2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 131 "We are friends"

The scorching July sun beat down on the land. In the open space of the Flash Automotive workshop, vehicles came and went, and employees drove forklifts to move goods, occasionally wiping the sweat from their faces and muttering something under their breath.

In the general manager's office on the third floor of the office building, the cool breeze from the air conditioner was exceptionally comfortable. The office was unusually quiet, with only the occasional sound of typing on a keyboard.

Sitting behind her desk, Gu Qingqing would occasionally look up at Tan Jincheng in the sofa area opposite her. Occasionally, their eyes would meet, and Gu Qingqing would quickly pull her head back behind the computer screen.

Mr. Tan gave her the desktop computer and desk, while he himself took a laptop and sat down in the sofa area.

After glancing at him a few times, Gu Qingqing noticed that Tan Jincheng was working very seriously, his eyes fixed on the computer, and he would occasionally frown, and she didn't know what he was doing.

Although they were in the same room and no one was talking, Gu Qingqing didn't feel awkward. This state was somewhat like listening attentively in a classroom.

Just as Gu Qingqing was lost in thought, a voice suddenly came: "Pay attention, I'm going to check it in a bit, and if it doesn't meet the standards, I won't give it to you."

"Oh, okay," Gu Qingqing replied hastily, blushing.

It wasn't awkward when I didn't speak, but it became a little awkward once I opened my mouth. It seemed like Boss Tan had noticed that I was slacking off.

Well, I learned the word "slacking off" from Boss Tan. It describes someone who doesn't take their work seriously, which is quite fitting. In the past six months, Gu Qingqing has often learned some new words from Tan Jincheng, which are all quite interesting.

Seeing Gu Qingqing's flustered appearance, Tan Jincheng smiled knowingly. In fact, he had already noticed that the girl was not concentrating.

"With every weekend taken up, don't you feel like you've wasted your university years?"

"I don't think so. I feel quite fulfilled. I've learned a lot and it's also a good way to get used to society. What do you think, Mr. Tan? I see you rarely rest on weekends either."

"Well, I have no choice. I've been so busy ever since I came ashore. Also, I have a lot of free time. If I don't want to come here one day, I can just stay home and sleep or go out and have fun."

"So, Mr. Tan, where do you usually go for fun?"

"It's normal."

Looking back, Tan Jincheng realized that since his rebirth, he had never stopped for a moment. He went home for the Mid-Autumn Festival last year, and then spent the short Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays in Yicheng without going anywhere to travel.

After that, I returned to Beicang to start my own business, and I've been getting busier and busier this year. To be honest, the time I spent on the cruise ship was the most leisurely.

"I don't think I've really gone anywhere for fun, not counting business trips," Tan Jincheng said with a wry smile.

As for my past life, there's no question of going anywhere to play during this period. Online novels often say that rebirth is about making up for regrets, but at least so far, it doesn't seem to be the case for me.

Tan Jincheng sighed inwardly, "Hopefully things will change in the future."

Subconsciously, Tan Jincheng glanced at Gu Qingqing. Due to the change in business direction, the business partners he knew in his past and present lives had all become different. But in the business world, it's normal for everyone to help each other out and have fun together.

However, Tan Jincheng would generally not agree with calling someone a friend based on this.

"Are we friends?" Tan Jincheng asked in a deep voice.

Gu Qingqing was somewhat afraid to look Tan Jincheng in the eye, but for some reason, she saw a sense of sadness in his eyes.

Yes, she saw sadness in the eyes of Tan Jincheng, a young man under 20, full of vigor and with a thriving career. She wasn't mistaken.

Mustering her courage, Gu Qingqing raised her head and replied, "I think it should count, right? What does Boss Tan think?"

"If the scenario were different, for example, if I went bankrupt one day, could we still sit down and chat like this?"

Gu Qingqing hadn't thought about this question. After pondering for a while, she smiled and said, "If Boss Tan goes bankrupt one day and I can't make money from you anymore, my mindset will definitely change. After all, when we first met, it was basically because I wanted to make money from you."

After a slight pause, she continued, "But now you know, my family is well-off. Making money is one thing, but I can live quite well even without your money. So I think we should still be able to chat calmly and peacefully like we are now?"

"Of course, this is just a hypothetical situation. Maybe when that day comes, our mindsets will be different from now. So for now, we should be considered friends, right?"

Tan Jincheng smiled and agreed, saying that asking that question was a bit redundant. If that day ever came, perhaps his mindset would be different.

But Gu Qingqing thought about the question carefully and gave the most reasonable answer, which made Tan Jincheng feel that they should now be considered true friends. In other words, this was the biggest change he had experienced since his rebirth.

In my previous life in 2005, in Beicang, I only had one friend, Zhang Xupeng, but now I have two.

However, it must be said that the rich girl is quite intelligent; she considers issues very rationally and does not deliberately deceive herself.

“You’re right, we’re friends. So if I ever go bankrupt, you can start a company and I can work part-time there to earn money.”

"Alright, if I ever have that opportunity in the future, I'll definitely hire Boss Tan to work for me, and I'll exploit you to the fullest."

The atmosphere in the room immediately relaxed. Tan Jincheng seemed to have come to terms with things, and Gu Qingqing was no longer as awkward as before.

"Boss Tan, why did you bring up bankruptcy? I noticed you looked furrowed a few times when I was secretly watching you before. Is it because you're short of money?"

Tan Jincheng lay down on the sofa, subconsciously touching his pockets, but after glancing at Gu Qingqing, he sighed and decided to forget about it.

"Yes, I used to have meals with some bosses and they often said that factories were hard to run. I didn't really understand it then, but now that I'm doing it myself, I know how tough it really is. We're really short of money right now. Let me put it this way, we're not even sure if we can make it through September. Maybe then I'll really need you, this rich woman, to support me."

"Huh? That serious? It's not certain you can make it through September?" Gu Qingqing automatically ignored the second half of the sentence.

Tan Jincheng nodded: "Yes, if the market response to FlashChe is not good, it may not be able to survive until September. At that time, it will face bankruptcy. But now the die is cast, so we can only bite the bullet and continue."

This is based on the current availability of funds. Once Jinpeng Trading's bridge loan arrives next Monday, and we secure two more bank loans, we should be able to earn enough to last until October.

However, the ideal situation is to push Flashspeed into the market without any obstacles. That's the key. No real business can survive by the boss constantly giving it money. The key is to be able to generate its own revenue and support itself.

"Are you short of money? I remember you said, Mr. Tan, that Jinpeng Trading is doing well, so you should have money." Gu Qingqing asked with some doubt.

“Jinpeng Trading is Jinpeng Trading. Even if the companies are all my own, they still need to keep accounts normally. Besides, it’s not just mine. In addition, I’m short of money, but selling the cars is the key.”

"My frown just now wasn't entirely because I was short of money; I was thinking about marketing strategies."

"Marketing plan? You know about this, Mr. Tan?" Gu Qingqing asked, somewhat surprised.

"I wouldn't say I know a lot about it, but I've done some work before, so I can manage to do it."

Everyone says that top salespeople are awesome, they have a lot of say in the company, and they even dare to say things like, "I'm the one who pays the boss's salary." But little do they know that the most awesome top salesperson in a company is always the boss himself, otherwise the company won't last long.

Regardless of his past or present life, Tan Jincheng is quite capable in business; writing marketing plans is no problem for him.

Of course, in order to quickly open up the market and gain a foothold, Tan Jincheng designed three plans. The first was to actively avoid the luxury electric vehicle market that Xinri was mainly targeting in terms of design and performance, and instead focus on simple electric vehicles with higher cost performance and second- and third-tier cities.

The second is to offer discounts to distributors. This must be done drastically. In addition to price reductions, we must also create some buzz.

During his 10-day business trip, Tan Jincheng also kept in touch with the Beicang warehouse. With the gradual increase in the purchase order, the total cost of the high-end version (60V) and low-end version (48V) of FlashDrive has been calculated.

Including component costs, logistics and transportation, the total cost of the high-end version of the Flash is currently around 960 yuan, while the total cost of the low-end version is around 760 yuan.

There may be some discrepancies in cost, mainly due to uncontrollable factors such as logistics and transportation, but overall cost control is still very good. The high-end version can be kept below 1000 yuan, which Tan Jincheng is very satisfied with.

One must take things one step at a time. Once we've established a foothold in the market and built a reputation, we'll have more room to negotiate with suppliers. At that point, we can gradually reduce costs, especially in areas like batteries and motors. Once we have the money, we can start doing it ourselves!

This is where core technologies can be derived, and once a certain scale is reached, they must be developed in-house.

The third option is to hire a celebrity spokesperson. According to Tan Jincheng's thinking, Jay Chou would be the best choice. However, Jay Chou is probably not interested in such a small brand right now, and besides, they can't afford him.

These days, people still really trust celebrity endorsements. Even though one of the companies that Big Brother Long endorses goes bankrupt, his influence is truly strong, and the public genuinely trusts him.

But we can't afford to hire Jay Chou or Dragon. These top-tier celebrities don't even look at a company the size of Flash. Which celebrities are not popular now but will become popular in the future, and who won't cause any trouble?

"Who's the most popular celebrity right now? And which celebrities do you think have the potential to become even more popular?"

(End of this chapter)