Linxia

Chapter 87, Business

That day, Fang Lin made an appointment with Dong Xiucai to meet at the Donkey Restaurant.

"Waiter, bring me a pot of wine and a plate of fennel beans!"

Dong Zugao greeted them, gave two to the familiar children, and asked Fang Lin: "Brother Fang, is there any progress in the business you mentioned last time?"

"Yes, that's right." Fang Lin didn't say it directly, but asked: "Brother Dong, what do you think of the business environment in our city?"

"Tell the truth?"

"nature."

"Haha, then I'll say it in two words: Not good."

Dong Zugao frowned slightly and said seriously, "Food, clothing, housing and transportation, such as cloth shops, grain shops, restaurants, teahouses, inns, etc., are numerous and the competition is fierce; if you want to run a factory, such as an oil press, textile factory, porcelain factory... it's better, but you need a background and capital."

"Yes!" Fang Lin nodded and added, "Even if you do some small business, such as making small food and stewing, there will be competition from peers and exploitation by petty officials. If you earn less, it's meaningless. If you earn more, you will be more worried about being targeted. In this situation, if you want to stand out, you can only find an industry that others can't think of, look down on, and are unsure of, which does not attract attention, but can actually make money!"

"Oh?" Dong Zugao's curiosity piqued: "Brother Fang, is there really such an industry?"

If someone else said this, he would definitely not believe it. If there really was such an industry, it would have been occupied long ago. How could it be possible to wait until now? That is Fang Lin. The two of them have been dealing with each other frequently recently. He knows that the other party is not a person who talks nonsense. That is why he does not doubt it. Instead, he is looking forward to it and waiting for Gao Lin's opinion.

Fang Lin took a sip of wine and said without further ado, "The feces business."

“Shit business?”

Dong Zugao did not show any disdain on his face. Instead, he was thinking seriously and smacking his tongue: "This business, well, is indeed unexpected, despised, and uncertain. Even respectable people would not look down on it, and it does not attract attention. But can it really make money?"

"Brother Dong, please listen to me." Fang Lin said, "I have investigated. In this city, apart from the area of ​​the rich and powerful, which is an industry of Mr. Zhuo San, the rest of the civilian areas are basically managed by dung men and dung merchants..."

Master Zhuo San was the man next to Madam Qiu that day, and he made Huang Di sad and drunk.

"Why is this so? Brother Fang, I don't know much about this, so I'll just ask directly." Dong Zugao asked, "Then Mr. Zhuo San, it's obviously profitable to monopolize the feces in the rich and powerful areas, why did you give up the area for ordinary people?"

"There is a reason for this." Fang Lin explained, "The area where the rich and powerful live is concentrated, so their feces are easier to collect. These people eat well and poop a lot, so there is oil and water in their feces, which is high-quality feces... Mr. Zhuo San collected these high-quality feces and sold them directly to the rich and powerful at a higher price.

To sum up, it's easy and he can make money, and maybe Mr. Zhuo Sanye also wants to get closer to the powerful and wealthy.

As for the feces in the common people's area? It is not easy and does not make money.

Brother Dong, think about it, the areas where ordinary people live are so scattered, it is difficult to collect their feces, and they eat relatively less oil and water. They defecate less and their feces are of poor quality. Who can they sell it to? It can only be ordinary farmers, and ordinary people are very picky... In the end, it's a waste of effort, but you can't make much money, it's worse than chicken ribs."

Fang Lin said: "So, the feces in the ordinary people's area actually has a small profit under the current model. The feces collectors collect it for free, and the feces merchants then collect it from the feces collectors.

Under this model, a problem is inevitable. Manure merchants are worried about the risks and fear that manure will be piled up. They also have to go through the trouble of drying and storing manure in cellars. Therefore, on the one hand, they buy manure from manure dealers at a low price, and on the other hand, they try to raise the price when selling manure. When they meet ordinary people who want to buy manure, they will rip them off and directly offer a high price. At worst, they can slowly negotiate the price. Ordinary people want to buy manure, but they don’t know who to find. Without a fixed manure dealer, they feel that it is not cost-effective and would rather buy less. ”

His evaluation of the current model is that it is a mess!
"So that's how it is." Dong Zugao understood a little: "Brother Fang means that we should integrate the feces business in the ordinary people's area? However, it's not easy to do it in such a large area, right? And is there really any profit in it?"

"Brother Dong, this is what I think."

Fang Lin dipped his hands in some wine and drew on the table: "We don't have to be like ordinary dung merchants, with only one base. We can rent four places outside the city as dung points, each radiating an area..."

This adopts the concept of logistics and warehousing from the previous life.

"This method is wonderful!" Dong Zugao couldn't help but clap his hands. Although some of the words Fang Lin said were quite "strange", such as "radiation", they were not difficult to understand and were quite interesting if you thought about it carefully.

"Brother Dong, please don't be anxious. Just listen to me." Fang Lin continued, "No matter what you do, it is right to make more friends and fewer enemies. The current dung men and dung merchants can also be integrated.

Hire dung men to deliver the dung they receive every day directly to the nearest dung point; recruit dung merchants to manage the four dung points; then contact the villages under the prefecture city to set a low and fixed price for dung, thereby releasing their demand...

In this way, the dung collectors can collect the dung without bargaining with the dung merchants, so there is no risk and they are naturally willing to be hired by us; the dung merchants have to bear risks, which are mostly not easy for them, so they are naturally willing to recruit experienced people to be in charge of the dung points; ordinary people who want to buy dung will come to us to buy it because the price is affordable, so they are naturally willing to do so.

In short, we strive to achieve a win-win situation for all parties.”

These things were not complicated and could be understood at a glance. After listening to them, Dong Zugao felt that there was indeed something to be done and that there was great potential for development.

"This way of collecting manure has low cost. Even if the price of manure is lower, if the quantity is large, it can make small profits but quick turnover, which is indeed profitable. Moreover, the current manure collectors and manure merchants are also integrated, which does not impact the interests of others and offends people to the minimum extent... Brother Fang's method really finds the possible from the impossible. He is really a business genius and has the style of Fan Li!" He praised. "Brother Dong, thank you for your praise. I just asked too many questions, looked more, and thought more."

——This is actually a simple resource integration in the previous life.

"I've estimated it." Fang Lin took out a piece of paper from his arms: "Calculating various investments, renting a place to temporarily store feces, buying various tools, and hiring people, it would take about 100 taels of silver to start, and the net profit is conservatively estimated to be around 40 taels per month."

"So many?" Dong Zugao took it and started reading. The more he read, the more excited he became. He wanted to start the business immediately: "Brother Fang, I still need to inform my family about this, but I can give you a reply in one or two days at the latest and start preparations."

The data above still needs to be investigated and confirmed. It is not a question of whether or not to believe Fang Lin, but that such a major matter must be handled with caution. He also needs to use these to convince his family before he can use some of the family's resources.

"I understand. Brother Dong, take this! In addition to cost accounting, there are some other ideas on it, such as incentive commissions for dung collectors and discounts for people who buy dung..." Fang Lin pushed the paper over.

Trust people when you employ them, and don't employ people you don't trust. He didn't think that this small business would make the other party do anything. Putting aside the question of judging people, the other party was also a scholar and wanted a reputation...

Dong Zugao was very moved by this trust and assured him, "Brother Fang, although our Dong family has fallen into decline, we can still guarantee this small business."

He knew why Fang Lin called him, and he didn't hide anything, and told him directly to give him the official things.

Smart people speak in an easy way. When Fang Lin and Dong Zugao clinked bowls together, everything was said without words.

……

After finishing his talk with Dong Zugao, Fang Lin went out and unexpectedly ran into Bai Bao and Song Kai. They came towards him and Fang Lin nodded slightly to them and said hello.

The two men walked away, chatting and laughing among themselves, as if they didn't know Fang Lin.

"Brother Fang, what's wrong?"

"It's okay, we are two people from the same village."

Fang Lin answered and sighed in his heart. The last time he heard of Song Kai was when he heard that Song Kai wanted to learn from him, but was beaten by the butcher shop owner and then went to work in the factory.

Unexpectedly, when they met again, the other party was led by Bai Bao and jumped into the big pit of Changlefang.

'It is true that if you make the wrong friends, your life will be ruined.'

Fang Lin saw it very clearly: "Man Gensheng still has the Man family to back him up, so he might be able to get through it once or twice, but Song Kai and Bai Bao, who came to the city from the village when they were young, might not be able to have their families destroyed at once... All the consequences of tomorrow are the result of the causes sown today!"

"Let's go!"

He just sighed in his heart, did not intervene, and left with Dong Zugao.

One group left and the other went to Changlefang. The completely different directions seemed to foreshadow the different fates of the two groups of people who came from Xiaohe Village.

……

Within two days, Dong Zugao gave a reply and began to prepare for the feces business. The starting capital was 100 taels of silver, of which Dong Zugao contributed 70 taels and Fang Lin contributed 30 taels.

Originally, Dong Zugao said that it was Fang Lin's idea to split the profits 50-50, but Fang Lin refused, thinking that he could not take care of it and that the other party would have to take care of it, wasting time and energy...

In the end, after a lot of pushing and pushing, we decided on 64, Dong Zugao 6, and Fang Lin 4.

Because the "plan" produced by Fang Lin was extremely detailed, including the location of the manure point, which area was most suitable, what tools to purchase... When the real preparations began, Dong Zugao did not let Fang Lin have any trouble and took care of everything himself.

——Although the Dong family has fallen on hard times, they still know who to ask for help on many things. They leave professional matters to professionals, such as renting manure sites, recruiting manure men and merchants, etc. Fang Lin found that he was really no match for them.

Finally, Fang Lin had no choice but to discover a fact: people of this era may have limited thinking on some conceptual issues, but their execution is not necessarily bad. For example, if this matter is handed over to others, it seems that a lot of costs can be saved.

Then, in order to contact customers for the feces business, Dong Xiucai also brought people with him. Relying on his status as a scholar and the rhetoric prepared by Fang Lin, he attacked the villages around the city one by one. The village chiefs of these villages all agreed to give it a try.

Everything was prepared quickly and in an orderly manner.

……

(End of this chapter)