2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 101: Make the best use of everyone
A simple "don't worry," a concrete production plan, and a big promise were enough to calm Li Yanning down and stop overthinking.

It seems simple, but it actually requires some skill. This is largely related to the impression the boss usually gives. If it were Zhang Xupeng, although Li Yanning would listen to him, it might not have the same effect.

As for why he called Li Jinglan over, Tan Jincheng had his own reasons.

Over the past six months, Li Jinglan's work has had its busy periods, but most of the time it's been slow, allowing her to slack off. Her main tasks usually involve packing packages, sending express deliveries, and answering questions from Taobao customers.

When she has free time, Li Jinglan will learn some order-following skills from her sister. Occasionally, when Zhang Xupeng is too busy, he will take her to the factory.

Nowadays, the sales volume of Jinshang Clothing's Taobao store is increasing day by day, and the previous practice of giving a commission of one yuan per item is no longer appropriate.

When Li Jinglan earns over 10,000 yuan a month, which is higher than her sister's salary for her somewhat technical job, Li Yanning and the other employees will definitely feel resentful.

This was something Tan Jincheng hadn't considered thoroughly. If his mother hadn't called a few days ago in Guangzhou and mentioned that the Taobao shop was doing better and better, and that he was feeling a little uneasy and scared about taking the money, Tan Jincheng would have completely forgotten about the shop.

In an era when children playing computer games is considered a waste of time, parents simply cannot imagine that they can make money online. Tan Jincheng also did not expect that Taobao, which had only launched Alipay and had not yet obtained a mobile payment license, could earn so much money in a month from a small shop.

Having never run a Taobao shop in his previous life, Tan Jincheng overlooked the power of his innovative shop design, free shipping to Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, and novel styles. In fact, Jinshangyi already had a considerable reputation among Taobao women's clothing shops.

Some shop owners, whether in clothing or other categories, are already imitating and learning from Jinshang Clothing's operating model, which was beyond Tan Jincheng's expectations.

I didn't think too much about it at the time and gave them a commission of one yuan per item. Now that the store is just starting to do well, they want to reduce the commission. I feel a little embarrassed.

However, there are other ways to manage Li Jinglan so that her income doesn't inflate too much.

"Boss, what do you want with me?"

"Oh, how's your order tracking learning going with your sister? Has she told you that the company has taken on a lot of business and is going to start hiring more?"

"I did say so, but what does it have to do with me? I'm just a clerk. As for how well I'm learning as a sales assistant, what can I possibly learn in six months?" Li Jinglan replied nonchalantly.

When my sister went out just now, she was indeed very excited. She said that the boss had received a lot of orders and wouldn't have to worry about money for a year, so he could work steadily.

But what does this have to do with me? My Taobao shop is doing quite well, and my income is not low. I can comfortably deliver packages at the company, reply to messages, and surf the internet. How great is that?

In any case, I'm only needed to help out when the trading company is too busy; otherwise, I'm not really needed. It would be more appropriate for me to be a staff member of Jinshang Clothing's Taobao store than a clerk at Jinpeng Trading.

Tan Jincheng got up, poured Li Jinglan a glass of water, and earnestly lectured (coaxed) her, "You're not even 20 years old yet, and you want to lie here like this for the rest of your life? Your sister teaches you skills, but you don't study hard. You need to know that anyone can do this job. Only technical positions are irreplaceable."

"Huh? What do you mean? Boss, are you going to fire me?" Li Jinglan asked, taken aback.

I was wondering why this jerk boss was suddenly being so nice to me, even pouring me water. Turns out he wanted to fire me!
"What are you talking about? Why would I fire you? To be honest, I'm going to give you more responsibilities."

"Add burden? Add what burden? I don't understand."

"Look, the company is short-staffed right now and needs to recruit new employees. It might not be possible to find them in a short time. You and your sister have been learning from each other for about half a year now. No matter how much you've learned, you must know something. Help your sister out first. Next month, the order volume will be huge."

"Oh, boss, you mean this? You should have said so earlier! You scared me. I thought you were going to fire me."

Li Jinglan breathed a sigh of relief, then said, "No problem, I was helping out before, how can this be called adding to the burden?"

“You didn’t understand what I meant. What I meant was that you will be working with your sister from now on; also, I’m going to Guangzhou in a couple of days, and you and your sister need to keep an eye on the progress at the factory. It will be very busy then.”

"That would be too tiring. Besides, neither of us can drive, and we'd have to take the bus to and from the factory," Li Jinglan pouted, somewhat unhappy.

"It's tiring, but the pay is high. As the number of orders increases, your commission and your sister's will also increase, and your income will definitely not be less than it is now."

"Also, if you can't drive, go learn! You and your sister should both learn. The company will subsidize half of the driving test fees, how about that?"

"Really?"

"Of course, I keep my word. When you go out later, tell your sister the same thing. Having a driver's license will make things easier for her at work this year."

Well, having a driver's license means you can occasionally work as a driver and subsidize half of the cost of getting the license, so it's not a bad deal.

Li Jinglan stared at Tan Jincheng with wide eyes, remaining silent, seemingly pondering the gains and losses involved.

However, Tan Jincheng's next words completely won her over: "You don't want to end up like your sister, with hardly any money and being pressured to get married every year when you go home, right?"

SHA is truly a master of deception; Tan Jincheng's words completely broke Li Jinglan's defenses.

A few years ago, my cousin had trouble with her job and didn't have much money when she went home every year. During the Spring Festival, she would line up for blind dates every day, but because her job was unstable, the men with better conditions didn't want her, and my cousin didn't want the men with worse conditions.

Over the years, blind dates have remained an unavoidable topic for my cousin. It wasn't until Boss Tan's words last year that my cousin was able to resolve her inner conflict.

"Whether you're male or female, only your own strength can give you enough confidence. If you've saved enough money and bought a house in a big city, and the men you go on blind dates with are very outstanding in the area, even if they think you two aren't a good match, they won't dare to look down on you. Besides, by then you won't have to care too much about what other people think."

Yes, only those who are excellent enough can be confident enough and take a detached view of how others perceive them.

"What will happen to my Taobao shop after I marry my sister?" Li Jinglan was starting to get interested.

"Just hire another clerk, it's easier to hire a clerk than a sales assistant. Besides, the four of us are basically starting this business together, would I lie to you?"

"Okay, I'll go talk to my sister and ask for her opinion." "Go ahead, your sister will definitely agree. Don't worry, your future salary will only be higher than it is now, I can guarantee that."

As orders increased, so did wages, a fact that Tan Jincheng did not mislead Li Jinglan about.

As for the newly recruited clerks, they will definitely receive commissions to increase their work enthusiasm, but they certainly won't receive the same treatment as Li Jinglan.

It not only boosted Li Jinglan's work enthusiasm, but also resolved historical issues caused by her previous misjudgment, and saved expenses; it was a win-win-win situation.

As for whether Li Yanning would support Li Jinglan to work as a merchandiser with her, she definitely would. It's much better for the two sisters to support each other than to fight alone.

Sure enough, less than ten minutes later, Li Jinglan came to the office again and agreed to Tan Jincheng's request for a job transfer.

"Okay, go ahead and get busy. I won't be back at noon, and I won't be coming over this afternoon either. Tomorrow, you and your sister should get ready. I'll take you to the factory to familiarize yourselves with it. If you have any questions after I leave, just call me."

"Ok."

Seeing Boss Tan laughing so happily, Li Jinglan had a feeling that something was off, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. It was just weird.

"Uncle, let's go eat. I'll take you to the construction site this afternoon."

"Okay, let's go." Zhang Qingliang said helplessly.

This nephew said he would take me for a drive, but he only came to the company and left me hanging. He called two employees in separately for a talk, one looking excited and the other looking suspicious. I don't know what they talked about.

However, he does have a certain flair; he acts like a boss with a commanding presence.

My sister even told me to keep an eye on this kid when I had time, but with him looking like this, how could I possibly keep an eye on him?

"The renovation will take a while, Uncle. Can you bring Aunt over now? Then we can finish renovating my house here."

"No, your mom said to put it in our hometown first, so we can move in when we go back for the New Year. I'll go back to my hometown after I'm done here, and then come back in the second half of the year."

"Okay then. Let me know when you leave. If I have time, I'll take you home. If not, please give me something to take home."

"You don't need to take me. The minibus is quite convenient and goes directly to the city. You go about your business; I see you're quite busy."

"We'll see when the time comes, but I'm quite busy these days. I have to meet with a few clients this afternoon, and I'm going to Guangzhou in a couple of days, so I won't have much time to drink with my uncle."

"You may be busy, but you need to take care of your health. You'll be 20 in a few months, it's time to find a girlfriend and get married soon."

“Uncle, why are you just like my mom? You’re a man, you shouldn’t say things like that.”

"Why can't men talk about this? Your uncle has been through it all. He may not earn as much as you, but you can listen to his advice on this. It's good to get married sooner rather than later."

Tan Jincheng pursed his lips and remained silent.

Is it good to get married early? Maybe. What would my life have been like if I had gotten married earlier in my past life?

Lunch was simple. Zhang Qingliang wanted to have a couple of drinks to celebrate his nephew's new car, but his nephew firmly refused. Not only could he not drink, but he also wouldn't allow himself to drink. He wouldn't interfere with drinking during the evening, but drinking was strictly prohibited during work hours. This was the requirement his nephew had set for himself and the workers when the renovation project first started.

Speaking of this nephew, he's a good person in every way. He's always been very polite to me, and he's taken good care of my living arrangements, rent, and finances since I came here.

He takes good care of me when I work for him. He doesn't have any special requirements for the work period and the pay is good. But he's too strict about safety. Even though I'm already so busy, he still calls me from time to time to remind me. It makes me feel embarrassed to sneak a drink at lunchtime.

He wasn't like this before. When he was a kid, he was wild, climbing trees and fishing in the river. How come he's so afraid of death now?
Could it be that some accident happened at sea that left a deep impression on him?

Well, I'll have to ask him how he got through the year or so at sea when I get the chance.

"Uncle, I have to go now. I have to meet with a client this afternoon, and I don't know when I'll be back tonight, so I won't be able to come see you."

"Go and do your thing."

It's time to talk to Zhang Haiping. Only by completely securing contracts with contract manufacturers like Zhang Haiping can we confidently pursue our electric two-wheeler business.

Where to begin?

The quickest way would be to acquire an auto parts factory. With large-scale motorcycle bans about to begin in major cities, some auto parts factories will likely seek to transform into other businesses, and some factory owners will certainly be planning to sell their factories.

It's not a bad opportunity. Having a formal factory saves a lot of time in the initial stage. With readily available equipment and workers, only some technical investment is needed to quickly achieve the transformation.

However, acquiring an operating factory is not cheap. It would be great if there were factories with broken cash flow that were about to go bankrupt. In my previous life, I once acquired equipment from such a factory, a dozen or so small machines, for only 30,000 yuan. I got a great deal.

Even the scrap copper and waste brought from that factory sold for more than 2000 yuan. Later, some of these devices were no longer needed, so I could just find someone to repair them and make a small profit. I was quite proud of this at the time and would brag about it from time to time.

"Let's go find Zhang Haiping first. He got so many second-hand flatbed carts before the Chinese New Year, he might have other connections."

Today's post also reached 10,000 words. Let's see how many days I can keep up this streak.

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(End of this chapter)