Li Yue, a 12-year-old girl from China, bought a stationery shop with her savings. He hired his mother at a salary of 3,000 yuan a month. Lee looks after the business management and later converted the shop into a food business.
New Delhi: At the age of 12, children usually go to school and play. But a girl from China has done something at this age, which everyone is surprised to hear. This girl bought a stationery shop with her savings and hired her mother at a monthly salary of 3,000 yuan.
This is the story of Li Yue, who lives in Jiangxi province of China. During the Spring Festival, he received about 44,000 yuan (about Rs 5 lakh) as a gift. Lee decided to invest this money in some business. He believed that by keeping it in the bank, the interest would be very less compared to inflation.
One day while passing by, Lee saw a ‘For Sale’ board at a stationery shop. He immediately made up his mind to buy that shop. His mother explained to him that there could be a loss in this, but Lee showed courage and invested all his savings.
Daughter management, mother at the shop!
When schools reopened in March, Lee hired her mother to run the day-to-day operations of the store. Now the mother manages the shop, while Lee looks after the work like negotiating with suppliers, deciding the prices of the goods and making strategies to take the business forward.
How was Lee’s daily routine?
Lee used to open the shop in the morning before going to school and check the stock. After coming back from school, she would sit at the shop and study and help her mother till 8:30 pm. To maintain the accounts of the shop, he also created a digital ledger with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool.
When the shop’s earnings declined a few weeks ago, Lee took immediate action. He told his mother, “If we think too much about sunk costs, the goods will not sell and there will be cash flow problems.” He reduced the price of small items to just 1 yuan and gave up to 50% discount on good quality items. The result was that children and their parents stormed the shop.
From stationery to food business
Lee noticed that the stationery business was taking too much time. Therefore now he has changed his business model. She has bought new equipment by selling her old stock of stationery and is now selling sausages, orange juice and cold drinks. Lee says, “I want to be an honest boss. Before selling anything, I taste it myself to see if it is good for health or not.”
Debate broke out on social media
Lee’s story has gone viral on social media and people are talking about it. Lee’s mother fully supports her daughter’s move. “It’s like a business school for him,” she says proudly. One user wrote, “So much wisdom and courage at such a young age, this girl will definitely succeed.” At the same time, another user advised, “12 years is the age to focus on studies, it is not right to take on the responsibility of business so early.”