Rebirth of Fishing Village: Starting from Hua Axiang in Jiehu Village

Chapter 1536 Lessons Learned
"Sometimes you have to be swift and decisive, seize the time, and work incredibly hard to do business."

"But sometimes you need it in a really urgent way."

"We must distinguish the situation clearly."

“We are now taking business from others, and we are facing an entire dockyard of competitors, not just one or two people.”

“Under these circumstances, we simply cannot openly accept bribes. If we do that, we will offend not only Ma Ping and Sun Tie, but also all our colleagues at the Shijiao Village Wharf.”

"If that's really the case, it will be extremely difficult for us to establish ourselves here and do business."

“Ma Ping and Sun Tie will be very happy. They don’t need just two people to deal with us; the whole group of people in our group will come to deal with us.”

"We're not stupid, how could we do something like this?"

"Our biggest, most important, and most crucial task here right now is to establish ourselves here, to start doing business, and then we can do other things."

Ding Chongshan instructed Ding Jie and Ding Weijun not to be impatient about this matter, especially in Shijiao Village and at the dock.

The most important thing right now is to establish a foothold here and slowly start doing business. We'll see how things go next.

"dad!"

“I understand what you mean and I think there’s nothing wrong with what you’re doing. After all, there are just too many competitors at Shijiao Village Wharf, and these people have been doing business here for many years. It’s not easy to start competing with them right away. But if that’s the case, and we’re just doing small-scale business here, when will we be able to catch more fish, shrimp and crabs and make money?”

"More importantly, we've already spread the word that we're going to steal Sun Tie and Ma Ping's business. If we only have slightly higher prices for some fish, shrimp, and crabs, how could we possibly steal their business?"

Ding Jie agreed with Ding Chongshan; it was indeed wrong to aggressively try to steal everyone's business from the start. Doing so would definitely not be a good thing, and he might even lose his foothold here. In fact, this was exactly what Sun Tie and Ma Ping wanted to see.

We've invested so much time and money here to do business, and we want to make money. If we keep going at this slow pace, I don't know when we'll ever be able to make any money.

Ding Chongshan glanced at Ding Jie and then at Ding Weijun, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Ding Jie and Ding Weijun have worked for large companies outside for many years and learned some things, but in fact, when it comes to doing business, they can't compare to Ding Xiaoxiang, who grew up by their side since childhood, in terms of seeing more, experiencing more, and thinking more.

This kind of thing is actually very easy to solve, or rather, it's not a complicated matter at all.

Ding Jie and Ding Weijun clearly discussed this matter or came up with a solution, but it seems they haven't come up with any good ideas yet.

"You two must have discussed this matter. Do you have any good ideas?"

Ding Chongshan originally wanted to say it directly, but after thinking about it, he decided to ask Ding Jie and Ding Weijun to see if they could come up with any solutions.

Ding Jie and Ding Weijun looked at each other and shook their heads in unison. They had actually discussed and thought about this matter, but there really was no solution.

“We think that if we are going to buy fish, shrimp and crabs here, we definitely have to set a price. If the price is higher than others, and someone brings fish, shrimp and crabs to sell here, we can’t just say that we only buy fish, shrimp and crabs from the original fishermen like Sun Suntie and Ma Ping and not others, right?”

Ding Weijun shook his head. He and Ding Jie had indeed discussed this matter, and more than once, but there really wasn't a good solution.

"You two brothers really lack experience in this kind of thing."

"Such a simple method, or such a simple thing, and you all didn't notice it."

Ding Chongshan shook his head. Ding Jie and Ding Weijun, these Pidi people work in big companies and their job is to buy fish, shrimp and crabs, but it is very different from actually buying fish, shrimp and crabs. At least they are not actually buying fish, shrimp and crabs, but just doing some routine and conventional practices.

Ding Xiaoxiang had been doing business with him since she was a child, and she had seen far too much of this kind of thing. In addition, Ding Xiaoxiang was much smarter than the average person, and even more capable in business than him.

“Sun Tie and Ma Ping have been collecting fish, shrimp and crabs at Shijiao Village Wharf for many years. They have many large fishing boats that they are very familiar with or have been dealing with all along.”

“The fish, shrimp and crabs that these big fishing boats catch when they go out to sea will not be sold to anyone else, but only to Sun Tie and Ma Ping.”

"In other words, the fish, shrimp, and crabs from these fishing boats will not be delivered to other shops that buy fish, shrimp, and crabs. Even if we start buying fish, shrimp, and crabs here, these other shops will not deliver them to us."

"If we want to buy fish, shrimp, and crabs from these kinds of fishing boats, we have to deal directly with the boats and negotiate prices with them. Once we agree on a price, they will sell us all the fish, shrimp, and crabs they catch, regardless of the species."

"If we want to take away the share of fish, shrimp and crab that Sun Tie and Ma Ping have collected, the only way, or rather the best way, is this: it's not possible for them to collect fish, shrimp and crab from the shops at the prices we offer."

Ding Chongshan glanced at Ding Jie and Ding Weijun and reminded them of this matter, which is the most important and crucial method. No matter who it is, as long as they buy fish, shrimp, and crabs here, once their business reaches a certain level, they can't rely entirely on retail. They must have negotiated a purchase price with the people or fishing boats at the dock and directly buy the fish, shrimp, and crabs that their fishing boats catch at sea.

The fish, shrimp, and crabs that these fishing boats catch at sea are not always sold to Sun Tie or Ma Ping. However, Sun Tie and Ma Ping have been doing business here for so many years that they are very familiar with many of the captains of the fishing boats. Some of them even only sell their fish, shrimp, and crabs to Sun Tie and Ma Ping. As long as they keep an eye on these people, they can steal the fish, shrimp, and crabs that these people bring back from the sea, which means they are stealing Sun Tie and Ma Ping's business.

Ding Jie and Ding Weijun suddenly realized that they were only now noticing this.

"Dad!" "You're absolutely right. How come we didn't think of that?"

Ding Jie was very annoyed. This was originally a very simple matter. His family had always done things this way when they were in business. It was true that some shops collected fish, shrimp, and crabs, but that was not much. The vast majority of fish, shrimp, and crabs, especially the higher-quality ones, were collected directly from fishing boats that went out to sea.

Sun Tie and Ma Ping actually used the same method, as did many of their fellow fish, shrimp, and crab buyers who were doing well at the Shijiao Village wharf.

If you want to steal Sun Tie and Ma Ping's business, you have to steal the fish, shrimp and crabs from these fishing boats. That way, you won't arouse the hatred of the other fishermen at Shijiao Village Wharf, and you won't have to worry about them uniting against you.

It is indeed a simple method, but it is also a very effective method, and it is absolutely necessary to do it this way.

"dad."

“There is a very important issue here, which is that the captains of these fishing boats have been doing business with Sun Tiema for many years. Can we really buy their fish, shrimp and crabs?”

Ding Weijun was a little worried that these people, who had been cooperating with Sun Tiema for many years, might change their minds and do business with his family.

"How do you think we get our hands on the fish, shrimp, and crabs from those fishing boats? Do you think other fish, shrimp, and crab buyers might be dealing with the captains of these boats? Or might they be trying to steal our business using the same methods?"

Ding Chongshan glanced at Ding Weijun.

Ding Weijun was stunned for a moment. He really hadn't thought about such a thing. Although he had taken over the family business and seemed to be doing well, there were still many things he hadn't paid special attention to, or rather, there were many things he hadn't really experienced. The way he and his older brother Ding Jie did business was basically to go to the fishing boats that had been doing business with the family for a long time to buy fish, shrimp, and crabs. The price negotiations were basically all decided by Ding Chongshan himself.

"How could there be no one trying to steal our business? Every moment there are people thinking of taking away the business we have."

Ding Weijun nodded without hesitation. There was no need to say anything about this. There must be someone, and more than one person, who was constantly trying to take away his family's business.

"Why are we in such fierce competition, or rather, with someone constantly watching our business?"

"You can still catch fish, shrimp, and crabs and make money, and even more money?"

Ding Chongshan took a sip of tea, glanced at Ding Weijun, and then at Ding Jie.

“Our family has been dealing with these fishing boats for many years and we are very familiar with and have a strong bond with them. But more importantly, the prices we offer are very stable. They may not be the highest at any given time, but they are always relatively high throughout the year, and may even be higher than those of our competitors.”

Ding Weijun thought about it for a while and came up with the answer to the question.

"Correct!"

"Isn't that how it is? Being familiar with them can make doing business more convenient sometimes, or at least reduce the costs a little."

"But the most important and crucial reason why we were able to actually close a deal with them is that the price we pay for fish, shrimp and crab is relatively stable and has always been at a level that is slightly higher than normal."

"Even if someone wants to steal our business, these boat captains have to carefully consider whether it's worth it."

Ding Chongshan nodded. Actually, the matter was not complicated at all. In the end, it was because he offered a higher purchase price than others, making it more cost-effective for the boat captains to sell their fish, shrimp, and crabs to him.

"When you two are doing business, there is one thing you must always remember: no matter what kind of people they are, whether they are big fishing boats or small fishing boats, they all ultimately want to make more money."

"Don't say that because you're familiar with them and have a good relationship with them, you can buy the fish, shrimp, and crabs they catch at a lower price."

"Isn't this just nonsense? How could it be like this? Why, or rather, why should these people brave the wind and sun to go out to sea to fish and catch shrimp and crabs, and then sell them to us at a lower price so we can make more money?"

"If you want to deal with these people, or if you want to continue dealing with them, and if you want to get the fish, shrimp, and crabs from them, you have to offer a higher price than others."

"It doesn't have to be much higher, but it absolutely cannot be lower than others."

“Sometimes they can raise the price slightly for some unimportant fish, shrimp and crabs. Sometimes they can even raise the price if the fish, shrimp and crabs they catch are of very high quality.”

“We don’t need to make a lot of money on every kind of fish or every trip to collect fish, shrimp and crabs. Sometimes we can make a little less money, and that’s no problem at all. We’re in business year after year.”

"It's not about making a quick buck, but the first thing you have to remember is that everyone, no matter what kind of person they are, wants to make more money."

Ding Chongshan earnestly reminded Ding Jie and Ding Weijun that they must remember this matter firmly, as it was the most crucial thing. As long as they remembered this, they would be able to succeed in dealing with the captains of fishing boats at sea.

If all you think about is making money for yourself, and making a lot of money, while everyone else has to make less, then the business simply can't get off the ground, it simply can't survive.

Ding Jie and Ding Weijun listened attentively, nodding repeatedly. They were well aware that they were complete novices in business, with many things they had never seen, experienced, or pondered. What Ding Chongshan was saying represented years of experience, which they had to memorize. Only in this way could their business thrive, not to mention that their family was already expanding their business at the Shijiao Village wharf. The competition there was even fiercer, and the situation more complex; they had to be extremely vigilant to handle it.

(End of this chapter)