NOVPUB
Chapter 46: Chapter 46 Small Circle
When Diao Changhe announced another upcoming fishing event, there were few players signing up. Most anglers, even if they planned to participate, would wait to see the quality of the fish stock and whether experts like Zhang Yang would join before paying the fee.
In this business model of the black fishpond, once basic trust disappears, the negative effects on reputation are particularly evident. No matter how much Diao Changhe passionately explains, it’s less convincing than a glance from Zhang Yang and his team.
After several unsuccessful events, Diao Changhe finally gave in and released another batch of good fish.
Eight hundred pounds of fish was stocked, but only eleven people showed up for the main fishing event, and yet the fish were of excellent quality. With fewer paying participants, the total revenue was low, resulting in significant losses.
With many high-quality fish but few fishermen, unsurprisingly, Zhang Yang and his team left again with a full catch—boasting protectors on shore plus a twist!
During several consecutive main fishing events, Zhang Yang’s catch remained extraordinarily stable. Even amidst the red belly fish incident, Zhang Yang managed to catch as much as 95 pounds of fish, which greatly boosted the reputation of Ming Yang Fishing Tackle Shop.
After several rounds of open and clandestine battles with Oil House Fishing Ground’s owner and a month-long record of coming ashore consistently, Zhang Yang’s prestige among familiar angling friends steadily rose.
Every day, anglers from surrounding areas would come to buy specially formulated bait and seek advice on some fishing techniques. 𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒑𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝙤𝒎
The number of quality black pond customers in Zhang Yang’s QQ group gradually accumulated from just over ten to forty or fifty.
The increase in familiar anglers noticeably boosted the shop’s sales.
Apart from the consistently high sales of signature wild fishing rice for making wine and black pond carp formula bait, products like Zhang Yang’s custom-tied hooks and Hong Kong’s high-end bobbers sold well during this period, with positive feedback.
Originally unfamiliar fishing friends became acquainted through several group fishing trips and gradually got used to visiting Zhang Yang’s shop, having tea, and chatting when free.
A small circle of black pond anglers dominated by the fishing tackle shop had spontaneously formed.
At this point, only a little over two months had passed since Zhang Yang opened.
Within this circle, there were well-known figures like veteran diehards Zhao and Wang Jun, who are both clients and friends. Within their capacity, they are always obliging and have a pleasant relationship.
There were also anglers like Liu Shulin and Zhang Tao, who had previously interacted but had less frequent dealings, often visiting to buy stuff, showing keen interest in Zhang Yang’s skills, and wanting to get closer to learn a trick or two.
Additionally, there was a group led by Qian Wenbo and Hou Xiaojun who only came to the shop to regularly buy formula bait—these people had no loyalty. They simply took what they needed and left, only greeting each other in passing at the fishing ground, with no deeper interaction.
To describe such a broad relationship with a fashionable phrase, Zhang Yang, using two months of black pond practical performance, fundamentally "incorporated" quality customers from within a twenty-kilometer radius around the shop.
As a fishing tackle shop owner, once a basic emotional foundation with customers was established, subsequent product sales and promotions became simple and easy.
Some floats, bait, line sets, and even material fishing rods that Zhang Yang used himself became the targets for these anglers to study and emulate, selling over thirty pieces alone of the 3.6-meter material combat rods used along the main fishing boundary.
Time unknowingly reached August, and after two months of operation, during Zhang Yang’s habitual accounting, the total value of working capital and shop inventory in hand exceeded seventy thousand RMB.
That meant that in less than three months, regular business revenue from the shop plus some delivery dividends plus the black pond Boss Pan’s revenue altogether amounted to almost fifty thousand RMB in profit.
With funds becoming ample, Zhang Yang didn’t overly expand; most of the earnings were used to expand the shop’s product line.
Besides that, he spent ten thousand RMB to buy some BTC through legal channels found online, which he had prepared early in the wealth freedom plan.
In August 2012, the price of BTC was just over ten dollars per coin. Although some might find this price rather high, to Zhang Yang, who had foreknowledge, the price of less than seventy RMB per coin seemed practically like a giveaway!
At this point, someone might complain—if one knows it will skyrocket later, why bother with physical business and not just buy virtual coins with all the earnings and wait for them to appreciate? Simple and straightforward!
Here, a little explanation is indeed necessary!
Apart from knowing BTC would surge, Zhang Yang also knew of the term butterfly effect!
A butterfly in the tropical rainforest of the Amazon Basin, South America, might flap its wings a few times, possibly causing a tornado two weeks later in Texas, USA.
After BTC emerged, countless virtual currencies sprang up, and you could create a virtual coin with a few clicks of a mouse!
The total market circulation of BTC at that time was relatively fixed and fragile, and Zhang Yang didn’t dare to bet all his money on it.
What if his intervention caused a butterfly effect leading BTC to crash?
The value of this prophetic information could vanish into thin air!
Therefore, a cautious limited involvement would be prudent—even if a crash really occurred, it wouldn’t affect real life.
In other words, as long as BTC doesn’t crash and develops according to its set trajectory, the nearly 150 virtual coins purchased at the current market will peak at more than eight million USD by 2021, equivalent to nearly fifty million RMB, a truly astonishing fortune!
While Zhang Yang quietly managed his fishing tackle shop and frequently went out fishing, maintaining steady wealth growth, another person became restless.
That was Lang Junfeng, the owner of Junfeng Fishing Tackle Shop located in the high-tech district!
Lang Junfeng was 45 years old this year, having studied Taiwanese fishing for 15 years and being a disciple of Tianyuan. He had been running his fishing tackle shop for ten years.
Earlier, with abundant wild fishing resources and few people involved in the sector, old Lang caught the industry’s dividend wave early, completing his initial wealth accumulation, leveraging his leading fishing techniques and longstanding experience, and living comfortably.
Currently, old Lang’s shop ownership was his, with the shop’s first-floor operating area exceeding eighty square meters, inventory value reaching upwards of several hundred thousand, while holding regional agency rights for major domestic fishing tackle brands like Tianyuan, Hua Clan, and Ming Lun. In the circles of anglers in the high-tech district and even around W City, practically everyone knew him.
However, since entering July and August, old Lang keenly discovered that many quality customers who used to consistently visit his shop had noticeably reduced their visits for tea.
Old Lang was very sensitive to quality customers who were successful and had good purchasing power, as these individuals were the primary consumers of the shop’s top-brand fishing rods, new bobbers, etc.
Now, at least ten quality customers were lost, and upon realizing this issue, old Lang immediately called friends to inquire.
After some probing, Lang Junfeng quickly learned the cause!
It turned out a young man named Zhang Yang opened a fishing tackle shop in town, reportedly selling extremely impressive farm bait that snatched old Lang’s customers away.
