Oral description: Written by Wang Binrong
The picture shows the first day of junior high school
In ancient Greek mythology, there is a hell watchdog called “Cerberus”, it has three heads, a dragon’s tail on the lower body, and the hair on the head and back are all coiled with poisonous snakes, it is unruly and fierce and difficult to tame by many novelists as the story character in the novel, and the person who can tame it often becomes Hercules in the eyes of the reader.
1. Entrepreneurship is unpopular: leashing dogs
I never thought that I would stay in the insurance industry for six years while studying computers; What I didn’t expect was that after working hard from a small employee to a manager, I resolutely resigned and started a business after giving up my generous annual salary.
My name is Guizhou after 85, and I am a pioneer at the beginning of my business. I have a two-year-old son, nicknamed Fifteen.
“Cerberus” is a brand I founded after six months of inspection in Dongguan, and currently specializes in dog leashes.
At present, the physical pet store due to the impact of the online store business situation is worrying, how to find the profit growth point in the pet industry that has lost confidence is the focus of my thinking, after the field investigation, I decided to start from the upstream market – do leash, and from design, research and development to production, sales to do a line of marketing.
The picture shows the tow rope designed by Chuyi
2、
Find raw materials
Do what you say. After contacting the designer, we discussed the draft drawing, whether it was logo, collar or tow rope, we carefully proofread and determined the final plan after several revisions; The selection of materials must not be sloppy, the cost of doing all genuine leather is too high, and I am afraid of the quality of others, after several investigations, I set my sights on the professional diving clothing raw material SBR fabric, because of its waterproof and durable, stretch space, comfortable material and other advantages, the processed collar is more suitable for dogs to wear.
In fact, the material I originally proposed was plastic or nylon, but the plastic was afraid that it would make the dog uncomfortable because of its hard material, and the ordinary nylon material was biased and unsafe, and I gave up thinking about it in general. Under the introduction of a friend, I learned that SBR diving material, which is widely used in wetsuits, sports protective gear, body shaping supplies, fishing pants, shoe materials and other fields, this time for leash raw materials should also be regarded as an innovative attempt.
In terms of cost, plastic and nylon are cheaper than SBR diving materials. At present, the price of 1 ton of SBR material in the market is about 6,000 yuan, while the price of ordinary plastic and nylon is 3,000 to 4,000, although the price is higher, but based on the psychology of being responsible for customers and dogs, I still chose SBR.
In order to improve the safety factor of the product, I chose all copper materials for the SBR material connection part, although the daily aluminum price on the market is nearly 2 times lower than the daily copper price, but the determination to do a good job of the product still made me choose copper, comprehensively, invested 300,000.
The cost of 300,000 yuan is composed of all my savings since I went to work for 7 years and 100,000 yuan in cash from the bank.
Original title: Chengdu Entrepreneurship Guide | the first day of junior high school: I invested 300,000 yuan to make a dog leash
3. Find a processing plant
When I first came to Dongguan, I stayed in a hotel, and then I learned that I would have to stay for the first half of the year, so I chose to rent a short-term apartment. Just like written in many entrepreneurial stories, I also ate instant noodles for a month and a half, I couldn’t feel 500 yuan in my pocket, and told my wife on the phone that there was no air conditioning in the room, and the conditions were very poor, she was half-convinced, and after the video call, she cried several times.
The hardest thing is processing. In order to ensure the independent research and development of products, I looked for an OEM factory in Dongguan, and this search took half a year.
I want to order a batch of goods to test the market first, then of course I have to use the least amount of input; And the factory generally will not accept small processing, because opening a machine will involve strain, depreciation and other practical problems, based on this, many factories are unwilling to accept, the strength of the large processing factory its acceptance of orders from tens of millions of yuan, for me is out of reach.
Select, select, select. In the past six months, I have also mixed “old fritters” in the OEM factory circle in Dongguan, and in the first half of 2015, I finally reached a cooperation intention with a small OEM factory. After talking with it for more than half a year, the boss finally accepted my first order for 300,000 yuan for tow rope.
4. How to make your own characteristics
A tow rope, the price ranges from tens to hundreds to thousands, how to ensure a good reputation and good performance in the market is the key.
Through investigation and comparison, I found that among similar products, “Cerberus” has a lower price than the same quality leash in Europe and the United States, and better quality than the same price in China.
Most of the domestic tow ropes are linen material or plastic nylon, because of its low cost, practical comfort is not strong, I think it is not competitive, unwilling to do such products, its market price from more than 10 pieces to 80, 90.
Most foreign tow ropes use high-fiber materials, using high-tech patents to process tow ropes, and their market prices range from more than 200 to thousands of yuan.
Comprehensively considered, the performance material comfort of the dog leash made of SBR material is mid-to-upper, and the price is tentatively set between 100 and 200 yuan, in contrast, the advantages are revealed.
In this context, I negotiated the price with the manufacturer, the machine officially started operation, and the first batch of 300,000 yuan goods was about to officially roll off the production line and be sent to the Chengdu agent.
5. Why start a business?
The toss started in the summer of ’07, and after graduating from college, I became a little drifter. In the face of endless programs and endless code, I feel that the days will not end.
One day a year later, the news of my grandmother’s serious illness suddenly came from Guizhou, and I hurriedly handed over my work and immediately left for home, but after a two-hour and forty-five-minute trip, I was unable to meet her for the last time.
In order to be closer to my family, I quit my job and came to Chengdu, where I worked for an insurance company, from lecturer to regional manager, where I bought a car and a house, got married, had children, and put down roots for six years.
I’ve met a lot of people and talked for many days, but the difference is that I used to talk about code, but now I talk about insurance. The same days repeated day by day, as if back to the days six years ago when I couldn’t see the end, and I wanted to quit, and this is where I had a leash.
When the collar design sample is processed and shipped from the factory, a large number of samples are placed in front of you, and the sense of achievement overshadows the so-called bitterness. Just like the name “Cerberus”, I want customers to use it to control their dogs; On the other hand, “Cerberus” is actually a challenge on my entrepreneurial path, taming “Cerberus”, I am Hercules Hercules.