---
title: "21 Classic Business Rules from a Grassroots Boss"
description: "1. Persist in watching CCTV-1's News Broadcast. To grasp the economic situation, you must pay attention to the political situation. The News Broadcast, with its pictures and text, is indeed the best barometer for Chinese businessmen. You can skip financial reports or Focus Interviews, and even ignore events like 9/11 or the Middle East situation if you're not in oil or foreign exchange. 2. Don't easily trust agreements or contracts, even if your lawyer has reviewed them and they are notarized. Even after your client has deposited money into your designated account, you must confirm whether you can actually withdraw and use the funds. Don't believe any oral promises or explanations outside the contract that involve conflicts of interest, and don't dwell on them until the other party fulfills their promises, regardless of who they are."
author: "New Distribution"
publisher: "New Distribution"
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published: "2015-11-01"
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---

# 21 Classic Business Rules from a Grassroots Boss

> 1. Persist in watching CCTV-1's News Broadcast. To grasp the economic situation, you must pay attention to the political situation. The News Broadcast, with its pictures and text, is indeed the best barometer for Chinese businessmen. You can skip financial reports or Focus Interviews, and even ignore events like 9/11 or the Middle East situation if you're not in oil or foreign exchange. 2. Don't easily trust agreements or contracts, even if your lawyer has reviewed them and they are notarized. Even after your client has deposited money into your designated account, you must confirm whether you can actually withdraw and use the funds. Don't believe any oral promises or explanations outside the contract that involve conflicts of interest, and don't dwell on them until the other party fulfills their promises, regardless of who they are.

1. Persist in watching CCTV-1's News Broadcast. To grasp the economic situation, you must pay attention to the political situation. The News Broadcast, with its pictures and text, is indeed the best barometer for Chinese businessmen. You can skip financial reports or Focus Interviews, and even ignore events like 9/11 or the Middle East situation if you're not in oil or foreign exchange.
2. Don't easily trust agreements or contracts, even if your lawyer has reviewed them and they are notarized. Even after your client has deposited money into your designated account, you must confirm whether you can actually withdraw and use the funds. Don't believe any oral promises or explanations outside the contract that involve conflicts of interest, and don't dwell on them until the other party fulfills their promises, regardless of who they are.
3. You must keep your word, as a promise is worth a thousand gold, but this does not apply to those who are dishonest. Only promise what you are sure you can accomplish, and don't exaggerate. If you want to remain a businessman, you must build your reputation. Although you may not care about external controversies or even create them, you cannot lose your credibility, or you will be a liar. If you agree to meet at 2:00, you must not arrive before 1:50 or after 2:01. In case of traffic jams or unexpected events, you must notify the other party promptly. There is no excuse for being late, arriving too early, or being too late. Your cultivation is reflected in your attitude and tolerance towards the other party's unpunctuality and broken promises. Once you confirm that the other party is repeatedly deceiving you for profit, any action you take against them is not excessive; you can even turn the tables and give them a false promise.
4. It's best not to do business where you can win but may not be able to afford to lose. Before doing any business, you must consider clearly whether you can afford to lose if you lose, rather than thinking about what happens if you win. If you can't afford to lose, it's best not to do it. When considering the scope of loss, don't only consider money. As a half-businessman, there are things you can never afford to lose, including the woman you love, your family, your status in the world, and even your reputation. So before doing any business, you must fully consider whether you can afford to lose. If you can, then go ahead and do it without hesitation.
5. Don't invest too much upfront; keep enough cards in your hand. Don't reveal all your cards, because the game may stop midway, and the other party may play new cards at any time. Don't show your most powerful card until the final critical moment. The final winner is the true winner.
6. Nothing is impossible, but a businessman has things he will and will not do. As the saying in "Caigentan" goes, "Do not fail to do good even if it is small; do not do evil even if it is small." This applies to life, and business is the same: "Don't refuse to do something just because the profit is small, and don't do something just because the risk is small." In China, you can do things that violate the law, but you must never do things that violate morality.
7. Choose partners carefully. Whether it's a team or an individual, we often desire a golden partner to conquer the world together, but choosing a close comrade-in-arms must be done with extreme caution. Caution applies to both sides, not just one. A close comrade must meet the following prerequisites: First, you must have fought together in the same trench for at least one year. Second, he must take responsibility for every word he says to you, provided you haven't wronged him. Third, he must be honest and down-to-earth. Fourth, he must consider the common interests between you (whether short-term or long-term) more than his personal interests. Fifth, at critical moments, he must not hide or betray you or the group, even if he could gain greater benefits than the cooperation. All five points are indispensable; otherwise, the cooperation will not last long.
8. Don't have family members in your team. Whether it's your wife or your parents, they should not interfere too much in the business team with you at its core, because the team accepts you, not your family members. Unless all team members actively accept and invite your family member to join, no matter who they are, how capable, or how much they can help the team, it cannot be a reason for you to bring them in. If a member of the opposite sex in your team (three or more people) sleeps with you, you must consider having them leave the team immediately. Either they find another job, or they become your full-time lover or spouse. In short, they can no longer stay in the team. So don't casually consider sleeping with or falling for someone of the opposite sex in the team.
9. Don't sleep with women who have conflicts of interest with you. No matter who takes advantage of whom, or if you can have two relationships simultaneously, you should not sleep with them, regardless of how sexy or seductive they are. Such women include those you have business dealings with, those who work under you, or the family members of your subordinates or colleagues, and even female civil servants in government agencies or functional departments that manage you.
10. Don't tell your woman about your business details. First, she may not understand. Second, the details may contain content that could land you in jail. Third, it involves business secrets. No matter how much you trust your woman, you should not discuss too much business content related to you.
11. While maintaining overall control, don't insist on doing everything yourself. Don't leave yourself no time to communicate with friends, no time to date women or use the Internet, and most importantly, no time to relax and think. So, learn to let others help you manage the business and handle affairs, though you must firmly grasp the core parts. Also, consider the risks of delegating and be prepared to prevent them, so you don't become a busy firefighter after delegating. Remember, fire prevention and firefighting are different. The slogan for fire prevention is "combine prevention and firefighting, with prevention as the priority."
12. Don't evade taxes, but learn to avoid taxes reasonably. It's best not to issue invoices with large amounts on the top and small amounts on the bottom. Pay the business tax and additional education funds as required. Don't try to manipulate VAT (just remember to get tax invoices from your supplier for normal deduction). For customs duties, assess your situation and handle it accordingly. Corporate income tax can be completely avoided without paying a cent, but it's better to give the local tax bureau some face and pay a little, not zero. Pay more or less as you see fit. For personal income tax, create a salary table based on whether the local government does practical things for taxpayers and treats them as real taxpayers.
13. You can use journalists, but don't trust them. You can give journalists money or gifts, but you cannot tell them too much about your background, nor can you trust them to keep your business secrets. You should not get too close to journalists and must learn to be on guard. This applies whether the journalist is a beautiful and flirtatious female reporter or a big-shot reporter who can publish internal references.
14. Don't show off, even if you are really the boss. Remember that there is always someone better. Don't show off in any setting, even if you are truly big. If the other party is a show-off and shallow person, and you want to defeat them, it's best to find a brick to knock them down, then go your own way. But remember, the brick must not be your own, and it's best if it has nothing to do with you.
15. Stay neutral and don't get involved in political faction disputes. You should remain neutral in any factional dispute, especially political ones. Facts have proven that pinning your hopes on any side in a factional dispute is dangerous and unwise. You must calmly remain neutral between factions.
16. Don't care too much about money and gains or losses. Remember the ancient saying: "Every gain has a loss, and every loss has a gain." Money can be earned again; there are endless opportunities to make money. So why not be generous in the face of money and interests? Moreover, bigger business opportunities are waiting for you. You should have no time to dwell on temporary gains or losses, even if you have time to enjoy tea and beautiful scenery.
17. Don't over-decorate yourself with money. Although face is important to you, compared to your personal charm, having a luxury car, a villa with a swimming pool, golf, your clothes, and even your hairstyle are insignificant. Of course, you can wear a pair of "Neiliansheng" cloth shoes if you like, or fly abroad to watch your favorite team's home or away game when you have time, or even smoke cheap cigarettes in front of many people if you like.
18. Capital determines the right to speak, but you shouldn't easily let others know how much say you have. It's right to care about your capital and the capital you control, including bad debts, cash income, and cash flow, but these should not be known by too many people. When you unexpectedly acquire a huge fortune, you should learn not to tell anyone, including your wife who has been with you through thick and thin, otherwise she might demand a divorce and split your considerable assets. Remember, a man's money should always be a secret, just like a woman's age. Even if one day women's ages are no longer a secret, your money should still be. Unless you are about to donate all your assets at death, you must never tell anyone.
19. Summarize the successes and failures of others, but you can ignore foreign cases. Don't envy others' success, and don't despise their failure. Your first task is to learn to analyze and summarize the essence behind phenomena, find out all the reasons for others' failures or successes, learn from their strengths, compensate for your weaknesses, and do what you should do. Foreign stories like Microsoft are too far away from you; you can ignore them. To a certain extent, the current MBA has little practical significance for you doing business in China.
20. Don't use underworld or official rules to resolve business conflicts. Business is always business, and business has its own game rules. So even if you are indeed an underworld figure, you can't casually use underworld rules to resolve business conflicts. Similarly, even if you have good official background and resources, you can't easily use them to resolve business conflicts. Since you chose to be a businessman, you must abide by all the game rules in business. If you gamble, you must accept the loss.
21. Leave yourself a way out to prevent being abandoned by everyone. You can regroup after years of silence, but you must not stay down after falling, because you are a man. So you must leave yourself a way out, including hiding a piggy bank with a few dollars, which you will rely on to make a comeback. The way out also includes a house that is not legally in your name (so you have a place to heal and recover), and a friend who is not in frequent contact but is loyal and has received much help from you (he can take you in and drink with you at critical times; it's lucky to meet such a friend in a lifetime). If you really have no way out, then you must be mentally prepared to sleep on the streets and beg, but then you can only ask strangers for help, and never bow to those you have helped before but who owe you debts or favors and pretend not to know you.
**-END-**
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