James Chan Articles

Your First Client Is Yourself - Click To Read Article
Finding new customers is like kissing thousands of frogs. Doing all that kissing is a royal pain in the behind but no entrepreneur can afford to stop doing it.

Why We Want To Be Independent Professionals? - Click To Read Article
James Chan describes the spirit and purpose of people who make a living as an independent professional.

You Are A Brand - Click To Read Article
Developing a strong sense of who we are takes both introspection and courage, but it is the core of finding our own brand.

Winning Recognition - Click To Read Article
This is a story on how Alan Kaplan won recognition early on when he set out on his own.

When Your Business Grows Up, You Became A Manager - Click To Read Article
Jennifer Thompson tells her story on the difference between between an entrepreneur and being a manager of a business.

What Do Men in China Do? - Click To Read Article
A secret of men's lives in China.

Waking Up To Opportunity - Click To Read Article
When you are at the right time and at the right place, you'll succeed even if you're falling asleep.

What Do You Do When You Get Up in the Morning? - Click To Read Article
As entrepreneurs who can't "hold down" a nine-to-five job, we often get questions from friends and family who wonder what we do when we get up in the morning.

The "Spare Room Tycoon" As An Independent Entrepreneur - Click To Read Article
James Chan defines the meaning and spirit of the "spare room tycoon," a name he created to describe the mind and mindset of independent entrepreneurs.

There Is Only One Certainty About Starting Your Own Business - Click To Read Article
What happens when you first start out on your own.

The Six Worries of A Spare Room Tycoon - Click To Read Article
This is a story of my friend Mariann Schick, a fellow spare room tycoon.

The Meaning of Confidence - Click To Read Article
Confidence is the result of practice.

The Joy of Survival - Click To Read Article
We need to celebrate when we feel joyful. Those are among life's precious moments that make our journey worthwhile.

The "C-H-I-N-A" formula for selling services or products to China - Click To Read Article
If you want to succeed in promoting and exporting American-made products or professional services in the China market, think "C.H.I.N.A." -- an acronym I created to help Westerners understand the Chinese mind and their business conduct.

The Entrepreneur's Itch - Click To Read Article
The is a story of Bill Wolheim, who finally came to the realization that being on his own is the only way to be at peace.

Surviving Feasts and Famines - Click To Read Article
Gary Samartino tells his story on how he succeeded in living through "feasts and famines" in his business as an independent service provider.

The Illusion of Security - Click To Read Article
There are few things that cause more anxiety than the aspiration to safety. The ability to accept this gives us the wisdom required to be a serial entrepreneur.

The 70 Lessons of Running A Business On One's Own - Click To Read Article
This is a list of 70 lessons of sane, self-employment from the book Spare Room Tycoon.

Struggle.com - Click To Read Article
What happened to CollegeFriends.com.

Strategic Retreat - Click To Read Article
Having started a business that doesn't succeed is a natural course of event. The hardy entrepreneur must not consider the failure of his business as personal failure. Get a job and wait for the next ripe moment to shine.

Staying Small By Choice - Click To Read Article
Gil Gordon, who invented tele-commuting as a way of allowing talented employees to work from home instead of at their corporate offices, prefers to stay small. Here is his personal story.

Six Lessons of Successful Entrepreneurship - Click To Read Article
James Chan presents six lessons on running a successful one-person business.

Small Customers Have Money Too - Click To Read Article
How Stan Gross survived before he hit it big in his consultancy.

Selling to China Is An Uphill Battle But You Can Succeed - Click To Read Article
Consultant Dr. James Chan offers seven secrets to selling American-made products and services to China.

Selling Should Be Like Breathing - Click To Read Article
How I learned to be a saleman--something I discovered years after I had gotten my Ph.D. degree.

Searching for Wholeness and Balance As An Entrepreneur - Click To Read Article
Balance and Wholeness are two sides of a coin for the living entrepreneurs.

Raising A Family While You Work - Click To Read Article
The story of Margie Brogan, a labor arbitrator, on how to raise a family as she runs a business.

Prepared to Succeed - Click To Read Article
Opportunities are often what we define them to be. Mike McGrail didn't go to church to find a client; he went because he always did. A business plan is useful, but if it's too restrictive, it can blind you to opportunities that you're well equipped to realize.

Pennies From Heaven - Click To Read Article
You never know who'll buy your first product.

Making the Phone to Ring - Click To Read Article
A source of anxiety for most self-employed professionals is that the phone does not ring enough. And it rings, it may not be from potential clients and customers.

Life After Catastrophe - Click To Read Article
Robert Booker is a successful African-American entrepreneur. He tells his own story on how he succeeded in getting back on his feet by evolving from a business that went under to starting another new business.

Looking Good On Paper - Click To Read Article
When you go into business on your own, your stationery has to convey that you are a professional running a professional business. Looking good on paper is not an option. It is a requirement.

Lesson from the Plumber and the Dentist - Click To Read Article
More often than not, the anxieties of our clients and customers are what drive them to want and pay us.

Keep Listening After "No!" - Click To Read Article
How Rick Schilling found his successful, new business after a potential client has just rejected his sales pitch. This article is about the art of keep listening after someone has said "No!" to us.

Is There Money in It? - Click To Read Article
When you do what you love, the money may not necessarily follow; at least not immediately.

Independent Businesspeople Live Intense But Often Lonely Lives - Click To Read Article
How to survive the emotional challenges of running a business.

How To Sell To Large Corporations When You are a One-Person Business - Click To Read Article
Know what you can and cannot do for a large corporation.

How To Be A Serial Entrepreneur - Click To Read Article
Marvin Schwam knew how to create magic. He gave people desire.

How Much Should You Charge As An Independent Consultant? - Click To Read Article
James Chan shares one lesson on pricing.

How Not To Network - Click To Read Article
Networking is a learned skill. It may not come naturally to some people. It requires that you understand human nature, a skill that is woefully neglected in this world of fast friends and instant communication.

How Big Do You Need To Be? - Click To Read Article
Should entrepreneurs aspire to creating another Amazon, Dell, Google, or Microsoft? Or, should we be content as a one-person company?

How Big Does Your Business Need To Be? - Click To Read Article
Every business needs to evolve, but not every business needs to expand, and one should never expand just for expansion's sake.

How big should your business be? - Click To Read Article
Many independent entrepreneurs are content to be one-person companies. These people, called the "spare room tycoons," feel that it is more important to be ourselves than to be big, as long as our business is successful and we are prosperous. After all, history has shown repeatedly that one person can change the world.

Home Office, Personal Space - Click To Read Article
The story of Rochana and Richard Norby tells us that we can have both a work space and a home space at a home office. They've done it.

Heartburn - Click To Read Article
The rise and fall of Rocky Condino's contracting business.

Getting What You're Worth - Click To Read Article
To get what you feel you deserve, it is important to muster up courage to be emotionally truthful to a potential client. By speaking frankly about how you feel, your potential client may respect you even more. And more importantly, he or she will pay your fee.

Good Times, Bad Times - Click To Read Article
Good times and bad times are like day and night. They alternate and affirm the passage of time.

Growing Too Fast: A Cautionary Tale - Click To Read Article
It is not your overhead but what's in your head that counts, especially when you run into a downturn in your business. Your ability and willingness to cut costs can help you stay in business longer to wait out the storm.

Getting Over Getting Fired - Click To Read Article
Take time to mourn over the loss of your job, and then move on.

Getting Paid - Click To Read Article
Getting work is not automatic, and so is getting paid after you've done your work.

From Cancer to Career - Click To Read Article
Christina Pirello tells her story on how she evolved from having cancer to having her own cooking show.

Fear of Selling - Click To Read Article
How Bill Frysinger the engineer conquered his "fear of selling."

Dueling With the Pirates: Seven Successful Strategies - Click To Read Article
James Chan, Ph.D., offers seven ways to do battle with pirates in the Chinese market.

Eating Out in China: One Night in Shenyang - Click To Read Article
A real-life story of suffering through a Chinese banquet.

Dressed To Bill - Click To Read Article
When you are on your own, you have to look good.

Don't Expect Gratitude from All Customers - Click To Read Article
For customers who pay you and even love who you do for them, you want to stay with them for as long as you run your business. But, for other customers who treat you as their interim "Fire Department," just do your work and let go. You'd be a happier person, not merely a successful one.

Differentiating Between Price and Value - Click To Read Article
This is a story on how Fran McElroy succeeded in getting a client and getting paid what she deserves to get.

Diary of A Nutty Entrepreneur - Click To Read Article
When you become your own boss, don't turn into a slave.

Daily Anxiety - Click To Read Article
For independent professionals who work alone, finding a way to handle isolation and daily axiety is key to sanity.

Confidence Is Money - Click To Read Article
Confidence comes and goes; but you have to have it when it counts.

Calculating How To Charge - Click To Read Article
This is how my friend Rick Schilling does when he tells people how much he will charge for his service.

Business-like Billing - Click To Read Article
Learning how to bill professionally is just as important as knowing how much to bill.

Building Self Assurance - Click To Read Article
How Ellen Thompson built self assurance and maintained confident when it mattered.

Business As A Contact Sport - Click To Read Article
How Mario Sikora trained himself to be confident.

Betting On Yourself - Click To Read Article
You have to take a chance, in order to have a chance--a story from the life of Martha Hughes.

Bigger or Better? - Click To Read Article
There are pros and cons in trying to grow your company to a larger size.

Ask For What You Want And Need To Do A Good Job - Click To Read Article
How Ralf Graves asked for what she wanted and got it.

Balancing Work and Life - Click To Read Article
A physician said to me in 1986, after I had first started my own business for three years: "There is more to life than working hard and making money." Now, I'm seeing his protege at the same office. My former physician passed on. But his words stay for me. I miss him.

A Myth of My Own - Click To Read Article
Every founder of a business has his or her own myth, which is the spirit that drives our being. James Chan relates his personal myth and hopes that other entrepreneurs will write their own too.

A CEO No More - Click To Read Article
When you are in business on your own, even being an ex-CEO means nothing. You have to start all over again.

A Strong Identity - Click To Read Article
The best negotiation is when you are not even negotiating. This is a true story from the life of Sam Maitin, the good artist who lived and worked in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

A Hobby To Stay Sane for Entrepreneurs - Click To Read Article
Thys van der Merwe in Richards Bay, South Africa, told me how his hobby of taking pictures of wildlife and landscape helps him become a better software programmer, and perhaps a more successful entrepreneur to boot.

A Walk in the Woods for An Entrepreneur - Click To Read Article
A story of how Helen Solomons finds peace and realization as an entrepreneur during walks in the woods.

A Modern Hermit - Click To Read Article
Jan Opdyke gave me her story of living alone as an entrepreneur, deep in the woods of Michigan. She not only poses as a model for a way to live and work, she also is the person who typed my Ph.D. dissertation back when we were classmates at The University of Michigan. The year was 1977. Without her help, I could not have gotten my doctoral degree on time.

A Business Plan for Hard Times - Click To Read Article
Carol Aitken tells how she prepared for the inevitable downturn in a business.

A Final Thought on A Good Friday - Click To Read Article
This is the real reason why we want to be entrepreneurs.

18 Practical Tips on Working With the Chinese - Click To Read Article
James Chan offers 18 practical tips on making friends and building better business relationships in China.


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