IDAA Online

By Michael Cole On April 5, 2008 · Leave a Comment

Tomb Sweeping Festival is great. Having only arrived in China recently I don’t yet any tombs to sanitise so, like a lot of other folks I’m left with three days for what I will. (By the way, is this a historic event? China’s first three day weekend? Maybe the first since 1949? If you know the answer to this question, you can get two for one during happy hour at most pubs).

On this historic first three day weekend that I can remember in China, however, I’m not off on any adventures in leisure. Like most people foolish enough to start their own business, I’m here working on my days off, and here’s what I’ve been up to.

Built the Idaaworld.org site – Yup, that’s right, the activities of the Industrial Development Association of Asia are now online
Became a media consultant — Got recruited to give advice via website called Primaryinsight.com
Office Shopping — Checked out a couple of units near Shanghai Stadium and another on Yan’an Lu
US taxes — Being poor I don’t really have to pay much, but don’t forget to file
Played golf — Can’t afford “real” golf, so nine holes at Hongqiao Golf will have to cover me until the IPO

IDAAWorld.org
Jeez this was fun. Had been waiting what seemed like forever to get a site for a new nonprofit that I’ve started, and finally went nuts and tried to build it myself. Ok, so it is not everything that I had ever hoped for, but it is probably 80% of everything that I had ever hoped for, so the 80/20 Rule says we should call it good and move on.

As I have pointed out previously on this site, I am not a tech geek, can’t program and couldn’t tell PHP from ASP if it would get me a date with Zhang Ziyi. But from messing around this blog, I’ve become familiar with WordPress, and fueled by a dose of frustration and plenty of Diet Coke I managed to set up IDAAWorld.org yesterday. WordPress has just launched version 2.5 and it rocks. If an ignorant entrepreneur-type like me can do it, then you can too.

By the way, IDAA is the Industrial Development Association of Asia, a nonprofit business networking group that I have set up with some friends to share information and insights on finding the best location and conditions for manufacturing in Asia. Not that exciting, but pretty useful if you make stuff in Asia or want to move your manufacturing over this way.

Primaryinsight.com
This was an unexpected bonus. Received a message via my Linkedin.com account yesterday that primaryinsight.com, wanted to recruit me as a freelance consultant to investors looking into media ventures in China. They let professional folks declare their expertise and state their rates online, and then interested users can contact you for advice. If you think you have some useful stories to tell, then you might try signing up. After responding to the Linkedin.com inquiry I was contacted by some folks from an American investment bank within eight hours time and seem to already be on my way to monetising this Web 2.0 stuff.

Now it’s time to get ready for some Saturday night fun and a relaxing Sunday. Even workaholics need some time off once in a while.