Chapter 306: You have let Mr Tiger down very much

Time rewound to February 90. All 25 finance students were sitting in the lobby of their dormitory building. Zhou Ming stood in front of the long table and happily announced to them, 'Classmates, I have good news to tell you. According to the summary calculation just made by Ye Ning, as of 8:00 this morning, the turnover of our dormitory convenience store has reached 50,000 US dollars, and the net profit has exceeded 30,000 US dollars!'

As Ming finished speaking, all the students in the finance class immediately cheered. Although they had all seen the sales boom with their own eyes, they still felt a sense of ecstasy when Ming announced the figure.

Perhaps the feeling of hearing 350,000 US dollars is not that strong, but if converted into RMB, it means selling more than 400,000 yuan worth of things and making more than 250,000 yuan. This income is probably comparable to the monthly income of some small domestic enterprises. Especially now that the dormitory convenience store only opened at 6 pm yesterday afternoon, and it has only been 15 hours, and it has already made 250,000 yuan. What if it is a week or a month?

Of course, this is not how the books are actually kept, because it is impossible to have every day be as busy as yesterday. Yesterday was exceptional, with the promotion at the reception and the deliberate delay of a few days. When the curiosity of the students reached its peak, it was suddenly released. Driven by their passion, the students came to the store to shop like the most avid believers, with ten or so students shopping at the same time every minute.

This number may not sound like much, but it is already the limit of what a dormitory convenience store can accommodate. More people can only line up in the hallway.

As a result, yesterday's line almost reached the second floor. In addition to the students from Lander College who attended the reception, there were even students from other dormitory buildings who came here because of the reputation. If it weren't for the quality of the Harvard students, I'm afraid that with such a long line and no security guards or police, something might go wrong.

However, although sales were not as hot in the following days, with the popularity gathered on the first day and the special nature of the dormitory convenience store, it was still possible to maintain sales of several thousand dollars per day. This was already much better than expected and could be considered a miracle.

Since it was such a mythical thing, it naturally made the students ecstatic, because it was a victory for their finance class!

But Zhou Ming felt that this joy was not enough. He continued, 'The popularity on the first day does not mean it can be this popular every day, but what I need is to maintain this hard-won popularity in the future. My goal is to achieve one-third of yesterday's turnover every day in the future.'

Zhou Ming's words stunned everyone like a bombshell. The students looked at each other, all of them delighted by Zhou Ming's ambition, but at the same time, many of them also had a hint of unease on their faces.

Zhou Ming noticed the expressions on his classmates' faces and said, 'I know what you're thinking, but I want to tell you that it is possible to maintain popularity, we just need to use our brains more.'

In the face of Zhou Ming's words, all the students in the finance class had a blank expression. It wasn't that they hadn't thought hard about it, it was just that they really had no direction. Zhou Ming had to take the initiative to give them a hint. Zhou Ming asked, 'Classmates, do you know MJ? He is one of the most influential stars in the United States. Even an eighty-year-old grandmother who never leaves the house can probably hum a few of his songs, and a four or five year old child can probably imitate one of his original dance moves.'

'He is also the most profitable star in the United States. As far as I know, just last year, his management company generated more than half a billion dollars in revenue through him. One of his most iconic albums even generated a crazy 4.1 billion dollars in revenue worldwide. Do you know why?' Ming asked.

'He is a star, and his fans are willing to pay for him,' Yang Li answered first.

'That's the reason, and we can absolutely do the same,' Zhou Ming said.

Everyone froze, looking up at Zhou Ming blankly, completely unable to understand what he meant. Finally, Chen Shu, the monitor, asked cautiously, 'But teacher, MJ is a big star in the United States, and he has a lot of fans. How can we compare with him?'

'He has fans, so why can't we cultivate them?'

Zhou Ming's rhetorical question was like a morning bell and evening drum, giving people an epiphany. It suddenly dawned on the students: yes, a celebrity can have fans, and so can a company and its products. For example, Coca-Cola, the number one brand in the world, didn't it rely on the support of Coke drinkers to create its beverage empire? The same goes for McDonald's, the world's number one fast food brand. So if these companies can do it, then our dormitory convenience store can naturally do the same.

'We can tell students through advertisements and flyers that shopping at the dormitory convenience store is a very fashionable thing to do. At the same time, we can also discount one product every day, or give each customer who comes to the store to shop a vote to choose a product that will be discounted every month, and for a period of time, it can even be discounted for the entire next month.

Zhou Ming continued, 'Through these methods, we can firmly attract the attention of customers to our dormitory convenience store. Once all the students are used to our dormitory convenience store, our sales will naturally stabilize.'

At this point, Zhou Ming spread his hands and said, 'Of course, I will leave these matters to you to handle, and I will not get involved anymore. Moreover, the opening of branch dormitory convenience stores was originally your responsibility.'

'Don't worry, teacher. With the opening of this first dormitory convenience store, Li Yang has already accumulated a lot of experience. I believe the rest of the work will be very easy. We will definitely fill every corner of Harvard's campus with dormitory convenience stores as soon as possible!' Chen Shu said on behalf of his classmates.

Zhou Ming smiled and said to Chen Shu, 'It's good to have confidence, but there's no need to rush. After all, we have to take one step at a time. If we take too big a step, we'll easily pull our eggs.'

The hall burst into laughter at Zhou Ming's teasing, and after laughing with the students for a while, Zhou Ming said, 'Well, there are no classes today, except for those who are scheduled to be on duty at the Collander College. Later, you will discuss how to cultivate fans of our dormitory convenience store and how to expand the plan. I have something to do now and hope to see a plan that makes me give a thumbs-up when I come back.'

After saying this, Zhou Ming got up and left the dormitory. He and his bodyguard Zhang Lin got into the car and drove all the way east out of Harvard University, arriving at a golf course in the western suburbs of downtown Brighton.

After parking the car in the parking lot, Zhou Ming followed the instructions of the golf course staff and arrived at the lounge. Hoover, the branch manager of the Brighton branch of the Tang Dynasty Bank, was waiting here having tea. He didn't get up when he saw Zhou Ming come in, so he pointed his finger at the seat across from him to indicate that Zhou Ming should sit down. After Zhou Ming sat down, he asked, 'Do you know why I asked you to come today?'

Zhou Ming shook his head, and Hoover revealed the answer to him: 'Because you have let Mr. Tiger down very much.'

'I'm sorry, Mr Hoover, I respect you and Mr Tiger very much, but I don't know what I've done to disappoint him,' asked Zhou Ming.

'Still playing dumb? Then I'll tell you,' said Hoover. 'Let me ask you, did you set up some dormitory convenience store?'

Zhou Ming nodded and said yes, and Hoover continued, 'Not only did you want to do this project yourself, you also dragged your finance students along to do it with you?'

'That's right,' Zhou Ming explained after a moment's thought, 'Mr. Hoover, I don't see anything wrong with that, and this project is very profitable. Yesterday was the first day of business, and my convenience store project netted me thirty thousand dollars.'

After hearing Zhou Ming's explanation, Hoover sneered disdainfully: 'Do you think 30,000 US dollars is a lot? Of course, for the average American, this is indeed a lot, enough to register a small company in Brighton, but you are Zhou Ming, you bring together the best and brightest from all over China, and you are still destined to achieve great things in Mr. Tiger's eyes. How can you go do something that poor students are forced to do out of desperation?'

Zhou Ming didn't say anything, and Hoover continued, 'Zhou Ming, I know you are a very proud person. You obviously have a very large amount of capital in the mainland, in Hong Kong, and even in Northern Russia, but you just don't want to use it. You want to start from scratch, but I want to say that you are simply overdoing it!'

'Do the math. You earn $30,000 a day, and you still don't earn a million dollars a month. But do you know the cost of running for mayor of Brighton? The total cost of the campaign was a staggering 20 million dollars. Even for an ordinary city councilor, you have to be prepared to spend at least 5 million dollars on the campaign. Do you know how long it will take for your meager profits to be enough for the campaign?'

Hoover added, 'Oh, God, I forgot, that 30,000 dollars is still the popularity you won on the first day through repressive means. I'm afraid that in the future, your profits will only get less and less. It would be amazing if you could have 3,000 or 4,000 dollars one day.'

Finally, Hoover concluded, 'Zhou Ming, you must remember that you are the one Mr. Tiger has his eye on. Your life is destined to be different. Whether you can fulfil Mr. Tiger's request to establish a very influential consortium in Brighton and even Massachusetts before graduation depends on how you act. What you are doing now is highly undesirable. You must correct it!'

After Hoover finished speaking, he and Zhou Ming looked at each other. They looked at each other for a while before Zhou Ming asked in return, 'Are you finished, Mr. Hoover?'

Faced with Zhou Ming's rhetorical question, Hoover immediately felt an urge to lash out, because after he had spoken so eloquently, the result was that you said that you had not listened at all, or what was going on? This is too disrespectful, isn't it?

However, Hoover was after all a mature entrepreneur, and he finally held back. Zhou Ming said, 'Mr. Hoover, although I respect you and Mr. Tiger, I want to say that my own life and career are my own business, and I can do whatever I want with them. It has nothing to do with you. I am very grateful to Mr. Tiger for asking so much of me, but whether I want to do what he asks and how I want to do it is all my own business.'

'Of course I admit that the dormitory convenience store project I am currently working on is not as profitable as other things, but it is a start for me. You can choose not to understand or even oppose it, but you have no right to interfere with me!' Zhou Ming said.

Zhou Ming's last sentence made Hoover feel a momentum like a tangible force, causing him to subconsciously lean back a little. In the end, he said, 'Good for you, Zhou Ming, you really can't hear good or bad words, you are really a waste of a person, and it's a pity about that finance class!'