[2008] Straight+Endeavor+Opportunity=?

It has been almost 9 months since i came this company from last year. How time flies! I think there are many changes in my mind, comparing with ever.   
;]J2~cjn(qt
$l;d'M/g(KZ+G9o Still remember the times when i was looking for jobs in Ningbo City. Every week, i went to the human resource center at least 3 times, also had some interviews. The days at the beginning of July were very very hot, many times, one interview would take me one day, on the way to company or back from company, i was really tired, cheesed. Hot-headed, together with very hot weather, i cannot let me calm down. Maybe i am not in the mood of  hunting for jobs. One chance, i came to this place, one small city belongs to Ninngbo. My first impression of this company is that it is too small, one three floors office building, and one two floors production building. In fact, i just know very very little about it, although my boss said many many good aspects  of his company, now i cannot remember exactly what he said. The reasons why i decided to stay in this company is that i was really tired of looking for job, and the salary is ok, although not much. 9t:B3t]9@2E
8C$mtpp.\:xc-PZ
At the end of July, 2007, i started my work. I did not know what i should do, sometimes i studied product catalogue, or went to warehouse to study the product, or just sit at my desk. That times, i had no idea how to find customers, since we did not have any foreign trade platform. I felt i had nothing to do, that just was the thing bothering me. What can i do? What should i do? I always asked myself. Unhappy, disappointed idea was full of my mind. One day, i found some B2B websites which can be registered freely. Then i registered some and put on our product information to promote, with the hope of receiving some inquiries. Every morning, i refreshed our information on these websites, also forgot sometimes. After some days, i found it did not work, just a very few inquiries, which were not very good. After then, i tried to find the business cards which our company got from Canton Fair, i sent mails to most of them, the result was also bad, only 2-3 customers replied, having no intention to buy our production. During the July and August, it was too hot to work well, since these was not A/C in our office. The sunlight was shining directly into the office in day, too hot, even terribly. I am joky, so i told many friends that our office was so hot that it really likes an oven or a "kang" room of northeast. bS$p6ITO H+H

i0e8u!aR9h I was excited that i had the chance to go to Canton Fair during Oct. But i was not very confident to speak English, so i took some papers which typed with some English sentences from FOB to practice. During the Fair, i felt it was not very difficult as i ever imagined. It is easier to talk with foreign customers if you can relax yourself. I thought i gained a lot from this fair, i knew i can speak, and not very bad; i knew i still had some places to be corrected and supplemented, such as the simple way to express, and the product information. To my surprised, during that time, i received my first order from a customer which i had contacted about three months. One day in company, i received a call from a foreign trade company, he said his customer saw our products in a foreign exhibition, and he decided to buy large quantity. You know, i felt i was in dream at the time. But it is real, from his inquiry and words. Then i quoted specific prices for him, and then he bargained, after a few calls and faxes, we made a deal. We produced this order after receiving his deposit, everything was going on as what we want. Thanks God, blessing me all the time, especially when i was during rough time.  
`|u:T+kO9ME!B jUEPL)KP
During Dec.2007, we also participated two exhibitions, in Xiamen and Shanghai. Xiamen is a very very beautiful city, an island circled by sea, circled road alongside the sea, beautiful trees, very long beach, immense and blue seawater, and comfortable sea breeze. Shanghai is also very fine, but we had no time to play. There also were many foreign customers during the fair. We met a customer who came from Ecuador, having office in USA. He visited our factory a few days after the fair. On the way to pick him up and send him back to his hotel, we talked a lot, many many topics, surely very happy. That time, i thought he would place an order to us when he went back. However, we did not get any further information from him. During this month, a few French and an Indian also visited our factory, the result is still nothing. Very disappointing! zC;F+x u3eju
n
b#@ P/[~]
After the long Spring Festival holiday, my work went on very well, in my opinion. At the end of Feb., i received a call from a customer who is from Turkmenistan. She asked me to quote her the best price for one model of our product. Her price was very low, however we accepted it after getting my boss' approval. She said they were in A city of China  now, they wanted to visit our factory. I advised them to come here by bus, we would pick them up in the bus station. They were very happy when they arrived our factory. At the beginning of our discussion, we  knew that they wanted to buy not only one model, total about eight models, and the total quantity was big. Oh, my god, so exciting. We discussed from the product requests to packing design, we explained every detail to them. During the discussion, my boss did me a big favor, since he is more familiar with the product. After a few hours, in principle, we made a deal, and we typed a PI and stamped it to send them. Then what we should do is just waiting for their deposit. At the same day, a Nigerian customer also visited our factory. That day, i was too busy to take a little rest, after arranging all the customers well, it was about 24:00 when i was back.  EJ _P5X(FHn?
.S!D4Ada2c
E
About the Turkmenistan customers, we did not get any information after their leaving, we called their Chinese phone no., it was not be used, we called their office phone no., no one answered. Then that few days, we were very anxious and unhappy. From the business discussion with us, we thought they did not seem like cheater. However, replying nothing made us very disappointed. About five days later, our foreign trade company told us that they had received the deposit from this customer. Oh, thanks God! I was so happy that i cannot express my feeling. During that days, i also received an order from the Nigerian customer, and an order from Turkish customer. Recently, i am contacting customers from Viet Nam, Malaysia, and Puerto Rico. They are all our potential customers, possibly they will place orders to us in near future.  '}k;heyT#v

_'Au"Q8DP(Z[ Nine months passed, my attitude towards work had a big change. Ever before, i felt i had nothing to do every day, and always disappointed. Now, it is different, everyday, i have many things to do, such as replying mails, refreshing  product information on internet, finding the potential customers, and other things. Maybe you think the reason of change is i received some orders. Surely it brings me more impetus to work, i cannot deny it, but it is not the only reason. Besides orders and customers, i still gained much experience, such as, how to talk with foreign customers, how to catch their interest. I think the first step of contacting the customer, is to be straight, donot be afraid of mistake; to be honest, never cheat, if you do not know about some important information of the products, never pretended to have known. Then we should work hard, god will redound upon you with surprising gift if you endeavor to do your best. Last but not the least, every guy has many opportunities, whether you will succeed depends on whether you can catch them. Be positive and active every day! The success will be closer to all of us!`*s1^(}4j
A-ZA-ZA-FIGHTING!!!:victory:

support myself first!:)

Many thanks for your share.
Z Ak#W8{z%U~ I think your story is really right for most of novices. How much you have tillage, and how much you will gain harvest:time: You write English well. About clients development, you can learn some e-commerce skills. Good luck.

Reply #3 mazy's post

really appreciate your commend and advice. .?W EcG2P9t:X
studing should not be stopped any time.

Support the writer. Firstly, his writing is so good and secondly his experience is worth to study. Everyone should not give up easily.

from your article, i can imagine you are growing and becoming more and more confident from the work. :D :D T)K%u2_G4y
i appreciate your attitude towards life.
]tiG/c&O
k@QzR i think, Straight+Endeavor+Opportunity=what you want and deserve. :victory:

thanks very much for your support!

the searching for the customers is like my life from a child to an adult. your article lets me more confident in changing a better job in )x\3R2r^o}
the future. thank you ~

It is really a long story, well like a child to be a adult.

my friend,  you write so long a note, i could not see completely, o1Do)C(b
but have the same feeling of you on hunting job at July, last year, during so hot, bad weather.6X'UuSBw$q0J$K
And you are so lucky, at  your first year, you are allowed to take part in canton fair.:Jrs
u2y t"B&j
Lucky dog!

I think you have grown up in this area

thanks for sharen'y4TW9n
c
Sj2Kv*IE$u%D-S kv*M
i think
\ Rp,toCwO
-\j3e!~1CY straight, endeavor and opportunity contribute success M8X%S Wit

N(b8q T y-vP :)

The experience of my first job

I had the same experice in July last year. At that time, I just graduated form my university and started to find a job. After a long of searching and struggle, I finally got a job in a tiny company as a foreign sales. There is a show room, very days many forein customer would come and ask for information. There is no A/C also, the sweat was running across my back and face every.:L  God can imagine it. It was absolutely a disaster for me.  :Q The most important thing was that the boss asked me to do a lot of things including deliverying ad paper and cleaning the show room every day, but the salary was tiny as the size of the company. Finally, I can't help leaving it.
0J Cg~ o:y:o*z3\y      Now, looking back to that period, it is not so bad because I find that we can learn a lot in a small company. :victory:

good experience

supporting! i think you are becoming mature.

I think combining straight, endeavor and opportunity would be equal to .........what are you expected?

you are very good
U%s
O0\'t.BXs4b 4Z'}\:i^8VJ
come on! good luck!
7z X7_7O%GaYd
Ona4]P`
LB also good luck for me ! :victory:

Wow, nice to share your experience!9i+Se+g;|9k
After reading your diary and work experience, i have more confidence to futhur my work.
7G%W5b;D#gt U7ug^!f I am almost in the same condition as you ever had! I transfered from Translation to foreign trade, it is a completely new start. i have no experience at it but keep trying. Moreover, i7s#NJTn
am the only one in foreign trade department, in fact start from building English website!
xpo+S.wn2gO I am worried about how my career will go on! rDEz Q'jp S
But keep on moving....!
hnJN'^qb Anyway many gratitude to your share!

Different song but the same rhythm,your article make me back to the hard time i ever went through.)]D[3k{a+r
g
good article ,really.
Ci:D+v*N2F#W9y6L Thank you very much.

michaelzhanggq
UI1Ip){k4a6U well done,from your words i can learn something i never met before,The rainbow will appear after the storms! i believe you can gain a lot if insist on doing the same job in a company for a long time.

support  you !

Thank you for teiiling us your experience.At present i just work in a trade company.but i have little knowledge about fabric.i don't6bF3N |I,Q Q&o?
know what i can do.As your begining.My boss told that i just work on the alibaba with foreigner purchers,he said  the canton fair is
D[W.X!M$Q$k M not usefull,so i could only work through the internet.i want to know if it is good for me.Anyway i want to know how can you learnxt#Z:m W:h8I5z
english very well.I am bad in communicate with foreigners.Can you email me some good sentences for busniess.my email address is
+LpQ4}4amHy [email]pengxiujuan777@yahoo.com.cn.Previously[/email] Thank you for your help.

I finished reading your article even though it's so long. A pretty experience for my study. I absorbed the power from you to search a better job. I am working at a trading company. I want to find a factory (small or big) to work in as a career platform. Thank you.

membrane switch

micheal zhanggq, your condition is just my current condition,but unfortunately ,besides no platform ,still my company never participate the  exhibition ,me here there are 4months ,but no orders ,just a little inquries .so now i must resign  now ?

very happy to read your article
6oy|M"iW
MQ(_*~;{#}v$Xi i feel envy toward you
,MBp"Mc
)o;Jp'|{Nvs$R*V*{u generalily  speaking, you are a lucky girl..

good!!!!!
l Nr _O]!D I appreciate :Straight+Endeavor+Opportunity
U*^
h5?"mO`*qT I believe you will be very successfull in this field:handshake :lol :lol e@m J~
TFF5G'~5Ae-d,T9~
FIGHTING:handshake

your story is too long ,but i read it  completely and learn from you ,thank you for share :lol

Reply #3 mazy's post

i am not sure that means success,you know when opportunity comes,but you can't get it ,that means failure,so while you have not opportunity,creating it and further your effort,not fear failure,failure is the mother of success,good beginning is the half of the success.

Reply #1 michaelzhanggq's post

you do a good job!

Hi Michael,thanks for your sharing!when I am reading your article,I can find some reasons and power to move on.I take the job as a foreign business clerk for about 1 year.But in this year,I can only get a few order.Quite a few.Maybe I can count it out with fingers.And all of these orders are from our company's old clients.Most of the time,I feel nothing to do at all.I have been to Carton fair this April,but i can not get an order from that fair.I dont know why,puzzled.
efPW%Vnx I used to think that I could get a lot of customers from Carton Fair.But what a shame!The situation is not what I thought.I know the products of our company are not so good for the market.That's my feeling!
j/l'^&T}!Wq{ After reading your experance,I know that something I should do.

A honesty and touching story, I should learn somthing from you, thanks.