Find the goal of starting a business-focus on what you love most.
When it comes to college students' entrepreneurship, Rubin Li Kan Kan, chairman of Xueda Education, talked about this. What kind of person does a person want to be in this life: ordinary people or energetic people? This is a question that every entrepreneur has to ask himself. If you want to live vigorously and don't want to be an ordinary person, then choose to start a business. If you start a business because you can't find a job, it is obviously not suitable. This is the foundation of starting a business.
Rubin li, who was already working in Tongfang, Tsinghua, always had an idea. He always wanted to do something, and he didn't want to be so mediocre all his life. So I had frequent exchanges and discussions with two other colleagues who had a good relationship at that time. At that time, all three young people were very enterprising. Everyone is burning with the passion of starting a business and has dreams. A few years after graduating from college, they can't just find a stable job to make a living, but do what they love most and do something meaningful to society. Only in this way can they find themselves. The three young people agreed, so they set up the initial entrepreneurial team.
With a team, Rubin Lee knows that it is not enough to start a business with a team, and it is absolutely impossible without a team. In the early days of starting a business, it is forbidden to fight alone. After all, a person's strength is limited. At any time, no matter what you do, it is best to have a team, so that you can gather everyone's wisdom and give full play to the strength of the team. Even if it is two or three people, it is also a small group. Everyone can support, communicate, discuss and collide with each other.
What to do and how to do it are important issues that the whole team needs to consider. At this point, rubin li, the founder of Xueda Education, has a well-thought-out plan. He and two partners shared their experiences in tutoring in college, and put forward a brand-new concept and model of combining traditional tutoring with network by using Internet technology. This model was quickly recognized and responded by the team. Using Internet technology and existing tutor experience is an important foundation for Xueda to start a business.
As a recent graduate from three universities, I have done a lot of tutoring in the past, and I feel that there is a great demand for tutoring in Beijing, but the corresponding institutions do not. In the absence of competitors, the three people think that it is very feasible to do tutoring service on the Internet, and it has far-reaching social significance. It can help children improve their learning situation and improve their academic performance, and at the same time, it can save many families and bring hope to parents. And family education service is something that all three people like to do. In this way, with the passion of starting a business, with a small entrepreneurial team, with a career that is beneficial to children, parents and society, and with the internet technology that all three people are familiar with, Xueda Education was founded in Beijing, and Rubin Lee and his partners embarked on the road of starting a business. In September, 20001,an intermediary tutor information website was established, and a brand-new tutor system network platform was established in Beijing.
Speaking of why the personalized counseling institution was founded in the first place, Rubin Li said shyly that she was admitted to Beijing from the rural area of Linyi, Shandong Province, and many children in rural areas could not go to school. In the process of tutoring, I noticed that although children in Beijing can afford to go to school, education has a great influence on the joys and sorrows of a family. When the children are well developed, the whole family is full of infinite yearning for the future. When children are not well developed, the whole family has a depressing atmosphere. This experience also prompted rubin li to define a train of thought for his own enterprise, that is? Focus on growth every day? . It is also based on this concept that prompted him to make up his mind to focus on this matter and decide to make personalized counseling a major.
? Only those who have ideas and are prepared have a chance to succeed. The difficult thing is whether they can persist in the face of difficulties. Entrepreneur's willpower is a very good explanation. As long as they have good willpower and can concentrate on their work, they have a chance to succeed. ? Rubin li said.
This is very helpful for college students to start their own businesses. If you don't have firm determination at the beginning of your business, you will inevitably start to waver, even doubt yourself, or give up halfway when you encounter difficulties. Therefore, choosing to do what you love most and focusing on what you love most is like a stimulant for college students who are starting their own businesses for the first time. They can stick to their choices when they encounter difficulties and setbacks, and never give up, which brings them the greatest confidence and strength. This is a very important premise.
Explore the business model-understand the industry and become an industry expert.
Together with the team, I chose the direction of entrepreneurship and made clear the goal of entrepreneurship. Next, we should move in the direction of our own choice. On the way forward, how can we achieve good development? This is a question that every entrepreneur should think about, and it is also a question that must be constantly reflected. Rubin li knew that if you want to do a good job in this industry, you must first understand this industry and become an expert in it. There is nothing false about education. If you want to do one-on-one personalized counseling, you must understand customer needs, have professional knowledge and skills, and master the business profit model of the industry.
After resigning from Tsinghua Tongfang, three young people tried to copy Wang Zhidong's Sina and Ding Lei's Netease with their familiar computer languages, and tried many times, but finally found it difficult to break through the former. Finally came up with the most familiar, at least self-sufficient way for the company? Tutor. The difference is that this time, I decided not to do it myself, but to build and promote an online platform to attract college students and their parents to pay for personal needs information. In this way, the initial idea of studying university education is formed by charging a certain fee to both the supply and demand sides.
Xueda education was basically an intermediary at the beginning, only providing a platform for both parties to disclose information. However, after several years of exploration and practice, the popularity of Xueda education and the click-through rate of online platforms are constantly rising, and online and offline activities are also constantly being concerned. The brand has been gradually established among parents of college students and middle school students all over the country.
At the beginning of the business, although the company began to make profits within three months, rubin li was not satisfied, but began to rethink. I hope everyone will mention university and personalized teaching? This concept can be presented in the mind.
By 2004, the registered number of tutors in Xueda University had reached 300,000, and the sales reached several million. However, in order to make Xueda more professional in the field of personalized education, we cancelled the company's tutor agency business. Although we lose millions of dollars every year, we all think it is worth it.
Are we ready? Personalized education research institute? We hired Wang Jintang and other education experts to form an advisory group, and hired Ms. Ma Jin, the former vice president of China-Canada School, and other middle-aged education backbones to join our team. They dedicated their decades of thinking, thinking and thinking about education to Xueda, further enriching Xueda's educational concept and sublimating Xueda's educational ideal. ?
At the same time, the workflow has been improved and standardized, so that Xueda has a clear text format from the central president to the grass-roots managers, to ordinary teachers, from enrollment consultation to analysis and diagnosis reports, to selecting teachers and teaching for students. Slowly, one suitable for rubin li? Personalized consultation? The conceptual business model was gradually formed in the University, which attracted countless students and parents, the turnover increased sharply, and the company began to expand.
From June 5438 to October 2007 10, after more than six years, Xueda education finally ushered in the first financing. CDH Investment Company, a well-known domestic equity investment institution that manages 2 billion dollars, took a fancy to the bright future of Xueda and injected nearly 20 million dollars into it. CDH is the first enterprise invested by Xueda Education in the field of education.
At present, the total number of primary and secondary school students in Xueda education exceeds 200 million. If 30% of each child's monthly consumption is used for education consumption, the market prospect of primary and secondary school training is as high as tens or even hundreds of billions.
So far, is rubin li still improving herself? One-on-one personalized tutoring system? This model has become a model and a mature profit model in the education industry. After seven years of exploration, this business model has been gradually improved and matured by rubin li and his team, and is constantly improving. Of course, it has also become a business operation model imitated by peers.
In order to become a leader in this industry, rubin li and his team are still exploring and reforming?
Preventing financial loopholes-continuous hematopoietic capacity.
As the saying goes: it is easy to start a business, but difficult to keep it. Xueda is no exception. On the issue of funds, rubin li said: When starting a business at Xueda University, we have a firm belief that we must make a profit. So after starting a business for three months, you will have income to ensure your survival. This is a very good start. If you can survive, you will have a chance to develop. ?
At the beginning of the business, Xueda had millions of sales in 2004 alone, so the idea of expanding the scale appeared in rubin li's mind. In 2005, three branches were opened in China at the same time. However, due to the failure of funds, management and talents to keep up in time, the operation encountered great difficulties, and finally we had to give up the field to save the Beijing market. ? At that time, the management structure was not strong enough, and the personnel could not be dispersed to the local area. ? Rubin li said that this is an irrational expansion.
At the beginning, in order to expand the scale rapidly, Xueda Education tried to join the mode. Rubin li found that the quality of education could not be controlled, which brought many disadvantages. Therefore, this painful lesson has brought Rubin Ali a lot of thoughts: if an enterprise does not have a good hematopoietic capacity-a continuous capital chain, even if it expands, it will bring huge losses. In 2004, the capital chain broke, which caused the company to lose millions. That heartache is still memorable!
However, the painful lesson is also a good study, which makes rubin li and his management team start to think that they must find financial support conducive to sustainable development.
In 2007, CDH venture capital took a fancy to Xueda. They very much agree with Xueda's business model, and think that this business model has needs that the traditional education system cannot meet, including students and teachers. At the same time, it is also recognized that Xueda is a very young, innovative and enterprising team. In addition, investment is very similar to marriage in a sense, which requires mutual recognition of value, and it takes a long time to recognize each other's value and finally come together.
In fact, the most fundamental thing is that CDH investment has taken a fancy to the huge market potential of Xueda education. There is no doubt that there are nearly 200 million primary and secondary school students in China, whether it is the simple market size or the recent market demand, including the market size of some East Asian countries, such as Japan and South Korea. In fact, this market has great development potential, and a large number of students are actually receiving tutoring. For example, South Korean primary school students have full-time tutors, and even the United States has professional companies. The business model is very similar to learning. From this point of view, no matter from the pure market scale or market point of view, it has certain investment value.
After experiencing the painful lesson of expansion failure, after financing in 2007, Rubin Lee said that he would continue to adhere to the direct mode, neither considering joining nor considering acquisition. ? Personalized education belongs to a brand-new business model. Now similar institutions in the society are imitating us, and there is basically no acquisition value. ? Rubin li said.
Strong willpower-bear setbacks and failures in starting a business.
As a college student who has just left school, rubin li is not very much in favor of starting a business. He believes that a college student who has just left school knows little about society. If he starts his business rashly, he will suffer many setbacks and failures, which will not be good for their physical and mental health. The best time to start a business is to work for 2-4 years, engage in the industry he wants to start a business in the future, and learn and understand what he will do in the future from scratch. Familiar with the operation of the enterprise, master the management process and strategy, make certain preparations and start your own business, which is relatively easy to succeed and not easy to fail.
If you decide to start your own business, you must be mentally prepared: you can withstand setbacks and blows and you won't give up halfway. In fact, many people started their business with the same enthusiasm at first, but later they will retreat and give up once they encounter setbacks, which is not conducive to their physical and mental health. So once they decide to do it themselves, they must stick to it and bear it no matter how many obstacles and setbacks they encounter. Of course, this requires a strong support system, such as family and friends.
The failure of university enrollment expansion in 2005 dealt a great blow to rubin li, who had just tasted the success of starting a business. It was like a blow, which broke his dream of rapid expansion. Without strong willpower, most people will give up expansion. However, rubin li was not discouraged. After he calmed down, he looked back carefully. What's wrong? Why did you lose? He made a good reflection and summary of this failure:
First of all, I don't know much about the situation in various places, so it is not feasible to apply the same operation mode in Beijing; Secondly, the framework of this model is not very mature, and there are some emotional elements in it, which are not concrete and scientific enough to operate independently as an effective mechanism; Thirdly, funds are limited, and there is not so much manpower and material resources to support the operation of so many institutions at the same time; Coupled with the immature management, managing a team of dozens of people in the past is completely different from managing a decentralized team of hundreds of people now. These factors directly led to the difficult situation of university education.
At this time, there are two ways in front of rubin li: one is to continue to consume and bet on the future of Xueda Education, but losing the bet means that the brand of Xueda Education has completely fallen; The second is to go back. Learn from a painful experience, learn a lesson, consolidate the Beijing market, and wait for the opportunity to make a comeback. Where are you going? Rubin li faces a difficult choice.
It is undoubtedly cruel for rubin li to cut off the tentacles that Xueda Education has just extended. However, in the face of the break of the capital chain, if no action is taken, the brand of Xueda Education may fall at any time. But is it really that easy to return? First of all, it proves the complete failure of the educational expansion of Xueda University. Losing the external market is easier said than done. But will it have a negative impact on the future development of Xueda education? Faced with these, rubin li, who has always been decisive, is in a dilemma. In this difficult period, family and friends gave rubin li great support. Rubin li said that people believe that as long as he makes a decision that is in line with the development of the company, he will succeed. My parents always believed that I would do well. ? The power of support is strong and warm.
? Survival first, then development. ? Go back to stabilize the Beijing market. Rubin li finally made such a choice. But for the sake of the integrity of the enterprise, they must finish the work at hand before leaving. First of all, they will no longer explore new customer resources everywhere. At the same time, the customer service at hand will naturally terminate, and the tuition fee will be refunded directly if the number of people is too small. After these follow-up work, the university education facing the crisis temporarily returned to the place where it was born? Beijing. This return is not a simple strategic retreat, but a repositioning of the development direction of Xueda education at a higher level. Rubin li realized that both the quality of service and the strength of teaching research and development need to be improved and strengthened.
After such changes, it is even more difficult to learn university education when the capital chain is not particularly abundant. For the enterprise itself, it has reached a critical juncture. If you are not careful? The boat capsized? Result. To be or not to be? The light that had already appeared suddenly disappeared.
Success is longer than failure, because success takes one second longer than failure. Under such a heavy blow, rubin li did not give up or retreat, but chose to persist. With the determination and actions of rubin li and his university education, the Beijing market was finally consolidated. After such a false alarm, Xueda education has gradually embarked on the track of normal operation. In 2005, the turnover was nearly100000, about twice that before the transition.
Rubin Lee was defeated in this battle, a little impetuous and blind. But at the same time, he won, winning in decisiveness and persistence, winning in tenacious willpower.
It is hard for us to imagine that a person without self-confidence can succeed and an employee without self-confidence can be reused by the company. If you want to succeed in your career, be reused by the company, and display your ambitions in the workplace, you don't have to have high academic qualifications and high IQ, but you must have enough self-confidence. Self-confidence can help the weak win success. Supported by such self-confidence, rubin li persisted with tenacious willpower and ushered in the glory and development of Xueda 20 10. At present, Xueda Education has 32 branches and 190 learning centers all over the country, and it is in full swing to prepare for listing.
In a word, the success of rubin li and his university education is not accidental. From the beginning, he was determined to win. He has been working hard and insisting. He won the trust of students and parents with his concentration, professionalism and persistence, won the sustained development, won the recognition of the whole industry and ushered in a better future. Start a business with a win-win mentality. As long as you persist, you will succeed.
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