Seeing new opportunities in endings
The story starts in the 1960s...
At that time, Taiwan's international trade or industrial manufacturing was still in its infancy. A young man who had returned from studying in Japan wrote to the president of Japan's largest steel factory, hoping to import production raw materials from Japan. Others laughed at him for wishful thinking, but he didn't expect to receive a reply from the president. The letter stated that given the size of their company, it was impossible to sell raw materials to unknown small factories in Taiwan, but the young man's courage and impulsiveness reminded him of himself when he first started his business. Maybe I can't make a deal, but I still want to come to Taiwan to get to know this young man.
Just like the plot of a Japanese morning inspirational drama, the president of Japan Steel came to Taiwan, and the young man excitedly shared his entrepreneurial dream with him. The president was infected by his passion and fighting spirit. From then on, Japan's largest steel company became a young man's dream. The strongest raw material backing for the "International Industrial Company" (hereinafter referred to as International Industrial) established by
Over the past sixty years, the business history of international industry has been like the development history of Taiwan's industry, which has experienced the glory of economic take-off and various changes in the business environment. It also witnesses the struggle history of early Taiwanese immigrants to establish a business and survive in North America, participates in the heyday of Asians becoming the main force in trade shows in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s, has a head-on impact with the financial tsunami that began in 2007, and is involved in the Sino-U.S. crisis that began in 2018. The trade war, and then the COVID-19 virus raged….
Small and medium-sized enterprises crushed by the virus
The virus spreads and mutates rapidly and silently, destroying people's health and destroying many small and medium-sized enterprises. In a survey released in May 2020, 54% small and medium-sized enterprise operators believed that the new crown pneumonia had a strong negative impact. At the beginning of the spread of the epidemic, states in the United States implemented various emergency lockdown plans to cope with the menacing virus. During this period, 41.4% small and medium-sized enterprises suspended operations. 1
According to statistics in January 2022, 23% small and medium-sized enterprises had no choice but to close due to the epidemic and permanently ceased operations. In other words, the virus has destroyed nearly a quarter of small and medium-sized enterprises. 2
The international industry, which has been operating for nearly a century, is also one of the statistics. In fact, the international industry has borne the brunt of the Sino-US trade war that started in 2018. Cheap goods have changed the market competition environment, tariffs and costs have increased, and China's manpower is no longer an advantage. The raging epidemic has only made matters worse. Multiple accumulated problems such as unsalable products and capital turnover have forced the company to close down. This also includes many Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises.
Weiwei (pseudonym) founded a travel company in New York City in the 1980s. She is one of the few travel operators who exclusively handles ticketing for multiple airlines. Entering another century, everyone is buying tickets and booking hotels online, and the services of travel agencies are gradually declining. However, because Weiwei has many years of experience in the industry, she often secures group bookings or handles travel business for various official groups. However, due to the epidemic, all tourism industries were shut down. Weiwei stayed at home to prevent the epidemic and carefully thought about the direction of her business.
Zhiwen (pseudonym), who lives in New Jersey, also started a business in New York in the 1980s. The entire wall of glass cabinets in his home are filled with goods he moved back from the company. Those carefully designed accessories have been displayed in the counters of major high-end department stores in the United States, and he has made great contributions to them one by one. Occasionally, I would open the cabinet and look at these efforts. Each ornament represents his glory in a certain era, reminding him from a one-person company in the early days of entrepreneurship, to the scale in its heyday, to quietly shrinking the business territory, and then closing the company. "The Sino-US trade war that started in 2018 has made it increasingly difficult to do import and export business. I have worked hard for so many years. Fortunately, I closed the company in early 2020, otherwise the spread of COVID-19 would have ended for me."
▲There is a time when you work hard to run a company and go through fire and water; there is a time when you change your business strategy and there is a time when you change your mood. There is a time for everything, and crisis is also a season for experiencing footprints in the sand with God.
There is a time for everything
I say I face it with the attitude of "it's time", but the emotional and financial impact it brings is really painful in my heart, and it's hard to describe in words! Amid waves of closures, how do Christians face the challenges and sense of loss brought about by closing businesses?
first,When operations encounter unpredictable difficulties or encounter sudden panic, you must first stabilizefootstep, don't be afraid,Remind yourself to pray often and rely on God. Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the world has been faced with an unknown ecosystem where "everything is unpredictable". No government's relief policy or bank's lending plan can completely help small and medium-sized enterprises survive long-term losses. Some rely on chariots, some rely on horses, but we trust in the Lord. This may be the season to experience “footprints on the beach” and experience walking with God every day.
Secondly,Transcend the past and move forward. After evaluation by all parties, if it is necessary to close the business or reduce the business, then adjust your mood and don't worry about the past glory days and sigh. Often in TV dramas (especially Japanese dramas), the plot revolves around the ancestors asking future generations to remember the "hundred years of glory" of the store. This kind of persistence may be a positive attitude in terms of quality, but it may be a complacency in the company's business methods.
In the spring of 2020, the epidemic spread, and the tourism industry faced a "return to zero" business situation. Weiwei had to face sudden changes. "Maybe it's time to retire, and everything is unpredictable!" She discussed with her past partners, The company's operations were restructured. The partners changed to a contract system. They gave up their office in a prime location in New York and relied on a computer at home. Adhering to the spirit of serving friends, they ran a part-time one-person company and no longer talked on the phone every second. In busy. "The mood is different. We are no longer in the spirit of starting a business. Now the customers who are inquiring about tickets or planning itineraries are all old friends. After more than two years of epidemic, everyone hopes to open up again, but the attitude towards travel It’s different. Now my customers’ needs are more sophisticated. I need to help them plan, arrange itineraries and transportation, and add multiple services, not just ticket purchases.”
“There is a season for everything, and a season for everything under the heaven.⋯⋯There is a time to plant, and a time to pluck out what is planted;⋯⋯There is a time to search, a time to lose, a time to keep, and a time to abandon. ” (Refer to Ecclesiastes3:1-6)As mentioned in the book, Weiwei and Zhiwen work hard to run the company, sometimes go through fire and water, and sometimes retire; sometimes change business strategies, and sometimes change moods.
No company can stay in its heyday forever, and no one can predict that the virus will affect all mankind or bring down nearly a quarter of small and medium-sized enterprises in the United States. Since this is the case, we can only face the impact of natural disasters and man-made disasters. In the helplessness and sighing, we should focus on God and bear the difficulties one day at a time. Ask God to give us the courage and wisdom to face the loss and maintain the loss at the stop loss level. point.
Perhaps due to the virus attack, many small and medium-sized enterprises have been forced to examine their operating methods with a new perspective. In the process of streamlining or closing down, they can conduct an in-depth review of good and bad strategies, right and wrong investments, and necessary or unnecessary expenses over the years.
Come again,Think about the next direction and establish life goals. When the company's operations end, it does not mean that life ends. It only means that the previous working season has ended and God will lead us into the next season of life. In the busy and busy days of the past, I may not have been able to think carefully about the true purpose of work. This is the time to learn to wait and look to God.
"Weary,HimGive strength; to the powerless,HimAfterburnerquantity. Even young people will grow weary and weary; even the strong will fall completely. But those who hope in the Lord will regain their strength. ” (Refer to Isaiah40:29-31, modern Chinese translation)
There is a time to dive in and a time to start again. At this time, you may be able to establish a different social circle and meet different friends than when you were running a business. You may find the next opportunity in the expanded social circle. Every era has different challenges. When we wait patiently, we will find the next goal/calling in the good opportunity given by God, and soar like an eagle with wings in the next season of life.
▲When operations encounter unpredictable difficulties or encounter sudden panic, you must first stabilize your steps, do not be afraid, and remind yourself to pray often and rely on God.
The bad ones won’t go, the good ones won’t come.
American writer and psychological counselor Henry Cloud mentioned in his best-selling book "The Science of Closing: Unlocking Decision-making Power for the Future" that we will never find the good until we let go of the bad. thing. The lesson during this period is: the bad things will not go away, and the good things will not come. 3
Guan Lun (pseudonym), who immigrated from Taiwan to California, has been running a gift company for more than 20 years. It is a small company with six employees. The products are mainly sold to museums, small shops for young people, or online shopping companies. Although the market is not big, it has done well.
When the epidemic hit, all museums were closed. Fortunately, online shopping was still in trouble. In the face of a sharp drop in income, he sincerely communicated with his employees, expressing that he could not make ends meet and that it was a last resort decision to resign his colleagues who worked together. At the beginning of 2022, after many considerations, he canceled the lease on the warehouse and office and moved everything to a house in the suburbs to reduce expenses. "When I was sorting it out, I realized that I had not managed the inventory well in the past. The warehouse full of goods, good and bad, can be sold, can't be sold, needs to be repaired, and I don't have time to deal with, are all sources of stress. It's really a box After the box was destroyed, I felt much more relaxed.”
It used to take more than an hour to commute to and from get off work. The working hours were long and I had no time to spend with my children. Now I work from home, I don’t have to sit in traffic every day, and I can send my children to school. I have more opportunities to accompany my children as they grow up. This is a good example of gaining more through loss.
As Claude also said in the book, it usually takes the end of a stage to find that the next season is better. Perhaps the international industry has not been able to support a hundred years of glory, but the young people who started their businesses at that time inherited their mother's firm beliefs and passed them on to the second generation of operators. And this belief is the source of his and his family's daily strength.
The glory of this world cannot compare with the eternal glory of God; the end of today does not mean the loss of everything. Because we know that adversity breeds endurance, endurance breeds experience, and experience breeds hope, and this can make people rejoice, hope, and receive glory with God.
Note:
1. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2020/05/new-small-business-pulse-survey-shows-breadth-of-covid-19-impact-on-businesses.html.
2. https://www.zippia.com/advice/small-business-statistics/.
3. “In many contexts, until we let go of what is not good, we will never find something that is good. The lesson: good cannot begin until bad ends.” Henry Cloud, Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward("Findings: Unlocking the Decision-making Power of the Future", translated by He Mingzhu, 2021, Campus Study, Taipei).
Lin Qi, a writer who likes to observe people, things and things, and settled on the east coast of the United States.