I’ve met a lot of expats in my time in China. Some decided to move during an Asian studies class in college. Others decided to move when they saw Mandarin-speaking colleagues getting a promotion over them at work. Still others may have promised a Chinese parent on his or her deathbed to return to the homeland.
For Chicago-native Brian Sloan, it was about the time he was being questioned by police for trafficking and dismembering human skulls.
Sloan seems normal. Even boring. I met him with some other Beijing entrepreneurs last week over hot pot and he refused to eat anything out of the spicy side of the pot. He has a slight build, non-descript features, and mousey brown hair. He even has a law degree from Penn State. But his life took a more interesting turn in 2004 or so when he started to scour antique shows and auctions for things he could sell for more money on eBay. What motivated him? “Making money,” he says. Not so much for the cash itself, but the chase, the deal and the challenge. Buying something undervalued—even weird— and figuring out who would highly value it.
Long story short: He starting to realize China was a treasure trove of things to buy low and sell high—among them, human skulls that he imported in a box marked “TOYS” and then boiled, cleaned, broken apart and screwed back together and detailed for medical students. A good skull would cost about $100 each and he could sell it for as high as $800. (What makes “a good skull”? Turns out it’s the number of teeth.)
It all went well until the day an eccentric Chicago puppeteer named JoJo Baby came by the house to buy some mannequins and saw some skulls boiling on the stove. He naturally assumed Sloan was a serial killer and called the cops. This YouTube video (also embedded below) pretty much says the rest. It bears noting, Sloan was never actually arrested or charged, although he still complains that he never got his “inventory” back from the mustachioed, gum-smacking Chicago brass who spent days trying to work him over Law-and-Order-style while TV satellite trucks camped out in front of his apartment.
Sloan moved to China soon after. It was considerably closer access to the things he was selling and, let’s just say after the skull incident, filled with more open-minded people. “In China, people respect what I do as a business,” he says. Which would be a boon in his next career move… making latex fetish-wear. (Link very NSFW.) And that’s where the Chinese supply chain magic came in. He was able to tailor nearly any outfit in any size and ship it at a healthy mark-up. Some outfits go as high as $800.
But even that pales next to his new business. How should I put this and still be a lady? The product is called “AutoBlow” and it has nothing to do with cars. Here’s the site. Warning: It’s very, very Not Safe For Work. (Yes, I’m spelling the letters out this time, just in case.)
Like a lot of entrepreneurs in China, Sloan is cagey about what I can and can’t say about how the operation works. That’s not because it’s illicit—it’s because it’s so incredibly lean, flexible and outsourced that he doesn’t benefit if competitors realize exactly what he’s pulled off business-wise. But suffice to say with a small army of employees peppered around the globe, Sloan—aka the “Kinky King of Beijing”—is looking at an incredibly profitable business that’s already generating more than $1 million in revenue and growing quickly. He’s exploited what each region does best: Romanians are his programmers and SEO, Indians and Brazilians do his Web design, and China does the manufacturing and fulfillment. He hired his whole staff without leaving his living room. His next act? Finding new products and following the same playbook.
My point here isn’t to write a salacious post about skulls and sex toys—as much as I enjoy watching Michael Arrington squirm. My point is that for all the talk about how much harder it is for a Westerner to do business in China, in a lot of industries there are far fewer barriers to entry than anywhere else I’ve seen in the world. And – huge 1.3 billion person domestic market aside—that’s what is making China such a Mecca for scrappy, pioneering entrepreneurs right now. You may find Sloan’s ventures distasteful, indeed he says his mother still changes the subject when friends ask what her son does for a living. But change the nature of what he’s selling and Sloan thinks just like any good entrepreneur pushing the boundaries in any pioneering market.
We like to think that outsourcing manufacturing to China or call centers to India revolutionized American business. But America hasn’t seen anything like the truly flattened, profitable, deconstructed and then ingeniously reconstructed businesses I’ve seen in China in the last few weeks.
People who say China is all about outsourcing the supply chain and not innovation have it backwards—the deconstructed supply chain is precisely what’s opened China up to a world of innovation. Imagine the way the Web democratized media and content and now apply the same ability to break a staid practice into Lego-like pieces to any physical hard goods industry whether its sex toys or iPods or pharmaceuticals.
We’ve only seen the first few innings of what this means for global business and smart entrepreneurs in China – whether expats or locals—have the advantage.
Excellent story Mike. And nice link
Sorry – I just realized it was Sarah – nice one Sarah!
cool
I`ve tried to co-operate with Chinese enterpruers, it`s hard to gain contact – but if it`s achieved then it`s 100% worth it.
WTF! The “Top 5 Reasons To Buy An Autoblow” page was interesting (and humorous)to say the least.
Indeed…
“If you have a girlfriend, the customary pre-blowjob activities (dinner, drinks, movie) can easily run you $100, just for the single shot! And if you have a wife…you have to be married and the costs involved in that are enormous. So… amortized over time, the Autoblow is CHEAP!”
Well, Mr. Sloan, initially I wasn’t sure if the AutoBlow is right for me. But you have shown me that it makes so much business sense, that I would be stupid not to get one!
Who is higher up the feeding chain at TC, Sarah or Paul Carr?
Sarah, by about a thousand miles. And rightly so; this is a brilliant post (as usual).
Who has gotten reprimanded by Arrington the most?
It seems this guy would do anything for money!!
This article has just sold atleast 10,000 Autoblows for the guy if not more.
TC you should have used an affiliate link and profit from the traffic you drove to Autoblow
Hahahaha, best comment ever (the first part).
Very much like a fleshlight so hope he has a big warehouse. Might sell some if at least an affiliate program.
Wow, selling human body parts, what a strange profession
What a cool post, thanks for sharing.
Fantastic post. Great tie in with something entertaining, gotta compliment that. And now I have one more piece of Chicago history under my belt!
next step, shove an autoblow into one of those human skulls for the true bj experience
“Sexy” is not exactly the first word that comes to my mind re buying and selling human skulls, latex face masks and jerk-off machines…
Exactly. This guy seems to be sick and smart, which is not an attractive combination to me.
Like Ted Bundy?
Wow. I wonder if it is hard to clean that autoblow. But then come to think of it, still cleaner than a real female genitalia. Arrington might want to check this out. The Autoblow and a pair of latex gloves and you’ve got sterile heaven, so to speak.
actually re: ajax jones, it seems there is an affiliate program here, which is also NSFW. http://www.robo...blowjobcash.com
As a long time expat and Chinese company owner I have been very critical of your articles.
This is by far your best article. Good work.
Now this is a bit more investigative.
Im curious if you have the strength to get deeper into the expat world. There are some exciting Internet projects that are run by many Canadian Chinese living in China.
I would love to see you report “What does it take to make it big in China” using the Internet as a medium for selling goods made in China.
Good story. It’s informational and insightful. Being an electronics wholesaler in China ourselves, I guess there’s much space for our expansion to the world.
“filled with more open-minded people”
Wow, China is clearly becoming an exciting destination for expats…
Who cares about freedom of speech when at least guests to your home won’t question why there is a pot of skulls boiling on your stove.
I don’t know, what would you do if you noticed someone boiling skulls, presumably you would do the exact same thing the guy did, would you take a change asking for clarification? Suppose this guy really is a freak, then its your skull the FBI finds boiling.
People can be narrow minded or open minded everywhere, you will find equally interesting businesses just about anywhere apart from the middle easily if you look hard enough. Just because laws can be fuzzy ins some places doesn’t make them good, have you looked at the environmental costs and lack of regulation on people. Regulation is good to have, that guarantees the sort of lifestyles so many westerner now take for granted.
Contrary to a lot of folks I find Sarah’s Lacy’s articles well written and interesting to read but I think journalists should not do a superficial piece which doesn’t take into account thinks like the lack of human rights, poor labour conditions and environmental impact.
The Autoblow is an amazing device and I’m having a great time promoting it. HaHa, didn’t know my ‘boss’ was such an interesting character!
The affiliate program is great and the ‘Romanian’ SEO guys very helpful. I hope it does overtake the Fleshlight.
I wonder if everything this guy is doing is done legally. i.e paying taxes
Hmmm? China? Human parts for sale? And doesn’t that ring some bells!
So what about the oppressive government of China? Allowed to talk about automatic blow jobs but not about Tibet?
You can own a blow machine, but you cannot bear arms. LOL.
Quite a story.