Chapter 127: Chapter 113: Run, Middle-Age

Song Yanxi didn’t know why her husband always liked to hold grand events, spending all the money earned in a year in just one day.

Anyway, he must have his reasons for doing things.

All she had to do was to cooperate well.

In the past, there was only one, but this year, with 14 Water Cloud Spaces laying the groundwork for Splendid Night simultaneously.

Song Yanxi believed that inviting over a thousand high-end clients to attend would definitely not be a problem.

However, that was a matter for six months later.

It was mentioned now just to prepare a little earlier.

The top priority right now was to complete the recruitment as soon as possible, otherwise, the academy would be no more than a decoration after it opened.

This was something Zhou Chun and the others were not capable of managing; they just needed to discuss the specifics of the training content together.

Two years is neither long nor short.

Their academy had to pay a monthly salary to each student, and if they couldn’t train these people well, it would indeed be a huge loss.

According to her husband’s intention, the training of beauticians should mainly focus on the individual’s overall quality.

The curriculum was more arranged for those traditional Chinese studies.

Professional training only took up one-third of the time.

In plain terms, a blank slate could become a beautician in just two or three months, with no prior knowledge.

They were spending two years because they naturally had higher aspirations.

Luckily, Tengying had already done the promotion, with the official start of the semester on September 1st.

Registration would end on September 1st, and the specific start date for registration was August 20th.

Actually, most of the first batch of students were internal referrals by beauty therapists, because they truly understood Water Cloud Space.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the benefits here far exceeded those of an average 985 graduate.

Starting at Water Cloud Space meant earning a base salary of two hundred thousand yuan a year.

Which university graduate could claim such strength.

Add to that the boss who was always giving out bonuses, like when Chen Xinyi was born.

Everyone unexpectedly received an envelope with sixteen thousand eight hundred yuan without any prior indication.

Although sixteen thousand eight hundred might not seem like much, keep in mind that there are a good two hundred beauty therapists in the five stores of Water Cloud Space.

It amounted to over three million with just a wave of the hand.

The employees were happiest whenever the boss gave birth, year after year.

Besides, there were red envelopes on various holidays, and those who performed well at the end of the year could receive several months’ worth of annual bonuses.

No matter how you looked at it, this was an incredibly good place to retire.

One could work here for a lifetime.

All of them came from rural backgrounds; where could they have ever seen such a private enterprise.

While reporting the good news to their families, they also referred their relatives who were about to graduate from high school.

Two years’ worth of training without issues, definitely better than attending an average university.

Key point being room and board provided, free tuition, and a monthly salary of three thousand.

Truth be told, they had never seen such a great boss before.

Therefore, the hundreds of beauticians who were already working at Water Cloud Space had started making referrals early on.

Even though the official registration time was said to start on the 20th.

Everyone began submitting referrals in July, needing to report ahead.

Otherwise, once the quota was full, there would be no chance to get in.

Being internal staff, they naturally got ahead of outsiders by a great deal; by the time the recruitment began to buzz online, they had almost finished recruiting.

Song Yanxi naturally favored internal employee referrals, as would any enterprise.

Whoever they trained, it was still training.

Having relatives already working here obviously added more stability.

The big pile of affairs at Water Cloud Space, Chen Pingsheng resolutely handed over to his wife.

He himself took Chang Fu, who just arrived in Capital City, and Yang Qian to his Tenghui Capital for a look.

Lin Jia had been working alone for several months, and the data she gathered on traditional industries could already fill a pile of A4 paper.

The boss didn’t ask her to come over to listen to her lengthy discussions.

Being able to simplify complex data into extreme simplicity is a fundamental quality of an excellent market researcher.

In the office, Lin Jia formally began her first professional report in several months.

She was a bit nervous, considering that she had been paid for several months and now the boss was finally here.

Lin Jia said, “Mr. Chen, the internet startup wave started in ’98 in our country, and the forces that have really shocked traditional supermarkets mainly include the likes of Alibaba and JD.com.”

“These e-commerce platforms have disrupted the previous multi-tiered distribution model of traditional enterprises, achieving price transparency and thus changing consumer habits from offline to online.”

“As of now, online shopping accounts for about a quarter of domestic consumption, and it’s predicted to rise even further over the next three years.”

“The primary drawback of traditional supermarkets is that their operating costs are far higher than those of the virtual internet economy. For identical products, traditional businesses have to go through at least three middlemen to reach the customer, whereas online retailers can go direct without the high costs of rent, decoration, etc. In terms of pricing, e-commerce indeed has a huge advantage.”

“Another point is the lack of transparency in the pricing of products in physical supermarkets, which is another major reason why customers are increasingly reluctant to shop in physical stores.”

Pingsheng stroked his chin, twirled the pen in his hand, and said, “So you mean if I want to build a large supermarket, I must solve the issues of pricing and the lack of transparency in consumption.”

“Indeed, that is the case.”

Lin Jia added, “Mr. Chen, once you can resolve these issues and couple them with good quality and excellent service, you should be able to succeed.”

Opening a major store in a first-tier city requires a minimum investment of over thirty million.

Chen Pingsheng indeed wanted to enter this business because he saw great potential for development in supermarkets.

If he developed it well, he could later spin off the outstanding stores inside and individually list them on the stock market.

That is to say, a big supermarket could contain at least five listed companies.

This was definitely going to be a bigger move than Fei Yangyang.

“There’s one more thing.”

Lin Jia continued, “Nowadays, small supermarkets have to add fresh markets because fresh food is an essential need. It can drive foot traffic in an ordinary supermarket to the greatest extent. Supermarkets successful in selling fresh food will hardly ever lack customers.”

“Old Chen, just how big a business are you planning to tackle now?”

Chang Fu exclaimed, “You already have five companies, and that’s still not enough to keep you busy? And now you’re specifically looking into supermarkets?”

Chen Pingsheng swiveled his chair and said:

“Go to Capital City now and you’ll see that most people are talking about Internet Plus, as if the internet could put physical businesses like ours out of operation. I see it differently though. My daughter likes to shop online, but the stuff she buys is either unsuitable or hideously ugly.”

“I’ve always believed that the shopping experience on the internet cannot compare to that of physical stores. Everyone prefers online shopping for the cheaper prices. If I can just solve this problem, I believe there will be great opportunities in the future.”

“People need to have dreams, right? Otherwise, what’s the difference between me and Idling Fish?” Chen Pingsheng laughed.

Unable to hold back, Chang Fu retorted, “Damn it, as if you don’t have dreams. Your house is huge, and you can afford to give your wife a car worth over twenty million just like that. Shouldn’t you slow down a bit and focus on managing the companies you already have? Wouldn’t that be better than anything else?”

Chang Fu was quite astute, knowing all too well that plenty of business owners went bankrupt because they overextended themselves into different industries and broke their capital chain.

They were cautionary tales indeed.

“You don’t understand, the society is evolving too rapidly these days.”

Chen Pingsheng shook his head: “If I don’t progress, one day I’ll get phased out without even knowing what happened. And it’s not just me—those big internet companies are acquiring one thing today and something else tomorrow. What do you think it’s for? It’s nothing but to strengthen their own moats.”

“Take my Tengsheng Fruit for example, we’re only selling fruits. In Capital City, I made big investments and grew quickly, and it’s been quite successful. But once we go out of Capital City, it might not do so well. Other places have their own brands that sell fruit to the same extreme level as Tengsheng, plus they have the advantage of being local. How am I going to compete with them?”

“If I can make the supermarket successful, that’s a different story. I’d sell fruits, but also excel in fresh food offerings and generate larger customer traffic. The gap in competition will then become obvious.”

“You get what I mean? Once a business gets big, it isn’t a matter of whether you want to maintain what you have, the market pushes you to constantly change. The moment you can’t change, that’s when you have to retreat if you’re not advancing.”

Chang Fu was dumbstruck; the guy really did have a reason for managing such a big enterprise.

His level of awareness was far superior.

“Besides…”

Chen Pingsheng said with a smile, “My businesses will never operate on debt. If one fails, that’s it—we might lose a few tens of millions, but it won’t be crippling. So why not try more?”

That makes damn good sense.

In the aspect of not incurring debt, he truly admired that.

It meant that there would be no situation like the infamous collapse of Monopoly.

Should one company fail, it won’t bring down the others.