The Wandering Monkey

This has been a roller coaster week.
For the past seven days preceeding Wednesday, I had been preparing for our re-vamped social night at Jazz Seeker. That's the very nice bar which asked us back after the owner figured out she wasnt making any money after we left. I talked with the manager and a former manager who still hangs out and helps the place. Since we had leverage this time, I wanted to see if we could turn out some sort of profit on the night. People weren't buying enough to make the managers happy, so I took this into account and came up with a plan.

We'd make some posters, flyers, and advertise ourselves. The bar would charge a small cover. We would get half of that, and they would get the other half. With this plan, we proceeded. I found a small computer shop and made friends with the owner. I spent two full business days there designing, printing, and cutting the flyers and poster and tickets. This also cost us a bit of money. Armed with these things, we went into the bar. I gave the tickets to the bar folks and we had a very good night. It was great fun, and the bar served food to me and a friend of mine.

Then, when I was just about to leave, I told the manager I wanted to settle accounts. We went to the bar and collected 21 sold tickets. I know we had about 30 folks and the waitresses hadn't caught everyone coming in, but I was not upset. It was the first time at this and we didn't need perfection. Then I asked for my half of the receipts and the manager just looked at me blankly. His English is quite poor, but I translated through his friend who had helped us in the first place. He was apparently under the impression that we were doing this for our health. I was simultaneously frustrated, enraged, and dumbfounded.

There I was was after midnight sitting at a table with three Chinese in their bar. Good folks by every instinct I have had. And they were claiming such a deal never existed. Were they trying to cheat me? It is very common in Chinese business deals to try to sneak something at the end of it. I didn't think so; I think they just misunderstood the deal. But how could they come to that impression? Why would we agree to go through the trouble and expense to make the materials if we were not going to get anything at all for it?

It's not like it was a lot of money by US standards, but it really messed up my business plans. I had done a very careful analysis on the types of visitors we have and what they buy when at the bar. I spent the money and time working on it because I thought I was creating a small but acceptable income stream for my Wednesday nights. But now I found not only was I out of my expenses, I was out of income as well.

I tried to be businesslike about it. I explained my situation. We needed at least a way to recoup our expenses. But the manager would not budge. He said that our presence at the bar was still not completely accepted by all patrons or by the owner, and that this was not a good time to ask for more. Were they playing me? Were they just ignorant of our position? Or was this just an honest mistake?

Every response and encouragement from their side did nothing to make me feel better about the situation. They suggested that perhaps if this event grew popular, we could increase the cover later and our group could get the added amount. But I had very carefully measured how much our people would be willing to pay for cover charge. We were at the highest level which would not cause people to turn away. But most imporantly, people have a psychological expectation. Once they are paying 35rmb to enter, they are just not going to want to pay more unless they are getting more. Why would they? So we can't just increase our rates.

The thing is, we had another bar in mind when Jazz Seeker called us. That bar would have been willing to split the cover charge with us or do a profit sharing deal. They had nothing going on at all on Wednesdays. They were closed then, so we would have had the club to ourselves exclusively. I had set that other deal aside to accept this one, which now was turning out to be an income loss.

We go over a few more suggestions, and I find they are not budging at all. They are speaking of possibilities several months in the future. But we cannot wait that long. Nor would we want to if we have other choices available to us. Again, I asked to speak to the owner in a meeting, and again they said this was a bad idea. I fought very hard against the instinct to slam my hand on the table, take my printed materials, and storm out.

I'm still pissed every time I think of it. But from a business point of view, we can't move yet. We need a social night, and it takes about one month of lead time to properly change from one location to the next. Financially, we cannot remain where we are, though. We have only so many nights in a week, and if we are working Wednesday for no income at all they we would have to charge more for classes and other such things. Plus, many people don't take classes and this is the only chance to gain any income from people who just come to the social night.

So I learned a few things from this one.

On the good news side, the was this English teaching school which called us. They were offering to hire us to run a dancing class at their school as a student activity. Originally their offer was paltry; they just wanted to pay us an English teacher wage for the hours we spent there. But then we have come up with an arrangement which should be suitable. We will send just one teacher to them in the class. The teacher will get a high enough wage to make it worthwhile for them. From out point of view, this income stream is limited. We get our minimum wage to keep living out here. But we also get exposure to a good number of new people. So my plan now is to go ahead with this project. We will only teach the basic class session. This will give them at least a month of training. After that, if anyone wants to participate they can join our class at our studio, where we have a much greater income potential.

Last night I went to a social mixer. I met several people, one of which was from MTV Asia. I am going to see if anything can come from that. Also, I ran into a guy who's friend has just released a jazz record. He wants to aggressively promote it, and he's suggesting we dance at the release parties. I'm all for that.

And last, after having so much trouble with our venues and their bands, I have come to the conclusion that the only way we'll get what we want is to make our own. We are going to find an empty venue (or warehouse, for that matter) and rent it out. We're also going to put together our own band and teach them to play swing music. Yesterday I met with the person who we are considering to be that band's leader.

If we put these two things together, I think we will really be on track. Bars have always been bad places for swing dancers. They just don't drink enough. You can't have a martini then go to an aerobics class (though believe me, some people do). So eventually the bars get tired and kick us out. Also, all bars have their own personal agenda. None of it is compatible with swing. And their bands are never right. There are a lot of qualified jazz bands out here, but swing music is not the same. About half of jazz music is danceable. We need all dancable music.

Anyhow, this is my little scheme. Hey, it looks like I'm going to be some sort of an event promoter.

Peace,
-J

10am: in cab, receive incoming phone call. It's my former dance partner and friend from America. Surprised, I greet her and we exchange news. She gives me the latest information and asks for some life advice for a friend of hers.
10:15am: Enter a local English-teaching school. They have seen Shanghai Swings on TV and want to hire us for a class. Everything looks good but their initial pay offer is about 30% of our initial asking price. Can't drop that low; it costs more to live here than the income generated. Will respond with very firm counter offer.
11:30am: I am really quite upset leaving the school. I don't know why I am so upset. It's not personal, but they did know roughly our price beforehand. I go for coffee and lunch.
12:30pm: Walking about the old neighborhood where I first lived in Shanghai, Xu Jia Hui ("shoo jyah hway"). I stop in a barber shop and ask for a massage. Barber shops here all contain a massage room. Every single one. I thought it odd when I first arrived.
1:45pm: That massage was awful. The girl was apparently sick and kept sniffing all the time. Why she didn't break to blow her nose I know not. Cost was good, though: 28rmb, or about $US 3.50.
2:15pm: Go for second massage at another place. This time the girl is qualified. Finally my back and leg muscules are relaxed a bit. This is becoming more important since I am dancing so much... and, admittedly, I am aging a touch.
3:15pm: Pay them 60rmb (about $US 6.80). That's the nice thing about this place. I am holding some of the dancing brochures and I tell the girl behind the counter I am a tiao wu lao shi (dancing teacher). Immediately, the three masseusse girls waiting behind me all jump up to look at the brochure. I got a kick out of that.
3:30pm: Wander about and go to a Internet cafe. I decided today is definitely my day off (minus the morning meeting).
5:15pm: A young lady friend calls and wants to drop off some DVD's and get dinnner.
6:00pm: Dinner, walking about town.
9:00pm: Go grocery shopping with ladyfriend. I hate shopping alone, and my bachelor fridge is out of all food except Ramen noodles.
11:00pm: Walk her back to her place. On the way we talk about life and the philosophy of those types of people who settle down and those others who do not, like ourselves.
11:45pm: Drop her off and go to another rather nice Internet cafe. Start blogging.

Well, the TV crew did come. They filmed our class, and we are due to be on Dragon TV at 230pm this Saturday. I'm going to get a video copy and transfer it to digital so that it can be posted on the Shanghai Swings website.
I'm still working now on putting together the business end. I spoke to my dance partner and he has little to no interested in running the business end of things, so I think our partnership will survive just fine. She wants to run the basic dance classes and serve as a 'Fun and Good Stuff Supervisor', to ensure that the feel of Lindy Hop remains intact and that it has a lot of, uh, Fun and Good Stuff.
I joined a gym and I'm feeling a lot better. I sent out a resume to a business and adult English teaching school, and I think that will work well for me. In the meanwhile, we are beginning a new class for our advanced students and taking on a new instructor. The new class will teach advanced moves as part of an organized routine; anyone who completes the class will be able to perform in our fledgeling "Shanghai Swing Kids" dancing troupe.
I have made an agreement with a local copy shop. I am using them now for all of my computer, CD copying, and brochure printing needs. It's very convenient and rather inexpensive.
So that's about it!
-J

I just dropped off my friend Janet at the airport. She and her husband came out to China during this past week to visit. They stayed with me most of the time except for two days in which they traveled to Beijing for sightseeing. It was very interesting seeing her again. Janet and I met in our first semester of our first year in college. We were both in the engineering calculus, and one day she came up to me and said, 'You know, your turtleneck really matches your eyes..."

We became good friends and kept in contact througout the entire college experience. Very often weeks would go by when we would not see each other, but at any given moment of any day I'd drop in on her or she me. At some points we had a regular group of bar-hoppers who made runs to the industrial-music C-Street bar in Champaign (Tuesday nights only!).

We have not seen each other since shortly after graduation. I sent an email to her when I was still living in San Francisco, preparing to jump out to points unknown. She's done pretty well for herself. She's had some children's books published and runs a literary journal. She and her husband live in a house in the Chicago area.

During her visit, a few interesting things happened. On the first full day, I took them out to the Pudong section of Shanghai, where all of the tall, modern buildings stand. Janet is a avid photographer and took hundreds of shots all during the trip. When we returned to my apartment, I realized I'd left my cell phone and missed four calls, all in quick succession. I tried calling them back, and only one number worked. It was from Shanghai TV, but it was the receptionist and I had no idea who to ask for.

Whoever called me called my dance partner afterwards, and I go the name of the TV show and the person. With this, I called the receptionist again and reached her. They wanted to come to our swing dance class and film it. This would be to play on three stations out here; the Chinese-language Dragon TV, the English-language CCTV 9, and a business program. This last one made me a bit nervous as we're really not a business, just a social club. But it got me to thinking.

I figure the time has come to create a business around swing dancing and promote it here in China. We'd need to create one before the Shanghai Lindy Exchange (which a local paper has dubbed, "SHLX"). So if we're going to make one, might as well do it now and get the paperwork and hassles out of the way. More on all of that later.

So, as I'd said, I just dropped of Janet and her husband at the airport. I'm at my usual Internet Cafe today. They've done a lot of improvements since I first came here. About half of the computers have flat-screen monitors. And they've just re-done the lights and pillars with some new construction. It looks pretty good. I've got about two hours to kill here, maybe less. I should get to the gym today and give myself ample time to prepare for this filming at the dance studio.

It's a little after noon now. The class begins at 6pm. Hopefully the crew shows up! You never know. But I will put in another entry about this later, for sure.

Peace,
-J

Last Wednesday was opening night at Sasha's. Because of an article in a local expat magazine, City Weekend, we got at least eight additional new people. There were about 25 at the event, just about ideal for the size of the place. Everyone who came was already interested in dancing, and I think they will all sign up for classes -- or at least they asked about them.

I don't think we will stay long at Sasha's, however. It is a popular place and it seemed like our people did not buy very much at the bar. This is common with swing dancers. They don't drink. It's what killed the swing dance popular movement back in the U.S., and it's something I've been thinking about a good deal. We want to position ourselves so that the same thing does not happen here. There's three basic approaches that I can see. First is to bring in additional 'observer' people who partonize the bar more. Second is for the bar to market food and juice instead of alchohol. Third is to pick a venue which is not dependent on alchohol income.

In old business news, the IRS issues have been completely wrapped up. It was merely an error of overreporting. My accountant filed the proper forms and everything is okey dokey. If I were back in the States making consulting income, this really would not have been a big deal. But now, they said I owed two full months of current living expenses. So I'm glad that worked out.

In local business news, I turned down the job offer from the local event management company.

I felt very guilty turning down the offer. The guy had been a friend of mine since my first week in Shanghai. He hired me and my dance parntner for our very first swing dance show. But when the formal proposal came in, I was filled with a sense of dread.

I never pursued this job. Months ago, my friend asked me to represent his company at a meeting. One of their clients was a European, and they needed to save a major account. I was doing nothing on that day, so I agreed. My friend's girlfriend was to be my co-representative. She had very little business experience. I reviewed her sales pitch and strategy for the meeting, and I shook my head. "Let's just do a little revision..."

After many changes, I was quite pleased to find I did carry the meeting. I could hardly believe it myself. I sounded like I'd worked in marketing for years. At this point, everything was quite exciting. As meetings continued, I realized the value I could contribute to my friend's company. They just did not understand Western business. One day we offered several plans to the client, all of which were rejected. As we left the meeting my co-worker was talking about going ahead with the first plan we had presented. I told her, "You know he said 'No' to our plan, don't you?"

My thinking was I could serve as a presenter and cultural liason. I would sell their product and tell teach them Western business at the same time. I would ask for a good comission on anything I sold, and they'd do the execution of the work. It would not take too much of my time, so I'd be free to pursue my own interests.

We met with that client four or five times. And I had never sat down with my friend and specified how I was to be paid in the whole affair. No one seemed to disturbed by this. "I'm sure he'll take care of you," my co-worker said. I told my friend how I wanted to contribute and asked him what comission would be fair. "You first!" he said. I hadn't tought of it. I told him I'd get back to him.

Eventually, in the meetings we were giving the client quotes for services. I could let it go this far on faith, but I was not going to close on any part of this deal until I had at least a verbal understanding with my friend. We scheduled a Saturday lunch. I told him the common sales commission in the U.S., and he said he'd talk to his partner and get back to me.

I've learned the basic Chinese negotiation technique, used from the fabric market to the board room. First, devalue and insult the quality of a product. Then, offer less than half the asking price. My friend's counter-offer read, roughly, "You suck. You have not completed the duties assigned to you, nor have you agreed to work as much as we need in the future. As such we offer you half of what you have asked."

My reaction was like that of most Western men. "High hard one, PAL!!!" I refrained from sending a point-by-point response, though. I just said, "Thank you for your response. I will consider your counter-proposal."

The offer specified other things as well, like a montly sales quota. It suddenly realized I could not go along with this anymore. I realized it was a serious position which would require a much greater investment that I'd thought. And furthermore, only my friend and his girlfriend spoke English. I'd be the lone foreginer working with people I could not talk to. And I'd have no one who understood my Western-oriented point of view. And all of this in a field I felt neutral about for pay which warranted none of the risks. After a few days I sent a rejection letter, offering to see the client one more time to help transfer the account to another representative of their choice.

I felt quite bad about the situation. Many Chinese perceive business as making friendships. They had been my friends, too. We had gone to dinner together. My friend's girlfriend had leant me money when I lost my wallet (all repaid.) I had helped them with the business pitches in gratitude. But it had gone too far. I had to say no to joining them, and unfortunately it will probably end the friendship.

A learning experience. And so we go on.
-J

What is it, 9 days now?
So far so good. I am getting to the point where I don't miss it so much. My dancing is improved and I think I am over the physical withdrawal. There have still been times, every day, in which I want to get a smoke.

I am right now in an Internet Cafe near my house. The people here know me. I am here almost every day. Whenever I am bored and don't want to hang out alone at home, I come here. I play computer games, check my email, work on Shanghai Swings stuff, and do this blog.

I feel much better in these last two days. This past Saturday we took one of my students to the Dong Jia Lu fabric market. It's a pretty cool place. There are at least one hundred fabric cubicles in there in which people have rolls and rolls of fabric. Also, buttons an other things needed for clothes. You go out there, pick out a fabric you want, then talk to a tailor and tell him what you want to have made.

The purpose of the trip was to make a zoot suit for one of my students. We decided on a basic black pinstripe, double-breated zoot suit with vest. It's going to look pimpin', as they say. We also picked the fabric and gave the tailor our designs for the Shanghai Swings bowling shirt. It's going to be an old, pale blue with black collar and trim. We will have the Shanghai Swings logo embroidered on it, plus the person's name on the pocket and some stars as well. I designed the shirt based on an existing bowling shirt I got in San Fran Bay Area.

I have not been going out to the bars as much as I had before. I'm just not having much of a taste for it lately. It's always the same, always expensive, and I keep waking up with a hangover.

My friend from college is going to arrive here in one week. I have not seen her since we both graduated. She's coming with her husband and staying one week in China. She's the first visitor who has come to China specifically to stay with me (or, more accurately, to have a cheap place to stay!).

-J