David:   0:00
Navigating international markets is complicated already. What are some few problems that have come about since the Corona virus?  

Burak:   0:10
Basically, Chinese factories have been closed almost 60-75 days

Ken:   0:15
2 of my suppliers have reached out recently in the last week or two, and they've offered discounts.  

Intro:   0:21
Welcome everyone to the firingTheman.com podcast a show for anyone who wants to be their own boss. If you sit in a cubicle every day and to know you were capable of more than join us. This show will help you build a business and grow your passive income streams in just a few short hours per day. And now your host, serial entrepreneurs David Showmer and Ken Wilson

David:   0:46
Welcome everyone to the firingtheman.com podcast. Today we have a very exciting guest.  We are joined by Burak Yolga.  Burak is a specialist in international logistics product sourcing in navigating the complicated global marketplace, making him an ideal guest to talk about the implications of the Coronavirus on e commerce sellers. We will be also getting into recent import tariffs and other critical information pertaining to the recent volatile international economy. A little background on our guest. Burak is originally from Istanbul, Turkey. But he has traveled the world doing international B2B logistics. Currently, Barack is the founder and CEO of www.forcegetlogistics.com, a company that specializes in international logistics. Burak we are so excited to have you as a guest on the show are looking forward to our discussion. First things first, tell us a little bit about yourself on the path that led you to specializing in international logistics.   

Burak:   1:43
David thank you so much for the opportunity. And, ah, great introduction. Um, you know, Oh, it's as you said. It's It's really complicated situation our well being going through with the logistics, e commerce, business B2B businesses. And I hope everything everything is gonna be back to normal very soon. So as you said, I'm from Turkey. Originally, I've lived in China seven years. I still have an office in Guangdong. Shenzhen. If people don't know that it's in the Southern part of China in Guangdong Province, it's one of the largest cities in China, on mainly producing electronics between Hong Kong and Guangzhou so we have offices in Shenzhen in Hong Kong as well is in Miami.  I moved to us a year and 1/2 ago. Um, we started the business in here you know, back and forth. I'm traveling. I used to. Now, unfortunately, with the Coronavirus, it's a little bit tough, but, you know, we start, we keep doing the operations and things are coming back to normal little bit. Um, my background, this ah of international business. Major bachelor degree on being lived in China, seven years working different industries, different platforms. And now our core business is the logistics freight forwarding from China to worldwide. Now, we're working on our digital platform. Hopefully will be active. Uh, middle of April on You know what? We just help the e commerce seller and Amazon sellers

David:   3:16
Alright so Burak navigating international markets is complicated. Already. What are some new problems that have come about since the Coronavirus? What? What have you seen in your business?

Burak:   3:31
Actually, we need to back it up a little bit. Things started that thing in 2018. Seen, um a lot of big markets. They started to get smaller. Especially the brick countries like Russia, Brazil, India Middle east with the oil and gas prices went down. I think anybody knows that. So Chinese factories and companies already had cash flow issues and the pressure worldwide. You know, the order is getting similar and smaller, so factories are more and more flexible with a smaller moq smaller order quantities. Um, you know, the living costs and China increases really high every year is like 15 to 20% of interest, uh, inflation in the country. So things are like, really getting expensive, but same time, people's income is actually getting lower because the demand is going down in the world. So then you know this. The tax swore the trade war started between us and China two years ago. So little companies they lose business. Some of the buyers they try to shift their purchasing orders from China to Europe, Uh, East Europe, Like Turkey, India, Bangladesh. Some of the industry's already have shift to Southeast Asia, like Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia. So nobody was expecting such big issue at the moment on, the timing was really not good at all. This virus started right before the Chinese New Year, so factories was closed almost 20 to 25 days on. Once we were getting ready to open up. You know the businesses this virus hit China. So basically, Chinese factories have been closed almost 60 to 75 days. It's it's It's a massive crisis for the companies in China for the cash flow. Um, now we're what, The March 13 80 to 90% off the factories or back to work. Um, but they don't have full capacity. Yes. Yet one of the reason is all of the employees were not able to come back to work because some of them are still under quarantine. Um on another reason is a lot of raw material. Suppliers are not doing yet full capacity. So some of the factories are back to work 100% their employees back, managing as back, but then the raw material suppliers are not back to work, so they don't have enough material to produce or they have material, and they don't have enough employees to make the full capacity production. So I think this will be keep going another 15 to 20 days we're expecting things are coming back to normal. Little more in China. I think middle off April, beginning off May. But unfortunately, now the virus have been spread it out to Europe and us are I think now Chinese factor's gonna have, like, less order. So this had, like, a kind of snowball effect. Um, you know, on I think it's gonna keep going another one or two months. So Chinese factories are having serious issues for the cash flow at the moment.

David:   6:52
OK, one thing you and I had talked about prior to this interview and I'd like to dig into it a little more is once this Coronaviruses is solved they're still gonna be backlog. They're still going to carry over implication. Absolutely. These factories. And so if things continue trending in this direction, when do you think things will be totally back to normal?

Burak:   7:15
I think it is. It is really unknown right now. I mean, and Chinese factories also don't have the information yet. Um, the thing is, the international businesses will his international logistics really connected to each other? Even if you weren't with a factory from Japan or Vietnam or Turkey, probably some some of the raw material is either coming from China or the production equipment is made in China spare parts come from China, so there's like a really big ah chain. The problem is not only because of the China the problem is actually globally. The rest of the world is very dependent on China. So this is one of the issue with the supply chain and logistics now. So when you go back to your question, a lot of people were expecting things coming back to normal in China, uh, end of March and April, which is actually doing pretty well right now. 80 to 90% of the factories back to work their manufacturing. We started the door shipping process their little Q on backlog for air shipments. But they're a lot of space and able space for the ocean freight. So the air prices increased, 30-50% at the moment in the market because a little, um, airplanes, little airlines canceled their flights. The passenger flies on 20 to 25% off the air. Cargo actually carried by the passenger flight like commercial place, and the rest of it goes with the cargo flights. So we have still a lot off lack off source for the air freight wise, the price is not stable. We cannot really find the enough space or the price are changing very, very often so. But manufacturing wise, things are coming back a little bit normal. But now the freight forwarding and the logistic is having this issue facing this problem with space pricing and, as well as this very big cash flow pressure from their clients in China and the rest of the world, because last 2 to 3 months, nobody actually made payments internally, like, you know, from China to Hong Kong. So that brought a pretty big depression now in China. And this is something that people are trying to fix on it. That's

Ken:   9:40
Interesting you mentioned that two of my suppliers have reached out recently in the last week or two, and they've offered discounts, you know? Hey, if you place and order in march, we're going to give you, you know, 10-15% discount. And that kind of speaks to what you're talking about. The cash flow problems. I think they're hurting for orders right now.  

Burak:   10:00
This is really true. Um, if we had this podcast six months ago, a year ago, I would have told you guys or your listeners that they should be negotiating with the suppliers very low deposit, like discount and sort of things. But now a lot of companies, actually, they're trying to increase their deposit limits, you know, they want to get, like, more money in advance. So this this really happens because they really need the cash flow. Imagine. You had a factory with 100 employees and you being closed last three months and everybody was expecting to come back to work and the January. But now it's back to the middle of March. And now the clients who place order from Europe Now they're having problems so they cannot make the payment to your factory. So this is the major problem. If China had the problem, they opened it up. They would start surviving, they would start like working on. But now their client having the issue. So that's that that wrote it this thing to kind of next level for Chinese supplier. So I think this is this is a very right time to negotiate the price. I mean, I know that some far supplier they try increasing the product price the reason is the raw Material prices increased because there's like a really big man trying out Chinese factories. They tried to produce as much as possible and make the sales. But on the other hand, it's not so easy to find the raw material in the market. So this cause companies to be more aggressive on a sales wise. So I also hear little people. They're sending us a message. hey we open it up, you can place an order, you can get the samples now. I think one of my friend was placing an order and a little bit worried about this corona virus and I told him, for example, it's just an idea. Everybody's chase is different, but I told him, instead of ordering 2000 piece, keep it safe for you. Order 5000 piece unit only put 10% deposit and then the more you ship, you pay the balance and ask the factory to keep the rest of the stock for you in their factory in China. This way, you don't have to pay everything up front. You don't have to ship everything and pay crazy amount of shipping fee or warehouse fee before Amazon and the more you buy from the factory, your cargo will be ready, so it will be very efficient to do it. So now factories are more and more flexible with the payment terms with the discounts. Um, you know, you can place an order fix the price now. So in the future, if the price change, you're not gonna be a fact that you're gonna have the ready stock. So one of the thing issue little Amazon sellers are facing right now is they're running out of stock because everybody was thinking, OK, I don't wanna put so much money that Q4 for just finished. Let me get paid. And then I'll place an order right after Chinese New Year. I hope you didn't happen to you guys, but unfortunately, a couple of my friends, they have this problem right now.

David:   12:52
Yeah, I am having that problem in in my business for sure. One thing I want to dive into that you just talked about, which I think is it's an awesome technique, detective actually solve a problem in my business and that is placing a large order and having only a portion of it shipped over. And I'll tell you right now, in my basement, it looks like a warehouse. I have boxes from wall to wall. And the reason for that is I will make it an order of, say, 5000 units. And I don't get hit with long term storage fees, right? And so have them shipped to my house. And then I'll send off about 1000 at a time. And what you just said, I think really addresses that problem. Can you talk a little bit more about that? And how that you may bring that with a supplier,

Burak:   13:37
Right I mean, we also give the service because, look, the suppliers we have warehouses in China, different cities, large ports and airports. Some of the suppliers, they're very willing to do this. They're they're happy to help the clients because they received a big order. Once they receive a big order, they can buy cheap and they can sell it cheap and they have the larger revenue and which means cash for them. But some of them, they so can we place this order. But we don't want to keep it in our warehouse. We don't have enough space up As the force gets in, we can handle that and then receive. The carpets are warehouse, and then we help you to ship it portions. So this way, you don't have to take. You don't have to do extra, because once you ship it to your basement. You ship, you pay the shipments, your basement, you know, a little spent time, extra work, then you have to ship it Amazon again. I think that's too much work. And a lot of people they like to the Amazon on the especially FBA to make the things removed. So this makes it extra extra costs an extra time for them. So I think, uh, this this this kind of like a small tactic. We've been doing it almost like two years when we talk to the factories. We manufactured this 8000 in starting later 1st 1 of our clients, and they only wanted to ship it like 2000 piece than 3000 piece then the rest of the 3000 pieces we play sort of 8000. We get the performer invoice for 8000. Piece on. We gotta read it from a good price. And once we get the performance. We told the factor. Hey, we're gonna the partial shipment. Is that OK for you? They said yes. So we only paid 15%. We picked up the 2000. We pay the rest off we pipe, we pay the entire 2000 piece. We keep the 15% in the factory as a security deposit for them. The rest of the 6000 unit in the warehouse, we ship another 3000 after a month. We paid a fully for the 3,000 and the rest of the 3000 we paid after two in today. So this way they didn't have cash flow because we pay, like, regular basis. We didn't have cash flow. We sold it. We shipping, we get our money back. So everybody was kind of happy with this deal. If you have a good forecast, how many units you're selling a year this way? I think instead of making eight orders in a year, you can make two orders a year on. Keep everything you know in an order. Of course, there are some some risks off this. You know your product can get suspended. Your product you're listing might be removed. you know anything can happen. But, um, in some point, if you're a, um, let's say experience sellers. If you want to save money on the shipping buying product this way factories like it's on, I think it's also a good favor, like it's also a good business strategy for also buyers. We've been doing this for a long time. I think you guys should also try it.

David:   16:28
Yeah, absolutely, Absolutely. And you said we a lot when you're talking when you say we're talking about www.forcegetlogistics.com

Burak:   16:36
Yes, um, we have full freight forward service. Sometimes our clients are asking some help, you know, because we have a team in China. We have a team in us on Sometimes for people dealing from from us to China. We have some of the states that have two off are some of them like 15 hours time difference. So it's sometimes difficult. So once we have, once we help you ah, with the freight forward. And we also have a special team for sourcing that can help you with, you know, negotiate the suppliers of price the trade term do the final inspection. I think that's one of the key thing for businesses, especially if you're doing an F B A. You know, the customer service and customer happiness is the most important thing in the competition. So you have to make sure the product that you're shipping our has no manufacturing defect, no label problem, no packing problem. Everything used to be perfect. Um, so that's why we're also offer this kind of additional service start clients who wants to use our freight forwarding service. So this way, um, you can save a little money if you have something wrong with the shipment and order we have. We had this many times. Uh, you know, it's unfortunately, and I lived in China seven years I've been to 200-300 factories, at least maybe 20 trade shows. Every time you meet Chinese suppliers, they're talking about like a long term business ship. Um, good relationship like quality service. I mean, of course, they're really, really good big factories and quality people that giving a service. But in my experience, there are also a lot of companies they don't have true QA quality assurance. They don't have QR. They don't have raw material testing when they receive the raw material lot of factories in off you being to China, you know, you got a factory. It is a factory but it's actually a small workshop, so little things can go wrong. So that's why we always tell people to make sure you do the final inspection. And one thing, if you don't mind it as one off the thing. Chinese factories do a lot, you know, again, I exclude some of them. They send your great sample that the sample is, perfect quality You back on 40 pay a little money for the DHL/ ups confirm the sample everything's perfect and that you placed the order 2000 piece on. You receive something very different than the sample you received. This happens to a lot of people. So the only way to avoid that prevent that is making the final inspection before you should about the cargo instead of sitting home and praying, I hope my cargo, my goods, are, good shade, good quality. It is very, very important to do the final inspection. What do you think, guys?

Ken:   19:26
Yeah, absolutely. I do a final inspection on every single order and it's, you know, it's it saved me a lot of headaches. Uh, you know, like you said, there's so many different variables at play. And, you know, I had a inspections where they found errors. And, you know, I had my you know, supplier had fix him before they shipped out. Otherwise, you know, it's gonna ship up, get to the customers, and they're you know, they're gonna be unhappy, and we're gonna get negative is just a bad cycle. So final inspections, it's a must have for every order for me.  

David:   20:00
Yeah, absolutely. I get it's similar experience a couple years ago where I get get really good sample. And then I had this particular order show that FBA warehouses. I launched that product and I was getting a lot of three star reviews, and I was like, there was no way I like my listing under attack. And it wasn't until I got a couple of returns in and compared them to the sample and was like, This is a totally different raw material. Then we talked about And that was really disappointing because I had 3000 units in a light that I had to sell out in it puts you in a tough position where you know your reputation is our biggest assets. Don't you have 3000 mediocre products that you need a note? And so it is ruled by

Burak:   20:49
don't know if they're gonna get the deposit. Little people are using AliBaba trade insurance, which I think it is not really working. I mean, I have a couple of friends. They've used Una Bubba Trade Insurance, and it didn't work out that while some of them are very successful, Um, but Chinese suppliers also don't trust you. I mean, don't trust us because we're overseas. They try to get as much as the pose it possible because there's a lot of buyers. They cancel orders the last minute with private label, you know, they don't know what to do with the rest of the stuff. They try to sell it like a cheaper in the market. So a lot of things are going also from their side. When I once I told you, Okay, it's hard to trust. The supplier's not only hard to trust, but let's be more careful, but they basically have similar perspectives. So we can't meet to do a little bit empathy with these people and remember that we are overseas, and if somehow we place an order, pay very similar amount of money, depos it for my personal orders. And so far, my clients, we always encourage them to pay maximum 10% up deposit on most of the factories air. Like accepting this. If they open the door from 30% you can negotiate 10 to 15 person. We never pay more than 15% s o. They also have the issue. So it is very important to find a middle weight on sometimes most of the people they say, you know, I want to work with a factory directly, but it doesn't mean the work with the factor directly is always the best option. It may sound. I'm jumping from topic to topic. Guys, I'm sorry for that if I do that. But, you know, once you weren't with the right supplier is gonna be a trade company. It can be a big factory, but every different size of a factor, Workshop has their own expenses and there have own mochi and ah, minimum order contest. So some of the factors that have they accept one of the large orders. So it is sometimes hard with the factory because in my opinion. The buyers, especially Amazon sellers, are equal for sellers who starts knew they need to find the right type of suppliers. Which means if you're looking for not very big quantity than sometimes, it's better not to chase the largest factories. Because for them, if you gonna be a small customer, that they may care about you less. So please make sure that you choose the right factory or right trade company that you're gonna work with. It definitely do inspection. Don't only rely on alibaba dot com because there are a lot of fake accounts. Fake companies student alibaba dot com Some off the accounts are very old. I've had this personal issue that I went to a Chinese factory that anybody addressed. Even there was nothing like it was like an empty area, like there was no even a building. Paris. I was like, How is it a gold supplier that has five years history there on they've changed the factory location almost two years ago in Alibaba didn't update the factory location, you know, So that was that was like a crazy experience from like, you know, I sent a picture to my friend and you know he's like, Okay, So what I'm like, where's the factory is like, nowhere is the factory. We had this weird conversation, So you gotta be, like, really careful the type of the supplier that you choose on the way you negotiate with them. So don't always go with the largest factory. Make sure they care about you on under. Small tip, Maybe I can give you is make sure you understand. Who are you dealing with in the company? One off the thing in China, we call that gone. She is very important. Have the good relationship with the suppliers. But make sure that the person you're dealing with, your sales representative they have enough experience or they have enough time in the company. So if not, they're probably another decision maker. And if they're not a decision, America, you're probably don't wanna negotiate with them any sort of business term in a sort of payment. If there is any problem, all they tell you is let me report it to my boss, and it's gonna be like a ping pong game, you know, back and forth. So I highly recommend you when you talk to connect a new company. Ask them. Ask your sales representative how long they've been working in the company. If it is treated six months, one year, just kindly ask them. Hey, Kenny, please add your super wise or your manager your boss to the conversation. So one thing especially lost two years we're facing in China. Little people quit their jobs very often. They change companies very often. I'm sure you know you guys air talking to different people. On one day, someone stays on. My name's was Apple in the previous company. And now my name is Lemon. It happens a lot, you know. They're using this like English names on dhe. They're coming with a My name is Michael today. I'm like, Okay, but who were you before? So you know. So this happens a lot, so make sure who if you're working the If we're doing the first time business with the Chinese suppliers, we kind of have a trust issue. We don't know if they're gonna get the depos it. Little people are using Ali Baba trade insurance, which I think it is not really working. I mean, I have a couple of friends. They've used Una Bubba Trade Insurance, and it didn't work out that while some of them are very successful, Um, but Chinese suppliers also don't trust you. I mean, don't trust us because we're overseas. They try to get as much as the pose it possible because there's a lot of buyers. They cancel orders the last minute with private label, you know, they don't know what to do with the rest of the stuff. They try to sell it like a cheaper in the market. So a lot of things are going also from their side. When I once I told you, Okay, it's hard to trust. The supplier's not only hard to trust, but let's be more careful, but they basically have similar perspectives. So we can't meet to do a little bit empathy with these people and remember that we are overseas, and if somehow we place an order, pay very similar amount of money, depos it for my personal orders. And so far, my clients, we always encourage them to pay maximum 10% up deposit on most of the factories air. Like accepting this. If they open the door from 30% you can negotiate 10 to 15 person. We never pay more than 15% s o. They also have the issue. So it is very important to find a middle weight on sometimes most of the people they say, you know, I want to work with a factory directly, but it doesn't mean the work with the factor directly is always the best option. It may sound. I'm jumping from topic to topic. Guys, I'm sorry for that if I do that. But, you know, once you weren't with the right supplier is gonna be a trade company. It can be a big factory, but every different size of a factor, Workshop has their own expenses and there have own mochi and ah, minimum order contest. So some of the factors that have they accept one of the large orders. So it is sometimes hard with the factory because in my opinion. The buyers, especially Amazon sellers, are equal for sellers who starts knew they need to find the right type of suppliers. Which means if you're looking for not very big quantity than sometimes, it's better not to chase the largest factories. Because for them, if you gonna be a small customer, that they may care about you less. So please make sure that you choose the right factory or right trade company that you're gonna work with. It definitely do inspection. Don't only rely on alibaba dot com because there are a lot of fake accounts. Fake companies student alibaba dot com Some off the accounts are very old. I've had this personal issue that I went to a Chinese factory that anybody addressed. Even there was nothing like it was like an empty area, like there was no even a building. Paris. I was like, How is it a gold supplier that has five years history there on they've changed the factory location almost two years ago in Alibaba didn't update the factory location, you know, So that was that was like a crazy experience from like, you know, I sent a picture to my friend and you know he's like, Okay, So what I'm like, where's the factory is like, nowhere is the factory. We had this weird conversation, So you gotta be, like, really careful the type of the supplier that you choose on the way you negotiate with them. So don't always go with the largest factory. Make sure they care about you on under. Small tip, Maybe I can give you is make sure you understand. Who are you dealing with in the company? One off the thing in China, we call that gone. She is very important. Have the good relationship with the suppliers. But make sure that the person you're dealing with, your sales representative they have enough experience or they have enough time in the company. So if not, they're probably another decision maker. And if they're not a decision, America, you're probably don't wanna negotiate with them any sort of business term in a sort of payment. If there is any problem, all they tell you is let me report it to my boss, and it's gonna be like a ping pong game, you know, back and forth. So I highly recommend you when you talk to connect a new company. Ask them. Ask your sales representative how long they've been working in the company. If it is treated six months, one year, just kindly ask them. Hey, Kenny, please add your super wise or your manager your boss to the conversation. So one thing especially lost two years we're facing in China. Little people quit their jobs very often. They change companies very often. I'm sure you know you guys air talking to different people. On one day, someone stays on. My name's was Apple in the previous company. And now my name is Lemon. It happens a lot, you know. They're using this like English names on dhe. They're coming with a My name is Michael today. I'm like, Okay, but who were you before? So you know. So this happens a lot, so make sure who

Burak:   0:00
don't know if they're gonna get the deposit. Little people are using AliBaba trade insurance, which I think it is not really working. I mean, I have a couple of friends. They've used Una Bubba Trade Insurance, and it didn't work out that while some of them are very successful, Um, but Chinese suppliers also don't trust you. I mean, don't trust us because we're overseas. They try to get as much as the pose it possible because there's a lot of buyers. They cancel orders the last minute with private label, you know, they don't know what to do with the rest of the stuff. They try to sell it like a cheaper in the market. So a lot of things are going also from their side. When I once I told you, Okay, it's hard to trust. The supplier's not only hard to trust, but let's be more careful, but they basically have similar perspectives. So we can't meet to do a little bit empathy with these people and remember that we are overseas, and if somehow we place an order, pay very similar amount of money, depos it for my personal orders. And so far, my clients, we always encourage them to pay maximum 10% up deposit on most of the factories air. Like accepting this. If they open the door from 30% you can negotiate 10 to 15 person. We never pay more than 15% s o. They also have the issue. So it is very important to find a middle weight on sometimes most of the people they say, you know, I want to work with a factory directly, but it doesn't mean the work with the factor directly is always the best option. It may sound. I'm jumping from topic to topic. Guys, I'm sorry for that if I do that. But, you know, once you weren't with the right supplier is gonna be a trade company. It can be a big factory, but every different size of a factor, Workshop has their own expenses and there have own mochi and ah, minimum order contest. So some of the factors that have they accept one of the large orders. So it is sometimes hard with the factory because in my opinion. The buyers, especially Amazon sellers, are equal for sellers who starts knew they need to find the right type of suppliers. Which means if you're looking for not very big quantity than sometimes, it's better not to chase the largest factories. Because for them, if you gonna be a small customer, that they may care about you less. So please make sure that you choose the right factory or right trade company that you're gonna work with. It definitely do inspection. Don't only rely on alibaba dot com because there are a lot of fake accounts. Fake companies student alibaba dot com Some off the accounts are very old. I've had this personal issue that I went to a Chinese factory that anybody addressed. Even there was nothing like it was like an empty area, like there was no even a building. Paris. I was like, How is it a gold supplier that has five years history there on they've changed the factory location almost two years ago in Alibaba didn't update the factory location, you know, So that was that was like a crazy experience from like, you know, I sent a picture to my friend and you know he's like, Okay, So what I'm like, where's the factory is like, nowhere is the factory. We had this weird conversation, So you gotta be, like, really careful the type of the supplier that you choose on the way you negotiate with them. So don't always go with the largest factory. Make sure they care about you on under. Small tip, Maybe I can give you is make sure you understand. Who are you dealing with in the company? One off the thing in China, we call that gone. She is very important. Have the good relationship with the suppliers. But make sure that the person you're dealing with, your sales representative they have enough experience or they have enough time in the company. So if not, they're probably another decision maker. And if they're not a decision, America, you're probably don't wanna negotiate with them any sort of business term in a sort of payment. If there is any problem, all they tell you is let me report it to my boss, and it's gonna be like a ping pong game, you know, back and forth. So I highly recommend you when you talk to connect a new company. Ask them. Ask your sales representative how long they've been working in the company. If it is treated six months, one year, just kindly ask them. Hey, Kenny, please add your super wise or your manager your boss to the conversation. So one thing especially lost two years we're facing in China. Little people quit their jobs very often. They change companies very often. I'm sure you know you guys air talking to different people. On one day, someone stays on. My name's was Apple in the previous company. And now my name is Lemon. It happens a lot, you know. They're using this like English names on dhe. They're coming with a My name is Michael today. I'm like, Okay, but who were you before? So you know. So this happens a lot, so make sure who if you're working the If we're doing the first time business with the Chinese suppliers, we kind of have a trust issue. We don't know if they're gonna get the depos it. Little people are using Ali Baba trade insurance, which I think it is not really working. I mean, I have a couple of friends. They've used Una Bubba Trade Insurance, and it didn't work out that while some of them are very successful, Um, but Chinese suppliers also don't trust you. I mean, don't trust us because we're overseas. They try to get as much as the pose it possible because there's a lot of buyers. They cancel orders the last minute with private label, you know, they don't know what to do with the rest of the stuff. They try to sell it like a cheaper in the market. So a lot of things are going also from their side. When I once I told you, Okay, it's hard to trust. The supplier's not only hard to trust, but let's be more careful, but they basically have similar perspectives. So we can't meet to do a little bit empathy with these people and remember that we are overseas, and if somehow we place an order, pay very similar amount of money, depos it for my personal orders. And so far, my clients, we always encourage them to pay maximum 10% up deposit on most of the factories air. Like accepting this. If they open the door from 30% you can negotiate 10 to 15 person. We never pay more than 15% s o. They also have the issue. So it is very important to find a middle weight on sometimes most of the people they say, you know, I want to work with a factory directly, but it doesn't mean the work with the factor directly is always the best option. It may sound. I'm jumping from topic to topic. Guys, I'm sorry for that if I do that. But, you know, once you weren't with the right supplier is gonna be a trade company. It can be a big factory, but every different size of a factor, Workshop has their own expenses and there have own mochi and ah, minimum order contest. So some of the factors that have they accept one of the large orders. So it is sometimes hard with the factory because in my opinion. The buyers, especially Amazon sellers, are equal for sellers who starts knew they need to find the right type of suppliers. Which means if you're looking for not very big quantity than sometimes, it's better not to chase the largest factories. Because for them, if you gonna be a small customer, that they may care about you less. So please make sure that you choose the right factory or right trade company that you're gonna work with. It definitely do inspection. Don't only rely on alibaba dot com because there are a lot of fake accounts. Fake companies student alibaba dot com Some off the accounts are very old. I've had this personal issue that I went to a Chinese factory that anybody addressed. Even there was nothing like it was like an empty area, like there was no even a building. Paris. I was like, How is it a gold supplier that has five years history there on they've changed the factory location almost two years ago in Alibaba didn't update the factory location, you know, So that was that was like a crazy experience from like, you know, I sent a picture to my friend and you know he's like, Okay, So what I'm like, where's the factory is like, nowhere is the factory. We had this weird conversation, So you gotta be, like, really careful the type of the supplier that you choose on the way you negotiate with them. So don't always go with the largest factory. Make sure they care about you on under. Small tip, Maybe I can give you is make sure you understand. Who are you dealing with in the company? One off the thing in China, we call that gone. She is very important. Have the good relationship with the suppliers. But make sure that the person you're dealing with, your sales representative they have enough experience or they have enough time in the company. So if not, they're probably another decision maker. And if they're not a decision, America, you're probably don't wanna negotiate with them any sort of business term in a sort of payment. If there is any problem, all they tell you is let me report it to my boss, and it's gonna be like a ping pong game, you know, back and forth. So I highly recommend you when you talk to connect a new company. Ask them. Ask your sales representative how long they've been working in the company. If it is treated six months, one year, just kindly ask them. Hey, Kenny, please add your super wise or your manager your boss to the conversation. So one thing especially lost two years we're facing in China. Little people quit their jobs very often. They change companies very often. I'm sure you know you guys air talking to different people. On one day, someone stays on. My name's was Apple in the previous company. And now my name is Lemon. It happens a lot, you know. They're using this like English names on dhe. They're coming with a My name is Michael today. I'm like, Okay, but who were you before? So you know. So this happens a lot, so make sure who

Burak:   26:51
sorry, probably if you're lucky enough. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I don't want to sound horrible guys, you know, I have a really, really good Chinese suppliers. Some of my friends are like, really, really good friends. You know, we've been doing business a long time, but this is old bad experience. Every country has that. But, you know, the only thing in China that we have is this, you know, it's just But you know, one thing. I'm gonna tell you guys that maybe sounds a little weird to little listeners, but look, att, This business from the Chinese seller perspective, you know, most of us would we kinda if you're working the If we're doing the first time business with the Chinese suppliers, we kind of have a trust issue. We don't know if they're gonna get the deposit. Little people are using AliBaba trade insurance, which I think it is not really working. I mean, I have a couple of friends. They've used Una Bubba Trade Insurance, and it didn't work out that while some of them are very successful, Um, but Chinese suppliers also don't trust you. I mean, don't trust us because we're overseas. They try to get as much as the pose it possible because there's a lot of buyers. They cancel orders the last minute with private label, you know, they don't know what to do with the rest of the stuff. They try to sell it like a cheaper in the market. So a lot of things are going also from their side. When I once I told you, Okay, it's hard to trust. The supplier's not only hard to trust, but let's be more careful, but they basically have similar perspectives. So we can't meet to do a little bit empathy with these people and remember that we are overseas, and if somehow we place an order, pay very similar amount of money, depos it for my personal orders. And so far, my clients, we always encourage them to pay maximum 10% up deposit on most of the factories air. Like accepting this. If they open the door from 30% you can negotiate 10 to 15 person. We never pay more than 15% s o. They also have the issue. So it is very important to find a middle weight on sometimes most of the people they say, you know, I want to work with a factory directly, but it doesn't mean the work with the factor directly is always the best option. It may sound. I'm jumping from topic to topic. Guys, I'm sorry for that if I do that. But, you know, once you weren't with the right supplier is gonna be a trade company. It can be a big factory, but every different size of a factor, Workshop has their own expenses and there have own mochi and ah, minimum order contest. So some of the factors that have they accept one of the large orders. So it is sometimes hard with the factory because in my opinion. The buyers, especially Amazon sellers, are equal for sellers who starts knew they need to find the right type of suppliers. Which means if you're looking for not very big quantity than sometimes, it's better not to chase the largest factories. Because for them, if you gonna be a small customer, that they may care about you less. So please make sure that you choose the right factory or right trade company that you're gonna work with. It definitely do inspection. Don't only rely on alibaba dot com because there are a lot of fake accounts. Fake companies student alibaba dot com Some off the accounts are very old. I've had this personal issue that I went to a Chinese factory that anybody addressed. Even there was nothing like it was like an empty area, like there was no even a building. Paris. I was like, How is it a gold supplier that has five years history there on they've changed the factory location almost two years ago in Alibaba didn't update the factory location, you know, So that was that was like a crazy experience from like, you know, I sent a picture to my friend and you know he's like, Okay, So what I'm like, where's the factory is like, nowhere is the factory. We had this weird conversation, So you gotta be, like, really careful the type of the supplier that you choose on the way you negotiate with them. So don't always go with the largest factory. Make sure they care about you on under. Small tip, Maybe I can give you is make sure you understand. Who are you dealing with in the company? One off the thing in China, we call that gone. She is very important. Have the good relationship with the suppliers. But make sure that the person you're dealing with, your sales representative they have enough experience or they have enough time in the company. So if not, they're probably another decision maker. And if they're not a decision, America, you're probably don't wanna negotiate with them any sort of business term in a sort of payment. If there is any problem, all they tell you is let me report it to my boss, and it's gonna be like a ping pong game, you know, back and forth. So I highly recommend you when you talk to connect a new company. Ask them. Ask your sales representative how long they've been working in the company. If it is treated six months, one year, just kindly ask them. Hey, Kenny, please add your super wise or your manager your boss to the conversation. So one thing especially lost two years we're facing in China. Little people quit their jobs very often. They change companies very often. I'm sure you know you guys air talking to different people. On one day, someone stays on. My name's was Apple in the previous company. And now my name is Lemon. It happens a lot, you know. They're using this like English names on dhe. They're coming with a My name is Michael today. I'm like, Okay, but who were you before? So you know. So this happens a lot, so make sure who if you're working the If we're doing the first time business with the Chinese suppliers, we kind of have a trust issue. We don't know if they're gonna get the depos it. Little people are using Ali Baba trade insurance, which I think it is not really working. I mean, I have a couple of friends. They've used Una Bubba Trade Insurance, and it didn't work out that while some of them are very successful, Um, but Chinese suppliers also don't trust you. I mean, don't trust us because we're overseas. They try to get as much as the pose it possible because there's a lot of buyers. They cancel orders the last minute with private label, you know, they don't know what to do with the rest of the stuff. They try to sell it like a cheaper in the market. So a lot of things are going also from their side. When I once I told you, Okay, it's hard to trust. The supplier's not only hard to trust, but let's be more careful, but they basically have similar perspectives. So we can't meet to do a little bit empathy with these people and remember that we are overseas, and if somehow we place an order, pay very similar amount of money, depos it for my personal orders. And so far, my clients, we always encourage them to pay maximum 10% up deposit on most of the factories air. Like accepting this. If they open the door from 30% you can negotiate 10 to 15 person. We never pay more than 15% s o. They also have the issue. So it is very important to find a middle weight on sometimes most of the people they say, you know, I want to work with a factory directly, but it doesn't mean the work with the factor directly is always the best option. It may sound. I'm jumping from topic to topic. Guys, I'm sorry for that if I do that. But, you know, once you weren't with the right supplier is gonna be a trade company. It can be a big factory, but every different size of a factor, Workshop has their own expenses and there have own mochi and ah, minimum order contest. So some of the factors that have they accept one of the large orders. So it is sometimes hard with the factory because in my opinion. The buyers, especially Amazon sellers, are equal for sellers who starts knew they need to find the right type of suppliers. Which means if you're looking for not very big quantity than sometimes, it's better not to chase the largest factories. Because for them, if you gonna be a small customer, that they may care about you less. So please make sure that you choose the right factory or right trade company that you're gonna work with. It definitely do inspection. Don't only rely on alibaba dot com because there are a lot of fake accounts. Fake companies student alibaba dot com Some off the accounts are very old. I've had this personal issue that I went to a Chinese factory that anybody addressed. Even there was nothing like it was like an empty area, like there was no even a building. Paris. I was like, How is it a gold supplier that has five years history there on they've changed the factory location almost two years ago in Alibaba didn't update the factory location, you know, So that was that was like a crazy experience from like, you know, I sent a picture to my friend and you know he's like, Okay, So what I'm like, where's the factory is like, nowhere is the factory. We had this weird conversation, So you gotta be, like, really careful the type of the supplier that you choose on the way you negotiate with them. So don't always go with the largest factory. Make sure they care about you on under. Small tip, Maybe I can give you is make sure you understand. Who are you dealing with in the company? One off the thing in China, we call that gone. She is very important. Have the good relationship with the suppliers. But make sure that the person you're dealing with, your sales representative they have enough experience or they have enough time in the company. So if not, they're probably another decision maker. And if they're not a decision, America, you're probably don't wanna negotiate with them any sort of business term in a sort of payment. If there is any problem, all they tell you is let me report it to my boss, and it's gonna be like a ping pong game, you know, back and forth. So I highly recommend you when you talk to connect a new company. Ask them. Ask your sales representative how long they've been working in the company. If it is treated six months, one year, just kindly ask them. Hey, Kenny, please add your super wise or your manager your boss to the conversation. So one thing especially lost two years we're facing in China. Little people quit their jobs very often. They change companies very often. I'm sure you know you guys air talking to different people. On one day, someone stays on. My name's was Apple in the previous company. And now my name is Lemon. It happens a lot, you know. They're using this like English names on dhe. They're coming with a My name is Michael today. I'm like, Okay, but who were you before? So you know. So this happens a lot, so make sure who

David:   26:51
you are, who you're dealing with. I'm laughing now because I have a supplier and they used the name Lim.

Burak:   27:01
Ah, yeah. You know, I think you guys are using recheck. Probably. I have maybe, like, 15 apples. And once they change their names, it's a big competition

David:   27:09
for me. I do. I have a I have a May and I have a June. Okay. Now

Burak:   27:18
you need approval. You need the march and June July company. The whole calendar. I wanted to

David:   27:25
circle back on the freight. The pricing you mentioned earlier the air shipping was at the price had increased substantially. But that the ocean freight as went down well, how do you think it's gonna happen and save like the next 30 to 60 days? What do you foresee?

Burak:   27:43
I think I think since the lack off manufacturing continue, this station is going to stay the same because I was a lot of people they have awaiting order factories, air completing the orders partially. They cannot finish everything in one time. So that's why a lot of Amazon sellers or wholesale companies they are willing to do partial shipments. Partial shipment, partial shipment means, you know, if you have, like, 2000 units ready, you want to shoot 501st and the rest 501,500 later. Like whenever the shipment is ready, the little people are facing have been, you know, losing customers, getting out of stock. So nobody wants to do that. So that's why little people now trying to ship as quick as possible, which is air freight on the rest of the cargo because it's not ready. So a lot of sea freight companies where I'm talking about the the large cargo companies the carriers like, you know, she afraid cos they don't have enough containers. So that's why they're kind of delaying their departure time to fulfill the containers, because now the prices are still increasing in the C c. But like maybe 5 to 10%. But the air has quiet. 50 upped If if the person I would say the price increase so it's a big change, and then one of the problem is we call it there mostly to rates one a standard rate and others like express rate, kind of like, you know, priority shipment if you book standard rate and if someone else comes in and offers more money to the airlines, which is for the favor of the airline. Unfortunately, standard cargo cannot flout, but the express can do so. That's why the market changes very open right now, uh, 30 to 60 days right now, most of the airfreight. Most of the flights have been cancelled from mainland China. I'm talking about like large airports like Beijing Shyi kenji in Guangzhou, Shenzhen. Most of the flights canceled. They used to be maybe 20 flights in a week. Now we have two or tree flights in the week on. Most of them are carrying medical stuff like mask our medicine or this kind of humanitarian stuff. So most of the shipments now move to Hong Kong and there's a backup back load. 7 to 10 days waiting time. Korea is the same. Two weeks ago, two weeks ago, the per kilo the price was $2.5. Now it's $3.5 they don't even go into the space. We asked for his loss Friday. They said, Could we said cargoes ready. Monday s okay. Come back to us on Monday because the price from last week are price from yesterday is not a valid because a lot of people they're trying to fly out everything. And then So I think turning 60 days. The station is gonna stay the same for the air. We don't know where the price gonna go, but obviously, the more Chinese factors produced, the more shipments will be ready to send out on if people are running out of Stoke, then there will be more and more air freight. So what I can recommend to people is Excuse me. Um, if you know, when you're manufacturing, when is if you know what is your delivery time? You better book your shipments in events. So if your shipment is gonna be ready Monday, make sure you already did the booking last Monday. So if we're talking about your shipment is ready today, bad air, you do it a week earlier. Deliberate. Don't wait the lost minutes because you're gonna It's very hard to find now truck in mainland China because still little people are under quarantine. A little roads are blocked. Truck cos they can't find enough drivers. Drivers don't want to take the cargo from a dangerous locations. The speed of increasing the case in China's really low right now compared to Europe or us. But still, little people are very cautious about this issue. So it is not only the air freight, but it is very, very difficult to find a truck. And the prices are very expensive right now, compared to to the three months ago

David:   31:52
around the turn of the year we got hit with a big trump tariff, and that got me thinking there was 30% on some of the products that I sell. That got me thinking that maybe I need to look elsewhere other than China for supplies and then with the Corona virus happening again, it's causing some issues with my Chinese suppliers. And so, in your experience, what are some of the smart solar is doing right now? Are they staying in China or they divers finding to other countries? It is

Burak:   32:22
definitely smart. Move to divers by, especially if you're you know, I believe some of the industry's they don't have really much alternative. If you're in the kind of heavy industry. Oh, are like a mitt metal or Iran steal this gun industry still or heavy equipment, it's still pretty much based in China. The textile. You can look in Bangladesh, India, Turkey, even East Europe. It's a really good idea, but one thing I like about China is everything is very, very efficient. The shipping process is very efficient. The paperwork is very efficient and fast. China had bean, you know. They already passed the rookie days, maybe 20 years ago, 15 years ago, China had a lot of problems, you know, with shipments and stuff. But today, if we didn't have the coroner wire is China has a great efficiency for the shipments. You know, the day we pick up the cargo, we could fly out the same day. It never happens in any other country, takes reading longer to custom and etcetera. So in this perspective, China is going to steal. Whatever happens is gonna keep staying The largest manufacturing area, however, a little Chinese factories who based in mainland China, they already started to open alternative manufacturing plants in there from places, especially where the labor, of course, is lower, like Vietnam, Cambodia. Let's see if your Bryant Electronics, consumer electronics, Chinese factories, they have their own. Let's say, um, they have their own office or new factory set it up in Bangladesh from Malaysia to avoid attack tariffs in the text. But still the raw materials go from China. So if it is electron ICS that if you have high tariff, I would recommend it to look. Maybe Taiwan timing is really good. Market very quality. You probably gonna have less quantity, less suppliers, less factory, but better quality on the price gap is gone like low really lower between a smaller between China and Taiwan Electron ICS We worked with a time when the suppliers they're really great. Um, the textile Turkey is really good with textile. She not as expensive cities Europe, Bangladesh in India is good. One of the she with Bangladesh in Ina, Bangladesh in India's makes In my experience, the shipping the logistic is not as efficient as China on people are getting used to the foreign trade Like right now, once you have a small request from a Chinese factory, they do it emitted. They know what you want. They know the experience. I like the efficiency if you wanna. If you're an e commerce seller he wanted the fresh air product You want to add additional gift gift card bag? Whatever. Chinese supply attempt Fine janitor source within one day. So this

Ken:   35:18
is This is

Burak:   35:18
really great for a little people instead of bringing everything thing thing together. So if you have us in a specific industry like textile definitely you can look at in Bangladesh, Sir. Key Cambodia and Vietnam is especially Vietnam is really like they're growing their look everybody's talking about Vietnam is gonna be the next China next 5 to 10 years. Once this corner wire ISS is hopefully losing its risk. And Lucy's in the danger are highly recommend you to look into Vietnam. Or if you have in the trade show, you can definitely go or the ones in China or a little you know, international companies coming like Vietnam and some of the dresser like electronics. Taiwan began Vietnam, Cambodia. But one thing, guys I few days ago, I was reading The Financial Times and I saw harm. Other countries are actually depending on manufacturing to China. Between 30% of 70 person role material is manufactured inside of these Chinese scientist. Asia is depending on China, So it is really, really hard to take out China from the game because you know, either logistic wise, our equipment wise or the end user and product is coming from China raw material. So it is. It is hard. But in my opinion now, Eastern Europe is getting more into the game. India and Bangladesh as well as Vietnam as long as you need to make sure that your product, whatever you sell, it doesn't have too much depending to China on the raw material supply.

David:   37:00
The burke. If, where our audience You recommended a Vietnam and Cambodia and Taiwan for sourcing ready. Do you have a source for that? You have a wet like a wet portal. Or do you have ah, sourcing agent that you recommend people to use to find alternative suppliers outside of China? Those

Burak:   37:19
countries, they're also they have, like a patient, Ali Baba are they also evident Google. But I recommend people mostly too full of the local trey shows. If you if you have quite a bit sales, online sales or income, I think one of the most important things full of is the industrial exhibition and meeting people face to face. But of course, if you don't have a travel experience or if you don't have enough money or time for traveling, we sometimes check. There's a Chinese version off Ali Baba. It's called 1688 but CNN or dot com dot CN, some of the local suppliers they don't have alibaba dot com account so you can find a product cheaper. But then probably you're gonna have a little bit of issue with, you know, the language right now. As far as I know, Vietnam don't have its own special portal. We sometimes check Global source website, global source about comp. It also have some good leads. I'm the rest. I think what we do is in our industry. Since we have little connections in Asia, we were asking our networks or connections. So right now, as I said, Vietnam still has, like 5 to 10 years, maybe to reach the point where China was like, 10 years ago. It's still growing, but still, I think many times so pretty much a little cos they're depending in China. If you're looking for a sourcing for a quality product, software is definitely an alternative. Great people, great country, definitely more expensive. But in my opinion, a zone. A lot of Amazon seller friends I have. It's better to look for somewhere where not the Chinese air competing very aggressively. I mean, you guys have more experience than me in Amazon probably. But I mean, you know, the cheap products are very popular. New items, you know, Chinese and Chinese people are entering them themselves. You know, the last time last couple of years when I go to the watch exhibitions like Hong Kong Electronic Fair on Kong, Toshio Give Show Count affair. You can see the sign in the factories booth saying Number one Amazon seller. So the way off doing international business have changed with the Amazon. I think it used to be Chinese. Factory was selling to China Straight Company. They were selling to the wholesaler overseas and then their son to retailer. Not the retailer was selling on Amazon or eBay. Since everybody thinks that Amazon has like juicy money, a big pie everybody wants to take part of. It's a Chinese factors. Now they start selling directly, so this also change the game. So that's why once you do the sourcing, it's a little bit better to look out of China countries like Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam if it is something similar to textile or home goods. I know that India's goods Bangladesh, Turkey and East Europe I think some of the alternative. Of course, we're looking for a quality product. You can go to the Europe, but the costs gonna hide in textile. And right now I think China has, as far as I know, 15% plus 25% almost so there's almost 40%. So either sourcing from China plus four dippers on our sourcing from Taiwan or East Europe could be even same money, even cheaper. But you need to make sure that once you make the calculation to make sure whatever you're shipping from, it's gonna have a CZ efficient as China freight forwarding like three price wise or the enough channel wise, I say, if your products second China, we can spot in 10 day in two days. If it's stocks in India, you can take definitely 7 to 10 days, so this is very important. I think once you do the calculation, especially now with the leads time are very, very long. Some of his supplier say it's for 50 days. I was talking to one of our supplier today. They say they need 50 days to produce. Normally it was trying to unify there, So it's very important to calculate that in the short term in the long term, I think one of the most important thing for now to do people they better full up the station very close with the factories. If they do private label from China and make sure they're tough. Um, there couple of the delivery and production time they clothe a full of everything very closely because Chinese suppliers, sometimes they missing former, you know, the delivery time, delay and delay. So they better know their production time, lead time. And, as I said, make their, uh, you know, logistic booking, freight forwarding, booking attn. Least 10 days in advance. So this way they have enough space and a better rate than the last minute booking. It was just a small tent.

David:   42:07
Yeah, absolutely. I'm going to mention that. I'm glad you mentioned that. So after talking to you, I have learned a ton about international logistics. If are any of our listeners are having issues with that were some ways that force get logistics can help. Help them out.

Burak:   42:24
I think some of our clients now switching from Chinese Chinese freight companies to us is one of the reason is one of the reasons Time difference, of course. On the other thing is, Chinese companies are offering, like, really cheap prices. Sometimes one of our client had an issue, a CZ, you know, um, it is actually illegal to change the invoice values, you know, in order to pay low tax. We're definitely not supporting that. But what if our client had an issue? Their freight forwarder even changed a chess code. If you don't know what is a chess code is, every product has a specific custom cook where once he import that into your country or exported worldwide, we're using the same number for a specific in its look. If you let's say you're selling a T shirt, you have 40% off tax. So some of the Chinese freight forwarders on again I exclude the regular ones, the right ones by some of them in orderto for low price. They're changing the HSK. Oh, so you need to be very you need to be very sure about. You're a freight forwarder has not changed a chest cold. Make sure that you check what is the tax rate, and if they're offering a very low price, that need to make sure they're not doing it on your gas is because number one your company can get a penalty. It's a really big risk. Your product can be destroyed in the custom, or they can be refused that you have to shoot it back to China. send it back. Which it happened to one of our friend, Ah, new customer, that they had this problem reached me and told me that he had 90 days not delivered the cargo and he told me what might be going on. And then we spoke the supplier and they said when frank forward to pick up the cargo, they changed the HSE coat in order to pay less tax. So instead of paying 40% they're declaring the product as a different unit, different items extreme and then pays your attack. So you need to be very careful when you get to offer from the frame forward or make sure everything is very clear. There is no hidden cost. Most of the Chinese factories air using their own freight forwarders, and they're only giving you see F price, which means delivered on Lee until the destination port on. You're in charge of the rest of the charges, such as crossed them clearance US local port charges truck delivered to a warehouse or a basement or Amazon. So there are a lot of hidden costs, and you think that in the beginning the price is very cheap. But then a lot of things come extra and they ask you to pay up front everything. So basically, you have no choice. So what we do is we are offering very clear. Ah, proposal includes everything. So we don't have any extra cost. And as I mentioned that, we're working on our digital platform right now, which is going to be available for a middle of apple. Hopefully on DDE. Once you have a shipment, he can. Logan created a create a shipment. Received a coat, accepted coat truck, everything online. Real time. Make the payments, eh? So what we're trying to do is we're being more clear to our clients and explain everything a little bit more boutique and nish, um, service at the moment. For people who are very new to this industry, it's very, very important to be, ah, clear one serious, eager prices. I think that's one thing that we hear a lot in the market right now that little people they receive, uh, pricing from different companies and everybody's old friend Different price. But please make sure if you have any problem or if you have any questions for your shipments and pricing, make sure you are asking your freight forwarder and explaining you and make sure that you ask them to provide you at tax payment documents. A lot of people, it just you know, they deliver the shipment, and I'm they don't send you anything. What we do is after we make the delivery, we send you everything like the invoice that we pay to the crust, them and everything. So it's very clear. And if you have any problem to two theories later than you see okay, I don't have a problem because I have all the documents. So it's very important to work with legit companies who kind of legally responsible to you. I think that's one thing that we like doing it to our client, that we're very responsible for any sort of issue happens in today and in the future. We're at

David:   47:00
all of our guests. Well, we always ask three questions kind of wrapping up the show and not put you on the spot. But what is your favorite book?

Burak:   47:10
Um, actually, right now, what we're what I wanna do is with myself. I wanna improve my management skills. So I've been reading this book. Um, I think one of The most important thing is having the right seem so it is very, very important to hire the right people. So I'm trying to read as much as possible. And right now one of my fair is I'm doing all of your books, especially I like running when I have free time. I like to read the, uh or listen to all the videos. I tried to listen as much as audio books where I know how to hire the right people. That's something that we're working on it now, like we're expanding our teams in China, Hong Kong and the West. I think that's one of the most important thing for me now to learn and from the other people how to hire better people. That's one thing that I think right now, one focus that I do and read the most off the books that possible.

David:   48:05
And I probably got about long term to building a team.

Burak:   48:08
Oh, I absolutely, roughly,

David:   48:10
uh, the next question up. What are some of your hobbies

Burak:   48:14
off recently? I do CrossFit. I don't know everybody now going crazy about with this thing, but I really like it. It's very intense, Um, and Plus, I've been playing basketball since I was seven years old, so I keep doing it on. Since I moved to Florida are based in Miami. We are very lucky about, like the outdoor activity. So hopefully, guys, when you come to Miami, I'll show you around little bit. So these are the things. It's because we're very busy with the time difference on, you know, with this issues. So it's it's actually great way to MTR had I had. So I really like the score. So I think I would say my new parrot is crossword right now. So that's that's one thing that really like it. I actually law basketball, but unfortunately, you know, the NBA's. So spend it. I like I used to go to the Miami Heat gigs, but I guess not anymore. So probably I'm gonna find

David:   49:07
any Bobby. I have to take a break for those for a while, right?

Burak:   49:11
Yeah, Hopefully it's gonna be back to normal, huh? Everybody's talking about, like, you know, May or June. This thing is going to slow down. Unless hope for it and get prepared for business wise, you know, that's what we're doing. I think everybody should also do that for the business, plan everything and then get ready. Yeah, for sure.

David:   49:30
So I got one last question here with all of your experience over the years. What do you think sets apart successful e commerce entrepreneurs from those who give up fail or never get started?

Burak:   49:42
I think you know one thing I owe to be here today is the networking on. Keep learning. Ah, world changes very fast. Um, I know that I have some skills that I should be improving. Like, you know, my marketing, my social media, I t whatever. Like, you know, I think the most important thing, like keep learning, definitely ask people questions. I think there's one thing you know, When I moved to China, I didn't even know how to ask for a water. And I went to this restaurant. I was doing like this and that I was trying to get water and drink, bro me rest of the restaurant like it's sold to catch up and stuff. And I was like, Hey, if I want to do this, I have to learn it. So you know, Then I started learning mandarin, so I think the most important thing is you know, too. Make sure you start everything slow and not to you up and keep learning. Keep asking. And I think networking is one of the most important thing. I think I love doing networking. You know, reaching out you guys was one of the best thing I've done. I think in March I think there's so much for having me for your in your podcast on DDE. I've been here in a very short time and stays like, almost like a year, year and a health. But so far I'm doing a little networking. And I think that is gonna make the difference in my life, not only the business. Why, but also the personal development on. If you keep doing that, I think it's to reflect to the business as well.

David:   51:10
Well, we appreciate you being on the firing man. Podcast working people get a hold of you. You

Burak:   51:16
can always reach us in our web sites. It's forced. Get up. Come. Um, you can see it in my T shirt I'm wearing. You can reach us in our website. Like sent us an email or ah, give us a cold. We're happy to help you if you have crashing for the sourcing, for the logistics, for the import. Um, and also we have our social media accounts and instagram and Facebook you can full of us. And hopefully from the middle of the middle of March, middle of April, we're gonna have our digital platform for our logistic. Definitely sign up. Try it out. If you have feedback, feel free to reach us back.

David:   51:57
Absolutely. We will post a link to all of those in our show notes for our listeners. But thanks everyone for tuning in. We'll see you next time. Biggest. Thank you,

Ken:   52:07
everyone for tuning into today's firing The man podcast. If you like this episode, head on over to firing the man dot com and check out a resource library for exclusive firing. The man discounts on popular e commerce subscription service is that is firing the man dot com backslash resource. You can also find a comprehensive library of over 50 books that Ken and I have read in the last few years that have made a meaningful intact on our business or that head on over to www dot firing man dot com slash library Leslie check us out on social media at firing the man on YouTube at firing the man for exclusive content. This is David Schumer and Ken Wilson. We're out.