Backpacker Likes China So Much That He Launches A Startup There And Becomes A (Profitable) Minor Celebrity – by Dominic Johnson-Hill

The kind of spirit that you and I celebrate here on Mixergy is spreading around the world, largely because of creative entrepreneurs like Dominic Johnson-Hill, who you’ll meet in this interview.

Dominic is a backpacker from the UK who found himself in China. Today he runs Plastered T-shirts, the startup he founded in 2005 which does about $800,000 a year in sales, but when he first got to China he had little to his name — but the guy knew how to hustle.  In 1995 he looked around and noticed Western giants elbowing their way into the Chinese market without much data on how effective they were. So he hatched a plan. He noticed that taxi drivers were pretty much the only ones in the country who had cars. He gave them fax machines and paid them to fax him notes on the Western products they found in stores around China. Just like that he was in the market research business.

When he launched Plastered, he promoted it by closing off the streets near his store and launching a fashion show without prior permission. The Chinese authorities weren’t sure what to do with a man with that kind of unapologetic initiative. They chose to look the other way. Stunts like that, and a passionate love for China, got him a lot of media attention. And he made the most of each press opportunity, like the time he went on a popular TV show wearing a witty tshirt that happened to feature his phone number. That stunt helped him get into the wholesaling business.

Want to hear more? Listen to the full program.