2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 469 "Boss Tan Sells the Building" (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
P.S.: First of all, I wish all my readers a happy May Day holiday! Also, I'd like to ask for your guaranteed monthly votes. I heard from some senior members in the author group that monthly votes at the beginning of the month have a much greater impact on the intelligent recommendation than those at the end of the month. I hope everyone will vote during the double vote period!
Did you know? My biggest dream used to be to buy a bus to commute to work, and then when I passed a bus stop, I would stop and say to the person hailing it, "Excuse me, this is a private car."

A burst of laughter erupted from inside the car, and one of the bolder passengers asked, "And then what happened?"

"Later, I found out that this thing was actually quite expensive, and I couldn't afford it, so I had to start a business to make money. Now I can afford it, but my driver's license doesn't meet the requirements."

"Hehe, I hadn't thought of that, but I did consider driving a tractor to and from get off work. Then I found out that our company has company buses, so we don't need a tractor. Besides, these things aren't allowed on the roads in the city anymore, so I had to give up on that idea."

"Right? So when we were young, we all had some naive and immature thoughts. There's nothing wrong with that. Who doesn't have dreams? The important thing isn't whether they can be realized, but whether we've tried. Even if we tried and didn't achieve them, we might have gained something in other areas. I believe you can too."

Whether you, as a boss, are good at doing business is another matter, but you must have the ability to give motivational speeches. Today's opportunity is not organized, but rather a temporary one. There are thirty or forty employees in one car, and Lai Yiu-fai is not driving fast.

This rare opportunity to connect with grassroots employees meant that Boss Tan had to offer some words of encouragement.

In fact, as long as the money is right, employees are quite willing to drink chicken soup. The atmosphere inside the car was good, and those who dared to get in were a group of bolder employees. The boss talked to them without any reservations, so they became even more relaxed.

Zeng Jixiang silently took out his camera and recorded the moment. Being a secretary also means having to be a photographer. He went from not knowing anything about this process to being familiar with it now.

Actually, it was his senior Zhao Xinyi who taught him this skill. Zhang Xuhui was the one who started doing it, so it has been passed down from generation to generation.

By the time Zeng Jixiang arrived, his photography skills had greatly improved compared to Zhang Xuhui's amateur level. These days, using a DSLR camera is still a relatively high-end thing, and having some photography skills is something to be proud of.

After Zeng Jixiang honed his photography skills to a high level, he joked that he could at least work as a wedding photographer when he went home for the Chinese New Year this year and make a living by selling cigarettes.

"Mr. Tan, what are your dreams now? It's certainly not about commuting to get off work by bus anymore, is it?"

This question caught Tan Jincheng off guard. He couldn't reveal his real dream, of course: "My dream now can't be driving a bus to and from work, otherwise my brother Li would be out of a job."

The teasing of Lai Yiu-fai drew another round of laughter. Some observant employees noticed how Tan Kam-ching addressed Lai Yiu-fai and couldn't help but glance at him.

Lai Yiu-fai smiled knowingly, seemingly unconcerned about the stares he was receiving.

"As for dreams, of course I have them. First, I want to expand the company so that I can rise to a higher level in terms of both status and wealth. Everyone understands that, right?"

Another point is that I hope the company's employee benefits will increase year by year. While I'm making money, I also hope that the income of our FlashCheer employees will rise, so that everyone can afford a house and a car. At the very least, I hope that everyone can live a better life and have a couple more meat dishes on the table at meals.

Tan Jincheng spoke very sincerely. He couldn't reveal his true dreams, but these two ideas really didn't lie to the employees who had come with him to join in the fun.

Since the benefits of rebirth have fallen into our laps and a butterfly effect has been created, let's make the butterfly effect even bigger. If we can't guarantee that all employees can achieve their goal of buying a house and a car and settling down in Beicang, let's try our best to move in that direction.

After he finished speaking, the car fell silent instantly. The employees could sense the sincerity in the boss's words.

It has to be said that Tan Jincheng's youthful face is very deceptive. If he were a boss over 40, these people would not believe a word of it. In China, you can count on one hand the number of bosses over 40 who treat their employees well.

The employees at Flashpoint are not much younger than Tan Jincheng. For example, the average age of the workshop employees is around 28, ranging from 22 to 35. Whether it is their appearance or their age, Tan Jincheng's identity makes them feel more connected to him.

"Boss, is what you said on CCTV about encouraging us to buy a house as soon as possible true?"

"Of course it's true. That's what they said on CCTV. How could they just make things up? If you want to buy, our company has its own property under development, which is currently in pre-sale. Our company's employees get a discount, so if you want to buy, do it soon. There may not be many opportunities like this in the future."

Flash's own commercial and residential buildings also adopt a pre-sale system, targeting not only its own employees but also the residents of Beicang. However, the target group is not Flash employees and there are no preferential policies.

For company employees purchasing homes, Flashpoint offers a series of subsidy policies, such as one-time subsidies or monthly subsidies. In addition, certain discounts are given based on length of service. Other policies include tax reductions and exemptions from one-time deed tax. Besides these designated preferential policies, Flashpoint Group and Orange Technology employees are offered housing purchase discounts below market prices.

These policies are actually very attractive to employees of Flashpoint and Orange, but they only apply to employees of the two companies. Any attempt to profit from these policies is not allowed.

Unlike previous electric vehicles, the discounts on electric vehicles are only a few hundred yuan. It doesn't affect the employees much if they resell them at a discount. Making a few hundred yuan is not enough to make them rich.

However, houses are different. The combined discounts can be quite substantial. Taking a 100-square-meter apartment as an example, the combined discounts at the highest standard, plus the low-interest or even interest-free loan policy in cooperation with Yongcheng Bank, can be up to 20% lower than the market price.

Reselling a house can yield a profit of nearly 100,000 yuan. Not to mention ordinary employees, even middle managers are bound to be tempted. Therefore, there are strict regulations on eligibility and the number of years an employee can hold a house.

Selling within five years is not allowed. It seems to be a restriction on employees, but in reality, Tan Jincheng is helping them increase their wealth. Employees who are hesitant to buy now because of this policy will definitely regret it in the future.

"What's the point of us out-of-towners buying houses? We'd rather earn money and go back home to build a house or buy a car to make it easier to go home."

The employees of Flashcart in Beicang are mainly from Anhui and Henan provinces. Judging from this employee's accent, he should be from Anhui province. People from Anhui, especially those from rural areas, have a common habit of building houses back in their hometowns after making money elsewhere, just to show off.

Zhang Qingliang even said that Tan Lihua, who had already settled in the city, had this idea. Only Tan Jincheng, who had never lived a normal life in the countryside, had an indifferent attitude. This employee's question probably reflects the mentality of most grassroots employees.

Tan Jincheng laughed and said, "How is it useless? I'm also from out of town. Even if you build a house at home now, you still have to come out to work and you can't live there. By the time you go back to your hometown, the building will be old and you'll have to rebuild it. Why don't you buy one here? In the future, when you want to go back home to start a business, you can sell the one here and the building you build then will be new."

FlashCheer employees generally have high incomes. This year and the first half of next year should be the cheapest year for housing prices in Beicang District. In the first half of next year, due to the impact of the financial crisis, Beicang District even experienced a brief period of zero down payment.

After the 4 trillion yuan stimulus plan was officially launched, housing prices in Beicang District exceeded 10,000 yuan per square meter. For example, the land near the Sports and Arts Center that Flash Motors is currently acquiring is one of the core areas of Beicang District in the future, and housing prices have remained above 20,000 yuan per square meter for a long time.

With the income of Flash employees, buying a house this year and in the first half of next year is absolutely no problem. Even these ordinary employees can manage to buy one if they hold on a little longer. But by the second half of next year, junior employees should forget about it.

House prices will rise in the second half of next year, and houses that have not been sold will definitely increase in price. Flash Motors cannot go against the trend.

Explaining to these frontline employees about the factors contributing to rising housing prices and how they won't be able to afford a house by the second half of next year is ineffective; persuasion is far more effective.

Currently, the pre-sales of Flashcar are not very good. The main reason is that Tan Jincheng wants to keep the benefits for his own employees and keep the pre-sales to the outside world to a very small extent. However, these grassroots employees are not very cooperative.

Today, he was just curious to look at cars. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Tan Jincheng thought he could persuade as many people as possible. On the one hand, he wanted to promote his own house and get it sold as soon as possible so that he could get some funds back to start construction.

On the other hand, it is indeed an effort to help these grassroots employees. No matter how much their wages are increased, there is a limit. With the rapid rise in housing prices and the resulting currency devaluation, their income will only fall further and further short of their expectations.

Money is still very valuable compared to housing prices. In the absence of other investment options, buying a house while prices are still low and allowing wealth to appreciate is the greatest respect for their labor.

The plight of many migrant workers who worked hard and devoted their labor to the city was a true reflection of the times, as they were left behind by the train of the times due to their limited understanding.

"The boss is right. Think about it, if you buy a house now, bring your family over, find a job, and work together as a family, you can save some money after five years at Flash. Then you can sell the house, go back home, start a small business, and build a house. Wouldn't that be perfect?"

Zeng Jixiang saw through Tan Jincheng's thoughts and immediately began to assist him.

“I’m also from out of town. I’ve already reserved a house here. It’s a house we built ourselves. With such a big factory here, what’s there to be afraid of?”

(End of this chapter)