Chapter 12 12. Be the one who sets the rules

It was the fall of my fourth year in college. The professor arranged an internship, and asked the students in the class to divide into groups to carry out practical operations on small trade projects.There are seven people in the project team I joined, and each of them invested 3,000 euros in shares. After deducting the office expenses of 1,000 euros, there is still 20,000 yuan.We will use 20,000 yuan to operate for six months, and see how much the final profit can be. After two weeks of research, we chose a food thickener produced in New Zealand, because it is a new patented product, and the price difference between similar products in France and New Zealand reached ten times.We feel that this is a relatively large profit, and we may be able to start with it.

There are two problems before us: because it is a new food additive product, whether it can be approved to enter the EU market needs to be certified.The French buyer emphasized that they can take the goods, but we must be responsible for the certification process and the costs incurred therein.The second is a traditional problem. New Zealand sellers require a minimum shipment of 50,000 euros, and buyers must pay on delivery.Our start-up capital simply wasn't enough. At this time, there were some different opinions within the project team.Some people advocate looking for other products. If it is not food imports, then the EU's control and quality inspection system is relatively less strict; what's more, they do not agree to additional investment, which is 20,000 to 50,000 yuan, which has doubled and a half. It is a relatively large risk.

We had a meeting after class to discuss this matter. Some people opposed it, some people agreed with it, but most of the students advocated changing the program.In fact, I am not convinced. I think it is not easy to choose a good project, and we should not give up easily. Even if we immediately switch to other products, there will inevitably be problems of one kind or another. Should we change positions at that time?But the opposition is in the majority, and they have a point, and I say nothing. At that time, all my thoughts were on my face, thinking, competing, and frowning.Danny Haig asked me, "Do you teach Latin in your school?"

I said: "No." "I thought only Latin and Chinese could embarrass people like that. Tell me what's wrong with you." I told him the whole thing, the project, the expected profit, the current difficulties, and my thoughts. "You want to make this deal?" "Needless to say? I made thirty pages of my proposal." "Then why didn't you speak up in the meeting?" he asked, looking me in the eyes. "Oh, it's really scratching my head," I said. "What am I going to tell them? I don't know how to solve these two problems. I just feel that I can't give up easily."

"Well." Danny Hagrid thought for a while, "The first question is the buyer's reasonable request. As middlemen, this is what you should do. Since it is a prescribed procedure, it must be completed step by step. This is What should be done. As for the second question, Wei Wei, I think this plan is not bad, how much money do you need, you make a budget, I will come out, and buy shares in your name, how about it? Of course, the business is done After that, I want 35% of the profit in dividends. Isn’t this unreasonable?” I sat on the sofa and looked at him with a frown. Danny Haig was so happy when he looked at him. He came over and squatted beside me: "Why are you looking at me like that? Are you busy?"

I shook my head: "Danny, it's not about money." "It's definitely a matter of money. You have to be careful in the future, Wei Wei. No matter how small the business is, you have to do your best to hold the shares and be the one who sets the rules. Of course, you have to convince your partners. You have to Let them know what you think, let them agree with you, you understand?" I look up.I long for someone to let me know what he thinks and let me agree with him. He came over and held my face, let me take a good look at him: "Wei Wei, when is your next 'Shareholders' Meeting'?"

"At 10:30 tomorrow, the first get out of class is over." I said. "Go, Wei Wei," he said, "go and tell them that you want to continue the project and why, that you are willing to pay a high price for it, and that if someone goes, it's ok, and you'll make up for him right away." That investment. Of course, you want him to stay, you want everyone to stay and get this great deal done." This is a practical lesson Danny Haig gave me as a business school student. I remembered two points: I want to be the one who sets the rules, and I want my collaborators to stay.

It is not an easy process to really achieve your set goals.After Danny Haig told me what to do, I still did things in the way I was more used to.I don't like not being prepared, I need to communicate beforehand. There were six other people besides me, two of whom were still somewhat attached to the food thickener.I called them first, expressed my attitude, and hoped that if they could not give me support in tomorrow's meeting, at least they would stay there.Among the remaining four students, two classmates have already started to actively look for the next target, while the other two have clearly expressed their opposition to the thickener project.

Who do I call next? I walked around the room with the phone handle, and I thought for a long time, it is easier to win and communicate better with those who are willing to do things than those who always say no.One of them, Damian, who has curly hair and I have a good personal relationship, is always trying to invite me to dinner, hang out and so on, so I dialed his number. The phone rang several times before it was answered. The music over there was so loud that I called him twice before he heard it.He smiled and said, "Huihui, why are you calling me so late?" "Are you busy? What are you doing?"

"I'm at a bar with my friends." "I thought you were preparing a new plan." "It's too complicated, I don't have a clue yet, let's take a break first." "Listen to me Damian, I think we should continue with the food thickener project. It's been three weeks now and it's not easy to find a good product again. I don't think we should change easily." "But, haven't we reached a consensus on this matter? It's too cumbersome, isn't it? I don't agree. Besides, Huihui, we don't have that much start-up capital, buyers won't pay first, and certification With such a long process, other groups may have already made two transactions.”

"But we haven't found a suitable product yet. Instead of looking for a new project to do research, it's better to follow the procedure little by little." "I don't know, Huihui. I'm sorry, I'm busy and I have to put down the phone." After speaking, he really hung up the phone. I called again, but the other party turned off the phone.I was sitting on the couch, bored, it was so hard to do something, and ours was just a small internship worth 50,000 euros. At night, I tossed and turned in bed and couldn't sleep at all.Danny Hagrid turned on the light and looked at me sideways: "How about you go to the sofa?" I sat up for a while, holding the pillow and really want to go.He grabbed me at once and pulled me over: "What's the matter? Such a big temper." "I'm dying of anxiety." "Is it difficult to communicate with your classmates?" "No one listens to me." "Go to sleep, we'll talk about it tomorrow." He kissed me. I was in his arms, still awake half the day, I writhed like a worm, and Danny Hagrid finally opened his eyes. I said, "Tell me about how you did your first business and how you signed your first contract." He squinted his sleepy blue eyes and thought for a long time: "Weiwei, I can't remember. But when I took over Hagrid, it already had a large scale, all departments were in order, and all businesses were running normally, so "He plucked the broken hair on my forehead, "so you remember, if this internship is successful, then you will be better than me. You are starting from scratch and building a building on the ground." Start from scratch and build a building on the ground.When he said that, I suddenly felt more fighting spirit and confidence in my heart.Of course, with this excitement, I couldn't sleep even more. After the first class the next day, we had a meeting in the small classroom.With dark circles under my eyes, I looked at those foreign students and said, "I don't agree to revise the plan, I think we should continue to do it." I explained my thoughts to them. At first I stuttered because of nervousness, but then I spoke faster and faster until I stood up. Finally I close the folder: "This is my opinion, I hope everyone will seriously consider it. But I think we can decide today, because the operation process still takes time, we must start as soon as possible." "We don't have money, we don't have enough money." Shire immediately objected to the project, whom I classified as a bigot before the meeting. "If we invest more, do you think there will be no other problems?" I said. "The investment cannot be increased, which is a prerequisite for this internship." "The purpose of our internship is to gain experience and make money," I said softly, but tit-for-tat. "An investment of 50,000 yuan, with an estimated profit of 340,000 euros, is a good deal for anyone. The food industry is lucrative, although It’s heavily regulated, but it’s worth a try.” "Where do you get the other thirty thousand euros? From the bank or from the school?" Charles asked. The rest of the students were listening to the two of us arguing sentence after sentence.I didn't want to say at this time that I was willing to pay for the additional investment, but the words have already reached this point, and I can't be held back by him, saying: "30,000 euros, I will pay." Everyone looked at each other. They didn't expect me to do this. My abnormal courage and firmness overwhelmed them all.Charles laughed all of a sudden: "Huihui, have you already decided on everything?" He stood up, "Then you continue to decide on the rest." I told Danny Hagrid these things too - I finally got most of the people to stay and work together, but Shire didn't do it, I couldn't stay.But he didn't withdraw the shares. When I make money, I will pay him the principal with interest.At the end of the project, if he loses money, I can also return his principal in full. That's my plan. Danny Hagrid says I'm being generous. I also told Danny Hagrid that I thanked Damian after the meeting, and he said no thanks, but he admired my hidden and sudden burst of courage and courage, and he completely agreed with what I said.He also asked me if we could have a cup of coffee together. I said yes, let's go together with six of us. If he said that, let's forget it. Danny Hagrid was listening to me, and he was still writing the contract that I would borrow money from him. He handed me the handwritten contract: "Wei Wei, come and take a look, I will lend you another 40,000 yuan, and after five months, I will give you 35% of your profit. objection?" I thought he was joking, and said with a smile: "Do I really want to sign? Do you really want the money from me?" Danny Hagrid was particularly serious: "No penny less." A few months later, my business was completed, and I gave him his share. I twisted the check in my hand for a long time, and Danny Haig laughed: "Should I feel sorry for the money I earned? Don't you forget?" I did you a big favor, I didn't even ask you to increase the dividend." Yeah, it was a tough business to do, and he did me a big favor, which was another lesson Danny Haig taught me.