July 1st, Social meetup

Today was a great day. In the morning I woke up and worked on a project for a few hours. Had to rewrite an ionic directive for someone in a slack group. Then I took my daughter and dog out for a few hours and we played in the park together. She's really independent and already trying to lead. She kept running off and exploring different places on her own doing this cute hand gesture to get me to follow. We then went home for lunch and all took a nap together.

After our nap, I woke up about 3:00 pm, I headed out to a party with some students and other firms in Chengdu. I paid $14 for entry and we had unlimited drinks and food. It was on a beautiful rooftop bar looking over Chengdu. I had a really good time.

First I talked to a potential client about their application and just reaffirmed the project, answered some questions and had a drink together. Then I walked around and and met with a bunch of other people. Seems a lot of people want to do startups and they need a mentor and a developer. After that I sat and spoke with Trevor Owens for a while about all kinds of stuff. We talked marketing, investment techniques, life in China, my Marine Corp experience, and some other small talk. I made a good friend out of Silicon Valley tonight which is awesome.

Later in the night my Estonian friend showed up and we discussed her co-op mining operation and how to get it started. Had a few drinks and just BSed. I said bye to everyone, got a bunch of new contacts, and got a few business cards. It was a great night.

I love how easily I can network with people here. Everyone is wanting to work together and people are very friendly. Every day I keep getting new offers and more opportunities. I'm very motivated to write a book now hearing how easy it is, especially in China. I would have to write the book in Chinese and English, kinda why I'm writing these entries now. I am also looking into doing more with startups and possibly becoming a mentor and a growth hacker. There are a lot of people who need help in this area.

Something Trevor pointed out, and I already knew, and now it's repeating in my head is about mental blocks. People limit themselves and always say they can't do something which causes that mental block. Once you've got that block it's very difficult to get rid of it. However, after being in the Marines I now know what it's like to get past that but knowing you have it is the difficult part. I think self evaluation and surrounding yourself with outgoing, positive, motivated people is the key to notice the blocks and getting past them.

There is much personal work still to be done for me. I still have many goals, places to see, and things to do before I die. Trevor and I have a competition on who can go to the other's town first. I might have to take a trip to Shanghai here soon before he comes back to Chengdu.