Thanks for the meet & thanks for the insights Mr. He!
Nice atmosphere. I was happy to see many people face-to-face for the first time and will try to contribute strongly for the next time.
stimme voll zu. ebenso viel glueck fuer die naechsten tage!
I took notes, kept order(SHUT UP!!!) and made lewd tongue gestures towards Loretta. It was a sharp group and everyone was nice and had questions. I’m going to split it into what we learned from Mr. He and what we need to learn. Please feel free to add in anything I miss. All costs are in $NT.
-Everyone introduced themselves and explained why they were there.
-We talked about the monthly cost of an accountant which seems to run anywhere from $1500-$2500 depending on the amount of business you are doing.
*Now this seems to be a problem for some. It seems the best way to set things up initially in terms of cost and time is to set it up in your Taiwanese spouse’s name as a sole proprietorship. This will cost you about $10,000. You better love, trust and not piss them off too severely.
*The rules for non married foreigners are up to interpretation and though Llary has done great work sorting it out, there are still many versions of what you should do and time taken. I’d strongly suggest we start beating this like a drum like we did the GEPT test, where we went from knowing nothing to having a pretty good feel how it was graded and how to game it.
-Mr. He went over the very real fact that QC checks should be done at every shipment at first before they leave and any problems sorted out right then and there.
*He made this point because in his line of work businesses are paying for a person to make sure they aren’t going to be screwed and realize the value he brings to the business deal. Some companies focus only on cost and he says it’s not worth it at all to go after “cheap” customers.
-Mr. He talked about understanding in depth what is happening. For an item with few parts it’s now so hard. In more technical items though a certain level knowledge and background with those products seems to be the best bet.
-Build a network of contacts, do right by them to get more contacts by word of mouth.
*From his experience 500 emails/1 response, 100 phone calls, 1 response, not sure on letters and newsletters. He hasn’t done trade shows because of money at first and now because of time. He would like to do 3-4 of them a year.
-Export permit, easy cheesy, just costs $10,000
-Entry into manufacturing not seen as worth it due to low margins, high capital costs and the fact that there are 10 other factories already doing it.
*I’ll review this in Management deficiency
-Is being able to speak Chinese necessary? Most of us would say it is or we don’t know. No one argued it wasn’t necessary. 
-Developing new products, should have $100,000 up front from the buyer. When the factory gives you the cost, double it.
-Dealing with 2nd tier employees and finding someone good. Seems job title trumps pay 
Some people seem to have no problems and others do.
*Mr. He says employee turnover is a key metric when knowing if a company is good or not.
Things we don’t know or didn’t cover
-How to start a business, where do you go, how do you get your work permit. Llary covered this in a post but it needs to be redone and shortened.
-Hiring a foreigner
-What is a good price for accounting services? Need an accountant? Look in the phone book.
-Why most businesses seem to be one man shows. Basically managing people is hard
-How to recruit first tier employees
-Business incubators at universities, Loretta mentioned it.
Basically, I’m going to go and start shaking a few trees and see what falls out. Life is hectic at the moment with my mom coming in in 5 weeks for a 2-week stay. After you add in the wife and kid, I don’t have much time outside posting on here form work. I still need to get my DL. 
Cheers,
Okami
Any mistakes are mine and should not interfere with your already low opinions of the Forumosans and lurkers who came to the meeting.
Thanks for those notes, Okami. I’d been looking forward to Mr. He’s presentation since he announced it but just couldn’t make it yesterday with all my other commitments.
I hope the group will continue to do this monthly as asiababy and I would like to participate.
Dear Okami,
Thank you for the note taking.
Dear everybody, thank you for showing up, I will post a call for speakers as soon as I get the missus sorted, next meet will be October 18, same time and place.
Attendance was great this time, on par with the best in late 2006.
I am not a father for the fourth time yet.
[quote=“Okami”]I took notes, kept order(SHUT UP!!!) and made lewd tongue gestures towards Loretta.[/quote] It was very quiet when you ‘said’ that 
I think for this its important to add that you got to do a lot of QA checks yourself in person.
I’m having problems with using this as judgment. I know a lot of slow and bad companies where people just sit on their ass and wait for retirement.
And also great companies which are good and have extremely experienced engineers who are there since 20 years.
There’s still room for a lot of questions on everything that was put on the table
[quote]It was very quiet when you ‘said’ that 
[/quote] That was probably the funniest moment at the meeting. Everyone talking and Mr. He asking for quiet in a nice Danish accent, then me gently placing my hand on his arm for him to stop, then me screaming, “SHUT UP!” I swear y’all looked like a busted group of kindergartners. I thought hiker might cry.
Well, talking among yourselves when a speaker is speaking is something people in kindergarten does. People attending a meeting like that knows better, or should know better. Thanks okami for keeping a modicum of silence while I was talking.
First of all Mr He sorry for not attending…
after reading Okami’s post i am quite surprised regarding the accoutant’s charges…i am paying @ Nt 8000 / month to my present KhuaiJiShr and if the cost is just 1500 - 2500 then it means i am getting fleeced! the amount of business that I am doing from Taiwan is average !!
if anyone can recommend a good accountant then i am all ears!!
Its a subconscious thing I guess. A bit OT, but in Taiwanese restaurants its very common to talk louder than the person on the other table who then talks louder than you which forces you to talk even louder … gets really loud with multiple tables.
I guess I’ll try the SHUT UP @#%!!! technique in a restaurant one day here. 
Or at work!!!
I’d just like to say thanks for arranging this, it ended up much better than I expected and it was great to get to meet some new people as well.
Count me in next time.
Thanks for the organizing and talk.
Some background on myself: I’m a Canadian and have started my own business in Taiwan, registered solely in my name (my wife is Taiwanese, but she came along after the business was formed).
The procedure for a foreigner to start their own business and have an ARC in the business name goes something like this:
- Get an accountant who can get the paperwork done. A lawyer will also be required to sign some of the papers, however the accountant can recommend someone for this step. I just had to visit the lawyer once with the paperwork, and this part cost $2000 NT. The $1500-$2500 NT per month sounds in line with what I am paying my accountant here in Taichung.
- Come up with a Chinese name for your business - the accountant can help you check that this name hasn’t been registered before.
- Pay attention to the business category that you register your business in. In the future if you expand your business into other areas, you may or may not be able to claim expenses if it’s not related to the original category you registered it under.
- Open a bank account in this business name. Now since the business doesn’t actually exist yet, the business will have a special stamp that says something like “in the process of being incorporated”. This stamp will change once all the steps are finished and you have received your business license.
- There is a minimum amount of money that needs to be shown in your bank account. I’m not sure if this varies from business to business. In my case it was $250 000 NT, but I’ve heard cases where this was $500 000 NT. Here’s the tricky part - you have to show that this money was brought in from overseas. So in my case, I had to show a receipt showing $9000 CDN being exchanged into the equivalent NT dollars, and then deposited into this account.
- You will need to show an address for your business. My understanding is that this has to be different from your home address. You will need to contact the landlord of the place you are renting to make sure that the address can be used to register a business in.
- Once the paper work is done and you have received your license, you are free to use the money in your account. I have heard of companies that lend you money with interest for this purpose, but I can comment on whether that is legal or not.
I hired a lawyer in Taipei to get my ARC. That was kind of pricey though ($20 000NT), so you can decide if it’s something you can do on your own. In essence, your ARC shows you as an employee of your own company. This involves signing a contract between the company and yourself. I found this step kind of odd, since it required me understanding that my company could terminate my VISA if they found out I was working elsewhere etc. Your first ARC may only be for one year, since they want to see if your company is legit. However after that, they may be able to extend it for 3 years. I was planning to renew my ARC this year and contacted the same lawyer again, who wanted another $20 000 NT for the process. I have since decided to change my ARC to a resident VISA based around my recent marriage, to save the trouble.
Other notes:
There are a lot of excess expenses you will need to pay for, when running a legit business. Apart from salaries, I’m paying about $3000 in additional expenses for each employee, that cover their health, labor insurance and retirement benefits. I had to renegotiate their salaries, since I didn’t realize the extra expenses would be so much. Even my own health insurance plan premium has gone up to about $1350 a month now, from around $600 a month before.
If there are any questions anyone has about any of these, then please let me know.
hiker is definitely still crying! You helped me to remind me on the feeling of my students at 文化大學。May I ask for a favour? The next time when you start screaming “SHUT UP!”, I will record and use it in my lessons. OK?
Keep in touch!
[quote=“TheLostSwede”]I’d just like to say thanks for arranging this, it ended up much better than I expected and it was great to get to meet some new people as well.
Count me in next time.[/quote]
The honour is on our side.
Before I split and splice so notes and comments get over into other threads, do we have a possible speaker for next time?
I try to get a savvy french friends for this but I also have my brother visiting Taiwan for two weeks (October Sun,11-Sat,24).
October 25 would be more likely then October 18 here, or its November for me.