E-Ladies: Navigating the Wired World-Chapter 72 - Episode 72 The North-South Connection Brings Rapid

Chapter 72: Episode 72: The North-South Connection Brings Rapid Traffic Growth

Chapter 72: Episode 72: The North-South Connection Brings Rapid Traffic Growth

After implementing the double line, the forum traffic surged instantly to 3000 users during peak times, and the number of users online simultaneously on a regular basis also reached nearly 2000, with registered users topping 5000.

Zhou Xueyin and her team continued to update the forum content as usual, but soon realized that users from the south started to express their needs for fashion advice suited to the southern market, given the significant temperature difference between the north and south.

Fortunately, it was still possible to find off-season clothing in the market, but whether there was a specific counter for it locally was uncertain, and posting about it might not necessarily please the users.

“How about this… choose a part-time forum moderator? Then pay them according to the quantity and quality of their posts?” Zhou Xueyin could only think of this solution, since it was impossible for them to open a branch in the south.

Zhou Xueyin’s suggestion was unanimously agreed upon by everyone, and after several rounds of selection, a user with the ID Mikazuki_Mengzi was chosen as the deputy moderator.

Mengzi not only provided content for the forum but also included street photography from the streets of Guangzhou as a submission to Fashion Xinrui. This way, the magazine featured not only content from the north but gradually incorporated content from the south as well. freewebnσvel.cøm

With 51buy’s promotion on the forum, the magazine’s sales were also steadily increasing.

Once Yao Shanshan returned after completing her studies, she refreshed the forum’s theme once again.

This major update of the forum brought in more advertising opportunities, mostly from businesses that had seen Luo Jing Jewelry’s flash animations on their website and found 51buy.

With the previous experience, the production process this time was even faster, and they charged a bit more than before, 150,000 per spot.

To their surprise, after seeing the finished product, the client quickly signed a one-year advertising production agreement and directly paid a deposit of 300,000.

With the 300,000 in hand, Zhou Xueyin thought it was time to move to an office building.

Although the prime time for renting office space, “gold March and silver April,” had passed, there might still be a chance to find a good deal.

Zhou Xueyin’s first choice was definitely the office buildings above Wangfujing New World.

Having visited there once, she found both the environment and the surrounding facilities to be very much to her liking.

But the price…

On opening a specialized leasing website, the prices ranged from a minimum of 20,000 to a maximum of 50,000, and that was just per square meter per month.

“This is simply robbery!” Zhou Xueyin cried out, looking at the frightening numbers.

“What do you mean ‘robbery’?” Li Jinian came over, puzzled. “What, are we preparing to move to an office building?”

“I’m considering it…” Zhou Xueyin replied, feeling deflated.

“You wouldn’t be thinking of starting at Wangfujing, would you? That place really isn’t meant for just anyone!” Li Jinian, looking at Zhou Xueyin’s computer screen, was also startled.

“Let’s just treat this place as the ultimate goal! One day, we’ll have to come here!” Saying this, Zhou Xueyin quickly closed the webpage.

Still in search of an office space, Zhou Xueyin directly went to the agent who had previously rented them the apartment, to see if they had any office spaces available.

But it was only after going there that they learned that the residential rental companies couldn’t handle commercial office spaces. To rent an office building, the best approach was to inquire with the property management of the office buildings.

So Zhou Xueyin visited the properties of several nearby markets, obtained their leasing quotations and layout diagrams, and came back to discuss with everyone.

“Looking at it now, the cheapest office building of Kemao is 1000 yuan per square meter per month, followed by Dinghao’s auxiliary building ranging from 1000 to 3000 yuan, then Dinghao from 4000 to 7000 yuan, and Hailong is the most expensive, 8000 to 12000 yuan.” Zhou Xueyin placed the chart in front of several people.

“Calculate by square meter? The price of office buildings is insane!” Yao Shanshan heard for the first time that the unit of office building lease was per square meter per month, and she was completely shocked.

“You would think…” Zhou Xueyin said helplessly.

“I said it before, 40,000 yuan a month isn’t expensive, but it turns out it’s 40,000 yuan per square meter a month. That’s a bit horrifying…” Yao Shanshan unconsciously took a step back.

“Yinyin, don’t worry about the price for now. You plan to move to an office building to expand the staff, right?” Kang Siyin pushed up her glasses, “How many people are you planning to recruit? And where will you talk with clients when they come? And…”

Kang Siyin asked a whole lot of questions that Zhou Xueyin hadn’t considered at all.

“KK, how do you know so much?” She admired Kang Siyin.

“Because my brother… back in my hometown rents office buildings…” It was the first time she mentioned her brother.

“Even though he rents by square meter, the smallest room specification is also 20 square meters. That means, renting an office would cost 240,000 yuan a year… Yinyin, do we have that much money?” Li Jiniang hit the nail on the head.

“Yes, we do! Didn’t we pay a 300,000 yuan deposit earlier?” Zhou Xueyin was quick-witted and blurted out.

“A 300,000 yuan deposit for the rental of the property. Don’t you need to pay salaries when recruiting people? Doesn’t buying office supplies cost money? And there are electricity bills, heating bills, all paid by us…” Li Jiniang’s mental calculations were running at high speed.

“It should be almost enough…” Zhou Xueyin said uncertainly, “Mainly, the company has developed to the point where the four of us are not enough. We can’t just sign an annual contract with one company and then refuse other companies’ advertisements, can we?”

“That’s true… But the capital. We don’t have enough money to rent an office building… Don’t forget, you haven’t paid our salaries for the past few months…” It was the first time Li Jiniang looked so serious at Zhou Xueyin.

Usually, she was all smiles, but this time, it was no longer just fun and games. Zhou Xueyin’s decision would directly affect the fate of the entire company, and if the decision were wrong, they might not last the year…

Upon hearing Li Jiniang’s words, everyone fell silent; moving to an office building was imperative, but the problem of capital turnover was another major issue…

“Should I take out a loan?” Thinking of the advertisement for small loans she saw at the bank while sweeping the streets, if totally out of options, taking a loan wasn’t a bad escape route.

“A loan? What are you going to use as collateral? The company? How much is the company worth? What’s its market value? Have you calculated it? When just starting, will anyone even lend to us?” Li Jiniang questioned Zhou Xueyin like a machine gun.

“How will we know if we don’t try?” Zhou Xueyin stood up somewhat angrily, trying to impress Li Jiniang with her aura, but accidentally, her head bumped into the other’s chest.

“Ouch…” Both of them cried out at the same time, and Li Jiniang, losing her balance, sat down on the floor.

“Jixiang, I’m sorry, did I hurt you?” Zhou Xueyin quickly helped her up, “I didn’t mean to… Are you okay?”

“It’s okay… Actually, I’m not against moving to an office building, and it’s definitely better to work in a regular place than here. But you really need to think it through before making a decision! After all, the company belongs to the four of us…” Li Jiniang’s tone also softened.

Just then, Zhou Xueyin’s phone rang; it was Jiang Chunming calling.