Chapter 10 Business Road 9 Go wherever there is money to be made

The essence of business: A Wenzhou businessman who has settled in France said: "We Wenzhou people live everywhere, just like dandelions, wherever the wind blows, they will take root, bloom and bear fruit in that place." Being good at adapting to the environment is a major characteristic of Wenshang.Every time Wenzhou merchants go to a strange place, they will immediately start a business, adapt immediately, take root, germinate, bloom, and bear fruit, relying on a strong affinity and adaptability. "Wenzhou people live everywhere, and we will go wherever we can make money." Zhang Liansong, the current president of Taizhou Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said.Taizhou is a newly established prefecture-level city, and it is located at the junction of the "Yangtze River Delta" and northern Jiangsu. The city is not big, but it has great development space and potential.Many projects and markets here are still blank, which just provides opportunities for them.On the other hand, the local economic and social development also has the ability to absorb foreign capital on a large scale.In terms of market entry barriers, investment costs, operating risks and other factors, Shanghai and southern Jiangsu cities are much higher than Taizhou, and the competition for many investment projects there is already saturated.It may not be an easy task to dig another pot of gold.

Zhang Liansong believes that, in a real sense, Wenzhou's private capital completed primitive accumulation and has the ability to expand outwards only in the past two or three years, and this expansion is only a small and medium-scale capital expansion.In this case, we can only proceed from reality, do what we can, and find a suitable space for growth.It can be said that as long as there is money to be made, Wenzhou merchants will wander around and endure the wandering life of no fixed place. Since the 1990s, a group of businessmen from Wenzhou came to Gansu Province in western China to do business in order to start their own businesses. Ms. Zhuang Aixiang, the current general manager of Lanzhou Meishilian Bedding Co., Ltd., is one of the best.

From the outside, Zhuang Aixiang has a thin face and looks a little shy when speaking.However, her entrepreneurial journey shows the image of a strong woman who is soft on the outside and strong on the inside. She has been in the clothing business in Beijing from 1992 to 2000, and later in the leather business in Luoyang, her life has been relatively turbulent. In 1998, I also went to Lanzhou to inspect the market, but because I couldn't stand the climate here, I had to give up. In 2002, a friend who was in the bedding business persuaded her to come to Lanzhou again to do this business.So she returned to Lanzhou again, this time she was determined to survive in this harsh climate.

In September 2002, she took a fancy to a piece of land in Lanzhou, 6 acres, with an annual rent of 60,000 yuan. She rented it for 20 years and was determined to use the Lanzhou brand.Needless to say, from renting a factory building to building a house and buying imported machinery, the hardships I have endured are the most unbearable. The most unbearable thing is that people from some departments will come to "take care" from time to time. Once "take care of", you will get "meaning", Zhuang Aixiang Although angry and helpless, he still endured it. Later, she registered the trademark "Meishi Lian", because she saw too many detours of Wenzhou's low-end products. She demands that the staff pay attention to every detail.

She is very busy, and her husband is also busy, so she has to worry about everything. She can only conduct spot checks on the quality of the quilt. I understand that later when there were more and more repeat customers, everyone realized how important quality is to an enterprise. Walking into her production workshop, although it is not big, it is very clean. Workers have to take off their shoes to enter the site, and more than 20 workers are busy with each other, meticulous.In the warehouse, there are only piles of quilts, finished products and semi-finished products, piled up one by one, very neat.

Someone asked her if she had any plans to return to her hometown for development. She said that she may return to her hometown to invest after she has accumulated enough funds, but for now she is still focused on making the company in Lanzhou bigger and stronger.For businessmen in Wenzhou, it is quite common for people like Ms. Zhuang Aixiang to start a business far away from home. Xinjiang is located in the farthest northwest of China. Its vast territory, sparsely populated, and rich products have attracted many Wenzhou people to live and operate.Li Songcai, who is now the youngest chairman of Yongjia's foreign chamber of commerce, is a native of Wenzhou who has traveled to Xinjiang alone since graduating from high school.After more than ten years of hard work and struggle, Li Songcai now has six cotton ginning factories in northern Xinjiang, with an annual output value of more than 200 million yuan, and has become a well-known cotton king in Xinjiang.

In 1990, Li Songcai had just graduated from high school, and with a strong entrepreneurial passion, he came to the marginal and vast Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region alone.Summarizing Li Songcai's experience in Xinjiang, there are roughly three major turning points: First of all, the first person to successfully enter the "Xinbai".In Xinjiang at that time, the commercial building with the largest scale, the highest grade and the best reputation was the Xinjiang Department Store at that time, and Li Song was able to confirm the contracting right of the "Xinbai" counter in the prime location.So, relying on the aggressiveness of a newborn calf who is not afraid of tigers, he found the general manager of "Xinbai" and explained his requirements. Perhaps he was moved by the courage of this Wenzhou youth in front of him. "Xinbai" has never been privately contracted to operate a counter "It actually made an exception for him once.After that, Li Songcai, who successfully rented the counter, started to operate leather shoes and clothing in "Xinbai", which made huge profits that year, which laid a solid foundation for him to start a business in Xinjiang.

Secondly, the first private cotton ginning factory in Xinjiang was established. In the 90s of the 20th century, cotton in Xinjiang gradually became a sought-after commodity. As a result, many Wenzhou people came to Xinjiang to make a fortune by purchasing or selling cotton.Li Songcai, who has a keen sense of business, would not let go of such a good opportunity to make a fortune. Therefore, in 1995, relying on his advantages in time, location, and harmony in Xinjiang over the past few years, he took the lead in Toutai Township, Wusu City, Xinjiang, which is rich in cotton. Founded the first private cotton ginning factory, and achieved complete success because of proper operation.In this way, Li Songcai soon became a prominent figure in the local area.

In the end, after setbacks, we finally decided to base ourselves on cotton and grow bigger and stronger.In fact, very few people have smooth sailing in their careers, and Li Songcai is no exception. From contracting counters to running a cotton ginning factory, Li Songcai's career has grown step by step.At this time, Li Song, who was determined to do great things, wanted to expand the scale and scope of his business, so in 1998 he sold the cotton ginning factory and turned to clothing brand chain operation.Perhaps because of his eagerness to win, Li Songcai's decision-making was a bit hasty, and there were also problems in management. As a result, the clothing business failed completely and lost everything.At this time, Li Songcai began to reflect on his behavior deeply. After learning from the pain, he decided to return to his old business and set his goal on the cotton industry.Taking advantage of his resource advantages in Xinjiang, Li Songcai returned to the arena, and established Xinjiang Kangrui Cotton Industry Development Co., Ltd. in 2001, killing a beautiful return.

Since then, Li Songcai has firmly positioned his industry on cotton in Xinjiang, hoping to occupy the "one black (oil) one white (cotton) one red (tomato)" industry trump card proposed by the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region government. As of 2005, Li Songcai's Kangrui Cotton Industry Development Co., Ltd. has developed six cotton ginning factories in Wusu, Bole, Jinghe and other counties and cities, and its business covers the entire northern Xinjiang region.In terms of future development ideas, Li Songcai said that he must insist on not letting go of cotton spinning, and to expand his own enterprise in the cotton industry.

Li Songcai believes that with the improvement of people's living conditions, cotton fabrics are more and more favored by consumers, coupled with the vigorous support of the Xinjiang government, the cotton business will have a bright future.This is the entrepreneurial story of a Wenzhou native in Xinjiang. In fact, the reason why Wenzhou merchants have aroused great attention and interest is that the restless Wenzhou merchants travel around the world just like Jews in order to do business. When it comes to Wenshang’s business ventures overseas, the story of Zhu Zhongrong’s hard work in his rare years has to make people sigh and admire. In 1989, 68-year-old Zhu Zhongrong came to New York and started a new life. In 1992, Zhu Zhongrong and his daughter opened "Zhu Ji Pot Stickers" on Main Street.The old man Zhu Zhongrong starts cooking at five o'clock in the morning every day, and sells until ten o'clock in the evening when the stall closes before sitting down for dinner. There is almost no chance to rest in the middle.In the first five years, Mr. Zhu, who was exposed to the sun and rain and was more than seventy years old, was able to stand on the side of the road for a whole day without complaining of suffering or tiredness, setting an example for his children and grandchildren. Because their Zhu family has more than 20 years of experience in making pot stickers dumplings, the dumpling wrappers are handmade, which is better than machine-made pot stickers dumplings, and they are made and sold on the spot, which is very popular among Chinese.In August 1997, they rented the storefront next to Chaofang restaurant on 41st Avenue to increase their staff and expand their business. "Zhuji pot stickers" is no longer a single pot stickers, but also sells other noodle dishes, including dumplings, steamed buns, buns, bean curd, soy milk and scallion pancakes.Later, "Zhu Ji Guotie" opened three more chain stores, with two daughters and youngest son each in charge of one store.Every night, Mr. Zhu looked at the dollars he earned with hard work with his hands, and he felt extremely proud in his heart. "Wenzhou natives have created a legend in New York in ten years, and Zhu Ji potstickers are fragrant in New York, USA" is the headline of the report on the successful entrepreneurship of Zhu's old man in New York by the American "World Journal".As the oldest successful immigrant entrepreneur among the Chinese, Zhu Zhongrong's deeds are well-known.In New York, when people mention "Zhu Ji pot stickers", it can be said that everyone knows it. In fact, since ancient times, Wenzhou people have a history of continuous migration.Wenzhou is a key hometown of overseas Chinese with a history of thousands of years of immigration, which can be traced back to the Northern Song Dynasty.Now there are hundreds of thousands of Wenzhou people living overseas, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, distributed in 87 countries and regions in the world, mainly in Western Europe and the United States. France, Italy, and the United States are the three major countries in which Wenzhou merchants live.However, as a "Chinese Jew", Wen Shang's family can be seen all over the world on five continents, even some countries you have never heard of, such as Burkina Faso - a small West African country, such as Suriname - a South American country. It can be said that wherever commodities flow, there are Wenzhou merchants and Wenzhou market.Wen Shang’s character of traveling around in order to survive and make money has changed the traditional Chinese character of “going with the situation”, and the countless successful facts have confirmed the old saying: move a tree to die, and move a person to live.It is Wen Shang's concept of traveling everywhere for money that made them leave their once closed hometown and come to the outside world, where they dug out their own gold treasures and won countless wealth.