Is quitting your job and setting up a stall the new version of “toxic chicken soup” for young people?

Have you ever paid attention to or learned about street stalls? This article starts with a person quitting his job and deciding to open a street stall. It details the reasons, difficulties, and related thoughts. It is recommended for students who want to understand the industry.

When the street stall filter fades away, the true background will be revealed.

Add watermelon, red dates, coconut shreds, red beans, raisins and other ingredients in turn, and finally pour the pre-squeezed coconut milk. In less than a minute, a refreshing and heat-relieving Qingbuliang is ready. What you may not expect is that the girl who is skilled in making Qingbuliang was a diligent worker in an office cubicle from 9 am to 6 pm every day a month ago.

Walking in the night markets of various cities, it is not difficult to find that since when, there have been many young faces among the stall owners. The one selling fruit cups on the roadside was once a bank teller; the one selling pancakes in the alley was once an architect; the one selling handmade textiles in the market was a product manager who had just resigned from a large Internet company. One thing is certain, it is no longer considered a shame for young people to quit their jobs and set up stalls, but has become a "serious job."

Hedgehog Commune interviewed several young stall owners to restore their motivations and current situations, and to explore whether the "stall" business model can really become a "road to wealth" for young people?

1. Decide to set up a stall

The transformation of a "working man" At about 4 p.m., Qianqian went to "work." The "workplace" was not far from home, and it was a pedestrian street with a large flow of people, among whom there were many young stall owners like Qianqian. Each stall had its own characteristics, including Laotian iced coffee, grilled squid, stinky tofu, roasted sweet potato skin... everything. Qianqian's "workstation" was carefully designed at first glance.

A small table was set up on the foldable camper, covered with a pink checkered tablecloth, and the ingredients were neatly stacked on it. There was also a custom billboard in front of the stall, with the words "Summer Qingbuliang" written in large letters. Qianqian told Hedgehog Commune that the reason she chose to quit her job and set up a stall was that after those three years, the company's performance had not been good and her career prospects were relatively limited. She discussed with her boyfriend that it would be better to resign and start a small-cost business together. After thinking about it, setting up a stall was the best choice.

What to sell? Qianqian found through her own observation that qingbuliang is a hot-selling product in the night market, and it has low production costs and high profit margins. In the hot summer, it is in short supply. When she first explained her idea to her family, her parents thought she was simply a fantasy. But compared to the outrageousness of the matter, they are more concerned about their daughter's emotions. "Compared with my daughter's unhappiness, setting up a stall is nothing." In line with the concept of "living in the present", Qianqian believes that whether she makes money or not setting up a stall, she will have a different experience.

And this is enough for her. Before officially opening the stall, Qianqian made sufficient preparations. First, she bought small ingredients and lunch boxes from different manufacturers on 1688 and Pinduoduo, and selected products while learning how to make them, until she received unanimous praise from her family. "If you do something, you have to do it to the best of your ability, otherwise you might as well not do it." Some people set up stalls to get through the confused period of career choice, while others do it to welcome a new life. Xiaoyi, born in 1993, used to work on CNC engraving machines in a machinery factory in Hangzhou. "My previous job was too boring. I did repetitive things every day. It felt like I could see my life for the next few decades."

The "black swan event" that began at the end of 2019 forced Xiaoyi to stop working and rest at home. There was no income, only expenses. After more than half a year, Xiaoyi's family assets had been almost eaten up. It was unknown when the company would be able to resume work, and whether he could stay in his original position? It was also unknown.

Faced with a series of unknowns, Xiaoyi couldn't help but calm down and think: Should I continue to sit and wait for death? What should I do next? "Marriage has changed me a lot. In the past, I only needed one person to feed the whole family, and I didn't have any lofty ideals. Now I have my own family, and I want to give my wife a better life. I want to rent a big house, buy a car, and take my wife out for a trip when I have nothing to do." Xiaoyi followed his wife back to her hometown of Chengdu, hoping to find opportunities here. According to the Chengdu Daily, its urban management has introduced the "Five Permissions and One Persistence" measure, which allows temporary stalls to be set up without affecting residents, traffic, or disrupting the city's appearance and environment.

After seeing the news, Xiaoyi's first thought was to set up a stall. As a northerner, he immediately thought of his favorite - multi-grain pancakes. So he took his credit card and decided to learn from a master. "This is the only way out for me. I must learn and do it as soon as possible to make money to support my family."

2. Encountering difficulties

Life is not easy, setting up a stall sighs When Qianqian first started setting up a stall, she couldn't let go of herself. After all, she had worked in a company before and had never tried this. Now it's so embarrassing to shout loudly when she meets acquaintances. Slowly, Qianqian began to shout along with the stall owners next to her, and then she let go. According to Qianqian's description, her qingbuliang sold the fastest in the entire pedestrian street. At mealtime, the stall was surrounded by customers in three layers. They were busy every day, but they also felt a fulfilling sense of happiness. The last week of setting up the stall was during Changsha's civilized city construction, but Qianqian was not so happy.

According to Qianqian, the street was filled with a tense atmosphere for a whole week, fearing that their things would be "handed in". One evening, the urban management staff really showed up on the street. "The scene was really spectacular. The whole street was quietly and quickly packing up things, and then it was a 100-meter race. We just dropped the coconuts and ran with the cart. When we got home, we found that the small materials were scattered all over the frame, and some of them were even missing. The school physical examination did not run so fast. Fortunately, the stalls were close to the inside and had time to run. Some stalls outside were immediately surrounded by urban management staff." Qianqian said.

After finally getting through the most intense week of the city management inspection, the weather was not favorable. On the most exaggerated day, the temperature dropped from 24 degrees Celsius to 9 degrees Celsius. "It was cold and tiring, and business was pitifully low. I felt I couldn't hold on any longer." Having experienced "big storms", Qianqian began to rethink the feasibility of setting up a stall. Unlike Qianqian's relatively smooth experience of setting up a stall, Xiaoyi was frustrated at the beginning due to problems with product selection and location.

Source: Provided by the interviewee

"Pancakes are not as easy to sell as imagined. As a staple food, people are easily full and will not think of buying them if they are not hungry. In addition, the preparation of pancakes is quite cumbersome. The process of frying them alone takes more than an hour." Xiao Yi, a rookie, had no idea of ​​the importance of site selection. "I was setting up a stall at the entrance of the community, but was always chased away by the urban management. Once I was chased away, I lost my business and was sometimes fined. In addition, there are many elderly people around here, so a pancake that costs 6 yuan is often marked down to 3 yuan, which often makes me feel wronged."

As he got to know Chengdu better and observed it himself, Xiaoyi found that large apartment buildings around universities and business districts with many young people were good places to set up stalls. "Young people are more receptive to new things and are willing to spend money on them." Xiaoyi quickly put it into practice. He used the money he saved from selling pancakes to continue his "further studies" and learned how to make cold noodles. He re-selected the location in Chengdu Changying Tianjie, where there is a denser flow of people and more young people. He believed that the result of his careful consideration would not be wrong.

Sure enough, this attempt was successful. The tempting aroma of grilled cold noodles continued to attract passers-by, making pedestrians unable to help but stop and buy. In addition to setting up a stall to sell grilled cold noodles, Xiaoyi also started to work part-time as an "up master". He shared the daily life and production process of the store on station B every day, and started a real-time live broadcast of the stall. The highest video playback volume reached 7.607 million. Many fans also came to check in, take photos, and buy a "big brother package".

Xiaoyi named his account "Need 100 Million" and based on the principle of working hard to make money, he gradually approached his small goal.

3. Related Thoughts

Setting up stalls, the surface is glamorous. "When you are 'planted' by other people's sharing of stalls, you might as well go to the second-hand platform to have a look. After seeing so many people reselling stall equipment, you may calm down." When the stall filter fades, the true background will be revealed.

Qianqian did some calculations: after a month of setting up a stall, she and her boyfriend earned about 14,000 yuan. After deducting the 1,700 yuan rent and the food input for the stall, they still had about 9,000 yuan left, which is equivalent to their salary at work. If they keep working, they can earn more. But after practicing, Qianqian said frankly: "I don't want to earn hard-earned money anymore. I want to earn money by thinking. The work I do at work is basically brainwork. Even if there is no performance sometimes, I won't panic. But when I set up a stall by myself, I can't have the mentality of giving up. I have to be motivated all the time."

Now, Qianqian has returned to her old job - HR, and chooses to continue to be a diligent worker. And those stall equipments that she bought online with great enthusiasm eventually flowed into the second-hand market. In fact, quitting your job to set up a stall may not be suitable for everyone, and not everyone can "get rich overnight" or "earn a fortune every day" as advertised on the Internet.

On social platforms, there are many cases of street vendors going wrong.

Similar to Qianqian, many young people do not think so long-term. To them, setting up stalls is just an episode in life and a regulator.

Xiaoyi's hardships behind setting up a stall are also unknown. "I quit my job with great enthusiasm to set up a stall, but the result was completely different from what I imagined. Free stalls require competition for space, if the goods sell well, people will exclude you, and the landlord will be jealous of your good business and raise the rent..." Xiaoyi, who held on to his dream and walked forward with determination, finally saw the light of day. Not only did the stall get on track, but it also became a little famous on Station B. Is it better to set up a stall or go to work? This question has different answers in the eyes of different people.

"This is indeed a new possibility, but you still need to think clearly before you start. If you have thought it through, then go for it boldly," Xiaoyi said. When asked about his future plans, Xiaoyi's eyes were instantly filled with yearning, "I plan to open my own store in the snack street and start taking out. I also want to add some new items to the menu. Just grilled cold noodles is definitely not enough. If it's too busy, I'll hire a waiter."

Author: Zhang Jinglun; Editor: Director

Source: WeChat public account "Hedgehog Commune (ID: ciweigongshe)"