CNX Podcast
The Chiang Mai Community Podcast, where businesses, brands and interesting people get heard. Hosted by Ash Pemberton.
CNX Podcast
Wired for Success: Michael Michelini on Social, E-Commerce, and SEO Mastery S01/E05
Immerse yourself in a riveting conversation as Ash unlocks the captivating world of social media, e-commerce, and SEO with none other than Michael Michelini!
In this episode, Ash and Michael weave a tapestry of stories, exploring Michael's illustrious background and multifaceted roles as a public speaker, podcast host, and e-commerce aficionado.
Embark on a journey through Michael's experiences in China and his fascinating insights into the future of both Chiang Mai and the ever-evolving Web 3.0 industry.
Dive into the personal side of Michael as the conversation delves into family, motivations, and the delicate dance of work-life balance.
Don't miss out on this enchanting episode – tune in now, it's where interesting people get heard!
https://linktr.ee/cnxpodcast
Hey. Hello, everyone, and a massive hello To Michael Michelini.
Michael:Hello?
Ash:I know that you are a public speaker. I know that you run and host the cross border summit. You're a podcast host of Global from Asia, which is all about cross border business, and you have four hundred and ten episodes under your Plus plus, because I know some of them weren't actually released, and you did some special series. that does show tremendous amount of consistency and commitment. You're an American national, Originally from Connecticut, but you have truly international credentials, and you're super active on social media. The outputs that I see are really professional content. So that means you've either got a really good team or you've streamlined your own operations quite impressively. You are the founder of global from asia dot com, which I found out is way more than just a podcast. You you've got your marketplace, which seems to be designed to help others do business. And I feel that a lot what you do is designed about Networking, collaboration, and helping others. You're the founder of Cheng Global,
Michael:coFounder in the Chiang Mai
Ash:district. Cofounder of the Chiang Mai district. Thank you for correcting me on that one. the reason for me mentioning that as well was like a whole new aspect of you about blockchain and crypto. For me, you are best known as an ecommerce specialist. Living in China for over ten years And now living here in Chiang Mai with your family. Yeah. Mike, that is a lot. What, out of everything that I mentioned or Failed to mention is most important to you.
Michael:being a connector, like you said, bringing people Together and the strengths and the opportunities in other people.
Ash:That's awesome. Can I Be blunt? Does that pay the bills, or is that something that you do to give back?
Michael:been hearing the word altruistic a lot lately discussions with people, I don't do things for money right away. make my money a seller myself, I consulting for other ecommerce and online businesses and content creation.
Ash:Can we Dive in a little bit more into an ecommerce seller is because I think I know. I'm sure there's an awful lot more to Can you share just a little bit more about specifically what you do?
Michael:Ecommerce seller one way of calling it. Another way is a brand owner. could be called private label or PL. It means you your own label or your own brand on the product, which is what recommend.
Ash:Mhmm.
Michael:the reason they're so afraid is it is somewhat easy to reverse engineer product From Amazon listing, there's more and more tools that shows how much they're spending on advertising, their ranking, their sales, Even some ideas of where their supplier could be based. So there's this paranoia that they're just another Seller of a product that anybody else could But I've off always always talk about the products I sell., I have meetups here. I bring the product samples, talk them on a podcast. a lot of people feel like Amazon commoditizes the seller. They It's trying to make everybody look the same. There's even some jokes about, like, oh, which table should I buy? And every picture looks the exact same except just a different paint and name or brand. you try differentiate through the features or the packaging or the experience or the listing. I mean, a lot of people just paranoid to a copy somewhat easily and reverse engineered/ Ash: How did you get started Cross border summit started from the podcast. People were enjoying it, contacting me, wanting to meet. And have to credit my wife, Wendy. She says, you should Make conference.
Ash:Am I right in saying everyone that very first cross border summit have been come from your podcast? They were listeners or associates or people that had heard about this from your podcast.
Michael:either from it or referred by it. Yeah.
Ash:And then here we are twenty twenty three. How has that expanded? How has your reach and your audience expanded?
Michael:definitely expanded over the years. And even we're mentioning that that panel I was on, people recognized stuff that's just my voice because they listen to a an online audio. And they said it they made me listen to it when I came to Chiang Mai, and they're looking for Asia business content and found it, and We're excited.
Ash:Cool. It's been a while since you launched a live event, right, since twenty nineteen.
Michael:Yeah.
Ash:And here we are in twenty twenty three. How has it been For cross border business during that period.
Michael:it chokes me up thinking about it. There's this mass destruction. families, separated businesses destroyed, products, liquidated brands just gone. So many have given up or sold or there was also this aggregator wave where these investors bought up all these smaller guys and consolidated some bigger ones. some in a good way, retired, made seven, eight figure exits and don't do it anymore. It's a whole new world.
Ash:I've got to really enjoy your company. Obviously, I've known about you for/Quite a long time because we're part of the DC, which is the Dynamite Circle. It's a remote independent business Networking and entrepreneurial group. But what I really wanted to do was dive a little bit deeper into exactly what it is that you do And, what makes you tick? just gonna do a Question round.
Michael:Okay.
Ash:there's something that you don't wanna answer, you don't have to. You can just look at me in a funny way, and I'll move straight on to the next one. So here they are. How old are
Michael:Forty
Ash:Kids?
Michael:Two.
Ash:Married?
Michael:Yes.
Ash:Who to?
Michael:Wendy?
Ash:Tell me about her.
Michael:She's Chinese born, more the business minded person of the two.
Ash:How did you fall in love with her?
Michael:One of my startups, It's really funny. we did a lead gen tool on Sina Weibo, which is like the Chinese Twitter, and it would do, like, mass searching and contacting of people on the platform. And she was one of my leads. Not for dating, but she worked in biz dev for a mobile app platform in Beijing. And I was going there to meet those kind people, and so she was one of my leads.
Ash:Cool. what made her fall in love with you?
Michael:thInk she just thought I was so crazy to try to do a tech startup in China as a foreigner didn't speak Chinese. I think we're both very independent people.
Ash:Cool. Stronger together?
Michael:Yeah. Stronger together.
Ash:Awesome. What's the best worst about living in China?
Michael:It sounds I feel bad because Chinese people are not free, but foreigners are free in China. Or we actually used to be way more free. When we first came there, we could do anything. even if you spoke Chinese, you would act like you didn't speak Chinese, you could kinda away with anything. Yeah. I mean of course, there's limits on that, but you were and that's why Chase, you would not like foreigners because we could kinda get away with things.
Ash:Stuff that they can't. And that was the best.
Michael:Of course. Right? I it's not about race or stereotypes, but it's at the person being able to get privilege is pretty awesome.
Ash:Sure. You're getting Freedoms the nationals don't get.
Michael:Yeah.
Ash:So what's the worst side of that?
Michael:I guess especially men are jealous. I People to deceive you. But I guess it happens anywhere, but especially they would try to use can go through some stories. Like, I was part of the first coworking space in Shenzhen, China, and there was people that would wanna rent the space to Tell potential customers that this was their real office, these afforders work for
Ash:Right.
Michael:I didn't know that, but then look I had a Chinese partner in that group that out. He's like, no. No. You gotta get out of here. This is not the purpose of this co working space. Do you say this is your office, and all these foreigners are your Staff,
Ash:Mhmm.
Michael:there's this kind of deceiving
Ash:Okay. in short, the best thing is the freedoms.
Michael:it's getting less now. You But lately, it's getting so strict For everybody. So that was kind of good old days, we all say, in China./ Ash: I've lived in Chiang Mai nine years. I love it here. children go to school here. We're part of a tremendous community. a football coach business owner. I'm so settled here. What brought you to Chiang the main thing is I wasn't satisfied with education of my children In China. The cost, the value, the ROI.. people have kids, a lot of times, go back to their home country. Right? Because they can go into the education system and the support system. I didn't wanna do So my wife and I left the kids with her parents, we traveled around Southeast Asia looking. went to Philippines, Chiang Mai, Kathmandu And Kuala Lumpur. we picked here because there were so many schools, the environment, the culture, of course, the cost are very, very reasonable, And the nomads and the Internet is so fast. And we have a house as it's amazing. lot of other places, you have to stay in, like, an apartment. You can't really A house in so lot of cities. But, yeah, we picked it for all those reasons.
/ Ash:Well, What does the future of Chiang Mai look to you? How do you think it's gonna all shape up in the next five or ten years for Chiang Mai?
Michael:I just wish the smoky season could get fixed. But how
Ash:can we not fix would the Simpsons fix it? I think they'd put a massive fan on the top of Doi Suthep and just blow it back.
Michael:True.
Ash:Could we do that?
Michael:We should. We should. But future, I think, is gonna keep picking up. Keep hearing more people, whether it's Chiang Mai or Bangkok or Phuket or other cities in Thailand. More and more people picking Thailand, I've noticed more friends from China and overseas. I see Southeast Asia as the best place to be, whether it's Chiang Mai or Thailand or even other parts of Southeast Asia, I think this is the growth.
Ash:Me too.
Michael:Yeah.
Ash:Yeah. Quick fire. Are we ready?
Michael:Ready.
Ash:If you were starting out in business Today and you needed to make money, what would you do?
Michael:Do I have the skills I have now, or do I not?
Ash:Starting from scratch. Today, age, young twenties. Not a lot of capital. What would you do to make money? Knowing what you know.
Michael:I dig into it. There's two ways. and it's on how much risk you wanna take. But I think this apprentice program, I know DC has done that. Of course, we don't wanna work for someone else, but it's not like you're just working for a company, but working for, like, a startup or a small company is doing what you like what you wanna do. And tell them clearly you're like an apprentice. If that wasn't a way, the other way is service businesses is better than product businesses to start with less capital, But I would start a service of something that I want to build out. Because when I try to do something like all the stuff I do, it's Still related with ecommerce. Like, I sell products. I do, events and community this. I try to kinda build the ecosystem. So I tell somebody to do what you like to do and then kinda, like, expand around that.
Ash:you ready for a couple more?
Michael:Sure. These sorry. I'm vulgar. I feel
Ash:No. No. No. No. I called them quick fire, and then I asked questions that just it's you need to elaborate on. So I'm sorry about that./Here comes another one./ Where are we with Web three?
Michael:It's a bear market for sure. There's no question about that, and market is down. But I think people build in the bear. It's one thing people say, I'm seeing a lot of people building. there's a saying about cowboys come back with arrows in their back, I think we finished that cowboy face, even like the dot com bubble. Right? the dot com bubble, there was this huge Bubble, and then it popped, and it was dead for a while, and then it popped back. Like, Facebook didn't come in the original dot com. Even Google didn't really come in the original dot come. They came in the second week. cowboys that did the NFT projects and all those scams, they were the kind the cowboys. next wave is the settlers. And I feel like I'm the settler. working on a Web three project for ecommerce. And seen a lot on CryptoTwitter, And they're saying, like, now the pioneers might get the wrong terms here, but the settlers are coming now we're kind clearing out scams and the BS. now we're I think build, like, the next Facebook and Google on Web three because first ones were kinda scams or hyped or maybe they didn't intend to be, but it was too early. now it's kinda cycling that through. I think we're gonna build the second wave now.
Ash:Thanks. Couple more?
Michael:Yeah.
Ash:What makes you jump out of bed in the morning? Like, what motivates
Michael:I hire too many people. I spend so much money on people. I hire way more than my revenue because I To develop the people. actually, some of them, I made me all choked up. but they liked how I pushed them. then some of them cry because they said they're trying to Improve or trying to live up what I'm trying to push them into Up to, be. But, yeah, I mean, that's developing them and I've learned about but coaching or business or management is developing people to do task. But might even talk to someone in some of groups, They tell me, kinda, like, let them see that they could do that, or I gave them the confidence that they could do didn't think that they could do
Ash:Yeah. Good for good for them.
Michael:Yeah.
Ash:And that's what motivates you more than anything else.
Michael:I'm trying to build stuff that lives beyond me. don't know why I think about a I I try to think of legacy. things that can live past me. And I've read a lot of management and leadership books Setting cultures and values, I think that's one of the best investments.
Ash:Awesome. Have you been The recipient of this? Have you had good mentors? Have you had great experiences from people that wanted to develop where's this come from?
Michael:It's a good question. it didn't come it wasn't like an original intent, but when I saw The result of developing someone. there's been some they stay with us longer Because invested in them so and I'm trying to be almost like an investor in people. you can see, we went through a lot of stuff. do, and I can't do that myself, So I'm trying to have them as leaders to be able to Run those businesses without my involvement as much.
Ash:How many people do you currently have Working for you.
Michael:I've been we're very flexible work, but it's approximately fifteen.
Ash:Good. And You come across as a very composed, calm individual. How do you manage your work life balance?
Michael:I'm a workaholic. I can't even see myself Retiring? I've read somebody sent me some article about there was no such thing as retirements many years, I think retirement is still like a new term. grandparents would work the farms in the old times, and die when you stop working what this article says. The reason people start to die is they stop working. Or it's not work's not really, like, about, Nine to five work, but creating or or or exercising using your brain, not just muscles, but your brain. But, my habit is Morning's my work time. I work at home, do thirty minute pomodoros. With a five minute break. it's also called maker management. my morning is maker time And outside in the afternoon or phone calls or or other emails, try to do the afternoon. Evening is try to be with kids, but I'll squeeze in phone calls.
Ash:Thank you. for being so open and for sharing that with us. It's been a pleasure. Thanks,
Michael:Seth. So much, Ash.
