Chapter 1: Balloon Queen, Gadget Business
For most people, balloons symbolize festivals and joy. For Hu Xinying, the founder of "Balloon Queen", this is a brand-new big business.
Balloon complex that brings fantasy and happiness
Hu Xinying, 27, was born in Beijing. She has a balloon complex that she can't solve since she was a child. She likes balloons made up of various animals and buildings in movies, and also likes some lovely romantic balloons in fashion magazines, which brought a lot of fantasy and happiness to her childhood and girlhood.
After graduating from university majoring in international trade, Hu Xinying joined an investment company as an account manager, with a stable income and a dull life. This life lasted for three years.
One day in 2009, on his friend's birthday, Hu Xinxin wanted to send a special gift, so he went to look for the doll balloon he saw in the booth. But in the vast city of Beijing, there is no trace of this kind of balloon. She was very upset. "How can there be no market for fashion balloons that can bring happiness to people?" In an instant, she decided impulsively: quit her job and run her favorite balloon.
Despite the strong opposition of her parents and friends, she stuck to her old style, decided that there was a big market for small balloons and decided to specialize in importing balloons.
Hu Xinying found that balloons have a long history and an important position in European and American pop culture. It is a mature industry with many famous brands. For example, Anagram she just introduced, Louis Vuitton used its balloon products to decorate the window, and the daughter of former US President Bill Clinton also named the brand in her wedding planning to make a famous balloon tree.
Hu Xinying selected several favorite foreign balloon brands, such as Anagram, and bought the first balloons. But she did not dare to invest in opening a shop rashly, but made a studio at her boyfriend's suggestion.
In July 2009, Hu Xinying made her first business: a friend who was a photographer introduced her to set up a children's photography party. The turnover is only 2500 yuan, which is very small, but she is greatly encouraged. Later, in order to support her daughter to start a business, her father simply took out a large sum of money, and with Hu Xinying's savings, she had 500,000 venture capital.
Introducing characteristic balloons into European and American pop culture
After preparation, in September 2009, Hu Xinying's balloon queen balloon fashion balloon company was formally registered. Mainly used for holiday parties, birthday parties, opening ceremonies, full moon banquets, company annual meetings, wedding celebrations and other venues and retail.
Since then, Hu Xinying has been running around hotels, magazines and wedding companies, talking about projects and cooperation. Beautiful and lovely balloons make many customers shine, so they easily win one order after another. The celebration business is gradually on the right track. 20 10 In early June, Hu Xinying settled down in a small shop in SO-HO outside Jianguomen and started the retail business he always wanted to do.
On the two walls of the 30-square-meter shop, Hu Xinying is covered with children's balloons, lovers' balloons, 3D balloons, standing balloons and recording balloons. These balloons are very interesting. The unit price ranges from 20 yuan to 400 yuan, which is 5 ~ 10 times more expensive than domestic ordinary balloons.
One day, several young people were watching in the shop. One of them bought a dolphin-shaped recording balloon for 228 yuan, which was made in France. You can record what you want to say in the balloon, and the person who receives the balloon can hear the sound as soon as he takes a shot. The two boys who came with him joked that they bought this to chase their sweetheart, right? The young man blushed and said with a smile, "I'm worried about how to tell her." This gift is great! " Another young man bought a 3D balloon modeled after the hero of Avatar. The highlight of this balloon is to highlight the three-dimensional effect of the model, which is lifelike after inflation.
Balloons helped me grow from a girl to a woman.
At the beginning of balloon business, some American balloon masters came to Shanghai and Beijing to arrange some activities. Hu Xinying went to observe and then came back to ponder. Now, she has passed the imitation stage and will take the initiative to discuss with teachers in Europe and Taiwan Province Province by email and telephone.
20 10 One day in March, the fairy tale king Zheng came here to buy a birthday present for his father. Knowing that the old man is a monkey, he is 78 years old and likes porcelain very much, Hu Xinying designed and made a blessing balloon with the number "78" and the monkey pattern printed on it, and printed exquisite blue and white porcelain patterns on it. Zheng consumed 500 yuan with satisfaction. Making money from celebrities for the first time made Hu Xinying feel very fulfilled.
Soon, Li Jing, a famous TV presenter, spent money on the "Balloon Queen" and asked Hu Xinying to arrange a balloon-themed birthday party for her daughter.
In addition to customized parties, guests can also book balloons and give them to friends. On a sunny winter day, a bicycle full of balloons stopped outside the big landing window of the office. I'm afraid no girl can resist.
In addition to celebrity stars, now, more than 40 fashion magazines, enterprises, hotels and wedding companies such as Ruili, Fashion co *** o and Hyundai Motor have become Hu Xinying's loyal customers and partners.
Talking about entrepreneurial experience, Hu Xinying thinks that balloons helped her grow from a girl to a woman. "I am a more casual person. I have never been able to find the direction of life before. Now I find that I can only sleep for two hours a day for work. I feel happy and full. "
Chapter 2: "One dish" to attract business
Li Yalan, a post-80s Beijing beauty, studied under the grandfather of a five-star hotel chef, and is an excellent cook. But she was not satisfied, and went to the small shops in Kashgar and Sichuan Lane, the ancient city of Xinjiang, to steal her craft. After more than ten years' hard study, she has perfected her cooking skills.
I thought that better art would attract business, but I didn't know that the small restaurant opened by Li Jiaxiang in Dongcheng District was extremely deserted due to internal reasons such as deep alleys and few people.
This small restaurant is called "Private Restaurant". The dishes they operate are all unique skills, and they are also very stylish dishes that are difficult to see in other snack bars. It stands to reason that accurate positioning and superb craftsmanship will make business prosperous. Why can't you get customers?
Li Yalan also wanted to move to another place, but the facade of the city was surprisingly expensive. She just started her business, so she can't come up with so much money at the moment, so she can only "suffocate" her good ideas. I want to give the restaurant to someone else, but I can't find a suitable candidate at the moment. In this way, the private restaurant has to go on half-dead.
Is there no other way to save the private restaurant except to move to another place? Li Yalan, who racked his brains to find a breakthrough, turned his attention to Weibo.
In short, meeting the wrong person, Li Yalan decided to try his luck in Weibo.
In order to do his homework, Li Yalan filmed the making process of the most famous "Siniperca chuatsi bean curd soup" and sent it to Weibo. In the photo, there are pieces of mandarin fish in the snow-white tofu, and the golden salted duck eggs are full of oil, which is very attractive. Bloggers, rave reviews. In the following days, every time Li Yalan cooks a dish, he will send photos to the forum or Weibo to win the "favor" of bloggers.
Beautiful pictures, fresh words, Li Yalan's "Weibo Private Kitchen" not only got everyone's praise, but also had a good interaction. Later, there were thousands of fans, and each Weibo had hundreds of reposts and comments.
Thousands of fans are a rare wealth of contacts. Fans should not just praise and appreciate, but should use their wisdom and skills to "live" the private restaurant.
Therefore, in the blog, Li Yalan cooperated with a food forum in Beijing to organize a gathering of food lovers, and invited everyone to prepare a special dish and come to the private restaurant for discussion. Food is bought by private restaurants, and food lovers don't have to pay. They just need to provide a detailed list of food purchases on their blogs in advance. The special dishes made by them are monopolized by themselves, and Li Yalan takes them as a reward and doesn't charge a penny. Li Yalan called this activity "leisure on the tip of the tongue".
Bloggers showed their talents and saw Li Yalan's unique skills. Thanks to the word of mouth of these experts, private restaurants soon became famous in Beijing.
Li Yalan is also studying and selling now. She sells the special dishes she learned when she came to the restaurant for discussion, and then "sells" them to other customers. In this way, the dishes in private restaurants can introduce new tricks almost every day. This constant renovation has also brought vitality and continuous business to the restaurant.
In 20 12, private restaurants were broadcast by China on the tip of the tongue, which caused a great sensation in the Beijing food circle. Chen Xiaoqing, the director-in-chief, said that if Li Yalan's private kitchens were not put on the screen, it would be not only a lack, but also a great pity!
In 20 13 years, private restaurants have been unable to accommodate a large number of diners who come here. Li Yalan spent1600,000 yuan to open several branches in Beijing Dongcheng.
"One dish" took over the business! "One dish" provides not only the accumulation of quantity, but also contacts. Networking is wealth, which is the real trick for Li Yalan to launch "one dish".