Limitless Laowai — Expat Life, Business Strategy, Personal Development Cultural Adjustment in China | Learn Chinese

Limitless is all about giving you the opportunity to stand on the backs of giants—if you will. Hearing from those who have been there and done that has always been one of my favorite parts of interviewing successful entrepreneurs. After all, wise people learn to not reinvent the wheel if they don’t need to. Well, if you’ve been following his mini-series, it’s clear that Morry Morgan is one of the China entrepreneur giants. He has started and lost a business (rather painfully I might add), started and grew a business and just now has started a social enterprise to give back. Along the way he has picked up and lived by a couple of fantastically simple, yet mind expanding lessons—those that teach us to see and dream possibilities for the future. Tune in to hear Morry share those lessons that form the limitless mindset that every entrepreneur needs to master. For more on this show and more, visit us online at www.limitlesslaowai.com/4entrepreneurlessons and feel free to message Morry on LinkedIn to connect!

Episode sponsor: Concordia International School Shanghai; discover more at www.concordiashanghai.org.

The process of relocating to China can be a time rife with uncertainty and anxiety. It's not surprising if questions like: Where should we live? Will my kids fit in their new school? What will work be like? How often will my spouse or I be traveling and away from the family? Is my marriage up to the task of withstanding the pressures of an overseas move? While I'm sure there are loads more question marks swirling around your head perhaps keeping you up in the middle of the night, in the end, each of these questions really points to this—Are we making the right decisions, both in choosing to relocate overseas, and in all of the small choices we will need to make along the way?

I sat with relocation expert, Adam McWhirter of Maxxelli Real Estate, and in this first episode in our relocation mini-series, I'm positive that the wisdom he shares from his experience moving hundreds of families to China will equip you with the right questions to ask in the pre-move stage of relocation. Tune in to ensuring that your needs and your family's needs are being met along the way. For notes on this show and more, visit www.limitlesslaowai.com/relocationtips. Feel free to connect with Adam at [email protected].

‘Tis the season! While people around the world gear up for Christmas, parties, meals and gifts are at the forefront of many of our minds, too. As expats, our local friends and colleagues tend to be curious about our holiday rituals and traditions. If you’re like me, you may need to brush up on your Christmas trivia and this is just the podcast to do it. Pete Rogers once again opens the storehouse of his brain and shares some outrageous and perhaps little-known historical facts surrounding the west’s biggest holiday. Tune in, learn a thing or two and wow your western and eastern colleagues alike at your next festive gathering.

For Show Notes on this episode and more, visit http://limitlesslaowai.com/christmas/; connect to Pete on Wechat @peterogers or by email at [email protected].

Episode Sponsor: Concordia International School Shanghai; discover more at www.concordiashanghai.org.

A great presenter often welcomes crowd participation when it's appropriate to open the floor. What do you do though when you have a bit of a heckler on your hands? Someone who asks questions that aren't relevant to the topic or questions meant just to stir up the pot? What if you're put on the spot and asked a question that you really don't know the answer to? Do you fabricate a response? Or own up to the fact that you're momentarily clueless? In this final Sticky Steps episode with Jeff Tan, he talks through crowd management 101 and what to do if you end up needing to troubleshoot your presentation while up on stage.

Find more on this series online at www.limitlesslaowai.com/stickysteps and email Jeff at [email protected].

Do you have a passion that you just can’t shake? I know many expat entrepreneurs keep a full-on 9-to-5 job while they work to build their passion into a business in the wee hours of the nights and long into the weekends. I know that’s how I started and there’s such an excitement and buzz to those early start up days that make the sleepless nights so worth it. For this show, I sat with Italian-native Dani Ingrosso and heard the incredible start up story of her business Expat Cucina. There’s so much grit and passion behind it, and great wisdom on how to balance it all, her story is sure to inspire you to start today and follow your entrepreneurial dreams. For notes on this show and more, visit us online at www.limitlesslaowai.com/daniingrosso and connect with Dani through email at [email protected].

Episode Sponsor: Concordia International School Shanghai; discover more at www.concordiashanghai.org.

Have you ever heard a number change sound randomly based on how it’s being used? Do big Chinese numbers confuse you? If so, don’t worry, you’re quite like the rest of us. You see, the key to understanding how to craft large numbers is knowing that in Chinese, you must use a different base number to begin your counting. Confused still? No worries. Tune in and I’ll tell you about that and why and how to change those pesky smaller numbers!  For Show Notes on this episode and more, check out www.limitlesslaowai.com/advancednumbers.

Vocab:

100—yī băi 一百
1000—yì qiān一千 (3 zeroes)
1.0000—yí wàn一万 (4 zeroes)
10.0000—shí wàn 十万 (5 zeroes). This is 100,000.
100.0000—a million—yī băi wàn 一百万 (one hundred + 4 zeroes)
1000.0000—ten million—yì qiān wàn一千万 (one thousand + 4 zeroes)
1.00000000—hundred mil—yígè yì 一个亿 (8 zeroes)
10.00000000—a billion—shí yì 十亿 (ten + 8 zeroes)

Episode sponsor: Concordia International School Shanghai; discover more at www.concordiashanghai.org.

The holiday season can be a bit of a double-edged sword, can't it? For many, there's so much joy and expectation on one end and then massive let down and sadness on the other. Is this just an expat phenomenon, you think? It's not! In fact, the holiday blues are experienced around the world in every home, to some extent. As expats though, this tends to be one of the hardest times of the year. Whether you're staying put, traveling home, or going to some place more exotic during your holiday season, chances are come January, you, too, will feel a bit of let down. So, the question is: how can we temper this to make sure that we don't crash on the other side? In this episode, I'll walk through three simple (not easy!) things that we can start doing today to wrap our heads around the expectations of this holiday season.

For more on this episode and more, visit www.limitlesslaowai.com/adjustingwell and as always, if I can help in anyway shoot me an email at [email protected].

Episode sponsor: Concordia International School Shanghai; discover more at www.concordiashanghai.org.

Have you ever considered moving to China to teach English? If so, you'll enjoy this discussion with Carl Smith, Associate Director of Studies at an English First training school in Shenzhen. Carl was looking for opportunities to apply his anthropology masters and gain experience working in foreign cultures and teaching in China topped his list. In this episode, Carl talks about his day-to-day life in the south of China, how he spends his free time, and what a new teacher should be looking for in terms of salary to live comfortably as an English teaching professional in Shenzhen. For Show Notes on this episode and more, visit www.limitlesslaowai.com/carlsmith. Have more questions? Connect with Carl at [email protected] or on Wechat at nineball009.

Most of us are brilliant at accumulating ‘things’ and filling each wall, bookshelf and crevice of our homes with them. Possessions signify status for some and security for others. As expats, I know first hand the hoarders mentality that grips so many of us. Look into any expat’s medicine or toiletry cabinet for proof—they’ll be half a year or even a year’s worth of the coveted items that we’re sure we may need at some point in the months to come. While there’s wisdom in being prepared, do you ever feel bogged down—weighted—by the clutter in your life? Is there any temptation to look to your left and to your right and compare yourself with those closest to you? Would living a little leaner at home and in your professional life give you a needed lift and more freedom? In this discussion with Pete Rogers, we dig into the transformative power of living simply, and Pete gives some solid guidelines on how to start. For Show Notes on this episode and more, visit http://limitlesslaowai.com/simpleliving/; connect to Pete on Wechat @peterogers or by email at [email protected].

Episode Sponsor: Concordia International School Shanghai; discover more at www.concordiashanghai.org.

In our society, negative emotions like pessimism, anger, jealousy, guilt, anxiety and sadness are generally considered emotions that are best kept to our selves, suppressed or simply brushed aside. Don’t believe me? Well, how many times have you said, “Oh, I know shouldn't feel so angry about this? Or “I know, it’s so silly to be sad over such a small thing?” The truth is, we all experience negative emotions, and I venture especially as expats! and in this show, Pete Rogers is going to show us the hidden power behind them and how digging deeper into how and why we feel what we feel can drive positive growth and change in our lives. For Show Notes on this episode and more, visit http://limitlesslaowai.com/emotionalintelligence/; connect to Pete on Wechat @peterogers or by email at [email protected].

Episode Sponsor: Concordia International School Shanghai; discover more at www.concordiashanghai.org.