Small experience, big wealth

Chapter 27 (1)
60. The piano in the shoe repair shop

In my imagination, the United States is so rich, they will definitely not have such a job as shoe repair, and they don’t bother to repair their cars when they don’t drive smoothly, let alone shoes?But I was wrong again.Americans are more particular about shoes. Some world-famous brands are worth thousands of dollars, which costs more than 1 yuan when converted into RMB.Like rattlesnake leather shoes and crocodile leather shoes, the price is quite expensive, so they are not willing to throw away something wrong.Moreover, it is relatively easy to see shoe repair shops in the United States, but their shoe repair services are quite different from the shoe repair services we see in China.

In Queens, Washington, the hotel we stayed at was in a neighborhood across from a shoe repair shop.

It was the morning of the second day in Washington. Due to jet lag, I got up very early and wandered around the hotel.A row of small houses opposite the hotel caught my interest.They are simple and unpretentious in construction. The house is flat-roofed and has only one floor. Each door is estimated to be about 20 square meters. The doors and windows are dark green, and the glass on the doors and windows is wiped spotlessly.

I leaned on the window and looked into the room, and found that there was a very special room. There was a piano on the east wall, a three-seater sofa by the front window, and a few people beside the sofa and the piano. A box of foliage flowers that grow very lushly, and I can't name them.There are several very tasteful oil paintings hanging on the east and west walls in a patchwork pattern, and it is impossible to tell which famous artist they are from.There are two shelves at the base of the west wall, one of which is filled with a lot of colorful small boxes, horizontally arranged from left to right in the order of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, blue and purple, and vertically from top to bottom in various colors. From shallow to deep, like a color spectrum, it is really beautiful.

On another shelf were tin cans that looked like hairspray, also in assorted colors, arranged in the same way as the small tin boxes.Next to these two shelves are two smaller shelves, one with straps of different colors and lengths hanging on it, and the other with insoles of various sizes.In the center of the room, there is an oval counter with a light pink lacquer surface, on which some various leather shoes are scattered.Until this moment, until I saw those leather shoes of different sizes, new and old, I had an idea, and realized that this place was just a shoe repair shop.It turns out that those small colorful boxes are various shoe polishes, and those small tin cans are polishes.Inside the oval counter there is a long counter, also light pink, which is the workbench.And there are 3 machines placed side by side in the middle of the counter. It can be seen that the one with the brush is for polishing, and the one with the nozzle on it is for gluing, and the one with a shoe on it is obviously for the shoe. Bottom line, it looks like that.I stood outside the window and observed the room quite carefully. Maybe I got up too early, and no one came to open the door until I left.

In the evening, when I returned to the hotel.I saw that it was still open, so I walked towards the shoe repair shop. At this time, a melodious melody floated out from the shoe repair shop, and spread to the surroundings... one by one shoe repair The shop is so tasteful, unique, and poetic, which really surprised me.I can't figure it out, how can such beautiful music still flow from his fingers in the face of a large number of moldy and stinky shoes every day?I can't connect those big rough and stiff hands with this pair of smart, happy and enthusiastic hands in front of me. Jumping easily on the shaped keys...

Business experience:
With the deepening of the market economy and the refinement of social division of labor, any kind of labor will be commercialized.No matter how high your degree is, no matter how refined your interests, survival always comes first.

No matter what business you do, you must think highly of yourself, maintain an optimistic mood, and have an attitude towards life that is neither humble nor overbearing.Treat your work as a career and enjoy the pleasure of life at work.

There is no distinction between high and low labor. Surviving by one's own labor is a great joy in life.

61.70. In 70, only the same movie was shown. Robin Li, the founder of Baidu, said: "As long as you give the society a good product, the society will definitely give you more rewards." Sightseeing Pearl Harbor in Hawaii is an indispensable place for you. And when you arrive at Pearl Harbor, you must watch the movie "Tiger Tiger Tiger". If you don't watch this movie, you haven't been to Pearl Harbor.Pearl Harbor is located on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, USA. There is a movie theater here. For more than 70 years, they have only shown the same movie - "Tiger Tiger Tiger", and the theater has been full for more than [-] years.

Why does the movie "Tiger Tiger Tiger" have such a great charm?This starts with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in World War II.

Beginning in 1941, Japan's power continued to develop in Southeast Asia, which aroused the anxiety of major powers in this region. In order to give the Japanese a little color, the United States froze economic and trade with Japan, the most important of which was oil.Without oil, Japan's planes would not be able to ascend to the sky, ships would not be able to sail in the sea, and the Japanese army would not be able to trample on other countries' land with iron hooves.

At that time, Japan's oil could only last half a year.The Japanese understand that they have to withdraw their troops from Asia, stop their external expansion, and approach the United States diplomatically.Either form their own banner, go south to seize strategic resources, and continue to aggressively expand abroad.At that time, Nanyang had the colonies of the United States, Britain, and the Netherlands, and entering Nanyang was tantamount to declaring war on the United States and Britain.

Pearl Harbor is the main hub of Pacific traffic. Hawaii is east to the west coast of the United States, west to Japan, southwest to the islands, and north to Alaska and the Bering Strait. The distance is between 2000 nautical miles and 3000 nautical miles. All of the planes use Hawaii as a relay station.The Japanese believed that destroying Pearl Harbor would undoubtedly seize the air and sea control in the Pacific Ocean, which meant that the road to the south would be unimpeded from then on.Thus, the crazy Japanese secretly planned the Pearl Harbor raid.

The movie "Tiger Tiger Tiger" is about this history.This is a very creative profit model--in the place of Pearl Harbor, the history of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor was shown, which aroused the appetite of every tourist who came here, and everyone expressed interest want to take a look.Although the movie has not been changed in 70 years, the tourists who visit here are new every day, so although this old-fashioned movie is played every day, it is always new.This is the same as the brochures we see in scenic spots. The brochures have not changed for decades, but the tourists change every day, so the brochures are always sold and new.

This reminds me of a restaurant owned by a friend of mine.This restaurant is located in one of the busiest business districts in our Dalian Development Zone, opposite to two commercial buildings. Basically, the people who come here to eat are business people in these two buildings, and they are all regular customers.This restaurant is called Folk Snack City, and it specializes in dishes with very ethnic characteristics in various places, with rich varieties, excellent production and beautiful environment.However, our friend noticed that many diners disappeared for a long time after a few appearances here.

Once we were chatting together, I talked about the story of only one movie in Pearl Harbor in 70 years. My friend was very inspired. Let's use it against the intention, let's use it with a 'every change should remain the same'!" We all don't understand what is meant by "every change should remain the same".The owner of the restaurant told us: "Look, the people who come to our restaurant to eat are basically people who do business in these two buildings, and they are all regular customers. , whoever comes here often gets tired of eating, so we have to change the dishes frequently, which is called ever-changing. Using ever-changing new dishes to cater to the appetites of regular customers who never change, just like the one that only played one movie in 70 years On the contrary, their tourists change every day, the movie remains the same, and our guests here remain the same, so let’s change the dishes for them.” Everyone suddenly realized.

So, after discussing with the chef, the boss and the chef set a rule: to launch 10 new dishes every month, and welcome old customers with new varieties.

Business experience:
It is one of the most basic human instincts to like the new and dislike the old, so if you do not update your products frequently, consumers will update you.

Either the consumers are new, or the services and products you provide are new. Only in this way can you give everyone a fresh and beautiful impression, keep your business young, and ensure a steady stream of profits.

62. We can’t eat real Chinese food in the United States. In the first few days in the United States, we felt good when we ate American-style meals, but after three days, we lost our appetite.Steaks, salads, milk, and bread all day long made me sick to my stomach. Everyone clamored for Chinese food, so the foreigners took us to a Chinese restaurant for dinner.

After eating at several restaurants, everyone said they were fooled and shook their heads loudly, even more violently than taking ecstasy pills.

Comparing our domestic Chinese food with American food, the result is this: delicious, not expensive.

Comparing Chinese food in the United States with American food, the four words are still the same, but the order has changed: expensive, not tasty.

All Chinese food is neither sweet nor sour, even the spicy tofu we eat is sweet, not like Chinese food at all.

More than 10 years have passed, and when I went into business, I realized the truth.

Think about it, how many Chinese are there in the United States?I looked it up on the Internet curiously: there are currently 340 million Chinese living in the United States, accounting for about 1% of the American population.There are only a few Chinese, if all Chinese restaurants process Chinese food according to Chinese tastes, wouldn’t those Chinese restaurants be yellow long ago?That’s no good, although it’s a Chinese restaurant, you have to consider that it’s a Chinese restaurant opened in Laomei, and you have to pay more attention to Laomei’s taste, so as to ensure that the restaurant will be patronized and the restaurant’s profitability can be guaranteed.Just like the KFC, McDonald's, and Pizza Hut opened by Lao Mei here, they must be made according to Chinese tastes. If all the crafts of the United States were copied, these fast-food restaurants would have returned home long ago.

This is called localization of operations.

No matter what kind of enterprise, whether it is a foreign-funded enterprise or a multinational company, where you operate, you must conform to the consumption habits, consumption interests, consumption ability, customs, laws and regulations of the place...

On May 2006, 5, Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, reluctantly announced in Seoul, South Korea, that it would transfer all the shares of Wal-Mart Korea Branch to Shinsegae Department Store in South Korea at a price of US$22 million, thereby withdrawing from the Korean market in despair.

Just one month before Wal-Mart withdrew from South Korea, Carrefour, the world's second largest retailer, also transferred all its branches in South Korea to Korean companies and left South Korea with its tail between its legs.

Why did the world's two largest retailers suffer setbacks in the Korean market and were forced to retreat?

Let's do a short recap:

In July 1998, taking advantage of the Korean financial crisis, Wal-Mart began to enter the Korean retail industry by merging a small Korean retailer.From July 7 to September 1999, Wal-Mart opened 7 stores in South Korea, becoming the fifth largest retailer in South Korea.

When Wal-Mart first entered Korea, it coincided with the Korean economy being hit hard by the financial crisis.

With its strong capital and strong procurement advantages, Wal-Mart transplanted the low-price warehouse-style business model to South Korea intact.Wal-Mart's low-price model did pay off in the Korean market and made the company profitable between 2000 and 2003.But since 2004, Wal-Mart has suffered losses, and in 2005, the loss reached 104 billion won (1 US dollar equals 953 won).

Wal-Mart failed for several reasons:

Korean female consumers, who are the main supermarket shoppers, like the comfortable and bright department store-style shopping environment, and are not used to Wal-Mart's membership-only stores.Especially if the shelves are too high, it is inconvenient for customers. Some people suggest that Wal-Mart change the shelves into sales tables with a height of more than 1 meter. In addition, it should improve the lighting to create a comfortable shopping environment.

Bullish Wal-Mart ignored.

(End of this chapter)