Only after being reborn did I realize how fascinating the world of the rich is.

The wheels of time had rolled into 2003. Since Li Xiaofeng secured 100 million yuan in funding, the company continued to expand rapidly.

Liu Qianqian found Li Xiaofeng and said with some concern, "Xiaofeng, there are now companies of the same type as us in the market, and they are starting to compete with us."

We are currently facing two development strategies. One is to expand immediately towards Beijing and Shenzhen. As far as I know, similar companies have already started to emerge in these two cities.

Another strategy is to cultivate the Shanghai market deeply, solidify our foundation, and then use that as a base to expand towards Beijing and Shenzhen.

After thinking for a moment, Li Xiaofeng said, "From the perspective of immediate interests, it is better to develop in the directions of Beijing and Shenzhen as soon as possible. At present, Shanghai has already occupied a large share of high-end office buildings and upscale communities."

If we continue to invest in Shanghai, we need to expand into major communities. Relatively speaking, the value of elevator advertising in communities is much smaller than that in office buildings.

Therefore, we must focus on the big picture and let go of the small details. We need to first secure these three top-tier cities in China, grasp the most core elements—that's the most crucial thing.

Liu Qianqian said worriedly, "What if someone starts to compete with us on a large scale? I've heard that the Wei family seems to be selling off their assets and investing in our area!"

Li Xiaofeng smiled and said, "What, are you scared? Afraid he'll steal our market?"

Liu Qianqian nodded without saying anything.

Li Xiaofeng said nonchalantly, "The advertising market is so big that one company can't possibly dominate it all. It's normal to follow the trend. The most important thing now is to be fast, not to compete with them."

The business world is like a battlefield. The most important thing is strategy and layout. First, you need to occupy the most important positions. Once you've completed the layout and occupied the high ground, you can then attack from above and swallow them up with lightning speed.

"You mean you want to expand your business to Beijing and Shenzhen first?"

Li Xiaofeng nodded: "Yes, I've thought about it. You go to Beijing, and Peipei goes to Shenzhen. Each of you should take 40 million with you. I'll leave 20 million to continue improving our LCD screen advertising network in Shanghai."

"After we've spent this 50 million, I'll raise more funds. Then, we'll use these three cities as our core to expand our business to surrounding major first-tier cities."

"When does that start?"

"Let's get started right away. Time is of the essence for us right now. The sooner we complete our LCD screen advertising network architecture, the sooner we can take the initiative!"

Liu Qianqian nodded.

“Okay, I understand. However, you need to be careful of the Wei family. Among the advertising companies in Shanghai, they are the most active. You must find a way to curb their actions, or better yet, eliminate them altogether.” Liu Qianqian said through gritted teeth.

Li Xiaofeng smiled and nodded: "Don't worry, from any perspective, both publicly and privately, I won't let them get away with this!"

However, when Li Xiaofeng saw a news report about the epidemic in G province while lying in bed that evening, he immediately stopped Liu Qianqian and Miao Peipei.

How could I forget about that!

In my previous life, this was also a nationwide epidemic. Although it didn't last as long or spread as it did later, it still shocked the entire country.

"What's wrong? Why didn't you invite us? We've already booked our tickets!"

Li Xiaofeng said with a serious expression, "Have you seen the news? There has been an outbreak in G Province, and there are already cases in Beijing. Once the outbreak starts to spread, there will inevitably be large-scale lockdowns."

"Is it that serious? Didn't the news say that the epidemic has been effectively controlled?"

"In terms of news reporting, major events like this definitely need to be controlled. Would we dare to report them if we didn't? It seems we should be cautious. The larger the city and the more people there are, the more likely the infection will be. What if the epidemic spreads?"

"If you go there, not only will you be in danger, but under the lockdown, you won't be able to do anything. It's better to stay in Shanghai and continue developing your LCD screen advertising network there; at least for now, there's no movement in Shanghai!"

Liu Qianqian said seriously, "But the easy-to-install buildings and high-end communities have already been covered. If we continue to expand rapidly in Shanghai in a short period of time, we can only expand into ordinary communities!"

“Our funds are limited, so we can’t expand into ordinary communities for the time being. We must first occupy high-rise buildings and upscale communities.” Li Xiaofeng decisively rejected Liu Qianqian’s suggestion.

"This won't work, that won't work, what should we do? How about we expand to the major cities surrounding Shanghai first? For example, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and other big cities, the future market size is also quite considerable!"

Li Xiaofeng thought about his memories from his previous life. It seemed that there was no epidemic in these big cities in the mainland. He only remembered that the epidemic started in Shenzhen and was most serious in Beijing.

As long as we avoid these two top-tier cities, there shouldn't be any major problems. More importantly, when expanding our business, we can increase the manpower of our business team.

However, training new employees takes time. Although the salary may seem cheap on the surface, the overall cost may actually be higher. After all, new employees often cannot perform their duties and have a high turnover rate.

When a new employee leaves, it's like the company has wasted a lot of money and effort, but ultimately gained nothing.

In fact, most growing companies tend to prefer experienced employees who can be readily hired rather than newcomers. Only large companies that have reached their ceiling are willing to recruit new employees.

Because new employees have lower salaries, and the company's business is already relatively stable, replacing some higher-paid veteran employees with new employees can significantly reduce company expenses and increase the company's profit margin.

The problem is that the current LCD screen advertising market is a new track, and everyone is racing against time to seize the commanding heights of the market. Who would slow down their development speed just to save a little on labor costs?

In addition, this special period also brought another benefit to Wanzhong Media: during this time of social unrest, headhunting companies could poach talent from other advertising companies at a much lower cost and with less effort.

However, what is most important in the advertising industry? Of course, it is talent. Planning requires people, production requires people, and sales also require people. Most advertising companies are asset-light companies, so their most core asset is actually talent.