Help your members save money, help your customers make money.
I left home at noon today. It was extremely hot outside, but I firmly believed that sweat would be rewarded. Around 2 pm, I arrived at the Shanghai Municipal Information Commission to meet a friend and chat. We talked for a long time, nearly two hours, and naturally gained a lot, whether it was about entrepreneurship, Caike Online Accounting Network, or financing.
My friend provided me with several profitable models, which indeed showed that he had spent time and effort thinking for us; otherwise, these good suggestions wouldn't have come up. We talked about some successful websites and business models like Alibaba and Ctrip. He gave me one sentence: "Help your members save money, help your customers make money." Now, after careful reflection, as a platform, to be profitable, two problems must be solved. If these two problems are not resolved, it's impossible to make money. The first problem is to help members and meet their certain needs. With this as a foundation, merchants or companies can be attracted. At the same time, it's necessary to help businesses earn money through the platform; otherwise, everything will be in vain.
Take Caike Online Accounting Network as an example. Currently, it only solves the need of members to keep accounts, but this demand cannot continuously attract users or maintain user loyalty. Therefore, while meeting members' certain needs, more valuable services should be provided, such as saving money and financial management. Previously, Caike Online has always been thinking about profit models in terms of how to place precise advertisements. Currently, Caike Online has tens of thousands of registered members. If it solely relies on precise advertising, it will definitely be difficult to sustain. So why not provide the existing members to help those financial companies without customers by providing them with a customer base?
Although Caike Online is a professional online accounting platform and there isn't a ready-made model to refer to, it can still integrate and learn from other successful models and experiences. For example, it can learn from the model and experience of Ctrip.
In fact, many websites currently don't have clear profit models. These websites are all like my previous thoughts: as long as the website is done well, someone will invest naturally. However, we overlook one point: it's hard to persist without income, often shutting down just before dawn. As a grassroots entrepreneur, one cannot put all hopes on financing. It's necessary to walk on two legs, placing equal importance on financing and profitability, or even prioritizing profitability over financing. So how do small websites find profit models? For this question, I used to think that it could be explored slowly, but now I've found that this idea of mine is completely wrong. Small websites should actively seek suitable profit models for themselves. Before there are ready-made successful cases, other websites' profit models can be referenced. For instance, Caike Online can boldly learn from and reference Ctrip's profit model.
Regardless of what type of website it is, having members alone is not enough. Members must be converted into economic benefits. How does a website convert its members into economic benefits? What struck me most deeply is "help your members save money, help your customers make money." As long as these two points are done well, the website won't worry about not making money.
Grassroots Entrepreneur: Tian Keshan
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