CentreO Blog

Are you an entrepreneur? Are you interested in new ways of maximizing gains, brand presence and profitability? Would you like to know more about critical success factors for operating a business in Hong Kong? Then do not miss this opportunity!

Hong Kong Industry Commerce and Professional Association and Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) come together to coordinate our first international seminar “Breaking Down Barriers”, maximize your returns and reduce risks in running a business in Hong Kong.

The event will take place on the 13^th of March 2014, 2-5 PM @ HKTDC SME Centre.

We will discuss:

Business migration

Business setup

Investment visa arrangements

Partnering local companies

Recruiting the right staff

Strategy development for long-term success

Sourcing suppliers/agents

The panel of speakers will include:

Mr. Stephen Barnes (Hong Kong Visa Centre)

Samuel Lee (Manulife Asia Limited)

Laurent Timmerman (Athenasia Consulting Limited)

For more details please visit the event’s official page – http://hicpa.hk/?page_id=3187&lang=en

Media enquiries – Mrs. Lau, josephine@centreo.hk, +852 31242755

Working in Hong Kong means that you are constantly on the run. Whether it’s your job, business, family or personal errand, we are a generation on the go.

Finding the right balance between work and personal life is a life-long quest, that’s why I am very happy to share a few tips I read about recently.

Get your priorities straight

Find out what is important to you and how to allocate your effort.

Draw a large circle on a piece of paper. Create “slices” to represent how many hours a week you would like to devote to each role. My circle includes my business, education, fitness and time with friends and family.

 Plan, plan, plan.

Plan!

Use a calendar, notebook or better – an app to plan your week. A good idea is to colour code your activities (think Google Calendar) so that you can easily see to what “slice” of your circle they belong to.

Take control

The emotional high we get from doing a lot at once can result in mistakes or missing subtle cues. So when multi-tasking, take control of distractions. Turn off your social media alerts, email notification and mobile devices so that you can focus on your task at hand (even if it’s just for 30 minutes).

 Do not procrastinate

Procrastination in the act of replacing high-priority tasks with lower priorities. Putting things off till the last minute creates a similar emotional high to multitasking, getting you to feel stressed and out of control. In order to avoid this, rank your daily tasks, putting the BIG ones at the top of the list.

I have had the pleasure of listening to a TED Talk by Amy Cuddy, who studies the influence of our body language on the way we actually feel.

According to Amy, smiling when we feel sad – can make us feel better and opening up when we feel weak, can actually make us feel more powerful and confident.

She suggests doing a few “power poses” before an important negotiation, meeting or interview, saying that they may have a very positive effect on the outcome.

Watch her lecture and try it out. I have been using this technique for a few days now and it has worked wonders!

March has arrived quickly, factories are all up and running once again. Do you need a visa to China meet your suppliers and make factory visits?

We offer China Visa Application Service with a competitive price, starting from Hk$450/ visa.

 

All we need from you:

Original Passport

Hong Kong Landing Slip

1X passport size photo

1X company name card

HKID card copy (if any)

Your expected date of entering to China

No Fuzz, No Hassel, No Hotel bookings, No Round-trip ticket proof needed.

Just contact us at sales@centreo.hk

If you run your own business and have a presence online, you have probably used or at least heard of Google Analytics. The tool allows you to track visitor activity on your website and more, showing you how your business is doing online.

However, interpreting the results is not a piece of cake, there is simply too much information, some of which is inherently complicated.

Rejoice, now we are in luck. Visually’s Google analytics report puts all of these problems behind us, by offering a clear and informative infographic on how your website is doing.

I have recently come across an article by Michael Moroney that

has made me want to jump back in time and read it when I was 20.

The thing is, I have always wanted to be an entrepreneur. But until yesterday, I had no idea I’ve been one all along)

Here’s why.

According to Michael Moroney, entrepreneurial thinking works for all of us, even if we don’t actually own a business.

We are all drawn to the idea of “being our own boss” and arranging our own schedule. However, even if we are currently working for someone else, we are all “bosses” of our own future and career advancement.

“I like to think about this in terms of a model I call “YouCo,”  -writes Michael – where each person is CEO of their own job — not only their daily tasks and deliverables, but also their broader personal and professional goals”.

By placing yourself at the center of your personal one-person company, you’re also forced to confront important decisions about your career ambitions head on, and to devise short-, middle-, and long-term plans for attaining those goals. Just like in business.

That made me think…where is NatalliaCo right now and where would I like it to be? What are my goals for this year? Should I be outsourcing career and professional advice? How do I increase my own efficiency and grow in a sustainable fashion?

Thinking about myself in this way, really made me realize that I am the one in charge and that I have always been the boss of my own professional advancement.

Being your own boss comes with wonderful opportunities, as well as great responsibility.

So no matter where you are in life, just remember that you are  already running a “YouCo”.