Successful entrepreneurs are controllable “abnormal”
Everything is gradually recovering, and business, teamwork, cooperation, rhythm, etc. are all returning to their place.
“From 9:00 am to 8:00 pm, except for the 20 minutes at noon for eating, I spend the rest of the time in meetings and meeting people.” After the new year, Sun Zheng was extremely busy, walking non-stop in the “Shifanghui” courtyard. Between the bar, the courtyard and the tea room, there are guests, friends, and all the people and things in the courtyard. Especially busy. And today is Monday, and tomorrow is full, so the regular meetings of the companies on Monday must be finished no matter how busy they are.”
Sun Zheng is the founder and chairman of Beijing Ten Plastic Holdings (Group) Company. At present, Ten Plastics’ businesses cover four major sectors: cultural tourism, catering, property management and commercial renewal. Many well-known courtyard houses and restaurants in Beijing are products of Shisu, such as Nicha Catering, Yinhai Homestay, etc. The courtyard house “Shifanghui” is also one of the businesses of Shisu.
Catering, cultural tourism, and business management and property management are the main business sectors of Ten Plastics, and these sectors are directly affected by offline passenger flow. Sun Zheng’s life is not easy under the epidemic: when the epidemic is the most difficult, Even mortgaged the house; also experienced the collapse of individual business lines, the team’s confidence and cohesion gradually “volatile”, and employees had to leave.
The cultural tourism industry is the hardest hit area during the epidemic. According to data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, by the end of 2021, 4.8441 million cultural and tourism practitioners across the country will be included in the statistical scope, a decrease of 317,000 from the end of 2019. It was not until the epidemic prevention and control was lifted that the cultural tourism industry gradually eased. During the Spring Festival holiday this year, 308 million domestic tourists traveled across the country, a year-on-year increase of 23.1%, reaching 88.6% of the traffic during the Spring Festival holiday before the epidemic.
“Facts have proved that I bet right!” When Sun Zheng said this, he raised his head slightly, patted his leg, his tone was firm, and his eyes were bright. During the epidemic, in a state of confusion, Sun Zheng allowed himself and his employees to see the light.
When encountering problems, if the small direction and method are wrong, adjust it; if employees are not confident, they will communicate and chat with them again and again; if there is no case in opening up the market, they will continue to research the front-line market, find gaps and markets, and make breakthroughs—there is no problem in judging the general direction In the end, the company, which was facing the impact of the epidemic, strengthened its direction, accelerated the original plan, and passed this big hurdle.
Start repairing the roof on a sunny day
The past three years have not been easy for Sun Zheng.
In the middle of 2021, Sun Zheng’s company’s cash flow will be broken, and it will not be able to pay wages at the worst time. “It’s scary that wages can’t be paid.” Sun Zheng told “Chinese Entrepreneur” that the real industry is a cash flow-heavy business. After the passenger flow is insufficient, the subsequent problem is the problem of cash flow, and then cooperation, wages, confidence, and employee turnover will bring about a chain reaction. The fortress built brick by brick in the past few years began to loosen and collapse.
In order to solve the company’s urgent needs, Sun Zheng chose to mortgage his house, “at least to revitalize the company, once the company cannot be revitalized, it will be abandoned.” Sun Zheng said.
Source: Respondents
Sun Zheng had to do this. Shisu is engaged in small and medium-sized asset management. The company’s assets, such as courtyard houses, non-standard accommodation, restaurants, etc., are all rented. Sometimes there is no choice.” At this point, Sun Zheng paused slightly, as if recalling the past, and added, “This is a very realistic thing.” This sentence seems to be speaking to us, but also like It’s talking to myself.
Shisu’s business focuses on physical operations and requires different people to do things. At that time, for Sun Zheng, it was equivalent to “lack of money and no one at the same time. The team structure that was cultivated with great difficulty was suddenly abolished. Seedlings germinated in half a year.”
Fortunately, Sun Zheng started the company’s transformation and upgrading before the external environment had problems. “If the transformation and upgrading start after the epidemic, it will be too late.”
He started repairing the roof on a sunny day, thought through the current company’s risks and problems in advance, and started to make changes. This is an important reason why Sun Zheng was able to “survive”. When Sun Zheng is used to doing everything, he thinks about how to do better in the next step, how to improve its core competitiveness, or how to make better product models and financial models. Some.
He believes that a company needs to have several brushes, “You can’t just be a one-legged bench, you must have at least three legs, so that if one leg is broken, at least you won’t work so hard.” Compatible, stable, and more risk-resistant, to be an enterprise that can continue to grow in 20 years.
Changes in the external environment confirmed his judgment, thus speeding up his enterprise upgrade.
“Whether there is an epidemic or not, I will do the upgrade. Facts have proved that I have done the right thing.” Sun Zheng said. Today, Ten Plastics has also upgraded from the relatively simple business formats such as homestays and coffee to the current “four-legged” small and medium-sized asset empowerment operation and management services.
These decisions are based on Sun Zheng’s judgment on the future of the company and the industry. Sun Zheng sees the development, operation management and industrial upgrading of stock assets in the future. He believes that “China’s urbanization has achieved 60% now, and once the turning point of 60% occurs, there will be excess assets. There are few new incremental assets, and there are tens of thousands of projects within 50,000 square meters in China. “This is what Ten Plastics will do in the next ten or twenty years, and it is also the most important asset portfolio package for the Ten Plastics asset management team in the future. It only solves small and medium-sized asset management.
The “unintelligent” captain also wants to lead the crew to see hope
Sun Zheng is not a “perfect” entrepreneur: he has no background and capital, but he started from zero and struggled all the way, relying on “wild roads” to get to today.
His hometown is in Hefei, Anhui. With his own efforts, he was admitted to the graduate school of the School of Electrical Engineering of Xi’an Jiaotong University. He also entered a local central enterprise. He is the pride in the eyes of his parents and relatives. , He often said “I am an ordinary person”, and now he mentioned “too many smart people” many times.
“Not smart” people don’t have much capital to solve problems, enough hard work and enough sincerity.
Even at the age of 30, Sun Zheng never cried. But in the past three years, Sun Zheng cried more than once or twice. “Sometimes it is very uncomfortable and tired when I go home.” , The most confident side is shown to employees, government and enterprise leaders, and partners.
When the team can’t see hope, as the “captain”, Sun Zheng must see hope and bring hope to everyone-this is a duty, and there is no choice. “If no one at the helm has resilience and self-confidence, then everyone will fall apart, and within a day.” Sun Zheng told “Chinese Entrepreneur”.
Source: Visual China
During that time, communicating with the team was an important job for Sun Zheng, “I talked about confidence with everyone every day. Even if my own confidence needs to be maintained by myself, I still have to tell everyone about the confidence I have left or made up. Regardless of whether there is or not, you have to speak out anyway. Some people can stay, and some people can’t.” Sun Zheng said.
The brothers who once fought the world together left the company and became the most painful thing during that difficult time-many things are difficult to do, but they don’t necessarily bring painful feelings to people.
Sun Zheng loves to talk about the future and plans. Sometimes he has some instinctive resistance to these pains, and he will swallow the words again, or simply talk about it. But when it comes to his brother’s departure, his expression is different from his usual calmness. Pause After a long time, he slowly said: “At that time, I couldn’t bear it for a while. I don’t want them to continue working without getting paid. I hope they can have a better platform and opportunities to hone outside. Go out, It is for a better reunion in the future.”
Entrepreneurs are not pessimists or optimists, they are problem solvers and control the direction. In the interview, Sun Zheng talked about “potential” many times. He is very sure that in the process of national economic internal circulation and industrial asset operation and management, the value of the small and medium-sized asset management done by Ten Plastics lies.
This is Sun Zheng’s logic in doing things, “As long as we aim at the direction and keep going, we will be able to explore a set of our value in the general trend, and the company will definitely develop well.”
He also clearly knows what he can and cannot do. “On the basis of the general trend, do your own hard work and share your share of the pie. Everyone is engaged in the Internet and finance. I can learn and communicate, but keep the depth of involvement. There are too many smart people in this matter. It’s not my money, so there’s no need to get involved.” Sun Zheng told “Chinese Entrepreneur”.
Enjoy the “Kink”, “Understand” Trends
When it comes to keywords for the next three years, “understanding” is the only keyword given by Sun Zheng. Behind the supporting understanding, he believes that it is his experience, he has made right or wrong decisions, and it is his choices when facing problems.
When he was in elementary school, Sun Zheng’s parents were both migrant workers, and there was no one to pick him up and go to school. Sun Zheng had to walk 30 to 40 minutes to go to school by himself every day. After entering junior high school, Sun Ye often helped the family set up a stall to sell vegetables and fruits. In the second year of junior high school, once Sun Zheng accompanied his mother to sell vegetables, and an old woman came to buy half of a large winter melon, which weighed at least ten catties. The grandma said that she couldn’t carry it, so Sun Zheng was sent by his mother to deliver winter melons to the grandma.
In summer, it was very hot. Sun Zheng, who was carrying more than ten catties of winter melon, walked for more than 20 minutes to reach the destination. Sun Zheng still remembers the scene at the gate of the old grandma’s house, “His little grandson is watching TV in the living room, blowing on the air conditioner, eating bananas and watermelons, and the old grandma asked him to say hello, but he didn’t He looked at me very disdainfully.” At that time, Sun Zheng made up his mind that no matter what he did in the future, he must do his best, otherwise he would not do it.
This scene became the origin of all subsequent efforts, and it also became Sun Zheng’s habit of doing everything well.
After entering university, Sun Zheng started to start a business while studying. Including the postgraduate entrance examination period, Sun Zheng has been selling college textbooks and starting a business, earning 200,000 yuan a year. Sun Zheng earned money for eating, drinking, entertainment, and tuition fees during college.
Even starting a business did not affect Sun Zheng’s admission to Xi’an Jiaotong University as a graduate student with the first place in the Department of Electrical Engineering of Anhui University. Even later, many students would ask Sun Zheng, “You were admitted to such a great school and ranked first in your major. Did you go through the back door?”
Sun Zheng’s secret is not to be smarter and work harder than anyone else, but to be smarter and work harder than anyone else. In Sun Zheng’s view, this kind of desperate effort is “perverted” – the “perverted” he refers to is not a psychological abnormality, but a strictness to the limits of one’s own intelligence and physical strength.
When taking the postgraduate entrance examination, the school study room closed at 11 o’clock, and the lights in the dormitory were turned off at 12 o’clock. Sun Zheng bought a camp bed and a desk lamp that can be charged for 4 to 8 hours. Every night at 12 o’clock when the roommates fell asleep, he would sit on the balcony of the dormitory, draw the curtains, and continue studying for two more hours. “The postgraduate entrance examination has been at least 10 months, and I have two hours more than others every day. Under the same implementation conditions, of course I can pass the entrance examination.” Sun Zheng told “Chinese Entrepreneur”.
This “abnormality” continued into his later entrepreneurship, and he continued to enjoy this “abnormality”.
In Sun Zheng’s view, all successful entrepreneurs are “perverted”. “If you find yourself a step up, your employees will find a step up 10 times faster than you, and the company will not be able to do it at all.”
The “understanding” of the future mentioned by Sun Zheng is rooted in the past and present self. “You only have to understand what happened in the past three years and what might happen in the next, whether good or bad, you have to understand these things. After the epidemic, everything will change, and the order of many things will be adjusted. The new language of the new era The incomprehension of the environment appears in all aspects, and only by understanding can we integrate into it, survive the fittest, and do what we want to do. If you don’t understand, it’s meaningless to have passion and ability.”
It is not only the enterprise that is upgrading
In this interview, I saw Sun Zheng again. His appearance has not changed much, but he looks more mature. In 2018, he was wearing a casual suit and leather shoes. He shook hands and greeted people very standard. It seemed that he had prepared in advance. Maturity is what he, a post-90s generation, wants to convey to the outside world—in their industry, players are all “old men”. Cannon”, youth is an advantage, there are various ways to activate the industry, but it is also a problem.
Letting people who are older than him cooperate with him, and letting senior bosses trust him, true maturity is inevitable.
Source: Visual China
But this time the difficulty activated his competitive spirit, and taking a gamble with himself made him see his flaws in the past. “Begin to think more about others, employees, partners, and project partners. It’s not just about making money or not being happy.” Sun Zheng told “Chinese Entrepreneur”.
The parting after dinners and frequent communication with employees made him realize, “If you, Sun Zheng, are really good, can you solve these problems (employees leave)? You have to think about everyone, you have to think about their wives Children, you can’t just think about your wife and children.”
“If you run out of money, you can make more money; if you run out of people, you won’t be able to find this group of people. Because everyone’s living costs, including wives and children, are getting higher and higher,” Sun Zheng said.
It is different from when we first started our business. At that time, everyone was barefoot, and the team was easy to maintain. Sun Zheng felt that at that stage, as long as he was smart enough, worked hard enough, and persisted enough, he could do well by himself. “Because the company is small, there is no need to think about the team, betrayal, or whether there is enough money in the company’s account this month.”
And when the company grows bigger, it will face a series of core team management problems. For example, how to spend money, how to match people, including how to gather people’s hearts. “The test at this time is your charm and management ability. You have to find your own way of management.” Sun Zheng told “Chinese Entrepreneur” that there are a group of people who can The most important and difficult thing is to cultivate the stability and continuous trust of your partners and brothers who fight with you.
As the company enters a new stage of entrepreneurship, Sun Zheng’s ability to be at the helm has also increased. Outside of the team, the circle of contacts, employment, and capital are all new challenges for Sun Zheng: The people he interacts with have changed. They may have been various small bosses in the past, but now they are the chairman of a listed company. Dialogue with people of different levels; how to grasp the scale of management in the face of team members of different ages and abilities; and how to find capital if the company wants to grow.
Sun Zheng must be getting busier and busier.
Successful entrepreneurs are controllable “abnormal”
Sun Zheng told “Chinese Entrepreneur” that once he hadn’t seen his child for almost 20 days. “Although we all live in the same courtyard, when the child woke up in the morning, I was still awake. After returning home late at night, she was already asleep, and it was the same on weekends. The perfect time difference.” Sun Zheng said with a smile. It cannot be resolved in the short term, but it will be balanced in the future. “The company is still in the process of starting a business, and it is an industry that focuses on physical operations, and the group’s talent echelon is also constantly being established and optimized. It takes a lot of time to work on the company, because many people need me to be responsible and win-win.”
Sun Zheng believes that this stage is the most aggressive. At that time, doing things was accumulating. “Now the sense of accomplishment will be much stronger.”