Text|Dong Jie, Hai Ruojing, Yang Xiao, Xu Caiyu, Qiu Xiaofen, Xi Xiangyu, Wang Fangyu, Zhang Ziyi, Zhong Yixuan
Editor|Yang Xuan, Qiao Qian, Yuan Silai
2023 is a year of expectations and disappointments. In the year after the opening of the epidemic, the world has not become as rich and beautiful as we hoped, and the reality has taught everyone the twists, turns, complexity and lengthiness that the word "recovery" may accompany.
But 36Kr is not willing to stop at complaining about the world and lying flat. We found that even in a challenging situation, in some specific fields and industrial links, there are still people who make money, make a lot of money, and may continue to make money.
Making money isn't just the prerogative of big entrepreneurs. Shareholders, intermediaries, store managers, contractors, employees...... We have selected the stories of some ordinary people, and through their own narration, we have restored some possibilities that are not so far away from us.
Opportunity is like water in a sponge, and there will always be an effort to squeeze it. Even for the average person, even in 2023.
01
Who's making money: Pinduoduo stockholders
How much to earn: In 2023, the income will be nearly 2 times, floating 6 million
Background of making money: Consumption downgrade also has the opportunity to consume downgrade, which means that the company is none other than Pinduoduo. In the first three quarters of 2023, Pinduoduo's total revenue increased by 75% year-on-year to 158.8 billion yuan, and its net profit also increased by 66.4% year-on-year. Pinduoduo has exceeded expectations again and again, making Wall Street traders bow down. In the past year, Pinduoduo's share price has also risen by more than 73%, and when Chinese concept stocks are in a downturn, they have stepped out of the independent market and envied everyone. Among the shareholders who bought Pinduoduo shares, some turned over and swept away the painful memories of the past two years, and some even became financially free.
I first came into contact with Pinduoduo in 2017, when a friend asked me to help him swipe the order (of course, this is a very bad behavior, laughs), because I had opened a Taobao store for 4 years before, so I was very interested in this new e-commerce company, and I started to check the information that night, and I studied it for many days, just to see how different it is from Taobao.
At that time, I had several intuitive feelings about Pinduoduo: it was extremely user-friendly, the app opened very quickly, the shopping process was very simplified, and the recommendation algorithm was efficient but not searchable, which was friendly to middle-aged and future generations. Almost all of the designs are designed to promote conversion efficiency.
The birth of Taobao changed the life of the physical store, and the goods in my own Taobao store were taken from the physical store, but in 2014, the things I sold on Taobao were even more expensive than the physical store, and at that time Ali had begun to support Tmall and vigorously do commercialization, I felt that this action was very dangerous, and it also prompted me to start buying Pinduoduo shares.
The first time I bought it was in October of that year, shortly after Pinduoduo went public (listed on the NASDAQ on July 26, 2018), the stock price was less than $20, and it was increasing its position throughout 2019. At the craziest time in 2021, Duoduo rose to $210, and the whole person was very excited at that time, and the account income rose by 226%, but I never threw it, and it was rubbed repeatedly in the next 2 years.
In May 2021, Pinduoduo once fell to $120, and I added another position because I was optimistic about the company, but then due to the escalation of Sino-US trade frictions and audit compliance issues, Duoduo fell to only more than $20 at the beginning of 2022, and I was very worried and chose to sell 30% of my position that night.
On the second night of the sale, Duoduo rebounded sharply by 70%, and suddenly reached $38, and my whole intestines were remorseful, and I was very unwilling. I didn't close my eyes all night, and I kept researching all kinds of information, and I came to the conclusion that Pinduoduo is a rare high-growth stock in China, and it is only listed in the United States, and it has not returned to Hong Kong, so the "pinch" is not so big. So I bought some back the next day, but the overall position was only 80% of what it was before.
Now my average holding cost of Pinduoduo is about 40 US dollars, the overall investment is more than 2 million, and now the floating profit is nearly 6 million, and the overall income in 5 years is about 3 times, and the income in 2023 is close to 2 times.
I personally agree with many of Huang Zheng's remarks, for example, he said that the underlying logic of the group is the insight into interpersonal relationships, and the person who spells the same thing with you is likely to be of the same class as you, so he will recommend the things that people in this circle have bought to you, which is a very important reason why Pinduoduo can grow in the early days.
For another example, he mentioned the relationship between assets and expenses, "In the purchase of assets, the wrong waste is actually not very good, at most it is just more expensive." In terms of waste, it is very hateful and often has a negative effect." So you can see that Pinduoduo's office is very crowded, it doesn't have its own office building, and it doesn't do bells and whistles to advertise, but they are very willing to spend money on things that can be turned into assets, such as their employee salaries are the highest in the industry.
On the night that Pinduoduo's market value surpassed that of Ali in 2023, I was actually quite excited, and I told my wife that I was not wrong about this company. Although Ali is now a bit of a wall and everyone is pushing it, Pinduoduo has indeed fought a bloody way in the track of e-commerce.
Why have I not sold Pinduoduo shares? An important premise for its rise is the overcapacity of China's manufacturing industry, as well as the industrial environment in which merchants continue to be highly involuted, and it is clear that this environment will not end in the short term, so Pinduoduo will enjoy this dividend for a long time.
Judging from the results, almost every financial report in the past has been unexpected, and its domestic e-commerce has the ability to earn $10 billion a year in the future, and it is still growing rapidly, Temu is also rising rapidly, and it is not an exaggeration to give him a price-earnings ratio of 25-30 times.
Most importantly, I recognize the execution and efficiency of the management, and I also agree with Huang Zheng's business philosophy. I have read the articles and materials on the market about Pinduoduo and Huang Zheng more than once, Huang Zheng is Duan Yongping's apprentice, and he also had dinner with Warren Buffett in his early years, both of them are adherents of value investment, and I personally agree with value investment.
As for when it will be sold, maybe it's too expensive, higher than its actual value, or maybe it's losing its moat, or maybe I've found a better opportunity than Pinduoduo.
(The stock market is risky, and the above remarks do not represent the views of 36Kr, nor do they constitute any stock recommendations.) ）
02
Who's making money: importer of "semaglutide" for weight loss
How much to earn: net profit of more than 100 million
Background of making money: The "miracle drug for weight loss" represented by semaglutide and tirpatide will become popular in the pharmaceutical circle in 2023. In the first three quarters of 2023 alone, semaglutide contributed $14.2 billion in revenue to Novo Nordisk, driving the Danish pharmaceutical company's market value to surpass LV and become the most valuable company in Europe. Several companies in the upstream of this miracle drug that supply APIs and injection pens have made a lot of money, and some pharmaceutical distributors and drug sellers in the midstream have also reaped dividends. In such a track of strong R&D and strong supervision as GLP-1 drugs, it has embarked on a path of consumer medicine, and the wealth story staged in 2023 is really surprising.
We are a company in Hong Kong that does cross-border drug circulation, and we have been selling semaglutide oral tablets since mid-2022 - the kind of "weight loss miracle drug" that can suppress appetite, and it has reached its first small peak in April 2023, and it has continued to be popular in the last eight or nine months, with full sales.
Relying on this explosive product, I earned more than 100 million and a net profit.
A few years ago, when I was a student in Hong Kong, I knew about semaglutide, and at that time, some friends who were insurance workers purchased semaglutide injections and sold them to high-net-worth clients. However, because the injection pen must be transported in the cold chain throughout the whole process, it is not suitable for cross-border logistics in large quantities, and the mainland will soon be listed, and the price is not high, so before the oral tablets come out, the amount of injections shipped by our cold chain is very small.
Until semaglutide was launched, logistics was no longer a problem, and it was priced differently in different countries, and there were relatively cheap versions of the drug, which gave us the opportunity to stock up and ship on a large scale.
Now semaglutide oral tablets are like "Moutai", each distributor has a limited quota, and getting the supply is the key. Our company can do it because I can get quotas.
Why can you get it? It is done early, the relationship is hard, there is a license, cross-border logistics and payment can be opened, and the cooperation with everyone is happy, etc., there are many reasons.
It is certain that the monthly income of customers who buy medicine from me is more than 20,000 yuan, which is generally more than 50,000 yuan, concentrated in first- and second-tier cities. Men are mainly in the financial, pharmaceutical, Internet and other industries, and are usually over thirty or forty years old, and many of them are entrepreneurs and investors - to put it bluntly, most of the men who have requirements for body management are scene people. For girls, the range is very wide, from low to high, mainly for weight loss.
Hong Kong can be said to be a drug transit station, we have cross-border pharmaceutical licenses, import and export qualifications, and can sell cross-border drugs to companies or individuals. Now there are more "direct mail for personal use", which is compliant all over the world, but the amount of one shipment cannot be too large, and the drug list and the physical object must match.
Its practical semaglutide oral tablets cost about 1500-2000 yuan a month, such a great weight loss product, this price, is not more cost-effective than any health care products? In my case, there must be more than 50,000 customers who have paid more than 10,000 yuan.
Many customers who buy medicine are repeat purchasers, or recommended by friends, and they know very well what they want, and they place orders and pay in 5 minutes, and they don't need much service. So we have no more than 20 people in our company now, and I am the boss myself, and I have no partners.
Selling semaglutide oral tablets can make this money, which is completely expected. When I was 23 years old, I sold my anti-aging health supplement brand to a listed company. In 2022, we sold a specific drug for an epidemic, and the profit was more substantial than selling weight loss drugs, and it was also at that time that we accumulated a large number of high-net-worth customers in Hong Kong and the mainland.
I define myself as not a person who chases the wind, but a person who "creates the wind", which is not natural, and there are not many individuals who really make money. In the circle of hypoglycemic and weight-loss drugs, the influential vertical media "GLP-1 Weight Loss Manual" is what we did. In the past, many people didn't know about semaglutide oral tablets, because we have supplies, media, and customers, and high-quality customers can also fission, directly close the loop, and make this product a fire. Of course, the premise is that the drug is good enough and just needed enough.
After making money, of course, it is necessary to continue to start a business. I have already built a new healthcare platform in the mainland, and this matter is about to start financing, with the goal of creating a "super channel" for GLP-1 drugs.
03
Who's making money: Nvidia chip trade middlemen
赚多少：4000-5000万
Background of making money: General artificial intelligence is a world-class scientific and technological outlet in 2023, and China's science and technology industry has also embarked on the road of "refining AI models". Although the AI model has not yet been commercialized on a large scale, the chips of the "water seller" NVIDIA have become difficult to find. Although its total revenue in the first three quarters of 2023 only increased by 85.5% compared with the same period in 2022, its net profit increased by 491.5% year-on-year. As its performance skyrocketed, its stock price also rose from about $150 at the beginning of 2023 to about $500 at the end of the year. Shareholders, employees, intermediaries...... All kinds of people related to NVIDIA shared the feast together.
Since October 2022, I have often seen news about the sale of NVIDIA's high-end computing chips in different groups - because I am a headhunter in the field of autonomous driving, and I will contact many algorithm engineers - they claim to have A100 and H100 sources.
In April 2023, a friend asked if he wanted to sell Nvidia's hardware together. I thought that after the big model was up, Nvidia's cards would become more and more important, and there was a lot of room for operation, so I started to do it. Now NVIDIA's high-end graphics cards are very tight, and my friend has a special channel in his hand to ship things to China.
Servers weren't that expensive back then. A100 sells for more than 1 million yuan, I can increase the price and commission on it, and add 10,000 yuan or 20,000 yuan for one machine. Customers rarely place orders for 1 or 2 units, at least 10 units, sometimes an order can have about 50 units, and theoretically it can earn hundreds of thousands.
The people who make money either have a strong supply of goods or have abundant buyers.
There is a friend who is overseas who has earned at least 4000 or 50 million, and others are overseas, and it is very convenient to buy goods, and the price of the goods in his hand is cheap, so it is better to make a deal. The people who make the most money are often those who are close to the source of goods overseas, and there are also some people who can get quotas from state-owned enterprises and colleges.
Of course, there are also risks, such as if there is a problem with the goods during transportation, you need to bear the loss yourself.
There is also a friend who earns about 1 million. His main job is product director, and he is usually very busy. He knows a lot of people in the AI field, and the sales are good, so it is relatively easy to sell. However, one million is not a lot of money for him, and he will lose 1.8 million in stock trading in 2023.
Everyone basically works part-time, relying on their previous resources. For example, people who are already doing cloud business are selling servers when doing sales and channels.
The closer we are to the source of goods, the less the middleman will increase the price, and the higher the probability of selling. The longest whole chain can turn 7 or 8 hands, and the last person can only add a few thousand dollars at most.
At present, there are about 100-200 servers that can be circulated every month on the market. There is very little stock, and if you place an order, you have to start at least 2 months, and it will be ordered in less than 8 hours at the earliest.
It is very difficult to negotiate an order, customers will compare prices, and they all want to buy at a cheaper price. When the market price of the server is more than 2.3 million, there are customers who want to get the goods for 1.7 million, and they are very helpless.
It's also easy to run orders in the middle. Once, a customer was supposed to buy 20 machines, talked for a long time, and was about to sign a contract, and suddenly repented and said that it was too expensive and didn't want it. After this time, I only talk to people who can make decisions, and if they can't, don't talk about them.
Like A800 and H800, they are all sold as a whole machine, and transportation is still more troublesome, and there are many people who sell 4090 consumer cards (NVIDIA's consumer graphics cards). Before the ban, this card was normally sold for 17,000 or 18,000 yuan, and it could be bought for as little as 12,000 yuan.
A friend was lucky enough to stock up on 500 4090 cards in September 2023. At that time, the industry felt that the A100 was too expensive and wanted to buy a server assembled with 4090 cards.
By October, the 4090 card was also banned from being sold in China, and the card instantly rose to 19,000 yuan, and the highest price rose to 24,000 yuan. Even according to the profit of 5,000 yuan from selling single cards, he has earned 2.5 million yuan in more than one month.
But I didn't actually make much money, because my connections were not wide enough, and the most important thing to do this thing was to look at the connections and the source of goods. I know people who do self-driving, and if they want to sell servers to make money, they have to reopen and maintain resources, which is equivalent to doing a new job.
Now I only spend 5% of my energy on this every day, but the focus will be on thinking about what resources to start a business, hoping to become a million-dollar "grandfather" like everyone else.
04
Who's making money: car exports "Belt and Road" traders
How much to earn: "When it was the hottest, it made a profit of 10 million a month"
Background: New energy vehicles are changing the passive situation of China's auto exports. In 2023, China will export 3.72 million passenger cars, officially surpassing Japan to become the world's largest automobile exporter. Among them, the export of new energy vehicles reached 1.091 million units, a year-on-year increase of 83.5%, and the unit price of high-end new energy brands increased from 85,000 yuan in 2018 to 143,000 yuan. Excellent product strength has brought considerable premiums, and some traders are making a lot of profits through China's new energy vehicles.
I am an automobile trader Ba Yiqi, originally in China to do Internet entrepreneurship is more successful, has a certain amount of wealth accumulation, by chance to see the news, I want to go to the Internet to do car self-media, car critics, want to take the car factory advertising to make money.
I did it for a while, and I had some fans, but I found that there was no brand looking for me to put it on at all, however, some netizens from Kyrgyzstan approached me, saying that these cars were very good, and asked me if I could buy a car. I didn't know much about cars, and I didn't know anything about car exports, but more and more people came to me, and I vaguely felt that it was a good business, so I started to find a way.
After some searching, it was found that there is a way to "export second-hand cars", that is, to sell the vehicles that have been licensed in China overseas, but the mileage of these vehicles is only a dozen kilometers, and the "second-hand cars" on the procedures are essentially "new cars". This policy was only promulgated in 2019, when the second-hand car exports were all "real" second-hand cars with at least tens of thousands of mileage, and there were only a dozen "pilot enterprises" with export qualifications. However, by 2023, there will be more than 480 "pilot enterprises" across the country with qualifications, and it is reported that starting in January 2024, the qualification will be fully liberalized. By the end of 2023, more than 480 "pilot enterprises" across the country already have qualifications, and it is reported that starting in January 2024, the qualification will be fully liberalized.
In Kyrgyzstan, the cars driven by the locals are very old, like a product of the last century. In July 2023, I drove to Bishkek with my friends, and I was originally going to transport more than a dozen Chinese cars to Russia to sell, but when my car was placed in Bishkek, the locals came around to ask questions, wanting to buy my personal car or test drive, which was basically in short supply.
A very impressive order is 3 Zeekrypton 001, which I found from my self-media account. If these individual consumers want to buy a new car directly from a Chinese car company, both the payment process and the internal process of the enterprise will be very lengthy, which gives us traders the opportunity. And, I was very pleasantly surprised that they paid the full amount in advance immediately after confirming the order, which greatly reduced my financial pressure in the early stage.
Many domestic friends think that I am making money by selling cars at a higher price, but in fact, this is not simply the case, tax rebates account for almost half of my profits. Like Kyrgyzstan, it is very supportive of the import of new energy vehicles, and there is a preferential exemption policy for new energy vehicles, and a car with a domestic price of 380,000 yuan can basically refund more than 40,000 yuan and nearly 50,000 yuan. The premium of the vehicle is actually unstable, in May-June 2023, the ideal L9 is very hot in Central Asia and Russia, and there are not many cars in circulation at that time, so a car can increase the price by at least 40,000. To put it simply, selling an ideal L9 in May can earn at least 90,000 yuan.
During that time, the traders I heard of who made the most money sold four or five hundred cars a month, and the monthly profit reached 10 million yuan. Of course, this also includes fuel vehicles, and new energy vehicles account for only about 20%. Later, many people knew that new energy vehicles were on fire, and many people also began to engage in the export of ideal cars. At the most popular time, at the Khorgos port in Xinjiang, dozens of ideal L9 units were shipped out every day, and some people even directly pulled 300 ideal units to be placed at the port and waited for people to buy them.
Later, in November, it entered the off-season, Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, and Moscow, the capital of Russia, many stores have the current cars of the ideal car for sale, and there are more cars on the market, there will be a price war, and no one buys the high premium, so the business is at the end of the year, it is difficult to make money at the premium, and some traders who blindly throw money have even suffered a lot of losses.
However, the good trend is that these countries in Central Asia have a very positive attitude towards new energy vehicles, and the number of Chinese new energy vehicles exported to this area will definitely continue to grow in the future. I am now developing new customers in Moscow, as long as the policy supports new energy vehicles, we can still make money, and we can also contribute to the Chinese car to the world!
05
Who's making money: The manager of Xiaomi Home
How much to earn: Double your sales
Background of making money: Xiaomi will fight a rare turnaround battle in 2023 with the hot sales of Xiaomi 14 mobile phones. Xiaomi's Q3 2023 ended its six-quarter downturn, achieving year-on-year revenue growth for the first time, and adjusted net profit surging 183% year-on-year. And more than 10,000 Xiaomi Home stores offline have also made money with the hot sales of mobile phones and IoT products.
I am the store manager of Xiaomi Home in Chengdu MixC, we are the best Xiaomi Home in Sichuan in December, and the sales of our store in 2023 have doubled compared to 2022. The sales performance of the store is good, and the income of me and my store partners in 2023 will increase compared with 2022, and the store will also be able to get more resources for Xiaomi's hot-selling models.
There are two reasons for Xiaomi's sales to double in 2023, both subjective and objective.
Objectively, although the overall consumption will have a downward trend in 2023, Chengdu's consumption power will be stronger than in 2022, because in 2023, Chengdu will issue several rounds of consumption coupons for the clothing, catering, and consumer electronics industries, which will promote consumption potential, which has brought a lot of help to our performance;
In terms of subjective factors, it is because of the strength of Xiaomi's products. The best-selling phone in our store in 2023 is the Xiaomi 14 series, and the customer evaluation of the Xiaomi 14 series is that it has a good grip and the Xiaomi surging OS is smoother than before.
I still remember that on the night of the Xiaomi 14 series on sale, the original plan was to pick up the goods at 8 o'clock in the evening, due to the large number of customers who booked the model, the delivery time was longer, and Xiaomi specially approved all stores to pick up the machine 2 hours in advance. There were a lot of people at the pick-up site that night, and we also borrowed 25 one-meter barriers from the mall in advance, planned the pick-up channel and delivery channel, and the experience table was full of customers for 3-4 hours.
The mall was originally scheduled to close at 10 p.m., and it was close to 12 a.m. for our customers' mobile phone information. I still remember that some customers said that seeing Xiaomi's stock price performance in 2022 was relatively average, they brought their families to the store to buy several mobile phones to support Xiaomi through the trough period.
In fact, in recent years, the shipments of the mobile phone industry have continued to decline, and everyone's mood is very anxious and nervous, and in 2023, everyone is racking their brains every day to think about how to sell goods, and doubling sales in 2023 is inseparable from our own efforts.
Our store was previously upstairs, but in 2021, we will strive to relocate to the second phase of the Mixc, which is a more lively street frontage. In addition, in 2023, we have done a lot of drainage actions, such as various pushes, sending flyers, adding customers' WeChat, etc., in order to guide customers to the store.
In addition, we have also been cooperating with the coupon grabbing activities of the MixC shopping mall, joining the store community and so on. Our Xiaomi Home store is the most active mobile phone store in Chengdu MixC Mall, and we will do activities and communicate almost every week, and the degree of cooperation is also the highest. There are also other mobile phone stores such as OPPO and Honor in the MixC, and I learned about their sales, and Xiaomi sells better because we have a richer category.
In addition to offline sales, we have also cooperated with Meituan and JD.com in the instant retail integration business, and the sales of the online platform business of the store have been increasing month-on-month. In 2022, there will be more customers placing orders for home appliances in our online stores year-on-year, but in 2023, there will be a significant increase in customers for small household appliances such as electric heaters and rice cookers on online platforms, which coincides with the 9% increase in the IoT category in Xiaomi's financial report for the third quarter of 2023.
Since 2023, most mobile phone manufacturers have been trapped in inventory on the channel side, but under Xiaomi's direct store model, our goods rights are on Xiaomi's side, and since 2023, Xiaomi's product turnover has been very fast, and the financial report also shows that Xiaomi's inventory is now at the healthiest level, and the most difficult period has passed.
I have been in the catering industry for too long, and the catering industry is relatively sluggish during the epidemic, so I want to change industries, and I am more interested in Xiaomi's products, and I have a long experience in store management, so I joined Xiaomi Home as a store manager in 2021. In the future, I will continue to do Xiaomi, and after I joined Xiaomi, many friends in the catering industry have asked me how to change careers. If the store manager does a good job, he can continue to go up and do category operation management and so on.
06
Who's making money: PV engineering contractors
How much to earn: Sign a contract for a 20 million project
Background: 2023 is a big year for photovoltaic installations. According to data from the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, from January to October 2023, the new domestic PV installed capacity increased by 145% year-on-year. More than half of these are distributed PV projects, installed on the rooftops of commercial and industrial buildings, public facilities and farmers. Local state-owned assets and urban investment platforms are also important members of the investors of distributed photovoltaic projects. This is in line with the policy direction of carbon peaking, carbon neutrality and rural revitalization, and has been welcomed by local state-owned assets in various places.
However, the link of making money has shifted. Upstream overcapacity, PV module prices have fallen by half year-to-date, which has greatly stimulated downstream installed demand, and profits have also shifted from upstream to downstream - whoever can decide to purchase will get more benefits.
I do electrical engineering. In the past, we used to do traditional assembly electricity and install power supply systems for communities and enterprises. In 2023, I will start to do photovoltaic projects, for example, if Party A subcontracts a photovoltaic energy storage project, I will go to the manufacturer to purchase photovoltaic panels and energy storage batteries, and then find workers to install them.
Business in 2023 will mainly rely on photovoltaic projects. At present, the projects that have signed contracts add up to more than 20 million yuan. I'm also afraid that Party A will run away, so some of the state-owned enterprise projects I received had to call me for 20% advance payment. At the end of the year, 2 million yuan was collected in advance alone.
It is also because the real estate industry is no longer good, and I have to transform into photovoltaics. In 2020, I took over a power distribution project in a residential area with a project amount of 20 million yuan. In the past, it only took a year to build a new community. This community has been repaired for three years and has not yet been completed. Because the house can't be sold, the developer can't turn around quickly and repair it slowly. If the community is not completed, the power assembly project will not be completed. I have not yet received the balance of the project.
Actually, I did a PV project in 2016, but I didn't do it again after a while. At that time, a friend happened to introduce that a private enterprise had a photovoltaic project in Anhui. I went on to work on the installation. The project has an installed PV capacity of 25 megawatts (MW). At that time, the installation cost was high, and the installation fee was nine cents a tile, but now it is only two or three cents a tile.
The installation company has no technical content, it is nothing more than I find the workers, and then I can negotiate the price of the equipment and make a difference. PV installations require a particularly large number of workers. A residential power project may only require a dozen workers. A photovoltaic project requires hundreds of workers. Workers are everywhere. Call to find some contractors, one contractor with dozens of fellow villagers, Jiangsu, Chongqing, Henan...... That's it.
This is also the most difficult thing to do photovoltaic projects, and it is difficult to manage when there are too many workers. There was a contractor who ran away, and the workers didn't get paid, so they all came to me. On the ground in front of and behind my car, two workers slept on one side, afraid that I would drive away overnight. Anhui is also cold in winter, so after two days, I told them not to sleep on the side of the car, and I definitely won't run.
We called the contractor, called him back, and called the police, but to no avail. Later, I applied to Party A and made another payment to settle the workers' wages. After that, I didn't do PV projects. Dozens of workers block you, it's scary.
The Anhui project did not make any money, only a few hundred thousand yuan. There are two aspects to the cost of a PV project, equipment and labor. The cost of equipment accounts for 60-70% of the project amount, and labor only accounts for 10-20%. Party A of the Anhui project is a private enterprise and purchases its own equipment. The installation company mainly earns the difference in the price of equipment, and only labor services do not make much money. So, in 2016 I did three PV projects.
Picking up projects is like playing cards, relying on skill or luck? In fact, there are all of them, and the luck component is even greater. Many people come to me to talk about PV projects, some in Vietnam and some in Diqing, but there has been no suitable opportunity.
In the past few years, I have been doing traditional assembly electricity, and I have encountered the boom of the real estate industry. By 2019, I can feel that the real estate industry is no longer good. There are fewer traditional assembly power projects, and the project profit margin has dropped from 30% to 10%. Migrant workers who were originally in the real estate industry are also pouring into the photovoltaic industry. Especially in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, there are many centralized photovoltaic projects, and many of the workers are migrant workers who used to work in the construction industry. A few years ago, maybe a few people talked to me about PV projects a year. In the past two years, people have come to me every month to talk about photovoltaics.
In 2023, I just started working on photovoltaic projects. Someone happened to introduce me to the person in charge of a state-owned enterprise, and the conversation was quite speculative. They are going to launch a large number of photovoltaic energy storage charging station projects. In fact, photovoltaic and energy storage only account for a fraction, and the main thing is to build charging stations. I have a 5 million yuan charging station project, photovoltaic only accounts for more than 100,000 yuan, and energy storage accounts for more than 700,000 yuan. The bulk of the project is still a building, and the charging stations are small squares, and the stations must be repaired. It is equivalent to borrowing the name of photovoltaic and energy storage to replace gas stations with charging stations.
The profit margin of the PV energy storage project I am currently working on is 30%. Whether it is traditional assembly electricity or photovoltaic energy storage, the installation company mainly earns the difference in equipment price. This is very normal, I spend manpower and material resources to procure, management, and there must be profits. The fact that state-owned enterprises are willing to give me the right to purchase is also because it is easy to manage. He only has to take care of one company, otherwise he has to manage countless companies. In fact, during the real estate boom in 2016, the profit margin of my residential assembly electricity was also like this.
And who in the state-owned enterprises cares about how much money they spend? They are state funds, and they do not pursue profits. What he wants is political performance, and he wants to make the project beautiful. Therefore, the cost of his investment is higher than that of private projects.
I plan to do a big job in the photovoltaic project next year, and I will do at least 50 million yuan in revenue. Now that I have signed a contract of tens of millions of yuan, there are no major psychological fluctuations. After signing, it takes a lot to get the money back, which is too long.
I also thought that there must be a lot of people who have better and more capable skills than me. It's just that I got lucky, and then I got it. After this wave of photovoltaic dividends, if you really make money. Then I would like to switch to an asset with a stable income every year. At least you don't have to be fifty or sixty years old to run around for a living.
07
Who's making money: Mini Program skit streaming companies and streaming hands
How much to earn: 200,000 yuan per month
Background of making money: Skits are undoubtedly a boiling industry in 2023. The production side has a low threshold, a lot of supply, and a low right to speak, and the companies that have mastered the "secret decision" on high-traffic platforms such as Douyin and Tencent have become the most profitable link. It's just that many practitioners also expected early that this may be like the once-popular short video brainwashing advertisement, which will usher in regulation sooner or later, and it will be a wave of "fast money". Sure enough, at the end of the year, the mini program skit was suddenly paused by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. The person who really makes money is invisible, 36 Krypton has asked many people in the industry, and they all get the same answer, "The wind has been tight recently, and it needs to be low-key, and the circle is so small, you will know who it is if you say a few more words." A similar situation also happened in the game industry, although there will be popular games such as Egg Boy Party in 2023, but the relevant people have politely rejected 36 Krypton and wanted to be "low-key". We can only relay a short, "word of mouth" money-making story.
Kyushu culture, now when it comes to the skit industry, is a company that will never be ignored. started from online text distribution, and only came into contact with short dramas in October 2021, and in just over two years, Kyushu has become a leading short drama company with the ability to cast, produce and distribute.
Regarding how big Kyushu's plate is, founder Wang Jiacheng once said that during the peak period, Kyushu's daily advertising expenses for short dramas exceeded tens of millions of yuan. And the entire short drama market, according to industry insiders to 36 Krypton, is only about 40 million to 60 million yuan in a single day.
Not only in the traffic business, Kyushu's ambition lies in the entire short drama industry chain. According to public data, Kyushu currently cooperates with more than 300 production companies in the industry. Wang Jiacheng revealed that there was a time when 50 dramas in Hengdian were started at the same time, and 30 of them were filming in Kyushu.
A producer had dealt with Kyushu. He told 36Kr that Kyushu would buy out the copyright and stream in the form of providing scripts and part of the production fee from the early stage, so as to maximize the hit rate of Kyushu, "The production fee is generally more than 100,000 yuan, and it fluctuates according to the strength of the producer."
In other words, as long as the source is controlled, Kyushu's explosive models can continue to roll.
The operation of the system requires a large team. Another producer told 36Kr that there were hundreds of people in Kyushu just by casting streamers. Wang Jiacheng said that among the pitchers, "the monthly income of 100,000 and 200,000 is particularly large." ”
This is not an exaggeration, Kyushu also revealed a set of amazing data, in the first three quarters of 2023, there are 34 screenwriters in Kyushu whose average monthly salary exceeds 100,000 yuan, of which 13 have a monthly salary of more than 500,000 yuan - far more than the income of a large factory executive.
In the past, he has been spinning in the streaming business, and Wang Jiacheng knows a lot about the distribution business, and investing in mini program dramas is just a change of protagonist.
There is also an episode that is quite funny, before making a fortune, Wang Jiacheng, the founder of Kyushu, had been doing online distribution, because of lack of money, he almost sold Kyushu halfway.
The trough turned over, life reversed, and Kyushu himself became a short drama.
08
Who's Making Money: Middle Eastern Entrepreneurs
How much to earn: The profit is more than 10 million
Background: When the European and American markets are still struggling to recover from high inflation, the friendly and wealthy Middle East market has become a hot spot for Chinese to go overseas. Saudi Arabia, once conservative and closed-off, has set out an ambitious Vision 2030: promoting foreign investment, increasing women's employment, and developing the private sector. As of November 2023, mainland exports to Saudi Arabia grew by 14.4% in US dollar terms. According to official data released by Saudi Arabia, in October 2023, Saudi Arabia's imports to China have accounted for 20% of the overall imports, ranking first among all countries. The keen Chinese are moved by the wind, and they will certainly not let go of this rare dividend.
I'm Chen Lijuan, the founder of MIONE. In the past, starting a business was seven points of luck and three points of effort, but now it may take five points of hard work and five points of luck. Whether there is luck or not is uncertain, but the trend is important, and it is important to see if the bet is right.
I have been in the consumer electronics business in the Middle East for almost ten years, and I have experienced particularly good times, and I have also made my first pot of gold, which has changed my destiny and my family.
In the past two years, I have been thinking about what else I can do, reviewed the customer resources in my hands, and found that Saudi Arabia accounts for 70%, so in March 2023, I decided to move the company's operation center from Dubai to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which is considered the second venture.
Now my Saudi company mainly focuses on consumer electronics and smart home, and we are also the exclusive distributor of PHILIPS smart door locks in Saudi Arabia. Up to now, less than 10 months after the start of the business, the total revenue has exceeded 50 million, and the profit is expected to exceed 10 million yuan.
If you've been to Dubai and landed in Riyadh, the visual impact will be very big. Compared with Dubai, the overall architecture of Riyadh is generally short, and the main color of the building is earthy yellow, which will have a feeling of yellow sand;
Riyadh and Dubai have a completely different modern cosmopolitan feel, it is very much like a wealthy merchant family in a high-profile family, and those who have just arrived are at a loss for the door. For example, if you want to register a company in Riyadh, it may take 3-6 months for the government to process the process, while in Dubai it will only take a few weeks, and China will be faster.
Saudi Arabia today is much like China a dozen years ago. From Riyadh to Jeddah, and then from Jeddah to Dammam, the whole of Saudi Arabia is in the process of demolition and reconstruction, and the demand for infrastructure is very strong; among the more than 30 million people in Saudi Arabia, it is estimated that 90,000 are Chinese, and 80% of them are here to build infrastructure.
At present, the rent of office buildings in Riyadh is also soaring, at the beginning of the year, the rent of the office we saw was only 500 s$/square meter (about 951 yuan/square meter), and now it has risen to 1,300 s$/square meter (about 2,474 yuan/square meter), and it is not a Grade A office building, it is a very ordinary office building.
However, unlike in the early years of China, Saudi locals are very rich, they have a complete set of Hermes household products at home, and they will fly to Paris for treatment of common colds, and their usual life is to vacation everywhere. For example, one of the dealers we have been working with, the owner is a local Saudi Arabian, I have never seen him actually come to the store for a long time, he spends most of his time vacationing somewhere in the world, and the day-to-day business affairs are handled by professional managers.
The Middle East does have a threshold for Chinese entrepreneurs. Doing business in Saudi Arabia, it's hard to meet locals on a daily basis. Moreover, Saudi Arabia is now in the early stage of reform and opening up, and most of the grassroots employees in the channel can only speak Arabic, and only when dealing with middle and high-level people, the other party can speak English.
Before 2021, as a woman, I could not go to Saudi Arabia alone, I had to be accompanied by my husband to obtain an entry visa, and I had to wear a black robe when I went out there, and I could only show two eyes. Now you can walk around Riyadh in a skirt. My previous male clients would not shake my hand (related to religious beliefs), and they were not Xi to talking to women about business, but in the past two years, they have gradually opened up and started to communicate with me directly.
Last month we attended the building materials exhibition in Dammam, the third largest city in Saudi Arabia. This is the first time we have participated in the exhibition in Saudi Arabia, and 80% of the exhibition in Dammam are Chinese companies, and only 20% are local companies. Initially, we were expecting a fair number of people, but we were worried that there might not be so many people coming to the show. As a result, the effect of the exhibition was completely beyond our imagination, a local customer directly placed an order for 50 sets of smart door locks (for personal use), bought all the samples, and received orders of more than 2 million Saudi dollars (about 3.8 million yuan) on the spot.
Interestingly, Saudi Arabia is a country that supports polygamy. Therefore, Saudi families are different from China, most Chinese families only need one set of smart door locks, but each family in Saudi Arabia needs at least 3-5 sets of smart door locks, they have a door, master bedroom, main living room, including between each wife, must have their own door locks, plus local families may also have a lot of houses in their hands, the demand for door locks is much greater than we expected.
However, people who don't know about Saudi Arabia will be worried when they come over, after all, it is very different from China. But I believe that just like China's reform and opening up in the past, there will be a lot of opportunities to be born in the reform. At present, I know that there will be more than a dozen Chinese companies registered in Saudi Arabia by the end of the year, all of which are still going through the process, and I believe that there will be more Chinese companies that will land next year.
Made in China is no longer synonymous with low price and inferior quality, with good product quality and cost performance, and a very large competitive advantage. At the exhibition, the product iteration and update speed of local Saudi companies was particularly slow, which is a great opportunity for our Chinese companies.