The Chinese character for dream is the setting sun under the forest; you think it has no light, but it shines there. Yet when you chase it, it hides among the trees, leaving you in darkness. How easy is it to destroy a middle-aged man? High mortgage payments, parents' health, children's education, and a future with no prospects. The world is particularly cruel to middle-aged men: companies say positions should go to the young because they are energetic, easy to fool, and cost less; the government encourages young people to start businesses because they have brains, ideas, and stamina; investors say they invest less in the post-80s and not at all in the post-70s, and avoid the post-60s. What's left for middle-aged men is layoffs, anxiety, and the lack of courage to take risks. If It Doesn't Kill You, Work It to Death Old soldiers never die; they just fade away. Since the whole world is eliminating the middle-aged, do you go with the flow or move forward bravely? Ask a middle-aged man, even if he lives like a dog, his answer is: As long as it doesn't kill me, I'll work it to death. The world gives me a cold shoulder; I'll cut it open for the world to see. A while ago, a "beauty executive" from Alibaba started a business, once again throwing entrepreneurs into the abyss of public opinion. Compared to the internet industry's high profile but low positions, FMCG companies are clearly worse off. Even if you've worked in an FMCG company for over a decade and managed one or two large regions, you're still just a regional manager or area manager. The general managers and directors are too far away from you. Especially now, traditional industries are at the bottom of the entire chain of contempt. Basically, if you start a business in a traditional industry, in many people's eyes, it's like setting up a pancake stall on the street, and you might not even earn as much as a pancake stall. Most importantly, no company can bring you traffic; you have to start from scratch. But for those who want to start a business, all hardships are just motivation to move forward. Without these motivations, there would be no meaning in the challenge. When Liu Bang founded the Han Dynasty, he relied on his friends from Sishui Pavilion—his network, his goals, and his spirit of never giving up. With these, the future holds infinite possibilities. Guo Ming is such a middle-aged entrepreneur who refuses to give up. For most serial entrepreneurs, his age seems a bit old, and his life is not particularly eventful. With over 10 years of experience at PepsiCo, from the Northeast to Shaanxi, he has accumulated a wealth of experience and connections. After leaving PepsiCo, he went to an energy company's newly established FMCG department as sales director. In his new role, he repeatedly achieved new marketing results, with almost no pressure from the company. Compared to other middle-aged men, he also has the pressure of mortgage and children's education. If there's anything unsatisfactory, it's the company's rigid system and inherent pricing system that are incompatible with the new market environment. But for him with over 10 years of experience, it's not a big deal. However, if life were like that, how unexciting would it be? Besides anxiety, middle-aged men seem to have a dream and responsibility. Could his over a decade of work experience and views on marketing management be applied on a larger stage? Entrepreneurship must be the next challenge in his life. When choosing to start a business, he chose a project that is both popular and niche. Popular means the market for this project is infinitely broad; niche means the entire industry is still in its infancy. He is in the selenium water segment of drinking water. Only by Sharing Can You Gain Drinking water, drinking good water, drinking healthy good water—this is the current awareness of Chinese consumers. In the overall poor FMCG environment, the water market and functional beverage market are both growing at double-digit rates. Now Yili and Red Bull are also crowding into the drinking water market. First, Red Bull acquired the high-end water brand VOSS, and in 2018, VOSS switched to domestic production, dropping the price from 20 yuan to 5 yuan. Yili, after inspecting over a dozen factories, invested in a plant in Heilongjiang. Compared to Yili's financial strength, Red Bull's acquisition of high-end brands, and existing brands like C'estbon, C'estbon, Kangshifu, and Nongfu, Guo Ming and his Xipin Tiancheng company are too small. Guo Ming has clearly set a goal for his company: to be a niche brand. Targeting special groups such as those with high blood sugar. Because this group has a basic understanding of selenium, but too many selenium waters and selenium-containing foods on the market are artificially added, which is like scratching an itch through a boot when it comes to supplementing selenium. To this end, Guo Ming spent two years searching for a truly natural selenium-rich water source. During this process, due to strict requirements on water sources and production equipment, the company lost nearly one million yuan, and even more loss was the delay in product launch. But even so, he didn't give up his determination to find a selenium-rich water source. In his words: In the past decade or so, I've been selling cola, which I once thought was a happy drink, but the longer I worked, the more I knew the harm carbonated drinks do to the human body. Now I have the responsibility to give consumers a water that can drink back the problems they've drunk in. The essence of business is still profit-seeking. But Guo Ming and his team are more about making business worthy of everyone's conscience. Neither Guo Ming nor his career experience brings him traffic. But he is willing to share everything with his colleagues and friends. At the beginning of the venture, Guo Ming formulated a plan for all employees to be shareholders. As the founder, he kept only 10% of the shares, and the remaining 90% were shared with the distributor team, investors, and partners who started the business with him. A key feature of his distributor team is that most distributors themselves are patients with high blood sugar or cancer. Their knowledge of selenium and their social circles are the main sales channels for the product. For Guo Ming's persistence in finding natural selenium-rich water sources, everyone not only doesn't see his loss of one million yuan as a setback, but more as recognition of his character. Being responsible to consumers is the real responsibility. Not seeking great love for the world, but as a middle-aged man, Guo Ming also has middle-aged diseases. He knows the world of middle-aged people is too fragile. Since he has the ability, he must make the product well. In terms of product packaging design, Guo Ming and his team also had many brainstorming sessions. Finally, they settled on the current bottle shape and name. The bottle shape adopts a female cheongsam design, allowing people to feel the smoothness of water slipping through their palms in a gentle grip. The character "哺" (bu) in "哺硒水" (Bu Xi Shui) emphasizes feeding back, giving back health to the human body. The LOGO, resembling a child's smiling face or a child sucking on a bottle, indicates that "哺" selenium is important not only for adults but also for children. The brand name: Xipin Tiancheng, highlights the product's truly rare quality and its absolutely natural selenium nature. Entrepreneurship Is Tough, but We Believe Currently, the selenium product market is uneven. To gain a foothold in this trillion-yuan market, you must first lay a solid foundation. So Guo Ming and his team have strict production control for this year's selenium water: only 300,000 cases. They must ensure the quality of the selenium water and the effectiveness for consumers. Start with those who have illnesses, then spread through word-of-mouth. Ensure quality, ensure the profit of every level of distributor, and don't let the company advance costs. This is a new entrepreneur's grasp of the market. The future market will be huge, but Xipin Tiancheng must ensure that every step is "steady happiness." Guo Ming, who is good at sharing, has also formulated a series of preferential policies for distributors. For example, if you pay a certain amount, you can enjoy dividends from the entire company's profits at the end of the year. Profit-seeking is the goal of merchants, but sharing is also the awareness of entrepreneurs. This road will be difficult, but Guo Ming and his team believe: No matter how difficult the market, it will not reject a good product; the difficulties of traditional giants give opportunities to startups like his. After all, it's always new brands that bring profits to distributors, while traditional giants are just doing the work of moving goods. Entrepreneurship is tough, but we believe enough, after all, Father Ma said: Dreams must be there, in case they come true......