The online ride-hailing guy who has experienced three entrepreneurial failures gave his first interview to the media

The following contents are all real interviews accepted at Tencent;

Xiao Pan wore a standard business attire in a white shirt and black trousers for the interview. However, he is not an office white-collar worker, and this outfit is standard for his online ride-hailing driver.

During the chat, Xiao Pan half-jokingly said that this was the only set of clothes he had worn out since he came to Beijing for a year and a half. There was a hint of bitterness and helplessness in his smile. If you look closely, you will see that his white shirt has many wrinkles and his trousers also have signs of wear...

On a bright spring day in April, Xiao Pan accepted The following is Xiao Pan’s autobiography.

My name is Liu Xiaopan, born in the 1990s

A grassroots entrepreneur from rural Puyang, Henan,

has experienced three entrepreneurial failures,

burdened I have paid more than 300,000 yuan in debt,

I now choose Beidiao to take online ride-hailing services,

and strive to pay off my debt as soon as possible.

01 Start-up

I secretly took money from my family to start a business

To be honest, my education is very low and I have not graduated from junior high school. I have been repairing cars for about 5 years, and I always go to work at two o'clock and one line at a time. Life feels very boring.

It was 2012 and I was 21 years old. I happened to meet a good friend. At that time, 5188.cn was very popular on the Internet, and there were many franchise projects on it. We searched on the website and discovered the indoor air purification industry. Then we resolutely quit our jobs and went to Beijing for a field trip. After coming back, I found a store on the main road in the city and started my first business.

We have purchased a store, and even the decoration costs almost RMB 100,000, which is actually a lot of money for a rural family. I didn't earn much from my part-time job. Part of my family's income was saved in my name. When I started my business, I misappropriated the money behind my family's back. I was under a lot of psychological pressure at the time, and I just wanted to accomplish this.

We encountered resistance when we first started. Our hometown is a small fourth- and fifth-tier city, and people’s concepts of environmental protection and health are not that deep, so market development is particularly difficult. In order to expand the market, the two of us distributed leaflets to every household every day, and we would climb more than a dozen buildings in a day. At the end of the day, my legs no longer belong to me. I feel so tired that I feel exhausted. I don’t want to eat anymore and I have lost my appetite.

After a few months, the start-up capital was almost used up, and even the money for food was already very tight. At that time, we went out to promote and refuel the car. It cost fifty-fifty yuan to fill up the gas tank. We didn’t have any extra money to fill up the gas tank. There were several times when we failed to calculate the fuel level accurately and ended up breaking down on the road. We had to push the car to the gas station. After experiencing this several times, we found that it was not a long-term solution and finally chose to give up first.

When I started my business, I used my family’s savings privately. My family didn’t have any objections to me, but they still supported me. This made me feel even more guilty. It is difficult for a rural family to save more than 100,000 yuan. After the failure, I told my family frankly. My family didn’t blame me too much. Instead, they gave me some enlightenment. Business is never that easy. If it doesn’t work, let’s just go back to our old profession, right?

02 Comeback

Starting a business with a "liar"

After this failure, I returned to my old job. About 15 years ago, I met my first My second entrepreneurial partner told me that he had a good project on hand, and the picture he painted was particularly attractive.

I invested almost 20,000 to 30,000 yuan to buy these raw materials, but I never received any progress after the money was invested. After several inquiries, I found out that the original money for the raw materials was used by others. Misappropriated for other uses.

I was very angry and had a big fight. He didn't refute it from beginning to end, he just said he kept explaining to me. At first, he really wanted to start this matter with me, but his mother got sick suddenly and found cancer, so the matter was more urgent.

Finally, I calmed down and thought about it, and I understood.

The next day he asked me out and took the initiative to admit his mistake to me. In fact, through personal observation of him over such a long period of time, this person is not actually bad at heart, and he is also a very capable person. His mother died not long after she got the disease.

The death of his mother was a very big blow to him and also stimulated him. His family has been engaged in some industries related to seedlings and greening, and he has a good understanding of this industry. At that time, he told me about this directly and wanted us to start a business together.

I was definitely hesitant at first, but in the end I accepted his invitation. To put it bluntly, in the seedling greening industry, what farmers have in hand is sold to construction sites through our hands. Basically, Don't worry about any funds. I don’t have much money at hand, so when can I realize my ideals by relying on the income from work? So I chose to take the risk and give it another try, and this time I got it right!

03 Highlights

I earn fifty or sixty thousand a day

This is the only successful business. This industry is really profitable.

Sometimes we ship one or two trucks of goods a day, and each truck can make a profit of 20,000 to 30,000 yuan. This is unimaginable for a person who grew up in a small rural area. When we were most prosperous, our income in one day reached 50,000 to 60,000 yuan, and within a few months, we had almost 20,000 to 300,000 yuan in income.

In one and a half years, the three of us made almost 1 million with just enough money. At that time, I started to get a little carried away, and spent hundreds of thousands to buy myself a better car.

The nursery stock industry itself is seasonal. There is nothing to do in the summer, so we spend the money we earn during the peak season in winter, which is a bit frivolous. After all, when you are twenty-four or five years old, you just want to make money and enjoy yourself at the same time, thinking that you can keep making this money.

In fact, this laid the foundation for future failure.

Failure in 04

300,000 yuan in debt overnight

After making the first pot of gold, I found that if I took on a big project, the profit would be higher, and the advance capital would be higher. The more, the greater the profit return. I resolutely borrowed 300,000 yuan from the bank. We are going to take on bigger projects and earn more money. Once the project is completed, you can earn 100,000 in a few days.

At that time, we were involved in several projects at the same time, and the three of us invested almost 1 million in total. We paid by cash on delivery. After the goods were delivered to the construction site, the construction site still refused to pay for the goods, which made me feel something was wrong. We rushed to the construction site hundreds of kilometers away overnight. It was already early the next morning when we arrived at the construction site. When we went to the construction site, we found that the seedlings had been planted and the construction was completed. However, we could not find the person in charge at the construction site and the phone could not be reached. , no one can find it.

The seedling and greening industry is basically introduced by friends, and there is no contract. In many construction sites, the recipients have not even been seen. After this incident, your business came to an abrupt halt. If you need to take over a new construction site, then you need to advance payment. Where will the money come from? Your own savings are gone, and since you have borrowed so much money from the bank, it is impossible for you to borrow any more money.

In addition, due to the impact of the epidemic, this industry has become increasingly difficult to operate, with fewer and fewer construction sites and increasingly fierce competition. From the peak to the bottom, it happened overnight. In the final calculation, almost each of us had a debt of more than 300,000 yuan.

When I found out that I had a debt of 300,000 yuan, I was confused. For a rural family, more than 300,000, my God! How long will it take to pay it off? It’s really half a lifetime’s income to rely on farming and doing odd jobs.

05. Supporting a family and paying off debts

Leaving home and starting to drift north

My third business venture failed again, and this year I also welcomed my daughter.

When I was at my peak, I got married and had children. Now that I have suddenly hit rock bottom, it is no longer my fault. I need to earn money to support a family.

I didn't smoke before, but since then I've learned to smoke to relieve stress.

After this, I want to do everything I can to ease the financial crunch. I start going out for online ride-hailing trips every day before dawn, and wait until after dinner. Then I put on my driver’s vest at night and go for ride-hailing trips. Basically, I run until two or three in the morning, and sleep four or five hours a day.

I remember the time that left the deepest impression on me. It was the second day of the Lunar New Year. Many people were reunited at home, but I chose to continue working on the second day of the Lunar New Year. That night I picked up a driver's order and arrived at a relatively remote place. After arriving at the destination, I found that I couldn't go back because there were no taxis on the road and there were no bicycles for free in the countryside, so I walked for five or six months alone. kilometer. It was only when we arrived at the edge of the city that we found a bicycle for free. It was already four or five o'clock in the morning when we got home.

This was the most difficult moment at the time. Although I came back at four or five o'clock, I was rewarded and I could pay off the loan tomorrow. In fact, this inspired me to work hard.

In 2020, I found that my income in my hometown was indeed very meager and I could only maintain normal daily expenses, so I wanted to go to Beijing. I heard that if you drive an online ride-hailing service in Beijing, you can earn more than 10,000 yuan a month if you work hard, and sometimes you can even earn 20,000 yuan. This was the best job I knew at the time that could help you pay off your debts quickly. I decided to come to Beijing and start an online car-hailing service.

The child was only a few months old at that time, and I didn’t dare to pack my luggage in front of the child when I left home. Trying not to create an atmosphere of separation from my family, I quietly packed my luggage, got on the train heading north, and arrived in Beijing.

When I first started running (online ride-hailing), I basically got up at five or six in the morning and drove until one or two in the middle of the night before returning to my residence.

I live in a very remote place, near the Sixth Ring Road. I found a self-built house by a villager for 500 yuan a month. A small single room of a few square meters, with nothing but a bed. You can get out of bed and walk two steps away. There are everyone living in the rental house, so you can't get a good rest. Walking back and forth, opening and closing doors, and talking all affect your sleep.

After five or six hours of sleep and lack of rest, driving the next day will be a particularly exhausting state. But it costs more than 200 (share money) every day when you open your eyes, and just renting a car for a month costs more than 6,000. So you have to get out of the car every day. If you don’t get out of the car, you will have no income, and you will still lose money. As long as you can still hold on, you must get out of the car.

I set a goal for myself every day. I will not go home until I reach 1,000 yuan, which is a state of extreme struggle. Fortunately, I reached 1,000 at 11 or 12 o'clock and could go home. Sometimes I still haven't reached 1,000 at 2 or 3 o'clock. I can't reach the goal for several days in a row. At this time, I feel very anxious. I stayed in Beijing for about half a year, and it was time for the child to be weaned. My wife discussed with me that she would also come to Beijing to find a job. We would earn money together and pay off the loan as soon as possible.

It has been almost a year and a half since I came to Beijing now, and I have paid off more than 100,000 yuan in foreign debt, almost half of it. According to the current plan, all foreign debts can be paid off within three years. , there is still a year and a half to go, but we actually see hope.

06 Guilt

My daughter is left behind in her hometown and no longer knows her parents

We often video chat with our children, but due to the epidemic, we have not returned for the Spring Festival for two consecutive years. It’s Chinese New Year at home.

I went back home three times in Beijing for a year and a half. What impressed me most was going home for the first time after coming to Beijing. It's time to go home. I was very excited the night before because I would be able to see my child tomorrow. I couldn't sleep all night.

It was early in the morning when I got home, and the child was still sleeping. I didn't sleep all night, but I still couldn't sleep when I got back. Because I am looking forward to seeing the child and the moment when she calls her mom and dad. I stayed up until dawn. The child woke up and played happily outside. I opened the door and went out. The moment I saw the child, I was really unprepared for the child's behavior.

Do you know how scared she is when she sees you? stranger! I don't know who this is.

She ran to her grandma's arms. I said I was daddy, but she hid and started crying. At that time, I felt very uncomfortable because my child no longer recognized me.

On the day before we leave, the children may know that we are leaving, and they will be particularly pestering, saying that mom and dad don’t want to leave, and I want to go to work with you. In the end, we could only coax the child to sleep and did not dare to go in front of the child.

After the child was put to sleep and the door was closed, my wife also cried, but there was nothing we could do. If we didn’t go to Beijing, we wouldn’t be able to provide a good living environment for our child. We must You have to work hard and fight hard.

Last year, my child was scalded. I didn’t dare to tell my wife at first. My mother said, why don’t you come back? Because after the child was scalded, one person couldn’t take care of him. He had to go to the hospital every day to change the dressing. I told my wife the true situation, and she cried at the time. After telling me, we immediately drove back to our hometown.

It was already midnight when I got home. The child was already asleep, with gauze wrapped around his legs and hands. I felt very uncomfortable at that time and had no sleep all night.

When the child woke up the next day, he was no longer so strange to us. After staying for a while, he slowly remembered that these were his parents. We stayed at home for almost a month, taking her to the hospital every day for dressing changes, and then returned to Beijing after her wounds healed.

In fact, this is quite stressful for us. We have no income this month, but you still have to pay the monthly car rent and the rent in Beijing. Not only do you have no income, but you will Lose money. Although you want to continue to accompany your child and don't want her to be hurt a second time, reality tells you that you must come back and there is no room for maneuver.

07 Entrepreneurship

It’s hard to stop after the first time

From the moment I came to Beijing, I already thought that I would start my own business again. start. I came into contact with self-media, running online ride-hailing and doing self-media at the same time, and I have persisted until now.

In the beginning, there were actually very few fans. After persisting for a month or two, I found that there were very few fans. I just thought about whether I should persevere. I calmed down and thought about it. Now that I was sure about this matter, I couldn't give up easily. Later, a video became popular overnight, with more than 2 million views. After this video became popular, the number of fans began to gradually increase.

Since doing this is my re-entrepreneurship, I think that after I accumulate the first batch of fans through my own efforts, there will be a way to monetize it in the future.

Stand up from where you failed. My entrepreneurial spirit has never died. I think this is also the true inner thought of every entrepreneur. Once you have the first time, it is difficult to stop. Yes, really!

The above contents are all interviews!