"Sometimes you have to do something that makes you uncomfortable to further your career and your life and I really believe that." - Mike Jackness on speaking at the Global Sources Summit This episode is a play-by-play report of my entire trip to Asia, covering the Global Sources Summit, the Canton Fair, meeting with our Philippines team -- basically everything my team and I did while we were in Asia from early October through early November. If you're like me who doesn't like following someone's life abroad on an hour-by-hour basis, then this episode probably isn't for you. But if you are in ecommerce and have never been to these events in Asia before (or you're just curious about what we do there), this will give you a pretty good overview of what it's like to be on the road, traveling back and forth between cities to attend fairs and meet people, things you might need to do if you are serious in growing your importing business. These are the highlights of my nearly month-long trip: getting on a ridiculously luxurious first class flight to Hong Kong for about $50 hiking and exploring Hong Kong during my first few days there the ill-timed typhoon my presentation at the Global Sources Summit where I was rated as the number 1 speaker (this just goes to show that you can accomplish anything once you set your mind to it) EcommerceFuel meetups, masterminds, and new plans to take EcomCrew to the next level visiting my Philippines team going to the Canton Fair the amazing people I met from the ecommerce community My wife Michelle, our Director of Ecommerce Jacqueline, and I crammed so many activities during our time in Asia that when we arrived back in San Diego we were all absolutely drained. These trips are very productive and rewarding, but be warned -- it can also be terribly exhausting. Nevertheless, trips like this are very valuable for entrepreneurs looking for serious growth. The trick is laying out what you want to accomplish while you're there, which for me, are three things: meeting as many like-minded people/entrepreneurs as possible, touring as many factories as possible, and building as many relationships as you can with the people you already work with. Resources mentioned: AsiaInspection Stamped.io Thanks for listening to this episode! If you can, please leave an honest feedback on iTunes and reach out to us at support@ecomcrew.com. Until next episode, happy selling!