Yiwu's former "Queen of Luggage" is "popular again": life has more than one round
2024-08-14
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Yiwu, August 13 (Xinhua) "After the video went viral online, many netizens encouraged me and even came to my house to eat steamed buns, which touched me." Recently, the story of Shao Baoling, the former "bag queen" of Yiwu, who opened a steamed bun shop after a series of misfortunes, has attracted attention online. Shao Baoling said that she was surprised and happy that her story could inspire more people.
Shao Baoling is 63 years old this year. When I first met her, she was wearing a simple work suit and an apron, busy making buns in the kitchen. It was hard to imagine that she was the female billionaire who once dominated the business world.
Shao Baoling's life has been full of ups and downs. In 1984, riding on the spring breeze of reform and opening up, she quit her "iron rice bowl" and "went into business" with her husband to open the first advertising and decoration company in Yiwu. She worked hard to become a "ten thousand yuan household"; in 2002, she founded Julong Luggage Co., Ltd., with annual sales of several hundred million yuan at its peak.
At the height of her success, fate dealt a heavy blow to Shao Baoling. In 2018, the company closed due to financial difficulties, leaving her with huge debts. In the following years, a series of setbacks in her career and health followed. However, Shao Baoling was not defeated. After getting up from the pain, she, who was already 61 years old at the time, decided to start from scratch and opened a steamed bun shop with the skills she learned from her mother.
In early July, by chance, a local media filmed a video of Shao Baoling, which unexpectedly became popular all of a sudden, with over 100 million views in a short period of time, as well as countless likes and encouragement from netizens. She was positive and optimistic in the video, which resonated with many netizens. "Life has ups and downs, and it's easy to give up, but it's more valuable to stand up," one netizen left a comment.
In Shao Baoling's view, starting a business is a life experience and also a choice. There are too many factors that affect success or failure. Whether she is making luggage or buns, she enjoys it.
Baolingjie's buns are fist-sized and have solid fillings. One is enough to fill a small appetite. In addition to buns, the store also sells porridge, noodles and other snacks. Shao Baoling said that most of the people who come to eat here are people who work nearby. The buns and noodles are filling, affordable and convenient.
Whether it is making "bags" or "sachets", Shao Baoling has her own "business philosophy". When selling bags, she was one of the first bag manufacturers to do e-commerce; when selling steamed buns, she also actively followed the trend of the times and started "live broadcasting" in the steamed bun shop. Now, she spends an hour every day talking and chatting with strangers in the live broadcast room.
Shao Baoling entertains Zhejiang businessmen who come to visit her. Photo by Lan Yini
“You have to love what you do. Running a big business is the same as running a small shop. You have to do it with all your heart.” In the steamed bun shop, Shao Baoling is often busy all day long, doing everything herself, from helping in the kitchen to serving to running the business.
Whether she is at the peak or the trough of her life, Shao Baoling has always been kind to others, infecting those around her with sincerity and vigor. To this day, this kind of exchange of goodwill is still continuing, happening in chat boxes, in steamed bun shops, and in live broadcast rooms.
Recently, many people have come to visit Shao Baoling after hearing about her experience, and many more have sent her greetings online. Shao Baoling often looks through the chat records on her phone, which contain messages of concern from old employees, former partners, relatives and friends. She said that these are the motivation that keeps her going.
"Some of the old employees have been with me for more than 20 years, from when I was making luggage to now when I am making buns, and they have been with me all the way." Talking about the ups and downs in the past, she couldn't help but moisten her eyes again.
"As long as I can be of some use to others, that is my value." She admitted that she used to be "competitive" and unwilling to "show" her difficulties to others, but now she is more willing to infect those around her through her own experiences.
Ye Shu has been doing business in Yiwu for many years. He was deeply inspired after seeing Shao Baoling's video. He unexpectedly placed an order for buns in the store. The next day, he and his friends came to the bun shop to visit her, and Shao Baoling received them warmly.
"Even though she once hit rock bottom, Sister Baoling is still full of positive energy. I feel extremely happy to be able to communicate with such a person." Ye Shu said that as a businessman, he can feel the difficulty of "starting from scratch", so he admires Shao Baoling's courage and spirit to stand up after falling from the peak.
"Don't be afraid of failure, and don't lose the courage to start over again." In Shao Baoling's view, life has more than one round, and as long as you keep fighting, it is not a failure.
In recent years, changes in the external environment have profoundly affected the development of enterprises. Faced with the unprecedented changes in the situation, opportunities and challenges coexist, how should Zhejiang businessmen respond? Dancing every time the wind blows, accumulating strength every time it lands, Shao Baoling gave the answer with her own story, which is just one example in the struggle history of thousands of entrepreneurs.
Zhejiang businessmen, "can sleep on the floor and be bosses". Zong Qinghou founded Wahaha Group from scratch at the age of 42; "Silk Queen" Shen Aiqin often said "there are always more solutions than problems"; Limin Industrial Chairman Chi Youzhang regrouped after falling to the bottom, and he said "as long as there is still breath, we must continue to struggle"... Looking back at the past, it is the entrepreneurs who were born in humble but unwilling to be ordinary who wrote the spirit of Zhejiang businessmen who never give up. I believe that in the future, this spirit will continue to be passed on among entrepreneurs who dare to fight and never give up. (End)
