Film and Television World Life Record

Li Mu smiled and said, "That's fine. You can keep these two recruitment slots for now. You can decide when to recruit people yourself, so as not to tire everyone out."

Ji Han smiled broadly and said, "Thank you, boss."

……

Li Mu read for a while, and seeing that the coffee shop was bustling with customers, he was just about to leave when the assistant manager, Ding Xiaoxue, led over a pretty girl who looked like a student.

"Boss, do you need a pianist? She wants to work part-time as a pianist."

Li Mu looked up and sized her up. The girl was around twenty years old. She wasn't particularly beautiful, but she was pleasing to the eye and had a gentle temperament. She was still a bit naive and looked like a student who hadn't yet entered society.

Seeing Li Mu looking her over, the girl became slightly nervous, but then said very politely, "Hello, I am a student from the nearby music academy, my name is Wang Yan. I saw a piano in the coffee shop, do you hire part-time pianists here?"

Li Mu turned his head and looked at the milky white piano on the round table on the right side of the coffee shop. It was bought by the previous owner. He had almost forgotten about the piano recently and simply regarded it as decoration.

Of course, any guest who has the leisure and inclination can also go up on stage and play a piece.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the coffee shop became popular, someone came to apply for a job as a pianist.

Li Mu wasn't familiar with this either; he had never run a coffee shop before, nor did he know how to appreciate music.

Just then, the store manager, Ji Han, heard the commotion and came over.

Li Mu said, "Manager Ji, we have a student here applying for a pianist position. Do we need a pianist at our shop right now?"

Ji Han glanced at Wang Yan and said, "Having a pianist can enhance the ambiance of the coffee shop and attract more sophisticated and tasteful customers, thus boosting the shop's popularity."

"However, the store's popularity has only just started to pick up in the last few days, and it's hard to say whether it can stay that way. Hiring another pianist would increase the store's operating costs, so this is a decision you, the owner, need to make."

Upon hearing Ji Han's words, Wang Yan quickly replied, "My part-time salary is very low and won't increase the store's operating costs much. I'm here more to gain stage experience, so I can accept a lower salary."

Li Mu thought for a moment and decided that hiring a pianist for the shop wouldn't be a bad idea. He exchanged a glance with Ji Han and nodded, saying, "Okay, you can try playing a few pieces first."

Wang Yan was somewhat pleased. She bowed slightly to Li Mu and walked towards the piano on her right.

As the melodious piano music began, it started with a classic Canon in D major, followed by Castle in the Sky and Wedding in a Dream…

These are all classic and well-known tracks.

Li Mu, who didn't know how to appreciate music, thought it sounded quite nice. Ji Han, on the other hand, listened with great interest, and many customers in the shop subconsciously stopped talking and silently enjoyed the music.

When the piano music ended, Ji Han nodded: "Not bad."

Li Mu said, "Then let her stay. You can discuss the salary with her; I won't interfere."

Ji Han smiled and said, "Okay!"

In the end, Wang Yan stayed, playing for three hours a day, earning 40 yuan per hour, totaling 120 yuan per day.

Li Mu was unfamiliar with market conditions; this price should be quite cheap, so he didn't interfere. He left it to Ji Han to decide.

……

Chapter 101 The Golden Hen That Lays Eggs

A few days later, Li Mu accidentally saw his bank card balance and was stunned to find that he only had this much left!

He recalled that two months ago, he received a total of $250,000 in reward funds, which was converted into 1.68 million RMB.

In such a short time, only a little over 100,000 remain.

Li Mu narrowed his eyes and silently calculated in his mind that the first two major expenses were the car, which cost 580,000 yuan, and the coffee shop, which cost 450,000 yuan. These two expenses alone exceeded one million yuan.

I spent 68,000 yuan on rent (five months' deposit plus three months' rent in advance); I spent nearly 100,000 yuan on clothes; and I also spent over 100,000 yuan on shopping visits a few days ago.

Adding that together, the expenses exceed 300,000.

In addition, during this period, he changed his mobile phone, bought a computer, and various other daily expenses, which amounted to nearly 200,000 yuan.

If you do the math, the total expenditure over two months reached 1.55 million.

Li Mu was speechless; the money was being spent far too quickly.

Fortunately, the coffee shop is now profitable; otherwise, he would be at a loss as to need to subsidize it every month.

So, after being a couch potato for so long, shouldn't he start thinking about making some money? Otherwise, with his current spending habits, the little money he has left won't last long.

Thinking of money, Li Mu thought of the nine small popularity gathering devices he still had. These were great items, especially suitable for finding bargains in shops with low foot traffic, like coffee shops.

Others spend a lot of money on renovations and staffing, but you can take over for a fraction of the price and start making money right away.

Moreover, shops with low foot traffic generally have lower rent costs, which reduces expenses considerably.

Where else can you find such a great deal!

Thinking of this, Li Mu started searching online for local shops that had large investments but suffered huge losses.

There are quite a few gossips about this online, and Li Mu still remembers one of the cases.

This is a high-end music bar with a total investment of over 30 million yuan and an area of ​​over 2,000 square meters. It attracted considerable attention when it opened, and in terms of hardware facilities, it can be considered one of the top bars in the city.

However, in the six months since its opening, it has not been very popular and has suffered heavy losses.

Recently, according to information circulating online, the bar's investors have started looking for new owners, but everyone knows that the bar's business is not good and it's deserted, so who would want to jump into the pit?

Despite repeated reductions in the transfer price, there has still been no news of anyone taking over the business.

This caught Li Mu's eye; he liked this quiet shop. Taking it over, earning a million a month might be difficult, but several hundred thousand would definitely be no problem.

Unfortunately, he didn't have enough funds. Even with a significant discount, it would take at least six or seven million to buy a bar of this size.

After searching online, I found another suitable target: a high-end sports club in the city, similar in nature to the Shangdong Sports Club where he worked in the film and television industry.

Of course, it can't compare to Shangdong Sports Club in scale. After all, that store is owned by Boss Bian, who invested hundreds of millions to build it.

However, this sports club is quite large, covering an area of ​​over 5,000 square meters across three floors. In addition to regular fitness programs such as archery, yoga, swimming, fencing, and bowling, it also has two martial arts venues: a traditional Chinese martial arts hall and a mixed martial arts hall.

The goal was supposedly to create a top-tier indoor sports and leisure venue in the city. Unfortunately, it's unclear whether the target was misjudged or if there wasn't enough target audience in the high-end sports market.

After being open for more than half a year, it has not only failed to make money, but also has very little popularity.

It's said that the business is about to close down and they want to sell it, but they can't find anyone to take it over.

For Li Mu, this was also a good target, and he was quite familiar with the operation of this kind of sports club. After all, in the last world, he had been the head coach of Xingyiquan for a long time in the traditional martial arts hall of Shangdong Club.

Having experience with the sports activities at this type of venue could be a good option, if you can take over the management.

Unfortunately, for the same reason as above, he didn't have enough funds. Even if the business of a sports club of this size was bad and the price was drastically reduced, it would still cost a lot to take it over.

I browsed other suitable projects for a while, but despite being very envious, I could only look at them.

Li Mu now had only one thought in his mind: "I'm going to make money in the next film and television world, make a lot of money. It's just a 10,000 to 1 exchange rate, what's the big deal!"

"Give him a few more years in the film and television industry and let him encounter the right opportunity. It's hard to say if he will become the richest man in China, but the possibility of him making it onto the Forbes list is still very high."

……

And so, another week passed in Li Mu's anticipation, and the system sent him a message that he would be entering the "Ode to Joy" world next.

This is still an urban drama, with a total of forty-two episodes. The system gave him three days to prepare.

This drama mainly tells the story of five girls from different families and with very different personalities who live on the 22nd floor of the Ode to Joy residential complex.

They are Fan Shengmei, a middle-aged "hutong princess" with dreams; Guan Juer, a refined and reserved artsy young lady; and Qiu Yingying, a combination of cluelessness and unhappiness. These three girls from out of town share an apartment.

There are also highly intelligent overseas returnees and high-earning professionals, such as Andy, a Wall Street investment guru, and Qu Xiaoxiao, a rich second-generation heiress who never plays by the rules.

Five people live together on the 22nd floor of a mid-range apartment complex called Ode to Joy. Like spring orchids and autumn chrysanthemums, each with their own unique charm, they enact a 22nd-floor version of Desperate Housewives.

They work together to solve the mystery of Andy's origins; Qu Xiaoxiao's dispute with her half-brother over the family fortune; Fan Shengmei's family burdens; and Qiu Yingying's relationship with Guan Juer.

The story of five people who go from strangers to acquaintances, and then to understanding, helping and growing together.

Li Mu spent two days in his home theater, binge-watching the entire series. The remaining day, he noted down numerous opportunities and pieces of information from the real world, based on the timeline.

During this period, on the afternoon of the third day, Li Mu finished his preparations and went out for a stroll. He first went to the bar that had been invested in for 30 million yuan, which was indeed very luxurious and grand.

But its popularity is already quite low.

I tried using a small crowd-gathering device, and after evaluation, it was estimated that about four small crowd-gathering devices would be needed simultaneously to restore the bar to its normal popularity.

Li Mu was quite satisfied. Such a large bar was far superior to his small coffee shop, and the fact that it only required four small human body focusing devices was indeed not much.

This also shows that much of the effect of the small popularity-gathering device he used in the coffee shop was wasted.

After all, it's his first and only store now, so let it go to waste.

Li Mu then went to the huge sports club and tried out a small popularity-gathering device. It only took five devices to restore the popularity to normal.

He currently has exactly nine small popularity-gathering devices left, which is just enough for his needs.

This made him even more eager to open those two stores.

Even disregarding the fact that he owns two establishments of this size, the monthly net profit is easily one or two million, which is no small sum. It also significantly enhances his influence in various aspects.

Now everything is ready, all we need is the east wind.

Li Mu decided that in the next world, he would make money, at least by acquiring one of the companies.

Once you acquire one company and its popularity returns to normal and it starts to make a profit, you can mortgage it to a bank and use the loan to acquire the other company.

Two large venues can be easily acquired and become cash cows.

Chapter 102 Ode to Joy