CCTV News: If the entrepreneurial experiences of the three young people in "Chinese Partners" are just movie stories, then the protagonist of this story is real in reality. In Changsha, Hunan, there is a young man named Cao Zhiyuan. He was born in 1985. He once faced the same problem of employment, but in the end he realized the transformation from employment to self-employment. Perhaps his story can make graduates who are struggling to interview see the possibility of the future.
Live video materials of talent exchange meeting
Commentary 1: "Kneel down for career and seek talents". At the talent exchange meeting held on the first floor of Hunan Exhibition Hall in March this year, seven men and women in glamorous professional suits held high placards and knelt down collectively. The loud slogan attracted many job seekers. Among them, Cao Zhiyuan, an entrepreneur born in 1985, holds high the placard and calls himself "Brother Comma".
Reporter: So we saw you kneeling for talents at the job fair. Many people said you were putting on a show.
Cao Zhiyuan: Actually, this is a mentality, a mentality towards talents.
Reporter: Are you really willing to kneel on the ground and beg?
Cao Zhiyuan: I really want to. I feel that as emperor Liu Bei, I have visited Zhuge.
Reporter: Are you begging for Zhuge Liang like this?
Cao Zhiyuan: I think this is an attitude. How can Zhuge Liang come after kneeling? Like that job fair, it was also done very well. Half of the backbone of our company now came up through that supplement.
Commentary 2: In Cao Zhiyuan’s company, we met a post-90s generation recruited this spring. She studied as a tour guide in college, but now she is engaged in attracting investment for corporate customers.
Office documentary paragraph
Reporter: What impressed you about the recruitment question he asked you?
Liu Ye: He asked me what my ideal and goal are.
Reporter: What’s your answer?
Liu Ye: I said I want to be the boss.
Reporter: Say so directly. I’m not afraid that he will say you want to take my place. What shall I do?
Liu Ye: He is also an entrepreneur, so he knows.
Reporter: Now I’m a manager of investment promotion here. How much do I earn a month?
Liu Ye: Four or five thousand a month.
Reporter: What position do you think you can achieve in this company and your current company?
Liu Ye: My goal is to take his place.
Reporter: What position does he hold now?
Liu Ye: He is now my immediate superior, General Manager Liu of China Merchants Center.
Reporter: Do you think this goal is far from you?
Liu Ye: I don’t think it’s far.
Commentary 3: For the post-90s employees in Cao Zhiyuan’s company, it’s natural to say the word "boss", because Cao Zhiyuan got here step by step by starting his own business. From 2009 to 2012, his company has achieved a turnover of more than 20 million yuan. Back in the summer of 2005, Cao Zhiyuan was still a student at Hunan Biomechanical Vocational and Technical College. This century-old vocational college closely links the specialty setting with the market demand. For the graduates here, it is not too difficult to find a counterpart job. At this time, Cao Zhi still had a year to graduate from a distance, but he began to pay attention to the information in the school employment column.
Reporter: Did you start preparing for your graduation?
Cao Zhiyuan: I don’t have much to think about. I’m going to find a good job, because I owe the school tuition for two years. When I go to practice.
Reporter: How much is it?
Cao Zhiyuan: About 8,000 yuan.
Reporter: What level is it among your students, or how long is it equivalent to your parents’ salary?
Cao Zhiyuan: (At that time) the annual income of our family.
Reporter: 8,000 yuan is equivalent to the income of your whole family for one year?
Cao Zhiyuan: Right. Then later, my teacher vouched for me. In fact, I am the first one in our class to go out for an internship, especially I am worried. What should I do if I don’t pay the tuition fee when I get my diploma?
Commentary 4: Due to the difficult family economic conditions, Cao Zhiyuan planned to find a job when he was internship. He majored in computer network, but his academic performance was not outstanding. There is only one course called CAD drawing, that is, computer-aided design. He is not only interested, but also has outstanding academic achievements. So he went to Suzhou alone, hoping to find a job as an interior decoration designer in the talent market. For this reason, he also carefully produced more than 20 pages of resume.
Reporter: You don’t have such a major and experience. Why do you have the confidence to apply for these interior decoration designers?
Cao Zhiyuan: He said you could come to work. I said, can I really? He said yes. Three months without pay,
Reporter: At that time, did you ever think about putting up with it, carrying it, and maybe getting through it?
Cao Zhiyuan: At that time, my pocket was more than 100 yuan, and I couldn’t carry it. I ran to the talent market and got a three-dollar ticket. I slipped in.
Commentary 5: Seven days have passed, and the job has not yet settled. At this time, Cao Zhiyuan is already cash-strapped. If he can’t find a job again, he will soon face a serious survival problem.
Reporter: constantly looking for a job and being rejected?
Cao Zhiyuan: Later, when I ran to the fifth decoration company, the boss of the decoration company said that I thought you should still do business well. When I was still hesitating, the boss said something that made me quite happy. He said 600 yuan a month’s salary.
Reporter: At that time, there was a starting salary standard for college students, at least 1,000 yuan, and I would take this job, but you only earned 600 yuan?
Cao Zhiyuan: But I think it’s good. I think I can sell myself. I think I can grow up in this environment. I said I want to be a boss in the future.
Reporter: How dare you say this?
Cao Zhiyuan: I said that I felt that I dared to pay. For example, when I was doing this business, I went home from 8: 30 in the morning to 10: 00 in the evening for 280 days, 365 days a year.
Commentary 6: With the idea of being a boss in the future, Cao Zhiyuan chose to become a sales clerk of a decoration company. While solving the problem of survival, he also took the first step towards society, and this experience of finding a job in Suzhou directly affected Cao Zhiyuan’s employment one year later. In the summer of 2006, Cao Zhiyuan officially graduated, and he still chose to enter a local decoration company in Changsha as a sales salesman.
Reporter: Do you still have that first good attitude at that time? Do you want a down-to-earth attitude from scratch?
Cao Zhiyuan: For example, I have a designer. I hurt his hand at that time, but he pulled a little bit. He didn’t have a band-aid. I just ran at the fastest speed, and it took five minutes to go back and forth. According to normal, if we walked that road, it would take 40 minutes. I would go back and forth for five minutes that day to solve it. After I got a band-aid, that was the only thing. My brother, he was a designer.
Reporter: How did you think of doing this?
Cao Zhiyuan: After helping more people, it seems that there are fewer difficult things, which is why I may have started to integrate into the team at that time. Since then, I feel that either the boss is paying me or the team is paying me.
Commentary 7: With this mentality that losing is a blessing, coupled with personal diligence and hard work, one year after graduation, Cao Zhiyuan soon became the sales salesman with the highest gold content in the decoration company, and his income also rose.
Reporter: What changed you?
Cao Zhiyuan: It’s very simple. When I was paid in sales, when I passed 10,000 yuan a month, you know what that feeling was. I’ve never seen so much money in my family. I can earn so much in a month now. From then on, I felt that people’s self-confidence was there.
Reporter: How much did your colleagues earn at that time?
Cao Zhiyuan: My colleagues are basically 3000, 4000 and 5000.
Reporter: Why is it so much worse than you?
Cao Zhiyuan: This is also closely related to my own knowledge. After arriving at this construction site in the morning, the first thing to do is to clean the construction site.
Reporter: But in fact, these things are not your business as a sales person, are they?
Cao Zhiyuan: Right. Just do it slowly and carefully.
Commentary 8: Less than three years after graduation, Cao Zhiyuan has achieved the position of marketing director in Changsha’s home improvement sales industry. When his performance is good, he can get 30,000 yuan a month. But at this time, he felt dissatisfied and moved the idea of starting his own business.
Reporter: You have already achieved this position in this industry. Why do you want to start your own business?
Cao Zhiyuan: Some friends around me are successful as bosses, and then they feel that they still have the style of being their own bosses.
Reporter: What is the boss’s style?
Cao Zhiyuan: I believe that when I was a marketing director, for example, I had 60 or 70 salespeople below me. When they first joined the company, they got a basic salary of 800 or 1,000 yuan. After three months, I could let them get a salary of 6,000, 7,000 yuan, 4,000 yuan and 5,000 yuan a month.
Reporter: Do you think you have leadership skills?
Cao Zhiyuan: Right. It was also a coincidence that I got into what I did today.
Reporter: What coincidence?
Cao Zhiyuan: A Owner’s Manual.
Commentary 9: Anyone who has bought a house knows that when handing over a house, they will receive an Owner’s Manual, which is usually produced by a real estate company or property management company, and only contains the instructions on the use of the house and the owners’ civilized convention. In 2008, Cao Zhiyuan discovered business opportunities from the Owner’s Manual of a local building in Changsha.
Cao Zhiyuan: I said that your back cover is a blank place. Can you put my brand on it?
Reporter: Don’t you want him to advertise for your company for free? How can it be so cheap?
Cao Zhiyuan: The owner didn’t need to spend a penny to get this manual. The property management company and the real estate company themselves had to spend money to make this book. Our merchant thought it was a good way, so he sponsored it himself. I think the business opportunity came at that time.
Commentary 10: Cao Zhiyuan immediately started to design and print the first Owner’s Manual, and hired a designer temporarily. However, when printing, the color of the design was difficult to print, and no designer was responsible for modifying it. In order to achieve the design effect, Cao Zhiyuan stayed in the workshop of the printing plant for two days and two nights.
Cao Zhiyuan: The delivery time to the property management company was three hours late. The general manager of that property management company was about to call the police. The first thing he did after seeing me was to scold. He said, What did you do? Why are you such a person?
Reporter: How do you feel when you hear people say that about you and have doubts about your character?
Cao Zhiyuan: It was me. At that time, I felt quite wronged.
Reporter: It’s very difficult for a big man to keep asking for help and give you smiling faces, don’t you think?
Cao Zhiyuan: Actually, no one wants to ask for help, but I can try my best.
Commentary 11: The first "Owner’s Manual" made by stumbling made Cao Zhiyuan make a net profit of more than 30,000 yuan, and finally strengthened his determination to start a business. In 2009, he set up his own cultural media company, and the first Owner’s Manual became a cultural symbol of this company.
Documentary paragraph of company design wall
Reporter: Are all the owners’ manuals of this wall made by you now?
Cao Zhiyuan: Right. They are all owners’ manuals that have been made.
Reporter: I especially saw this. In 2008, your first owner’s manual came out, which was very ceremonial. This is the owner’s manual that brought you that first bucket of gold. Can we have a look?
Cao Zhiyuan: Right.
Reporter: Now that you are reading this book, how many points can you give it?
Cao Zhiyuan: I don’t know anything. I think it’s quite good to be able to make such a level.
Reporter: Can you score 80 points?
Cao Zhiyuan: Yes.
Commentary 12: The Owner’s Manual hanging on a whole wall witnessed the course of Cao Zhiyuan’s entrepreneurship. However, at the beginning of his entrepreneurship, the difficulties were much greater than expected, the start-up capital was less, and the office environment was poor, which made it difficult for people to see hope. Therefore, three core members of Cao Zhiyuan’s company chose to leave shortly after its establishment.
Reporter: What did you do when those three people left you?
Cao Zhiyuan: I’m just wondering if these two people, the rest of me, are going to leave soon. | I just want to tell him which customers are going to sign the bill soon, how many achievements are going to be made soon, and this company is going to change its office furniture and have a good office soon.
Reporter: When you draw these cakes, do you have a bottom in your heart?
Cao Zhiyuan: No bottom. But I dare say.
Reporter: What if you don’t worry about these promises not being fulfilled?
Cao Zhiyuan: Actually, what I did today, I think it can be done for a long time, this toothpick industry.
Reporter: Why do you call this industry the "toothpick" industry?
Cao Zhiyuan: Actually, before this industry, the bosses of many property companies and real estate developers said that we all want to do this model. Although this is a toothpick, it may become an abalone industry in the future.
Commentary 13: To make toothpicks into abalone industry, Cao Zhiyuan used this idea to inspire himself and his employees. The company gradually started, with sales of 5 million in the first year, but at the same time, their development model began to be imitated and copied by others.
Reporter: but I think if I were in Changsha, if I saw your model, I would set up a company like this immediately.
Cao Zhiyuan: When I started my business less than a year ago, there were several local people with advertising experience and people with decoration experience who came to do my job. At that time, he just neglected one thing. He neglected to get the property. At this time, I don’t need to make a profit. I just need to take down all the good properties in Changsha and this good property.
Reporter: Why do property companies cooperate with you?
Cao Zhiyuan: I have industry experience, and I can do a lot of services for my customers, external services and free policy services.
Commentary 14: While serving customers well, Cao Zhiyuan also played his professional specialty in university — — Computer network, developed a "wireless 3G decoration video e-pass" system, through the wireless camera set in the decoration site, the owner can easily monitor the decoration site with a computer or smart phone.
Documentary paragraph before computer
Reporter: Do their owners need to pay for this?
Cao Zhiyuan: No need.
Reporter: How do you make money?
Cao Zhiyuan: First of all, before I open the open space next time, there is a 30-second advertising time in front. This is a part, and we have another part. For example, in the website, there is a lot of professional knowledge to serve the new house owners. At this time, there are many brand names of businesses, and we can also participate in this piece. Therefore, only in this way can we let our new house owners not pay for it, and the decoration company does not need to pay for it, so we can install it for free.
Reporter: How many cameras do I need to decorate my house?
Cao Zhiyuan: For example, if this one has two rooms and two halls, there are three cameras installed. This function is.
Reporter: We are monitoring in real time, right?
Cao Zhiyuan: Yes, real-time monitoring.
Reporter: at this moment, this house is like this, 360-degree ring.
Cao Zhiyuan: Right.
Reporter: Does this have a dead end? Will there be a dead angle for watching?
Cao Zhiyuan: There won’t be, you see, rotatable.
Reporter: You are only 28 years old now. You are so young that you have a lot of wealth that people who are 58 years old may have. Do you feel that you came too early and too fast? What should you do with your future?
Cao Zhiyuan: Why do I bring so many post-90s assistants? In fact, it is for the sake of three years and five years. Maybe we will study more independent innovation, more models and more toothpicks into abalone industry chain.
Reporter: Maybe for many college students, they will also think that they can’t find a job now. For example, this year, in the face of such a large number of 6.99 million, the highest number in ten years, will you encourage them to start a business?
Cao Zhiyuan: I think we should use the right attitude to get employment first.
Reporter: What do they lack most?
Cao Zhiyuan: I think the most lacking is experience. This kind of experience is very valuable. In fact, once you become a boss in the future, it is difficult for you to move your identity to the position of an employee and then go to work.
Moderator: I asked Cao Zhiyuan a question during the interview. Do you think you can find a job if you graduate this year? He hesitated and didn’t answer. Indeed, this summer, there will be 6.99 million college graduates across the country, which is the largest number of graduates over the years. Most of them were born in 1990. As the first batch of post-90s generation, their first step into society is not as smooth as expected, because they are facing the "most severe employment season in history".
We often say that it is difficult to find a job. In fact, there are also the problems of choosing a job and starting a business that requires courage, wisdom and vision. Calm your mind and start from a low point, which will make your every step solid and powerful; Open up your mind and look for opportunities, which will make your prospects full of infinite possibilities. Perhaps not everyone can follow Cao Zhiyuan’s experience, but such entrepreneurial stories actually happen around us every day. Thanks for watching Face to Face. I wish all graduates a bright future. See you next week!
