As soon as the reporter came here, Chengdu people reminded him: "You should shine your shoes." The reporter was a little embarrassed, and it was only in the streets of Chengdu that everyone's shoes were almost shiny. Later, I learned that Chengdu people have an unwritten tradition, that is, they will go to "beauty" after wearing shoes for a period of time. The level of "beauty" is also on the rise, from street shoe-shining stalls to shoe-shining services in some teahouses and restaurants, and then to the popular professional shoe-shining shops.
I looked down at my shoes, which were a bit out of place, so I asked kind passers-by to recommend a shoe shine shop. "Go to Luoji, the best in Chengdu, and there are nearly 100 chain stores in the country!"
According to the introduction, the reporter quickly found the "Luoji Shoe Store" that Chengdu people talked about. As soon as I entered the door, the enthusiastic clerk greeted me. The shop is not very big, but it is in good order. I was dazzled by all kinds of brushes and shoe polish, and there was a machine next to it that looked a bit like a microwave oven. I just want to see the purpose of this guy, and my thoughts are swept away by a regular shoe-brushing. The staff in charge of flat cutting seems to be only in their twenties. The action of brushing shoes was completed, and a pair of shoes that were a little worn out were instantly served by him in a new suit.
I'm thinking that my shoes must be maintained by this person, so I can rest assured. Someone has already arrived first. "Boss Luo, what are you busy with?" It turns out that he is the head of Luo Ji! The owners of nearly 100 chain stores in China also polish their shoes themselves, and they are so young, like college students. With a strong curiosity, the reporter showed his identity, went straight to the subject and wanted to have a deep dialogue with the boss. "Yes, but only after I finish my work." Helpless, the reporter had to sit still and wait for the interviewee to finish cleaning others' shoes. ...
The old lady urged him to change careers.
Boss Luo's name is Luo. 1995 graduated from Chengdu Normal University. After graduation, Luo's parents arranged for him to work in his own state-owned enterprise. Two years later, Luo jumped to an information consulting company with an enterprising spirit and began an enviable white-collar life. "My salary was more than 1000 per month, and I got more than 3,000 at most. This salary level is already very good in Chengdu 1.997. " Although Luo is highly valued by his boss at work, he is still not satisfied at heart and has always wanted to seek opportunities to start his own business.
One day, Luo was wandering in the street and saw an old lady polishing her shoes. "It was summer, and the temperature in Chengdu was extremely high. I saw an old man shining his shoes in the hot sun. Very pitiful. Out of sympathy, he shined shoes for the old lady. In the process of wiping, I chatted with the old lady and asked her how the business was. Is it difficult? "
Luo was surprised at the old lady's answer. "She said that when business is good, she can earn seventy or eighty dollars a day. I gave her a total of at least two or three thousand yuan a month, which can catch up with my income as a white-collar worker. " The experience of shoeshine deeply stimulated Luo. The lower-level industries, which usually look down on or even sprout sympathy, originally have such great business opportunities. "I thought at the time that an old lady could earn so much by shining shoes every month. If it were me, I would be a newly graduated college student, younger than her. If I do this, I may be able to achieve something. "
With this in mind, Luo used his off-duty time to practice shoeshine at home. I thought I had a college degree and work experience, so I should be able to clean a pair of shoes. Unexpectedly, every time Luo shined his shoes, his hands were covered with shoe polish, which made a mess, but his shoes did not move. "I was not convinced at the time, so I often went to the streets to find someone to shine shoes and secretly observed what others did. After a period of observation and practice, I gradually mastered the essentials of shoeshine. Later, at work, the shoes I wore every time were cleaner and brighter than those of my colleagues. "
In order to test his academic performance in shoeshine, Luo thought of another "coup". He challenged shoeshine workers. "One day, I specially polished the leather shoes on my right foot, and then I found a shoeshine man on the road and only asked him to clean my left shoe. I said that if he could shine my left shoe brighter than my right shoe, I would give him double the money. As a result, the more I shine my shoes, the less bright my shoes are. "
This time, Luo smiled proudly, because here is his secret weapon: that is, in order to distinguish it from the general shoe-polishing stall, he spent a lot of effort on tools: "I bought high-grade shoe polish and high-grade shoe brush from the big shopping mall."
Hiding from family and setting up stalls in the street
The skill of shoeshine has been mastered, but Luo is still struggling inside. After all, the shoeshine industry belongs to the bottom industry. As a college graduate, he doesn't work with a good white-collar worker. Is it worthwhile to be a shoeshine worker? What will people around you think of him? Thinking about this matter, Luo felt that he should follow the spirit of the ancients. In order to make himself brave enough to shine shoes, he quit his white-collar job without telling his family.
"in the beginning, on the one hand, vanity was at work, on the other hand, I was eager for success. I decided to choose some high-end teahouses and hotels as my workplace. Because the people who go in and out there are relatively rich people, I think the income from leather shoes care in that place is both high and face-saving. "
After making up his mind, Luo spent more than a month making a professional survey on the shoe-shining market in Chengdu: he traveled all over the major shopping malls in Chengdu to understand the brands of high-end shoes and the proportion of high-end shoes; How many feet did you walk in the street with your watch in your hand for ten minutes? What percentage of high-end shoes did you wear? Later, Luo wrote a detailed "cooperation plan" in Chinese and English, and attached a feasibility report. He began to negotiate with some big teahouses and hotels.
Luo first found the best teahouse in Chengdu at that time and told them why they wanted to increase the service of shoeshine here, but the answer was-"Sorry, we don't need it!" " Luo said, "I could read a deeper subtext from their contemptuous expressions: you shine shoes, and I am a high-class teahouse." Are you on a starting line? Is it a grade? "
Next, the negotiation results with high-end hotels are exactly the same. The hotel staff pointed to their shoe polisher and said, "We have a shoe polisher, which is convenient and practical. Why do you want to set up a stall? " Even though Luo patiently explained that foreign hotels have similar services, he was ridiculed by others: "Don't our own hotels know this?" You are selling melons and bragging! " ……
In three months, Luo visited almost all the big teahouses and hotels in Chengdu, and none of them wanted to cooperate with him. "I was in a particularly bad mood at the time. I get rejected by others every day. I always have insomnia at night. I never touch alcohol. I have to drink some wine before going to bed every day and paralyze myself with alcohol. "
Without a fixed income, Luo lives in poverty. "At the worst of those three months, one day I had only twenty cents left on me, and I had to go to the vegetable market to buy food, but who had twenty cents to sell to me? I have no choice but to buy the worthless leaves they threw aside. "
Luo will never forget that day. "That night, all my money was almost spent. Wandering in the streets of Chengdu for a long time, I finally feel that I have not taken a wrong step. I am still willing to start my career in this field. I began to reflect on the setbacks and difficulties I encountered, and finally realized that entrepreneurship is not a step by step, but a step by step. " Finally, Luo decided to cross the rubicon and do the lowest-level work-stall as a shoeshine!
Others use three kinds of shoe polishes, and he uses 15.
Luo also pondered the location of the stall. "Taisheng South Road in Chengdu was a communication street at that time, and the flow of people was large. People who came to buy mobile phones would not care about the money for shoeshine." Luo thinks the market here is the most promising. After investigation, he officially set up a stall in this street.
Although it is a street stall, Luo's shoe stall is very different from the traditional shoeshine stall. The first is the dress of the shoe stall. "Compared with other shoe stalls, I am a' five star'. At that time, other shoe stalls generally only prepared black, colorless and brown shoe polish, while I had almost 15 different shoe polishes from different brands and five countries. In terms of tools and hardware, I also prepared beautifully. Even a pair of replacement slippers costs more than 60 yuan. Some customers even want to buy my slippers after polishing their shoes. Besides, Luo bought many plastic bags. If some guests are unwilling to use a pair of slippers with others considering health problems such as athlete's foot, they can put on plastic bags and put on replacement slippers. "
Secondly, Luo also has some "five-star" service consciousness. This is mainly reflected in the stool where he cleans shoes and the stool where the guests sit. Luo is sitting on a "stool" with two bricks wrapped in newspaper, but the guests are sitting on a good chair. "I specially selected the beach chairs that were popular at that time from the furniture store. I think there needs to be a difference and a distance. I can't sit higher than the customer. The customer is God and must sit better than me. "
In order to highlight the uniqueness of his shoe-shining, Luo also specially made a price list, which impressively reads-Shoe-shining 3 yuan, 5 yuan, 10 yuan, 30 yuan to 50 yuan, which is simply sky-high for Chengdu's ubiquitous one-dollar shoe-shining market. Luo believes that since it is a business, we can't follow the old path of others. Only innovation can work.
"eliminate" star chain store
What impressed Luo most was his first customer, a couple. The wife said to her husband, "honey, clean your shoes." It looks good here. " The husband said, "What shoes to wipe? You can't get dirty the next day. " Later, what his wife said, Luo will never forget: "Then we won't wash our faces tonight, and we will get dirty tomorrow."
Husband was told by his wife that he sat down to shine his shoes, but he was shocked by the price tag. Luo thought it was a good opportunity. He can't let his first customer be scared away by the price. He immediately said, "Sir, don't look. Today is my first day to set up a stall. You are my first customer. Let me wipe it for you first. How much do you think it is worth? " Half an hour later, the customer was very satisfied and gave it to Luo 10 yuan, saying, "Keep the change, 10 yuan, it's worth it!"
On the first day, Luo earned more than 80 yuan. In the first month, Luo earned more than 4000 yuan. ...
If you want to shine your shoes, you must be a good person first. Luo has a deep understanding of it. Once someone forgot to give him money after cleaning his shoes, but it was obvious from the customer's expression that he forgot and Luo didn't ask for it. He thinks it will make customers lose face. A few days later, the guest came again. He remembered the last time he didn't give money, and he was very moved. Later, he brought him many repeat customers.
On several occasions, Luo found mobile phones forgotten by guests, all of which cost several thousand yuan. Even a customer took his purse to clean it, and forgot to take away the watch with hundreds of thousands of dollars in the sandwich. Finally, Luo returned them to their original owners.
When polishing shoes, Luo will also encounter counterfeit money given by guests. Unlike ordinary merchants who stick counterfeit money in conspicuous places, Luo sticks counterfeit money on a shoe stall that only he can see to remind himself to beware of counterfeit money. He believes that only in this way will it not cause pressure on customers. If you post it outside, it will make customers feel that you have been guarding him all day and make everyone feel bad.
In this way, from street shoeshine stalls to more than 80 "Luoji" shoeshine franchise stores in China today, it took Luo eight years to interpret the legendary story of a college graduate's grassroots entrepreneurship.
In 2003, 29-year-old Luo opened the first high-grade shoe-cleaning specialty store in Chengdu, and applied to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce for registration of the "Luo Ji" shoe-cleaning trademark. It is understood that this is also the first shoeshine worker in China who applied for a registered trademark from the state, so he has also become one of the top ten outstanding entrepreneurs in brand building in China. On June 65438+1 October1day, 2004, Luo's dream came true. He invested 50,000 yuan to establish the first star-rated college student shoeshine chain store in Sichuan.
Talking about this, someone asked Luo to shine his shoes again. I can't help asking, "You're already a big boss, why do it yourself?" Luo Fu Huan said, "I seem to be used to it. It still itches if you don't shine your shoes. " This is my hobby and my favorite job, so I work hard because I can find pleasure in my work and sublimate myself. Including my store manager, they are all made of 72 shoe brushes. Just 72 brushes, 72 rows, number one. "