"The universe factory left to start a jewelry, thinking it was a dimensionality reduction blow, but after half a year of entrepreneurship, I borrowed nothing. ”
When Frank resigned from a large factory, spent more than a billion yuan on marketing, produced explosive products, and rushed to the first place in the sales of many products in the tuyere company, he thought that he "still has some ability", "I don't want to work anymore, and I am determined to start a business."
At the beginning of his business, he wrote the turnover target of $2 million in half a year and $10 million a year into the document, "I thought about what twists and turns to tell when @Chengqian Circle of Friends interviewed me, and I would like to thank my parents or partners first." "And half a year later, I can't raise money, I borrow nothing, and I can't make a profit," the brand has no voice, the scale is getting smaller and smaller, and the mentality is getting worse and worse. Frank's once optimistic assumptions were extinguished by reality, and he found that "an ordinary pearl self-employed person can beat us." ”
"Life is a wilderness, not a track. ”
In 2023, this sentence, which is quite popular on the Internet, and the "restart life" that has repeatedly rushed to the hot search, touched the emotions of Frank, when the workers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou called the company a "big factory" and called themselves "factory brothers and sisters", they were extremely clearly aware that they were playing the role of "screws" under the "alienation of labor", and they were extremely anxious because it was difficult to prove their "irreplaceability".
The money-making philosophy of "I don't want to continue working" has become the mainstream narrative on social platforms, and when the big factory people in the lattice room really decide to step out of the original track, can they jump into the wilderness?
Asu, 28 years old this year, was originally an employee of a large factory with an annual salary of 50w after tax, "996 accounts for 60%, 007 accounts for 40%", and he is very busy at work. In 2023, she gained 20 pounds, the more melatonin she ate, and the physical examination found that lumbar keyboard herniation and nodules were the lightest problems.
When she resigned, she took 300,000 savings and decided to find a broader life and more possibilities.
Even if she could write a 5,000-word doc on "how to do Taobao drainage", her Taobao store did not last for 3 months; when she went to Yiwu to try to "integrate resources", she spent 20,000 yuan to stock up and did not sell it at all; and the rest of the goods were pulled to the market, and the booth fee was 300 yuan a day, and she only sold it for 170 yuan. The imaginary chic life of "making money while playing" has not arrived, and she is running between the "fragmentary part-time jobs" that come at an unknown time, as well as various explorations that have not improved.
When the cool workplace article of "big factory resigned, beautiful baby is gone" became a reality, Asu and Frank, who planned to "restart their lives", were pulled into the real world off-screen.
Standing at the new juncture of the Internet's exhaustion of dividends, they cautiously examine their work and life. The big factory faded its halo, together with the Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen that housed migrant workers. When the cost performance of part-time jobs is getting lower and lower, "I don't know who will come first tomorrow and being laid off", on social media, the posts of "Internet naked resignation and monthly income of 50,000 yuan", "30 major factories naked resignation, restart life", have become new traffic passwords.
And when they decided to "go out and see", they walked out of the big factory, thinking that they could get rid of the shackles of going to work, and quickly detached themselves from the original track through naked speech, looking for a more open life. But full of anticipation, they leap into the wilderness and face the reality of life, only to find that more possibilities often mean greater uncertainty. If you get out of the track, you don't necessarily jump into the wilderness.
Picture/Internet-filled naked postings
Source/Alphabet Chart screenshot
A
"I can't be a screw anymore" has almost become the mainstream reason for people in big factories to leave.
After more than three years in a large factory on Zhichun Road, Frank's position is biased towards the middle office, and he has spent billions of dollars to promote several popular apps on the Internet, and the work of "supporting a certain business" over and over again gradually makes Frank feel bored.
In the beginning, he would be happy with the completion of a short project, "It's like a factory screw, I'm happy when I screw it in, but as the work gets longer, I don't want to just screw it in, I want to try to get the machine running myself." Frank began to have a desire to start a business. Subsequently, after the collapse of the jumping startup "Thunderstorm", in July 2023, Frank formed his own entrepreneurial team.
In addition to Frank, the company's partners, one is a senior executive of a large factory from a top 2 university with an annual salary of millions, and the other is the chief designer of a top new consumer company, they hit it off, "We are both from big factories, but we don't want to work anymore." ”
"I can't go to this class for a day. ”
Like Frank, when the post of "restart life" on the social platform repeatedly rushed to the hot search, under the shock of the friends around him who had already "broken out of the sky", Asu asked himself countless times, "Should I continue to make a screw in a big factory, wait for one day to be kicked out as a consumable, or jump out first to test the water temperature?"
In March this year, when crossing Line 11 in Shenzhen, the Shuangji burger in the canvas bag was squeezed and deformed by the morning rush hour, and Aso sat in the conference room, listening to the mentor talk about the performance indicators over and over again.
The faces of the colleagues were silent, but the small group in private became lively, "How to promote such a small budget?" "DingTalk called me back on the weekend, and the overtime pay was not approved." At this time, Asu suddenly remembered that the "rice partner" who had quit naked for a year in the circle of friends was now a "digital nomad".
On that extraordinarily exhausting Monday, Aso submitted his resignation.
After the naked resignation, Asu first spent 50,000 yuan to sign up for a niche tour group in 8 Nordic countries, and then lived in Qingdao for half a year. "Unloaded DingTalk, eat well and sleep well every day after the naked resignation, no need to hug anyone's thighs, ponder upward management every day, and don't have to be scared by a DingTalk phone call to irregular heartbeat, no acne, and people have lost 8 pounds. ”
Compared with the first-tier cities, Qingdao prices are very low, renting a small room by the sea, the daily expenses can be controlled at 2,500-3,000 yuan per month.
At the same time, Asu's previous work content is to "teach merchants how to attract traffic on the e-commerce platform", Qingdao has a large number of foreign trade garment factories, which is a good choice for her who wants to open a Taobao store to start a business. And the reason why Aso quit to start a business is to "jump out of the track and look for more possibilities." ”
Photo/Aso's naked life
Source/Courtesy of Aso
"It's normal to want to resign naked, but it's not normal to work without thinking about resigning. ”
Xiao Xiao, who entered a cross-border leading enterprise after graduation, is only 27 years old this year, a year and a half before she joined the company, she was also a "hot-blooded newcomer", she wanted to do more and learn more every day, and she got two salary increases within a year.
But when the performance growth trend is weak under the general trend, "ineffective involution" has become a new trend in the work area, which makes Xiao Xiao even more tired, "During the big promotion, I am busy until two or three o'clock in the morning every day, which is normal, but I really can't understand that I usually finish my work but don't leave work on time." ”
Even once, she left her workstation on time after finishing the day's work, but was stopped halfway by the leader, "The leader told us to roll up in front of everyone, and I directly refused." ”
Looking at colleagues who are more keen on "performing" and working hard, as well as leaders who are committed to driving "involution" and whose hairline is becoming more and more thin, Xiao Xiao's enthusiasm is constantly consumed, and she only makes one thing clear, "I don't want to be my leader." ”
Subsequently, Xiao Xiao was assigned a new job by the leader in addition to the workload of the original 2 people, and on the day the work content was adjusted, Xiao Xiao proposed to resign.
Obviously, when the meaning or value of work has been repeatedly questioned, behind the popularity of naked words and cool essays, under the bursting of the Internet bubble, the halo of big factories is no longer there, and for the people in it, the cost performance of part-time jobs is getting lower and lower.
B
However, it is obviously not easy to restart your life after resigning.
Aiming at the popular pearl track, "the unit price of customers is high, the market is large, but it is still mostly operated by family businesses," in Frank's preliminary research, after meeting many supply chain bosses, Frank is confident that pearl e-commerce entrepreneurship is "nothing more than that", "first do self-broadcasting, then do broadcasting, do distribution, do cross-border," he hopes to "reshape the pearl industry".
At the beginning, after opening stores on Douyin and Xiaohongshu at the same time, Frank and his partners were first "frustrated" on Douyin. "Douyin's policy last year was to follow the number of orders, not the unit price of customers, but this model is not suitable for us. Frank said.
"Pearl live broadcast is different from other categories, maybe only a few dozen people are online at the same time in a live broadcast, and it can also generate millions of transactions. But they don't want to go to the volume, they are committed to being a real pearl brand, and there is no impulse money of "nine pieces and nine free shipping" in the store, and a certain jewelry that decided to do the event, "free shipping was sent to Xinjiang and Tibet, and only refunds were supported. ”
After the bad reviews, it was difficult for Frank's live broadcast room to get platform traffic support, and the number of people online gradually dropped from dozens of people at the beginning to a few people, and even many times, the online "all team people".
At the same time, Frank, who decided to "play the brand", refused to "make concessions" on raw materials, and also faced the price "crushing" of other individual pearl farmers. "Some freshwater pearls, 10 yuan, sell for 50 yuan, the profit margin can reach 400%. But I buy 5,000 yuan, whether it is user acceptance, or my conscience, I can't sell it for 10,000 yuan, maybe 6,000 yuan is out, although I look at a single earning 1,000 yuan, more than 40 yuan, but in fact, the profit margin is much lower. ”
It is not necessary to increase the average customer value, and the additional costs of certification, logistics, packaging, etc. In the first half of his business, his entrepreneurial team has invested more than 1 million, "most of which are pressed on the goods".
In the end, profit became a source of anxiety for Frank, and he started a business without his family, so he fell into the dilemma of borrowing from nothing. Frank began to overeat, "I can eat hamburgers for three people, and I have gained 20 pounds in half a year, and I feel that my health is worse than when I was in Dachang." ”
Photo/Frank often sees the Tianya Jewelry City
Source/Alphabet Chart Shooting
Like Frank, "I thought I could restart my life, but I didn't expect the middle way to collapse." Asu jokingly called himself the "negative teaching material" of the UP master of the Dachang naked resignation area.
During the days when she temporarily lived in Dalian after her naked resignation, Asu's imaginary comfortable life of "getting up to watch the sea and watching the tide at sunset" did not last long, she couldn't sleep all night, and the store traffic made her more suspenseful than looking at the sea view.
"There is no way to reduce the price if the amount of goods is small, and you have to buy keywords at a large price to cast the stream, many stalls do not accept new merchants to take goods, only do business with old customers, and now whether it is clothing or gadgets, the price is too transparent. "She is proud of her Internet thinking, and she can't enter the small rivers and lakes offline, "I thought it was a dimensionality reduction blow, but I didn't expect to be educated by the factory boss who didn't understand what alignment and opening up was." ”
Every day, Asu will look at the head shopkeeper's store one by one, study the "keywords", and then think about the Douyin topic selection and shooting plan, "rub all the traffic hot words that can be rubbed", but the store still failed to last long, forced by economic pressure, the remaining tail goods were taken to the market by her to "clear the price of a discount", thinking about at least "returning to the capital", but "the booth fee is 300 yuan a day, only 170 yuan on the first day, 200 yuan on the second day, and finally 7 days of the market, a settlement, a loss of 500 yuan." ”
Obviously, after "knocking down a Taobao store and setting up a stall for 7 days and losing 500 yuan", Asu failed to get a new script of "restarting his life".
"I don't want to go to work and start a business, but I overestimated the skills I trained in a big factory, and left the platform traffic support, and my ability to invest in streams is even inferior to ordinary Xiaoer. The monthly regular payment of five insurances and one housing fund has gradually become a kind of pressure, Asu said helplessly, "Calculate the input and output, or it is more cost-effective to work in a large factory." ”
C
In the end, Frank and Aso, who did not restart their lives, had their own way home after seeing the "wilderness".
Frank's entrepreneurial team has begun to gain a foothold in Xiaohongshu, they are still recruiting anchors, restarting their Douyin account, and the pearl brand they created has a stable customer base, "There are many customers, and they will share photos of wearing our brand at the wedding scene," Frank laughs, and these interactions have become a major source of his sense of accomplishment and have strengthened his determination to continue his business.
But "if you have to make one piece of advice, it is that if you come out to start a business in order to escape some pressure, such as just not wanting to continue working in a large factory, it will not be very likely to succeed, because the pressure of starting a business will only be countless times greater than that of a part-time job." Frank and his partners said.
Aso chose to return to the track and return to the big factory to "start over".
She changed from the east to the west of Xierqi, "a small salary increase, but if you continue to stay in the original company, you will earn 100,000 more per year than now after being promoted", however, Asu does not regret it, the experience of naked resignation made her decide to sacrifice part of her material income in exchange for a broader growth space, "The most important thing is that business is the direction I am interested in." Aso added.
Although the Internet dividend is no longer there, "the Internet factory is still the best training ground for ordinary workers", and the "nothing can be achieved" after the naked resignation made Asu realize that only the accumulated skills are real, and she hopes to return to the big factory to "reinvest in herself".
Picture/Back to the familiar work area
Source/Courtesy of Jiang Jie
Xiao Xiao failed to withstand the pressure of her parents, although she lived at home, she had very little material desire, a small deposit of 200,000 yuan to consume, and occasionally took over a part-time job from a friend, which could also cover the needs of daily life, but unfortunately, she was eager to restart her life naked, and she had not yet found her "love".
The attempt at naked resignation made her realize that she was not suitable for freelancing and difficult to become a digital nomad, "These professions need to be able to wrap themselves and create a persona, and showing myself is exactly what I am not good at." ”
When re-interviewing, she doesn't shy away from the gap period and learns to "sift jobs". In the meantime, when HR revealed that there was a lot of overtime, Xiao Xiao rejected an offer from a major cross-border e-commerce manufacturer. "The naked resignation made it clear to me that work is a way for me to make money, as long as I can support what I need to live, not to work hard to make money. ”
Although he failed to restart his life, Xiao Xiao did not regret it, "Now that the retirement age is getting higher and higher, and I will work for decades in the future, I just have a break for half a year. ”
And hovering outside the door of naked words, the big factories who are still inside the door have also made plans early.
Being in the core business of a leading e-commerce factory, as a large factory person who has eaten the last wave of the company's stock dividends in 2021, the longer he stays in the big factory, the more Aling in 96 feels like a "dry battery", and under the work intensity of 007, for them, even if they get an annual salary of 50w, the calculated hourly salary is "too low".
Now, even if it is clear that she will not be laid off in the short term, the large layoffs at the end of last year have made survivors like her "palpitated". Tired of the blind involution after the business does not grow, Ah Ling and his colleagues called this kind of over-packaging of their own work "carving on", "long-term planning has become short-term indicators, to put it mildly, without emotional intelligence and no thighs, it is easy to be marginalized, and the current involution is just to survive."
But out of the big factory, "my report, PPT, and Yang Feng Yin disobedience skills will only make me starve to death", Ah Ling is also constantly exploring side jobs, "Open a Douyin shop, try to break away from the big factory, what can I do". And every time a fan rises, it will make Ah Inspiration feel the happiness that he has not seen for a long time.
Stepping out of the "warm house" of the big factory has become the inevitable choice of Aso, and "restarting life" after resigning naked is obviously one of the ideal narratives. However, under the A side of walking into the wilderness and enjoying life, it should be noted that there is also the B side where confusion and anxiety coexist.
(Asu, Xiao Xiao, and Ah Ling are pseudonyms in the article.) )