After the reform and opening up, groups of wandering, hard-working, smart and hard-working Wenzhou people are active in every corner of China. At first, they were very inconspicuous, and people only knew them from shoe repairs, small hair salons, and small vendors. In addition to being as thin and smart as the Jiangnan people, Wenzhou people work and do business silently. They are no different from migrant workers and small traders in other places. However, slowly, there are more and more Wenzhou hair salons, Wenzhou clothing stores, Wenzhou Electronic City, and Wenzhou products, and there are more and more various Wenzhou product packaging, signs, certificates, and badges. For a time, Wenzhou products flooded the country. Gradually, people changed from indifference and disdain to Wenzhou people, to full interest, to surprise and admiration, to to careful inquiry: What are Wenzhou people like? So much, so profitable.
When doing business, Wenzhou people pay attention to starting from small things. Wenzhou people are pragmatic and hardworking. As long as they make a penny, Wenzhou people will be happy! I will spare no effort to do my best, never aim too high, and never achieve great success. When Wenzhou people make money, they start from scratch, step by step, and are down-to-earth and meticulous. Unlike people in some places, who can't make big money and don't want to make small money, they have no choice but to complain that God doesn't help them.
Wenzhou people have particularly bright business acumen. In their eyes, money is everywhere, the key lies in how you discover and earn it. Wenzhou people are very good at digging out opportunities to make money from other people's careless things. Buttons, labels, signs, trademarks, accessories, small toys, all these "baubles" that outsiders look down on and are too lazy to make, are made by Wenzhou people. They are not afraid of making less money, but they are afraid of not making enough. Wenzhou's small commodities can be found all over the country. . Wenzhou people follow the path of small commodities and large markets. When they start a business, they are not like Beijingers and Guangdong people who pursue grandeur and big products. They also start from a small place to fill the gaps in the national small commodity market. The hardware and electrical appliances of Liushi in Yueqing County, the buttons of Qiaotou Town of Yongjia County, and the small commodities of Jinxiang of Cangnan County are all famous throughout the country. Among them, the buttons of Qiaotou Town of Yongjia County, known as the "No. 1 Button City in China", are the most famous.
When you come to Wenzhou, Zhejiang, and turn into Qiaotou Town, Yongjia County from National Highway 330, you will see the magnificent "China Button City". This button market was officially opened in February 1983, and soon developed rapidly and became a nationally famous button trading center. As early as 1986, this market had the reputation of "the first button market in the East" among the top ten professional markets in Wenzhou City that are famous throughout the country. The Button City you see now was built in 1997 near the original old market. The market now sells more than 10,000 varieties of craft buttons, glass pearlescent buttons, metal hanging buttons, ceramic buttons, and simple decorative fasteners. Button sales account for 80% of the total domestic sales and 60% of the world's total sales.
The engagement in button production in Qiaotou Town, Yongjia County originated from an accidental opportunity. The earliest buyers and sellers of buttons were the brothers Ye Yaolin and Ye Yaoqing. At first, they bought a batch of buttons from Luqiao Button Factory in Huangyan County and tried selling them in Qiaotou Town. In less than a day, the buttons worth 400 yuan were sold out. As soon as the news came out, everyone started to start the button business. The cost of buttons is small, and you can't make much money from one button, but the demand for buttons is very large, which can add up to a considerable amount of income. People in Qiaotou Town, Yongjia County have seen this, and more and more people are making buttons. As a result, buttons play an increasingly important role in Qiaotou’s small commodity market. By the second half of 1981, there were more than 100 button stalls, becoming the protagonist of Qiaotou Market. In February 1983, the button market was officially opened and soon developed at a miraculous speed. It became a nationally famous button trading center and was hailed as "the first button market in the East" by Hong Kong's "Wen Wei Po".
Buying buttons and then selling them to earn the price difference is no longer enough to satisfy Qiaotou people. They got the equipment back and started making their own buttons. Qiaotou used to be a small old town, deserted, but since the buttons were made, merchants from all over the place have come to Qiaotou to buy buttons, making the place busy with traffic. Every household in Qiaotou Town can make buttons, and every household is making buttons, forming a professional market.
As production expands, we are faced with the problem of market development.
With a keen sense of the market, Qiaotou people began to contract counters in major shopping malls across the country, and quickly occupied the domestic market by selling first and collecting payment later. During the period when the physical market was shrinking, Qiaotou people quickly changed their minds. Every household bought computers and published business information on the Internet, which not only further expanded the domestic market, but also opened up the international market. It is reported that at its peak, 5 billion buttons were sold here a year, equivalent to 5 buttons per person in the country. Today, more than 80% of the buttons used in the national clothing industry and more than 60% of the world's buttons come from Yongjia Qiaotou. In November, the industry's authoritative organization officially listed Yongjia Qiaotou and awarded it the title of national "Button Capital".
In fact, Yongjia Qiaotou is also the "hometown of zippers", "hometown of glasses", "hometown of lighters", etc. People who have completed the primitive accumulation of capital by relying on buttons also represent famous brand clothing such as Crocodile and Playboy. , some even started real estate business, and "Yongjia Qiaotou" has become a highly valuable brand.
Wenzhou people are discerning. After they have accumulated capital, they will expand their products from small to large, and finally from buttons to clothing and shoes, from electronic components to complete sets of electronic equipment, from daily necessities From small items to high-tech industries, and also involved in real estate and financial industries, Wenzhou people became bigger and bigger, and became more and more outstanding.
Starting from a small start when doing business is a specialty of Wenzhou businessmen, and it is also the secret to their success.
Start from small things and learn to pay attention to details. The reason why many entrepreneurs fail to start a business is because they neglect to pay attention to small things and details. For example, the U.S. Space Shuttle Columbia exploded during liftoff just because a small piece of paint on the heat shield peeled off, killing all the people on board the space shuttle. In many cases, entrepreneurs are successful precisely because they pay attention to details and can make a fuss about the subtleties. There are also many times when entrepreneurs have reached the end of their rope, but they are able to win because of some details and small things. Business opportunities, thus turning defeat into victory.