My Story
In the 3rd year of the pandemic, the whole world seems to be covered in a layer of gray.
In these three years, everything was out of plan.
No matter what happens, we are struggling for a better life.
Not running away from it, and braved it out.
Today, I would like to tell my story.
It is about adversity, despair, courage, and good life.
Hi, I am Yoyo.
Life is not always what we want it to be. We fight, we cry, and even sometimes, we give up.
But I know that my heart still is filled with love.
1. Lost My Job
Life is always unexpected. Half time is in the city, and half time is in the country. It was my plan.
In June 2018, I lost my job for no reason.
I have been working at Alfa Laval company for seven years.
My annual performance was excellent.
When I joined the new business unit at Alfa Laval, it was an empty building.
I was proud to be part of the team and worked hard with the factory team. I lead my team to achieve high performance every year as well.
I chose it because it has a good culture. Caring for people is part of the culture.
In around seven years of working history, I remember very clearly so far. It was the hardest one of all the jobs I have had in my life.
Hard-working every day! I plan to be there until retirement before losing my job.
Thanks for this experience.
Alfa Laval’s experiences have remained with me all my life. It helped me become who I am today!
2. Family Factory Was Closed to Bankruptcy
Until October 2018, I did not find a job.
Before that, I joined my husband’s factory. It was a disaster.
Operation waste was everywhere because of terrible management.
We talked deeply about it. It had been losing money for several years.
The next day, I was appointed temporarily as operation manager.
I told myself that any decision I made considered the whole factory instead of one department. It was a big challenge.
I was thinking more about how to operate the factory at the lowest cost. The main goal is how to survive it.
It was a valuable experience, even though it was painful. I gained insights about controlling costs with a limited budget. It remains me with lots of benefits until now.
After half a year of changing, I was sure it was a poor business model. We talked deeply again.
Eventually, we closed 97% business and kept a small part. It was a painful decision, but it gave us more time to explore other opportunities.
3. My Plan Faced Predicament
Half time in the city, half time in the countryside. It is my plan.
In April 2018, my house in the country started to build. We need to pay the cost to the supplier every month.
When I knew the factory had lost huge money for the past several years. My house budget had to be cut as much as possible. It was out of my plan. I felt very predicament.
In 2019, all items had to be purchased at the lowest cost. I started to find the source by myself. I need to find direct manufacturers instead of the middleman.
In the sourcing journey, I realized it was tough to find reliable suppliers.
I expect a good supplier is accountable. Product quality and its cost is in balance. The truth is that it is not easy to find.
For this project, delivery on time was not my priority.
I more care service because I did not know the products knowledge well. I expected sales could supply the right solutions to save me time.
Unfortunately, some vendors cheated on me. It was a bad experience. But it is valuable now. Lessons learned are the best teacher of life.
Because of the lessons, I spent a lot of time learning and selecting suppliers. Finally, my house cost was 30% less than budget.
In this project, I learned from lessons.
The truth is that there are reliable suppliers, good products, and competitive prices in the market.
Because some high-quality suppliers are less marketing strategic, it is more difficult to find them. But fake suppliers are often excellent at marketing so they will be found during your search.
Most importantly, you have the knowledge and time to identify them from many suppliers.
I re-thought the value of the sourcing department in the organization. It was not an easy job.
4. BUT, Misfortune Continues
In 2019, my father was diagnosed with Parkinson.
5. Pandemic Arrived Suddenly
Misfortune came again, and I was mentally destroyed.
We prepared two years ago. In 2020, the pandemic arrived suddenly. My daughter needed to study in the United States in 2020 as planned. She can not move on.
In my country, you are not allowed to attend an official local school because you chose to study abroad before.
It was hopeless. I do not see any way out for me.
I ran to the river and cried my eyes out.
The next day I visited my 99-year-old grandmother. I cleaned her house and cooked a meal for her.
She told many stories when she was young.
Although I have heard them many times, this time seems different.
I reorganized my mood and told myself these experiences were a special gift of life.
I re-knew myself and accepted I was just folk. Sometimes we need to have some adversities to find ourselves.
Luckily, we eventually found a solution.
6. Life is 10% What Happens to You and 90% How You React to It
True salvation is finding life’s strength and inner peace from adversity.
For the past four years, to look back on it every day.
Everything is unbelievable because it seems like a dream.
Everything happened like yesterday.
Everything can be easily touched.
Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.
7. Came Back to Career
In 2020, I came back to my career.
I met a lot of customers in two and half years. Most of them are startup companies.
Because of the epidemic, people purchasing habits were shifting from offline to online.
Some are developing side businesses. Some are changing the supply chain from local to China.
I found out they have limited knowledge of how to source from China.
Most of them only focus on lower prices. The price is a small part of the supply chain system.
I have many years of experience in the supply chain field as a local person.
I encountered many lessons learned from my house project. I paid a lot of extra cost and time to get sourcing experience. So my sourcing competence was much strong.
Welcome Friend!
Life is not perfect, but the experience can make you better and grow.
It is my story.
Writing blogs is a coincidence. Expect more help for product sourcing in China.
This website focuses on providing sourcing solutions on how to import goods from China. Make your business easier and safer.
If you would like to know more, contact me!
