This is the story of the 718th real person we tell
I am Zhang Peng @ new farmer Zhang Peng, a post-80s Shaanxi native, and now I am engaged in farming in the countryside.
After graduating from college, he tried several jobs and earned an annual salary of 150,000 yuan. Only because of a business trip, through the door and can not enter, categorically chose to resign, back to their hometown to start a business.
As a result, the tossing of clothing led to the loss of money, watching his father raise squirrels to earn money, so he rushed into the breeding industry regardless of his head. As a result, the loss was even more severe, leaving only 1.7 yuan.
So, I lived a "simple" life. A box of instant noodles has to be paid on credit, and even buying a washbasin needs to be helped by friends.
Not accepting defeat, I plunged headlong into the mountains and immersed myself in the study of squirrel farming. Finally, the first order was as high as 340,000, and it was also reported by CCTV, and through hard work, it finally became the industry leader.
However, an outbreak almost returned to pre-liberation to see how I could turn the tables upside down again.
(Me now)
In 1987, I was born into a rural family in Shangluo City, Shaanxi Province. Shaanxi has a diverse terrain, and my hometown is surrounded by mountains on all sides.
In that era, transportation was inconvenient, and some small partners only went out of the mountains once a year. There are old people in the village who have lived in the mountains all their lives and have never seen the outside world.
My parents worked outside the home when I was very young, and my brother and I grew up with my grandmother, which is considered a left-behind child.
At that time, my friends were wearing rough sewn clothes, and my brother and I put on beautiful clothes with fine workmanship early because our parents were working outside, which made my classmates envious.
Once people have seen the good, they can no longer convince themselves to turn a blind eye to the good. In order to see the beauty outside the mountain, I decided to study well and go out of the mountain.
(In 2011, he worked in Shanghai)
When I was a child, my brain was more active, and when I went to my grandfather's house on holidays, I was in the market town, using my pocket money to sell stationery such as refills and erasers, and I also sold star posters in junior high school.
Given by my parents, plus the money I earned, compared to other students, my pocket money is very generous.
I have been studying well since I was a child, and after I went to middle school, my grades have been stable in the top ten. Ten years of cold window, high school in one fell swoop, but at that time, the future direction was still unclear, and life was still wandering.
Teachers and doctors are good professions in the eyes of Chinese parents, stable and beautiful. So after graduating in 2010, through the Western Volunteer Program, I returned to my hometown to teach at a primary school.
As a result, my colleagues are middle-aged people in their 40s, and I don't have a common language with them, and I like to play with my students in my spare time.
But as time went on, I saw the work of the head at a glance, which made me feel that the shortcomings were more and more unhappy, so I resigned after two years.
(Go to Zhengzhou to participate in the exhibition)
At that time, a classmate worked in a large factory in Shenzhen, which is still very hot, and I also went with the current.
Because of the blessing of academic qualifications, I soon interviewed for a management post, and I didn't need to do manual labor, I just needed to stare at others to work. But I felt that there was really little technical content, and it was boring, and I resigned a month later.
I was young and wanted to do something challenging. There was a relative in Shanghai, so I ran to him. As a result, I didn't like the job he introduced, so I applied for a company to do sales, specializing in industrial parts.
After joining the company, the company also contacted well-known large companies to let us visit, where I saw the cruelty of competition.
The sales staff of famous enterprises are full of spirits, and the entire office area is filled with all kinds of telephone calls. They have to make 500 calls a day, and to prevent distractions and increase efficiency, many people stand up and work.
(Shanghai Shidongkou)
There is fierce competition, there is a strict elimination mechanism, if you want to stay, you have to do your best, our company requirements are not so strict, but for a newcomer like me, the pressure is also very high. At that time, the company stipulated that if it did not open an order for a month, it would go directly.
When I first started calling, I was scared, my speech was stumbling, I didn't have logic, and sometimes my brain suddenly short-circuited and I didn't know what to say.
But forced by the pressure of survival, no matter how difficult things are, they must be the scalp. Not only do they start to play twelve points of spirit at work, but they also quietly study communication skills after work, as the saying goes, stupid birds fly first.
Talk to customers about orders during the day, ask friends and colleagues for advice after work, as a workplace white, how to get through the difficulties.
Customers communicate with me very smoothly, see that I am diligent and studious, and sincere, and if I don't need to, they will recommend me to the people around me. Slowly, I also had my first order, and I no longer had to worry about being driven away.
(Video recorded during CCTV reporting)
After work, I like to read, from ancient times to the present, many classic masterpieces, such as "Ghost Valley", "Zeng Guofan", etc. have read, especially like "Hu Xueyan".
I remember that Zeng Guofan once said: "Work hard not to be too fierce, but to seek perseverance." So I began to treat customers skillfully, no longer stalking, but following them step by step. It is neither annoying nor distant.
I also tried to integrate what I learned in the book into my work. Every day, I carefully summarize the work of the day and record the points worth learning from colleagues and customers. I also make notes on the mistakes I have made to remind myself that I will not make the same mistakes again.
With this serious energy, after entering the company for half a year, my performance has achieved the top three, with a monthly income of more than 10,000, relying on a solid business foundation, I have also got more and more opportunities.
(I'm going to do the roadshow)
Once, the boss sent a colleague to Guangxi to talk about business, but the result was unfavorable and fruitless.
Later, I took over, but I don't know whether it was because of the change of people in the middle, or the other party had no intention, whether it was a message or a phone call, it was particularly perfunctory.
I didn't rush it, but I re-did my homework and went straight to the door. The other party should have felt my sincerity, so he listened to me very kindly after talking about the advantages of the product. After comprehensive consideration, an order of 870,000 yuan was signed.
Since then, the boss has become more serious about me. As the company's sales backbone, if you continue to do it, you should have good results today. But a business trip made me decide to quit my job.
That time my colleagues and I happened to be on a business trip to Xi'an, which is only 100 kilometers away from home, so I wanted to go home and see. But we only had 3 days to finish the event and rushed back to Shanghai without eating.
(Tv interview)
At that time, there was some loss, and my parents went out to work very early, and they did not see each other several times a year. After work, my parents no longer traveled far, but I wandered around and rarely saw each other. It was hard to come to Xi'an for business, but it was close but I couldn't see each other.
Da Yu Zhi Shui three times through the door and did not enter, but I am just a mortal, and being able to be with my family is my greatest wish.
When I went back, I thought about it again and again, and I still wanted to go back to my parents. So I insisted on leaving, and the leader used an annual salary of 200,000 yuan, but he failed to keep me.
At the end of 2014, I returned to Shangluo from Shanghai. With a little savings, he planned to do some business, and finally decided to open a clothing store, plus loans and family support, spent a total of 500,000 yuan to create a fashion women's clothing store.
At that time, the small county in the hinterland of Qinling Mountains, there were still very few people who could contact e-commerce, plus logistics were not developed now, and the clothing store business was OK, earning 200,000 yuan in the first year.
(Participate in public welfare activities after opening a store)
After earning money, I was a little bloated and thought about opening another one. A year and a half later, a new store was opened, resulting in blind expansion, resulting in a shortage of cash flow, and then a pressure on the goods, and the capital chain was even more shaky.
In 2016, the rent rose sharply, coupled with the impact of e-commerce, resulting in the second store has been losing money. The revenue of the two stores was calculated, and they did not make any money at all.
I realized that the clothing business was getting harder and harder, and I thought that my father had returned to my hometown after I graduated from junior high school, taking on some small construction work while boldly raising squirrels. I had a new idea in mind.
Squirrel farming has a history of 100 years in Shangluo, which is more common in our local area and the market is also very good. The dung of the squirrel was a very valuable Chinese medicine Five Spirit Fat, which was priced at 35 yuan / kg at that time, and the supply was in short supply.
His father only raised more than ten animals, but he had an income of more than 3,000 yuan a month. I think he has many years of farming experience, and the price of medicinal materials will basically rise every year, if I follow my father to learn to farm, and then expand the scale, won't I earn more?
(Going out to participate in entrepreneurial activities)
So, I told my father about the idea of raising weasels and wanted to ask him for advice. However, he believes that special breeding is not everyone can do it, and it is far from being as simple as imagined.
Therefore, he strongly opposed my new plan, not to point out, not to talk to me, not even to look at me. What's more, I also said that I would not allow relatives to lend me money, and my attitude was very severe.
I was very stubborn, and the more I did this, the more I wanted to try, so I had to ask my mother to help me intercede, and finally my father reluctantly agreed to take me.
At that time, I found 3 partners, invested more than 120,000 yuan together, rented 10 acres of barren mountains, and began to build a site. My father helped with the planning and also went to inspect many farmers.
In June 2016, we bought 170 weasels at a price of 300 yuan / piece, counting other costs, and invested more than 100,000 yuan in the early stage.
(Visit and study in large pharmaceutical factories)
At that time, I was really stupid and naïve, thinking that feeding them was enough, and I didn't understand what knowledge was needed to breed live animals, so that I ended up hitting my head and bleeding.
And I didn't bother to understand it anymore, I was eager to get rich, and I was very anxious to introduce seeds, which led to many of the young rats sent by the farmers who sold us breeders to be sick.
Later, I found that something was wrong, but I could not return the goods. My father had not agreed to let me do this, and now the situation really made me miserable.
Previously, it was only known that squirrels ate cypress leaves or pine leaves, so the food fed was relatively simple. Later, I understood that animals, like people, have a balanced diet to grow well, and if they do not eat well, the quality of the final collection of medicinal herbs is not good.
At that time, the site designed by my father was based on the conditions of the family, and did not take into account intensive and large-scale breeding, so that the ventilation conditions were not very good, which was a big taboo.
Various factors superimposed together, the first batch of weasels, 30 died in a week, almost more than 10,000 yuan of losses, one partner's heart is cold, directly gone.
(My squirrel)
During that time, the most important thing done every day was to harmlessly treat the carcasses of the weasel. But it is too late to regret it, think about their recklessness, easily step into unfamiliar areas, but fantasize that there will be a return without paying, and it is really a fantasy to think.
In less than two months, only 20 squirrels remained, and the other two partners also withdrew.
At this moment, I understood the meaning of the ancients' saying that "on paper, I finally feel shallow, and I absolutely know that I must do this thing", and the ridiculous thing is that I spent tens of thousands of yuan to realize it.
And I also ushered in the most difficult moment of my life, in order to save the remaining weasel, I ate and lived on the farm. As a result, he couldn't even afford to buy a washbasin, and every aspect of his life depended on help.
A week later, my friend bought me buckets, washbasins, and some food. Sometimes I also "make friends" with friends on social software, relying on them to help with living expenses.
(Attend the exhibition)
If you really don't have anything to eat, go to the street commissary to get instant noodles on credit. The promised time is not enough money, the boss pointed behind his back, saying that I am a big guy, scheming strange things, breeding squirrels, and the result is 32 yuan of instant noodles to rely on the account.
In fact, I really have no money, and I only have 1.7 yuan under my body. Remembering that before, I also earned more than 10,000 yuan a month, and it was difficult to at least support myself.
Now in his old age, he is penniless, suffering from all kinds of white eyes every day, the whole person is very depressed, and there are some depressive tendencies.
Fortunately, two months later, I earned 500 yuan by living 20 squirrels, and the moment I got the money, my heart was full of mixed feelings, excitement, joy, and loneliness were difficult to express.
Because the farm is far from home, my father does not know all this, and I dare not tell him, after all, I broke my ribs and promised him that it would be successful.
Or the villagers saw me burying the dead weasel every day, felt that something was wrong, told my father, and he came to the mountain to see me.
(Going out to lecture)
Looking at my pitiful appearance, my father's heart softened, and he also knew that all my wealth was pressed on it, and I was definitely not willing to give up. So I bought me a batch of squirrels, and the scale reached more than 100.
People can't fall twice in the same place, and this failed experience made me start to reflect deeply on myself.
I remember that when Mr. Jian Lao planted Chu oranges, he also encountered many problems and experienced failures, and he also planted delicious chu oranges in the process of groping and rolling.
This time, I was no longer impetuous, first improved the breeding environment, and then while consulting with my father, I read books and learned, from feeding to the environment, little by little to learn how to breed high-quality squirrels.
There have been no more mass deaths on the farm, and there is an income of more than 2,000 yuan per month.
(Go to a friend's company to visit the medicinal materials exhibition)
I am well versed in sales, so I actively look for sales channels through various social platforms, and I also share my life and farming dynamics to find opportunities.
After working hard for more than half a year, I finally saw results. In April 2017, I met a buyer from a pharmaceutical factory through a social platform.
They needed a lot of five spirit fats, so I asked him to come over to visit the breeding site and investigate the quality of the weasel. Unexpectedly, I finally successfully signed a contract with this company and gave 340,000 yuan in advance.
The 340,000 was really my life-saving money, but the first order, I almost smashed. Due to its own size, it cannot meet the demand of pharmaceutical companies, so it needs to buy a part from farmers.
At that time, I did not know how to distinguish between good and bad medicinal materials, and as a result, when I bought them, the other party used shoddy charging, resulting in unqualified testing by the pharmaceutical factory.
The first cooperation, is in the run-in period, the two sides of friendly consultation, I bear all the responsibility, there is no need to compensate for the liquidated damages, but the medicinal materials need to be fully reworked, all losses borne by themselves.
(Winter at the breeding base)
After the accident, I was in a hurry, and I was bent on finding the right source of goods. Heaven must have wanted to help me meet an old man who had come from Henan to collect squirrel droppings. I have worked for most of my life, I have a lot of experience, and my judgment is more accurate.
So I asked the old man to teach me, and I was willing to give him a free call, just hoping to learn the essence as soon as possible.
The old man readily agreed, he was really selfless and taught me by hand. After following him from village to village for two months, I was able to distinguish between true and false. Since then, I have never been deceived.
In 2018, I received a strange phone call, the other party said that he was the director of a CCTV program, saw me share my experience of breeding weasels on social platforms, and wanted to interview me.
After I listened to his introduction, my first feeling was that I had met a liar and didn't take care of it. He called me, and I never answered, but with the perseverance of the other party, we added friends. Through his social platform, I learned that the other party was indeed a CCTV director.
(Me with the weasel)
He interviewed me 3 times, mainly my experience of raising squirrels, and after the show was broadcast, I also became a "celebrity" and got a lot of opportunities.
At that time, my experience in all aspects was not enough, and the farm still needed to be improved, so there were few orders for the transaction, but the industry knew that there was such a person as me. I was also fortunate to have reached a scientific research cooperation with a university.
Up to now, I am also a little famous in the industry, and I have cooperated with many well-known pharmaceutical companies. But in recent years, because of the epidemic and natural disasters, our business has not been easy to do.
Last year, there was a flood, the road was broken, and later the lockdown was added, and the cost of express delivery remained high, resulting in no money for a year.
Fortunately, the situation is much better this year, in addition to the costs, if it goes well, it is expected to have an income of about 400,000 yuan a year. Now many farmers have also followed me and embarked on the road of weasel breeding and prosperity.
(With my little weasel)
5 years ago, raising 170 squirrels, the survival rate was less than 20%, even 1,000 yuan was not earned, and the start of the business was almost over.
Now, more than 1,000 squirrels are raised, not only in cooperation with large pharmaceutical companies, but also in scientific research support provided by universities.
Draught does not forget to dig wells, as a rural baby, naturally do not forget the hometown people. I do not skimp on the resources and channels in my hands to help local farmers increase their incomes free of charge.
In the past, farmers did not understand the information, only rely on their own experience to breed, the quality of medicinal materials is not very good. Not knowing the cooperation channels, the medicinal materials in hand can only be sold to the second seller at a price of 36 pieces / kg.
Now, I not only provide training and technical support to farmers to help raise high-quality weasels, but also dock with large pharmaceutical factories to buy, so that the price of medicinal materials has also increased to 40-50 yuan / kg.
(Lecture to students)
In my spare time, I also wrote tens of thousands of words of breeding experience, and took the breeding qualification certificate, and was invited to give lectures to college students or entrepreneurs.
Nowadays, when the career is booming, the feelings have also been harvested. He met a kind and virtuous wife and gave birth to a pair of dragon and phoenix fetal daughters, who were already half a year old. My wife took full care of the family to support me in starting a business. I'm thankful to have it all now.
I was a failed entrepreneur, and when I was most desperate, I also thought, if I had been a teacher and a salesman, would I be living a good life now?
But life always has to be a little hopeful, otherwise life is like a dry well, lifeless. In my bones, I am a restless person, entrepreneurship is my dream, if I don't practice, how can I be worthy of being young and crazy!
I have fallen and climbed up, and only then have I understood that the best way to live in life is to do what I like, and then run with all my strength on the road of chasing dreams.
When you get older, you will not regret the life you once lived. Because, looking back, there are stories, there are footsteps with heads down, and there are distant places when you look up.
【Dictation: Zhang Peng】
【Editor: Xinyue】
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