Rekindling the dream of becoming a star

Chapter 237 Reborn Here, I Dare Not Let You Down

Riverside.

An inland metropolitan city 60 kilometers away from Los Angeles, it is also a complex county-city that has developed rapidly in recent years.

Elijah Stuart's hometown is here.

When Chen Fang saw Elijah, he was repairing the house in the backyard. Chen Fang's arrival surprised him greatly. Elijah's mother Ila was not at home and was still working her second job.

This is a typical small Western-style building with two floors and four rooms. It looks very small. Elijah's family is like most black families, with a missing father, a strong mother, a younger brother who is involved in gangs, and a younger sister who ran away from home.

After making a cup of instant coffee for Chen Fang, the two sat in the shade of the backyard, feeling the scorching heat burning their skin and talking about their recent days.

"I plan to apply for a job as soon as my foot is healed enough to walk normally. I have enough credits to graduate, and there are still people who want a degree from USC, so you don't have to worry." Elijah knew that Chen Fang came to see him because he was worried, so he comforted him.

Chen Fang said nothing. It is difficult for black people to find jobs. Class discrimination has always existed in the United States. For example, if a telephone salesperson speaks in a black accent, he will not make any sales that day. If he speaks in a white accent, it will be completely different.

Therefore, it is difficult for black people to find a decent job.

"What are you looking for?"

"I took a business elective and I want to try my luck at a financial company," said Elijah.

"Well, if you are interested, why not come to me? I have just set up a company and I need my own talented people." Chen Fang decided.

"Come to your place?"

"I'm short of people right now. If you think highly of me, come and help me!"

"There is no such thing between us, Da Falcon, you know me well!" Elijah nodded immediately.

"Well, you adapt first. I have a basketball training company called Rock. There aren't many people right now. It's in Silicon Valley, California. It mainly serves me. Of course, this is only temporary. I want to be international and train overseas players for high school students, semi-professional, so that they can impact D1."

"That's a good idea!" Ilya thought it was a good idea.

"You don't have to pay for your place to live. I just picked an apartment building near the Clippers' training center. You and other employees can live there."

"The other employees are not from California either. I will hire a good chef, so you don't have to worry about that."

"As for salary, I can't give you too much because the others are professionals, but it won't be less, at least it's enough for you and your family."

"6 for the first year, what do you think?"

Elijah was stunned, his lips trembling a few times before he said, "More."

"Not much. You have a lot to do, and I feel at ease with you around. This money is worth spending. When the business picks up, your salary will increase."

Chen Fang naturally understood why Elijah was surprised, because the income of the middle class in the United States is 5 to 10 yuan. For an individual, 6 yuan is considered very good. An ordinary person works several jobs a day and only makes about yuan a year.

Even primary school students may not believe that one can become rich by washing dishes.

"What do you want me to do?" Ilya asked.

"First, you need to transform yourself from a D1 player to a qualified and outstanding trainer. I think you have no problem. Your mid-range shooting technique can be taught in a separate course. Second, you chose business as an elective. In the future, you will be the one to handle the company's external connections. You will have to take on multiple roles."

"Finally, although the company currently has only seven or eight people, there may be 20 to 30 people in the future. You need to be my eyes and help me keep an eye on this base."

"I understand. I think I'm fine." Elijah breathed a sigh of relief. He felt that he was fine with these. Chen Fang trusted him, and he trusted Chen Fang as well.

"Here is the address. Take care of your family affairs first, and I will advance you half a year's salary."

Just hearing these words made Elijah's heart warm. Chen Fang had already thought of everything for him.

"I'll give you a week. I don't have much free time because I will be attending the team's training camp in August. We will try to get this company up and running before the training camp starts."

"Don't worry, boss." Elijah grinned.

Chen Fang had no objection to this new title. This was how the relationship was. Once the salary was paid, the status relationship had to be maintained. Trying to smooth things over was not a good business mindset.

After leaving Hebin, Chen Fang lay in the car and started heading home.

He definitely couldn't live in his original residence anymore, so he had to move. Some people advised him to buy a property, a house of his own, but Chen Fang didn't want to consider it.

In California, good locations are extremely expensive, and public security in general areas is poor. Add to that property taxes, and after all the calculations, renting a house is the most cost-effective option.

Besides, who knows where you will be in a few years.

Chen Fang chose a new home near his company and training center so that he could take care of both. For NBA players, long journeys are a fatal flaw and no one likes to spend time on the road.

After arriving home, Chen Fang did not move immediately, but rested for three days. During these three days, Chen Fang did nothing but accompanied Wu Zi around. Due to the public security in California, Wu Zi basically went between school and home, and would only go out when Chen Fang was at home.

However, they did not do nothing during these three days. They bought necessities for their new home because the new home would be twice as big as their current residence. It would be a single-family villa with a garden, over 11 square meters, and the annual rent would be US dollars. It was the most expensive house Chen Fang had rented since he came to the United States.

On the fourth day, the two brothers Lu Yun and Lu Jie, together with Wu Zhen and Sun Lexian, a total of seven people did not need to hire anyone and completed the moving work by themselves.

When they arrived at the new house, Chen Fang cooked a meal to reward everyone, and called Sun Lexian over to chat about business.

"Where is Hei Nao at now?" Chen Fang asked.

Black Brain is the code name of the basketball analysis association that Chen Fang asked Sun Lexian to set up. This website has officially settled on the Internet and has started its operation.

"To be honest, the number of professionals in the US is still large. With such a difficult registration threshold, we now have nearly a hundred people, but there are still very few elders and prophets. I think some of the elders may be from the NBA. The analysis they provide is very professional."

"This is a good thing. Our core is to provide basketball bounties. We don't ask for names or sources. We just need to provide answers."

"However, the first batch of bounties has basically been distributed, and you need to continue to inject funds." Sun Lexian said.

"I know." Chen Fang nodded.

There have been a lot of expenses recently. To be honest, Kobe's plane was bought in installments. If you ask Chen Fang whether he regrets it or not, the answer is definitely no, because Kobe will bring him more returns.

Not to mention anything else, Kobe's influence in China alone will pay you back many times over with just one collaboration.

But now is not the right time. Once he has established himself, Chen Fang will cooperate with Kobe sooner or later. I believe Kobe will also be waiting for the opportunity to repay the favor.

"Your tasks now need to shift to two directions. First, real-time match analysis, review each game, and sell based on points. But the settings must be reasonable, so that the points produced are consumed reasonably, stimulate the internal circulation, and let members continue to do bounty tasks and earn points."

"Second, make forward-looking predictions and conduct detailed analysis of the upcoming games, down to every quarter."

"Will this attract the attention of Spinach?" Sun Lexian asked worriedly.

"It's only a matter of time. If he wants to come in, he needs to register. Members don't have any way to contact each other. We have done technical isolation. Besides, we are just making a basketball analysis website that is purely professional and hobby. In addition, we need to upgrade the server and encrypt the data."

"I got it."

"What is the profit model?" Sun Lexian asked the question he had been thinking about.

"I'm not considering it right now. Now I'm going to recruit the most high-end basketball analysts in North America at any cost, let them enjoy the fun of cashing in their knowledge, and make them firmly supporters of Black Brain."

“You won’t see any results in the short term, but if you stick with it for a long time, BlackBrain will sooner or later become the most advanced basketball analysis website in the NBA. You have to remember one thing: advanced players only like to play with advanced players.”

"Ok."

"Finally, you need to start controlling the direction of the analysis and make two plans. One is to make a prediction of each team's performance in the 17-18 season, and the other is to track and analyze the team of the week."

"All of these will help me open up the situation in the NBA."

"Yeah, I understand."

"Go out and call Wu Zhen in!" Chen Fang used the kitchen as his decision-making room. The noise here was loud and it would be difficult for a third party to hear.

Wu Zhen came in and asked, "What do you need me to do?"

"No, I haven't seen you for a long time. I wanted to know how you're doing." Chen Fang said.

"Very good. The university system has had a great impact on me. I have obviously improved in confrontation, especially in skills and tactics. Looking back at the first half of the year, I feel that I have made great progress." Wu Zhen smiled more often, and it can be seen that he is very satisfied with the current situation.

"What about the atmosphere?"

"That's good too. Although Coach Andy didn't say anything about our identities, your aura is still there. Everyone respects me and I don't have the same sense of oppression that I had in high school." "That's good!" Chen Fang felt relieved. "Here, this dish is ready and can be served."

In the next few days, Chen Fang prepared for the site selection of Panshi Company's training ground. He finally chose a warehouse not far from the coastline and transformed it into a large training center with four stadiums.

Money was spent like water. Chen Fang calculated that most of the money he earned in the past two years had been invested.

The rest are stocks and options, and the remaining liquidity is needed to support salary payments and maintenance.

Domestic CF Chen Fang cannot be moved. Wang Zhen has tried very hard and he doesn’t want to make things more difficult for his brother.

Everyone says that they don't care about money, but when they have no money, Chen Fang immediately put aside his pride and took the initiative to find Duffy to ask about advertising cooperation and endorsement.

"You finally changed your mind!" Duffy looked very happy.

Chen Fang was slightly embarrassed, but still insisted: "Quality is the most important thing when it comes to endorsements."

"Nike is in talks. I have modified your requirements, but I have not lowered them. I have increased them. You must have a separate sneaker brand. You need to move towards global endorsement. Your appearance is fine and is suitable for global promotion."

"Do you want to make a car?"

"If you want to make electric new energy, you can look for Chinese companies for this," said Chen Fang.

“Where’s Tesla?”

"It's not impossible! But we'll give priority to Chinese manufacturers." Chen Fang was able to make this distinction clearly. His playing style actually matched that of electric cars, both of which had strong burst but weak endurance.

“Which digital brand do you want to choose?”

"apple?"

"No, Huawei!" Chen Fang did not hesitate.

"If you don't choose Apple, you will lose a lot of endorsement fees in North America!" Duffy reminded.

"It doesn't matter, I only choose Huawei for my mobile phone."

"Why, can you tell me?" Duffy asked.

"There's really no secret. I'm Chinese, and China will be the strongest in the digital industry sooner or later. I can't refuse."

"Okay. Next up is the drinks."

"I don't have a preference for drinks, you decide, the highest bidder wins."

"The rest are perfumes, luxury fashion apparel, watches, food, games and so on." Duffy listed them all.

"Let's not talk about these for now. It all depends on the influence. We'll talk about it later." Chen Fang felt that it was enough. He had more money and he didn't know how to spend it.

"Then I have no problem. Now it's just training camp."

"you say!"

"I need to remind you that the training camp is the first step to start your NBA career. I have compiled a list of recommendations. Come for the interview."

"Ok."

"As for the training camp and subsequent matters, they can be handed over to the PR team to control." Duffy said: "You don't need to intervene too much, just check the situation every week. PR needs to be independent, and many times, you have to listen to their opinions."

"I understand." Chen Fang nodded.

Chen Fang started the interview that afternoon. The first two people did not leave a good impression on him, not professionally, but psychologically, he felt a little uncomfortable.

Chen Fang trusted his intuition and ended the interview politely.

Lindsay Webster, 35 years old, has a master's degree in sociology and law, an impressive resume, and experience working for world-class public relations firms such as Ogilvy, Edelman, and Weber. She is currently on vacation and is also preparing to start her own company.

Looking at the pretty, well-dressed white lady in front of him, Chen Fang had a good first impression.

After the two sat down, it only took a few minutes from the time Chen Fang started asking questions to the time Lindsay took the initiative.

Chen Fang witnessed the power of this woman.

"Generally speaking, the public relations risks of NBA stars are above average in the public relations industry, because athletes are prone to accidents by their very nature." Lindsay's tone is calm and his speech is not fast, but his enunciation is clear, which easily makes people habitual to listen.

"But based on my understanding and contacts with Chinese people, I believe Mr. Chen's risk will be very low."

"Thank you." Chen Fang responded calmly.

"The essence of public relations is to prevent personal image from being damaged, rather than to clean up after something goes wrong. So if Mr. Chen is willing to become my client, he needs to accept my principles."

It's very strong, but Chen Fang understands that the more so, the more it represents professionalism and safety.

"I accept this principle. If there is any problem, I will speak up."

"As for the commission, since you are my first client, I can give you a preferential price, but as we trust each other, the price will increase year by year, so I have to tell you in advance."

"no problem."

"If possible, can we sign the contract at any time?" Chen Fang asked.

"It can be done tomorrow." Although Lindsay was excited after getting Chen Fang's verbal approval, she didn't show it on her face.

"Very good. I'm very pressed for time. The team training camp will start the day after tomorrow. You will need to follow up on all the related matters immediately."

"Please rest assured, I will give you a comprehensive plan after the contract is signed tomorrow, which includes a series of plans on how to quickly improve relationships with teammates and core players. I will guide you throughout the process." (Many people think that the stars are so and so, but in fact, they are all created by the public relations team. The faces of the stars you can see cannot be real. Even the faces of the stars are blurred. This is only possible if they know each other in high school.)
"Very good, looking forward to your performance!" Chen Fang stood up and the two shook hands.

After sending Lindsay away, Chen Fang went home. It only took him ten minutes to get from his company to his home, and it also took him ten minutes to get from his home to the training center. The three points formed a triangle, and the journey was all within ten minutes.

This is Chen Fang’s carefully constructed daily route map.

And everything he does now is helping him gain a foothold in the NBA faster and take root in the league.

A group of trustworthy talents have gathered around him, and Chen Fang believes that his future will definitely be better.

When he got home, Lu Jie was waiting for him.

Two years have passed, and the two have become familiar with each other. Lu Jie is also a local boss in the Chinese community in California. He can easily solve many small problems. Chen Fang communicated with Lu Yun first, and only after getting a definite answer did he confront Lu Jie.

"What do you need me to do?" Lu Jie asked.

"Train a group of navy soldiers to clean up the mess for me." Chen Fang's eyes flashed with a terrifying light.

"I see. What kind of person are you looking for?"

"All are of Chinese descent, first-generation identity is preferred, second-generation identity needs to be identified."

"Okay, I have someone like that here."

"Also, find a powerful Chinese man. I need a bodyguard from my own country."

“This is a bit difficult and will take some time.”

"No hurry, I won't need it for a while."

After a brief conversation, Lu Jie was sent away and Wu Zi came out with the cooked soup. It was just sunset and the afterglow spread into the entire courtyard and illuminated the hall through the floor-to-ceiling glass.

The two of them sat on the sofa, gazing at the setting sun on the horizon. Chen Fang squinted his eyes, engraving this beautiful scenery in his mind.

"Your husband is about to start fighting again."

"You won't lose. I have confidence in my husband." Wu Zi hugged Chen Fang's neck and encouraged him face to face.

"Yeah, there's no way I'll lose!" Chen said to himself.

Because behind me, there are countless people who hope that I will succeed. After being reborn here, I dare not let them down!

(End of this chapter)