Chapter 170 Winter Vacation Project

Lin Ruoyan smiled and continued the topic: "Xiao Zhang just talked about soft power, which includes basic services and value-added services. Basic services include installing a unified software management system for the store. The software is customized and maintained by a professional team and requires annual renewal. The headquarters installs the software, and the cost of using the software is the same as water, electricity, and gas, which the franchisee has to pay for themselves.

Furthermore, employee manuals must be updated, and employee and store manager training costs must keep pace. Two or three training sessions a year are essential. And most importantly, the centralized procurement and replacement of medical examination equipment, as well as the replenishment of consumables, are all provided by headquarters.

They don't know how much the headquarters paid for these consumables, but they have to purchase these items with unified logos from the headquarters according to the situation of their own store in order to be qualified to open a franchise store.

Don't underestimate disposable masks, gloves, and other medical examination-related consumables. The scientific procedures for these things are specified in the employee manual, and the consumption is very high.

The management software you use in your store now was developed by my team. I also have a factory that produces these medical testing consumables and a company that can develop medical equipment."

At this point, everyone finally understood that the biggest money-making money still belonged to Lin Ruoyan.

"I can also provide unified renovation standards and introduce reliable construction teams. We centrally purchase construction materials and teams, and with enough stores, they won't be short of work. We can optimize the cost of a one-million-yuan renovation to six or seven hundred thousand. Besides the initial 'free' services provided to franchisees, the remaining money still leaves a substantial profit."

Lao Tong and Liang's mother were beaming with joy when they heard this. This meant that with every additional franchise store, they not only occupied a piece of market share and physical store territory, but they could also continue to make profits secretly.

The more branches they open, the higher their profits will be. This model can be used to expand not only in Beijing but also across the country. Furthermore, since the major costs of renting and renovating the premises are not borne by them themselves but by the franchisees, the headquarters brand has no worries at all.

Lin Ruoyan reminded him, "In addition to the positive franchise process mentioned earlier, there must also be store location selection criteria, profit evaluation indicators, and franchise exit procedures. We must consider the possibility of franchise exit and how to minimize the loss of headquarters' interests. This requires careful study in conjunction with the management model."

Zhang Huanyu was eager to try, "Can I help my uncle and aunt with this research? I think it's quite suitable for my current project. I can write a paper and submit it after I finish it."

Liang's mother quickly said, "Okay, of course, just don't charge us the consultation fee."

Everyone now understands the power of knowledge and the value of creativity. Such a brilliant business logic isn't something anyone can come up with, and Zhang Huanyu must have put a lot of effort into it.

Zhang Huanyu said seriously, "This is a project in which President Lin has a stake, so of course my service is free. If anyone else asks me for a business plan, I charge a consulting fee."

After leaving the medical examination center, Lin Ruoyan asked Zhang Huanyu privately, "Have you ever thought about registering a company and doing your own investment or business consulting?"

Zhang Huanyu said: "I still have little experience now, so I plan to try my hand at a large company before making a decision."

Seeing his determination, Lin Ruoyan gave up trying to persuade him to start a business right away. Zhang Huanyu wasn't blinded by his immediate success; he recognized his shortcomings and patiently learned, seeking greater platforms for experience. His future prospects would be even brighter.

After returning home, Lin Mengxi also entered the winter vacation mode.

The child planned what he would do every day early in the morning. Their winter vacation homework for the first grade was not just paper exercises, but focused more on thinking and practice.

Each of them submitted their own topic before the winter vacation, just like college students. Once the topic is approved by the teacher, they can look for reference books or go somewhere to practice during the winter vacation. What they finally submit is a short essay or some customized result.

Some children suggested making small models, the kind of handmade ships. Instead of buying semi-finished products from stores and assembling them themselves, they designed them themselves from raw materials, simplified them with reference to relevant objects or books, and had drawings and steps. The final product they submitted was not just a finished model, but also included key materials of the process.

Some children also prefer sociological research and suggested investigating how their peers allocate their time during the winter vacation, so as to discover certain problems and study the causes of these problems.

Lin Ruoyan asked her son, "What project did you submit?"

Lin Mengxi said: "Make a model."

"Oh, is it an airplane, a cannon, a car, or a ship?" Lin Ruoyan was curious because she rarely saw her son doing handicrafts.

Lin Mengxi smiled and said, "It's a big data model. Uncle Hao is guiding me, and he agreed to it."

"Big data model? What is it about?" Lin Ruoyan didn't expect her son to be so advanced in the software field.

"We use a crawler to collect statistics on the ad-clicking preferences of members on the learning website, so that similar ads can be pushed to them based on their preferences. Members have detailed registration information, and their age and hobbies are closely aligned with the ad content. This data statistical model can also be used in other software development in the future."

"It sounds like you subcontracted a sub-item of Hao Heshan's project. Did he give you money?" Lin Ruoyan asked seriously.

Lin Mengxi nodded: "Of course, I am a serious subcontractor and have signed an agreement. I give him the results and he has to pay for them. This money is my pocket money fund. By the way, I also complete my winter vacation homework. It's a win-win situation."

"What's an allowance fund? You usually buy books with the allowance I give you, don't you?"

"Of course I didn't buy all the books. I only spent one-third. The other two-thirds were divided into two parts: fixed deposit and investment. Fixed deposit means a fixed deposit in the bank, with lump sum withdrawal. As for investment, I previously invested 10,000 in a designer B&B."

Lin Ruoyan usually gave her son two hundred yuan a week in pocket money. He had to scrape together several weeks' worth of pocket money to buy all the original foreign books in his son's study. When had he ever saved up ten thousand yuan to invest? This was only a third of his income. Where did he get so much money?

Lin Mengxi said: "I subcontracted a few small projects from Uncle Hao and earned 30,000 yuan. My business is much cheaper than ordinary subcontracting."

Lin Ruoyan encouraged her son with a few words, then turned around and hid in her study to call Hao Heshan, fearing that her excellent employee was forced to pay her son such a high subcontracting fee.

Upon inquiry, it turned out that Hao Heshan was simply charging the market price for private work, a common practice among contractors online. He had also subcontracted much of his previous software development work in this way, even developing a standardized electronic contract format for online subcontracting.

Hao Heshan produced several subcontract agreements he had signed with Lin Mengxi. They were all formal, and indeed, the total amount was over 30,000 yuan. Hao Heshan reassured him, "Don't worry, Mr. Lin. Your son isn't really into programming or hacking. To him, computers are just tools to improve work efficiency. He still really wants to be a scientist."

"Does he want to be a scientist specializing in software engineering?"

"It seems not. He's very talented in math and logic, and recently has been focusing on artificial intelligence. He once asked me, 'A few years ago, computers were able to challenge chess grandmasters.' So, as computing power increases, more complex games of Go will probably be mastered by AI. Perhaps a famous human Go player will eventually be defeated by a computer. Perhaps he'll innovate in the field of AI."

Back then, people probably couldn't imagine specific applications for AI; at most, it would be something like a chess opponent or an assistant for grading exams. But soon, in less than 20 years, the wave of AI would sweep the world, and someone with absolutely no technical knowledge would be able to create beautiful paintings and design complex programs simply by describing them in words.