April 30th, Saturday...
Pei Qian had lunch and left for Deposit Fitness.
He had told Zhang Yuan before that he would find a coach for the club. However, where should he look for the coach...? Pei Qian really had no idea.
A professional esports coach would definitely not do.
That was because GOG was a relatively new game. Pei Qian had heard that some famous teams were planning for GOG, but generally, there was still not enough popularity for it to be formalized.
In other words, everyone's standards were still rather low at this initial stage.
Clubs would definitely do their due diligence on whether this game would be able to continue its popularity or not whenever they want to open a subdivision for it.
Would it not be wasted money and effort if they opened a subdivision and plonked money into training only for the subdivision to be dissolved?
GOG was having a war with IOI now. Many clubs had the same thinking: choose from the winner. They only needed to cultivate one team for these two MOBA games.
Therefore, even if they had GOG subdivisions currently, they were not much of a force. At such a time, a professional coach-even one that was not outstandingly-would be able to bring transformational changes to the team.
Zhang Yuan might not know esports very well, but he was not dumb. The coaches he sought would definitely not be half-baked. If he were to add on the mysterious luck that Boss Pei had and promoted an SSR player or coach from the team...
The results would be very undesirable.
Therefore, Pei Qian had to find a coach that he was satisfied with, and that same person had to make Zhang Yuan shut up.
Hmm...
That was too difficult!
It was such a headache for Pei Qian. However, luckily, he told Zhang Yuan that he would let him know in two weeks so it was not too urgent.
Pei Qian walked into Deposit Fitness. It was a weekend as well, but there were obviously fewer people than there were previously. Pei Qian was taken back for a short while before realizing what happened. He could not help but be delighted
Many clients from last week had been successfully dissuaded!
The payment method of Deposit Fitness left no room for hesitation to join their membership. It could be fully refunded anyway.
However, not everyone could strictly follow and persevere with the plans.
Once they could not persevere, they would be persuaded to 'be refunded' and would not be able to join again in the short term.
Therefore, that had successfully dissuaded many clients!
That announcement did attract some clients, and some of them did join the memberships based on that. However, what was the point if they could not persevere?
Pei Qian could not help but feel proud of his intelligence. Other than that, there were some slight changes to the Deposit Fitness as compared to the previous week. There were now three service personnel in the gym. That was only one person responsible for distributing the wristband, attending to the front desk previously. The personal trainers would also do a bit of introduction and bring the clients around.
There were more of such personnel now; three of them were permanent staff and were on shifts.
One was in charge of the front desk, responsible for welcoming the guests like recording the clients' information, distributing towels, wristbands, water, etc.
One of them was in charge of administration, daily office work like personal trainers' schedules, and linking up with Fish-Catching Take-Out.
The last one was a planner who was responsible for arranging daily schedules, creating custom-made training plans, analyzing current client information, etc. Of course, the demarcation between these three roles was not that well-defined, they would help each other out at times.
"Boss Pei." The front desk was the first to notice Pei Qian.
"Good day, Boss Pei." The administrative executive was arranging the fitness meals with two personal trainers at noon.
"Boss Pei." The planner stood up and nodded politely from his work on the computer.
Pei Qian smiled lightly and nodded. He gave these planners a little more notice because... the true identity of this planner was a spy, one of the 18 Manage Loss Trainees!
The Manage Loss Trainees address Pei Qian as 'senior' privately. However, they would still address him as 'Boss Pei' in the public.
Wouldn't it reveal that there was a mysterious department otherwise...?
The positions in the gym were all based on shifts. This Manage Loss Trainee might be a student, but he did not have many classes. Moreover, the Deposit Fitness was just a few steps away from Handong University, which made him confident that he could take on this job.
The planner from Deposit Fitness was a position that the other gyms did not have. That was because the setting of Deposit Fitness was different from the other gyms.
Guo Licheng suggested to Pei Qian that they should create an app to let their clients book appointments so that they could control the number of people in the gym at once. It would also be able to optimize the arrangement of scheduling.
For example, if there were more clients on Thursday, then they would not entertain other clients who want to come on Thursdays. They would urge them to choose another day. It seemed like they were still quite some time away from completing the app. It was currently done by the planner.
However, there were lesser people in the gym now, a lot less than the maximum load the gym could take. Therefore, it did not really matter now.
The current position of the planner could only do preliminary planning. There was no need to go down to the day and time. Pei Qian arranged for this Manage Loss Trainee to be a planner so that he would be able to know the more accurate information about the gym, so that he would know how far away the gym was from becoming profitable.
Next Saturday would be the first-ever Manage Loss Trainee meeting. Pei Qian could not wait. He acted as though it was nothing and greeted everyone before sitting down beside this manage loss trainee.
There were too many Manage Loss Trainees so Pei Qian could not recall his name. No problem though. He only needed to remember he was the spy of which department.
"How far away is the gym from profitability?" Pei Qian asked nonchalantly.
This Manage Loss Trainee replied seriously. "Boss Pei, the gym needs about 200 daily clients for us to break even. That is not considering the profits of Fish-Catching Take-Out.
"It would be better to take it as 300 people per day if we consider depreciation, maintenance, and a certain amount of profits so that we can break even faster."
"Our current number of clients today is... 29. It could be a high peak, but it was less than 25% utilization rate for the gym."
Pei Qian was thoroughly satisfied with that answer.
See, as expected of the Manage Loss Trainee that I trained myself. His reporting is concise, without any unnecessary information.
Pei Qian nodded in approval. "Not bad, continue doing your best."
They were currently still very far from making profits. That was rather good news. Pei Qian pondered; it was about time to consider a branch.
He continued to walk around and saw Guo Licheng lifting weights like crazy at the strength training area. He did not know if it was just his imagination but it seemed like Guo Licheng's muscles were larger than when he saw him last week.
Pei Qian was happy to hear this.
This Guo Licheng was really obedient!
He got him to train his body so that his muscles could be better than the personal trainers. He would not have the time or energy to do all the fanciful promotions. The gym would also not be able to make money.
Guo Licheng was indeed training hard. Muscles wouldn't lie.
Guo Licheng quickly kept the dumbbells away and stood up seeing Boss Pei arrive. "Boss Pei! I'm..."
Guo Licheng tried to explain, but Pei Qian had already raised his hand to stop him.
"You are doing very well. As the branch manager and icon of the gym, your shape must be the best so that you can attract more customers! Therefore, you cannot relax; you have to continue on!
"I'm here today to ask you if you know of any other similarly well-renovated but bigger gyms. Especially near Fish-Catching Internet Cafe or Tengda offices. "Oh, yes, near Ming Yun Villas as well." Guo Licheng was a little taken aback. "Boss Pei, you want to do due diligence or..."
Pei Qian smiled. "Of course, to open branches!"
Guo Licheng was shocked.
What?
There were not even a few members for this gym, they were making so many losses that they could not even cover any expenses, and yet he wanted to open branches?"
Moreover, it seemed like Boss Pei did not only want to stop at one branch?
Guo Licheng hurriedly urged. "Boss Pei, you have to think carefully!"
Pei Qian raised his hand to stop his objection. "I've thought it through. You only have to give me places suitable for a gym. I'll get some people there to negotiate to see how many of them were willing to transfer over."
"Then, I'll trouble you to arrange for equipment, hiring, and the like."
Guo Licheng opened his mouth, thinking of discussing him. However, he nodded seeing how resolute Boss Pei was. "Okay, Boss Pei. I understand now. Eh... Boss Pei, what did you say were the criteria for selection?"
"We'll open three to five branches this time. Some gyms will definitely not be willing to transfer to us so you select about ten sites. One of them has to be near Ming Yun Villas; the rest have to be near Fish-Catching Internet Cafe or Tengda's offices." Pei Qian repeated.
This site selection was to better ensure the supply of the fitness meal; another point was to provide benefits to the employees.
Pei Qian did not forget that both Deposit Fitness and Sloth Apartments were to lose money and to provide more benefits to his employees. It would be double happiness if he could lose money and allow his employees to make further losses by giving them more benefits.The observation period of this flagship store had reached a certain point. From the looks of it, the situation was more optimistic than not. It might have some takers, but it was very far away from making profits.
If that was the case, then he could bring his own employees in slowly as well.
As to why he was doing it in batches?
That was because the system had restrictions in this regard. Employee benefits had to be within a certain range no matter whether it was the Sloth Apartments or the gym.
For example, if there were 100 rooms in the Sloth Apartments, only 30 of them could be used as a staff dormitory.
It was the same logic for the restaurant and the gym. They could be used as an employee benefit, but the precondition was that it had to be usable by other consumers. It should not only be for employees. Moreover, there was a stricter restriction on this.
Therefore, Pei Qian had to open a lot more batches if he wanted to let all of his staff follow a strict fitness plan.
Boss Pei had more than enough motivation as long as it could lose money!
Chapter 506 Lessons Learned from Failure
May 1st, Sunday...
Pei Qian came to the cafe near his school again. He was going to meet a new game designer. Only 1 million yuan out of the total amount of 1.8 million yuan was allowed by the system for school fees. There was 800,000 yuan left.
Therefore, Pei Qian asked Assistant Xin to search for a designer that had a certain reputation and had worked on some failed projects previously. He wanted to learn from some successful experience.
As to why the designer should possess some reputation even though he had failed before, it was because Pei Qian wanted to eliminate the interference of personal ability factors as much as possible.
If a producer himself failed and was worthless, the system would not allow him to charge so much tuition fee. On the other hand, if his failures were not outstanding enough, then there would be nothing they could learn from him.
What would Pei Qian learn from if someone was filled with failures? What if he learned something insignificant, would that not be a waste of time?
He had to find a successful and capable designer. The factors of failure on them would be very obvious like a 'highlighted' passage, easy to learn from.
What He An said was wrong. It was about the main reasons for success for Tengda. A large scale error correction exercise.
This big boss was mainly talking about his own failure, which was standard for Pei Qian.
Wouldn't it be a combination of what He An and the producer said today?
He managed to spend 1.8 million yuan giving lectures to himself. He also managed to learn some professional game production knowledge.
If he could pass the test by the system during settlement and would be able to make money-losing games based on what he learned...
Wouldn't he be earning money like a king?
Compared to He An's 'asking wrong questions', this big boss would be directly giving his 'standard answers'. The knowledge of losing money would be easier for Pei Qian to absorb this way.
Pei Qian was, therefore, very excited about this meeting!
This game designer arrived not long after he reached the cafe.
"Hello, Boss Ma! I'm Qiu Hong!" A man, with fluttery long hair, in his thirties shook hands with Pei Qian cordially.
Pei Qian had looked through Qiu Hong's resume before he arrived.
Different from He An's long glorious resume, this Qiu Hong's game production career could only be said to be bumpy. His resume could be regarded as a template for the middle-aged generation in the current domestic games market.
After entering the industry in 2001, he joined a large domestic game company as a systems designer. He successfully developed a Xianxia theme client-side game. Of course, that was a game with paywalls.
After two years, he managed to jump ship to another game company with the success of this game. He became the main designer of a certain Western Fantasy client-side game. The project was axed after its poor performance for an entire year of development. After that, he changed to another game company and continued to be the chief planner producing a war-themed game with paywalls. He was successful this time and had obtained an impressive monthly turnover of more than 100 million yuan.
The war game could be regarded as an evergreen game. Its revenue might have declined after half a year, but it still operated for three years. It had accumulated a good reputation for Qiu Hong.
Relying on the prestige accumulated with this project, Qiu Hong decided to set up his own business, a game company with the investment that he had found. He developed another game with paywalls only to fail again.
Qiu Hong was currently in a state of dejection because his venture had failed. He was about to relax and do nothing when he got the news that someone was willing to spend 100,000 yuan to listen to his lecture. He readily agreed and came to Jingzhou.
Pei Qian was very satisfied with Qiu Hong's resume.
To make things simple, the higher one climb, the worse the fall would be!
This person was obviously focused on domestically-produced games with paywalls. He had achieved a monthly turnover of 100 million yuan as the chief planner five or six years ago. That was obviously something worthy to be proud of.
Moreover, these two failures did not seem to have happened because of money.
The first failure was that the company he jumped to had huge spending power, ready to spend as much as it took to create a masterpiece for that era. They were not short of money.
His second failure was also when he obtained enough funds from investors to start his business. He was not short of money either.
However, even so, Qiu Hong-who had a successful career and ample experience in the game industry—failed in his venture.
Huge investments, heavy losses. Millions in funds went down into the drain. That was in line with Pei Qian's expectations!
Pei Qian firmly believed that there must be something worth learning from in Qiu Hong's experience!
The waiter brought their coffees. They chatted as they sipped on.
Qiu Hong briefly introduced his resume. There was a very obvious difference in attitude between He An and him.
He An obviously exuded the aura of an industry giant and successful person. His qualifications crushed 99% of designers in the industry. He gave lectures based on his interest and had his own arrogance.
He would absolutely go ahead with his own contents even if 'Ma Yang' were to give him 200,000 yuan per lecture. He would leave if things didn't go his way.
Qiu Hong was completely different. He might have experienced success before, but he knew that he was still a nobody in this industry. He was, therefore, very polite and was willing to share whatever 'Boss Ma' wanted to hear.
Qiu Hong was a systems designer after all. Moreover, he only created domestically-produced games with paywalls. Such a designer usually had distinctive features; that was that they would not be troubled by money.
Qiu Hong felt that since 'Boss Ma' was willing to pay 100,000 yuan for a lecture, including round-trip air tickets, transportation, and other experiences; it was like the whales and his relationship. It was one of absolute dependency.
He had to do all he could to satisfy 'Boss Ma's' requirements.
Therefore, Qiu Hong was not angry when 'Boss Ma' said he wanted to listen to his failures. He only confirmed it again and agreed.
"Alright, I'll speak about it since Boss Ma wants to know. However, there is something that I have to clarify in advance.
"I will definitely need some time to prepare if I were to speak about successful experiences. Every successful case is a combination of countless success factors after all. I have to clarify all such factors to restore its full picture.
"However, it is much easier to talk about failures. I don't need much time to prepare.
"As the saying goes, 'the riverbank of a thousand miles collapses because of an ant's nest.' Many times, you make 99 right decisions, but everything would fail due to one wrong choice.
"Analyze the cause of failure and find the most critical factor of failure, and there you'll have
Qiu Hong told Boss Ma about his idea for the lecture while drinking his coffee. His goal was clear, to obtain the consent of Boss Ma as much as possible.
Pei Qian was very happy. "Great! I want to learn about how the ant's nest caused the collapse of everything. Please be sure to talk about it!"
Qiu Hong nodded. "Alright, in the following lectures, I will talk about one key factor that would lead to the failure of the project. I believe that Boss Ma will be able to avoid similar situations or come up with solutions with your intelligence."
Pei Qian gave a small smile. "Definitely."
Qiu Hong sipped a mouthful of coffee and sorted out his thoughts. "For the first lesson today, I want to start with something basic, but it is one of the most overlooked aspects.
"Project management.
"The biggest difference between games, movies, animation, and other industries—and novels and self-media... is that they are industries that require close division of labor and cooperation.
"In other words, no matter how good you are, it's useless if your colleagues are people who mess around. You won't be able to make anything good.
"Even a talented game producer needs a strong production team to turn his design into a successful game project.
"People are inherently lazy. Many employees in the industry treat their jobs as a position that earns a stagnant salary to support their families, not as a career they are striving for. Therefore, most of their enthusiasm for work was suppressed by themselves.
"This is where project management becomes very important.
"A huge reason that I managed to create a successful project but failed in my venture is that I lack project management skills.
"The consequence of this is that the development plan I made in the original company can always be completed smoothly, with a maximum delay of one week.
"However, in my own company, the development plan that I formulated is always delayed, even postponed many times. The game that was made did not meet my own expectations.
"Every department always had a variety of reasons to shirk responsibilities. It seems that everyone has completed their tasks, but after careful observation, no one seemed to be pushing the entire project.
"Everyone delays a little bit. With a little time, the development progress of the project will completely collapse..."
Pei Qian listened intently, with a fascinating expression on his face.
How... how admirable!
See, the employees of other companies need not have their boss say anything for them to be lazy!
What about Tengda's staff then? Their boss was desperately encouraging them to take breaks, but everyone was trying desperately to work overtime!
Pei Qian did not learn any practical methods from this precious failure experience other than envy.
According to Qiu Hong, failure in project management would become a state of disunity. It was impossible to carry it out if no one would cooperate. However, that was where Pei Qian had his doubts.
I have never done any project management, right?
Why did my staff not fall into a state of disunity but become an iron plate instead?
Needles could not penetrate, water could not seep through. He could not find a breakthrough even if he wanted!
Pei Qian was very interested in the things that Qiu Hong was talking about, but he still did not know what to do.
According to Qiu Hong, his failure was in not doing enough, not making good use of project management to motivate employees. In other words, not effectively supervising lazy employees. However, while Qiu Hong did not do enough, Pei Qian did not do anything at all!
Not only did I not supervise the employees, but I even did the opposite to drive these overtime dogs home! It stands to reason that I over fulfilled the task, so why did it have the opposite effect?
Are my employees the problem, or am I the problem?
What a headache...
Chapter 507 Why does Boss Pei Use a Sledgehammer to Kill Chicken?
Obviously, Qiu Hong felt resentful towards his failure and was able to keep calm at the beginning. However, his tone gradually changed from stating facts to complaining. Pei Qian could hear Qiu Hong's humiliation from his tone.
Qiu Hong's game designing ability was definitely no problem as someone who had done successful projects.
Of course, his design abilities were specifically referring to his ability to design domestically-produced games with paywalls. He could not produce other types of games.
However, the problem with that was that Qiu Hong had never thought of making other types of games. He always had a very clear goal, which was to earn money by making games with paywalls.
Obviously, his venture failed not because of his design ability as well. He had not been a good boss.
Qiu Hong repeatedly emphasized that 'project management' was the most critical issue for his failure. He had so many things he wanted to say on that topic.
Qiu Hong shared a series of measures that could be taken to strengthen project management aspects with 'Ma Yang'.
For example, forcing employees to clock in and out, arriving early every day, and leaving late to supervise employees; dedicating 10% of game profits to the employees as bonuses.
These measures had indeed improved the company's situation and improved efficiency, but they still could not save them from the doom of failure.
Pei Qian felt a bit estranged.
It sounded like a factor for failure indeed. However, all these were useless to him...
My employees were already a bunch of crazy workaholics. I deliberately decoupled bonuses from profits and linked them with word-of-mouth to prevent them from thinking only about making profits.
Would there not be an explosion if bonuses were given to his employees based on profits?
The key was here; Qiu Hong said that the main reason why he failed was that his employees were lazy.
However, Pei Qian's problem was that he had been encouraging his employees to be lazy, but they refused to do that!
What should he do then?!
He might know the right answer, but he did not know of any feasible methods to solve the problem!
Qiu Hong became more emotional as he spoke. Pei Qian was too embarrassed to interrupt him.
Finally, Qiu Hong stopped to take a sip of coffee, probably thirsty from speaking too long.
"Then, can I just ask... do you know what kinds of company regulations would cause employees to be lazy and for the project schedule to get out of control?" Pei Qian tried to ask.
Qiu Hong was taken aback. "Eh? Isn't it innate human nature to be lazy? You don't need to do anything for them to be lazy." Pei Qian: "..."
That wasn't right; that did not match my experience.
There were times when I really did not bother with the company. I was in the office for only two to three hours a day, but wasn't my game project produced as scheduled? Pei Qian asked again: 'Then, if I let all employees not check in at all, have enough snacks and beverages, prohibit overtime, project bonuses have nothing to do with project profitability, and never ask about the development progress of the project... is it possible for the game to be produced as scheduled and still be profitable?"
The expression on Qiu Hong's face was very exciting as if asking 'is this some kind of joke'?
"Impossible!
"Boss Ma, if you want to daydream, then I suggest you buy lottery tickets. It might be easier to realize."
Pei Qian clapped, feeling as though he had found his best friend. "Yes, I feel the same! It should be impossible!
"But as far as I know, the gaming department of my companies seems... to be doing exactly this."
Qiu Hong did not reply immediately. He shook his heart slightly and took a sip of coffee.
"Boss Ma, that is what you see on the surface," Boss Ma said bitterly.
"That would mean that the project management ability of the Tengda Games department had reached a godly level and had achieved a 'back to the basics' effect.
"Such top-level project management was not something that everyone could learn from.
"It's just like how in certain martial arts novels, the protagonist would be able to win against others even if he did not have any techniques. However, you would be defeated pathetically if you tried to emulate him.
"Boss Ma, my advice is to forget about the Tengda Games department. You will not be able to learn such an ability.
"Of course, that is not to spite you. I won't be able to learn it either. Most of the people in this world would not be able to learn it, too.
"A business genius like Boss Pei is one in a trillion. The experience of such a person cannot be used as a reference." Pei Qian: "..."
Forget about the Tengda Games department?
Impossible, I am here to solve the problem of the gaming department. How could you try to persuade me to give up?!
What did you mean by 'return to basics'—what godly level? What sh*t were you talking about?!
Pei Qian was speechless; what about sharing his failures? Why did he become a whip corpse again!
Qiu Hong looked at his watch. "Oh, time's up.
"Boss Ma, it has been such a joy talking to you. I have not had such a great conversation for a long time. The distress in my chest had been completely wiped out!"
Pei Qian: "..."
The distress in your chest had been completely wiped out? What about my distress? It has increased again...
Pei Qian asked, "So, you will talk about new failure factors when the time comes, right?"
Qiu Hong nodded "Of course, I can vaguely feel that I can be very good friends with Boss Ma. We both have similar traits."
"What is this trait...?"
"We both have grievances with nowhere to air; we have a goal, but no one cooperates.
"Boss Ma, don't worry, we'll definitely be able to get through it! "In short, I'll share all I can and will! We'll make progress together!"
Have goals, but no one cooperates?
You are so right! Pei Qian thought in silence. He and Qiu Hong might have different goals, but they were both working hard to break free from the quagmire of failure and move towards a better tomorrow!
It seemed as though they could really become good friends from this point, eh?
Pei Qian was moved as well and clasped Qiu Hong's outstretched hand tightly. "Okay, let's do our best together!"
May 3rd, Tuesday...
At Otto Technologies...
The holidays were just over, and it was the first day of work at Otto Technologies. They started working at full swing in no time.
Chang You walked past the office area into his own office. His eyes swept over everyone, obtaining a panoramic view of the state of employees. "Could the influence of the Tengda spirit be so obvious?"
Chang You was slightly suspicious. He could feel the subtle change at Otto Technologies. Half a year had passed since Otto Technologies was established in November last year. The key employees, including Chang You, were all from Hongcheng Technologies. Boss Pei had never intervened in the daily affairs of the company. Director Lin, who was airdropped in, had never made any comments on the management of the company as well.
Therefore, the working method of Otto Technologies was exactly the same as Hongcheng Technologies. However, while the people were the same, everyone's working style seemed to be constantly evolving according to Tengda's working style.
One of the most notable manifestations was that everyone's working hours had shortened, but their workload had not changed.
That meant that their overall work efficiency improved!
Chang You still remembered his time at Hongcheng Technologies. He could always see someone lazing around as he walked through his staff area.
Of course, he also would not point it out since he felt that it was impossible for everyone to sustain an efficient work state. It was natural for people to laze around occasionally.
Now, however, everyone was working effectively with very minimal lazing around!
These two states could be distinguished at a glance.
Take today for example. If one was in Hongcheng Technologies, then most people would be sorting out one's work plan before lunch, reply to emails that accumulated last weekend, and then play with their mobiles for a while before the morning passed.
However, now, everyone was done with their work plan and emails in just after half an hour. They used the rest of their time for work, each more anxious than the previous one.
The most crucial was that Boss Pei seldom came over and had never requested them to learn from the Tengda spirit.
How did this subtle influence permeate and 'lubricate' everything?
The more Chang You pondered, the more he felt that Boss Pei had his way with project management!
Chang You always had to check attendance, set goals, and question from time to time. It was no longer necessary. The entire company acted like an entire arm. Everyone was very cooperative.
Chang You felt that he was simply too comfortable now with such a clever project management method. He no longer needed to waste any energy urging the staff on at all and could concentrate on the company's development direction.
"I have to ask Great Master Boss Pei about management when I have the time. How did he achieve this lubricating effect? Does he have his own set of philosophy for project management?"
Chang You continued his work for the week after completing his daily illusions about Boss Pei's Daily Life.
Today, he had to decode a mystery left behind by Boss Pei.
Boss Pei proposed a future plan for Otto Technologies previously: stop making new cell phones, extend the timeline to about 10 months to establish a software laboratory, make some useful applications, improve on the cell phone systems, and optimize the image algorithm.
Chang You had interpreted this point previously. He felt that Boss Pei's strategy was very correct after some serious reflection!
The Otto E1 cell phone was a very expensive high-end cell phone, but it was also a cell phone filled with defects at the same time. What would the clients who had already bought the E1 cell phones think if they were to work on a new phone immediately?
'I treat this phone as a baby while you treat me as rubbish?'
OTTO's pricing strategy was to never reduce the price. However, if new phones were released too frequently, what importance would customers with old phones be?
They might provide old-for-new services, but the frequent behavior of new phones would inevitably dilute the initial brand value of the mobile phone.
Therefore, Boss Pei wanted to use one year to polish the software, including the operating system, image algorithm, various commonly used applications, etc. There were at least three levels of meaning to it.
Fulfill their promise to their consumers...
Extend the release cycle of new cell phones to one year, to ensure that more advanced and mature technologies could be used at that point... so that the next mobile phone would have more gimmicks. At the same time, be able to better preserve the value of the E1 cell phone...
Invest a lot of time in software research and development to increase the value-add of the cell phone, make up for its shortcomings, and make consumers feel value for money...
Chang You immediately decided to spend a huge amount of money to set up an image algorithm laboratory after seeing the deep meaning behind Boss Pei's next stage policy. It would be dedicated to tuning cell phone lenses, optimizing image algorithms, and working hard on the software of photography! However, Boss Pei's new directions came after hardly two days from when he decoded Boss Pei's meaning
Chang You was confused this time.
Boss Pei actually asked Otto Technologies to develop an application for gym registration?The functional requirements of this application were very simple. It was put forward by someone called Guo Licheng. Customers could view their fitness data, make appointments for fitness, etc. Nothing more...
Chang You was very confused. Did they have to get Otto Technologies to develop something so simple? Our software team was capable of more complex applications. It's just a simple app for gym registration that could be done by any team. Why did Mr. Pei give us this task? Moreover, this application was totally different from the general direction determined by Boss Pei previously.
The strangest thing was that Boss Pei emphasized that this software was not to be pre-installed in the cell phones.
Why?
Chang You arranged for someone to carry it out the moment he received this request. However, he still failed to understand the meaning behind it after so many days.
Someone with no ambition would complete the fitness software without any question.
However, Chang You was very sure that, after the success of the Otto E1 cell phone, the tasks Boss Pei personally gave seemed simple but definitely had other meanings to them.
Why would Boss Pei personally delegate the task out otherwise?
Chapter 508 You will Enjoy a Better View with Boss Pei, and then You will Understand
"Yes... I should analyze the method that Director Lin was talking about.
"This concerns Otto Technologies' future direction. The cell phone industry is constantly changing. A single misstep could lead to a thousand wrongs. We can't afford to be shoddy."
If Chang You was the same person as he had been when he first came to Tengda, he would not have overthought things. He would have handed the task down to his subordinates and made sure that they did what was asked of them.
However, after six months of rigorous training, Chang You felt like he had learned a lot from Boss Pei.
One of the most important lessons was that one had to have a keen eye and a sense of direction!
A famous entrepreneur once talked about the 'Flying Pig Theory'. That meant that if one wanted to make it as an elite businessman, the most important thing he would have to do was look for the right opening.
The cell phone industry was undoubtedly the right opening in a constantly-evolving Internet age. Yet, not everyone would be able to benefit from finding this opening. Anyone who got distracted could easily be squeezed out of their competitive position, fall to their deaths, and break their bones!
In other words, one's bottom line was determined by how hard they worked, but how far one went-depending on how keen their eye was.
Chang You had thought that he had a keen eye and that he was one of the top few players in the industry. Yet, after meeting Boss Pei, he realized that he had not seen enough of the world. He had thought too much of himself!
He could only see the opportunities that everyone else could see as well. Although he also had a good chance of succeeding, the competition was extremely stiff. He just had to lag behind slightly to lose everything. On the other hand, Boss Pei could see opportunities that no one else could. Such opportunities were rare and valuable. All he had to do was keep a firm grip on the opportunity; he did not need to panic because no one else was competing. Thus, after Otto E1 succeeded, Chang You became sure of one thing. Since Boss Pei had so much foresight and had such unique taste, Chang You had to give up his own view of the market and follow whatever Boss Pei instructed him to do.
If he could win while lying down, why would he choose to work his ass off to compete with the other manufacturers?
Still, the only problem was that geniuses were often strange.
Boss Pei was strange in a way that he enjoyed making his employees guess what was in his mind. It was almost as if he was training his employees to think independently and analyze every situation.
Thus, not everyone could understand Boss Pei's puzzles, and not everyone could stand out among all the employees and leave a deep impression in Boss Pei's mind.
It was a good thing that Director Lin had imparted to him the relevant skills to analyze Boss Pei.
Chang You frowned as he fell into deep thought.
"Director Lin once said that the way to start analyzing a problem is to begin from the most unreasonable point. "The most unreasonable point in this situation is that Boss Pei is overkilling. It would clearly be most appropriate for Fish-Catching Take-Out to work on the fitness application. Why did he pass it to us?" Chang You opened the document that Guo Licheng provided on his computer. The document was quite simple; it only contained a few sentences.
If Chang You was to rate this man based on the standards expected of product managers, Guo Licheng would get even fewer than three points.
What's more, that would be out of a hundred points.
Yet, Chang You could not blame Guo Licheng. He was a fitness trainer to begin with. How would he know anything about the standards expected of product managers? Chang You studied the few sentences very closely. "This Guo Licheng is the man in charge of the shared gym, but he has very simple requests. "That makes sense, I think. After all, he's new, and he doesn't understand Boss Pei's mindset very well. There's still room for him to be trained.
"If Boss Pei simply wanted these requirements to be met, he could easily have engaged Fish-Catching Take-Out to develop the application.
"What's more, these requests are obviously too sweeping. Someone should have edited and perfected the interface and designed all the functions from scratch before handing the task down to the programmers.
mers.
"Design...
"Did Boss Pei pick us because of our design skills? Yes, that's possible. Our product managers are far better at designing than the employees of Fish-Catching Take-Out.
"In other words, Boss Pei has more hidden requirements for the application. Did he know that Fish-Catching Take-Out would not have fulfilled those requirements, and so he handed the task to us instead?
"Yes, that makes much more sense!
"What kind of hidden requests could there be...?"
Chang You thought that he had achieved a breakthrough. Thus, he stood up and started pacing
"All of those requests are enough for a functional application for the gym.
"If Boss Pei wants more, that means...
"The gym is only the beginning. Is Boss Pei's real goal to break the boundaries of the fitness industry?
"Is that why he let us develop the application? Are we to fill in the gaps in this in-charge's plans for the gym? Are we to use our knowledge of the Internet to come up with a holistic plan for this application?
"Yes, that must be it!
"But... if Boss Pei wants the cell phone business to collaborate with the fitness application, why wouldn't he let us install the application as one of the bundled applications in the cell phones?"
Chang You pondered for a moment and finally broke through the final mental barrier. He looked like he had just been enlightened.
"I understand now. Boss Pei thinks that the application would contain a lot of content and that it would be extremely difficult to design it. Thus, he's worried about the quality. "If we push the application out as a bundled application, the figures would only look good on paper. However, we would fail to tell how the application is really being received, and the misunderstanding would affect our follow-up work.
"At the same time, if the application's quality is bad, Otto Technologies' brand would be affected as well.
"So why isn't Boss Pei allowing us to install our fellow subsidiary's application in Otto's cell phone?
"Boss Pei did not say 'don't install', but 'don't make it a bundled application'. He wanted the application to be put through the full test in the market, so that every user of the Otto cell phones would install the application voluntarily and willingly!"
Chang You was done solving Boss Pei's riddle.
He revised his entire thought process and realized that everything had come naturally to him. The plan perfectly coincided with all the benefits. He now had answers for everything that he had found unreasonable earlier.
It was no wonder that everyone loved cracking Boss Pei's riddles.
Once they successfully solved the riddle, they would feel an immense sense of achievement and satisfaction!
Chang You immediately left his own office, in search of Deposit Fitness' in-charge.
"There will be changes to the proposal.
"You only requested for the basic functions before. We want to expand based on those requirements! Apart from satisfying the daily needs of the gym, we want to create more functions for the application.
"For example, we want to create a calculator that would come up with a training plan for customers based on their weight and body fat percentage, which would be measured from the gym. Trainers can then refer to this training plan.
"Apart from using the application to make bookings, customers could also use it for regular reminders for training, meals, or rest. Trainers would not have to follow up with them for 24 hours a day, and the reminders can be in-built with smart technology. "We can also create another segment to upload workouts, recipes, facts, and tips. That way, customers would be able to understand the meaning behind Deposit Fitness' model.
"Many people don't understand why one would have to regularly make reservations to train in advance or why their fitness meals are bundled. That's why they find it hard to accept our model.
"If we can popularize this science, everyone would find Deposit Fitness' model increasingly acceptable!
"On top of that, we can even create an interface for Deposit Fitness to upload videos demonstrating perfect form for various movements in the future. That would allow customers to correct their own form or train at home..."
The man in charge of Deposit Fitness' app quickly took all of those things down.
Once he was done, he looked up in confusion. "Boss Chang, those things go way beyond the requirements. According to the previous list, Deposit Fitness only asked us to create an application that would allow customers to book slots in the gym, right?
"Would this be... appropriate? Would they be unhappy when we hand the application back to them?"
Chang You smiled. "What? They asked for a simple application, and not only would we meet their requests perfectly, but we would also throw in many more useful functions. How could they get angry? "I think they'll be beyond grateful!"
The man in charge of the application scratched his head and mumbled, "But I don't think this is necessary..."
Chang You smiled subtly. "It is. Of course, it is!
"Once you take my place and spend time working with Boss Pei, you would enjoy a much better view of the world. Then, you will understand why I am doing this...
"You have a lot to learn!"
May 4th, Wednesday... At about 10 PM, after sending the last group of guests out, Lin Canrong instructed the waiters and cleaners of Ming Yun Private Kitchen to pack up and prepare to leave.
Logically, Ming Yun Private Kitchen's workflow should have stabilized by now. As a branch manager, Lin Canrong could slack off once in a while without affecting the restaurant.
However, he continued to work hard and meticulously every single day.
After all, he was a chef with a reputation in Jingzhou. What's more, after earning Boss Pei's appreciation, he had been the branch manager of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and the man in charge of Fish-Catching Take-Out.
After being made the branch manager of Ming Yun Private Kitchen, he had had the chance to speak to many people of different backgrounds in Jingzhou, which only made his career increasingly smoother.
Lin Canrong cherished this opportunity greatly. At every moment, he was thinking about how to improve Ming Yun Private Kitchen, not only to repay Boss Pei for trusting him but also to take his own career one step further.
A while ago, when he discovered that Rui Yuchen's Fish-Catching Take-Out was expanding rapidly, he began to feel nervous. He asked to open a new branch for Ming Yun Private Kitchen, but Boss Pei had turned him down.
Lin Canrong was extremely confused. Why did Boss Pei refuse to set up another branch?
After a few days, he finally gained some clarity.
Ming Yun Private Kitchen was popular for two reasons. On one hand, it was because the chefs and ingredients were the best in the world, and the food tasted outstanding. On the other hand, it was because the restaurant's environment was unique.
People were not allowed to take photos, everyone had to queue for seats, and high-end people were pursuing it endlessly. All of those factors contributed to the customers' desire to visit the restaurant.
In other words, it was precious because it was so rare. For example, some brands never sold limited edition products. Instead, they sold their products freely, which in turn resulted in their products being worthless.
Ming Yun Private Kitchen's chefs had been poached from all over the world. Each one of them had unique skills. If they set up another branch, how could they ensure that all the food would taste the same? If there was a difference in taste, customers' demand for the food would be affected. Wouldn't that be damaging the nameless restaurant's golden signboard then? So what if they could earn more money by setting up another branch? Would Boss Pei care for that much money?
Obviously, the restaurant's name was more important.
After figuring this out, Lin Canrong quashed the idea of setting up another branch. Instead, he acceded to Boss Pei's request and started thinking about how to spend the money that he had earned to improve Ming Yun Private Kitchen.
At the moment, he had a few fuzzy ideas, but he had not made a decision yet.
As Lin Canrong thought about it, he started to drive. As he was leaving from the north-west gate, he noticed a shop on the first floor with its lights still on. People were still working inside.
A moving van was parked on the road by the entrance, and people were moving all sorts of gym equipment onto it.
Ever since Ming Yun Private Kitchen became famous, the land in Ming Yun Villas became extremely expensive. People kept referring to the place as Jingzhou's new commercial district, and many even started investing in the area. More and more shops appeared as time went by.
However, not every shop did well.Based on Lin Canrong's memory, this shopwhich was still lit—was a high-end gym. It originally targeted the high-end crowd in Ming Yun Villas.
He had thought that it would prosper and be filled every day. However, as time went by, its situation deteriorated, and it had not improved even though employees distributed flyers every single day.
Did this mean that the gym could not survive any longer?
Lin Canrong parked his car by the road, intending to take a look. After all, they were neighbors and were acquainted with one another. It would be good to offer some comfort.
He saw the branch manager of the gym, smoking a cigarette by the side as he instructed his employees to move the fitness equipment. However, there wasn't a hint of sadness on his face as one would expect since his gym was closing down.
The branch manager saw Lin Canrong walking over, and so he waved to greet him. "Hey, Branch Manager Lin. Have you just knocked off?"
Lin Canrong nodded. "Yes, I have. Are you... quitting?"
The branch manager of the gym burst into laughter. "I am! Someone's taking over! This huge mess is finally out of my hands!"
Chapter 509 Boss Pei's New Neighbor
The branch manager of the gym handed a cigarette to Lin Canrong who waved his hand to reject him.
"Who took it over?" Lin Canrong asked curiously.
He only needed to conduct some brief research to discover that the shop had already been opened for a couple of months. There were many high-end people here, and this was a commercial district with high traffic. Logically, the gym should have been doing very well. Yet, it just was not generating any profits! Who would be so hard-headed as to take over this place?
The branch manager inhaled deeply and shot Lin Canrong a strange look. "Huh? Branch Manager Lin, don't you know? It was Tengda! Tengda took over it!" Lin Canrong could not help but feel stunned.
Boss Pei took over the gym?
That sounded logical. Boss Pei had indeed started on a project called 'Deposit Fitness' or something. It was said that that gym was near the company's headquarters as well.
Was he opening another branch now? It must have been doing quite well, then! Lin Canrong had been feeling sorry for the buyer because he had thought that this would be a waste of money. He had even guessed that history would repeat itself, and the new shop would close down in a few months as well.
However, after hearing that Boss Pei was the buyer, Lin Canrong immediately perked up.
Boss Pei must have a way of turning the losses here into profits! He had singlehandedly developed this entire commercial district. How could he be stumped by a mere gym?
It was impossible!
He could just sit back and watch what Boss Pei would do from now on. The branch manager of the gym exhaled a cloud of smoke and grinned as he said, "Branch Manager Lin, you have no idea how happy I was when I heard the news.
"Just a while ago, I heard that something has shaken the gym industry in Jingzhou. People were saying that Tengda had entered!
"At the time, everyone became extremely nervous. Who doesn't know about Tengda? It's so wealthy and brave. If Tengda started a price war, none of the little gyms would have been able to stand it.
"What I didn't expect was that Tengda would show no intention of competing with us. It set up its first gym and maintained an extremely low profile.
"If I had not gone down to see for myself, I would never have thought that it would be so deserted. In fact, it was much more deserted than I had imagined!
"After some time, everything remained peaceful, and everyone gradually relaxed. "However, just two days ago, Tengda suddenly began to take over many gyms around the city. What's more, it's taking over well-renovated gyms. As long as the gyms are well-renovated, their results would not matter!
"You have no idea how many gyms were on the verge of closing down. We were all waiting for someone to take over. Every one of us was waiting expectantly. We were just stopping short of renovating the gyms to tempt Tengda to take over them!
"Of course, no one would really do that. What if Tengda still refused to take over the gyms once renovations were completed? The owners would have incurred huge losses, wouldn't they?
"Thus, I waited eagerly for Tengda's employees to approach me, and that's exactly what they did today! Your company is indeed rich-they offered such a high price. Once I confirmed that the price was worth it, I agreed to sell my gym immediately.
"We're moving throughout tonight. I guess that Deposit Fitness' signboard would be up in two days."
The branch manager of the original gym looked so happy that one would think he had just escaped a calamity.
Lin Canrong could not help but feel intrigued. If another gym had taken over this place, Lin Canrong would have sat back and waited for it to close down.
However, the fact that Boss Pei had taken over the gym showed that there was another plan taking place on a deeper level!
Furthermore, why was Boss Pei opening a branch near Ming Yun Villas? Was it so that the gym could collaborate with Ming Yun Private Kitchen in the future?
Lin Canrong asked, "Can you tell me briefly what you all think about Tengda's Deposit Fitness?"
May 5th, Thursday...
Pei Qian sat in the car, on his way to Sloth Apartments. He was feeling slightly excited. After being busy with work for a month, he could finally move in!
The apartment had been exquisitely renovated. As a designer, Liang Qingfan had been mainly in charge of soft renovations for the house, including the furniture, electrical appliances, smart facilities, and the like. Thus, he could finish his tasks within a short period.
What's more, Pei Qian had already made his requests clear. The houses were to have a 'four bare walls' style. Thus, there was little left for Liang Qingfan to do.
Pei Qian planned to take a look at the house today. If he was satisfied, he would move in at once.
Moving to a new residence was still exciting!
He alighted from the car in the basement parking lot and then took the elevator up to the penthouse of the building, together with Little Sun. Liang Qingfan was already in the house, waiting for them.
The living room was being hidden behind the entrance door. Pei Qian quickly pushed it open and entered
His first thoughts upon entering were that the house was spacious and bright!
The light was extremely bright, bathing the fan-shaped living room in the warmth of the sunlight. Pei Qian could not help but feel like a sloth. Pei Qian's first impression of the space was that it looked exactly the same as the rendering that he had seen earlier.
The house was extremely vast, empty, and bright.
The sun shone through the windows and into the house, reflecting off the clean and clear ground and reflecting the few pieces of furniture inside.
The dark-colored couch looked like it was floating above a clear lake but also like it was hovering gracefully above a cloud.
On the wall that the sofa was facing was a big television. Pei Qian could not see any wires or plugs. Instead, the black screen looked just like a window that showed Pei Qian a whole other world. Pei Qian remembered that he had asked for a game machine and game discs. However, he did not see any of those items by the television.
Pei Qian guessed that they had been well-hidden inside the simple and short television cabinet sitting under the television.
Apart from that, there were other pieces of furniture like a table and chairs. They looked simple as well, but one could tell with one glance that they were top-quality.
The entire space fit Pei Qian's requirements perfectly. It was so minimalistic that one could say there were only four bare walls. Some might even think that this house had just been robbed empty.
Of course, from an artistic point of view, a photograph of the living room would leave a lasting impression on anyone, no matter which angle it was taken from.
The elite space was accompanied by elite waste.
It was obvious that Liang Qingfan was a designer who treasured being elite.
Apart from the short television cabinet under the television, there was no other storage space in the living room. There wasn't a single cabinet other than that.
The huge space and the absence of trash lying around made Pei Qian feel extremely comfortable.
Liang Qingfan stood at the arc of the living room, looking out at the scenery. When he heard the doorbell ring, he turned around. "Boss Pei, are you happy with the style of this house?"
Pei Qian nodded. "I'm very happy!"
He could not help but praise Designer Liang for being ruthless.
Pei Qian had instructed him to make the four walls bare and to save on as much furniture as they could. However, he had not expected Liang Qingfan to get rid of functional pieces of furniture like cabinets, tables-dining tables and chairs as well.
Even if Liang Qingfan had wanted to cut back on the cabinets, Pei Qian would have expected him to place one or two small ones in the living room at least.
Yet, Liang Qingfan had resolutely decided against them!
Pei Qian was very happy with this. It was not easy to find such an obedient designer these days.
I've included hard rules prohibiting people from buying their own furniture or changing the layout of the house. I'll wait and see who would still be interested in renting these apartments now!
Pei Qian could not help but rejoice inwardly. He felt like he was halfway to success with Sloth Apartments.
Liang Qingfan said, "Boss Pei, allow me to show you where all the money has gone.
"To achieve this level of minimalism, I had to cut out a lot of daily necessities. For instance, there is not enough storage space here to meet anyone's daily needs. However, since Boss Pei said it wouldn't matter, I did away with it anyway.
"However, there's something that we cannot do away with-curtains.
"To give this apartment shade and privacy, curtains are a must. However, against the backdrop of such extreme minimalism, even the simplest curtains would look out of place and eye-catching. "Thus, I changed all the glass on the windows to smart light-adjusting glass. Not only does it have all the special characteristics of safety glass, but it also is safe for the environment, has relatively high transmission, and has daylight functions. The purple and red wavelengths can be separated so that the negative effects of sunlight are dealt with.
"All in all, the rate of transmission of the glass can be greatly varied, along with the intensity of the light in the house, so that the room can feel warm and comforting. That would suit the minimalistic style of the apartment.
"On top of that—to push the minimalism of the apartment to its maximum, I have hidden all the power sockets. All the light switches have also been made into transparent glass on the smart boards.
"Those smart boards have been hidden in various corners of the room. While they're inactive, they look just like a mirror. However, once you activate them, they become touch screens that allow you to control all the lights in the house. Of course, you could also use your phone to achieve the same effect. "The other furniture and electrical appliances, including the toilet, were bought from first-tier local brands. They were carefully selected to strike the perfect balance between functionality and art.
"Next, let me introduce you to this television. It's the latest 85-inch 4K television manufactured overseas. It's sold for 240 thousand yuan, and it comes with the latest entertainment system. That would guarantee the best gaming experience for you. "The game machine has been hidden in the television cabinet. Once you pick up the controller, you will enter an exciting and brilliant gaming world!"
Liang Qingfan cleared his throat. "Of course, at first, I thought that buying such a huge television would not be practical. However, your budget was too high, Boss Pei..."
Pei Qian could not help but stick out his thumb. "Very good. I'm very happy with this television!"
Although all the items in the house had poor quality-price ratio, Liang Qingfan had undoubtedly fulfilled all of Pei Qian's requests perfectly. Take the television, for example. Although it would only cost twenty thousand yuan in ten years, it was still an extremely rare appliance right now. Only tens of sets existed in the local market at the moment.
Pei Qian had left Liang Qingfan with a very high budget. At the same time, he had insisted on keeping the house looking like 'four bare walls'. Liang Qingfan had been told to cut down on the furniture as much as possible.
Thus, all the furniture and electrical appliances in the house had been bought to meet the budget.
Pei Qian liked the apartment a lot. That was because he only needed it for two things: sleep and play. What's more, he would be living there on his own.
The extreme minimalism would not cause inconvenience in his life. Instead, it was precisely the minimalism that made the place look so pleasing to his eyes
However, he could not say the same for potential tenants.
Compared to other houses, this house would do poorly to accommodate two or more people. There was no storage space; people wouldn't be allowed to purchase their own furniture or change the layout; and they could only opt for the entire tenancy.
e0
The apartment was more suited for one group of people: people who lived alone, would not care about having to pay nine thousand yuan for rent each month, and intended to stay there in the long-term.
In other words, the place was meant to be treated solely like a work of art to be appreciated.
Such people would be true ballers. Perhaps they would already have another house or would already be living in villas. Why would they need to rent this place?
Even if one or two ballers were retarded enough to rent an apartment here, they would be the minority for sure.
Liang Qingfan said, "Boss Pei, please see if there's anything that you're not satisfied with so that we can fix it soon."
Pei Qian raised his hand. "I'm very happy. There's no need to fix anything! You've turned my dreams into reality perfectly. This is exactly what I wanted!
"Designer Liang, I really appreciate your designing skills. I wonder if you're interested in working for Tengda."