How can you become a star without money?

Chapter 54 Original, Activated! [Please continue reading]

Tianhuo Media was previously a shell company with no core business lines. Now, after Wang Yao reorganized it, a new direction has been decided.

Focus on content, downplay operations.

We are recruiting a large number of executive positions, such as copywriting, photography, editing, photo retouching, and business development – ​​the five core internet roles.

In company operations, the initial staffing phase is the most demanding, especially for companies that have already implemented social insurance and housing fund payment procedures.

If the monthly salary is 1 yuan, after deducting the five social insurances and one housing fund, the company's actual labor cost will be close to 1.3 yuan, which is an increase of more than 30%. This is why many capitalists try every means to avoid paying the five social insurances and one housing fund for their employees.

Wang Yao has a conscience; he must pay the full amount for all his employees!

The company operates using its most proficient MCN (Multi-Channel Network) architecture, with a team-based system.

A team of 5 people in 5 different roles serves one signed artist. This is the configuration of a mid-tier KOL with millions of fans. Even based on 2010 salaries, the monthly labor cost of a team would be close to 20,000 yuan.

According to the incubation period, the artist company has a 46% contract, and each artist must generate at least 4 yuan in revenue per month in order to cover the team's costs.

That means that even within the Meishe (a Chinese photography studio) industry, there are very few artists who can earn 4 yuan a month, not counting their underwater income.

In 2010, there were very few ways to monetize one's appearance. Apart from offline fruit platters, the only online options were traditional channels such as the film and television industry, offline exhibitions, commercial performances, and magazine shoots. Competition was fierce and required access to social resources.

In this era, beauty-obsessed internet celebrities who want to make a living online will truly starve, making the old-school internet celebrities the ones who have suffered the most losses.

Even top influencers like Sister Furong and Sister Feng, known for their good looks, only earn a few hundred thousand yuan a year, which is less than what some dating livestreamers earn in a month.

Currently, the live streaming industry is not supported by the overall environment and hardware technology. The mainstream platforms are still voice chat such as Liaoliao, Jiuliao, IS, Ailiao, Sina UT, YY, and QT.

Only those borderline live streaming platforms like 9158 and Liufangzi are truly profitable, but their scale is very limited.

The channels for monetizing Wang Yao's looks that he is familiar with have not yet been developed, so he can only temporarily expand into the direction of professional Taobao online shopping monetization.

Taobao's Taobao Girl platform has not yet been officially launched, but the market still has great potential and is large enough.

The artist levels are still divided into junior, intermediate, and senior based on income.

The workload of a filming crew and artists is basically fixed every day.

Naza can shoot 20 high-quality photo sets every day (including time for makeup, styling, and set design).

Ma Ruo previously shot low-quality photo sets, and could shoot more than 50 sets in a day.

Junior artists: Low-quality photo sets + videos, 20~30 yuan/set, average income is about 1000 yuan/day. Based on a 22-day work week with weekends off, the income is about 2 yuan/month. A group is responsible for 3 junior artists, basically breaking even and making a small profit.

Intermediate artists: Low-quality photo sets are 50 yuan/set, high-quality photo sets are 100 yuan/set, with a total monthly income of 4 yuan. A team is responsible for 2 intermediate artists, and the company can earn more than 3 yuan.

Senior Artists: Only accept high-quality photo shoot sets, priced at 300-1000 yuan per set, with a total income of around 15 yuan per month. They are handled by a separate team, and the company can earn more than 10 yuan.

Artists at this level generally already have a certain level of fame or have been packaged with conversion data. For example, Nazha now has a women's clothing online store with monthly sales of 50 yuan, so she can quote a price of 1000 yuan per set.

For celebrities like Qu Shou and Ma Ruo, who are close to being second-tier stars, the prices are negotiable.

That's how it is with top-tier artists; one person can even support a small to medium-sized company.

This calculation is based on a 22-day full attendance period for merchant orders. However, given the current development speed and demand of e-commerce, most of the time the supply should be insufficient to meet the demand.

Tianhuo Company is responsible for nurturing its team and producing content for its artists, bearing the heaviest personnel and incubation costs. At the same time, it internally incubates artists and internet celebrities, and cross-promotes them with internet programs such as "Campus Belle is Here" to ensure artists' exposure and increase their premium pricing power.

In addition, Wang Yao will also establish two separate companies.

Xinghuo Media Technology Co., Ltd., which I wholly own and serve as its legal representative, is doing so for the angel investment.

This company will build a simple social platform, which will certainly not be as large as Renren or Sina. It will be somewhat similar to the early days of Mogujie and will be temporarily named "Mulan Street".

In the future, Tianhuo Company's artists will directly leave the Meishe platform, and all content will be published on Mulan Street. Then, through programs like "Campus Belle is Here" and the artists' private groups, traffic will be gradually driven. In the early stages, Mulan Street will be regarded as a large QQ space + social community for its artists.

Mulan Street's initial profit model was similar to that of Mogujie and Meilishuo, using Taobao Affiliate API commission portals and leveraging content-driven redirects to Taobao stores to earn commissions. They didn't expect to make a profit; they just wanted to cover daily operating costs.

Once the teams and artists cultivated by Tianhuo Company are fully formed, they will be directly "sold" to this company. For example, soon after Ma Ruo and Qu Shou's personas and traffic are stabilized and formed, they will be signed to Xinghuo Media in the form of a subsidiary studio, and their income will no longer be related to Tianhuo Media.

Rookies like Nazha will continue to rely on government assistance to develop their careers before they have a clear direction.

The agency, Xinghuo Cooperation Co., Ltd., whose legal representative is Ni Ni, not only provides agency services but also supplies Tianhuo Company with filming contracts, taking a 40% commission on each contract. Based on Wang Yao's own online store's current demand, it could support at least 10 entry-level or mid-level teams.

These two companies will act like two blood pumps, frantically sucking up Tianhuo.com's resources to grow. At the same time, Tianhuo.com will be fed back by these two companies to prolong its existence, becoming larger and larger, with more and more debt, and eventually becoming extremely bloated.

The three companies will form a delicate balance and closed loop from content incubation to commercial monetization to traffic incubation. As for how it will develop in the future, Wang Yao is not sure. Let's take it one step at a time.

After outlining the company's future development direction, Wang Yao felt a little regretful. He should have collected more information on management talent when he was writing the online novel. Just thinking about the trivial matters of managing a company gave him a headache.

However, we can slowly search through headhunters. Right now, the more pressing issue is that although [Spark Media Technology Co., Ltd.] has been established, it's still just a shell. We need to find a coding company to build a platform, or even a blog would do.

Oh, and we also need to set up a suitable ERP system for Zhou Cong's online store.

Yiming is indeed a technical expert, but he's probably busy starting his real estate brokerage platform now, and probably wouldn't be interested in his small project.

This era is quite interesting. All the big shots are pursuing projects that can change the world, but no one cares about businesses that can be monetized immediately. So Wang Yao has almost no rivals on his path.

While searching for outsourced coding companies, Wang Yao stumbled upon a news article in the tech industry.

Apple's first-generation tablet computer will be officially released on January 1.27th.

Wang Yao has a strong memory of this first-generation iPad because he was already working at the Korean branch at the time. A Korean female model from the company gave it to him. Wang Yao kept this tablet until 2020 and would occasionally use it to watch videos, even though the resolution was already poor and it was laggy.

"If I have the chance, I should go to Korea for a trip. There are many bargains to be found there," Wang Yao thought to himself, and then a brilliant idea flashed through his mind.

Oh, it seems there really is a lucrative industry where you can find bargains right now.

Wang Yao immediately dialed the phone number of his homeroom teacher, Lao Zheng.

"Oh, a rare guest! What instructions does Mr. Wang have?" Old Zheng's cheerful voice came from behind.

"Teacher, you took the postgraduate entrance exam at Jiaotong University, right?" Wang Yao asked.

Old Zheng's favorite thing to brag about is the value of a graduate degree from Jiaotong University.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Old Zheng was taken aback.

"Um, could you help me contact some of your alumni? I'd like to get to know a student named Cai Haoyu, who should be a graduate student," Wang Yao said.

"Huh? What major?" Old Zheng asked.

“From the Computer Science department,” Wang Yao recalled.

"Okay, I'll ask around for you. By the way, your online store has been growing too fast lately, and the school doesn't have any extra warehouse space for you to use. If you expand further, you'll have to find a suitable place outside," Old Zheng reminded him.

“Great, I’ve just made some money recently, so it’s time to find a proper office space,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

"Small change? You've made a few million in revenue. You need to stay humble and not get arrogant." Old Zheng said with some emotion.

To be honest, even though I know that e-commerce is a booming industry that can create miracles, I still feel uneasy.

But seeing my own students achieve monthly sales of three to four million in less than a month, and that sales are still rising, it's impossible not to be shocked.

"Don't worry, this is just the beginning. Teacher, I'll invite you to the ribbon-cutting ceremony when the new company is established," Wang Yao said with a smile.

"If we really set up a company, it should be able to solve some of the issues related to getting people officially hired, right?" Old Zheng asked.

"That's for sure," Wang Yao said with a smile. This old man is truly selfless.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Old Zheng went to help him get the person out.

Less than half an hour later, Lao Zheng sent a phone call and a QQ message.

Wang Yao called them directly.

"Hello, who is this?" A cheerful voice came through the phone when it was answered.

Wang Yao narrowed his eyes slightly.

Original ( ), Start!

(End of this chapter)