Looking back on my life when I use to search for suppliers in China on Alibaba and pray they didn’t rip me off after sending them money makes me laugh. The day I realized Jackie was reliable was the day I had a business partner in Guangzhou, China (Map). I would spend my nights chatting with Jackie on MSN Messenger and during the day sell shoes, clothes, t-shirt or anything with a profit to people in Nashville, TN. After about two years of selling shoes and meeting Jackie digitally, I decided to take a trip to Guangzhou to meet him and discuss designing a shoe model for a client. After spending a few days in Hong Kong acquiring a visa to enter mainland China, I would board a train to Guangzhou. Two hours later I disembarked my train and think to myself: how will I find Jackie, I hope I gave him the right time without realizing I’m the only Chocolate giant around.
Finally I met Jackie and he was ever bit of 5 foot I expected him to be. He was a soft spoken man as we communicated in english; his not being the best but it worked. We would travel to a restaurant to eat and the bathroom was the most startling thing with the toilet in the floor.
We would go back to his place to get an early start on the next day. He gave me his bed and his wife slept in another room with his mother-in-law and he would sleep on the couch. The gesture was so kind but the bed in China are hard as bricks and everyone says it is good for your back. I don’t believe but I appreciated how my Chinese family opened their doors for me!
