On June 17, Shenzhou-12 was successfully launched, and the whole country rejoiced.

The next day, footage of astronaut Tang Hongbo drinking water in the cabin was sent back.

It turns out that astronauts drink water through straws in the cabin, and their knowledge has increased again.

When I saw the straw, I couldn’t help but think of the straw king Lou Zhongping.

Lou Zhongping was born in an extremely poor family in Yiwu and dropped out of junior high school.

In order to have enough to eat, he became a traveling salesman.

In 1993, he started working with straws and has been doing it for half his life.

Lou Zhongping’s double-child straw has two-thirds of the world’s patented technology and has the world’s top straw technology.

A quarter of the world’s straws come from twins.

How did Lou Zhongping achieve the big deal in small straws?

Lou Zhongping was born in 1965 in Yiwu, Zhejiang. There are six children in the family, and he is the fourth.

When Lou Zhongping reached school age, he went to school wearing crotchless pants. After being laughed at by his classmates, he ran home crying and never wanted to go to school again.

My mother cut off an apron and filled in the opening, thus avoiding embarrassment.

When he was a child, Lou Zhongping only had one thought, which was to have a full stomach.

When he reached the second grade of junior high school, his father and brothers, who were doing business as a salesman, came home. Lou Zhongping asked his brother whether it was good to be a salesman, and his brother said: Anyway, he can have enough to eat.

Having enough to eat became Lou Zhongping’s fatal temptation.

He told his father: I also want to be a peddler.

A pedlar is a person who carries a load and walks through the streets selling "chicken feathers, duck feathers, and turtle shells in exchange."

Others will exchange chicken and duck feathers for some candies or small daily necessities, which is also called "chicken feathers for candy."

His father still insisted on letting Lou Zhongping go to school, but he also agreed to let him try out during the winter vacation.

When Lou Zhongping saw his father change, he always gave others more things.

For example, when a child exchanges candy, if he agrees to exchange two pieces of candy, his father will always give him half an extra piece of crushed candy.

When the old man came out to change it, he agreed that it would be 5 buttons, and his father would always give him 6 buttons.

Lou Zhongping was puzzled, so his father told him:

His father also said:

This is the business plan that his father gave Lou Zhongping to "out six and into four". .

I can’t help but think of what Li Ka-shing said: It’s okay if a business can earn 9 or 10%, but I only want 8%.

Give up part of your profits and exceed others' expectations, and they will be more willing to do business with you next time.

With more partners, business will naturally not be bad.

After graduating from junior high school, Lou Zhongping officially started working as a peddler.

Being a salesman is not that simple.

In addition to getting up at 4:30 in the morning, he also has to pick 100 to 150 pounds of chicken feathers every day. When business is good, he has to pick 300 to 400 chicken feathers.

This is a big challenge for Lou Zhongping, who is only over 1.5 meters tall.

Faced with such a life, Lou Zhongping said:

Once, Lou Zhongping and his father went to the vegetable market to buy vegetables and found a person spreading a plastic sheet on the ground with a Things in the salesman's load.

Lou Zhongping thought: Is this still possible for business?

The next day, he found a place and followed the same pattern.

The goods sold in one day were actually the amount of goods that my father picked up for three days.

Salesman Lou Zhongping felt the benefits of business model innovation for the first time.

Lou Zhongping worked as a salesman for 15 years. He also worked in more than 20 trades, but he didn't leave much savings.

In 1988, Lou Zhongping got married, and the next year, his daughter was born.

The new identity gave Lou Zhongping new thoughts.

In 1991, 26-year-old Lou Zhongping decided to return to his hometown of Yiwu.

He first sold plastic products in Wangjianglou Market; later, he moved to Huangyuan Market.

There is a customer who wants to buy plastic bowls. This bowl was purchased for 10 cents, and Lou Zhongping sold it for 10 cents.

The business was completed, and Lou Zhongping only earned 50 cents.

The merchant next door asked him: "Lou Zhongping, if you make 50 cents, will you also deliver goods?"

"Yes, you can get a box lunch for 50 cents." "Lou Zhongping rode a tricycle and ran 6 kilometers and earned a box lunch.

In 1993, Lou Zhongping encountered an opportunity.

A man wanted to sell a second-hand straw production machine, so he approached Lou Zhongping and asked him to help ask.

At that time, most of the goods on the Yiwu market were imported from other places, and the Yiwu market was also the consignment market.

Policies have also begun to encourage the conversion of business into industry and the linkage between trade and industry.

Following the policy, Lou Zhongping took over the machine and started a new business model of "front shop and back factory".

At this point, business was so good that it exceeded Lou Zhongping’s expectations.

On the road to entrepreneurship, when you work hard enough, opportunities will naturally come across unexpectedly.

As Lou Zhongping’s business grew and orders increased, he abandoned his store and focused on production.

At this time, Lou Zhongping discovered a problem again.

There are dozens of manufacturers, large and small, that produce straws on a voluntary basis, but they use the same trademarks, packaging, and even addresses.

Everyone is using the two dolls’ trademarks, and I don’t know why.

Lou Zhongping had an idea and went to check the trademark registration.

He asked if they were registered, and the office staff affirmed that they were.

Unwilling to give up, Lou Zhongping spent 300 yuan to ask someone to help him investigate.

It doesn’t matter if you check it, no one has registered. This made Lou Zhongping extremely happy.

The next day, Lou Zhongping took 2,000 yuan and went to register it first. Shuangtong became the seventh trademark in Yiwu.

It took two years for the trademark to come down. Lou Zhongping then started to publicize it in newspapers. He owned the trademark and no one else could use it.

At that time, there was no awareness of trademarks and they were still used in the market.

Lou Zhongping can only go to the door to lobby: Anyway, the trademark is mine now, and you are also promoting me by using it. You have to change it sooner or later.

When other people think about it, they might as well change it as soon as possible.

With the trademark issue resolved, the next step is product competition.

Lou Zhongping used two tricks to break out of the tight encirclement and gain greater profit margins for himself.

First, the products enter supermarkets.

If you want to sell in supermarkets, you need barcodes and other requirements.

Simply, Lou Zhongping made enterprise standards, and later made industry standards.

Lou Zhongping’s move only benefited him a little, and it also invisibly promoted the development of industry standards.

Second, the business strategy of “grasping small businesses and enlarging them”.

Before 2000, the straw market was highly homogeneous. In order to obtain orders, profits can only be reduced and vicious competition is formed.

Everyone is rushing to receive large orders from Europe and the United States, because one order can last for three or four months.

Although such an order is worry-free, you have no initiative. The other party has the final say, and profits are kept to a minimum.

Lou Zhongping "calculated" again. One big order is equivalent to 10 small orders, so why don't I find 10 small orders that are easier to handle.

Not completely relying on foreign trade allowed Shuangtong to perfectly avoid the 2008 global financial crisis.

When the moon is full, it will be in decline, and when the water is full, it will overflow.

In the first seven or eight years, Lou Zhongping's development was too smooth, and everything was based on the pulse of the times.

In 2000, Lou Zhongping said goodbye to the small workshop and moved to a large factory of 2,000 square meters.

Looking at the empty workshop, Lou Zhongping's enthusiasm was ignited and he wanted to do something big.

He introduced machinery and equipment and started making paper cups, plastic wrap, knives, forks and spoons, etc. It seemed as if brilliant achievements were just around the corner.

In 2002, Lou Zhongping’s father was diagnosed with advanced liver cancer. Previously, his father had been in charge of financial affairs, giving Lou Zhongping a stable rear area.

At this time, his family began to blame him. In addition, the new product sales did not meet expectations. Lou Zhongping was in a bad mood and even dropped several mobile phones.

It was only 70 days from the time my father was diagnosed to the time he passed away.

His father left before the Spring Festival. After the Spring Festival, Lou Zhongping was hospitalized due to acute myocarditis.

The stay lasted for nine months. These nine months gave Lou Zhongping time to think and settle.

The increase in production categories has kept everyone busy, but the effect is not obvious.

Looking at Japanese companies, many are dedicated and craftsmanship.

During his hospitalization, Lou Zhongping decisively reduced the size of his company, sold off his equipment, and focused on straws.

After being discharged from the hospital, he saw that the company and its employees had taken on a new lease of life.

He understood: The enterprise does not have to be mine, and authorization can magnify the value of employees.

In 2005, real estate opportunities were everywhere. Others persuaded Lou Zhongping to enter real estate, but he declined.

He said:

In 2008, the Internet developed rapidly. Lou Zhongping wanted to create more opportunities for employees who had followed him for many years, so he invested in Jintao.com.

Two and a half years later, a loss of 15 million was made, but it was finally sold to Ma? cloud.

This incident also made Lou Zhongping understand, "It's not just what you want to do, it's not just what you want to do."

Lou Zhongping has been focusing on straws for nearly 30 years. , it depends on concentration.

After going through detours, Lou Zhongping believes more in the power of concentration.

Today, Lou Zhongping has taken the word "focus" from the corporate spirit and changed it to "commitment to growth and collaboration for success."

This is actually a big leap from craftsman to thinker.

Now, Lou Zhongping doesn’t like to be called the “Straw King”.

After the identity change, Lou Zhongping said with a smile: "I have basically not been in the workshop for more than ten years. Now I no longer know how straws are produced."

Lou Zhongping's work center , and started to read books, think, and lead the team.

In his computer, there is this sentence:

In management, there is less painting and less lyricism, and he understands that employees are "people" with flesh and blood, rather than just labor force.

In recent years, Shuangtong, like many production companies, has been stuck in the predicament of declining performance.

Behind the extreme is the limit, and the dividend period of the manufacturing industry has ended.

But Lou Zhongping is not worried because Shuangtong has always been at the top of industry technology.

Lou Zhongping no longer invests in equipment factories because young people are more worthy of investment.

After the reform, Shuangtong managers are mainly those born in the 1990s, and those over 45 years old have taken a back seat or provided technical guidance.

Enterprises are implementing Lou Zhongping’s thinking.

Although Lou Zhongping does not appear on the rich list, there are a lot of companies with an annual output value of 200 million.

But being able to sell a straw with a profit of only 8 cents for 200 million and ranking first in the world, isn’t it worth learning and admiring?

Lou Zhongping turned this small business into a flower.

From the current point of view, Lou Zhongping’s six-in-four approach and craftsman spirit are still worth learning.

What do you think of Lou Zhongping’s story?

Reference materials:

"Illustrated China: Lou Zhongping reveals how Yiwu people make chicken feathers fly to the sky"

Jiangsu Satellite TV "Beautiful Era"

Ningxia Satellite TV "Bositang"

The Paper