A side view of Wang Shi’s excellence

In 1980, Wang Shi joined the Guangdong Provincial Foreign Economic and Trade Commission through participating in recruitment and worked on attracting investment.

Unable to tolerate the rigid working methods and bureaucratic work style within the system, he decided to leave. In 1983, 32-year-old Wang Shi arrived in Shenzhen by Guangzhou-Shenzhen Railway and went to the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone Development Company to seek development.

Here, Wang Shi found his first pot of gold in life: the corn feed business.

The first order to arrive was 30 tons of corn, which was packed on a wagon and sold to a Shenzhen chicken company.

After the transaction, Wang Shi rode a bicycle with two large striped plastic bags on the back seat. While riding, he thought: "If you carry these 30 tons of corn cash back on a bicycle, you won't be robbed." You have to be careful." When he arrived at the chicken company, Wang Shi raised the woven bag he was carrying and said, "You have taken all the goods away. I'm here to collect the money." Manager Yuan, who was smoking, looked at Wang Shi: "Where is the invoice?"

Invoice? Wang Shi was a little confused. He has worked at the Provincial Foreign Economic and Trade Commission for three years and is relatively familiar with contracts, letters of credit, etc., but he does not know what an invoice is. He was too embarrassed to ask, so he guessed that it might be a receipt or other type of voucher, "You want an invoice, I'll go back and get it for you." Returning to the Special Development Company, Wang Shi found the finance department and asked the accountant to write a note: "Sold for 30 Ton of corn was given to Shenzhen Chicken Company at a cost of RMB 1,300 per ton, totaling RMB 39,000. This is hereby certified." Taking what he thought was an "invoice", he stamped his financial seal. Wang Shi rode his bicycle again and ran to the chicken company. He still had the plastic woven bag to hold the money on the back seat of his bicycle.

Arrived at the chicken company. Wang Shi handed the certificate to Manager Yuan: "Here, the invoice." Manager Yuan took the certificate, glanced at it, choked with joy, and coughed while saying: "Here, Xiao Wang, follow me." Yuan The manager led Wang Shi to the finance room and took out an invoice from the finance drawer: "Well, there is a special national tax stamp on the invoice. This is specially printed and the certificate cannot be used as an invoice. When you go back and tell the finance officer to ask for the invoice, she will It’s clear.”

So Wang Shi returned to the Special Development Company and communicated with the finance department again.

Finally, the invoice was sent to the chicken company's financial officer, who gave Wang Shi a bank transfer slip in duplicate.

Wang Shi was confused again, "Why didn't you give me money, but gave me two of these things?"

Manager Yuan was happy again: "Xiao Wang, go back and give me two things like this?" Give these two slips to the finance department, one of which is for the bank. The bank will transfer the money to your company upon seeing the check." Wang Shi returned to the company dubiously and handed the transfer form to the finance department: "Is this the money?"

The finance officer explained: "If the bank bounces the check, it means that the chicken company has no money in its bank account. However, this rarely happens. There should be no problem."

This After two visits, Wang Shi deeply felt his lack of business knowledge, especially in finance.

Many people choose to escape after being slapped in the face by reality. After discovering their own weaknesses, they will be extra careful to avoid them in the future. However, Wang Shi did not adopt an ostrich tactic, but faced up to the difficulties.

As a result, Wang Shi had to read financial books for two hours every night after get off work, no matter how late it was. Through self-study, he learned what a balance sheet is and what a balance sheet is. In order to deepen his understanding of finance, he practiced in daily operations and began to learn to keep accounts. He wrote down daily transactions, expenses, and income, and compared them with the company's financial accounts at the beginning of next month. Three months later, there is no barrier to reading financial statements.

This is a short story I read in Wang Shi's autobiography "Road and Dreams", but it left a deep impression on me.

You see, the famous Wang Shi once didn’t even know what an invoice was. Therefore, you must look at yourself from a developmental perspective. Although you may be insignificant at the moment, as long as you show Wang Shi's enthusiasm for learning financial knowledge (in fact, Wang Shi also learned English by himself), there will be no mountain that cannot be conquered and nothing that cannot be accomplished. thing. It was in this way that Vanke's empire was built step by step under the leadership of Wang Shi. That's one of the things that impressed me.

The second is that Wang Shi changed from a financial layman to a familiar financial report. The reason for the change was not that someone told him the importance of financial knowledge, nor that he studied professionally in school, but that he went to ask for accounts. This thing that really happened to him is "people practice on things". Experiencing specific things is the best teacher. The feedback and stimulation you get are the strongest. They are far more practical and powerful than books and principles. Therefore, a person has the greatest motivation to make changes in this situation.