Entrepreneurship story after the age of 50
The inventor of the first quick-frozen glutinous rice balls and the pioneer of quick-frozen food in China - these are the labels of Chen**. The "Sanquan Foods" at his helm can be found in the quick-frozen counters of various supermarkets.
Fifty years old should be the time to keep a job, and most people will not start working hard at this age.
Starting a business at the age of knowing the destiny of heaven may be something that many people dare not think about. Chen** is like this.
Before starting his business, Chen ** was the vice president of Zhengzhou Second People's Hospital, with a happy family and a thriving career, and everything a 50-year-old man should have.
But he felt that such days were very unfulfilling, and time was wasted. Although he is the vice president of a tertiary hospital, a salary of only more than 100 yuan a month cannot give his family a better life.
The times create heroes, and in 1989, just in time for the tide of reform and opening up, he came up with the idea of going to the sea.
A group of business friends around him gradually became rich.
So, Chen ** resolutely gave up his existing status and honor - to go to the sea to do business.
Chen ** is definitely self-made, and his first start-up capital of 15,000 yuan was borrowed from a neighbor.
He used 12,000 yuan to buy an ice cream machine, and another 3,000 yuan as working capital to buy raw materials, rented a counter in the mall, and set up a cold drink department, called "Sanquan Cold Drink Department".
The reason why it is called the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China is to thank you. Because he was willing to use his brains and actively innovate, he repaid the loan in three months.
Then, Chen ** began to expand reproduction and wholesale. The scene is booming, and in order to buy the goods, many people come to line up in the middle of the night.
Later, he found that there was a kind of cold dog brand sandwich ice cream in Shanghai that was very popular, but the introduction and production of such equipment cost 100,000 yuan, which was an astronomical amount for him when he first started his business.
Chen ** figured out the principle, didn't spend a penny, and used the original brine tank to make ice cream to produce sandwich ice cream.
This technology is the secondary quick-freezing method, which also lays the foundation for the future quick-frozen glutinous rice balls.
At the beginning, he encountered a lot of obstacles in starting a business, but Chen ** thought about it and did it.
At the beginning, there was a big gap, the profession of surgeon was very good, and I was the vice president of the hospital, and my position was not low, and everyone came to me to do things.
But since I went to the sea, my identity has changed, and I have to ask someone else for everything. Chen ** described the original situation.
Moreover, Chen's family did not support his entrepreneurship, and the opposition was loud. His family thought he was not doing his job properly and that it was not worth taking such a big risk.
You're almost fifty years old, you've been working for almost thirty years, and you're going to retire right away. Some people also suggested that he take sick leave for half a year and automatically transfer to the labor insurance series.
But Chen ** was not affected by these voices, he decided to cut off the back road and fight against the water.
If you wait, you may lose the opportunity, and if you have a way back, you won't be ruined. There is no way back but to rush forward. There are no conditions, no money, they all rely on their own motivation to create conditions. ”
Chen ** began to sleep every day, constantly trying to invent, improve equipment, and improve products, in order to make followers, he couldn't keep up.
The more you don't want to make money, the more money you make as a result
Putting your heart on the product is Chen's business experience, and the words he often says are, "The more you don't want to make money, the more you make money." "Why?He said that it is necessary to apply our thinking to products, to how to serve consumers, and to food safety, so that if we have good products and a good market, we will naturally make money.
It is precisely because of this thought, and because he did so, although Sanquan has no equipment and no factory to mortgage. The bank took the initiative to give a loan, and the God of Wealth came to the door.
In 1995, the bank saw that at the gate of Sanquan Food Factory, vehicles from all over the country came to pick up the goods with cash, but there was no goods!It takes a long time to queue, and some have to wait for more than ten days. Seeing the vigor of production and sales, the president of the bank and the head of the credit section said to Chen **, although you do not meet the conditions for the loan, we will still consider giving you a loan according to your order and according to the sales situation in your market.
This simple spirit strengthened the bank's determination to lend. The governor said that this was the first loan they had ever made without any guarantees, without any collateral, on trust.
Focus on the main business to be a century-old store
In addition to operating its main business, Zhengzhou Synear Food, a neighbor on the same street as Sanquan, also engages in diversification: engaging in capital operation and real estate, and quickly catches up with Sanquan with restless leapfrog development, becoming a strong competitor of Sanquan.
For more than ten years, Chen ** has only made quick-frozen food, is Sanquan's expansion road too conservative?Chen used a metaphor called "snowballing development".
I haven't engaged in diversification, Chen ** has no regrets. In his concept, to build a century-old store, you must focus on the main business.
If I put my energy into other areas, then my main business will definitely be affected. Now I concentrate all my energy, time, and financial resources on my main business, and use my brain every day, and the result is very different. Chen ** said.
If there is still room for development in the main business, I still have to continue to develop around the main business. If, in the case of surplus capacity, our main business has reached a certain point, maybe I will intervene in other industries. Chen ** didn't say anything to death, "That is, when the time comes, at least in the next few years, we will not engage in other industries." ”
In the face of such a God of Wealth, Chen ** made a "pick" again, and he did not entertain with pomp. After the president of the bank inspected the enterprise, Chen ** invited him to eat a bowl of stewed noodles for ten yuan.
Some people said that the bank would definitely not give him a loan, but the president of the bank came and sent him away like this. And what Chen ** thought in his heart was that he should hurry back to engage in production.
Some people may say I'm conservative, but I say the most important thing is to be durable. Chen ** summed up his entrepreneurial path like this. "We must focus on everything, start from a small level, start from the grassroots level, little by little, don't be greedy for foreign, don't be ambitious. In this way, seek speed in stability, and at the same time of development, we must be steady, step by step, down-to-earth, do not rush forward, and be steady. ”
No regrets
Now, as the founder of Sanquan Foods, Chen ** has retired from the front line and handed over the baton to his two sons. But that doesn't mean Sanquan is a traditional family business.
When the company first started, everyone called Chen ** Master Chen. He taught his employees hand-in-hand, but after the development to tens of thousands of people, Chen ** also said that it is not enough to rely on personal strength alone. It depends on the management team and modern management.
So now we're hiring executives from some big multinational companies, more than 200 senior executives to manage my whole team, and I'm personally taking a back seat when I see it. ”
My two sons are just a few percent of the management team, and they take responsibility. But modern management is to hire capable people to do it. ”
As for the work of his sons, Chen ** is satisfied. "I have no regrets, only relief," he said. ”
They are more engaged, more energetic, more receptive to new things, and their minds are very active, and they move faster. I am very satisfied with the current situation of Sanquan, which is better than I imagined. ”
In addition to being the largest shareholder of the company, the company's management and business activities have been completely handed over to the new leadership team.
But he's still busy, with a bunch of things to do. Now he is a deputy to the National People's Congress and the president of the Agricultural Industry Chamber of Commerce of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. He said, "We must fulfill a lot of social responsibilities, conduct research, make some appeals for agriculture, ask for some policies, and solve problems for agricultural enterprises." ”