC or "He Who Is Powerful In Battle" was born a big baby on May  to my big bro.  He actually was born unnamed and L asked us to weigh in on the options.  The shortlist was: Callan, Cory, Toby, and Milo.  It was an easy choice for me, especially when I found out it was a Gaellic name with some serious badass meaning.  This was made more fun when my dad declared in an enthusiastic email that his grandson was "well endowed". Anyhow, his sister loves him and I got to see this on Skype recently when I called in for her birthday and got to see her holding him.  

2. I went to Germany to do my annual military duty.  My reserve unit has been on Schofield Barracks in Hawaii.  But before I went to Iraq, my slot was eliminated and I had to find a new one.  I put off finding a new unit because the Iraq tour covered me for 2 years, but eventually I had to look and I ended up finding a unit in Germany.  It had been 10 years since I had been back to continental Europe and I really enjoyed being in Southern Germany.  On the other hand, my job sucked because no one really knew I was coming, so I had to make work for myself and it was tough to get people to just give me stuff to do.  On the positive note, the light workload meant that I could actually continue to keep the business chugging along back in China.  A special treat was meeting up with and hanging out with my buddy Sven, whom I knew (and lived with for a short while) when I lived here 10 years ago.  I visited him and his girlfriend Meike in Munich and they really took me out to see this beautiful city.  The downside of Germany was getting 6, yes, count 'em, 6 speeding tickets in 3 weeks.

3. Came back to Shanghai for 2 days and then went to the US for my 15th yr college reunion and good friend's bachelor party.  The reunion was nice -- like last time's (the 10th), but with fewer classmates and lots of rugrats running around.  People still cool.  I got to see Candice and catch up.  Also found out that our year is still famous as the year of the murder-suicide at Dunster.  Then after the reunion weekend, old college pals Jaime and Joe and I went for our annual road trip.  This was pretend to be a bachelor party, but actually was a mellow guy's weekend out.  We went up to NH, where Joe charmed my in-laws and we made a blood donation to the mosquito gods, hiked around, and then went back to Boston.  There we took in a Sox game (they lost).  It was good fun.

4. My business issue of the week is dealing with a trademark claim.  Rather, someone has "my" trademark and is now trying to take over my website legally.  Fortunately, my stepbro is a lawyer in Beijing and is guiding me through the response.  Still, now we have to file defensively and it's still a pain in the ass to jump through all the hoops.

Human resources -- The China Problem

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....

Japan continues to struggle after being struck with the most powerful earthquake in its history

For those of you who have been following the news or have Japanese friends, Japan's woes continue to worsen.

Quake survivors forage for supplies

(UKPA) – 10 minutes ago

Millions of Japanese are without drinking water or electricity, surviving on instant noodles and rice balls, two days after a powerful earthquake and tsunami hammered the north eastern coast, killing at least 1,000 people.

Although the government doubled the number of soldiers deployed in the aid effort to 100,000, it seemed overwhelmed by what is turning out to be a triple disaster.

Friday's quake and tsunami damaged two nuclear reactors at a power plant on the coast, and at least one of them appeared to be going through a partial meltdown, raising fears of a radiation leak.

"First I was worried about the quake, now I'm worried about radiation. I live near the plants, so I came here to find out if I'm OK. I tested negative, but I don't know what to do next," said Kenji Koshiba, a construction worker, at an emergency centre in Koriyama.

According to officials, at least 1,000 people were killed - including 200 bodies found today along the coast - and 678 were missing in the earthquake and the ensuing tsunami that hit with breathtaking force and speed, sweeping away everything in its path.

The US Geological Survey calculated the quake to have a magnitude of 8.9, while Japanese officials raised their estimate to 9.0.

Either way it is the strongest quake ever recorded in Japan.

Teams searched for the missing along hundreds of miles of the Japanese coast, and thousands of hungry survivors huddled in darkened emergency centres that were cut off from rescuers and aid.

At least 1.4 million households had gone without water since the quake struck and some 2.5 million households were without electricity.

Large areas of the countryside were surrounded by water and unreachable. Fuel stations were closed and people were running out of petrol for their cars.

Baby's first step: First corporate contract signed

Ok, for those of you who grew up in the 80s, you should get the reference....

I'm riding on a high right now -- just inked our first corporate deal!  It sounds more glamorous than it is.  There's no long-term relationship going or recurring ongoing services, but for a new company that's trying to get credibility, this will be big and will be a great reference case if we do a good job.  We're doing testing and advisory consulting to a big multinational company here in Shanghai as they renovate two floors.  We'll be testing the before and after and helping project manage the vendors through auditing the air quality (and  therefore the work that they do and the materials selected).  The value of the contract is small -- around $6k, but it's quite a step up from residential projects and I'd like to see more of them.

Lately, I've also been looking at two new segments.  The first is the upstream architecture/design/interior renovation space.  I was introduced to a boutique design firm that built the first LEED Gold certified retail store in China and also did the Urbn Hotel in Shanghai.  We hit it off and the owner/partner thought that we could have a pretty strong offering if he added my knowledge of indoor air quality to his green building.  We could help each other and create a stronger  total package for clients.  So, we have started on several projects and last week, he brought up the idea of me formally starting up a company that merged these two concepts:  building fit-out/interior design and indoor environmental testing and consulting.  He would offer up the part of his company that was dedicated to interior design and I would do the air testing/consulting part.  Since he's busy expanding the architecture piece and doing other things, he asked if I would consider heading it up as its own company -- when I explained that I wanted independence, he said he'd be amenable to me keeping it under my company's brand-name if that's what I wanted.  Little premature to think this is a done deal, but it certainly is an unexpected direction this early in the game but also an interesting idea to scale up and add some revenue pretty fast.  It would be a little scary and really turn this whole venture into much more of a managerial role (instead of the satisfying solo expert that it's been).

Also, I am going to start expanding into the Japanese market.  To date, the vast majority of my clients have actually been American or Brits.  But there are 200,000 Japanese in Shanghai and only 30,000 Americans.  The Japanese are almost always here on contract, are very health-oriented and used to high levels of hygiene and environmental health, and expect a high service level.  These are all well-suited to my business model.  The key will be to get someone who is Japanese and can help me localize my materials and offerings and then be the Japanese face of my business.  I think I may have found someone who can at least start part-time and then later, I can look for someone who is able to do this full-time if it is promising.

Hope you're all having a great week  -- Shanghai is finally warming up and the sun on your face when you go outside really does pick you up.  Looking forward to Sarah's brother Tris and my mom coming to visit in two weeks.

Thought I'd share two cool little pieces of news I got about military equipment soldiers are starting to get on the frontlines.... The new helmets that are lighter and 70% stronger are a huge benefit. I wore the old ones two generations prior in Ranger School and remember them being so heavy that I had problems keeping my head up near the end. Love the quote, "We're going to have to get more powerful test guns to see how strong they really are"!

New Helmet Blocks Rifle Shots

February 04, 2011

Military.com|by Christian Lowe

The Army and Marine Corps may soon field a lighter combat helmet with nearly double the bullet and blast protection of the current Advanced Combat Helmet.

Army officials said that recent tests of the so-called "Enhanced Combat Helmet" showed the helmets were so strong that engineers didn't have equipment powerful enough to penetrate them with simulated IED fragments.

"The test lab we sent it to couldn't calculate an [average ballistic rating] because … the test guns they had couldn't shoot fragments fast enough to penetrate the helmet," said the Army's top protective equipment buyer, Col. Bill Cole. "We don't know exactly what the [average strength] is, but it's better than we've ever seen before."

"We're going to have to build stronger test guns to figure out how good it is," he added.

Testers hoped to get about a 40 percent increase in ballistic resistance over the ACH. But Cole said in some tests, the new ECH was 70 percent stronger than the helmets worn by Soldiers and Marines today. Additionally the new helmet weighs about four ounces less than the ACH.

"It's really a huge leap forward in terms of head protection capability," Cole added. "The data that we were getting from prototypes is even better than we'd hoped."

Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, Va. runs the ECH program for both services. Officials with the command were unable to comment on this story by post time.

In 2007, the Army and Marine Corps began looking into how to make current helmets -- the Army's ACH and Corps' Lightweight Helmet -- stronger without increasing weight. Both could withstand a direct hit from a 9mm pistol round and some bomb fragments, but senior officials in both services wanted improved protection against rifle shots.

At the time, military helmets were generally made from layers of Kevlar or Twaron material -- both of which get heavy when the layers pile up. In recent years armor makers have developed technology to shape ultra-strong materials akin to plastic sheets that are lighter than Kevlar and have similar ballistic resistance.

After a first round of test failures in 2009, the Army has finally found a design made by Ceradyne, Inc. that works -- so well, officials say, that some types of 7.62 rifle rounds can be fired point-blank at the helmet without going through.

The service plans to purchase 200,000 ECHs beginning in the fall of 2011, with Soldiers in Afghanistan or deploying there getting the rifle-stopping helmet first. Officials say the new helmet costs about $600 each, double the price of the current ACH.

"We're very excited about this and we're going to try to take this revolutionary capability in head protection to the field as quickly as we can," Cole said. "This is like stepping up from an up-armored Humvee to an MRAP in the head protection arena."

© Copyright 2011 Military.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

‘Punisher’ Gives Enemy No Place to Hide

February 03, 2011

Military.com|by Christian Lowe

A new Army weapon designed to target the enemy hiding behind barriers is being affectionately called "The Punisher" by Soldiers fighting in Afghanistan.

And by all accounts, the futuristic XM-25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement System has been quite a rude surprise for the bad guys.

"I don't know what we're eventually going to call this product, but it seems to be game changing," said the commander of the Army's Program Executive Office Soldier, Brig. Gen. Peter Fuller, during a Feb. 2 briefing with reporters at the Pentagon. "You no longer can shoot at American forces and hide behind something. We're going to reach out and touch you."

After years of XM-25 development, last fall the 101st Airborne submitted an urgent request to field the weapon for troops on patrol in Afghanistan. In response the Army took the five weapons it had been testing at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md., added 1,000 hand-made explosive rounds and shipped them to the war zone in October of 2010.

On arrival the XM-25 gave infantry squads the capability to precisely target bad guys hiding behind walls, in irrigation ditches, or among rocky escarpments. The Heckler & Koch-made XM-25 pairs a barrel-mounted targeting computer and a 25mm programmable air-bursting round that's fed precise range information just before being fired. A Soldier can simply push a button to range an enemy firing position, dial in one more meter, and the round will explode precisely where the bad guy is sitting.

"I had one lieutenant tell me that normally these engagements take us 15 or 20 minutes to get through, [but it's] several minutes when the XM-25 is involved. It's that quick," said the Army's top weapons buyer, Col. Doug Tamilio. "One major told me every time the XM-25 was involved in engaging enemy positions, firing stopped immediately."

So far the still-experimental XM-25 has stood up to the harsh combat environment of Afghanistan with "no maintenance issues," Tamilio said.

"To me that means we've got the ruggedness part of it right," he said.

Tamilio admitted that they need to make some tweaks to the weapon, including finding a new power source for the targeting computer that currently uses rechargeable batteries.

"We are learning some features that we do have to enhance," he added.

The five hand-made weapons have been field tested by two Army units so far and a third unit will get "The Punisher" next if the Army can find the money to buy more ammo, officials added, declining to be specific about which units will get the weapon.

"The kids are naming it ‘the punisher' because … a person can't hide anymore," PEO Soldier Fuller added. "Now I can go punish them for trying to engage me."

Officials say Soldiers aren't complaining about the nearly 13 pound weight of the XM-25 since it's been so effective. Gunners wielding "The Punisher" often opt for an M4 or a pistol for personal defense, but some carry no other weapon at all.

The Army wants to buy 36 more XM-25s -- which run about $35,000 each -- but the buy isn't fully funded. And the air bursting ammunition costs about $1,000 per round, but Tamilio claims that full rate production will drop the price to $35 per round.

Even in a tight fiscal environment with many high-dollar programs competing for scarce resources, many top Army officials say "The Punisher" is worth the investment.

"We're giving Soldiers a capability down range that's making a difference in terms of lethality," Tamilio said. "There are many times that weapon has disrupted attacks."

© Copyright 2011 Military.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Home Sweet Home

After 3 days of basically living out of airports looking for flights, Sarah and I made it back home.  I thought that this poster was pure irony.

Few lessons learned on dealing with a situation like this in the future that I thought I'd pass on:

• Always monitor flight status -- Don't assume the carrier will notify you or rebook.  We never were, even after repeatedly giving our contact info.  They didn't protect us either, by putting us on another flight until we pushed the issue.
• Have a contingency plan for alternate routing in case flights get cancelled.  Know the next flight going, alternate connections, seating availability
• Often, it's really hard to get through on the phone, so use travel agent or hotel staff to help you get through.  EgyptAir staff often just ignore the phone.  Usually, the most effective way to get something done is to go directly to the airport or airline company sales office.
• First try to rebook through United or whoever booked the original ticket.  If they did this, the local company often cannot make changes.  The good thing about working with the local company directly is that they are not bound to award travel only, but may put you in a regular seat if they feel like it.
• Be polite but persistent and talk with different people and departments.  Don't give too much info and clearly state what you want – usually a rebooking, upgrade, compensation, or hotel accommodations. Often, we have been told no on the phone, then a different story at the airport or sales office.  Or, a counter agent will deny us seats, but a conversation escalated to the supervisor gets us there.  Document everyone's name and last name (and ideally a phone number) – don't be shy because if someone tells you something and you don't have their info documented, it's useless.  If possible, if someone promises that someone else will do something, rebook you, set you up with hotel, etc, have that person call over to their counterpart where you're going to make sure someone on the opposite end knows.  
• If this doesn't work, tell them you would like to formally lodge a complaint.  Do this in writing, make a copy or take a photo, tell them you will follow this up with Star Alliance (or whatever mother network), and add their own name and why this was unsatisfactory.  Ask for a receipt or other formal acknowledgement.  Pushing it to this will often be enough.  A different person came out, all smiles, and said that they would put us up (despite everyone earlier telling us this could not happen) with full board.  He asked if this was satisfactory and if it would still be necessary to file the complaint.

We're safe in Egypt

Thanks for the emails and SMSs of concern.  We've been on the open sea for most of the past week and since the Egyptian government cut internet and SMS service early on in the unrest, we weren't able to get word out.

Our weeklong liveaboard dive trip was interrupted as governments started pulling their citizens out of the country.  We had Polish, Dutch, and Greek divers onboard that had to leave early.  We decided that the safest place was on the open water, so decided to stay put and then take our chances.  Turned out to be a good idea, as the local port that we're in now, Hurghada, is actually quiet.  Unfortunately, we had planned to spend 4 days in Cairo, seeing the Giza Pyramids, the Sphinx, etc, but we just happened to pick the first time since 1953 that there's been civil unrest.

If you've been watching the news (we're only just catching up ourselves), you may know that Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, who has held power for over 50 years, has agreed to step down in September.  Against him is a large group of the people who believe that the government is no longer for the people and want him ousted and a fresh change.  So far, the demonstrations have been peaceful and non-violent.  Mubarak, after mobilizing the Army, installed martial law and curfews as well as cutting internet and SMS.  Most countries, including the US, sided with the protesters and are urging Mubarak to let go.  

Depending on who you talk to, it was either a way for him to save face (instead of getting forced out right away) or a ploy by which he managed to stay in power.  Regardless, order has been restored, international flights are back on time, and the internet is back up.  There were up to a million people demonstrating on the streets (even in Hurghada) and it was by and large peaceful.  Tonight, when Sarah and I walked around Hurghada, we saw signs that there was still some concern – we saw military APCs, lots of police and security on corners, and groups of people holding banners and dancing through the street.  The most striking thing was that everyone we asked seemed to be pro-Mubarak and the atmosphere in town seemed to be pretty celebratory, although by many accounts, Mubarak had lost and the protesters had won concessions.  According to one shopkeeper we spoke with, in Hurghada, the government worked with the people and they gained from working through the government and with tourism, whereas in Cairo and some of the larger cities, there was a big gap between the haves and have-nots, and a perception (deserved or otherwise) that the government was corrupt and not helping the people.

Cairo still seems to be a hotspot -- apparently pro-Mubarak forces are now shooting, throwing rocks and bombs, and otherwise inciting direct violence.  Hopefully, the anti-Mubarak side can turn the other cheek and allow the media to report what's going on and pressure the government to let the Army intervene and restore order.

We'll be spending two days in Hurghada where it's peaceful and then transit through Cairo to Instanbul for a night before returning to Shanghai.