Posts by Marc Sparks
China is an Entrepreneur’s Dream, but Do Your Homework. PART 5
Marc Sparks is an entrepreneur who has been involved in more than sixty start-ups since the Seventies. Marc is also the founder, owner, and CEO of Timber Creek Capital, a private equity firm. This is the fifth installment in a blog series titled China: The Land of Platinum Opportunity. By their own admission and without any shame, the Chinese are notorious for their ability to copy goods, creating knockoffs of some of the world’s most popular items. I have actually been seriously warned by the local Chinese not to bring certain things into China unless I want to see copies of them in the States before I return home. In the ultimate rip-off, they somehow managed to open...
Read MoreIn China, Business is about Location, Location, Location! PART 4
Marc Sparks is an entrepreneur who has been involved in more than sixty start-ups since the Seventies. Marc is also the founder, owner, and CEO of Timber Creek Capital, a private equity firm. This is the fourth installment in a blog series titled China: The Land of Platinum Opportunity. I knew a little bit about doing business in China from when I traveled to Beijing for the first time. While I was there, I had a craving for some Texas barbecue, which simply didn’t exist there. I personally love to barbecue and smoke beef, chicken, pork, and fish regularly. I have friends who beg me to cook baby back ribs. When I had that craving for Texas barbecue, it occurred to me...
Read MoreChina: A Country Ripe with Opportunity! PART 3
Marc Sparks is an entrepreneur who has been involved in more than sixty start-ups since the Seventies. Marc is also the founder, owner, and CEO of Timber Creek Capital, a private equity firm. This is the third installment in a blog series titled China: The Land of Platinum Opportunity. When you think about it, China is a 3,000-year-old culture with a twenty-five year-old “Westernized” history. Because Western ways are new and relatively unfamiliar to the Chinese people, they tend to openly welcome our ways. Car dealerships, fast food, clothing stores and such have barely scratched the surface. While China has thousands of Kentucky Fried Chickens, Pizza Inns,...
Read MoreChina: The Land of Platinum Opportunity! Part 2
Marc Sparks is an entrepreneur who has been involved in more than sixty start-ups since the Seventies. Marc is also the founder, owner, and CEO of Timber Creek Capital, a private equity firm. This is the second installment in a blog series titled China: The Land of Platinum Opportunity. In my most recent blog post, I mentioned that one of the most memorable and poignant trips of my life was a journey that took my wife Jane and me around the world in twenty-six days. During that globetrotting expedition, we met a young Chinese woman in Xi’an named Lindy. Lindy was our tour guide throughout our time in that city. To become a tour guide in China, you must be...
Read MoreExplore China, and all Lands of Opportunity! PART 1
Marc Sparks is an entrepreneur who has been involved in more than sixty start-ups since the Seventies. Marc is also the founder, owner, and CEO of Timber Creek Capital, a private equity firm. This is the first installment in a blog series titled China: The Land of Platinum Opportunity. I’ve always had a passion for travel because, as an entrepreneur, leaving my office from time to time forces me to get out of my comfort zone and see how the other seven billion people are living on this planet. Some of my best ideas for business and packaging have come from experiences I’ve had on the road, whether selling furniture from the backseat of my car or touring a foreign...
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