How can you become a star without money?

Chapter 8 As your father, I will bestow upon you great wealth and honor.
"Brother, you are finally back!"

As soon as Wang Yao got home, Zhou Cong sneakily approached him.

"It's not even eight o'clock yet, is it that late?" Wang Yao asked, glancing at the time with a puzzled look.

"It feels like an eternity, brother. I've prepared everything and am just waiting for your instructions on the next step," Zhou Cong said, pulling Wang Yao to sit down in front of the computer to show off his work.

The files are densely packed together and named according to their date and time.

A quick glance revealed over two hundred folders and thousands of photos.

"? You can create shadow clones? How do you do that?" Wang Yao asked, somewhat surprised.

Even if Zhou Cong slacked off all day, he shouldn't have been able to complete such a large workload.

“I definitely can’t do it alone. After being in the K-pop industry for so many years, I have some connections. I can just ask in a group and many fellow fans will volunteer to share their collections. I just need to filter them.” Zhou Cong grinned.

"That's quite a method," Wang Yao remarked.

"Brother, how do we turn these things into money?" Zhou Cong asked impatiently.

"Just print them out and sell them," Wang Yao said casually.

"Who will you sell it to?" Zhou Cong was taken aback.

"I'll sell it to those fellow fans who provided these materials," Wang Yao said with a smile.

"Huh?" Zhou Cong looked puzzled.

"You played with Water Margin cards and Pokémon cards when you were a kid, right?" Wang Yao asked.

“Of course, we used to buy those things with our New Year’s money when we were kids,” Zhou Cong replied.

"These items, like stamps, satisfy the human instinct to collect. As long as there is a basic audience, they can be given financial attributes and liquidity through speculation."
The Japanese girl group AKB48 includes 6-inch photos of their idols in their albums. These photos have a certain collectible value among fans. What we're making is a 3-inch card, using slightly better materials and a transparent plastic seal. It can sell for 10 yuan, with a cost of less than 50 cents.

Wang Yao's method of making money was one of the main businesses of the Korean branch in his previous life, officially known as "small-cap economy".

The pioneer of the photocard economy is SM Entertainment in Korea. In March of this year, in order to boost sales of Girls' Generation's second album "Oh", they added a three-inch photocard to the album. This photocard is random and is basically composed of unreleased selfies of the idols.

Some wealthy fans, in order to collect all these photos, bought albums in bulk, discarding the albums and only collecting the photocards. This little idea not only made Girls' Generation's albums sell like hotcakes, but also gave rise to a highly profitable industry: the photocard economy.

Fans are the most valuable consumer group.

Because they perfectly embody the attributes of being a gullible, rich fool who can be exploited.

Fifteen years from now, the celebrity photocard industry alone could reach a scale of tens of billions of yuan. A rare photocard could be sold for tens of thousands of yuan. Some popular domestic dramas and brainless idol dramas even have virtual card draws without physical cards, and the sales volume can reach tens of millions of yuan.

In Wang Yao's previous life, the main business of the Korean branch was reselling albums. Korean wave fans in China would raise a lot of money to buy albums in Korea in order to support their idols. They didn't want the albums, they just wanted the sales figures by scanning the QR codes.

Moreover, he could raise hundreds of thousands or even millions of yuan each time. After Wang Yao encodes and increases the quantity of these albums in Korea, he can make a profit by selling the albums secondhand.

While boosting Girls' Generation's sales, Wang Yao found these photocards quite interesting. He had loved collecting stamps since he was a child, so he collected all of these photocards. Unexpectedly, a few months later, they sparked a photocard craze in the Korean entertainment industry in China.

At the time, a Yoona card could initially sell for 50 yuan, and even a Hyoyeon card could sell for 10 yuan. Wang Yao made a small profit from these "junk" items. Unfortunately, he was young at the time, and all of this money became company profits, so he only received a small commission.

Later, Wang Yao was embroiled in lawsuits and missed out on this opportunity because the market had low barriers to entry and fierce competition. It wasn't until later, when the sports cards were released, that he made a fortune by live-streaming the card-unboxing process.

Although the card trading economy hasn't really taken off yet, with China's huge Korean fanbase and Wang Yao's extensive card trading strategies, earning a few hundred thousand yuan a month as a stable cash flow in the early stages shouldn't be a problem.

Korean entertainment photocards currently have few copyrights, so costs are low, but the market is also small. The real money-making business will come from buying a batch of popular comic IPs from Japan to make photocard merchandise.

He remembered a game company called "Elementary School Student Killer" that made billions a year from its card games.

The company's founder, Li Qibin, saw the business opportunity in bubble gum with cards in the 90s. He borrowed 2 yuan to resell stickers and made a fortune of 8 yuan in a week. Later, he made a fortune by selling IP cards such as Rock Kingdom and Seer.

In 2018, Pop Mart bet on Ultraman cards, using a low-price strategy of 1 yuan per pack and a dealer rebate approach, which crushed international giants such as Bandai. The company's annual revenue exceeded 3 billion yuan, and at its peak, the revenue exceeded 10 billion yuan. It's a pity that it didn't have its own IP, otherwise Pop Mart would not have been able to compete.

The trendy toy track is itself a derivative track of the stamp collecting track.

Because Wang Yao became a defaulter at an early age in his previous life, he never did any high-end business and was only involved in lucrative, gray-market businesses with huge cash flow.

2010 was a golden age of unbridled growth, both online and offline.

"We divide the cards into two categories: regular cards and hidden cards. Regular cards are the standard hard cards with a laminated cover. A set is based on the number of members in the group. For example, TVXQ has 5 members, so 5 cards per concert counts as a set. Collecting all 90 concerts would result in 450 cards."
Then, the hidden cards are laser cards, with one hidden card per round—a group photo of 5 people—with a probability of one in a thousand. This creates a scarcity attribute. The card draw is entirely in blind box format, priced at 10 yuan per pack, or 99 yuan per box, which includes a stamp collection card holder.

Looking at Wang Yao's familiar and knowledgeable manner, Zhou Cong found his cousin's expertise somewhat frightening.

At the same time, my mind subconsciously began to calculate.

Suppose someone wants to collect the entire TVXQ card set, even if they are extremely lucky and have no duplicates, it would still cost 4500 yuan.

Super Junior has 13 members, and Girls' Generation has 9. As Zhou Cong counted, he felt a slight pain in his lower back.

Go ahead and smoke; they'll definitely smoke without making a sound.

"Wait, bro, are you sure there's really someone willing to buy this kind of small card?" Zhou Cong wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

"Aren't you a fan? Will you buy it and ask me?" Wang Yao glanced at him suspiciously.

You were the most troublesome person in your past life, spending more money on credit cards.

Zhou Cong thought about it carefully and realized that he would indeed buy it. If he would buy it, then his fellow fans in the group would buy it too.

Especially those big spenders who buy hundreds of albums at a time, they'd probably be even more interested. And if you add it all up, the combined fan base of these major Korean groups on Baidu Tieba is at least one or two million people. Even if they only make a 1% purchase rate, that's an average spending of 99 per person.

What the hell!

You could earn at least a million!
"Brother, if this really works out, we can earn at least a million!" Zhou Cong felt his adrenaline surge.

"One million? One million is about right for a whole group." Wang Yao chuckled, stroking his chin.
"Don't think it's too little. Besides, the scarcity of rare cards has financial attributes. For example, if I post a rare card on a forum, and you comment below saying you want 10 yuan for it, and then find some people to watch the spectacle, the value of this rare card will be inflated."
At this point, some rich and foolish people will definitely feel indignant and secretly try their luck with the gacha pulls. "I know your circle best," they'll say, "you're both empty and vain, dreamers living in a fantasy world, believing in and loving your idols."
Then they turn back to reality and belittle other fans to gain a sense of superiority. Photocards are the easiest thing to show off, and everyone can afford them. Plus, they have a social aspect.
Just like when we were kids collecting Water Margin cards, we could exchange them and comment on who was more popular or prettier. If you create buzz in forums and fan groups, selling tens of thousands of cards in the first month shouldn't be a problem.

However, the profit margin isn't that high because the express delivery fee is quite expensive, estimated to be 10 yuan within the same city and over 18 yuan for other cities. Even with free shipping per package or per box, the overall gross profit margin would be good if it reached 70%, not to mention labor costs and platform commissions. As Wang Yao spoke, he directly created the marketing plan and operational process using WPS.

In 2010, the logistics system had not yet been fully developed thanks to e-commerce, so costs were high. It would take at least four years before a single order in Yiwu, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai could be delivered for only two or three yuan.

Zhou Cong was dumbfounded.

Where does my cousin get so many crazy tricks up his sleeve?

And the way they calculate these accounts is so professional, it's like they were an accountant in a past life.

So this is what they mean by "the wool comes from the sheep's back"?!
"Oh, we need to get a few more business licenses to open an online store. Xiao Cong, call your aunt and ask her to fax over the front and back of Grandpa and Grandma's ID cards." Wang Yao remembered an important matter.

"Can't we use our own ID cards?" Zhou Cong asked, puzzled.

"Oh, my ID card works too." Wang Yao paused for a moment, then suddenly realized, "Doing e-commerce requires opening multiple stores, just in case."

When he was running a group of stores, he had to register dozens of online stores every month. At that time, he would find intermediaries to collect the ID cards of old men and women in rural areas to open licenses.

2010 was the year that Taobao's e-commerce business took off.

In 2009, Taobao's total GMV was 2000 billion yuan, and its Singles' Day GMV was 5000 million yuan.

In 2010, Taobao's total GMV reached 6000 billion yuan, and its Singles' Day GMV reached 9.3 million yuan.

Behind the 3-fold increase in GMV is two things Taobao did this year.

One is Taobao Alliance, which officially launched in March. This allowed the cashback model to spread like wildfire across China, giving rise to countless Taobao affiliates and deeply embedding the concept of cheap and convenient online shopping in the minds of 100 million netizens.

Another thing is that Taobao optimized its SEO search function, which allowed keyword weight to directly connect with the paid express train. The concept of ROI driving the long tail effect of natural traffic also appeared in the e-commerce world for the first time.

This also accelerated the commercial application of the UGC model.

For someone like Wang Yao, who had already memorized the paid and organic marketing strategies, starting a business on Taobao in 2010 was truly like picking up money off the ground.

The only limitation for Wang Yao is the overall volume of Taobao and the production capacity of its best-selling products.

However, Wang Yao did not underestimate the heroes of the world.

After all, even with an annual income of tens of millions, he couldn't afford earrings worth 230 million, but they were enough to give him a small sense of security.

The mini-car economy is followed by the ACG (Anime, Comics, and Games) merchandise economy. This sector is not large at present. Even if you become a top player, you can only achieve a maximum of 40 to 50 million RMB in online sales per year.

Going offline is basically a dead end. The real consumers of anime and manga, Generation Z, don't have the purchasing power yet, but we can start planning and cultivating them early. In the future, it will be a huge industry that is easy to monopolize.

Currently, the most profitable categories in e-commerce are still women's clothing, skincare products, and health supplements.

Once I got my first transaction using the small card, I started with online fast fashion women's clothing.

Wang Yao has already planned a stable cash flow industrial chain.

After calculating the initial capital, the first batch of 10 copies was printed to test the waters, mainly focusing on TVXQ, Super Junior, and BIGBANG, the three groups with the most female fans. Some copies of Girls' Generation were also printed, mainly to give Zhou Cong more motivation.

I found a local printing factory that specializes in printing pirated anime merchandise cards. I added the owner on QQ, sent him the materials, paid 200 yuan for mold making, and arranged to go for inspection the next afternoon.

After communicating with his boss, Wang Yao, who has a bit of OCD, habitually cleared up his unread messages.

Besides some photography exchange groups and classmate groups, a special group caught Wang Yao's attention.

Prince Shotoku's Yamete!

The group name made Wang Yao momentarily dazed.

Besides photography, Wang Yao also had a hobby of voice acting when he was young. However, this hobby was discovered relatively late. It was during his freshman year of college that he accidentally took on a comic convention event, where he met several voice actor enthusiasts and got into this hobby.

Because of Wang Yao's unique voice, he quickly gained some fame in this small circle and made a group of like-minded people on Baidu Tieba. Later, after his junior year internship, he was busy with work and forgot about this hobby.

It wasn't that he felt regretful about this hobby, but rather that Wang Yao later discovered that several of his close online friends from back then had become big stars, which left a deep impression on him.

It was in this strangely named small group that a guy named Wang Dachui later emerged.

What's the difference between being reborn and not taking advantage of any opportunities, and not being reborn at all?
Wang Yao opened Bai Ke's chat box in the 'Dog Barking' group of his friends list.

Yao: Are you there?

Bai Ke: I am well.

Yao: Your father will bestow upon you great wealth and honor.

'Baike:? Be bold! '

(End of this chapter)