This is the 141st issue of [Zhu Xiaolu] Real Character Stories
Oral narration: Chen Guo
Editor: Zhu Xiaolu & Hui Hui
My name is Chen Guo. I was born in 1993 and I am 30 years old this year.
30 is a watershed in my life, and I can feel the changes in myself.
The energy in me is hidden by me.
Because, I have been beaten by life and learned many lessons. I understand that only by hiding the edge can we shine more brightly.
If I was pretentious before the age of 30, then after the age of 30, I am content to be ordinary.
I spent the last month of 2021 at the Labor Bureau. This is the third time I went to the Labor Bureau to accept labor arbitration.
The reason this time was that I owed wages to migrant workers. In fact, I not only paid wages, but I also paid 20% more to each employee, but the money was taken away by the small foreman in the middle.
I have become a frequent visitor to the Labor Bureau, which I am embarrassed to say.
But I am not afraid of my shadow being crooked, and I am not afraid if it happens ten times again.
I want to be a conscientious contractor who does not owe migrant workers their wages.
I was born in Changsha, Hunan, and grew up reading the history of the Xiangjiang Red Army. My ambition since childhood was to be a messenger of justice.
My life has been boiling. Later, I understood that the more boiling the life, the easier it is to burn yourself. Calmness is the foundation of life.
The first time I earned 30,000 yuan was when I was a freshman in high school, in 2008.
(High school campus)
My uncle is a bank employee. One time when he and his father were eating and chatting, the uncle said that he could make money by buying paper gold .
My father was not interested in this, but I, who was pretending to watch TV, became interested.
Cui Li and Dandan are my high school classmates. I went to school to discuss with them whether we should join forces to buy paper gold and make a lot of money.
When it came to making money, their eyes shone and they nodded in agreement.
This was the first time we hit it off, and we started saving money like crazy. To save money, we shared a steamed bun for breakfast.
Cui Li’s father gave him the money to buy sneakers, and he also used it to buy paper gold.
At that time, we saved up 300 yuan, so we went to our uncle to buy it once. I don’t remember how much money we collected in total, but I only remember that we made a total of 29,860 yuan.
Later, paper gold trading no longer made money, and we stopped continuing.
Of course, investment is risky, so you need to be cautious.
After we got the money back from the bank, we almost walked to the best shopping mall in Changsha and bought a pair of white sneakers.
After arriving at school, we deliberately walked past the podium late. The satisfaction brought by our vanity became the best memory of that summer.
Making money does bring me happiness, but there is another feeling that gives me a greater sense of accomplishment, which is making money with my brothers.
In the second semester of my second year of high school, my mother wanted to take over a hotel in Shijiazhuang with a total of 40 rooms. The transfer fee was 80,000.
(eat, drink and take photos)
I heard this phone call full of business opportunities again. With business intelligence in mind, I went to school to report to Cui Li and Dandan.
Before I finished reporting the information, Cui Li and Dandan said, "Fuck it."
This was the second time we hit it off.
We emptied all our pockets and collected 45,000 yuan. I handed the money to my mother as if I had accepted my fate.
Mother made up the difference and began to run the small hotel seriously.
In the second year, 80,000 yuan came back to us.
My parents divorced when I was in elementary school, but I never felt lonely. I always had friends around me who gave me strength and happiness.
The self-confidence this kind of power brings me has invisibly improved my social skills steadily.
University I studied at College of Mass Communication . In my freshman year, I participated in club activities and met Sister Xia.
At that time, many vocational high schools had difficulty recruiting students. Sister Xia found this a business opportunity. In order to make money, she went to help the school's teachers recruit students.
Later, she called me, and I called Cui Li and Dandan, and the four of us set up an electronic sales center.
In the beginning, four of us were responsible for making phone calls. The effect was remarkable and more and more students were recruited.
We three boys are responsible for picking up students at the station.
Summer in Changsha is as hot as spicy crayfish .
We picked up the students to school at a station that smelled of sweat.
At that time, I didn’t know where I had the strength to carry my classmates’ suitcases and walk back. Every time I picked up a classmate, it was like completing a mission.
After we settled the students, it was already past two o'clock at noon, but I didn't feel hungry at all.
This was the first time I felt the charm of telemarketing. Students from all over the world were brought together with just one phone call.
We earned 30,000 yuan this school season, and each person received 10,000 yuan.
At night we wore slippers, sweatshirts hanging on our bodies, peeled crayfish in our hands, and talked about the future in the Changsha night.
We dream of becoming Jack Ma in the future and changing the way everyone shops; we dream of becoming Ma Huateng and changing the way everyone communicates.
Dandan said: "That's it, none of us are named Ma." Everyone laughed.
There is no limit to imagination. The more I thought about it, the more excited I became. We chatted until dawn and laughed until we burst into laughter.
However, no one thought that we would become the contractor.
At that time, I still had great ambitions. I hoped that I could make a difference and drive a sports car and live in a luxury house in Shanghai.
I started my internship in my junior year. Like a betrayer, I betrayed Cui Li and Dandan and came to Shanghai alone.
I think I need to make a career to be worthy of the friendship I left behind.
The days that followed made me understand what it means, life is only seven miles away, but I want to be ten feet away.
Based on my extroverted personality, I found a job in Shanghai quite smoothly. My first job was as a telephone salesperson selling insurance in Luen Thai Metropolis.
I know that many people are resistant to telemarketing because it is difficult to do, difficult to achieve results, and customers will hang up the phone or even scold them, which is very demotivating.
I adapted quickly because I had been exposed to telemarketing in college, and I knew that as long as I made enough phone calls, I could achieve results.
In the company, I need to talk on the phone for 6 hours every day. The rest of the time is to receive training, listen to phone recordings, discover problems, and summarize problems.
However, I think typing for 6 hours is not enough. I will type a little longer by myself after summarizing every day.
I was the newbie king in the first three months. I had a firm foothold in Shanghai, but I felt very empty inside.
Because I have a bond in my heart.
My working time is at 9 am. In order to save rent, I live far away from the company. It takes two hours to commute one way.
I get up at 6:30 every morning, put on a suit, and reach for my bracelet on the subway. I feel very constrained. It takes me two hours to get to the company.
My hands were sore after getting off the subway. Later, I tried to stand as close to the door as possible, leaning against it, and never holding the bracelet.
During this time, the pride in me was slowly evaporating.
I suddenly thought of Tsai Chong-tat 's words, "I think many people in this city look like ants , with huge heads holding a huge dream, carried on by thin bodies that do not match this dream. , running around trying one after another."
During that time, I often felt unfamiliar with my own voice.
Because I felt that I was just a machine, and the machine spoke without emotion.
Because I talked too much, I often had oral ulcers and my throat became dry. .
We get off work at 9 p.m. Because if we don’t get off work at 9 o’clock, employees can’t take the subway home. My taxi fare starts at 200.
In principle, I don’t work on Sundays, but I sell insurance. There is a 7-day hesitation period. If a customer cancels the policy, he or she will go to the company to call the customer for preservation on Sunday.
Preservation means trying to persuade the customer not to surrender the policy.
Once I met a customer who needed preservation on the weekend. After I arrived at the company, I found that half of my colleagues were working overtime.
At that moment, I realized that I was not working hard enough.
I thought that I didn’t have many friends in Shanghai anyway, so I didn’t take a break every weekend and just spent time on the phone at the company. .
I became the one with the best performance among the newcomers, and the leader started asking me to lead the team, but there was no salary increase at all.
I went to communicate with the leader, but he was always vague, and my enthusiasm was in his refusal.
I feel that my efforts are not respected, and I feel very sad. I miss Cui Li and Dandan very much.
(Shanghai Bund)
The office building where I work is full of financial companies. I often communicate with colleagues in the stairwell.
I know a colleague, his name is Zuo Lei, who is a small manager of a financial company.
He leads a team of four people, but the performance of their team is not good, and the team is shaky. We discussed merging the team so that we could join a team to keep warm. I promised to increase each of their base salaries by 300 yuan.
Then I would have 10 people, which would be the capital for me to change jobs.
I was negotiating with the personnel of an insurance company. , since I brought my own team, the negotiation went smoothly, I successfully became a supervisor, my basic salary doubled, and the team members also received the corresponding basic salary.
After working here for a year, I came into contact with PE private equity fund .
Our whole team came to a financial company again. At that time, finance was good and everyone wanted to do it.
I held the banner of private equity and shouted forward.
However, the team behind me did not follow because they were not optimistic about private equity funds. They followed Zuo Lei to another company, while I was left in place like a fool.
I have read a sentence before: There are countless lights in this city, but none of them are bright for me.
When I read this sentence when I was in school, I thought it was hypocritical. When I read it now, I feel sad.
I am a stranger in a foreign land. No matter how hard I try, I will always be a non-staff member in Shanghai. It is difficult to become a full-time employee.
My father called me and asked me to go back to Changsha because he missed me so much.
I said: "The boss is old and can't live without me. He will wait for me to come back tomorrow."
I rushed back to Changsha like this, full of joy.
Cui Li runs an auto repair shop, and Dandan works in his father's catering company.
(Shanghai Bund)
After returning to Changsha, I worked in several financial companies, and also formed a telesales team of 20 people in a group company, becoming the youngest sales manager of the group company. That was in 2017, I was 24 age.
Once, when my father and I were drinking, he said:
"Your business is financing, and projects often worth hundreds of millions. Why haven't I seen your industry? The financial industry is too exaggerated and not down to earth."
He continued: "Although you can do it well, everyone can do it. If someone comes in with funds, you will be the one to stop it (the dialect means failure)."
My father and I have a relationship that is both a teacher and a friend. I enjoy it very much. He always gives me some advice. "Listen to others and eat enough. "
I accepted my father's advice and resolutely left the nihilistic financial industry.
When I was in the financial circle, I would worry about one thing every day, that is, what to eat for lunch?
My former colleagues also had the same worries as me. , I feel worried as soon as noon comes. I have eaten all the takeaways around me and have no desire to order.
So, I think it is possible to make lunch boxes. It has a large customer base and can really solve everyone's difficulties.
I think it can. If you solve the problem, you will definitely make money.
My entrepreneurial project is to deliver lunches. Unlike traditional lunch delivery, I am a member.
Each customer can join the membership for 888 yuan, and the membership fee includes the customer's lunch for a month, every day. Two dishes and one soup.
I send out menus regularly, and customers can order by themselves.
If an old member successfully introduces a new member, he or she can get 99 yuan back, and there is no limit to the number of referred customers.
I also ask nutritionist to analyze the customer's profile. Meal habits, develop a perfect nutrition plan for customers, so that customers can have different meals at work every day and eat healthily with confidence.
Cui Li and Dandan think my idea is good, and this is the fourth time we hit it off.
With 30,000 yuan, we started our first real business.
We took over a B&B in Second Ring Road. The B&B was just run, mainly to renovate the kitchen and serve as the base for our box lunch business.
After everything was ready, we rented a conference room that could accommodate 50 people.
As the three founders, we wore suits and started our lunch conference.
The conference was very lively.
We quickly acquired the first wave of members. At the peak, we were delivering 300 lunch boxes every day.
This means that we have 300 members and income from membership fees. There were about 270,000 people, which was beyond our expectation.
(Wedding scene)
Every day at 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning, I ride a tricycle to buy groceries.
If there are not enough chefs, we will prepare the dishes in the kitchen. If we need delivery, we will be the takeaway guys. If you have inquiries or complaints, we will be the customer service staff.
However, problems followed one after another. I didn’t buy enough vegetables for 300 box lunches, the kitchen couldn’t cook them, and the delivery couldn’t keep up, not to mention the nutritional mix.
If you can eat my lunch box at noon, you will be considered lucky if you are not hungry.
Later, no matter how hard we tried, the lunch boxes could not be delivered.
After two months of hard resistance, we simply gave up making lunch boxes and devoted all our energy to handling complaints. Finally, we began to calculate how to refund the money.
Looking back, my plan was actually feasible, but we had too little funds at the time.
requires at least 200,000 start-up capital to be able to drive our daily delivery volume of 300 copies.
I didn’t even think about asking someone to deliver it, which is a pity.
In the end, we could only cancel the card and disappeared silently into the sea of commerce without making any splash.
But what should I do next, continue to return to the financial industry?
My father knew that I was frustrated and asked me to drink.
My father said to go into the construction industry, at least you can see real projects.
I had a little discussion with Cui Li and Dandan and unanimously decided that I would be the vanguard first and try my hand at the construction industry.
When I first came into contact with the construction industry, I was completely surprised.
I have been in the financial industry for too long. The financial industry is notorious for being exaggerated. When I landed in the construction industry, I felt that the construction industry was too crude.
Under the recommendation of my uncle, I came to work in the best construction company in Changsha. My main business is to make exterior wall coating .
(work photo)
My jaw dropped on the first day of work. The office of one of the best construction companies in Changsha is actually in a dangerous building. The elevator is still a green elevator. The key is that it is broken.
Fortunately, not long after I started working, the company was preparing to move out of the dilapidated building. I thought that this time it would definitely be moved to a taller place.
But to my surprise, the boss bought a sales department as an office space.
This question triggered my thinking. The financial industry is indeed packaged as a very Western company, and behind the brilliance is a kind of false prosperity.
belongs to the industry of "If the table is high, it is all empty bags."
But I carefully observed my colleagues in the construction industry. They all have cars, and 80% of the employees are richer than those working in finance, and they are much richer.
But everyone is very low-key and does not reveal their wealth.
I was shocked by this and began to slowly recognize this industry.
When I first started working in the sales department, my daily job was to go to the person in charge if I saw a place with a tower crane and ask if the company wanted to build the facade.
After working for half a year, I complained to my father: "I can't work any more. I am paid twice a year. I have to starve to death!"
My father said, go and see how your colleagues are doing. You are not alone. .
When I inquired about it, I found out that my colleagues were all taking private jobs outside. Only then did I realize that this was an open secret in the industry.
I approached my boss and told him that I wanted to work in this industry, but I couldn’t figure it out myself, so my boss arranged for me to see projects.
I really entered this industry when I was looking at projects in the engineering department. I came to the construction site and came into contact with real migrant workers.
It was also when I was working here that I went to the Labor Bureau for the first time.
At that time, the company did not pay wages to migrant workers, and no one was willing to come forward. I was responsible for overseeing this project, so I was the only one to go.
(Photography at work)
With my qualifications, it is impossible for me to handle this matter well. I can only sit with the migrant workers at the Labor Bureau.
Later, I began to try to contract small projects such as facades, with Cui Li and Dandan.
Our first project is to make thermal insulation integrated board for Erkang Hospital, which has no technical content.
is to paste insulation board on the exterior wall. At that time, all we were thinking about was how to save money and manpower.
Cui Li and Dandan took turns watching the scene. When they were not watching, they went to work, helping to move insulation boards and install expansion screws.
The first project was relatively simple. The manufacturer sent an insulation board of 1 meter by 2.5 meters. We cut it to the size we wanted downstairs.
is then transported to the opposite floor on a small three-wheeler.
After the workers get off work, we cannot get off work. We have to cut the insulation boards for the next day, usually until eleven or two o'clock.
After finishing, we went to have a late night snack, which could eat 5 or 6 hundred.
I found a problem. It costs 300 yuan to hire a small worker a night. Thinking about it, it is better to hire two small workers.
made ourselves so tired and had to fight mosquitoes. Our whole bodies were covered in mosquito bites.
But fortunately, the first project ended successfully, there were no major problems, and we did not lose money. We are still very satisfied.
(A corner of a midnight snack stall in Changsha)
After finishing the first project, it didn’t take long for me to receive the second project, which was an integrated thermal insulation board for the school.
This project covers an area of 4,000 square meters. It is not a big project in the industry, but it is very big for me.
The insulation boards used this time amounted to 12,000 yuan. As I am 1.8 meters tall, I could only move two pieces at a time when moving from the 1st floor to the 4th floor.
you may ask? Why not use an elevator? Because this project is a school teaching building and there is no elevator in the teaching building.
You can use a crane, but the crane can only lift 4 boards at a time. A conservative estimate of the lifting time is 15 minutes, which means that it can only lift 12 boards in an hour.
html There are 212,000 boards that need to be hoisted to the corresponding floors. It takes 20 hours a day to hoist them for 50 days.
School will start in one month. Our construction schedule is very tight. The only way to solve the problem is to pay people to move the boards.
In fact, I was cheated on this project. Party A bullied me for my lack of experience. I didn’t realize that not having an elevator would have such a big impact.
In the end, we had no choice. We completed the project on time, but lost 50,000 yuan. The
project is finished, all the money has been lost, and 2019 is almost over.
We discussed and decided that after the new year, everyone would go to work in a construction company to accumulate contacts and experience.
The three of us work outside, so we have three opportunities to receive projects, and then we have the opportunity to choose projects.
We set a goal for ourselves. We can’t take on too many projects. We only do two jobs a year on average, and we control it at about 80,000 square meters. We control it at about 2 million a year. 10% of the profit, which is 200,000, is enough.
(shooting)
Later, I took over several projects. When the other party refused to pay me, I reported it to the labor bureau. I also encountered an intermediary party that took away the wages of migrant workers, and the migrant workers sued me. Go to the labor bureau.
Even so, after we entered this industry, we began to clarify the future direction, which was to establish ourselves in the construction industry.
In the blink of an eye, I have been working in this industry for 3 years. I went from not being able to see clearly to not being able to tell anything.
My temper has been tempered in this industry, but looking back, it is this industry that has really persisted.
I never expected that I would eventually become a contractor.
Along the way, I am actually very lucky. I have the guidance of my father, the company of my brothers, and my wife who is changing me.
When I was making lunch boxes, Yuanyuan and I were officially together. No matter how unreliable I was, Yuanyuan silently supported me behind the scenes.
Yuanyuan is a person who knows how to live well, and she has a reasonable plan for every penny.
still remembers our first date. When I sent her home, she said she was a little hungry. I asked her what she wanted to eat, and she said roasted sweet potatoes.
I am so surprised. Is a sweet potato enough? She said enough.
I saw in her the aura of managing life.
In 2018, we held a wedding.
Later, I started to work in the construction industry. There were times when I took home more than 200,000 yuan in cash at one time, and there were times when I only had a few hundred yuan in my pocket.
No matter what happens, I can eat Yuanyuan’s delicious food.
Now, our child is about to be born, and I will step into the role of father.
I just want to give my children a stable life. This is the best wealth I can give my children. This is what I need to help.
This is the 141st real-life story recorded by [Zhu Xiaolu].
I feel that truth is extremely powerful and has the power to move and warm people's hearts.
Tell your pain, and you will lose one pain;
Share your happiness, and you will get two happiness.
If you also want to tell your story so that more people can see it, please send me a private message
