Thursday, October 6th, clear.
Tan Jincheng slept until noon before getting up; he had driven two long-distance trips yesterday and was still very tired.
After washing up and having a simple lunch, Tan Jincheng drove to the company.
The company had returned to normal today, with all workshop and management staff in place.
As he entered the office, Zhang Xuhui greeted him.
"I heard you went to Yangcheng to have fun?"
"Yeah, I went to hang out with Pengya."
Zhang Xuhui looked like he hadn't had enough.
Tan Jincheng couldn't help but smile.
Zhang Xupeng had told him about this two days ago; that kid was truly wicked.
"Enough is enough, you're still young, don't get addicted to this, it's not good for you."
Zhang Xuhui was stunned, then realized after a while, blushing,
"Pengya told you about this too?"
"Our relationship isn't what you imagine. We grew up together for 20 years, and except for these past two years due to work, we've been together for almost everything. We should be closer than you and your cousin."
Whether in his previous life or this one, the two were the closest partners, without any defenses between them.
Most things were known to the other.
In this life, Zhang Xupeng basically knew everything about Tan Jincheng, except that Tan Jincheng was a reborn person.
Even the business model of Shenchi, Zhang Xupeng had a general understanding of it.
"Okay, I understand. It's enough to have seen it,"
Zhang Xuhui nodded.
The boss was hinting at him.
Although I am Pengya's cousin, Pengya definitely trusts the boss more than me.
If I don't do my work well, Pengya will also side with the boss.
"Okay, I'm giving you two tasks."
Seeing that Zhang Xuhui understood what he wanted to say, Tan Jincheng stopped dwelling on the matter.
"Boss, please tell me."
"First, collect information on the National Day activities and estimated sales of major brands in the market during this National Day holiday. You can liaise with the marketing department for this."
"Second, help me contact Liu Yifei's agent. You can find Sun Yuming for this; he was the one who scouted the information when Brother Chun signed last time."
Zhang Xuhui raised an eyebrow:
"Boss, are you going to sign Liu Yifei as the new spokesperson?"
"Yes, I have this idea. Liaise with her agent and send an endorsement invitation. The reason is that we have a new product that needs a spokesperson; also, remember to keep this confidential."
"Okay, I'll go arrange it now."
Liu Yifei had just turned 18 this year, and she consistently had no major scandals or negative news.
Even by 2023, her endorsement image remained relatively high-end, even becoming a tourism ambassador for a certain wealthy Middle Eastern country.
If possible, Tan Jincheng did not intend to sign for just two years, but at least five or ten years, and these 10 years would also be her most influential decade.
A reborn person has a great advantage when signing spokespersons: they know which celebrities will become popular, for how long, and which ones will have scandals.
All these things are clear, so they won't step on any landmines.
However, signing for ten years would require a lot of money.
Where would this money come from?
Oh, what a headache.
With her status worth 1.5 million, the endorsement fee for ten years would definitely not be 15 million.
It's like rent, there will be an annual price increase, which is called a premium model.
Taking out the financial report from the locked drawer, which he had received from the finance department earlier, Tan Jincheng began to analyze the company's financial status, to see if he could squeeze out a bit more money from anywhere.
Currently, the available cash flow is over 8 million yuan, and the supplier prepayments received at the beginning of each month are 5.471 million yuan (50% for Yicheng region, 40% for other regions).
After the National Day holiday, available cash will exceed 13 million yuan.
After deducting supplier payments, employee expenses, and other costs, there will still be about 3 million yuan left.
From mid-month onwards, over 7 million yuan in final payments will gradually come in, meaning that by the end of the month, the account could have a maximum of 13 million yuan in cash.
This money definitely cannot be touched.
This is the company's cash flow, the company's lifeline.
There's no need to risk the company's life for a spokesperson.
In fact, at present, because Shenchi's gross profit margin is not very high, monthly sales are only just over 12 million yuan, but various expenses including supply chain and labor, taxes, etc., amount to just over 10 million yuan.
In reality, it only makes about 2 million yuan a month, which is far less profitable than Jinpeng and Jinyi.
"Sigh, we still need to do exports. We need to set up Shenchi's export network as soon as possible."
Shenchi only started making a profit in October.
The 13 million yuan in cash flow cannot be touched, and by the end of the year, Zhang Xupeng and Zhang Mingcan's 8 million yuan in short-term debt and interest must be repaid.
And by the end of the year, last year's fixed costs, plus the cash flow in the profit account, would be no more than 20 million yuan.
20 million yuan to sign Liu Yifei for ten years, I really can't afford it.
Damn, I boasted a bit too much.
Liu Yifei is destined to become a first-tier celebrity in the future.
Signing such a celebrity for two years is worse than not signing at all; otherwise, after the contract ends, if she endorses a competitor's brand, wouldn't that just cause trouble for oneself?
Although it's rare for a celebrity to do something so wicked and tarnish their own reputation, you can't guarantee someone won't offer a higher price.
So, at least sign her for five years first.
After five years, the brand image of Shenchi and Fengchi would be well established, and by then, celebrities would no longer be the selling point of the brand.
What was this little girl doing right now?
She must have come of age this year, right?
Opened Baidu, hey, born on August 25th, 18 years and just over a month old, exactly two years younger than Tan Jincheng.
Tan Jincheng's birth date is the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, but his ID card shows August 22nd, a difference of exactly three days.
Currently, she's filming "Return of the Condor Heroes" in Hengdian, the version starring Huang Xiaoming.
Tan Jincheng hasn't seen this version; Huang Xiaoming's Yang Guo was truly an eyesore, but the Little Dragon Girl's popularity was quite high, dubbed the most ethereal Little Dragon Girl, especially with the later "bun-face" version for comparison, which led to this version becoming popular again for a while.
The money in Shenchi's accounts cannot be used, so other methods must be found.
After thinking for a moment, Tan Jincheng called the finance department:
"Sister Liu, please print out the financial statements for Jinpeng Trading and Jinyi Industry for me."
"Oh, okay, Boss, please wait a moment."
As a major shareholder of Jinpeng Trading, although Tan Jincheng no longer actively participates in the company's operations, there's no problem in requesting to view the company's accounts, but he still needs to inform Zhang Xupeng.
"Hey, Old Zhang, I'm looking at Jinpeng Trading's financial statements,"
Tan Jincheng called Zhang Xupeng.
"You can look, what's there to say? But why do you want to see the accounts?"
"Sigh, I'm short on money, and I'm thinking about Jinpeng Trading again. You'd better be mentally prepared."
"What do you mean? Why are you short on money again? What have you been up to, kid? Haven't you already started making a profit?"
"Didn't Brother Xuhui tell you? We rented another 3,000 square meter factory and plan to expand production, and we also want to sign a new spokesperson."
"Holy cow! Over 3,000 square meters? You're playing big now, kid? Damn it, what's the point of betting anymore, I'll just forget about the 80,000 yuan you owe me."
Zhang Xupeng said in shock.
Tan Jincheng was somewhat surprised by this reaction.
From Tan Jincheng's understanding of Zhang Xupeng, it seemed he truly didn't know.
"No way? You really didn't know? Brother Xuhui didn't tell you? I thought he'd tell you about this when he went to visit there."
"Why would he tell me that? Are you looking down on my cousin too much? Shouldn't an assistant keep their mouth shut? I instructed him about this before he even started work."
"Hahaha, you're different, aren't you? I thought he'd tell you; I just forgot to tell you, okay, my bad, I'll treat you to dinner when I get back."
Not bad, not bad.
From this point of view, Zhang Xuhui is quite good; he can resist the tempting allure of Dongguan and still keep company matters secret from Zhang Xupeng.
It seems I can try to give him more responsibilities later.
According to their relationship, when Zhang Xuhui went to visit, it was impossible for Zhang Xupeng not to ask about Tan Jincheng's affairs, just like when someone close to Zhang Xupeng came to visit Tan Jincheng, Tan Jincheng would definitely inquire about Zhang Xupeng's affairs.
"What did you mean by 'be prepared' just now? Also, did you get Gu Qingqing during the National Day holiday?"
"Am I that kind of person? I'm an honorable gentleman, okay?"
"Bullshit, there's no one worse than you. You say I'm wicked, but you're more wicked, okay? You were the one who took us to Dongguan, you know? Brother Liu's eyes lit up as soon as he heard we were going to Dongguan. You corrupted all of us."
"That's because you guys weren't good people to begin with, it has nothing to do with me. But you harming your own brother, that's just wicked."
"Cousin, cousin!"
A knock on the door sounded.
Tan Jincheng interrupted Zhang Xupeng:
"Alright, I'm not going to argue with you anymore. Just be mentally prepared, I need to look at the reports now."
"Come in."
Liu Meilin pushed the door open and handed two financial statements to Tan Jincheng.
Seeing no other instructions from Tan Jincheng, she exited the office.
First, he looked at Jinyi Industry's finances.
Tan Jincheng hadn't put much effort into this company; apart from getting the supply chain sorted out in the early stages, it was essentially left to its own devices.
Furthermore, since it was established after the Spring Canton Fair, its business was mainly conducted through Alibaba International.
Currently, this company's business capabilities are very ordinary, and the funds on its books are very limited.
Whether it can truly take off depends on this Canton Fair.
Its financial situation won't improve until at least next year.
"It's useless, though it could scrape together two or three million, but it's not necessary, sigh."
He casually put aside Jinyi Industry's financial statements and picked up Jinpeng Trading's.
He was startled by what he saw.
"Holy cow! Old Zhang really has something, he actually got children's clothing off the ground!"
As of the end of September 2005, Jinpeng Trading's two major business segments, women's wear and children's wear, had a combined actual export of 17.5439 million US dollars, which, at the current exchange rate, exceeded 143 million RMB!
Net profit reached 7.3684 million US dollars, with a net profit margin as high as 42%! Converted to RMB, it exceeded 60 million yuan!
"Damn, this guy is the real billionaire."
(End of chapter)