Chapter 1352 Isn't This Extortion?

Li Shi and Che Rong were both very satisfied with the current state of Xingniao Fitness.

In fact, after Dream Chasing Capital invested in Xingniao Fitness, the investors, including Li Shi, had less control over it. As the owner of Xingniao Fitness, Che Rong actually had a lot of autonomy.

However, Che Rong was still used to reporting to Li Shi frequently and listening to his suggestions.

Because Che Rong knew very well that Xingniao Fitness's current success was not only because Li Shi had invested money, but also because Li Shi had pointed him in the right direction!

If he hadn't followed Li Shi's advice and completely transformed Xingniao Fitness's business model with the intelligent fitness drying rack, finding his own niche between Tengda's Moyu Internet Cafe and Tutoring Fitness, and catching the fast train created by Tengda, Xingniao Fitness wouldn't have developed so well even with the investment.

After all, there was a difference between giving a man a fish and teaching him how to fish. Investing money only helped Xingniao Fitness to overcome its immediate difficulties, but true growth and expansion still depended on a profitable business model.

The two of them silently drank tea for a while.

After considering it, Che Rong said, "President Li, I have another question I'd like to ask."

"Xingniao Fitness has already experienced a period of rapid development, and the stores have quickly expanded to other cities in Handong Province."

"Do you think Xingniao Fitness should continue to burn money to expand, or should it stop temporarily and focus on profitability?"

Currently, Xingniao Fitness was not profitable. Although it had made money and other investors were constantly following up, wanting a share of the pie, the money was all used to open new branches during the rapid expansion phase.

Initially, Che Rong could be said to be ambitious. First, he renovated all the stores, then opened more stores in Jingzhou, and even expanded to other cities in Handong Province.

But now, after the scale of the stores had expanded to a certain extent, Che Rong naturally felt a sense of burnout.

He wanted to rest and make money lying down.

After all, from Che Rong's point of view, being able to get so much investment and open branches all over Handong Province was already successful enough for a gym.

Many gym owners only opened a few chain stores in one city and were already making money lying down, let alone Xingniao Fitness in its current situation?

Che Rong could enjoy a comfortable life, and the investors could quickly get a return.

Lying down and living off the old capital seemed a bit unambitious, but it was stable; continuing to expand seemed ambitious, but what if it failed?

Blind expansion could lead to a complete collapse if the capital chain broke. It was impossible to expect a miracle of resurrection to happen twice.

So Che Rong was very conflicted about this. He was hesitant, so he wanted Li Shi to help him make a decision.

Li Shi frowned slightly and put down his teacup.

"Why are you hesitating on this kind of question? Of course, you should continue to expand!"

"This isn't a question of courage, it's purely a question of vision."

"The fact that you're asking this shows that you don't understand the situation at all and are short-sighted!"

Che Rong was a little ashamed. "President Li, I really don't have much experience in starting a business. At most, I have a little experience in running a gym. So please give me some guidance."

Li Shi nodded. He also knew that Che Rong wasn't very good at this, otherwise Xingniao Fitness wouldn't have been on the verge of bankruptcy before.

An ordinary person couldn't suddenly become enlightened and become a business genius like Boss Pei. At this time, Li Shi had to give more guidance.

"The reason you want to stop expanding is ultimately because you're afraid of risk, right?"

"Talking about short-term or long-term interests is all empty talk. If expansion is guaranteed to succeed and make more money in the future, then any fool would choose to continue expanding."

Che Rong nodded. "Yes, that's the logic."

On the surface, he was tired and didn't want to work hard anymore, but in reality, it was because he felt that the cost-effectiveness of continuing to work hard was too low. The risk and effort involved were not worth the potential return.

Li Shi continued, "But as long as you look more at Tengda's business model and Boss Pei's style of doing things, you'll know that the benefits of Xingniao Fitness continuing to expand far outweigh the risks. The chances of failure are actually very low!"

While drinking tea, he began to analyze the actual situation of Tengda's various industries in more detail for Che Rong.

First of all, Dream Chasing Capital's model was to withdraw its investment after the invested company's profits reached a certain level, and to continue investing if it wasn't profitable.

Regardless of what other companies thought, this was encouraging expansion for Xingniao Fitness!

The meaning was that if you maintained your ambition and continued to expand, they would continue to invest; if you felt that you had enough stores and wanted to be a salted fish, then they would say goodbye.

In other words, if you maintained your ambition, then they would always be friends; if you wanted to enjoy yourself, then you could take your previous profits and enjoy yourself, but they would continue to move forward.

Dream Chasing Capital would take the money and continue to invest in the next ambitious company.

Wasn't this attitude clear enough?

Even from the most utilitarian point of view, continuing to expand could continue to get free funding support from Dream Chasing Capital. Wasn't that great?

Giving up expansion was actually equivalent to giving up Dream Chasing Capital's funding support, as well as Tengda's protection and Boss Pei's friendship!

Secondly, the reason for wanting to stop expanding was simply fear of risk.

But for Xingniao Fitness, this risk was actually very low.

Because Xingniao Fitness's business model had already been proven in Jingzhou and even Handong Province, which meant that consumers approved of it.

Moyu Internet Cafe, Moyu Takeaway, Tutoring Gym, and other Tengda industries had all followed the route of first Jingzhou, then Handong Province, and finally expanding to the whole country. This route had been taken countless times and had been successful every time.

Xingniao Fitness could follow this old path steadily!

Moreover, Tengda's stores had already completed the initial site selection, promotion, and market development, saving Xingniao Fitness a lot of trouble. It could directly open new stores around Tengda's industries in new cities, which was very simple.

As long as it closely followed behind Tengda, it wouldn't be afraid of stepping into a pit!

With Boss Pei's layout ability and extremely high success rate in starting businesses, as long as Xingniao Fitness wasn't too stupid, it could win by lying down and shouting "666" behind him.

With that being the case, what reason was there not to continue expanding?

In the business world, it was like sailing against the current; if you didn't advance, you would retreat.

If Xingniao Fitness didn't expand with Tengda, then other companies would naturally see this business opportunity and would try to squeeze Xingniao Fitness out.

Would Boss Pei give too much care to a company without ambition? Would he talk about personal relationships with a boss without ambition?

It was hard to say.

Li Shi took another sip of tea and finally concluded, "So, from any point of view, Xingniao Fitness must closely follow in Tengda's footsteps and continue to expand until it spreads across the country with Moyu Internet Cafe, Moyu Takeaway, and other industries."

Che Rong suddenly understood and nodded. "I see! I understand!"

"President Li, your explanation has enlightened me."

"In other words, not only from an objective point of view, should Xingniao Fitness expand, but even Boss Pei is actually encouraging Xingniao Fitness to continue expanding?"

Li Shi nodded. "Of course! Otherwise, why do you think Boss Pei specifically asked Dream Chasing Capital to invest here? The projects that Boss Pei is optimistic about must have their own unique features!"

"Boss Pei is optimistic about your project, but you're not thinking about making it bigger at all, just thinking about making a little money. Do you think Boss Pei will be happy?"

Che Rong quickly nodded. "I understand, I understand! Then I have nothing to hesitate about. I will definitely work with Boss Pei to strive to open Xingniao Fitness all over the country!"

Seeing Che Rong so sensible, Li Shi couldn't help but nod slightly.

It didn't matter if he didn't understand at first, as long as the reasoning was clear and he could closely surround Tengda, then this entrepreneur could still be saved.

Li Shi was drinking tea when he suddenly thought of another question.

"By the way, I have a project here, do you want to participate in it?"

Che Rong's spirit lifted. "Oh? What project?"

In Jingzhou's investment circle, if Boss Pei was a god high above, then President Li was the person closest to the god.

The projects mentioned by President Li were definitely good projects!

Li Shi said unhurriedly, "The roller coaster project at Thriller Hostel."

Che Rong was stunned for a moment. "Ah?"

"This... I'm afraid I can't participate in that, right? Thriller Hostel is a Tengda industry, and even if others want to intervene, they can't get in at all?"

Li Shi shook his head slightly. "You don't know this, although this project at Thriller Hostel cannot be directly intervened in, it can be indirectly participated in."

"The restaurants, shops, and hotels around Thriller Hostel are all funded by me and other investors, and they are doing very well now."

"Recently, Boss Pei also spent more than 100 million yuan at Thriller Hostel to build an indoor roller coaster."

"Chen Kangtuo, the person in charge of Thriller Hostel, just came to me at noon and said that the roller coaster will be officially open for operation at the end of the month. There is no publicity funding, so he hopes that we investors can help out with the publicity."

Che Rong was a little confused. "Ah? Why does this sound like extortion?"

Li Shi's mouth twitched slightly. "What are you talking about!"

"Thriller Hostel is a project that Tengda Group has invested more than 100 million yuan in. If it really needs publicity funding, can Boss Pei not give it?"

"Chen Kangtuo said there's no publicity funding, do you believe it?"

"Obviously, Boss Pei isn't reluctant to give publicity funding, but is hinting to us that he wants to give us a share of the profits!"

Che Rong blinked, his face full of confusion.

He didn't hear wrong, right?

The person in charge of Thriller Hostel ran over to ask the people in charge to pay for the roller coaster's publicity expenses. Wasn't this just asking for money? How did it become giving a share of the profits?

President Li, are you sure there's nothing wrong with your brain circuits?