Written by Du Lin Wen

On 30th November 2022, we were honored to have Ms. Jassie Fang as our guest speaker for the course “Introduction to International Business”, instructed by Dr. Ryan Brading. As an online business owner, Ms. Fang talked about her experience and knowledge concerning importing products from Europe.

Kickstarting her sharing, Jassie introduced her early career path and what she learned from those experiences. Upon graduation, she worked in an insurance company for five years. Working in a fast-paced industry, she was required to be quick on her feet and respond to emergencies or queries raised by her client. Her first job also allowed her to build many lasting connections with her clients. Furthermore, her job also gave her the opportunity to travel to many countries, which helped broaden her perspective, and also managerial experiences when she was put in charge of training her subordinates. However, the opportunities that were presented to her quickly made her realize that should have to raise her English proficiency level in order to remain competitive in a highly globalized world. This then led her to take on a new career path, being a bar attendant in her late 20s. While working in the bar, not only did she manage to improve her conversational skills in English, but she was also fortunate enough to take a month-long trip around Europe which she deemed the trip to be a turning point in her life.

With a limited budget, Jassie knew that in order to travel around Europe, she had to plan out her finances and make any necessary changes on the go. Thinking of how she could sustain herself, an idea struck her. She saw an opportunity for her to make some cash by buying German products and selling them in Taiwan. Starting from scratch, she researched online and collected a list of potential products that could be sold fast in the Taiwan market. She tapped into social media platforms like Facebook to sell her products. By adopting a cost leadership pricing strategy, she thoroughly researched her competitors' products and either benchmarked against similar products or by pricing her products lower than her competitors. To expand her customer base, she was also quick in responding to her customers’ queries, which gave her customers a pleasant purchase experience, resulting in repeated purchases.

As her customer base grew, she started to contact potential buyers to grow her business. From a financial perspective, Jassie examines her revenue from listing individual consumers and retail buyers on an annual basis. She emphasized to the students the importance of making a clear business goal. The strategy for business development should take personal expenses as well as operating cash flow into consideration. Hence, she claimed that one of the challenges in 2022 was simply to list several goals and marked her achievement.

The operation of her business was not a smooth sailing ship. She explains that many legal limitations stopped her from expanding the divisiveness of the product she could offer. For example, it is possible to risk judicial sentences without paying extra attention to the contents of products. Nevertheless, Jassie stated, “Only when you make mistakes you would know where to go”. These barriers should not stop the development of one’s business, but see it as an opportunity for us to grow.

Furthermore, Jassie summarized her working philosophy with six fundamental elements, including flexible working time, the capability to travel, making above-average income, having a reputable position, accepting new challenges, and contributing to work. With a clear goal in mind during the early stage of her career, Jassie can confidently share that she has achieved all these philosophies in her current work.

During the sharing, students actively interacted with Ms. Fang. Many students expressed great interest in her experiences by raising several questions. To know more about her business practice, here are some questions asked by students:

Q1. Can a foreigner conduct a similar business model in Taiwan?
A1. Foreigners could hire local agents or simply post products in English on auction portals. Try to target those customers who do not speak Mandarin.
Q2. What lessons did you gain from your early experiences?
A2. Try and experience everything! For instance, in the last few years, she changed several storage companies as the number of orders grew over time. She had to learn to negotiate with the storage companies for better shipping conditions.

The students had an enjoyable time listening to Jassie sharing her experiences and online business ideas. She also encouraged the students who wish to follow in her footstep to think about other products that would be ideal for a similar business model. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Ms. Jassie Fang for taking the time to join us, and for her candid sharing of her experience as a successful entrepreneur in Taiwan.