Rebirth 03: Starting a Business After Giving Up a Secure Job

Chapter 156 A Surprise Attack into Three Cities

The morning after Lin Feng returned to Rongcheng from Rongping, Su Wan knocked on his office door with a manila file folder in her hand.

She opened the file folder, pulled out a contract, and placed it on the table. The cover had Hunan TV's Iogo logo printed on it, and a stamp was affixed to the lower right corner.

"The sponsorship contract for the Chengdu division has been signed. Tongcheng Life Network will serve as the official partner platform for the Chengdu division, with benefits including contestant information display, exclusive access to online popularity voting, and brand exposure at the preliminary and qualifying rounds."

Lin Feng picked up the contract and quickly glanced through it.

Su Wan reminded Lin Feng, "This year's Super Girl competition has five regions: Chengdu, Huizhou, Changsha, Shanghai, and Hangzhou. Besides sponsoring the Chengdu leg, do we need to sponsor other cities? We already have the Huizhou leg, but we haven't established the legs for the other cities yet."

Su Wan's words reminded Lin Feng that the sponsorship of Super Girl should not be limited to Chengdu.

Lin Feng leaned back in his chair and pondered for a moment.

Changsha is the entertainment industry center of central China; Shangdu has a dense population and a concentration of universities; Hangzhou is the e-commerce capital and a gathering place for young people.

These three cities are all target cities that Tongcheng Life Network will eventually enter. Now the Super Girl competition area is being launched simultaneously in these three cities. If we wait until after Super Girl ends to enter, it will be at least half a year later.

If we start building the website immediately and then use sponsorship benefits to promote it simultaneously in city stations, the timing window will be perfect.

"All five competition zones have been signed. Huicheng station is already in operation, Rongcheng station is our base, and the construction of stations in the other three cities will begin soon."

Lin Feng picked up the landline and dialed Zhou Zhongcheng's internal number, asking him to come to his office.

When Zhou Zhongcheng pushed open the door, he was holding a resume he was screening. Lin Feng told him to put it down and sit down with Su Wan.

"Three things. First, the sponsorship contract for the Chengdu division has been signed. Su Wan, you continue to negotiate with Hunan TV's investment promotion department for sponsorships in the other four divisions: Huicheng, Xingcheng, Shangdu, and Hangzhou. Secure them all."

Second, regarding loyalty, you should immediately contact the headhunters in Changsha, Shanghai, and Hangzhou, and provide me with a list of candidates within a week.

The requirements are the same as those for recruiting Guo Jian and Xu Guoliang before the Lunar New Year: familiarity with the local market, experience leading sales teams, and experience in the internet or media industry.

Third, these three cities each have their own characteristics, and simply applying the models of other cities won't work; existing city stations need to provide collaborative support.

Zhou Zhongcheng asked how to coordinate. Lin Feng picked up a whiteboard marker and circled three locations on the map of China on the wall.

"Xingcheng, have Liu Zhigang, the station chief of Jiangcheng, lead a team to assist."

Liu Zhigang worked in Jiangcheng for a few months, and Jiangcheng's university town model was very similar to that of Xingcheng.

Xingcheng Station is positioned with universities as its core, initially focusing on housing and part-time job recruitment for university students, while simultaneously promoting the second-hand goods market, catering to the daily needs of young people.

"Shangdu, have Guo Jian, the stationmaster of the capital, lead a team to assist."

Guo Jian is from Beijing. Although Shangdu has a geographical advantage, it is a commercial hub with a concentration of wholesale markets and logistics workers, and its business ecosystem is very similar to that of Panjiayuan and Dahongmen in Beijing.

Guo Jian, who came from a classifieds background, has a deep understanding of the rental and employment needs of business professionals.

The Shangdu Station is positioned to focus on business professionals, first thoroughly collecting and analyzing short-term rental listings and job postings for movers and warehouse workers around the wholesale market, before expanding to other areas.

"Hangzhou, let Xu Guoliang, the station manager of Shanghai, lead the team to assist. Hangzhou's community business ecosystem is very similar to that of Shanghai, and the public's acceptance of the Internet is also higher than that of cities in central and western China."

The Hangzhou station is positioned with community services as its core, launching rental housing, housekeeping, and secondhand goods services simultaneously, directly transplanting the certified housekeeping model and community promotion experience from Shanghai.

He put down the marker and turned to Zhou Zhongcheng.

"The selection of station managers for the three cities will be based on local assessments and recommendations from the station managers who assisted in setting up the stations, while headhunters will simultaneously conduct searches. Ultimately, you will be in charge of making the final selection."

Zhou Zhongcheng jotted down a few notes in his notebook and said he would arrange them immediately.

That afternoon, Su Wan called Liu Fang from Hunan TV's investment promotion department to confirm Tongcheng Life Network's intention to sponsor the other four competition areas.

Liu Fang said on the phone that the sponsorship for the Huicheng competition area could be signed directly, but the sponsorship contracts for Xingcheng, Shangdu and Hangzhou would require data support materials to be provided after the cities were launched and operational.

Su Wan hung up the phone and relayed the situation to Lin Feng. Lin Feng said that they should sign the agreement for Huicheng first, and then build the other three city stations simultaneously. After they are built, they can take the operation data to sign the agreement.

Lin Feng picked up his phone and dialed Guo Jian's number.

Guo Jian was leading a team of sales promoters to canvass the streets of Chaoyang District near Beijing Railway Station. After hearing the arrangements, he said that he had several team leaders who had been leading teams in Beijing's recruitment sector for several months and that they could bring their experience in expanding local business to Shangdu.

Shangdu is a major commercial and logistics hub. He suggested that after arriving in Shangdu, one should first focus on the recruitment needs of wholesale market merchants and the availability of short-term rental properties in the surrounding area. Once these two areas are well-established, then one can expand into the second-hand and housekeeping businesses.

Lin Feng said that you are fully responsible for the affairs of Shangdu Station, and you should conduct on-site investigations of the station manager and recommend suitable candidates to Zhou Zhongcheng.

Then I called Xu Guoliang.

Xu Guoliang has just achieved stable growth in the two sectors of foreign-related rental housing and high-end housekeeping services at Shanghai Station, and has a complete community promotion plan in hand.

He said that the community business ecosystem in Hangzhou is similar to that in Shanghai. After arriving in Hangzhou, he first brought the certified housekeeping model and community promotion experience from Shanghai to Hangzhou, and then launched the rental and second-hand housing sectors at the same time.

The station manager of Hangzhou Station recommended a regional manager he had worked with during his time at Zhaopin.com, who was very familiar with the distribution of talent markets and employment agencies in various districts of Hangzhou.

Lin Feng agreed and asked Xu Guoliang to send the recommender's resume to Zhou Zhongcheng for the interview process.

Finally, I called Liu Zhigang.

Liu Zhigang worked at Jiangcheng Station for several months, and his recruitment and housing rental businesses had already established a good reputation in the Wuchang university district.

He said he was familiar with Changsha, where the university town is concentrated in Yuelu District, and the number of universities and the scale of students are among the best in central cities. The cultural industry is also very developed.

The demand for part-time jobs and internships among college students is high, and the rental market around universities is also very active.

After arriving in Changsha, he planned to first establish a presence in the area surrounding the university town by listing housing information and part-time jobs, and then expand into the city center.

The station manager of Xingcheng Station recommended a local lifestyle website editor he knew from his time at Chutian Information Port, who was very familiar with local media and university connections in Xingcheng.

Lin Feng said that candidates would be interviewed first, and if they were suitable, they would be finalized.

A few days later, Su Wanfei signed a sponsorship contract for the Huicheng competition area.

Wu Wenjie stamped the contract, officially making Tongcheng Life Network Huicheng Station the official partner platform for the Super Girl Huicheng competition area.

At the same time, the three support teams set off from their respective cities.

Guo Jian, accompanied by two ground promotion team leaders from Beijing Station, flew from Beijing to Shangdu. Upon arrival, they went directly to Shangdu's largest small commodity wholesale market and spent the entire day wandering around the market, taking photos of all the rental listings and job postings for movers on several nearby streets.

Xu Guoliang brought a certified postpartum nanny and a community promotion specialist from Shanghai to Hangzhou by train.

That afternoon, they went to the area where the station manager candidate he recommended was located. The two of them walked along the alleyways of several old communities for an afternoon, checking out the community bulletin boards and property management cooperation models one by one.

Liu Zhigang took a team leader from Jiangcheng and one team leader from the recruitment section and one team leader from the housing rental section to Xingcheng by train. He went directly to the temporary office next to the university town and, without even taking a sip of water, spread out a map to mark the key street sweeping areas around the universities.

At the Chengdu headquarters, Zhou Zhongcheng's recruitment efforts are proceeding simultaneously.

The job postings for local sales promoters in the three cities were simultaneously published on the homepage of the local life website and on the local forums of each city. The resumes of the three station manager candidates recommended by the headhunter were faxed back one after another, with the headhunter's evaluation comments attached to each resume.

Zhou Zhongcheng placed the selected resumes one by one on Lin Feng's desk. After reviewing them, Lin Feng personally made phone calls to conduct the initial interviews, focusing on two key points:

Familiarity with the city's regional divisions and business ecosystem, as well as the willingness and ability to lead a ground sales team from scratch.

After several rounds of phone interviews, the candidates for the Xingcheng Station Manager and the Hangzhou Station Manager have been preliminarily finalized, while the candidate for the Shangdu Station Manager is still being screened.

At Rongcheng Station, when Xu Qiang handed Lin Feng the weekly report summary for the four sections, he circled a number in red pen on the page for the housekeeping section:

The number of certified domestic workers has exceeded one hundred, and the appointment schedule is already booked until the end of May.

Liao Ping's "Sichuan girl" tag went online and the results exceeded expectations. Many employers specifically searched for "Sichuan native" nannies on the platform, and several of the bookings were made by people from Shanghai and Beijing who had traveled across cities to book nannies.

After reading the weekly report, Lin Feng left a note on Xu Qiang's desk: "Compile the experience of the housekeeping section of Rongcheng Station into an operation manual and send it to Xu Guoliang of Hangzhou Station."

A week later, Liu Xing, the candidate for station manager of Xingcheng Station, officially joined the company after passing the interview.

Liu Xing has developed a different approach to the recruitment section at Xingcheng Station compared to Jiangcheng.

Jiangcheng is mainly populated by college graduates and manufacturing companies, while Xingcheng presents a different picture.

The area surrounding the university town in Yuelu District is densely packed with bars, livehouses, and performance venues of all sizes, and the neon lights along Jiefang West Road...

From 8 p.m. until the early hours of the morning, the entire street is filled with live singers, DJs, and entertainment professionals.

When Liu Xing was searching around the university town, he discovered that the flow of people in entertainment venues in Xingcheng was much greater than that in manufacturing factories.

A singer might perform at one bar this month and switch to another next month; waiters at entertainment bars frequently change jobs; and DJs and lighting technicians are poached from one bar to another.

However, these practitioners rely on extremely primitive recruitment channels, entirely through introductions from acquaintances, or by posting notices on bulletin boards in the back alleys of the bar street.

Liu Xing localized the Shenzhen city's "area-based household contracting" model.

Instead of having the sales representatives go door-to-door to sweep residential buildings, he had them visit bars along Jiefang West Road after 8 p.m., chatting with security guards, bartenders, and singers to find out the staffing needs and employee turnover patterns of each bar.

The Xingcheng Station job posting section has launched a "Performing Arts and Entertainment" subcategory, which specifically includes job postings from bars, livehouses, and entertainment venues. Each position, such as resident singer, DJ, lighting technician, bartender, and waiter/waitress, has a different job label.

In the first week after the platform went live, dozens of job postings were entered, several of which were initiated by bar owners who proactively called to request registration.

When Liu Xing reported to Lin Feng on the phone, he said that the employment market in Xingcheng's entertainment industry is much more flexible than that in the manufacturing industry. If this niche sector is done well, it can be replicated in other cities.

Liu Yang, the newly appointed station manager of Shangdu Station, brought over all the experience he had gained from visiting wholesale markets over the past few months.

The wholesale markets in Shangdu are concentrated in the south of the city, and their scale is larger than that of Panjiayuan and the Beijing Zoo commercial district.

Clothing, small commodities, home appliances, and building materials each occupy a separate area, and each market is surrounded by a dense cluster of short-term rental apartments.

Porters' gathering points and logistics transfer stations.

These business owners are busy in the market during the day and return to the surrounding urban villages to rest at night. Their needs for information about daily life are concentrated in three areas:

Looking for work, a place to stay, and someone to help move goods.

Liu Yang combined the recruitment and housing rental sectors and promoted them simultaneously.

While visiting merchants in the wholesale market, the sales representatives also register their employment needs and rental properties.

Many merchants are both employers and landlords. They rent storefronts in the market to do business, and also rent several houses around the market to sublet to their peers.

Liu Yang had his sales representatives set up a local online service point next to the market management office. They were stationed there every Monday and Thursday, and merchants with recruitment needs, rental properties, or those who wanted to buy or sell used equipment could register directly there.

The secondhand goods section has also found a unique entry point at Shangdu Station.

Merchants in the clothing wholesale market often have sample garments and leftover stock that they need to deal with. In the past, they could only set up stalls in the corners of the market or sell them at low prices to buyers.

After the local online marketplace was launched, Liu Yang created a subcategory called "Clothing Overstock" in the second-hand section, and several transactions were completed in the first week.

Guo Yun, the station manager of Hangzhou Station, adapted the certified housekeeping model that Xu Guoliang brought from Shanghai to the local market.

In Shanghai, the demand for domestic services is concentrated on high-end nannies and foreign domestic services, while in Hangzhou, the structure is different: the old city has a high degree of aging, and the demand for elderly care and home-based elderly care is strong.

In the new district, there are many young dual-income families, and there is a shortage of cleaners and nannies.

Guo Yun launched two sub-service labels, "elderly care" and "childcare worker," on the Hangzhou station. The first batch of certified domestic workers included retired nurses, laid-off female workers, and middle-aged women from surrounding counties and cities who came to Hangzhou for work.

He also conducted a small-scale promotional event in several communities in the old city of Hangzhou, where certified domestic workers demonstrated CPR and elderly care techniques on-site, which was much more effective than distributing flyers.

A month later, the first batch of operational data from the three city stations was simultaneously compiled and sent to the Chengdu headquarters.

The entertainment recruitment section of Xingcheng Station has posted hundreds of job listings, while the housing rental section around the university town covers several major universities.

The wholesale market service points at Shangdu Station have expanded to multiple markets, and the daily posting volume in the recruitment and rental sections has steadily increased.

The number of certified domestic helpers at Hangzhou Station has expanded to dozens, and appointments are now booked up to two months in advance. The rental market is also seeing increased activity.

Hundreds of verified listings have been added.

Another week later, Suwan received the final three contracts from Hunan TV at its headquarters in Chengdu: the sponsorship agreements for the three stations in Xingcheng, Shangdu, and Hangzhou were all approved.

The operational data from Tongcheng Life Network's branches in these three cities is sufficient to support the qualification requirements of the competition area cooperation platform.

With this, all sponsorship contracts for the five competition regions have been signed, and Tongcheng Life Network is the only online cooperation platform this year that covers all competition regions of Super Girl.