Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 282 Team Maturity
Foreign trade is still somewhat complicated. Yan Hui wanted to take notes after listening to this person, but it was inconvenient, so he could only listen attentively.

In the end, all he could say was, "Manager Guan, after I get back, I will contact my friends in Brazil as soon as possible to ask about their demand for cotton textiles. If possible, I hope to cooperate with you as soon as possible."

Yan Hui was certain that cooperating with this Manager Guan would go smoothly in the initial stages, at least the first container would be successful. He could actually give it a try; after all, a container didn't cost much, the only drawback was the longer time commitment.

"Yes, that's normal. If Mr. Yan hasn't had experience with this before, he can ask around. I have confidence in our service." Manager Guan didn't beat around the bush.

"Don't worry, I'll definitely come to you once I ship my first container." Yan Hui quite approved of this person's way of doing things.

After leaving this place, Yan Hui and Wang Zongbo found a spot to talk about the matter.

"You're quite good at finding people like this. Are there many like this in Binzhou?" Yan Hui was somewhat delighted.

“Old Guan is quite famous, and his reputation has always been good. His team probably has more than a dozen people. It won’t be easy for you to poach him.” Wang Zongbo saw through Yan Hui’s thoughts.

"Is that so? Then there's no rush. I'll ask my friends in Brazil later. I'll ship the goods once I can secure the market. In business, the customer always comes first." Yan Hui nodded, temporarily giving up on poaching people.

"Well, after lunch, I'll take you to see some aluminum materials this afternoon. Weiqiao started building a power plant this year! That's really impressive! I asked around, and we haven't been involved at all from beginning to end." Wang Zongbo began to tell Yan Hui about some things related to Weiqiao.

After listening to many stories of successful entrepreneurs, Yan Hui wasn't particularly interested.

During the meal, Wang Zongbo mentioned two projects that could be done.

One is about aluminum alloy door and window processing, and the other is about a steel project in Hebei Province.

The aluminum alloy project is relatively straightforward. It mainly involves buying aluminum sheets and materials from finished aluminum processing plants and then selling them to those plants. The profit margin on this project is very low; it's basically just hard-earned money. The real profit comes from the processing plants selling the finished products to subcontractors and end-users after processing.

“There are already many subcontractors doing sales, and I’m thinking of getting into the aluminum business. Although the profit margin is low, there are not many people doing it, which is similar to your log business,” Wang Zongbo said. “I came here this time because I thought if you were also planning to do it, you could give me some financial support, and we could go into it together.”

"Approximately how much investment is needed? What are the costs? What is the profit? How much is the shipping cost?" Yan Hui asked.

"Take a look at this, I'll stop here." Wang Zongbo took out a notebook with a bunch of things written on it.

Yan Hui took it, looked at it, asked a few questions, and began to make plans in his mind.

"This 10 worth of goods only yields a profit of 1500?" Yan Hui calculated and realized that this was purely hard-earned money.

“Well, the timeframe is manageable. The key to this project is securing a second-tier agency, which requires a total of 100 million. I can currently come up with 40. If you can invest 30, I can handle this.” Wang Zongbo had essentially pulled out all the stops he had.

Yan Hui didn't respond to the suggestion that he would go back and "think about it."

In Yan Hui's view, it was irresponsible to throw hundreds of thousands of yuan into an industry he didn't understand, and he didn't trust Wang Zongbo that much either. If his brother-in-law needed 30 yuan, he wouldn't even consider it. "Well, there's no rush. I'm still negotiating. If I can get a second-level agency for 50 yuan, things will be much simpler," Wang Zongbo nodded.

“I currently supply plywood to construction sites. When I supply it, I’m quite interested in the things that are used with the plywood, such as steel pipes and steel components. Do you know any of them?” Yan Hui talked about his second project.

“Yes, you’re in Quancheng, so you only interact with people from Shandong Province. In Binzhou, you interact more with people from Hebei Province. It’s only a little over three hours from here to Tangshan. Or you could go to Tianjin. Tianjin’s processing industry is very developed! I’ll take you there to check it out later!” Wang Zongbo had also figured out Yan Hui’s idea.

"Yes, we really need to investigate this. Thank you for coming."

Yan Hui is much more cautious than before, and he didn't invest a single penny this time.

With more than half a month to go before construction begins at each site, Yan Hui didn't rush to leave. He spent a few more days in Binzhou conducting further investigations. Although he didn't invest, he gained a much better understanding of aluminum products and cotton textiles. Frankly speaking, they're not fundamentally different from timber.

Next, Yan Hui chartered a car and continued north to inspect the steel industry in Jinshi and Tangshan with Wang Zongbo. He was quite shocked to find that Hebei Iron and Steel Group was so large!

After the inspection, Yan Hui returned to Jinan and continued his timber business.

If my brother-in-law hadn't left with Kong Qingwei, Yan Hui's plywood business would have been basically out of the question. But since Kong Qingwei left, the team would need to be further developed.

Back in Jinan, Yan Hui gathered everyone together and explained the upcoming arrangements.

Wang Wei and the other two were still willing to work for Yan Hui, and they had already secured business at the beginning of the year. Wang Yongjun's brother-in-law had also approached him, and Wang Yongjun decided to follow Yan Hui as well. It wasn't that he was earning more with Yan Hui now, but rather that he felt Yan Hui was very capable, and as one of the first to follow him, he believed he had a bright future ahead.

This is something that not only Wang Yongjun understands, but everyone else does too.

There's nothing wrong with any of these people. The problem is that Kong Qingwei doesn't want to leave. He secretly approached Yan Hui, hoping that Yan Hui could help him, but Yan Hui refused and promised to keep it a secret.

Yan Hui understood that with Kong Qingwei's abilities, he would eventually choose to do things on his own, but before he did, Yan Hui still had to abide by the agreement with his brother-in-law.

These people all had orders during the Spring Festival, and the construction site was quite busy at the beginning. Kong Qingwei and Li Mo did not go back immediately. They continued to work for Yan Hui for almost a month until they finished their work before returning to their brother-in-law's place. Yan Hui also gave them red envelopes.

During this month, Wang Yongjun found his place and brought over two former underlings to work for him, bringing the team back to six people.

Yan Hui was busy with the plywood business until June before finally handing over the team. Wang Yongjun, as a junior team leader, was already very familiar with the factory manager. Except for financial matters, which were none of his concern, he could handle everything else. Yan Hui also gave him some money for entertaining guests and trusted Wang Yongjun quite a bit.

After finishing all that, Yan Hui began planning to build a factory.

(End of this chapter)