文 |Zia Joymaker
Editor: Business bigwigs say Zhang Zhang
Guo Jiafu, the king of foot baths, invested 60 million yuan to buy a house for his employees, and after bankruptcy, the employees helped him crowdfund. After 5 years of silence, he began to make a comeback. Why is he so attractive? Let's follow the perspective of business bigwigs to understand the story behind the foot bath king Guo Jiafu.
Born poor, but righteous for others
In 1969, Guo Jiafu was born in a poor family in Chongqing, with a total of four brothers, because he was the youngest, and his brothers called him the fourth.
In the previous era, the four brothers were not so easy to support, so Guo Jiafu began to be independent early.
In the countryside, he can do everything about raising pigs and farming, and not only that, but he will also help his parents do some business, selling breakfast, popsicles and the like. In short, do whatever you want to make money.
During this period of doing business, he has accumulated a lot of experience, and his personality is warm-hearted and responsive to other people's troubles, so he is gradually called the fourth brother by everyone.
In the early days of reform and opening up, a new way of relaxation began to be popular in the coastal areas of Guangzhou, foot bath, which was undoubtedly a strong attraction for him at a relatively young age.
Because he has practiced martial arts since he was a child, he knows a lot about the acupuncture points of the human body. Therefore, Guo Jiafu's craft quickly learned eight or nine points, but foot baths in the mainland have not yet become popular, so he keenly captured this business opportunity.
After returning from school, he returned to his hometown, and several brothers pooled some money together to open a foot bath shop in the suburbs of Chongqing, which was only 60 square meters at the beginning. There are only 4 beds. In addition, the business was not very good when it first opened, and even the electric fan could not be afforded, so when the guests came, they could only use the fan to fan the guests.
Because the technology is relatively good, coupled with the service attitude is very good, soon the foot bath shop began to have some fame, more and more repeat customers, only half a year, the foot bath shop began to make a profit.
In the second year, the first 200-square-meter branch was born, and it didn't take long for several brothers to copy this model, and branches blossomed all over Chongqing.
In a few years, the foot bath shop was like a weed, and 50 branches were opened across the country. Not only that, but he also opened a training school, with Guo Jiafu as the head coach, specializing in delivering technician talents for the following stores.
In this way, the Guo family's business is getting bigger and bigger, and at this time, he and his sister-in-law have a conflict, and the two people disagree because of their business philosophy, so Guo Jiafu founded the brand of Jiafu Fuqiao in 2004.
After the separation, Guo Jiafu became bigger and bigger under his own decision-making, and he used the way of franchise chain to quickly open the market, and opened 600 stores across the country for a time, of which 400 were franchised stores. At this time, the foot bath shop has become a signboard in the foot bath industry, and the franchisee not only has to pay a one-time franchise fee of millions of dollars, but also has to pay a monthly management fee.
Suddenly, Guo Jiafu's strength quickly began to expand, and the cash alone reached hundreds of millions.
Guo Jiafu once made a bold statement: Although my total assets are not ranked, with the cash in hand, I can still be ranked in Chongqing.
But in fact, it is true, on the 2009 list, Guo Jiafu's net worth soared all the way, reaching 21.8 billion. The chain stores under his name have a turnover of 1.3 billion yuan in just one year.
Opened a foot bath shop
This Chongqing businessman who came out of the countryside has achieved a scale of tens of billions of yuan. It has become a veritable king of foot baths.
In fact, his success is not just about the franchise method. It's about the excellent conditions he gives. Judging from his requirements for all the chains, we can see how he treats his employees. He encouraged employees to work more and get more, and the longer they work, the more subsidies they will receive. Employees will also be reimbursed for daily necessities such as food, clothing, housing and transportation. Bonuses of different standards are issued according to the performance of the enterprise.
From 20,000 to 100,000. If you encounter difficulties in life, the company will also provide help, even during illness, the company will give subsidies, and managers will be selected from basic employees. Treat everyone equally.
If it's an employee with a bad family situation, he won't even charge a fee. Because he has been drenched in the rain, he is willing to hold up an umbrella for others.
These humane regulations can be done compared to many private companies today, but back then, he was just bold with his employees. And he is best known for making down payments on river-view houses for 400 employees and gifting them to 13 executives.
One Porsche per person. In those years, as long as it was an executive by his side, everyone was worth more than tens of millions.
Righteousness and boldness are everyone's impression of him, so everyone does not call Guo Jiafu his boss, but respectfully calls him the fourth brother. But these measures are because everyone is prejudiced against the foot bath industry, which is why he is so high-profile. The purpose is to let everyone know that even if you wash your feet, you can buy a car and a house in the city.
It was precisely because of this good-faced character that he fell into the abyss for a while.
Back in 2007, he began to prepare to put the foot bath shop on the market, and next to him a manager. instigated him to start entering the limelight industry.
And in order to create a good environment for listing. He opened 8 directly-operated stores, and these 8 directly-operated stores mainly took the luxury route. But success blinded him, foot bath was originally a sinking industry, and Guo Jiafu's behavior caused him to lose a lot. Diamond stores also began to close down one after another.
This blind investment directly made him lose 300 million, but Guo Jiafu was unwilling, and at this time he was like a gambler with red eyes. Caught in the pit of listing, you can't pull it out.
In order to continue to go public, he spent 300 million yuan to build a five-star hotel, but because the bank was not optimistic about the project. caused his capital chain to break.
In a hurry to go public, funds began to be tight
Due to financial constraints, he embezzled the signboard of the chain store without permission. This has led to great dissatisfaction among franchisees. This made his footbath empire start to plunge into a new crisis, because it was indeed new money.
The footbath empire immediately collapsed, and Guo Jiafu fell into a crisis, and at its peak it was said to have a debt of 1.3 billion.
He had to sell the storefront, the chain was withdrawn one after another, and he never appeared in the public eye again. The company was in a dilemma, and at this time, the early years of hepatitis B progressed to advanced cirrhosis.
At this time, there is an urgent need for a liver transplant. But at this time, he really couldn't afford the treatment.
Later, Guo Jiafu's wife couldn't bear her husband's suffering, so in desperation, she chose the mode of donation. The employees who saw the news spontaneously organized donations and quickly made up the cost of treatment.
In just ten years, the footbath empire he created single-handedly collapsed.
From a poor boy in a small mountain village to a super-rich man with a net worth of tens of billions, staging gorgeous poems, to a flash in the pan, falling quickly into the abyss, and a debt of 1 billion has become a chicken feather for the bankrupt "old lai", Guo Jiafu's ups and downs are comparable to TV dramas.
In order to pay off debts, give back to society, and realize their dreams. After recovery, Guo Jiafu finally woke up, and he understood that the foot bath industry can only develop if it is down-to-earth.
From a net worth of hundreds of millions to a life hanging by a thread, his life can be described as ups and downs. From him, we can see that no matter at any time, we can't go crazy. No matter how rich. They should all be down-to-earth.
Having experienced life and death, he has found his goal, which is to take root in the service industry and make a comeback through the foot bath training school. Re-start the accumulation, based on the foot bath industry of the Whampoa Military Academy.
Guo Jiafu faced difficulties and did not evade. I don't know if he will be able to make a comeback. But the moment he faces the camera, he has already told everyone that he has decided to get back on his feet.