Expat Women: Business Ideas: Interviews with Entrepreneurs Imports Oriental Jill Coyle     After attending high school in Hong Kong and spending a year in northern China studying Mandarin, American Jill Coyle returned to the United States for university and to later marry her Hong Kong high school sweetheart (who had also finished university in the US). Jill and Danny then returned to Asia where Jill began work as a teacher and operations assistant for a non-profit children's home in Beijing. Four years later, Jill followed in the footsteps of so many enterprising entrepreneurs in modern China to start her own import/export business. Imports Oriental began with one product line (jewelry), but it did so well that after six months, Jill's husband quit his corporate job and joined the company. Together, they have grown their product line to include clothing as well, and they now have offices in Seattle, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Langfang (outside of Beijing), as well as a knitwear (sweater) facility in Shantou.   In May 2010, Jill was recognized for her hard work when she was chosen as the People's Choice Entrepreneur of the Year at the annual Beijing Women in Business Leadership Awards.

Jill Coyle Imports Oriental team

Expat Women: What are some of the challenges as well as the benefits of working with your husband?

Jill: Well, I think having a business partner is a challenge regardless. And when you happen to be married to each other, it has the potential for some real sparks.

One challenge for me has been having disagreements at home – and somehow not letting the emotion of it spill over when it is 8:30 a.m. and "work time." We both had to intentionally work on our roles as husband and wife at home and as business partners at work. It has also been a challenge creating boundaries for work – so that it does not follow us home, into the weekends and invade every nook and cranny of our lives.

Another challenge is the fact that we are both in this business; and when there are crises or pay cuts, we do not have the safety net of the other person's salary.

The good news is that we have been at this for six years and the benefits far outweigh the negatives. In fact, most of the above challenges have really forced us to grow, change our perspective, and trust and respect each other more.

Expat Women: What five tips would you offer to women starting a business abroad?

1.	Find support in all phases of your business. In the research phase, go out and meet other business professionals. Check your local chamber of commerce, find a LinkedIn group and/or go online and search for business networks in your city. Talk to a lawyer, an agent, or someone who has set up a business; and ask questions. After the startup phase, you will still need a lot of support, so get involved in a business network which will help you grow, stay sharp, and gather ideas. It will also provide resources and people who can help you in a crisis. A business mentor or coach is also a very valuable asset. Later, as you continue to grow, you will need the support of your own team at your company. If you have a weak team, you will have weak support. If you cannot afford to hire good people (especially in upper management positions), wait until you can afford them. There is power in having a great team who will challenge the process, think outside the box, and lead in their job.
2.	Take charge of your leadership development. This is crucial, as many entrepreneurs are loners who work long hours, cooped up in their little home office. You will not have the support that many employees of Fortune 500 companies have, such as leadership development, training and mentoring. You will need to develop yourself. Read industry-related articles or blogs, business magazines and books on leadership. Begin building a network of trusted people you can call when facing a crisis or integrity issue (for example, regarding a lawyer, industry colleague, agent or accountant). Continue to grow your strengths. Find a way to measure your growth. Develop action plans on the good ideas you read about. Write about what you have learned. Develop personal goals for the year and then review them daily.
3.	"Do it afraid." You can only do so much research and assessment – at some point, you just need to take that leap and risk it. A phrase I heard in my 20's has always stuck with me as I have tried new things or developed new businesses: "do it afraid". The point is, do it. If you have done research, written a plan and you have a competitive edge, then just get on with it. Even if the product or service fails, you will still have learned a lot – about how to do it better next time, about your strengths and weaknesses, about questions you should have asked, and more. We have had a number of failed projects and products that, afterwards, seemed like a waste of money, manpower and resources. However, we just try to change perspective on the situation and ask ourselves, "Well, what did we learn that we can use?"
4.	Create a plan that will make time for you. Entrepreneurs work long, hard hours, but this is not sustainable long-term. I still wanted to be able to have a marriage, children, to volunteer and to nurture my friendships. Beyond the start-up period, I really had to build boundaries so that work stayed at work. Of course, there are still days that I am puttering away on my computer at midnight, but for the most part, I follow the rules that I have set for myself. I make time for friends and family, and I make time for my own interests
5.	Discover your strength zone." When I started my business, I was the sole employee; and even though I had many job descriptions and was working ridiculously long hours, the concept was pretty simple – I got everything done because there was no one else to do it. Fast forward two years and we had nearly 20 employees; suddenly I was dealing with all kinds of administrative work. I was no longer in my strength zone of developing and growing new things. Know where your strengths lie and try to do most of your work in that area. If it is not possible, at least block off some time every day to develop your strengths, and make it your long-term goal to put people into the positions where you are weak.

Expat Women:Every quarter, your entire company volunteers together at a local charity. Why did you decide to incorporate volunteerism into your workplace?

Jill: We have incorporated volunteerism for two reasons. First, it benefits our employees – for most of them, this is the first time they have ever volunteered; they see first-hand the delight and rewards of giving back to people less fortunate, they see our company contributing to something bigger than ourselves, and they respect that we are doing this right here in China where we all live.

Second, we do it because we believe that giving back is one of the main reasons why we are here. And we do this not only by volunteering at charities, but also in our business relationships – by training our suppliers in Quality Control or by giving opportunities to our employees to go to computer school or to learn English.

Ultimately, for our employees, we hope that volunteerism becomes a lifestyle. Once, our company had a clothing drive for foster homes in western China who were in dire circumstances. The next year, one of our employees took the initiative to start recruiting her friends to give used clothing to this organization. A few years later, she left our company – but she is still organizing clothing drives among her friends. To me, that is something to celebrate!

Expat Women: Finally Jill, do you have an exit strategy in case you leave China?

Imports Oriental Blog
http://www.importsoriental.com/blog

Women in Business
http://www.women-in-business.net

October 2010