Step Out of Your Ivory Tower and Try Your Own Business

Regardless of all these obstacles and challenges, they have been full of enthusiasm, aiming to settle problems creatively through scientific approaches. Funds for a start-up being limited, LIANG Hongjin and his partners chose to open a pork chop bun store since fast-food business possesses a rather speedy cash flow and a mature production line. "If we opened a toggery, the same kind of cloth of various sizes would be needed, hence much more money would be required for the initial stock purchases, also, "Sales could be sluggish sometimes." he said .In order to attain sufficient funding, they adopted a system of shareholding by recruiting students who were interested in investing the Pork Chop Bun store. Besides, they gradually improved their physical distribution management by referring to several other large fast-food enterprises.

Comparatively speaking, college students are more capable of creating a dynamic enterprise culture and rather farsighted when it comes to mapping things out for future development. "Except a few cooks, most of our employees are students. We lay quite a lot of emphasis on creating a warm working atmosphere, holding parties, organizing group outings and so on. The staff told me that they have a strong sense of belonging working here." LIANG Hongjin said proudly. He also shared his future plans with us. "To open a Pork Chop Bun store is just the beginning, we intend to accomplish a lot more later on. We want to support public welfare and animal conservation in creative ways like providing funds for a stray cat care group at GDUFS. The group will vaccinate stray cats in our school periodically. Still more, we want to equip all classrooms with air-conditioning." said LIANG. LIANG and his partners learned that Internet messaging platforms are a promising industry since a lot of enterprises have great request in Internet advertising and most of the Internet messaging platforms are inefficient and lack of standardization. "We need entities like this Pork Chop Bun store to support our thoughts." he added.

Suit Up

DAI Baohua, shop manager of Suit Up told us that, before the success of Suit Up, the founder, XU Weican, a college graduate had already tried three start-ups and failed three times. The failures resulting from the vague positioning of products so, for the fourth try, he spent an entire year to do marketing research and, in the end decided to concentrate on formal suits.This time, he made it!

When talking about college graduates who are ambitious and want to start their own business, DAI pointed out that "Timing is everything". Dreams and enthusiasm are certainly important, but market sensitivity is actually more necessary in starting one's own business. Take Suit up as an example, learning the hard way, they didn't get started until they sharply sensed the demand of formal suits among college students and surprisingly found out no one had ever stepped into the market.

Apart from the accuracy of timing, DAI told us the success of Suit Up largely relies on the effort of whole team. In order to recruit more talented people, Suit Up has launched two non-commercial projects to help young adults build a better self image, one more suited to the world of work. And it insists on recruiting those who have impressive performance as their new team members. Through such a mutually-beneficial way, Suit Up has formed a competitive team which has led it to greater success. 

Suit Up full of customers(source from weibo)

Super Sweet Potatoes

Super Sweet Potatoes, a chain store specializing in sweet potatoes, has achieved incredible success. According to its manager, XING Renkai, who is in charge of the business in the Baiyun District; "Our products are super popular among students in GDUFS and residents nearby. " Currently, there are all-together 4 successful stores in Guangzhou which is rather impressive as a one-year-old start-up by a college graduate from Jinan University. Speaking of the success, XING Shuxian, founder of Super Sweet Potatoes believes that it should be credited to "core competitiveness" which includes the high quality of products, considerate service and an effective supply chain. "All of our products are environmentally friendly and free of additives. In order to offer customers a sense of freshness and increase the rate of repurchases, we are required to launch at least one or two new products each month." Additionally, Super Sweet Potatoes itself is in charge of the whole process from production, transportation to marketing and selling, which indeed guarantees its quality and efficiency.

In the initial stage, aiming to leave a long-lasting impression, Super Sweet Potatoes came up with a strategy called "Strong Marketing" which means "You can dislike it but you absolutely cannot be unaware of it. " It is exactly through "Strong Marketing" that Super Sweet Potatoes has won its first battle. When it comes to future plans, the founder firmly replied that "We are devoted to producing the best sweet potatoes ever."

In today's fiercely competitive job market, it is hard to find a satisfying job. In XING's opinion, first of all we all have to admit that nowadays college graduates are not as well-recognized as it was true in the past. XING suggested that college students should, on one hand, reflect on themselves and be aware of their strengths and weaknesses and, on the other hand, they should lower their expectations towards their first job. From XING's point of view, it is a matter of creating value. For a graduate who earns only 3000 RMB a month and complains every day, shouldn't he even think it over in terms of the value that he creates for the company? Does the value he can create really exceed 3000 Yuan a month?

All in all, it is a very basic principle that the more irreplaceable you are，the more you earn. For those who dream about starting their own business，XING thought that it would be wise to accumulate some experience at work for the first few years.

Bravo to these daredevils! They are the first ones to eat the crab and will not be the last ones to enjoy their outcome.

As a matter of fact, in recent years, starting one's own business has become a trend in China among college students. There are tens of thousands of college students who have set out to explore their own business. And the number is increasing. Why?

There are many reasons. A major one is the tough situation in the world of employment. As the numbers of graduates soar, college students find it a lot harder to find a satisfactory job. So they might as well choose to be their own boss, getting more hands-on experiences before they can really adapt to the job market. Also, they may start their business just because they feel like giving it a try.

No matter what incentives they have, there's one thing they have in common. That is, the journey is never easy. Lots of those we interview failed in their first attempt.

Roughly speaking, there are a couple of factors that have led to the initial failures. First, they may be too ambitious and would love to try many different new things. Yet in a start-up with limited resources, it would be too extravagant and unrealistic to do so. Second, they may ignore the positioning of their products and the demands of customers, and merely depend on their own imagination and limited experience. Third, they may be too optimistic about their first try and are not psychologically prepared. In this case, they may be likely to give up. Last, but not least, they are lacking in experience in management and patience.

Lots of hardships were encountered, some survived. The young minds we interviewed above showed us excellent examples of successfully starting a business, which inspires those who are still entertaining the idea of starting a business but have not yet taken action.

There is no doubt this group of brilliant minds have some strengths that stand out. To begin with, they are passionate and brave enough to give their ideas a try. Second, most of them are fast learners and have the guts to transform their great ideas into a viable business or community organization. Third, unlike ordinary people, college students have learned a great many theories and some updated concepts thus might come up with something unique and innovative. Moreover, the young minds are more likely to be creative and dare to challenge the conservative concepts about industries. Last but not least, most of them are more flexible and more aware of the significance of building a human enterprise culture.

Although the number of undergraduates or graduates starting their business is going up year by year, they are still the tip of an iceberg compared to the large numbers of university students and graduates. According to statistics, Chinese college students with an intention of starting their business, and who have made it, only account for 1.6 percent, while American students number nearly 20 percent.

Many great ideas in China are nipped in the bud partly due to the lack of relevant supporting systems and training colleges that government and corporations are supposed to offer. In America, however, the supporting system is consistent and more sophisticated, and students can receive relevant training and are encouraged to start their business in their school years.

The good news is that, in recent years, the Chinese government has rolled out policies favorable to start-ups, which makes it easier for college graduates to raise funds. There's a long way to go yet in China though, so as create a freer and more stimulating environment for college graduates to be their own boss, the progress is evident and undeniable.

Yes, many ambitious minds failed. But those who take action and persist will never lose ground. To give a piece of advice to those young minds who are at a loss as to whether to try or not, it's better to quote what LIANG said: "I would encourage any student who has a business idea to go out there and give it a shot. Even if you fail, you will learn so much along the way."