The programmer and his woman

In this dim partition room, Xiaoxia and I sat opposite each other, the dim light reflected on our slightly tired faces. Although the room was small, it was full of our vision and expectations for the future. We stared at the narrow space in front of us, thinking about the distant new house and the heavy debts in our hearts.

Suddenly, Xiaoxia broke the silence. She sighed softly, "Wang Dong, you said that if we go to work and come home every day like this, the money we earn will never keep up with the speed of spending. The money for decoration, furniture and appliances, just thinking about it makes me feel stressed."

I sighed helplessly and responded, "Yeah, I wish I could sell everything in my house that can be sold for money." There was a hint of self-mockery in my words, but more of it was helplessness and anxiety.

Xiaoxia seemed to be affected by my emotions. After thinking for a moment, she said, "You saw that you bought so many clothes online before. Some of them you haven't even worn. Now they are taking up space at home. If you had known earlier, you shouldn't have bought so many. You could have saved some money."

Her words gave me a flash of inspiration, and I looked up suddenly: "You're right! We can sell these unused items online! It can free up space and bring in some cash."

Xiaoxia's eyes lit up after hearing this: "Really? How do we do it?"

I smiled confidently and said, "I'll register an online store, and then we'll upload all the unused items at home, and write detailed product descriptions and prices. This way, there should be buyers interested."

In the following time, I was busy registering a store, sorting out idle items at home, collecting pictures, and editing product details. Although the process was tedious and time-consuming, every time I thought about these items turning into cash, my heart was full of motivation.

Finally, with the joint efforts of Xiaoxia and I, all the products were put on the shelves one by one. We waited anxiously for the first buyer to come. Unexpectedly, after only two days, we received the first order!

When I saw the order information pop up on the computer screen, I was so excited that I almost jumped up. I shouted excitedly: "Xiaoxia! Look! Someone really bought our products!"

Xiaoxia came over immediately after hearing that. She looked at the order information on the screen and smiled happily: "Great! Then let's go to the post office to send the express!"

We quickly packed the goods and went to the nearby post office to send the express. On the way home, the sun was shining and the breeze was blowing. I felt particularly happy: "If this continues, we will be able to sell all these unused items soon! And the price was not expensive when I bought them online, so I shouldn't lose money if I sell them."

Xiaoxia also nodded in agreement: "Yes! And I think we can also try to purchase and sell some hot-selling products. In this way, I will go to the post office to ship the goods on weekends during weekdays. What do you think?"

My eyes lit up and I thought this idea was very feasible: "Your idea is good! We can give it a try!"

The next morning, Xiaoxia and I arrived at the Zoo Wholesale Market early in the morning with excitement. There were a lot of people here, and there were all kinds of clothes, and the prices were basically not expensive. We shuttled among the bustling crowd, looking for possible business opportunities.

After walking around, our eyes were attracted by the lively scene in front of a stall. The stall was full of people, and everyone rushed to buy clothes as if they had found some treasure. Xiaoxia pulled the corner of my clothes and asked curiously: "Wang Dong, there are so many people in the stall in front, maybe the styles and prices of his clothes are more suitable?"

I nodded and replied, "Let's go over and take a look, maybe we can find a suitable source of goods." So we squeezed into the crowd and came to this stall.

The stall was filled with all kinds of knitted tops. However, when I looked at them carefully, I found that their styles were nothing special. But seeing so many people buying from this store, I couldn't help but doubt my own judgment. Are these clothes really special?

At this time, the shop owner began to shout loudly: "Come on, everyone can buy something, line up one by one." The boss pointed at the middle-aged man in front of him and asked, "Which one do you want and how many?" The middle-aged man quickly pointed out several styles of clothes and told the boss that he wanted fifty pieces of each style.

Xiaoxia and I looked at each other, somewhat surprised at the purchasing power of this middle-aged man. However, when we saw the ordinary knitted tops in simple packaging on the stall, we couldn't help but feel a little doubtful. Are these clothes really worth buying?

However, seeing people around us buying them, we decided to give it a try. So we joined the queue. While waiting, I carefully observed the clothes, trying to figure out why they were so popular.

While I was thinking, it was our turn. The boss asked, "Which one do you want, young man?" I pointed at three styles that I liked. Then the boss looked at me and asked, "How many of each of these three styles do you want?"

I looked at Xiaoxia with a questioning look. When the boss saw that I was hesitant, he became a little impatient and urged me, "Hurry up and make a decision. There are many people waiting behind you."

Xiaoxia whispered to me, "Order less. We don't know if it will sell well." I nodded in agreement and said to the boss, "We want five of each of these three styles."

The boss packed our clothes with a look of disdain, then quickly piled them together and threw them on the table beside us, motioning us to go to the cashier to check out. His movements were quick and mechanical, and he was obviously used to this busy and repetitive work.

I felt a little unhappy and felt neglected, but what surprised me more was the price. I thought these ordinary knitted tops would be cheaper, after all, they had no brand labels and the packaging was quite simple. However, when I heard the boss say "450 yuan", I was stunned.

I quickly calculated in my mind: three styles, five pieces of each style, a total of fifteen pieces of clothing. This means that the price of each piece of clothing is as high as thirty yuan! This is undoubtedly a huge surprise to me. Just now, due to the atmosphere of rushing to buy and the busyness of the boss, we did not have time to ask the price. Now thinking back, I really regret not asking in advance.

I frowned, looking at the clothes in my hands, feeling a little unwilling. These clothes are ordinary in style, and the quality is nothing special, but the price is so high. I can't help but start to doubt my judgment and decision-making ability. Am I really influenced by this rush to buy atmosphere and make a wrong decision?

However, at this moment, the boss urged again: "Hurry up and pay the bill, there are many people waiting behind." There was obvious impatience in her tone, as if she was blaming us for wasting her time.

I sighed helplessly, thinking that since I had already decided to buy it, I should not worry about the price. So I picked up the clothes and walked to the cashier to check out. Although I felt a little dissatisfied and doubtful, I also understood that this was the result of my own choice. I just hope that these clothes can be sold smoothly and our small shop can make some profit.

I left the stall with the clothes. Although I felt a little uneasy, I was also excited and looking forward to it when I thought that this might be the first step in our business.

When we were leaving the wholesale market, we saw a stall selling denim skirts at the entrance of the mall. We both thought the styles were pretty good. So we decided to buy one to try it out. If it doesn't sell, we'll give it to Xiaoxia to wear for herself. With this in mind, we left the Zoo Wholesale Market with a glimmer of hope and expectation.

After returning home, I couldn't wait to put the new products on the online store. However, faced with a pile of clothes without pictures, I was instantly in trouble. The previous products all had ready-made online pictures that could be used directly, but this batch of goods had no pictures to refer to. We looked at each other, at a loss.

"Why don't we take the pictures ourselves?" Xiaoxia suddenly suggested, with a determination gleaming in her eyes.

I pondered for a moment and thought that this was a feasible solution. So we found a camera and started to try to take pictures of the products ourselves. Since there were no professional models and photographers, we could only make do with taking pictures with these two pieces of clothing. However, when I carefully examined these pictures I took, I found that they looked extremely ordinary and could not attract customers' attention at all.

We looked at each other, knowing that the photos were not very good. Xiaoxia frowned, thought for a while and said, "I think it might be that we are taking the wrong photos. We are not professional photographers, and I don't know how to pose like professional models. How about we try a flat lay?"

So we took another set of flat pictures, laying the clothes neatly on the ground, trying to show their details and texture. However, when we uploaded these photos to the online store, no one was interested.

This made us feel frustrated and confused. I began to think whether these clothes were unpopular or whether there was something wrong with our business model. Xiaoxia seemed to have thought of this problem as well. She suggested again: "Wang Dong, I think the top should be paired with some accessories such as necklaces to look good. Let's buy a necklace online and try it with the clothes."

I thought this advice made sense, so we decided to buy a few fashionable necklaces online again. This shopping experience was unexpectedly fun. We found that the owner of the necklace shop seemed to live nearby and she chose to take the bus to deliver the goods to us in person after get off work in the evening.

During the relaxed conversation with the store owner, we learned that she was also a newly-started store owner with similar experiences as us, working hard during the day and busy with packing and shipping on weekends. This unexpected discovery surprised us and made us more determined to move forward. Her efforts and persistence undoubtedly injected new motivation into us.

After receiving the necklace, we immediately started trying to take new pictures with it. However, despite the time and effort we put into taking these pictures, they still failed to attract customers' attention. Instead, the denim skirt was quickly sold, and many people came to inquire about purchasing it later.

This experience made us realize that our aesthetics are actually the same as those of most customers. We had previously mistakenly thought that this sweater had a market, but in fact it was so common that we have not sold even one. As for why people lined up to buy it before, we have no idea.

So, we decided to shift our focus to the popular denim skirt. We went to the denim skirt store again and carefully selected several new styles of skirts in popular colors. We hoped that this time, we could attract more customers and increase store traffic and sales.

When we came to the store again, the owner seemed to recognize us. He greeted us warmly: "Hey, did you come here a few days ago and buy this skirt?"

The corners of my mouth slightly raised, revealing a faint smile, and I responded softly: "Yes, we put these clothes on sale online, and we came here specially to purchase them today."

Although this Zoo Clothing Wholesale Market in City A is called a clothing wholesale market, most people come here not to buy clothes in bulk, but to buy the clothes they need for themselves. There are very few people who really come here to wholesale clothes, but for this smart boss, she knows it like a mirror. She knows the reason very well, so for merchants like us who really come here to purchase goods, she naturally welcomes and values ​​them.

After listening to me, the boss nodded slightly to show his agreement, and then slowly said: "So that's how it is. Since the situation is special, I will give you some discounts this time. I hope you will be satisfied. If you think it's good, then next time you come to buy from me, you can buy it at this discounted price." His tone was very gentle, making people feel very kind.

We were very happy to accept the boss's offer and selected a few more skirts of other styles to put on the shelves. This time we paid more attention to the selection and matching of goods, hoping to increase the sales and ranking of the store.

However, the dismal situation of only one order being completed every few days made us feel anxious and troubled. It was then that I suddenly realized that it was not easy to manage a store on the Internet platform. After learning from the pain, I made up my mind to study the way of running an online store and learned a wide range of related knowledge and skills through various channels: from deeply exploring the secrets of search rankings to carefully understanding the operation strategy of the store; from mastering the tricks of increasing traffic to being familiar with the essence of customer service... striving to create a sky of my own in this new field.

But this time, what Manager Lin said before was verified: more haste, less speed. In order to quickly increase the sales and ranking of the products, I decided to take a risk and put some low-priced products on the shelves and personally place orders to increase their sales. However, the good times did not last long. It didn’t take long for this fraudulent behavior to be discovered by the platform, and my store was temporarily banned.

This sudden change hit us like a heavy hammer, forcing the online store that we had been carefully managing and operating to come to a standstill.

However, things are unpredictable, and no one could have foreseen that this seemingly insignificant experience would become a key opportunity for us to regroup and start our own business many years later. It was like a ray of light that broke through the darkness, illuminating our way forward; it was also like a seed buried deep underground that, after years of precipitation and tempering, finally broke through the ground and grew vigorously.