4 Years in China, tackling public relations and farmyard animals in the family.

I’m brittle. Beijing. Shaving blades scratch and slash My nose bleeds The dried blood never leaves Early or late to bed My burning eyes always China red In the Beijing dust lies the future and the past Brittle Olympian, I will last. Today is my 43rd birthday. It is also the 4th anniversary of my arrival; the challenge of setting up an office in China for EASTWEST PR a sado masochistic 'gift' to myself. I wrote this poem after my first week here in my post entitled 'Great Expectations'. My expectations haven't been met in many ways but exceeded in others. I watched the Olympics come and go, not able to make money nor really attend any major events, but feel that the trial of endurance which has the been the subject of a nice little business in China has been it's own reward. Watching a developing nation display a modern personality whilst managing the internal challenges of economic change has been fascinating. The Olympics were supposed to herald the arrival of the era of China but the Government is wrestling with systemic flaws rooted in both the cultural and administrative fabric of the country. The challenge of building a nice little media relations business in China for me have been several. I wasn't connected. My spoken Chinese isn't functional to communicate on behalf of clients. The industry operates on system of payouts which I am not willing to engage in. The bureaucracy here in China is like quicksand. My Great Expectation was to build a self sufficient PR business in 3 years and then beat a retreat to Singapore to live in palm fringed comfort. That hasn't happened. 4 years and over S$500,000 later, not to mention the opportunity cost; don't let anyone tell you that China is cheap. I took some decisions which meant that EASTWEST just didn't grow as quickly as I had hoped and planned, investments in time and money which built my social capital in the capital of the middle kingdom. I founded and Chaired the British Business Awards in China with the Chamber of Commerce. Fortunately  EggplantDigital allowed me to invest in their agency to give EASTWEST access to some brilliant young web engineers so that we can offer digital PR services. The venture into legal headhunting hasn't worked. Meanwhile great inspiration has come from the Beijing Chapter of the Entrepreneurs Organization which Richard Robinson and I co-founded in Beijing. Building a social network and a business infrastructure takes time and is an investment - one that I hadn't anticipated fully before g having great expectations of my time in China.I realized that I have to shift strategy if the agency is to survive; to offer services not connections. Last year I decided to spin out the KM platform we use and launched AgencyintheCloud.com for clients to have the utilities of PR agency without the costs of consultants. EASTWEST PR will be 15 years old on June 13th and we will unveil a new brand and a methodology for implementing social media strategies for clients; traditional PR is all but dead - for reasons of both corruption and technology. The least anticipated and yet most wonderful part of my life has been marriage and fatherhood. Erika and I met in 2007 and in 2008 Amity Huan Huan James was born. My blog posts ended Nov 2008 as 2009 became an annus horriblus for me; at work a trusted employee tried to break the company and at home I wrestled with marriage, fatherhood and ultimately taking responsibilty - strange for someone who has employed people since the age of 27. In Dec 2010 Halo Mulan James was delivered at 3.67kg. With Amity I lost count at changing diaper #1,047, but have restarted the count. I married a woman with a Chinese sign of a Rat, Amity is Pig, Halo is Ox and I am fire Horse. That' enough farmyard animals for a while - I wonder what the year of the Tiger will bring. Manzou Jim