March 9, 2008 by willng24.

Recently I wrote about the relationship between Asians and entrepreneurship, but how about “co-preneurs?” I learned the co-preneur term from a boston.com article about couples establishing businesses together. One of the highlighted couples is Joanne Chang and her fiancé Christopher Myers. If you didn’t already know Joanne Chang is the face of the successful Flour Bakery in the South End. Her fiancé (and business partner) is a successful restaurateur, but what makes them successful business partners?

This article caught my eye because it defines the modern mom and pop businesses. Even though the stereotypical dry cleaners and restaurants, which defined mom and pop business in prior generations, is being traded in for consulting firms and dot-com’s, the same challenges still exist.

I’ve always wondered how couples in this situation know where to draw the line between business and pleasure. Actually, is there a line? Does the relationship depict how the business is runs or vise versa?

“By one estimate, the “drop-out” rate may be steep. Twenty percent of co-preneurs surveyed in 1997 had quit working together by 2000, according to national surveys by Glenn Muske, a professor at Oklahoma State University. Still, the total number of such couples - 3 million - remained steady, meaning just as many went into business together as quit during that period, says Muske, adding that about one-third of US family businesses are led by couples.

So in an era when close to half of first marriages ultimately fail and two-thirds of new businesses collapse within four years, how do co-preneurs do it?”

I think that a relationship has too much feeling involved to provide a good partnership for a business. Love is a crazy thing that I will never truly understand and it makes people do some really stupid things. Now try to balance this with making sound business decisions is surely a recipe for disaster. Furthermore, much of business has to do with calculated risk taking, if we were to use these techniques to enter into personal relationships, well there will probably be more single people than there are today.

Are you in a business with your spouse? Do you know people who are? How do they manage? If any of you are like me you have family or friends of family that are in this situation. The drawback that I’ve seen is that the romance in their relationship has been replaced with thoughts of work. This is probably the only thing in a relationship that I’m not willing to risk losing.

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February 25, 2008 by willng24.

I stumbled upon this great website called Asian Nation that recently had an article, titled Asian Small Business, showing the correlation between being Asian and being an entrepreneur.

Some of the explanations for the correlation are:

1) Labor Market Discrimination - lack of English skills and education

2) Cultural Traits and Ethnic Resources - applying cultural traditions of working hard, delaying material gratification, and sacrificing for the next generation

3) Class Resources - having a lot of financial resources to start a business

4) Structural Opportunity - racism among businesses

I’ve always admired entrepreneurs, especially if they are immigrants.   Now I just need some of my Asian blood to start flowing with ideas.

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February 20, 2008 by willng24.

This issue has always been a concern for me whenever I’m dining or grocery shopping. However, Asian food has never been known for its cleanliness. Recently, the Herald had an article about the unsanitary conditions at our local supermarkets. One of the markets mentioned in this article is the Super 88 in Dorchester. Just walking into the store you can see that it isn’t as clean as a Roche Brothers. As consumers, what options do we have? I’ve probably been to every Asian supermarket in town and the cleanliness is roughly the same. Does everyone just accept the fact that it isn’t clean?

Obviously appearances are deceiving. There are American supermarkets noted in this article that share the same unsanitary conditions as our famous Super 88. I have never been to supermarkets of other ethnicities so I can’t provide a good comparison, but has any of you been to a Latin or Italian supermarket? Do they have the same problems?

I have some good friends in this industry and it is a battle for these folks. Most of these establishments are family owned businesses and they don’t have the funds to transform an aged store to something that looks like a Whole Foods. Furthermore, if sales haven’t changed and no one is complaining, the business has no reason to evolve.

So we are stuck between a rock and a hard place. First we can stop shopping at the Asian markets and inform the owners that it is due to sanitary reasons. However, we really don’t have an alternative place to get this produce. So this cycle continues until we figure out how to modernize our local businesses. I’ve always thought that there would be an entrepreneur risk adverse enough to close down an aging Asian supermarket, remodel the entire store and open with a fresh and clean environment that would start the ball rolling for all the local businesses. I guess it is up to the younger generation of grocery store owners to take the plunge and our job to let the problem be known.

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February 11, 2008 by willng24.

I wasn’t around for the incident, but Sunday afternoon there was a stabbing in my building. This was brought to my attention, by my girlfriend who mentioned a cluster of police officers on our street Sunday afternoon. The Boston Herald mentioned that this was a stabbing/murder.

This is a little too close to home, but this is probably the 3rd major incident that has occurred in the area since I’ve moved in. Is this a lot? Do I live in a bad neighborhood? I don’t think so. The area is densely populated, so the number of crimes to the number of residence is rather small.

Thanks to organizations like the neighborhood watch, it is obvious that Chinatown has improved. However, we all have to keep in mind that we live in a major city and crime does occur. So if you work/live in the city do you do anything different to prevent crime? Growing up in the city I always gave the advice to walk with confidence. Just as in nature, predators always attack the weak, the same is true for humans. If you walk with confidence and are aware of your surroundings you’ll be better off. I always see people walking with their head down and hardly paying attention to where they are going. Is it a culture thing or just ignorance?  Regardless of the reasoning, it makes you an easy prey for a criminal.

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January 29, 2008 by willng24.

That is right.  The once popular Saugus Chinese Buffet restaurant has added the hot pot cuisine to their menu.  I was there last night and was actually impressed by the number of people dining on a Monday night.  My group of 4 had to wait 30 minutes for a table.  During this time I got a drink at the bar.  However, it was so dark I could hardly see what I had ordered.  A Bud Light and a red wine ran $11.50.  Rather high for a Chinese Restaurant, but about right for a buffet joint.

Once seated the feasting began.  The hot pot set up at Jin isn’t as nice as Shabu Zen.  Actually, it is the exact cookware I use at home (portable burners).  However, everyone is here for the food, not the cookware.  It is still buffet style as you had to go to each station to get the items you’d like to cook.  This was a bit of a hassle, but allowed me to move around as you wait for things to cook.  The variety of ingredients were great.  Everything from Prime Rib Eye to Sushi to that great Sesame Oil sauce.  Jin definitely did a great job on the variety.

The only downside to this dining experience was the lack of sweet treats.  Usually Jin has a whole section of cookies and pastries to ease your meal.  However, this time there were only a few preserved fruits and some cookies.  Additionally, the lack of the fishing net spoons made it difficult for me to scoop out the scallops I had cooking for much too long.

All in all the hot pot experience at Jin was great.  A little too far of a drive for my taste, but for $19 and all you can eat..it is surely a winner.  Ohh I forgot to mention, this has become so popular that Jin is raising their prices from $19 to $23.  I recommend you call ahead so you aren’t surprised.

The Chinatown Blogger had mentioned labor disputes in a past entry, but I surely didn’t see a hint of it while I was at Jin.  This location has always had trouble surviving because of the massive size of the restaurant, but I hope Jin is around for a little longer.

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