Chapter 109: Getting Something for Nothing
"Zhang Huanyu, what do you want to learn when you come to work here at the B&B?" Lin Ruoyan didn't beat around the bush and directly asked the part she was curious about.
Zhang Huanyu could hear the hidden meaning behind this statement. Lin Ruoyan didn't seem to think he was just working at the B&B. However, he never told anyone about this, and when he asked his mother for help, he only said that he wanted to find different types of part-time jobs to explore his future.
Since he entered college as a freshman, he has tried tutoring and various regular part-time jobs, and each job did not last too long, only one or two months.
His mother thought her son was erratic. He'd suddenly come to the B&B with less than two months of summer vacation, likely because the job offered better conditions and the chance to stay with her. While she felt her son wouldn't be limited to a B&B manager, she couldn't fathom his true motivations for taking on these various part-time jobs.
Zhang Huanyu didn't understand why Mr. Lin, whom he had never met before, seemed to see through his heart all of a sudden?
Lin Ruoyan thought to herself that this investment genius had been working part-time since college, constantly trying various jobs, and it was definitely not just for the money. The salary she paid Liu Yunxia was enough to support him to focus on his studies without having to work part-time.
If it was Hua Mengmeng who asked, Zhang Huanyu probably wouldn't have told the truth, after all, his ideas were still immature. Now that Mr. Lin had asked, he hesitated, thinking that compared to Mr. Lin, who ran such a large company, his skills were definitely limited. As a junior, he had a rare opportunity, so he told him his plans and asked for his advice: "I think the B&B business is very interesting, and I plan to try to start my own business in the future."
"What's your business idea, and how much start-up capital do you need?" Lin Ruoyan pondered. Didn't she already have her August spending target? She asked this question seriously. If it were someone else, she might not invest, but Zhang Huanyu was different.
Zhang Huanyu was taken aback. He hadn't said anything yet, and Mr. Lin wanted to invest money? But he didn't want a large investment. He said, "Mr. Lin, let me first tell you about my idea. It's still a half-baked idea, but you can tell me if it's feasible."
"Okay." Lin Ruoyan noticed the other party's embarrassment, and with the shyness of a young person, she quickly adjusted her expression, trying not to act like a wolf seeing a lamb. But since an investment genius, a money-spending tool, had taken the initiative to come to her, how could she not be tempted?
Zhang Huanyu said, "There's a beautiful mountain forest in my hometown. The township has always wanted to develop it into a resort, but they can't attract developers to invest. Those willing to invest either want the township to give them the land for free so they can build large villas and sell them to wealthy people in the city, or they have to contribute money and labor. Furthermore, most people are worried that our area isn't well-known, and if a resort is built in the future, there won't be enough customers. Therefore, it hasn't been developed yet and remains abandoned."
Lin Ruoyan remembered that the original book mentioned that Zhang Huanyu started a business while still in college, and it seemed that he had made a name for himself, earned his first pot of gold, and caught Li Yiqi's attention. Could this be the project? But isn't building a resort in a scenic area a very common project? If they need money, they can pay. If they can't reach an agreement, it must be because they don't have enough money.
"I don't need a large amount of start-up capital," Zhang Huanyu said after a pause. "I just need a promotional website, which I can build myself, and the backing of a large company to gain the trust of investors, which might be a bit difficult. My idea is that I can start it myself without spending much money, and I can also guarantee a customer base."
"Ah? You mean making money out of nothing? Looking for investors, or borrowing money from the bank?" Lin Ruoyan thought to herself that after all, he studied finance. It doesn't take much to start a business. It's easy to just build a website. How much is the initial investment?
"I planned and initially needed four million. But finding money the traditional way, like convincing one or two investors or borrowing from a bank, wasn't the result I wanted."
Lin Ruoyan was a little disappointed with the four million figure; it was too little. But she also understood the key point: he didn't want a small group of people or a single institution to invest. Could it be that Zhang Huanyu was already thinking ahead and planning a crowdfunding campaign?
She probed, "You want to do crowdfunding?"
"Crowdfunding? That's a very fitting term." Zhang Huanyu's eyes lit up. "It's a similar idea. I'm looking for two to three hundred investors, or maybe even one to two thousand. Each of them only needs to invest a small amount, maybe ten thousand or so. But I'll design a feedback system for investors so they feel their investment is worthwhile."
Facing a big businessman like Lin Ruoyan who could easily invest tens of millions or even hundreds of millions, Zhang Huanyu would not worry about his little business skills being learned by others. President Lin had already proposed crowdfunding, so perhaps she had already understood this concept.
So he told him what he had been thinking about.
Zhang Huanyu pondered this question because of his own modest family background. His father died of cancer, his bedridden illness having nearly drained the family's savings. After his father's death, he was admitted to a county boarding school, and his mother went to work in a big city. His mother's income increased year by year, and their foreign debt was paid off the year he was admitted to university. Life was perhaps much more comfortable now than it would have been in the village.
However, most of the low-income workers he met had little more than 30,000 yuan to invest. But they also hoped to make money. The stock market was sluggish, and those without financial knowledge would be ripped off if they rushed in. And what about other businesses that required a small initial investment? What else could they invest in?
He then used his spare time to work, trying to use this method to find entrepreneurial opportunities that are more suitable for ordinary people.
He proved that if the initial investment is low, the profits are also small. In industries with low barriers to entry, competition is also intense and substitutability is high. To upgrade to a purely money-playing platform, one needs more money.
He had been thinking about different entrepreneurial methods than the traditional model. So he set his sights on emerging industries and thought of a project he might be able to succeed. It was just like what Mr. Lin summed up with the word: crowdfunding.
He could break up a large investment into hundreds or thousands of shares and invest them in the resort he plans to build. Besides annual vouchers for resort use, he could also devise a more proactive investment return model. For example, if annual turnover exceeds a certain threshold, he'd return a 6% return on investment that year. Annual turnover exceeding this threshold would yield a higher return of 7 or 8%.
After hearing this, Lin Ruoyan understood the general pattern: "I understand. Investors themselves are also customers who come to the resort. To boost sales, they use their vouchers to invite their friends to come and play. They themselves become free publicity channels. So you need more investors. This way you can save a lot of publicity costs and also ensure the number of customers."
"Yeah." Zhang Huanyu smiled shyly. "Also, that turnover definitely needs to be calculated. The operation of a resort is similar to that of a B&B. I think there's a lot we can learn from each other, so I shamelessly asked my mother to find a way for me to intern at your B&B."
Lin Ruoyan asked curiously, "I understand the principle, but small investors like these probably won't get any returns in the first few years. How do you convince them to invest their money?"
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