Volume 1 Chapter 0022: Sharpening the Knife for Business
November 23, the 23rd day of the tenth lunar month, light snow.
Nan Yi received another letter from Fang Mengyin from Xiangkeng. He extracted keywords from the letter in a specific way and combined them into a sentence: The trading company has been registered. Currently, it has only recruited one operator and receptionist. The office is in the factory building in Chai Wan. What should be done next?
After reading the letter, Nan Yi burned it and wrote a reply.
The letter is very long, but at first glance it is just about daily trivialities. The real message it wants to convey needs to be decoded by Fang Mengyin through the method agreed upon by the two.
The real message that Nan Yi conveyed was: to set up an electronics factory to produce electronic watches and calculators, and to stockpile no less than 150,000 and no more than 200,000 electronic watches and 10,000 to 20,000 calculators before April next year.
Keep everything simple, just be able to achieve production, no long-term operation plan, be prepared to cash out; recruit more semiconductor talents, pay them high salaries; find a fashion designer, average level doesn't matter, just be obedient, and keep him as a backup...
If you do not have enough funds, you can use your Wharf Holdings shares as collateral for a bank mortgage.
Due to limited conditions, Nan Yi and Fang Mengyin can only communicate through secret letters, which also limits Nan Yi from micro-management and allows him to carry out medium- and long-term plans.
In this era, it was absolutely impossible to make international long-distance calls. Only a very small number of privileged people had the opportunity to make international long-distance calls, and those calls could only reach the Soviet revisionists.
This is all due to the backwardness of communications, and the complete lack of cross-border cable laying and signal transmission technology.
Moreover, there is also the problem of losing confidentiality if calling at this time.
The phone had no dialing buttons, just a handle that you shook a few times, "Hello, switchboard, can you connect me to this number?"
The two parties were talking on the phone, and the sweet-voiced lady at the switchboard could be heard.
Although according to regulations, eavesdropping on other people's phone conversations is against the rules, but when has anyone ever heard of someone who dared to break the law disappearing?
From time to time, one or a group of representatives would come out at a time to show that they are still there.
After traveling to several places and taking a lot of detours, Nan Yi finally brought back a Sunflower brand HL-1 cassette tape recorder produced in 1974.
After waiting for a few days, Xian Yaodong and Xian Weimin arrived in Beijing. Xian Weimin had with him several tapes of songs by Teresa Teng and Liu Wenjing.
"Did you get the machine?"
"I got it. One master tape player and thirty high-speed dubbing machines."
"manual."
Nan Yi read the entire manual and said, "The mastering machine is Studer's A80, and the dubbing machine is the Japanese's Xiao Gu machine. Did you get the teaching video tape?"
"I got it too. You didn't tell me and I didn't bring it."
"It's okay, I will go back to Wenchangwei as soon as possible and teach you how to operate the machine." Nan Yi said to Xian Yaodong, and then said to Xian Weimin: "Weimin, when you go back, go to Yangcheng and find a relatively leisurely temporary job.
Go hang out with Xie Yu more often, make friends with people who are doing business secretly, and introduce the tape business to them.
Before you go, go to a Cantonese opera troupe and learn how to put on makeup, how to stick on a fake beard, and then get a pair of glasses. Don’t let others see your foundation.”
Nan Yi said, and took out another package, "There are 1,500 yuan in it, and a lot of various tickets. These are enough for you to open up a new situation in Yangcheng."
"Okay, I know what to do."
"Be careful in everything. If you encounter something, remember one principle: sacrifice money but not life."
"Okay, I will be careful."
As he spoke, Nan Yi took the two of them to a courtyard deep in the flowers.
After getting some food, the three of them talked while eating.
"Uncle Xian, have you read the latest newspapers?"
"Nan Yi, what do you mean?"
"Forget it. Judging from your expression, you probably haven't seen it. I'll just tell you straight away. As for the big things, the higher-ups are already discussing internal reforms, opening up to the outside world, loosening up the restrictions on farmers, and injecting vitality into the economy.
Since 1965, our country's international GDP ranking has been declining. Even India and India are ahead of us. Revitalizing the economy and making people prosperous will be the theme of the future.
Therefore, it won’t be long before individuals can start their own business.
But the first person to try something new will most likely be poisoned to death. Let's not be the first to do so. Let's put the individual aside for now and consider the Wenchangwei community first.
It has always been advocated by the higher authorities that production teams should develop side businesses. We in Wenchangwei should also develop side businesses and establish our own collectively owned factories.
Uncle Xian, you should still remember how people dressed in the 1950s, right? "
"Of course there were. There were many styles of clothing at that time, including suits for men and cheongsams for women. Guangzhou was opened to the public early, so all kinds of foreign things were introduced in. The clothes were colorful and there was everything.
Later on, it became half blue and half white. Everyone wore similar clothes, which was very monotonous.
However, when I took the train this time, I saw a few women wearing that nice-looking dress…what was it called?”
"It should be a coat."
"I guess so. People look much better in that dress."
"The second point I want to make is about clothes. Girls now like to be cute and have long been tired of wearing Dacron. They want to wear something different. But I looked in the supply and marketing cooperatives and department stores and found that there are not many new styles of clothes.
While domestic clothing factories have not yet reacted, we opened a clothing factory in Wenchangwei to produce popular styles of Xiangkeng.
After you go back , open the factory, then go to the machinery factory to purchase electric sewing machines, and go to the textile factory to purchase fabrics. Once the things are in place, let the women start practicing first.
After they are well trained, we will start organizing production. As for the factory director, we will let Uncle Yaoguo be in charge. He has experience in leading troops and is suitable for managing people.
Uncle Xian, as for you, after the samples came out, you started to run around in the purchasing department of the supply and marketing cooperatives, from city to city, not just running around for nothing, treating people to meals, giving gifts, and then getting a sales rebate."
“What is sales rebate?”
"Let me give you an example. For example, the supply and marketing cooperatives in Bao'an are expected to sell 1,000 units. As long as the supply and marketing cooperatives complete the sales, we will give them a sales reward of 100 yuan, which is the rebate."
"I see. Give them some benefits to increase their enthusiasm."
"Almost. The key point is that you have to figure out who should receive the rebate. You need to analyze the specific issue and decide who can help increase our sales. Anyway, we have such a budget. I don't care who it is given to. I only look at the results."
When Nan Yi spoke, he deliberately put himself in the role of giving orders, subtly making Xian Yaodong accept this change.
"Can I give it to someone?"
"I said, it doesn't matter who you give it to, or if you keep it to yourself, I have no problem with that. I only care about sales."
"Okay, I understand."
"Also, the tape business belongs to the three of us. I'll take 50%, Weimin, you'll take 30%, and Uncle Xian, you'll take 20%. Do you have any objections?"
"I have no objection. I contributed the least, so it's reasonable for me to get the least," said Xian Yaodong.
"I have no objection. Thirty percent is already a lot. Nan Yi, I feel a little embarrassed that you didn't even let me contribute the capital."
"It's okay. We're just starting out, so let's just divide it roughly this way. When we do other businesses in the future, we'll have to sit down and work it out clearly, how much money we invested, how much work we put in, and how much we deserve.
Let me explain to you again why we want to start the tape business now.
Since last month, overseas Chinese visiting relatives have been allowed to bring tape recorders to the mainland; tape recorders used for teaching in schools of all kinds are no longer subject to special approval procedures;
Moreover, the inspection team formed by the Ministry of Commerce to visit Hong Kong purchased 10,000 cassette recorders from Hong Kong Kangli Company at a price of HK$93 per unit.
The products have arrived in Beijing and are already on sale in department stores. They cost 200 yuan each, which is quite expensive.
If you have a tape recorder, you must have tapes. Most people are tired of listening to the songs from the mainland. They have bought tape recorders worth hundreds of dollars, and they don’t mind spending a few dollars to buy a box of tapes to listen to.
Our cost for a tape is about 40 cents, so we don’t sell it at a high price. We sell it at 3 yuan for large quantities and 3.5 or 4 yuan for small quantities, leaving some profit for wholesalers, and keeping the terminal price at around 6 or 7 yuan.”
“Can this business last long?”
