Ok the way back from Samui in had an overnight in BKK and as chance has it one of the companies that I have been talking about looking after our affiliate marketing happens to be in BKK. This is great for me because of same time zones. So, I ended up setting up a meeting and had a great chat with a very nice guy that is an expert in affiliate marketing. We did affiliate marketing some fee years ago but it turned out that it was a huge amount of hassle and I just started running out of time. Well, now as we are moving into RedStores full speed we will need affiliate marketing online in 6 months. So, after talking with Chris I’m now looking at starting affiliate marketing through him for PearlsOnly so that we can be ready for RedStores in 6 months. We are looking at a break even point of 6 months which I can live with.

What was nice about a face to face is that if you meet the guy and you like the guy – you know you can do business together. So, on the tail end of my hermiting vacation ended up with a nice touch point.

While I was away RedStores skin got finished between Gerry and Xxx. It looks awesome – will post some pics later on. It off to Russia now to get skinned and within a short while RedStores should be up and running.

We hired a few people now to do massive product sourcing and that is mooing forward. For redstors our plan is to have thousands (20 to 30k) skus in next 6 to 8 months. So, we are moving in this direction – and if our models are right – this has a huge opportunity to go VERY big. I have talked of $125m for some time now and I do believe if we pull on this hard – our valuation can easily get there.

Being back in Beijing is great – the break was so so much needed – I didn’t even realize HOW worn out I was till i got back home.

Now you would think live should be easy for me on daily basis – with housekeeper, PA, drivers, etc. You would think. But the reality is that all this requires constant decision making. You become fullly aware of that when you are away for two weeks and you only have to decide what to read, what to eat. But the moment i hit Beijijg – it’s starts hard and fast – contracts to design, update to get, review of progress etc.

So I’m very seriously considering for this year two build in 3 more 2 week hermiting sessions and see how that affects my performance. The good news is that for now I feel recharged, clear headed and ready to go.