This article is from WeChat publicNumber:Internet Remarks Group(ID: TMTphantom), the original title: “The history of a foreign trade boy: a microcosm of China’s export trade development in the past two decades”, the first picture: the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street”


Note to the leader of the thief group: Oliver Win, the author of this article, is a friend of mine for many years. He is now the owner of a clothing export trading company in the coastal area of ​​Zhejiang, and this article about Vietnam Author of articles on economic development. He has been deeply involved in clothing foreign trade for many years, and he has worked in North America, Latin America, Russia, Southeast Asia and other markets. It can be said to be a “living dictionary” for foreign trade. Such friends who are both rich and handsome are willing to write articles to share their experiences. Of course, this strange thief group will reprint the full text.

Although our team is studying the Internet, the Internet is based on the real economy. In particular, the e-commerce industry relies on traditional manufacturing, which is the same system as export trade. In recent years, the surging cross-border e-commerce and C2M e-commerce have also made us turn our attention to manufacturing and foreign trade, the two “old enough to no longer be old” industries. This article is the appearance of the foreign trade boss, which is completely different from the conclusion of the analyst sitting in the office. I believe everyone can gain something!

1. Xiaobai does not lose professional eighth level

Twenty years ago, when I just graduated from university, I was a foreign trader. I entered the workplace and knew almost nothing about foreign trade.

I was able to enter a small and well-known local foreign trade company in Zhejiang, mainly because my English is good. Although the difference between my major and foreign trade is tens of thousands of miles, but I have not relaxed the study of English in the four years of university, and foreign trade, English is a necessary skill and a threshold.

I remember when I was interviewingFive senior executives, including the chairman, sat across from me. Except for the chairman who was amiable, everyone looked grim and expressionless. After briefly introducing myself, one of the executives wearing glasses suddenly asked me some questions in English. Hey, I came here prepared. Four years of crazy English practice in college made me open my mouth. Although I was a little nervous chatting with the leader, I played steadily.

I told the story of a person from my hometown in the mountainous area of ​​Hubei, who took a suitcase and a quilt and came out to find a job, and gave up going back to my hometown to be a civil servant. Of course, I did not forget to say that foreign trade is my longing career, and I am very optimistic about the prospects of this industry-this kind of words similar to the old fritters in the workplace. A few days later, I was notified of admission.

After many years, I established my own company and experienced many interviews, but I became an interviewer. When facing a lot of job seekers, I will also use English to ask the questions I was asked, such as a brief introduction to yourself, what are your hobbies? I found that most people’s answers disappointed me. Their answers were very standard and uniform. They basically recite their resumes in English, and that resume was placed in front of me. Few people have their own independent opinions or have their own personalized answers. The subsequent entry proved my idea. Those interviewers with their own ideas and personality usually have better performance in the future work.

But don’t be too obsessed with your English ability. In the foreign trade company where I joined, I have all kinds of colleagues. The English of the directors of several departments can also be described as Beginner. I remember when I first joined the company, many of their emails came from their dictation and my writing. When their customers read their emails, they would never think that the young and beautiful Shirley, Judy and others wrote to them the emails from a man, right?

But this does not affect the success of colleagues in doing business. A few years later, they all rose to a higher position, buying a house and a car, it was a joy. Their experience is similar to mine, and I will talk about it later.

I have also had experience working with colleagues in the eighth level of English majors. Both are lads. Looking at their resumes, they can generally fool you for the first time.

“Look, that young guy is new here, with an English major of Grade 8!”

“Wow~”

The point I want to say is then. In fact, their performance at work was mediocre. Especially the handsome guy who came to my team later came from a well-known factory. Coupled with the aura of the eighth level of English major, I was excited and full of expectations. But in actual work performance, I ranked him second to last among the colleagues who left me. onceHe messed up an order for a French jacket, and we lost tens of thousands of air freight. On another occasion, when we spoke to a Turkish beauty in a five-star hotel by the West Lake in Hangzhou, his spoken language was not fluent, and sometimes he stumbled, so I quickly added more information. This is a bit unbearable for me, a person who has a perfect imagination for the eighth major of English.

For foreign trade, in addition to writing and speaking in English, being able to say that is more important to the development of foreign trade business, and the key to being able to say is to say boldly, “Thick skin, eat enough; thin skin, Can’t eat”. The second is to have content and express your thoughts clearly and logically. Both of these can be exercised at work. And speaking fluent English, in my opinion, is definitely an opportunity to stand out.

My colleague who needed my help in writing emails practiced well afterwards. Although he couldn’t talk to guests about Shakespeare and Michelangelo, he was in a high-level way to let customers look at you with admiration, but he didn’t. Affecting business communication, business performance will naturally flourish.

The last two colleagues in the eighth level of professionalism have left my work circle and have not seen each other since then. I have never heard of their stories in the foreign trade industry.

Foreign language is indeed one of the most important tools for foreign trade, but it does not mean that you can do good foreign trade by speaking and writing well. The nature of foreign trade is also a kind of business. Your customers are only changed from Chinese to foreigners. The country has tax rebate and foreign exchange supervision, and is covered by international trade rules. Regardless of the threshold of foreign languages, the sales ability of sales staff and the ability to develop the market are more important.

2. A rider’s struggle

When I first entered the company, Xiaobai was an object that everyone could direct. I was very happy with high-end jobs like helping with emails, but there were also many odd jobs that I would not wait to see.

At this time, it is 783 days before the company bought me a Ford Mondeo in the second year since I earned more than one million yuan for the company. The amount of more than one million may not be large that year, but the housing price more than a decade ago was 1/8 of the current price.

But after a year at work, I can’t wait to resign.

On the first day at work, I ran into a little trouble. The office is full of colleagues, and I am the last newcomer to come. All the seats are full, there is no place for me. The leader asked me to move my desk in the back warehouse. I am not born with supernatural power, and my mother has not let me do manual labor since I was young. I was very impressed. When that set of tables and chairs was moved from the warehouse to the office, I almost ate hard.