Chapter 34 Freeloading! Freeloading again!

"You're right. May I ask what you do?"

Tom wondered if he had encountered an investment banking elite or a big shot in the restaurant industry. But Cheng Daqi looked too young, and his clothes were just ordinary sportswear. What's more, there was an indescribable quality about Cheng Daqi. Tom was familiar with this aura; it was something he had seen in his father and his father's partners. It was a kind of presence that emanated from Cheng Daqi, derived from his past experiences, but it didn't quite match his current appearance.

"You can call me Chan, Jackie Chan's Chan, a failed entrepreneur from Hua Country. My experience may not help you succeed, but perhaps it can help you avoid failure a little."

Cheng Daqi's response was composed. Failure was never shameful; many heroes throughout history had reached the pinnacle through repeated failures. As long as you win that crucial time, no matter how many times you fail, it's worth it. For example, Zhan Ying lost sixteen games in women's professional Go tournaments, winning only two. But one game she won against the current peak female Go player, and the other against the former peak player. With a winning rate of only ten percent, she stood at the pinnacle of Go, creating her own legend. As long as there's a chance to start over, Cheng Daqi won't be discouraged. Cancer in his past life crushed all possibilities of starting over for him. Now, with a new body, he believed he could rise from the bottom of America all the way to the top. With this mentality, even though he was living in obscurity now, he faced life with ease.

"All right, Chan, nice to meet you. Can you share some of your experiences with me?"

Tom eagerly extended his hand, shaking Cheng Daqi's firmly. Perhaps Cheng Daqi's words had struck him too hard; he forgot that his hands were still greasy from handling food.

"You're too kind, Tom. My experience is somewhat related to the restaurant industry, so that's why I said I could give you some advice. Back to our previous topic, have you ever thought about how to differentiate yourself from those big brands?"

When helping others understand, it's important to consider the situation. Simply blurting out advice might not be very convincing. It's only when Tom himself realizes the difficulty of the problem that he'll be receptive to Cheng Daqi's words.

"I... I think those companies' promotions are too dull. I can come up with some interesting promotions."

Tom had some ideas but not many. Shaking his head, Cheng Daqi explained, "Interesting promotions are hard to sustain. You can't please everyone, and you can't expect the advertising team to always have inspiration. Even if they do, once an interesting ad is seen too many times, it becomes boring. Breaking through the suppression of big companies through advertising is a matter of luck and not something you can force. Moreover, big companies have bigger advertising budgets than you. They can make customers see their ads ten times, can you? Besides advertising, do you have any other ideas?"

Actually, there are different methods of advertising, but there's no need to explain them in detail to someone you've just met (the author doesn't want to be accused of padding the story). Besides, helping out with a few bottles of water is too cheap. Cheng Daqi only gave advice to help Tom avoid failure.

"Besides advertising, my burgers are tastier? That's not feasible; there's no way to optimize it further."

Tom fell into contemplation. He couldn't think of a breakthrough. This made him feel somewhat frustrated. Before starting his business, Tom always thought he was different. He was extremely confident, proudly naming his food truck BIGBIGBIG, believing that his food would be recognized by people. Now, under Cheng Daqi's guidance, he realized he didn't know anything. Glancing at his phone, it was almost six o'clock, and the night in San Lost was approaching. Cheng Daqi directly offered his suggestion.

"Tom, for your situation, methods like advertising, cross-industry cooperation, and unmanned restaurants are hard to achieve. The most suitable method for you is to tell a story about your product, to tell a story about your burgers. But your burgers currently lack uniqueness in taste and preparation, so it's difficult to tell a story about them. The uniqueness of the food needs to be created and researched by you. I can't give you advice on that. But if you ever find that uniqueness, you'll need to tell a story about it. You can come to me then."

Cheng Daqi smiled mysteriously; he found the days in America to be very interesting. Every day he encountered extraordinary events.

"But then it's not just about a few bottles of drinks, understand, my friend?"

Seeing Cheng Daqi's firm and powerful gaze, Tom pursed his lips and nodded heavily.

"Chan, I think I need your contact information, can I?"

"Of course, my friend. When you've figured out how to create something unique, feel free to come find me. My suggestions for you are actually quite far from your current situation. Right now, what you need most is to make those bizarre names a bit more normal."

Listening to Cheng Daqi's words, Tom suddenly realized what was going to happen.

"Yes, Tom, we're already friends."

Tom wanted to pat Cheng Daqi's shoulder to show closeness, but his hands were not very convenient, after all, he had just been cooking. He stretched his arm and then awkwardly let it down.

"Then let me treat you to a meal, is that okay, Chan?"

Is this freeloading? Cheng Daqi nodded strangely. How come he's freeloading every day? Now he wants to pay for a meal, but he's forced to freeload again.

"Of course, we can leave first, Tom."

Sanie, who had been feeling drowsy, finally found something she could talk about and agreed.

"Yes, Tom, your burger names are too strange."

The chubby cook nodded with a wry smile; he also realized where the problem lay, but people tend to be a bit stubborn about their choices. Being reminded by Cheng Daqi and Tom made him realize that this stubbornness should be let go of.

"Got it, thank you. I think we're already friends, right?"

Sanie didn't quite understand what Tom meant. But Cheng Daqi had already anticipated what was going to happen.

"Yes, Tom, we're already friends."

The chubby cook wanted to pat Cheng Daqi's shoulder to show closeness, but his hands were not very convenient, after all, he had just been cooking. He stretched his arm and then awkwardly let it down.

"Then let me treat you to a meal, okay, Chan?"

Is this just freeload?

Cheng Daqi nodded with a strange look.

How come he's freeload every day, and now he wants to pay for a meal, but he's still forced to freeload.

"Of course, let's go then, Duomo."

Sani felt like he didn't get anything out of Cheng Daqi, so he lost.

But he also got a free meal, so it seemed like he didn't lose.

Like losing.

Black Sister couldn't figure out whether it was a loss or not.

Duomo didn't feel like he lost at all. He never thought about where his shop would go, never thought he could compete with those big-name brands.

Cheng Daqi's words seemed to open a window for him, showing him the possibilities of his future.

The distance between him and the industry leaders was far. His shop was just a small shrimp for now.

But he had already started thinking about what to do.

Duomo knew that the ideas Cheng Daqi shared with him were right.

The idea of breaking through with cross-industry cooperation or unmanned restaurants sounded great.

But these methods seemed distant and difficult for him to grasp. The only way was to find a unique feature and tell a story.

Taking a cloth, Duomo continued to clean up the already spotless countertop.

On the way back to his revived spot, Cheng Daqi scrolled through the comments section of his TikTok videos.

The first video had been posted for over a day, and his number of followers had exceeded five hundred.

All the data from the video was much better than the first time he saw it.

It basically met Cheng Daqi's expectations for account traffic.

Now he had to think about how to conceptualize today's video.

The content of holding signs could actually be included.

But this kind of content would definitely attract trolls who wouldn't believe how crude and simple struggles were in their spiritual homeland.

Unfortunately, he couldn't take pictures when he was giving out money. Cheng Daqi didn't leave behind a magical scene of Erebus holding a money box in one hand and giving out money with the other.

In addition, he could also put up the menu of Duomo's burger shop and let domestic netizens critique the outrageous names Duomo came up with.