Nandu, N video reporter interviewed Wu Kaisi (right), an entrepreneur of Guangzhou old things.
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"Others will walk around when they see the garbage can, but my eyes usually light up when I see the garbage can." In the store where old things are piled up, Wu Kaisi, an old goods entrepreneur who graduated from the law department of 985 University, wears second-hand glasses and patched clothes, and says with a smile.
Starting with the cost of 5 yuan and 10 yuan, Wu Kaisi has built a 1,200-square-meter old warehouse in 8 years, and extended the rental and sale of old things, old things market, old things homestay, old things travel and other businesses, through the minimalist "second-hand" lifestyle and his own clear understanding of the old things entrepreneurial system, he has successfully "earned more than 10,000 yuan a month", and is working hard to achieve a "semi-retirement plan". His entrepreneurial dopamine of "turning waste into treasure" continues to be released.
The senior year "wandered" the United States for two months and became attached to old things
Gathering several labels such as 985 top students, law majors, and world travel, people may have the image of a legal elite in suits and leather shoes and a refined life in their minds, but Wu Kaisi, the founder of sustainable old things with the same label, presents a different image - "garbage collector", "slipper brother" and "collection of rags".
Wu Kaisi, who wears second-hand items all over his body, often wears slippers to "walk north and south, looking for things", and his eyes glow like seeing a "vault" when he sees a garbage can. He does not let go of any items that are wasted and idle by others, and continues their value through the recycling of old items, until the use value of the items is "squeezed dry", and then he is willing to sell them to the scrap yard to retain the last material value.
Wu Kaisi's old business opportunity originated from a "wandering" in 2015. At the time, he was a fourth-year student in the Department of Law at South China University of Technology. In addition to his studies, he set up a two-month "wandering" itinerary in the United States according to the cheapest time of the airfare, and thus became involved in the thrift market.
"At that time, I only brought 10,000 yuan, and I didn't spend a penny on accommodation, and I slept in the airport, swimming pool, and other people's homes." Low-cost life has long been engraved into Wu Kaisi's DNA.
What can you do with old things besides selling them to the scrap yard? During his two months of wandering in the United States, Wu Kaisi's "tentacles" reached out to the local thrift market and found the answer. After returning to China, Wu Kaisi began to look for a flea market in China, starting from Guangzhou, the city where he lived, he spent 3 weeks visiting and investigating 16 thrift markets, and released the first research record of the Guangzhou thrift market on the whole network.
With the in-depth research of the thrift market and the great desire to explore the thrift goods, Wu Kaisi also bought a lot of good things at a very low cost, and freed up 20 square meters of space in his residence to build his first thrift warehouse. He gradually developed his hobby into a "perpetuating" business, filling one old warehouse after another with old things he recovered from more than 200 cities around the world.
Build an independent second-hand store and build a recycling system
The marriage certificate of the last century, the fire hydrant in New York, the game console with the exclusive memory of the post-90s, etc., Wu Kaisi's old warehouse is dazzling and full of wonders.
"The data and turnover of this store will not affect my choice to start my business, because this store is like breathing to me, it is like life, and I will definitely open it no matter what." Today, Wu Kaisi, who has been in business for 8 years, has built three thrift stores integrating warehousing, display and sales in the Lingnan E-commerce Park in Xiajiao, Panyu, Guangzhou, "Sustainable Old Things", plus the new store he opened in Huangpu and the old goods warehouse where he lives, totaling 1,200 square meters.
Unlike other second-hand stores, there is no restriction on the types of recycling. "I saw that I wanted to accept what I liked, once I saw an old man wearing a period jersey in the thrift market, I liked it very much and bought it with him for 10 yuan, and the old man was also very happy, and continued to shop shirtless." Talking about his special recycling experience, Wu Kaisi relished.
Through 8 years of accumulation and precipitation, Wu Kaisi, who has not changed his original intention, has achieved his first entrepreneurial goal: to stabilize and classify his own stores into independent stores of books, furniture, clothing and other used goods. Although the income of the store is "something outside the body" for him, his mature understanding of the old business system has also allowed him to achieve his goal of earning more than 10,000 yuan a month.
"I think the most important strategy for entrepreneurship is to build your own system, and you have to be clear about your own head, which is the most important thing." Wu Kaisi said that in the process of recovering old things, it is a process of "learning from things", and the exploration of the unknown of various objects has given him a steady stream of learning motivation. From the maintenance and repair of items to the culture of the times behind the items, from the decoration of store construction to the operation of online personal IP accounts, etc., the process of entrepreneurship is also a process of enriching himself for Wu Kaisi.
"In this industry, anyone can walk the streets and alleys with just a tricycle, but it is very difficult to do a good job." Wu Kaisi said that in the process of recycling old things, there are language requirements and appreciation requirements. He can now see an item and determine its process, material, age and other information within 5 seconds, and have a corresponding recycling strategy.
At the same time, the accumulated experience and the old business system that he has explored through thinking in his mind have allowed him to build a larger-scale store system seemingly "effortlessly" and efficiently. "The decoration of the store, including the wall, the ground, and the circuit, are all completed by ourselves, and many of the design devices are built by myself, and the decoration cost here is saved to say that there are 30,000 or 50,000 yuan." Wu Kaisi said proudly, "Now within the Pearl River Delta, if someone wants to find an item on my route, or an exhibition needs an old object installation, there are only a few options, plus I have a lot of long-term regular customers, so I don't need to worry too much about the source of customers." ”
"My materialistic desire is the desire to study objects"
Why does a person who pays attention to saving and paying attention to low consumption buy so many things?
Regarding the contradiction of "buy, buy, buy", Wu Kaisi's idea is that the value of the items he recycles will increase in value over time, and he can also continue the value of the items by giving them to someone who likes them more and needs them more. In the matter of "buying things", there seems to be a great contrast between his career and life, but in fact they are highly consistent.
"My work and life are actually very closely integrated, I want to make work fun, and then play with meaning, which is also my idea about life." Wu Kaisi said.
He once picked up unopened milk tea in the trash can and the date was fresh, and also picked up other people's discarded lamp cloths to deal with the leakage of his roof, drove a second-hand van bought for 20,000 yuan, and lived in a house rented for 1,000 yuan in Guangzhou.
In Wu Kaisi's body, we can read a different explanation of "materialism" from most post-95s: "Other people's materialism may like to buy goods in the shopping mall produced by the assembly line, while my materialism is more about the exploration of the unknown, the desire to study and learn about items I have not seen." In the process of exploring old objects, Wu Kaisi gains satisfaction and positive emotional value from the unknown to the known.
After 8 years of accumulation, this "garbage hunter" now sits on 1,200 square meters of "rags", in addition to taking care of his own stores every day, he still shuttles through major thrift markets, door-to-door recycling "Taobao". In the "three ideals" of Wu Kaisi's entrepreneurship, he is moving towards academic ideals and public welfare ideals. Wu Kaisi said with a smile that this is his "semi-retirement plan". He will continue to travel north and south and record flea markets all over the world, write books and lectures on the study of old things, and touch more people with his concept of stooping the transformation and recycling of old things, "so that more people can understand the culture of old things, and then practice and share their idle items." ”
Nandu, N video "Entrepreneurial Dopamine"
Co-ordinator: Chen Beilei Chen Effectiveness
Executive Coordinator: Chen Yidan
Written by: Chen Yidan Intern Wan Hanzao
Photography/Video: Yi Kaiwen, Chen Yidan, Intern, Sun Luhua, Jiang Yueer
Design: Ouyang Jing, Shao Jiahui