Yeah the eye of the tiger only gets you so far. You need understand business to run one or even be effective for that matter. So your buying many thousands of what? And how are you importing? Chinese are very poor manufaturers. I visited a tier one auto supply factory in Ningbo China, wow they are so behind. Lot's of growth though.
Autoparts.
And as for the the poor manufacturares, i have this idea that they just love money, cash! I remember my first trip, i saw so many business opportunities and all factories asking me for TT or 50% tt 50% lc at sight. So how did i solve it? Simple, i contacted all the factories i met and promised a volume i wasnt even sure i could buy, only if they would accept lc at sight, no tt. Suddenly, most of them were open to accept lc (i guess the word CONTAINERS(PLURAL) made them change their minds) and thats it.
I did my best to not fail in my promise and luckily, it worked all good and this is how i deal with chineses until today.
What i love more is that now i dont accept their rules, but the other way, and when your name is known in whatever you buy, many doors will be open.
I started in shenzhen, then travelled to guanzhou, yiwu, ningbo, qingdao and ended last year in shanghai, where im returning next week to visit some suppliers. I love china, its a country full of chances for those who are starting and have big dreams.
