Lin Liren’s perseverance! Lin Liren’s four entrepreneurial journeys

June 22, 2006 20:43:14

The interview was with Lin Liren in the office of his Jiujiu Plus One Industrial Company. His appearance is unremarkable, even a little rustic, and his clothes are too simple and a little slovenly. It is hard to believe that he is the famous boss of Jiujiujiayi Company on the Internet. The unusual entrepreneurial experiences he told reporters are consistent with his overly humble attitude. His speech and behavior are also very inconsistent. But he is such a seemingly indifferent person, but he has experienced ups and downs in the business, great joys and sorrows, started his own business four times and failed miserably three times, and he is still striving for his ideals.

In the mid-1960s, Lin Li was born in Xiaoyu Village, Wenzhou, the same village as the famous and recently deceased Wang Junyao, a leading businessman in Shanghai and Zhejiang. The reporter learned on another occasion that while Lin Liren was already well-known and prominent in Wenzhou's business community, Wang Junyao was still unknown. In this regard, the reporter asked Lin for confirmation, and Lin Liren said, "What's weird? I'm three years older than him." After expressing condolences for Wang Junyao's untimely death, Lin recalled a little tidbit: In the late 1980s, when Lin's woven bag business was very prosperous, Wang Junyao also expressed his intention to follow Lin. Of course, Yi Lin knew Wang very well: the smart, capable and ambitious Wang Junyao would not work for anyone, he could only be the boss. Later, the two had their own experiences in life. Wang Junyao started his business by making woven bags. When he became famous by chartering airplanes in 1991, Lin Liren failed completely because of a debt of more than 3 million yuan that could not be recovered due to triangular debt. Go to Shenzhen and start from scratch.

The reporter talked with Lin Liren twice for more than four hours, clarifying his ups and downs of wealth creation over more than 20 years. Although Lin has said many times that he is not considered successful and can only be considered a small success, what he has shown in the process of starting a business is his unique business vision and perseverance to find business opportunities that others cannot find. The courage to win, but exudes unique charm. Below is the reporter’s recording of Lin Liren’s conversation.

Children in Wenzhou start business early

I was born in a fishing village in Wenzhou called Dayu Village. My first memories of business come from my father, a fisherman. When I was very young, my father used fishing boats to transport longans and sugar from Fujian and sell them to Wenzhou to earn the price difference. At that time, this was an illegal act, called speculation, and could only be done secretly. My father suffered a lot for this, and there was even an incident where a shipload of goods was robbed, but he did not dare to report the crime or make any public announcement. And every time the movement came, in order to avoid the bad luck of being criticized, my father had no choice but to leave his hometown. My childhood memories of business are: it was something full of risks, hardships, but very tempting.

My earliest business activities can be traced back to junior high school, when I was fourteen years old and the reform and opening up had just begun. The most common thing is to carry fresh fish to sell in the market, and sometimes go to the mountains where there is very little fresh fish to sell. Another common thing to do is collect crab shells. At that time, the country had a special company to collect this kind of stuff, and it was said that it could be used to make plastic. Carrying a load, I walked through villages and alleys, collecting crab shells from door to door, and then sold them to the state to earn the price difference and subsidize my family. My tuition fees are basically all earned by me. Before I graduated from high school, I chose to go into business. I have no regrets about this, although I later found that as my business grew bigger, knowledge became more and more important to me.

The first time I came to Shenzhen was in 1985, when I had just turned 21. The cultural supplies we produce, including folders, file bags, etc., are very popular in Shenzhen, but the most popular ones are slogans made of plastic. At that time, many places in Shenzhen posted slogans like "Five Lectures, Four Beauties, Three Loves, Not Allowed Anywhere" Slogans like smearing phlegm are all our products. Our profits are good, with a gross profit margin of 70%. However, because the demand in Shenzhen is not large and we operate in the national market, I have not settled down in Shenzhen. Another reason why I couldn't live in Shenzhen was that Shenzhen was a big construction site at that time, and construction was going on everywhere. On sunny days, there was dust, and on rainy days, mud flowed across the ground. I couldn't adapt to this environment.

In addition to making cultural supplies, I also made many small items. The most profitable thing was woven bags. At that time, fertilizer factories were springing up in towns and villages across the country, and there was a huge demand for plastic woven bags. big. I gradually became successful. At the age of twenty-four or five, my reputation spread all over the countryside, because while I shipped a large number of woven bags to all parts of the country, I also brought the villagers the job of weaving such bags, giving them the opportunity to make money. .

Wenzhou's store-in-the-back model is now well-known to everyone. I am the store in the front, selling woven bags all over the country, and my folks are the factory in the back, providing me with a steady stream of loans. "Wenzhou Daily" reported on my deeds, and I was successively awarded the honorary title of Outstanding Youth of Zhejiang Province, Outstanding Youth Representative of Wenzhou City, and Large Taxpayer. Wang Junyao came to me at that time. Of course, later he also made woven bags himself and was very successful.

Failure came with a big order in 1989. At that time, we signed a large order of 120 million yuan in Henan. This large order was obtained with the help of a fertilizer company in Henan. This fertilizer company is actually an administrative unit, equivalent to today's holding company, and there are many fertilizers under it. Because of the power of this company, we were able to obtain orders from many fertilizer factories under it. The condition was that we would give the fertilizer company a rebate of 5 cents for each woven bag, which at that time was only 1 yuan per woven bag.

After we provided 10 million woven bags, we found that the loan could not be recovered, so we had to stop supplying. What followed was a long and humiliating debt collection process. Since the contract was not signed with the fertilizer company, but with each specific manufacturer, the company stayed out of the matter, and each manufacturer defaulted on payment for various reasons. Apart from getting a little fertilizer, we basically received nothing. At the most difficult time, I was penniless and asked the fertilizer factory for 1,000 yuan for living expenses, but they refused to pay. They owe me 1.1 million, and they won't even give me 1,000 yuan. An elder sister who worked with me to collect debt burst into tears.

1990 was a year of waiting and despair, but I did not get the long-overdue payment, and the folks who worked hard to weave 10 million woven bags for me had to pay their wages. After dealing with the debt, in the end, I was penniless and empty-handed, so I had no choice but to leave my hometown and go to Shenzhen.

Established the first private real estate agency in Shenzhen

In 1991, when a motorcycle pulled me to No. 2 Badin Street, I remember it was summer, No. 2 Badin Street It was the residence of a friend of mine. I stayed there and slept on the floor.

In the most painful moments, I often think of what my father once said when a shipment of goods was robbed: Others don’t have it, so you have it! My father's calm and indifferent attitude influenced me, and I slowly came out of the shadow of failure. I plotted a comeback. Of course, I can only be a boss. People like me with little academic qualifications and no professional skills cannot work part-time other than being a boss, and no one wants a part-time job.

Not long after I came to Shenzhen, I discovered a way to make money: working as a rental agency and charging commissions. There were many companies doing this kind of intermediary business in Shenzhen, but there were very few at that time. Except for a state-owned Shenzhen International Real Estate Consulting Company doing this business, there was no formal intermediary company. In order to run a legitimate business, I registered a Liye (Hong Kong) real estate development company in Hong Kong. The reason why I registered it in Hong Kong was because it was impossible to register such a company in China at that time. Although it is registered in Hong Kong, the company's actual business is to act as a rental agency in Shenzhen. It can be regarded as the first private rental agency company in Shenzhen.

At that time, the rent in Shenzhen was quite high. The rent for 100 square meters was about 2,800, and there were many people renting it. People coming from all over the country needed a place to live and an office. Our business was booming. The company's more than a dozen employees were so busy that they were dizzy. Sometimes, the company can do more than a dozen orders a day, and the customers who have rented a house are overjoyed and grateful to us. No principal is required, I almost collect money from the land, and the commission is based on one month's rent.

By the spring of 1992, I had accumulated more than 100,000 yuan. I felt that being a rental agent was not a long-term solution. With the number of people working as agents increasing, I started speculating on off-the-plan properties. At that time, speculating on off-the-plan properties was more profitable. Generally, you could earn 5,000-10,000 yuan by speculating on a set of off-the-plan properties. I had done speculating in many residential areas in Luohu, the most popular one being Dongle Garden. At that time, I got nearly 30 units in one go. A year later, my assets reached 600,000 to 700,000.

At that time, another idea formed in my mind: I was going to find a piece of land in Baoan and build a community called Shenzhen Wenzhou Community, which would be sold specifically to Wenzhou people. At that time, Shenzhen also had a policy that if you buy a house outside the Shenzhen customs, you can obtain a Shenzhen household registration, which should be attractive to Wenzhou people. In order to test the feasibility of the idea, I returned to Wenzhou and placed an advertisement in Wenzhou Daily.

Unexpectedly, there was an endless stream of people coming to register to buy a house, and some even handed over a deposit. When I refused to accept the deposit, they said: I am not your relative or friend. If your house sells well, they will find excuses not to sell it. Gave it to us. But later, my idea was not fully realized because Shenzhen’s policy of giving a household registration when buying a house was cancelled.

Anyone who is familiar with China's economic development knows that before June 1993, all parts of the country were working hard and building houses everywhere. It seemed that as long as houses were built, money would come. After learning that Shenzhen’s policy of providing household registration for buying a house was cancelled, we found a piece of land in Huiyang. At that time, Daya Bay was being developed. There was a slogan: If you missed Shenzhen, will you miss Daya Bay again? . A real estate company in Huiyang County was very optimistic about us after reading a lot of our house purchase information. They ignored many real estate companies that were much stronger than us and insisted on cooperating with us. They would provide the land and we would build the house. , profit is divided into 30% and 70%.

We plan to build a 26-story building called Wenzhou Tower diagonally opposite the Huiyang City Hall today, and we are still planning to sell it to Wenzhou people. Unexpectedly, we had just laid the foundation. In June, the central government began macroeconomic control. By September, money was tightening. The construction company that built our house was originally an advance fund, and at this time, it could not borrow a penny. Our Wenzhou Building ended up being an unfinished building.

Although I lost all my money again, I still didn’t give up. I speculated that the situation in Wenzhou would happen again in Huiyang soon, so I borrowed money to transport more than 100 tricycles from other places to prepare for the disaster. I applied for a license plate in Huiyang, but unexpectedly, the car was confiscated before it even landed.

I was in Shenzhen at the time and received a notice asking me to redeem these tricycles with 100,000 yuan. My anger couldn't be greater: the car didn't land. If it didn't work, you could ask me to pull the car back. Why did you confiscate the car and ask me for 100,000 yuan? This last blow really broke me. When I think about it, my heart bleeds. I have never been hit as hard as this one in my life. At that time, I really couldn’t figure it out: Why is it so difficult to do some business? (Reporter's note: The reporter noticed that when Lin Liren was talking about this paragraph, tears welled up in his eyes and he was speechless for a long time.)

I have no idea how much wealth a BP machine can contain

In 1994, I accomplished nothing. By 1995, I couldn't even spare 1,000 yuan. I had no livelihood and had to find a way to make a living. Despite this, when I saw in the newspaper that Shenzhen was recruiting volunteers, I still signed up. So far, I have been a volunteer in Shenzhen for 10 years and was awarded the Shenzhen Five-Star Volunteer (Volunteer Number: 0965) in 2002. I I found that volunteering can make me feel at ease and it is a kind of spiritual compensation for me. Regarding my personal situation in 1995, I really need to integrate myself into society. Giving roses to others and leaving fragrance in your hands is the true meaning of life learned at the Shenzhen Volunteer Association.

The communications market located in Tongjian Building opposite Hualian Building is very big today and has spread to several nearby buildings. In 1995, I bought a pager at a counter here. It was very cheap. Then, Try posting a small ad on the street: pager for sale. Unexpectedly, within an hour, someone came to buy it, and I made dozens of dollars. After trying this, I spent 200 yuan to place a classified ad in the newspaper. Back and forth, I received more than 300 calls asking for pagers. I went to the counter in Tongjian Building again to pick up the goods. In this way, I started a small business in pagers. Since I often order goods from the same counter, I can get cheaper goods than ordinary buyers. Slowly, I became friends with Ms. Zhao, the owner of this counter.

Soon, I noticed a phenomenon: the cheaper the pager, the greater the demand, and this kind of cheap pager is usually a second-hand mobile phone with a modified frequency. I thought that if I want to make a fortune, I must find a source of second-hand mobile phones. At the same time, I must find technicians who know how to change the frequency. Fortunately, I met a Taiwanese businessman who specialized in purchasing second-hand pagers in Japan. Even more fortunately, I found a few engineers who knew how to change the frequency. With these two major resources, I stopped doing retail and switched to wholesale. I bought a second-hand mobile phone from the Taiwanese businessman, asked the engineers to change the frequency for me, and then wholesaled the modified pagers to retailers. My friend Ms. Zhao was originally my supplier, and I supplied her.

Changing the frequency of my pager has given me a huge opportunity. At that time, a second-hand pager without frequency change could be bought for only 20 yuan. After the frequency was changed, it could be used in China, and the price of each pager increased more than ten times.

Take a card machine as an example. This model is very card-like, very thin, beautiful in appearance, and very popular. When we purchase it, we purchase it for 20 yuan each. After converting the frequency, we sell it to the supplier for 300 yuan each, making a gross profit of 15 times. . Just like that, many retailers are still chasing me to get the goods. Since I had a sufficient supply of goods, I could supply them continuously. By 1998, my career had reached its peak, and I could be considered a multimillionaire.

Although the business was going very smoothly, I still clearly realized that pagers were undoubtedly a sunset industry, and the trend of being replaced by mobile phones was becoming more and more obvious. I had to find another investment direction. On the other hand, as the scale of assets expands, I feel more and more that my knowledge is not enough and I must find ways to recharge. In the second half of 1998, I came to Peking University and began to audit economics and management courses, and officially studied for the EMBA in 1999. At this time, the pager business became more and more difficult to do, and the profits became thinner and thinner. By 2000, I gave up this industry.

While studying at Peking University, I made two larger investments. The first was investment in the education industry. At that time, there was a loud voice about the unlimited potential of the education industry. I tried to cooperate with Peking University, Tsinghua and Oxford. I cooperated with a business school to provide corporate marketing management training, and the other project was to invest in an aircraft pilot training school in Yangjiang. At that time, there were various speculations that the country might open the skies to private jets. The attractive prospect of aircraft pilot training made me do this. Investment, both investments were not successful enough and some money was lost.

But what really devastated me was the B-share market. On February 19, 2001, the B-share market was opened to domestic investors. After several unlimited price limits, I was encouraged by my friends to invest heavily in B-shares. Looking back today, this was a very unwise move. Anyone who does business knows: Never engage in an industry that you are not familiar with. No matter how well others do it and how profitable it is, if you do it, you may lose money. Before doing B shares, I knew nothing about the stock market.

When I entered the B-share market, almost all the stocks had risen very high. Moreover, due to the sudden opening of the B-share market, the Hong Kong dollar was very popular. I exchanged it for the Hong Kong dollar at 1:1.2. It's a disadvantage in itself. Despite this, the stocks I bought still made money at the beginning, but I unrealistically hoped that they would continue to rise. Unexpectedly, in June, the B shares suddenly plunged, and I did not sell them in time, and all the stocks were locked up. At this time, if I cut the meat out in time, I still won't lose much. Like most stock blind people, when a stock rises, I hope it will rise again; when a stock falls, I hope it can reverse quickly. But the reversal never came. The bear market for more than three years made me get trapped deeper and deeper, and my assets shrank by 2/3.

The best way to keep a business is to start a business

Three misfortunes, I have gone through many vicissitudes. After learning from the experience, I discovered that my previous successes all depended on my bold attempts, my ability to discover business opportunities that others had not discovered, and my ability to seize opportunities before others. This involved a certain amount of chance and speculation, while failure often resulted from understanding the macroeconomics. The economic form cannot be grasped, the sense of direction is not strong, and coupled with the lack of systematic management concepts, it is also a bit impetuous and impulsive, and has not consolidated and carried forward the achievements that have been made.

I am determined to calm down, do things down-to-earth, abandon the mentality of relying on one or two opportunities to get rich quickly, practice the basic skills down-to-earth, and accumulate it bit by bit.

In early 2002, with the help of friends, I invested the remaining funds into a digital camera manufacturer called Weibo in Xixiang. This investment was relatively successful and my company All the money has been recovered and the equity has increased in value. In the second half of this year, relying on this digital camera factory, our company began to operate 99 plus one brand digital cameras. Considering our financial strength, product positioning and the specific market environment of digital cameras, we did not invest heavily in marketing or engage in chain franchises, but focused on e-commerce.

We have our own 99+1 website, and we have online stores on Alibaba, Taobao, Yipai.com and eBay. Our 18 varieties of digital cameras, waterproof cameras and camera heads are all aimed at mid- to low-end customers, and low prices are our advantage. Our products have a certain sales volume in China, but they are mainly exported. For example, the gift digital cameras we produce for Microsoft and the 99+1 digital cameras we supply to Wal-Mart in Germany are all for export. Our business is mainly concentrated in B2B, accounting for 80%, while B2C only accounts for 20%.

I am very confident about the company's e-commerce, because I don't expect unrealistic success overnight. I have experienced too many ups and downs. I prefer to build my integrity brand in a down-to-earth manner, because in e-commerce, the first priority is integrity. Without integrity, no one can do business with you online. Fortunately, our hard work paid off. In 2012, 99+1 Company ranked first in Alibaba's online integrity rankings. Netizens called us Lin Liren, the number one person in online transactions with integrity.

My goal is: to be the best online merchant and rely on our integrity to increase sales online. Because the profits of digital cameras have dropped, and we are making low-end products, we can only win by quantity. In addition, the low cost of e-commerce also ensures our profits. Of course, the possibility of a new transformation of the company also exists. I am working with several Wenzhou friends who are doing business in Shenzhen to seek a big move. I believe that if this move is successful, our company will jump to a new level.

This is also the 20 years since China’s reform and development and market economy have become more and more mature. I have witnessed the history of these 20 years with my own experience. In the past twenty years, I have experienced three ups and downs, and I am still in the entrepreneurial stage. Failure is not terrible. Who among the Wenzhou people doing business at my age has not been deceived? Been robbed? Who has not had the experience of being penniless for several years and afraid to go home? Who hasn’t slept on the floor or even lived on the street? The important thing is not to be knocked down by failure. Only those who learn from failure and become more motivated with frustration can achieve final success.

There is an old Chinese saying that it is difficult to start a business, but it is even harder to keep a business. Today, as science and technology are changing with each passing day and society is developing more and more rapidly, there is no such thing as keeping a business, only entrepreneurship. The best way to keep a business is to keep starting a business.

At the end of the interview, Jiujiu Plus One Company received a call from a customer in the United States, and 50% of the advance payment for 4,400 Jiujiu Plus One digital cameras had been transferred to Jiujiu Plus One Company’s account. , at the same time, Yipai.com also informed Mr. Lin that he would go overseas to participate in honest online business activities on March 3. Lin Liren smiled and said: You are my lucky star, good things come one after another.