Wandering in the vast darkness

Chapter 59 Old Yao's Entrepreneurial Plan

On Monday, as soon as Yu Wenhao arrived at the office, Lao Yao came in excitedly. Lao Yao was a completely different person today. He was no longer wearing a suit and tie, but a jacket, jeans, and Adidas sneakers.

Yu Wenhao smiled when she saw him and asked:

"What, did you confess to your wife?"

"No, no, I lied to her and said we were going on a team-building trip today," Lao Yao said.

It was a cloudy day today. This morning, when Yu Wenhao brought Dian Dian, it even drizzled for a while. Yu Wenhao looked outside and asked:

"Does Alibaba like to hold team-building events on days like this?"

Old Yao laughed and waved his hand, saying, "Who cares? I think she probably already knows I've been lying to her all this time, but she just won't say it out loud."

Yu Wenhao nodded: "Perhaps women are more sensitive than we think. I think you might as well lay it all out with her so she can be prepared and not be hit with a sudden bolt from the blue."

"Yes, you're right, I've been thinking about that too," Lao Yao said. "Since we're already planning to start a business, I think we should have a serious talk with her. After all, she can't possibly be unaware that we're going to be using our family's savings."

Yu Wen chuckled and said, "Of course, if you don't make things clear to her, she'll think you're using money to support a mistress."

How many cars are in your parking lot?

"That's even less reliable," Yu Wenhao said.

Yu Wenhao said, "It takes at least fifteen minutes to wash a car. Am I supposed to wait there for an hour just to get my car washed? I could have made two or three more trips in that hour."

"Even if they only wash ten cars a day, they'll still earn fifty yuan. Besides, it's impossible to wash ten cars. This income will only increase as people develop the habit of washing cars. Why wouldn't they do it? Moreover, I have a trap for you. When people see how profitable this is, many will definitely want to get involved. At that time, I will further reduce the profit to keep them out."

Old Yao nodded, agreeing with Yu Wenhao's point. He asked, "What about the car wash in the mall's parking lot?"

"From a customer's perspective, if there was a car wash like this in the underground parking lot downstairs from your home, would you still go to wash your car elsewhere?"

Why?

Yu Wenhao became interested and urged Lao Yao, "Tell me, tell me quickly, tell me your plan."

Old Yao said, "To be precise, I want to build a network, a self-service car wash network in the city. The first step is to launch 100 car wash points. If that works, I will immediately launch 200 or 300 more, and within six months, I will have car wash points all over Hangzhou."

"Not renting a place?" Yu Wen asked, puzzled. "Where would you drive if you didn't rent a place?"

As Yu Wenhao spoke, his eyes lit up: "You mean, move the car wash into the community parking lot?"

"Of course, that's not nonsense." Yu Wen glanced at Lao Yao.

"I know, gas stations have them, it's 15 yuan a wash, and the parking lots of big shopping malls also have them, but I went to get it done once and haven't gone back since," Yu Wenhao said.

"How much per session?"

"Forty, isn't that the price in Hangzhou now? I got a card for my little finger, it's thirty-five per time," Yu Wenhao said.

"These car washes, if they're in the community, are usually in remote locations, which is very inconvenient. It's not worth it for me to travel that far just to wash my car. As for the ones at gas stations, how many gas stations are left in Hangzhou now? Every gas station is very busy, and so is the car wash. Every time I go, I see four or five cars in front of me, so I give up," Yu Wenhao said.

Yu Wenhao thought for a moment and said, "There must be at least five or six hundred cars..."

"Yes, that's the car's real home," Old Yao said. "Who prefers to shower outside instead of at home? The same goes for cars, right?"

"The cost of washing a car, including water, electricity, detergent, waxing, etc., is about 1.5 yuan. Since the price depends on how long you wash it, the cost of washing a car is about 15 to 20 yuan. I split the cost with the property management company, giving them 5 yuan per car. This is the net income; the costs are all with me."

"You finish work very late, right? You can't go over in the middle of the night. There won't be so many people there then," Old Yao said.

"Yes," Lao Yao said. "I've been thinking about this for the past two days. The investment isn't large, and although the return will take a while, once you capture the market, there's still a lot of potential."

Old Yao laughed heartily and said, "I'm not kidding you. Tell me, where will you park your car at night?"

Old Yao said, "My plan is this: I will set up car wash points in the parking lots of each community. It's not something I do myself, but something I do in collaboration with the community's property management. I provide the machines, and they provide the space. It's very simple for the community's parking lot to set aside such a space, right? For them, doing this will generate additional income, but it doesn't require any investment."

Yu Wenhao looked at Lao Yao and said, "I don't understand. It sounds like I'm listening to a story, but it feels like you're trying to fool me."

"The mall's parking lot is not only crowded, but if I go there specifically to wash my car, it costs 15 yuan, which is cheap, but it will definitely take more than 15 minutes. When I come out, I have to pay for parking again. The problem is that I spent more than 20 yuan to wash only the outside of the car, not the inside."

Yu Wenhao said, "Of course it's the underground parking lot downstairs from my own house."

"You want to open a self-service car wash?" Yu asked.

Old Yao shook his head: "No need, it won't exceed one million, I can afford it. Also, I don't rent a house."

Yu Wenhao looked at Lao Yao and asked, "What's wrong? You want to go get your car washed?"

Yu Wenhao was startled. He said, "How much would that cost? Renting a shop, 100,000 per shop is already considered cheap. For a hundred shops, it would cost at least ten million..."

"Midnight? Their drying system turns off after 10 p.m. If I wash my car and then drive around in a wet one, wouldn't that be a waste of time? Or should I just use a towel to dry the car myself? By then, I'll be exhausted, how would I have the energy to dry the car?"

"Why, I mean why give up?"

Old Yao smiled and said, "To make something big, it's not about how much strength you have or how much you invest, but about how many resources you can integrate. If you integrate them well, you only need to invest a little money, or even no money at all, to get things done."

Old Yao nodded: "That makes sense."

"For vehicles like ours that pick up passengers, the inside gets dirty easily, and it's the one that needs to be cleaned the most. So, do you think it's worth it for me?"

"What's wrong?"

"What are the benefits of co-construction? First, although it is an unmanned car wash, it still needs to be cleaned by people, right? If I hire a few people to clean each point, wouldn't I still have to support them? It's different if we hand it over to the property management. They can have the cleaning staff come over every few hours to check and clean up the mess. In this way, we have both the space and the people."

"No, she trusts me completely on that point," Old Yao said confidently, then suddenly blurted out, "By the way, Xiao Yu, have you ever washed a car?"

"You know, using that self-service car wash machine can save you some money, right?" Old Yao continued to ask.

Thank you to Wawa Xibing and 3 AM for the donations! Thank you to Wawa Xibing, Wutianyue, and Book Friend 20220414174621875 for the monthly tickets! Thank you for all the recommendation tickets and reads! Good evening everyone!