The story of Jack Ma is wonderfully inspiring. Ma, 43, founder and CEO of e-commerce giant, Alibaba.com, China’s largest business-to-business website, is packed with energy and has an eagle eye for business opportunities. Brought up in the industrial city of Hangzhou, a couple of hours drive south of Shanghai, Ma had already set himself apart from his peers by the age of 12. It was then that his interest in learning English motivated him to take what can only be described as exceptional action for one so young: Ma offered free tours to western tourists - just so that he could practice his English. This was no mean feat as it meant cycling a considerable distance to and from the hotel where Ma picked up his tourists each day. Even then, Ma’s characteristic drive and determination was phenomenal; in fact, Ma continued with this rigorous routine until he was 20.

Perhaps it was this exposure to foreign cultures at such a formative stage in his life that shaped his global vision. It was this global vision, together with his sharp talent for recognizing market potential that led Ma to found “China pages”, after his very first encounter with the Internet in 1995, when he spotted that Chinese manufacturers were not on the Internet. China Pages was one of China’s first Internet companies and was largely instrumental putting Chinese businesses on the global map. Since then, Ma, widely regarded as a Pioneer of the Internet in China, carried on to establish Alibaba.com, and Taobao.com – which competes with eBay in China.

Whilst Ma’s wealth and power are quite phenomenal, it is actually his ethos, which is most impressive, and a part of that ethos is even reflected in his choice of the name ‘Alibaba’. The allusion to the ‘Tales of Arabian Nights’ is clear – and not to the forty thieves, of course, but rather to “open sesame” – the password that opened the treasure- trove to the outside world.

Internet Marketing Coaching – Top 4 Things to Avoid When Choosing a Coach

Internet marketing coaching is almost a necessary thing in today’s fast moving internet environment. It is necessary to move as fast as you want to when you first get online. You see, when you get started, you know…nothing. And how do you learn the fastest? By learning from people who have done it already.

That is the bottom line – you need internet marketing coaching.

But there is good coaching and bad coaching.

This article is about bad coaching, which you want to avoid at all costs.

So what is bad coaching?

1) Getting coaching from someone who makes less than you do. Look, if they are not already doing what you want to do – or at least better than you are not – how do you think they will be able to teach you?

2) Getting coaching from someone who cannot effectively communicate. Make sure you can communicate with them via the communication type that you will be using for the coaching. If it is telephone coaching, spend 5 minutes on the phone with them before you buy. If it is email coaching (most popular) ask them a question via email and see how well they answer you. Can you learn from this person?

3) Getting coaching if you are not willing to listen. Look, they make $10,000 per month, you make $500 per month. Do what they say! When you are making $10,000 per month, you can do it your own way!

4) Getting coaching if you have no time to follow directions. If you are going to pay $500 per month for coaching – you need to have time to apply everything they teach you each month – and that generally means at least 15 – 20 hours per week of your time, working online.

Baidu.com is one of the most popular Chinese search engines in the world, and it’s president, Robin Li, has just been named the 11th wealthiest IT Entrepreneur in China.
Baidu.com was founded by Li and his friend Eric Xu in 1999 following Li’s return to China after graduating with a Master’s degree in Computer Science from new York State University and experience working with such illustrious companies as Wall Street Journal’s Website and the big name global search engine InfoSeek.
Having returned to China, Li found that there were many Internet Portals in the country, and building dotcoms had become an important trend. Li, who describes himself as obstinate, wanted to best use his talents, and as a result of this stubbornness, Baidu.com was founded.

After leading the search engine market in China for four years however, Baidu began to face mounting challenges, and in 2003, more and more companies were entering the market, including global companies such as Google and Yahoo who were looking for domestic distributors. As a result of these challenges Li decided on a three pronged approach to the challenge. Firstly, a main advantage for Baidu over the competition is to focus on being a Chinese Language search engine – “Google provides search engine services in more than 80 languages, but Baidu only focuses on the Chinese language, so it’s (Google) investment in the China market is much less than ours” Li says.
Secondly, Baidu concentrates firmly on the domestic competition, and thirdly, but by no means last, Li propounds the use of advanced technology and enrichment of its functions. Li maintains that his company is 4 years ahead of other Chinese competitors in terms of technology and that this is a key weapon in the fight for dominance.

While many Chinese Internet companies are trying to become listed on the NASDAQ or the Hong Kong Growth Enterprise market, Li is in no hurry, preferring to wait for the right time. “We are still a start up company and we should not make a rash IPO until investors fully agree with us on the future path of our company,” he says.
True to his motto, “There is no trying. There is only doing and not doing”, and in keeping with his scientific background and tenacity, Li will only proceed when all the signs are proven to be pointing in the right direction.