Perseverance: NowShenzhen.com — building and selling a business from the ground up

Perseverance: NowShenzhen.com

Stepped out of my comfort zone and took a risk to found a business in Shenzhen, China, hiring a sales team, editorial team, and freelance developers.

My impact: Our mission helped improve quality of life of expats & Chinese living in Shenzhen. Many people met because of my site, got married, and had children. Clients were able to find new customers and earn additional revenue.

Learnings: Bootstrapping a business will have many setbacks. Building a user community and team, motivating them with a vision and mission can pull you through those hard times.

Bonus:

One of the largest television stations in China filmed me running my business over a week — a full 30-minute episode of Foreigner in China on CCTV4, interviewed in Mandarin Chinese and broadcast across China. View video on YouTube →

Tech stack