How can you become a star without money?

Chapter 153 Forced to Rely on Our Own Efforts [10,000-word Update, Please Subscribe]

Lin Yutang summarized ten sentences in "Do Not Flatter the World".

The number one saying is, "If you have ten coins in your waistband, your clothes will rattle when you shake them."

The second rule is that 'whenever he speaks with someone, he always mentions his noble relatives.'

When a phenomenon can easily spark heated discussions among a large group of people, it indicates that the homogeneity of social values ​​has emerged. It is because the homogeneity of the measurement standard leads most people to develop an 'objective dependence'.

The Internet age has not only created a platform for most people to voice their opinions, but it has also brought to light many things that ordinary people could not access or understand before.

When wealth becomes the standard for measuring success.

All topics related to wealth naturally become the focus of discussion for most people.

This is because it is a way for humans to find their place in the world using 'standards'.

Humans need to compare themselves with others to assess their status, achievements, and happiness. Knowing how much money others have provides the most direct and quantifiable benchmark for comparison.

While Wang Yao's scandals with numerous female celebrities at the auction were a hot topic, the public was more interested in the 'authenticity' of this unfamiliar young tycoon.

Because when the phrases "junior year of college, four months of entrepreneurship, and monthly sales of tens of millions" are combined, it's hard not to be questioned.

Last year's richest man was Mr. Wang, the CEO of BYADI. His wealth, accumulated over two or three decades, is normal for the general public.

Even internet tycoons like Jack Ma, Pony Ma, and Chen Yung, all achieved their success after at least a decade of accumulation and hard work.

But regardless of whether a college student who hasn't graduated is a real billionaire, the auction list published on the Shiba magazine website is not fake. In addition, the final bidding war with the mysterious billionaire Dai Zhikang for tens of millions of dollars has stimulated the public's nerves with every revelation.

The fact that such wealth was acquired in just four months is unacceptable and unacceptable to the general public.

Just like when BTC first started to appreciate in value, it defied most people's understanding and common sense.

Because the public perceives wealth as being closely related to an individual's abilities, efforts, background, and other factors, discussing it satisfies a curiosity and voyeuristic desire to know about other people's lives.

The name Wang Yao became known to almost everyone overnight.

After no one could surpass Xiao Shenyang's popularity in 09, Wang Yao in 10 was no less successful.

All night long, there were no shortage of reports about Wang Yao.

Not only the general public is curious, but even some important figures are very curious.

Especially the big names in the e-commerce industry.

Wang Yao's story of "a miracle of 300,000 yuan and a story of returning a favor" became the main promotional material for the media that night, which made Xinghuo E-commerce a household name throughout the country.

Closely connected to this is the e-commerce industry, which provided Wang Yao with a platform for grassroots success. In recent years, major e-commerce companies have spent a lot of money on publicity and promotion every year to promote the industry, including some stories of people becoming rich overnight.

Even Mr. Ma and Mr. Liu personally participated in various TV programs to increase industry exposure, but none of them seemed to have the same effect as Wang Yao this time.

Those in the know can see the tricks of the trade; the big shots naturally understood the purpose behind Wang Yao's many antics, but the results were indeed surprising.

Even Ma Yun, who was preparing to personally reorganize Alibaba's elite team and Alipay, was alarmed.

It's not because Xinghuo E-commerce has monthly sales of tens of millions and annual sales of over 100 million, but because of the Taobao Girl and Mulan Street platforms.

One is a service intermediary platform for B-end merchants, and the other is an intermediary platform for C-end consumers. Both perfectly align with the core of Taobao's ecosystem layout.

Providing B-end merchants with one-stop operation services was a plan and strategy proposed at the end of last year, but it was delayed due to online payment issues.

But to my surprise, in less than four months, someone beat me to it and even built up a considerable business. What's worse, they even piggybacked on Taobao's popularity with their name.

Another platform, Mulan Street, is one of the most important traffic sources in Taobao's downstream strategy. This month, it officially adjusted Alimama's distribution business, merging it with Taobao Union to fully develop API interfaces and prepare to try UGC promotion and sales models to improve conversion rates.

But to her surprise, someone else beat her to it, and the waterfall-style reading mode of Mulan Street gave Ma Yun a little shock.

This layout is perfect for online shopaholics. If the recommendation algorithm were more sophisticated and accurate, it would be so appealing that it would be impossible to stop buying.

If it were just a coincidence that their strategies overlapped, it might be a coincidence. But the fact that both of them hit the core of Taobao's upstream and downstream ecosystem shows that the founders' understanding and foresight of the e-commerce industry are extraordinary.

Taobao Girls are targeting B-end merchants, while Mulan Street is targeting C-end consumers. Is this an attempt to undermine Taobao?
If it weren't for the fact that no other investors had been found behind Wang Yao, Ma Yun would indeed have become somewhat suspicious.

"Pass a message to this young man and ask if the company is for sale," Ma Yun said to Cai Chongxin after calculating the current size and influence of the two platforms.

"What price should we offer? This kid put on such a big show, we'll definitely ask for an exorbitant price if we come to him on our own initiative," Cai Chongxin said with a smile.

“It’s good that you dare to speak up. The worst thing is not speaking up at all. But it’s a bit exaggerated for a young person to be so high-profile,” Ma Yun said with a smile.

“What kind of young person wouldn’t be so spirited? But this style of speech is somewhat similar to yours.” Cai Chongxin naturally had the full recording of the Shiba Evening.

"Yes, he does have some of my charm," Ma Yun said with a smile, looking at Wang Yao's photo on the screen.

In JD.com's president's office, investor Xu Xin pulled Liu Qiangdong aside to review the materials related to Xinghuo E-commerce.

“This Taobao Girl and Mulan Street are both very valuable; it’s like having both Taobao’s customer base and business resources in one hand,” Liu Qiangdong said, frowning.

“That’s right. Taobao Girls are said to have provided services to 20,000 merchants. Out of Taobao’s total of one million merchants, that’s one-fiftieth. That’s a terrifying proportion, considering the platform has only been operating for less than two months,” Xu Xin said in a deep voice.

"The model photos are also very beautiful." Liu Qiangdong nodded, his eyes fixed on the screen as he scrolled through the waterfall layout, which seemed to stretch endlessly and was almost blindingly white.

"A set of top-tier product images costs 1000 yuan, and if you choose a high-quality model, it can cost as much as 5000 yuan. Moreover, I heard that this guy comes from a model agency. If he mass-produces them, the profit is probably quite frightening."

"It's not difficult to adopt the model, but this platform has already formed a new type of model agency, and replicating it would require a significant investment in talent acquisition." Xu Xin frowned.

"You mean you don't want to acquire it?" Liu Qiangdong raised an eyebrow.

“No, I definitely want to acquire it, but just by looking at the name, you can tell who this platform is going to be sold to.” Xu Xin shook her head.

The name "Taobao Girl" is too suggestive.

"I don't think so. This kid made such a big splash at the auction just to drive up the price. Maybe he only accepts investment and not acquisition. Besides, where would we get the money to acquire him?" Liu Qiangdong smiled bitterly.

JD.com's financing situation this year is very poor. The funds raised are not enough to support the development of its logistics model, and there is even a crisis of broken capital chain.

"How do you know?" Xu Xin asked, puzzled.

"Take a look at the number of people enrolled in this company's insurance program," Liu Qiangdong pointed to a statistic.

"632 people? That many people?" Xu Xin was stunned.

Even a company as large as JD.com, whose logistics sector is heavily reliant on manpower, has fewer than 6000 employees enrolled in social insurance. How could Tianhuo Media, judging from its name, be an internet service-oriented, light-operation company with so many employees enrolled in social insurance?

Is the boss out of his mind?

"Take another look at Xinghuo E-commerce," Liu Qiangdong said, pointing to the main parent company on Mulan Street.

The number of insured persons is 1231, which is even more alarming.

“I suspect their company’s insurance participation rate is 90%,” Liu Qiangdong said in a deep voice. “With such a high participation rate, if you were Ma Yun, wouldn’t you lay off employees immediately after the acquisition? Wouldn’t that cause a negative chain reaction?”

When acquiring a company, we first look at its business model, and then at its operating costs and efficiency.

Insurance participation rate is a significant factor in a company's profits. Companies typically try to outsource or use other methods to reduce the participation rate in order to maximize profits.

Liu Qiangdong's assumption is correct. If Ma Yun really acquires these two companies, the first thing she will do will definitely be to adjust the personnel structure, which will cause a large number of employees to leave, and the platform will inevitably be affected.

This acquisition is not just a matter of price; more importantly, it's meaningless.

"This young man is quite interesting. Could he be planning to run and control Taobao himself?" Xu Xin came back to her senses and pondered.

"Maybe he's treating Taobao as a B2B customer service platform?" Liu Qiangdong squinted.

"Hmm? Then he's somewhat contrary to the Heavenly Gang." Xu Xin chuckled.

“You said it yourself, you’re young and impetuous.” Liu Qiangdong stroked his chin. “Since Taobao is a customer, then JD.com might as well become its customer too.”

Xu Xin was stunned upon hearing this. "Have you been under too much pressure lately? Even if Ma Yun doesn't acquire it, she'll still crush it. Do you think it can survive?"

These two platforms control the upstream and downstream sectors, and if this trend continues unchecked, it will definitely affect Taobao's development.

In theory, as long as Taobao Girls serves enough merchants and Mulan Street accumulates enough consumers, Wang Yao can establish another e-commerce platform at any time, because customers and consumers are the core assets of an e-commerce platform.

Wang Yao happened to be working on Taobao's most important asset.

On the side of the couch, how can you allow others to snore?
"Who knows?" Liu Qiangdong smiled inexplicably, finding it increasingly interesting.

"Sister Meng, are you feeling unwell today? You seem a bit weak when you walk," Zhang Tianai asked with concern after watching Zhang Meng's runway performance. The runway show is an important part of the "Fairy" program, so all the guests take it very seriously. In the past, Zhang Meng had always performed the best because of her advantage as a professional model, but today she was acting strangely, almost falling several times while wearing high heels.

"I probably haven't recovered from the leg exercises I did this morning," Zhang Meng said, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Sister Meng, you are so disciplined. Take me with you next time you train your legs." Naza pinched her soft hamstrings.

"The dress that Mr. Yao photographed for you yesterday looks beautiful on Mengjie. Will it be featured on the show?" Zhang Tianai asked curiously.

"Probably, after all, it's a topic that generates a lot of buzz. But the dress got dirty by accident, so I've already taken it to the shop for repair." Zhang Meng's expression stiffened.

"Sister Meng, is there anything unusual between President Yao and Liu Yifei?" Nazha asked in a low voice.

Zhang Tianai was also full of curiosity. Of all the rumors about Wang Yao at last night's banquet, the one involving Liu Yifei was the most exciting.

"I think it was alright, the two of them didn't seem that close," Zhang Meng recalled.

"What about Zhang Yuqi? I saw someone say that President Yao seems to have cheated on Wang Xiaofei." Nazha said with a stern face.

She was furious when she saw the rumor yesterday. She switched to a secondary account to explain for Wang Yao and argued with the netizens who spread the rumors all night. She almost couldn't get up and missed the rehearsal.

"That's nonsense. The two didn't even exchange a word at the banquet," Zhang Meng shook her head.

"Big news! Big news!" Zhao Liying rushed over to join the group chat.

Zhao Liying has been getting along well with everyone lately, mainly because she's found a "know-it-all" persona. Because she's simultaneously filming three different dramas, she gets a lot of gossip to share every day.

"What news is there for Sister Ying today?" Zhang Tianai asked with a smile.

"Liu Yifei has come to our company," Zhao Liying said in a low voice.

"Huh? Really? Are you trying to ride on Yao's coattails? You're way too eager," Zhang Tianai exclaimed in surprise.

Because of Wang Yao's sudden rise to fame, the town was flooded with a large number of "unrelated people" today, most of whom were media and paparazzi.

Liu Yifei's swaggering arrival at this time is indeed very suspicious.

"You came by yourself?" Zhang Meng raised an eyebrow slightly.

"A large group of people, probably from a talent agency," Zhao Liying shook her head.

"That means everything's fine now, it's probably a collaboration." Zhang Meng nodded.

"You guys think that since Yao is so popular now, he might debut as a celebrity in the future?" Zhang Tianai blinked, a feeling of wanting to act alongside Wang Yao welling up inside her.

The leaked photos of Wang Yao yesterday perfectly hit her sweet spot for domineering CEOs.

"Probably not, he's so busy, filming would interfere with his earning potential." Zhang Meng thought for a moment, "But he might make a cameo appearance, after all, it would be a free publicity stunt."

"My brother has really gone to great lengths for us," Naza said with a pained expression.

"Cough cough cough." Zhang Meng choked on her own saliva.

"Are you alright, Sister Meng?" Zhao Liying helped her catch her breath and shook her head, saying, "I'm not worried about you. We're just helping him make money anyway. I'm just afraid that if he messes things up, we'll be in big trouble."

"What are you saying? Cough cough cough?" Zhang Meng choked again.

"What nonsense are you spouting!" Zhang Tianai's face turned bright red.

"What is chaos?" Before Nazha could react, Zhao Liying covered her mouth.

"It was a slip of the tongue, a slip of the tongue. I was worried that his popularity was too high and that random cameos would cause the audience to get confused," Zhao Liying explained, her face pale.

The concept of "top star" doesn't exist in the entertainment industry right now.

But without a doubt, Wang Yao is the person who best fits this concept right now.

Thames Town usually only sees one or two thousand visitors a day, and the huge commercial area is like a ghost town, but today it was unusually lively.

Especially the street where Xinghuo E-commerce offices are located, which is usually deserted except for employees, is bustling with people today. I don't know where all these tourists came from.

Even the investment promotion office received a large number of leasing inquiries today.

Fortunately, the town's commercial and residential areas were clearly separated, and the three film crews were basically isolated around the residential areas, so they were not disturbed by the crowds. Otherwise, it would have been a loss if the filming had been affected.

As the media compiled, reported, and delved into Wang Yao from various angles.

Wang Yao now has an additional public persona.

'Shanghai's Pride'.

The claim that it specifically targets the "Four Young Masters of Beijing" is suspected to be fabricated by southern media.

Although Wang Yao's current assets are less than a finger's worth of those others, the difference lies in the fact that Wang Yao started from scratch, which puts his image at a disadvantage compared to the other four spoiled brats.

Although Wang Yao felt incredibly awkward upon seeing this title, he had to admit that it was indeed a great advantage for creating hype and making it easier to win public favor.

Since the connection between Taobao Girl and Mulan Street was exposed, they have reaped massive revenue and traffic.

The topic of college students starting e-commerce businesses has even received positive recognition from official media, who praised it as "a new path for a new era" and wanted to arrange an exclusive interview with him.

In addition, Wang Yao had planned ahead-the-scenes marketing about Taobao models and Mulan Street's business, so this wave of traffic was almost perfectly captured.

The number of inquiries about Taobao Girl's platform operations increased by 30 times in just 12 hours compared to usual.

The number of registered users on Mulan Street has exceeded 200 million, which has led to some adjustments in the number of fans and market value of the signed models.

Therefore, Wang Yao deliberately allowed the media to collect materials in the small town, because the company's business would be expanding in full force later, and it was the time when talent was needed. The theme of the second phase was "Amazing Company".

The amazing company founded by a college student from humble beginnings is always a hot topic.

"Mr. Wang, your office environment is truly luxurious." WMA Company CEO Chen Yun brought Liu Yifei and her daughter to visit.

Chen Yun is now incredibly grateful that she asked Chi Xin to schedule Wang Yao's time last week, otherwise she would have really missed out on this incredible windfall.

Liu Yifei raised her hand to Wang Yao several times last night, generating more discussion than she has this year combined with the millions she spent on publicity and announcements.

She used to be afraid of others riding on Liu Yifei's coattails, but now she finally has the chance to do so herself.

"President Chen, President Liu, please wait a moment. I need to reply to an email, or I can have President Chi show you around." Wang Yao stood up and greeted them.

"It's alright, Mr. Wang, please go ahead with your work." Liu Xiaoli smiled gently, her eyes full of approval as she looked at Wang Yao.

Chen Yun didn't mind at all.

Liu Yifei was even happier to relax, nestled in the sofa specially customized by Wang Yao, and picked up her tablet to start playing "Water Spine".

Originally, Liu Xiaoli was very opposed to Liu Yifei playing games because she was afraid that being photographed by the media would have a bad impact, since she wanted to cultivate Liu Yifei into a perfect positive image.

The gaming element currently has a very poor reputation in the country, especially among parents.

But after discovering yesterday that Wang Yao and Liu Yifei were playing the same game, she stopped objecting and even looked into the game's background, only to find out it was a globally bestselling game.

"Sorry, it's an email from Mr. Ma of Taobao, I can't ignore it." About five minutes later, Wang Yao stood up and said with a smile.

"Mr. Ma? Oh, right, Mr. Wang is a rising star in e-commerce, so Mr. Ma will definitely be paying attention to such big news." Chen Yun came back to her senses.

If someone else had said this to her, she would most likely have thought they were exaggerating or bragging, but she believed Wang Yao when he said it.

"I only knew that President Wang's publicity business was outstanding, but I didn't expect his e-commerce business to be so successful. I really admire him," Chen Yun said with a smile.

"Mr. Chen, you flatter me. I had no other choice at the time and had to rely on myself. If I could have found a reliable e-commerce job, I wouldn't have had to start my own business." Wang Yao said calmly, as if he had a lot of bitterness in his heart.

?

Why does that sound so unpleasant?

Chen Yun was momentarily at a loss for words.

Liu Yifei glanced at Wang Yao and smirked.

For some reason, she always felt a strange sense of satisfaction whenever she watched Wang Yao show off.

(End of this chapter)