An expat consultant in Qingdao
- 6 years ago
My name is Stormy Taylor, I'm from the United States, I live in Qingdao, and I'm 33 years old.
When I was young, I did enjoy martial arts movies, Karate Kid was one of my favourites until I learned of real Gongfu, Gongfu instead of Kungfu. I fell in love with Jet Li, and I began to collect his movies, and you know, when nobody's looking, pretend that I knew how to do martial arts.
Upon my graduation I decided that I would visit, I instantly fell in love with China and with Qingdao, and also my later to be Chinese boyfriend.
It's not just about learning culture or language, I think fundamentally we are all human, and when everybody realizes that we all have similar needs and wants then its just a matter of understanding through language and body language that we are all humans.
Currently I'm helping foreigners adjust to China, and before they even come to China or Qingdao, I speak with them, they email, and help them to look for a job, or help them with their applications, their visa applications for enrolling in school, or getting their business visas so they can come over for jobs or internships.
What happened is my first 5 and a half years in China I was teaching English and then after a number of years more and more expats and foreigners referred me because of staying in Qingdao.
Instead of going to different cities I became more experienced with how to do and what to do in Qingdao, so foreigners kept asking me for advice, and they were sending me messages, asking for my help, that it was getting difficult for me to even teach, to try to answer their questions, provide help to them, so it made me realize I am branded so I might as well start a company to help people and step out of teaching and be more available to help foreigners in China.
Maybe they already know some information, so I'll save their time and my breath or typing, and find out more about them and their needs, so with my company "Taylor Services", tailored to fit their needs, so its important to know the individual first.
Officially I've been doing this business during my last semester of teaching, from approximately January of this year until now, so I'm excited and I'm nervous at the same time but it's the beginning of a new chapter in my life, to close the door on teaching and open it up to entrepreneurship.
When I was young, I did enjoy martial arts movies, Karate Kid was one of my favourites until I learned of real Gongfu, Gongfu instead of Kungfu. I fell in love with Jet Li, and I began to collect his movies, and you know, when nobody's looking, pretend that I knew how to do martial arts.
Upon my graduation I decided that I would visit, I instantly fell in love with China and with Qingdao, and also my later to be Chinese boyfriend.
It's not just about learning culture or language, I think fundamentally we are all human, and when everybody realizes that we all have similar needs and wants then its just a matter of understanding through language and body language that we are all humans.
Currently I'm helping foreigners adjust to China, and before they even come to China or Qingdao, I speak with them, they email, and help them to look for a job, or help them with their applications, their visa applications for enrolling in school, or getting their business visas so they can come over for jobs or internships.
What happened is my first 5 and a half years in China I was teaching English and then after a number of years more and more expats and foreigners referred me because of staying in Qingdao.
Instead of going to different cities I became more experienced with how to do and what to do in Qingdao, so foreigners kept asking me for advice, and they were sending me messages, asking for my help, that it was getting difficult for me to even teach, to try to answer their questions, provide help to them, so it made me realize I am branded so I might as well start a company to help people and step out of teaching and be more available to help foreigners in China.
Maybe they already know some information, so I'll save their time and my breath or typing, and find out more about them and their needs, so with my company "Taylor Services", tailored to fit their needs, so its important to know the individual first.
Officially I've been doing this business during my last semester of teaching, from approximately January of this year until now, so I'm excited and I'm nervous at the same time but it's the beginning of a new chapter in my life, to close the door on teaching and open it up to entrepreneurship.