Star Tycoon

Chapter 35 New Business

Summer, 2013.

In Tao County, a small county in a populous province in Central China, near the old campus of the Second Middle School, lies a relatively underdeveloped city.

Near every junior high and high school, there are many alleys and lanes, mostly inhabited by family members accompanying their children to school and left-behind children.

Most people in this small county town live off rent, which they collect from people in the countryside.

Tian Ersan wandered around several junior high schools before finally arriving at No. 2 Middle School.

I rode my bike into a hutong (alley) in the old town. Throughout the morning and noon, I saw mostly hotels, restaurants, internet cafes, massage parlors, and other businesses common in hutongs.

There were also some shops selling building and decoration materials, as well as bathhouses and small shops.

Tian Ersan parked his car in front of a ground-floor shop that had its doors open.

Inside the three ground-floor rooms built with roller shutters and cement bricks, there were many female workers.

The workers were all women; there were six of them in the room, all busy working at the sewing machines and at the table where the fabric was laid out.

The older ones were in their forties or fifties, and the younger ones were in their twenties, looking like newlyweds.

When Tian Ersan approached, these people ignored him, treating him as if he were just passing by.

There's an internet cafe in a nearby alley; the main customers of internet cafes in this small county town are these teenagers who are left behind by their parents.

Everyone who passes by will take a look. It's usually closed, but it gets too hot to close it in the summer.

The people in the small workshop had long been used to outsiders glancing at their place when they passed by.

The garment factory workshops do not have formal employees or social insurance and housing fund benefits; they are all temporary workers. The more work there is, the more workers there are; the less work there is, the fewer workers there are. Since there are no formal employees, they naturally cannot support idle people.

Besides various sewing machines and clothing making tools, there are also people delivering and picking up fabric every day, but judging from the piles of fabric in this store, business is not very good.

There are only a few people around 2 or 3 pm on summer vacation, so business can't be good.

Tian Ersan quickly went inside.

Li Fang, who was working, looked at the boy who was much taller than her.

"Who are you looking for?" Li Fang didn't recognize the young man, but he didn't look like a thug.

Tian Ersan looked at the woman in her early thirties. She was not pretty and looked older than Zhang Shuya. She was clearly the kind of hardworking rural woman.

"I'd like to order a batch of clothes. Is your boss in?"

Li Fang said, "We don't make clothes here separately. If you want to buy clothes, go to a place that sells clothes."

Tian Ersan smiled gently. "I'm not buying one piece; I plan to have five hundred of the same style made. Can you make them here? If not, I'll find someone else."

Li Fang sensed that Tian Ersan wasn't joking, so she asked, "What do you need so many clothes for?"

Tian Ersan took out his phone. "I have an online shop where I buy and sell things to make money. I'm planning to order a batch of clothes to sell online. I'll just ship them out when the time comes. Is your boss here?"

Li Fang quickly said, "I'm the boss, what kind of clothes do you want?"

Tian Ersan pointed to the clothes he was wearing.

Tian Ersan was wearing a long-sleeved white cotton coat with a 2011 pattern on it.

"These short-sleeved shirts, made of white cotton, don't have the same design as the one I'm wearing. Just print 'one, two, three' on the front and the words 'self-improvement' on the back. How much would one cost?"

Li Fang and the other female workers nearby all stared at the young man.

Fang Linlin, who was in her early twenties, looked at Tian Ersan, who was younger than her but much taller, and then at the clothes he was wearing.

This was the first time I'd ever seen business being discussed in person. Li Fang went straight to the point: "How much money are you willing to offer?"

The most important thing in bargaining is to know how much the other party is willing to pay.

Li Fang needs to know how much money the other party is willing to pay in order to continue to negotiate a lower price.

They'll negotiate no matter what price they're offered, unless they're offered an unexpected price from the start, but that would seem outrageous and hard to believe.

Tian Ersan made preparations and visited more than one clothing store.

"Each piece costs 5 yuan, so 500 pieces would cost 2,500 yuan."

Li Fang looked closely at Tian Ersan, "Do you have money?"

Tian Ersan replied, "I have a shop on Linhe Road in the old street, with more than 20 people in the shop. If you don't believe me, just go and see for yourself."

Li Fang then asked, "Is it your business or your parents'?"

"It's mine." Tian Ersan said impatiently, "I can pay for the fabric for you, 1,000 yuan for the fabric. You can pay for the labor costs yourself. How much you earn is your own business, but the quality has to be acceptable!"

"If you're willing to do it, then do it; if you're not, I'll find someone else. There are plenty of garment shops in the county."

Because of his temper, Tian Ersan has been fired by several business owners.

Li Fang didn't do that. "Do it! When do you need the clothes?"

"The sooner the better!" Tian Ersan continued, "There are three more rooms next to my house. If you find delivering things too troublesome, you can work there and move them over. You don't have much stuff here. I don't just need 300 items; I'll need many more in the future."

Li Fang didn't dare to gamble. "I'll try it out first. The rent here is cheap, and I've been living here for several months now."

Tian Ersan took out some money from his pocket. "I'll give you two thousand yuan as a deposit."

When Fang Linlin saw Tian Ersan take out money, she quickly said to Li Fang, "Boss, if you have money, settle some of our wages."

Li Fang quickly said, "Let's get to work in a few days. Business is coming in!"

"We'll give you something, though. In some places, the wages are paid daily." Fang Linlin used to work in an electronics factory, so she was more outspoken and more like the leader of her girlfriends.

Aunt Xin, who was working nearby, chimed in, "Let's settle this month's wages first. My grandson still needs to pay for school materials, and I don't have a single penny in my pocket right now. I don't even have money for the bus back to the village."

"Boss, don't delay. It's only a few hundred yuan. I don't earn money easily. I only make a little money each month. I'm so worried about my daughter's school expenses."

Li Fang felt very embarrassed. "Even if we give you all the money, it won't be enough for your wages. Just keep working and see what happens. How will we pay you if there's no business?"

Tian Ersan continued, "I need more than three hundred pieces. You can finish the three hundred pieces first, and there are still several hundred more to go. That will be enough to pay your salaries."

With Tian Ersan's words, Fang Linlin and the others were no longer in a hurry and felt a little more at ease.

Li Fang also breathed a sigh of relief, looking at Tian Ersan's summer short-sleeved shirt.

“Then I’ll have someone print the materials, and once the materials arrive, we’ll get to work. I can make twenty or thirty of these garments a day, and if we divide the work among ourselves, we can finish them in a day.”

Tian Ersan put down the money. "I'll write a contract, and we'll sign it. The factory will make 3,000 pieces of the material. The font should be nice, printed according to my design."

Three thousand pieces are enough for a month's work. Although Li Fang didn't know what kind of business this young man was in, as long as he paid, that was fine.

Tian Ersan also planned to start production first and then negotiate with suppliers once sales increased.

Selling clothes earns more than selling canned goods.

Those selling canned goods certainly want to make more money, but the clothing industry is even more competitive than the canned goods industry!
Whether in county towns or townships, many family-run garment workshops are vying for jobs.

Twenty years ago, people who wholesaled clothes made a lot of money, but twenty years later, this business has become so profitable that there are too many competitors.

(End of this chapter)