Exclusive interview with Lao Gao of Crown Club: Only by cutting off the retreat can you succeed

Lao Gao: Founder of Lao Gao Crown Club, Golden Crown Club, Shanghai Xuanming Network; China SNS marketing expert; e-commerce angel investor.

The editor was fortunate to meet Lao Gao and conducted an in-depth interview with Lao Gao!

The full text is as follows:

Today we will not talk about e-commerce, professional knowledge and marketing methods and other serious topics, but will mainly talk about your and your club's stories.

Q: Does the name Lao Gao have any other special meaning besides the name "Lao Gao" because Wangwang ID is a "noble life element"?

A: That's because early e-commerce was mainly Taobao e-commerce. At that time, the communication tool used by Taobao was Wangwang. The Wangwang I used was nicknamed "Nao Shang Life Elements", and the first word was Gao. At that time, many young fans were called Cheng Lao Gao. This name originated from the time when I happened to see an advertisement for water view room liquor, called "China's Noble Life Elements". At that time, I wanted to register for "Fashion Life Elements", but I had already registered by others, so I registered the slogan for this TV advertisement, which is also very related, and later I was called by fans until now.

Q: I know that your hometown is from Shaanxi, and you have the ruggedness and generousness that is unique to Northwest people. What impact does your hometown have on your personality, in your e-commerce circle and career? Talk about your childhood! Is there anything interesting?

A: I think it has a decisive impact! Because when I was in this circle later, many people thought I was from Shanghai, but I kept explaining to them that I was not from Shanghai and my ancestral home was from Shaanxi. Why? Because in an e-commerce circle, the most important thing is to develop the concept of "sociality". Socializing cannot be too profitable. The purpose is to establish a long-term friendship between brothers and take feelings as the core as the bond. As a Northwest, I am quite loyal and loyal! His personality is more direct, bold, simple and efficient; so, when he is in a circle, it is easy to get along with the members and me, and my personality has also led these e-commerce friends to change from simply using interest relationships to gradually change. Everyone can slowly pay attention to brotherly feelings, so my personality played a very good role in creating this circle at the beginning.

Let’s talk about interesting things! There are many interesting things! When I was in elementary school, my academic performance was not particularly good, but I was very glad that I didn’t put my extra energy into studying at that time, which brought me great benefits. Why do I say that? During elementary school, I spent most of my time playing and making friends with many friends, so I had a lot of friends when I was in elementary school, which can be regarded as a call for the wind and rain! But my grades were not particularly good. We had local gangs in the school at that time, and my status was quite high, so these childhood experiences had a very profound personality impact on me now running a club. Later, when I was in junior high school, I suddenly worked hard because my father said to me at that time, "If you don't study hard, then my father will send you to the construction site and work on the construction site." This passage made me feel strongly afraid at that time, so in the first year of junior high school, I got from the countdown to the top three in the whole grade. The reason for my success is also because I use my social personality and instinct. When I decided to study hard, I first communicated with the best students in the school, stayed at their home every day to ask them for various problems, from the most basic problems to various complex problems... Because the relationship was very good, these students were willing to help me and teach me, and then I reached the top three in the whole grade in a very fast time. I still remember that I received the full-grade award at that time. I am particularly grateful for my experience in interpersonal relationships since I was a child and my great strength in socializing.

Q: After reading many stories about you, there is a three-year agreement that I am unforgettable to me. At the age of 30, you finally fulfilled your three-year commitment to your wife: Say your wife gives you 3 years. If you can't make any progress within 3 years, you will never start a business again in your life. How have you overcome (faced) the difficulties in the past three years? How to balance the relationship between career and family? How to deal with it?

A: First of all, I think most people can succeed and become very outstanding! However, there is something in front of them that many of them cannot overcome, and that is - the retreat!

Q: "A retreat?"

A: Yes, it’s the way out. Most people will have a way out, and the reason why most people don’t give their all is because they have a way out. When I first started my business, it was the same. My business was different from others' business, but I would not leave a way out for myself. Many people: There are high-education, good family background, and good conditions. Why do many people fail to start a business? It is because they have a way out. He failed this month, and he could make other choices, he could go to work again, and get a high salary ... So as a child from a mountain village and a young man, I knew very clearly that there was only one difficulty in front of me: it was a way out, that is, I couldn't give myself a particularly many way out! At that time, I thought clearly about a problem. At this age, I had parents, and then from the mainland, I came to Shanghai to start a business, not for the sake of comfort. If I feel comfortable, I would not have to come here, not to be so far away to suffer. (My wife and I came to Shanghai together) At that time, my wife was still working, and I was starting a business alone and tried many ways, but I kept reminding myself that no matter what difficulties I encountered, I would never go to work or I would not find any way out for myself. So, after I made such a determination, I would no longer consider if I failed, I would think of other solutions or other choices, so I would not consider them again. I could only overcome various difficulties and rush forward. So in front of me, there was no road ahead, only the road ahead. So after making such a determination, you would find that when you have such a determination, you would inexplicably have many directions, many choices, and many wisdoms. So I have summarized it to this age. Many wisdom and wisdom are forced out, which is because you have no way out and you can only rush forward, so you keep thinking about how you will rush forward and how to rush forward better without considering what will happen to me if I fail, so this is a very important point.

Q: I believe that all clubs were difficult in the early stages of their establishment, but the club you operated was an accident. In just 10 years , it has developed 700 mid-to-high-end online merchants in just over a year and has become a well-known Taobao high-end online merchant organization in China. What do you think is the reason why your club can develop so rapidly?

A: First of all, we need to analyze that his "momentum" and the "momentum" of the trend are whether he will be a trend in the next few years; and at the moment, it is not known, which is very important. So before I started a club, I opened four Taobao stores myself, and it was actually good, but I would often think about what my advantages lies in the next three or five years. I analyzed at that time that I did not have the advantages of a particularly large supply chain, including my family, nor did I have strong financial advantages; so I happened to encounter such an opportunity later. What opportunity? That is, a large number of e-commerce companies have begun to emerge, and there is a very lack of a "connector" or a position similar to a "matchmaker". Linking these e-commerce companies together, allowing them to form a "joint force", let them cooperate, and let them develop an integrated posture. At that time, this was the most lacking, so I resolutely closed these four Taobao stores in 10 years. Moreover, these four Taobao stores are all profitable, and I didn’t give myself any way out for the second time. After I closed it, I told myself that this matter is definitely a trend and it is worth it to stick to it for three or five years. Since then, my focus has been on helping e-commerce to establish connections and helping them generate greater value through cooperation.

Then why did it achieve 700 or 800 members in one year? First of all, because there is such a trend; secondly, when most people don’t see this trend, I see it and give my all, so that’s why this is so fast. I think the first thing is to have is that you must see a trend clearly and be able to seize such an opportunity to transform it into a business model. This is very important. Because before this, more than 50 Taobao merchant alliances across the country were doing such things to help Taobao sellers integrate, cooperate and link. But they have never made a business model. In my rapid time, I transformed such a trend and opportunity into a business model; so I benefited from this.

Q: You often take some of the brothers from the club to give lectures and study tours. What kind of motivation is that you can always maintain such a passionate and endless mentality?

A: First of all, you have to like this thing. When we do something, we must first love it. Only love can make this thing happen from the heart and truly strive for it. I think love is the most important thing! It’s like when we play an online game, I don’t care whether it’s successful or failed, or it’s killed by others, or it’s taken a detour. The most important thing is that I like this thing very much and like this thing itself, not for its consequences. So, this is a very important reason why I can maintain my passion - that is, I really love this thing! I will work tirelessly for this!

Q: I want to hear the interesting and impressive things you encountered at the Old Gao Crown Club. Just chat!

A: There are many things.

Q: "I will list one that is particularly impressive!"

A: I remember one time, when our Crown Club was about to end, everyone gathered from the venue to the door, and there was a member who went out. In full view of the public, he asked me in public: "Lao Gao, your service is a piece of shit!" Many members around him were watching. As for me, I was very confident. I firmly believed that our service was definitely not to cheat or deceive people, we created value for society; at that time, my first answer was not a complaint, or very emotional. What I replied to him was, "Thank you very much for being able to put forward such good opinions and opinions when I was resentful or held by me!" This was the first reply to him. Why can I be so generous? Because I sincerely thank every user and I am confident in my products. The second one I asked him, "Please tell me where we are doing the service to shit?" I asked him with a very calm attitude, and finally he told me that it was not because of anything else, but because our registration form was not beautiful enough! I thought it was such a big deal. It turned out to be just an registration form, and it did not conform to his aesthetic taste. After our conversation ended, many other members around us were applauding us! Everyone thinks that this interaction makes everyone feel our mind and our self-confidence. This incident is very memorable to me. If it is someone else, when others say this to you, question this, or even insult your product, I think many people's first reaction may be: emotions, right, maybe attack them too. But we don't, and we are very grateful to our members. First of all, ask others with a grateful attitude and modest attitude, so that other members can see and get the recognition of their members. In fact, this also reflects our style of doing things and is serving members sincerely. So that's one of the reasons why we are celebrating our sixth anniversary.

Q: I think you have a good study of Buddhism. What changes does this have to do with your beliefs or mentality? When did you start to believe in Buddhism?

A: Actually, I started in 2013 and have already started to seek or learn Buddhism. Because in 2013, I deeply felt that an entrepreneur, from the beginning of nothing to the later possession of a certain material, gradually became a different pursuit of the future, material, or the meaning of life; because before 2013, I might have been more satisfied with some survival or material foundations, and worked hard for it; but by the end of 2013, when I had some material, I would think about what the meaning of life lies? What is the purpose of the subsequent efforts? I will think about such life problems. When I can’t figure it out myself, I will ask the experts for advice. I happened to have the opportunity, and I would go to some monks to ask for advice with some friends; slowly, Living Buddha Jiacuo, and even Faye Wong and his master, also had the opportunity to ask them face to face. Later, I truly felt the boundlessness of Buddhism, and through Buddhism, I answered my questions and confusions more carefully. It has a huge impact on me now. I was very confused at that time, and even for a long time, I had no motivation to work hard. After that period of time, I studied Buddhism, including going to the temple to study Buddhism, philosophy, and study the mind, which has helped me very much now. It allows me to find the inner motivation and source, and let me know what the meaning of life is. And, why do you have to work hard in life? What is success? What is wonderful? What is happiness? What is happiness? These life problems have been explained in a relatively satisfactory way. So, after 13 years, I will become more passionate, so Buddhism has a great impact on me!

Q: What do you think are the well-known challenges facing Laogao Crown Club at present? Are there any specific plans (directions) for the club's future?

A: Actually, to be honest, since I learned Buddhism and thought more about life, I have different understandings of difficulties and challenges; I think as long as I am valuable to others, as long as I can create value for others in a timely manner and have the ability to create value for others, your business model will not have any problems! So I don’t think that my business, or our model will be confused in the next three, five years or five years. Even if there is, I have seen the essence behind this, that is, we must constantly improve our ability to create value for others, and as long as we do this well, we will not have any survival crisis.

As for the difficulties and confusions in the future, I think if there are any, it may be some changes and unknowns in the overall environment, such as changes in China's economy, changes in the e-commerce industry, changes in the online economy and offline real economy. There are now many new disruptive technological innovations, such as VR! For example, some new concepts include the Internet, but we won’t worry, because we will adapt to it. As for future planning, our company is very clear about future planning and our company has very good advantages. In fact, we were already planning the present in 2010 and became the current business model. Our current situation is actually caused by our plan five years ago. In 2010, I planned to build a well-known domestic club; in 2015, we achieved such a goal in 2015; from 2015, we had already planned the next five years of 2015. Our plan at that time was to transform from a well-known domestic club in the first five years to a well-known domestic e-commerce circle in the first five years. This seems a bit similar, but in fact the difference is very big! It is to jump out of the club's simple dimension and become an ecosystem; in the future, we will expand a lot of commercial liquids through investment, cooperation, or our own business development. From the past, we only work as clubs, only help members to promote their cooperation, and provide them with experience and knowledge, it will become to help members to continuously improve from different perspectives, such as through spiritual aspects, tourism, business aspects, and various aspects; including why we should invest in companies that optimize the express train and invest in micro-business projects, we will consider providing some help to members from different angles, hoping that members can get support in all aspects in the club; even including us to provide legal aid; our future investment will be a key leverage. In addition to investment, we will expand more liquids to help members. For example, in addition to Crown Club, we now have Golden Crown Club, and also have trends in social e-commerce for everyone. SNS exclusive courses help everyone play content marketing, fan economy, Weibo marketing, and WeChat marketing. We can also see these trends in a timely manner and constantly improve our own value; including our recent development of tourism, which is also because we not only help members in business, but also hope that members can do business and be very happy at the same time. Why do we need to do travel? I hope that our members can take time out to release, relax, and experience nature in one month or two months. We hope that they can truly enjoy physically and mentally, not just sit at home every day, face computers and data, it is very boring and boring. I think that once a person’s mental state is very good, his business will actually be better! We want to help members in matter, in spirit, in different dimensions, etc., help them unite, so that's why we do so much liquid!

Q: What did you gain from establishing Laogao Crown Club? Do you have any secrets to success with you?

A: Famous harvest? I actually think the well-known gain is cultivation. It means that a person's growth must be through: traveling thousands of miles and reading thousands of books. The so-called journey of thousands of miles is that many people mistakenly think that they should go out for a walk and travel more. In fact, this journey of thousands of miles does not just mean that you are traveling, but that you should practice more and walk more in social practice. The real meaning of traveling thousands of miles is not to travel, but to let you practice it. So if I start a club and do our business, it is actually traveling thousands of miles. It's in practice. It's just practicing. I think the gains I have made in recent years have been very great, including the improvement of my personal spiritual realm, the pain and hardships I have experienced. At the most painful time, and even when I was facing bankruptcy several times, the pain at that time was actually very painful, but there are also benefits, which are that it will allow you to really understand many things that ordinary people cannot understand; including through building this club, there is also a very great advantage that I can easily reach a lot of experts, including in the club Some members include many bosses of listed companies and enterprises, many bosses with annual sales of billions, hundreds of millions, tens of millions, and even cross-border, foreign trade, factories, all aspects, all industries, all classes, and all levels. So after I have come into contact with more people, I have a lot of my thoughts, so I think the well-known gain is multifaceted, one is spiritual thought, which is the most important gain I think. I think a person's ideological level has improved, and everything else is not a problem.

Q: This year marks the sixth anniversary of the founding of Laogao Crown Club. Please tell me what you want to do with your colleagues! Give it three keywords to club members and everyone (brothers) or e-commerce friends who have been with you for so many years!

A: I think first of all, everyone should be "calm", be calm and not be impetuous. Many times, choice and direction are more important than hard work. I hope everyone has more time to be quiet and quiet, not to be so impetuous, drink tea, travel for a few days a month, or go in seclusion for a few days; as bosses, we should be more pure and calm, and think about the decisions we make and the path we are going, whether we want to go; whether it is correct and whether it meets our future expectations, I think we need more time to think about our direction; it is not like flies, bumping around, I think choice and direction are more important than hard work; this is a truth I have learned over the past decades. I think everyone should not be busy walking every day, but should calm down and think about why they should walk? Why go like this? I think this is more important. This is my blessing to everyone. I hope that everyone will follow our Laogao e-commerce tour group every month to go out and let everyone have more thoughts and think about the path they are taking. This is also the most important reason why we have to go to a tour group. We have seen the needs of everyone in the future and the urgent needs that are about to arise in the future. Therefore, we can get ahead and lay out the way because we can accurately capture this need. The most important thing is our original intention, and we must help our members succeed. This is the true original intention. The purpose of our making these things is not just to make money, but to help everyone improve themselves in their minds, materials, and truly succeed. That's why we did this layout. So one of the suggestions I give you is to stay calm, think more, and then go out for a walk.

I have given you three keywords. The first one is "happiness". I think many people work hard for no reason. Many people are placing orders every day and working hard to do meaningless things every day. I hope, especially e-commerce bosses like me, everything we do is to make us very happy all the time, including every moment, rather than to do something very painfully. So I think everyone must maintain physical and mental happiness and happiness, so that this career can be done better! Everyone must be clear about the meaning of hard work. I think this happiness is an ultimate goal and ultimate goal. I hope everyone will not give their health, family and happiness, and many of their precious things, but just to make money; because everyone should know that the ultimate goal of making money is also to be happy. So why don’t we be happy directly? Don’t you just make every day happy? This is the keyword I want to say to everyone; happiness does not lie on the shore, but on the present; happiness does not lie in the west, but in the present, in this environment!

The second keyword is "independent thinking". Nowadays, information is very developed. Everyone is exposed to various other people's information every day. I hope that in this vast ocean of information, everyone must maintain their ability to think independently and think about the essence of things. Otherwise, you will find that you can't learn the information, read the knowledge, and read the news. You will inevitably be confused, will inevitably be taken away by this information, and will be at a loss. So, I think we must keep thinking independently, thinking about a status quo, thinking about a trend, why does it happen? What is the essence of these phenomena, including live broadcasts, internet celebrities, fan economy, VR, etc. in recent years? Why does this happen? Why does this phenomenon occur? We need to think. If we don’t think, we are just guided by this information from the outside world, and keep looking around, this one and that, I think this is very problematic. This will easily lead to detours and will fall into pits. You must maintain independent thinking, know what you want, what you don’t want, and what you should give up; I think this thing is very important, so you must maintain independent thinking.

The third keyword is what I just said to keep a calm heart, which means to "calm", because once you are in a very impetuous, or very lively, noisy, and various sound environment, it is actually difficult for you to make a judgment. So, I would like to give you a suggestion, come to our tour group more, keep a calm heart, and then learn more like an expert to calm our hearts. Only after you calm down will you calm down; only after you calm down will you have ideas, innovation, independent thinking, and happiness!

Text/Xuanyi