Jeffory Gitomer has quickly become one of my sources of inspiration for learning about sales and appreciating proper sales technique. The video above is an example which was very pertinent to our particular industry – well it was before I had to change it to the youtube video – iframe seems to be giving my blog indigestion… balderdash!!! Click on the title of this blog entry to take a look at his site – there is plenty of valuable information to be found there. I was first introduced to Jeffory after reading his Sales Bible book which I would highly recommend you add to your own “sales success” library. You could also just toss it in a pile with all the other self-improvement books you’ve accumulated over the years – your choice. Definitely worth the read!
Not that anyone doesn’t know at this point but yesterday the on the 25th of June 2009 Michael Jackson died at the age of 50. I was at first disheartened by the news. It came to me when I was out helping Michael with his booth at the convention center in nearby Futian district. In between handing out flyers and trying to motivate his staff to get out of their booth and hand out flyers Mike pulled up the big news on Google. I won’t bother linking anything because I’m sure for the next several months you’ll need nothing more than to type his name into any major search engine to find everything you want and more about the details surrounding his death.
His death brought with it to me a sublime and muted feeling of depression. I can’t say I ever would have admitted to have liking him as a person very much – through the “Wakko-Jacko” days… the lawsuit days… but I would be a liar indeed if I told anyone I didn’t have something of a closeted passion for some of his music. In many ways his music and lyrics were timeless – I’m by no means a music gooroo, just a casual fan that had an appreciation for his unique sound and infamy. Of all the albums I lost in my break up with my first serious girlfriend his was the only one that I cared enough to reclaim – well I did eventually get them all back… 5 years later – haha!
I contribute my experience of his work and music in my life in his honor, my friend commented to me earlier “it’s like a part of my childhood died,” I was inspired to agree. I can’t clearly remember the first time I heard the song “black or white” but I can identify the theme it resonated with in my spirit – it exists within me still. I suppose I could argue his music was an act of social activism against social injustice, and there are few things that can get me so completely saturated with fury and passion. I was and always will be a zealot for justice, even when I put off practicing those parts of myself for pragmatic reasons. “Man in the Mirror,” “Heal the world,” “Black or White,” some of my earliest stimulation of that cord – and they still do the trick today.
I was in awe of the global responce, even on a local level here in China, to his passing. His international infamy can be noted in publications and periodicals the world over – I read even the tabloids that had once so mercilessly attacked him during his lawsuit days were now praising him. I didn’t appreciate the full range, depth, and breadth of his influence and infamy until now – is there a man on the planet today that doesn’t know his name? A person even in the worst of combat plagued 3rd world countries that wouldn’t recognize his picture? I believe what is most important at the end of his life, from a cultural standpoint, is that he is remembered primarily as a positive influence – that he is recognized for what he brought to the world – not for any of the uglier parts of himself. We are – all of us – only human, I will remember him fondly, listen to him frequently, forgive him any transgressions and drink to his safe passage home. R.I.P. MJ
So the earth is beginning to shake over here – at least in Chinese cyberland. The country, according to this press release today, has accused Google of “spreading pornography and breaking Chinese law.” Some of Google’s services have been popping on and off over the past couple days. Yesterday back at my apartment I was unable to access g-mail. Today search engine access began to get chopped off. Unbelievable – if you take the time to read the article you’ll also note that China is vying for mandatory installation of software to screen out pornographic sites. This software would need to be installed on all new computers after July 1 – its called “Green Dam Youth Escort.” I wouldn’t be at all surprised if a spoof porn site pops up in the near future bearing a randition of that name.
On the lighter side of things the article references China as the worlds current largest internet user base. Nice, makes me feel just that much better about uprooting myself and moving here. All the same, being in the IT industry makes me particularly sensitive to issues of blocking. Recently I’ve been contemplating the future of China concerning pornography and whether or not the Chinese people have a sexual revolution to look forward to, makes me curious about the history leading up to our own back in the States. What were the major contributing factors? Are their signs of such a radical change brewing in China? I’ll have to access that train of thought again sometime – could you imagine – can you even fathom the impact an event like that would have on China, I can promise you one thing, I would be as far from the focus of the government as possible if something like that begins to happen.
So I began well intended, looking for some software that would translate chinese text to english when placing your cursor over the text in any application or webpage. The winning candidate turns out to be one Powerword created by Kingsoft a Chinese based software company which has been combating Microsoft on various fronts for more than a decade. Problem…. apparently the software was designed to aid Chinese learners and was therefore designed with a Chinese interface. Having downloaded and installed that version I found the functionality I could use acceptable but most of the applications power was unavailable to me because of the chinese interface. So began the search into an english interface version of the software…
This article springboarded my learnings surrounding this matter. If you tire of my ramblings Wikipedia has a well thought-out entry you may like to peruse. Now to clarify there are several versions of “Powerword” I have seen mentioned back and forth online. The software I initially downloaded (zip file named ‘powerwordlite.25269.3009.exe’) was infact the free software developed by the Google/Kingsoft joint venture (using that term loosly – haven’t researched the official relationship between the two entities). All other versions of Powersoft (I lost count of how many I found – ranging in years from 2000-2009 version numbers 3.0 to 5.5 and a languages Japanese, Chinese, English) were/are produced by Kingsoft and are not freeware. As I’m in China the fact that they are not freeware simply means its a little more difficult for me to effectively transform it into free ware.. [A. Search online for a full download and crack OR B. Go down to my local electronics shopping area and pick up a hacked copy for 10 yuan]. Though I’m sure these behaviors would be frowned upon by many it is an unfortunate defacto law of the land here in China. Some acts are in motion in an effort to circumvent this trend but believe you me for now they remain in full swing.
3 hours later….
Decided to call it quits on account of frustration and lack of desire to pull all the hairs out of my head. Looks like I may have to go the route of steal/copy/crack in order to get what I want. Thats ok – I’m in the right place for that .
Greetings, Dave here - trying my best to get ahead by finding my way in China. Getting my hands dirty daily in the world of online marketing and promotions. Hope you find my rantings and learnings of business and the new world around me helpful and useful in some way :). O ya - and drink some red wine - it's good for you!
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