2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 35 Enriching the Company Structure
Time passed day by day, and before we knew it, it was November. The weather in Ningbo was visibly getting cooler.

The newly recruited clerk has also officially started work, and the company has grown from two lone executives to four full-time employees.

Tan Jincheng gave his bulky desktop computer to the clerk Li Jinglan.

Li Jinglan is Li Yanning's cousin, one year younger than Tan Jincheng and Zhang Xupeng. She also failed her college entrance exams after graduating from high school and started working in society.

From the boss to the employees, the highest level of education at Jinpeng Trading is currently high school graduation. These days, college graduates look down on small companies like this.

When Jinpeng Trading can recruit full-time undergraduate students, it will indicate that the company has entered a new stage of development.

After working in an electronics factory for several months, Li Jinglan couldn't take it anymore; she had long wanted to change jobs.

Upon hearing that her cousin's new company was looking to hire a clerk, she immediately packed up her bucket and ran away.

Since joining the company in November, Li Jinglan feels that the job suits her well and is particularly easy. Every day she just cleans the office and occasionally replies to customers' questions on Taobao.

Aside from the wages being slightly lower than those in electronics factories, there are no problems.

As for the role of social security, Li Jinglan, who has just entered the workforce, does not yet feel it. In her opinion, it would be better to give her the money directly instead of paying social security contributions and having it deducted from her every month.

But when I made this request, for some reason, Boss Tan firmly disagreed. He's such a strange person.

What a strange person. They dare not pay social security contributions even in an electronics factory. What's so scary about that?

"Xiao Li, I'm going out for a bit. You guys go have lunch on your own."

Tan Jincheng's voice interrupted Li Jinglan's thoughts.

"Oh, okay, no problem," Li Jinglan replied quickly.

These two bosses are pretty nice people. They give us a 300 yuan meal allowance every month, and if they're at the company, they treat us to meals.

Speaking of which, Mr. Tan is quite handsome, and he looks a bit like Louis Koo.

"Don't overthink it. She's so young and already a boss, and she's mature and steady in her work." Seeing her cousin staring blankly at the door, Li Yanning, sitting next to her, chuckled.

"No, sister, what nonsense are you talking about? I was just checking if the boss had gone far enough so I could slack off," Li Jinglan said, blushing and somewhat embarrassed.

"What do you have to be lazy about? You don't have much to do every day," Li Yanning said, pursing her lips.

"Who said that? I'm going to be a Taobao customer service representative, and some customers are really difficult to deal with."

"You, stop thinking about slacking off. While you're still getting paid and your work isn't too busy, learn more things, otherwise your salary will never increase," Li Yanning said earnestly.

This cousin of mine just graduated, is still undecided, and doesn't yet know the hardships of life.

"What's the rush? I'm only 18. My salary is enough to live on. What do I need so much money for?"

"It will be too late when you start to panic. This is a rare opportunity. You will get a salary, which will solve your living expenses problem. Use your free time to learn a new skill, which will benefit your future."

"Okay, okay, you go ahead with your work, sis; hehe, neither of the bosses are here, I'll find a movie to watch."

"I really don't know what to do with you," Li Yanning sighed.

Tan Jincheng hasn't been visiting the factories much lately; he's delegated factory liaison to Zhang Xupeng and Li Yanning, so he doesn't need to worry about it. Jinpeng Trading's current framework isn't quite complete yet, and Tan Jincheng's main focus lately has been on building a more robust overall structure for the company, with business development naturally being his top priority.

In addition to setting aside time each day to contact the clients listed on the business card, Jinpeng Trading's store on LaoMaJia International Station has gradually been improved, combining online and offline channels.

In addition, Tan Jincheng has been working on establishing the company's official website to allow customers to understand the company more intuitively, and the financial system has also been improved.

A sound financial system is essential for any business.

Tan Jincheng spends his days in this busy routine, switching from one bus to another, shuttling through every corner of the city.

During this time, Tan Jincheng also visited Uncle Cheng's company, namely Cheng Yongjun's, with gifts. He had promised to visit him when he was in Guangzhou, and he couldn't go back on his word.

Interpersonal relationships need to be maintained. Although we work in different industries, we are all in the foreign trade industry, and you never know when our relationship might come in handy.

Many people say that poor people don't meet benefactors because they are short-sighted and don't know how to maintain relationships, but it's important to know that maintaining relationships requires resources.

Most poor people don't have the time or ability to maintain a relationship in the long run; they need to struggle to make a living.

Cheng Yongjun was very pleased with Tan Jincheng's arrival.

This young man was quite interesting. He only gave me a few pointers during the journey, and when he returned to Beicang, he took the initiative to say goodbye. After returning, he came to my door to express his gratitude.

Cheng Yongjun could naturally see through the scheming in it, but this did not offend him; on the contrary, he admired it.

Having risen from humble beginnings, he had come from the same path; in Tan Jincheng, Cheng Yongjun seemed to see a reflection of his younger self.

For Tan Jincheng, returning to this era and making money is not difficult; the real challenge is overcoming his unfamiliarity with this era.

Often, we consider issues with a hindsight perspective, which can sometimes lead to inconsistencies with the times.

Integrating into this era through interpersonal relationships is often the best way to break through.

After finishing these tasks, Tan Jincheng's remaining tasks were to ensure the smooth shipment of these two orders and to enrich the sample library.

A foreign trade company cannot have only a few samples, nor can it only have a single product.

While making clothing, you can also make bags, belts, and the like, as these belong to the same product category.

However, the current focus is still on enriching the clothing sample library.

Today, Tan Jincheng went out to meet a part-time fashion designer to turn the few incredibly ugly samples he had drawn into a real design.

In addition, I asked the designer to design some other styles of clothing according to my requirements.

Hiring part-time employees is a common practice among small companies in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas these days, especially for designers, as many companies cannot afford the salaries of full-time designers.

In this city where the average salary is only around 2000, most full-time designers earn at least twice the average salary, and many earn tens of thousands a month.

Such wages are not affordable for all companies, so they can only hire part-time designers.

Tan Jincheng also cannot afford it, so part-time work is the best option right now.

(End of this chapter)