Million - Annual - Salary Series 011: A contract worker with a monthly salary of 1300 renovated an alley in Beijing's Second Ring Road. When he was at his poorest, he borrowed money from all online lending platforms.
36Kr "Workplace Bonus" (ID: ZhiChangHongLi)
Behind most six - figure annual salaries, there is always a bonus boost.
Although a six - figure annual salary has become a label for countless public accounts to tease in their titles, it must be admitted that it is not easy to achieve. Behind each six - figure annual salary story, there are a large number of bonuses pushing it forward. Region, industry, mentor, profession, personal talent... We believe that these dimensions determine the odds of a person's career development.
The amount of annual salary is not the only standard to measure success and happiness. We neither want to teach everyone "Machiavellianism" nor write "survivorship bias" stories. In this series, we will take you to explore the choices made by each interviewee with a six - figure annual salary at critical moments, as well as their visions for the future. May we see the direction of the bonus tide from it.
In the first year of renovating the hutongs in the Second Ring Road, Wang Ximing paid off almost all his debts. One year later, he achieved an annual salary of one million.
Before that, the peak period of promotional videos had passed. Wang Ximing's "self - employed" company lacked a source of customer orders and had difficulty surviving. He borrowed from all online lending platforms and was penniless, but life still had to go on.
This was not the first time Wang Ximing faced such a dilemma. In the fourth year of his work, he once chose to "quit his job without a new one" regardless of everything. For a whole year after quitting, he bought socks from the wholesale market near Beijing Zoo and then waited on the overpass near Beijing Normal University for passing students to buy the socks. Most of those socks remained unsold, and they were nowhere to be found in his later wandering life.
There is a wild - grass - like aura about Wang Ximing. After graduating from a junior college, he caught up with the depression of the financial crisis and it was difficult to find a job. After a year of inactivity, he accidentally entered the school's publicity department as a computer major graduate and was responsible for video editing. He had to start learning everything from scratch. A salary of 1,300 yuan was not enough for living, so he tried every means to jump to a private enterprise under CCTV and was the first to apply computers in video creation. Later, he started his own company. Without employees, he began to complete the whole process of receiving orders, shooting, and editing by himself.
When I met Wang Ximing, it was his moment of glory - he renovated an 8 - square - meter hutong house in the Second Ring Road into a living space for a family of five. The video of this renovation had over 100 million views, bringing 300,000 new followers to their account "Designer Didi". The simplicity of a rural person given to him by his growth environment still remained at this moment. Due to long - term shooting at construction sites, Wang Ximing had a dark complexion. When speaking, he would scratch his head shyly. When asked a question he couldn't answer immediately, he would always give a silly smile and then fall silent to think slowly.
"If it comes to house renovation, we may not be the best, but in terms of the renovation of hutong houses in the Second Ring Road and the number of followers, we are definitely among the top." During the conversation, this was a rare "boastful" statement from him.
This is Wang Ximing's 20th year in Beijing. Despite his small achievements, he still calls himself an ordinary person. He doesn't have a good family background and isn't very lucky. But he has the tenacity to grow wildly and knows how to seize new opportunities, which is why he has grown from a grass to a tree.
Choose to move from school to a company and actively seek opportunities ╱ 01
Choose to leave a traditional film and television company and find the meaning of life in a low - period ╱ 02
Choose to start your own company and become a "self - employed" ╱ 03
Choose to put aside prejudices and embrace the short - video trend ╱ 04
Epilogue ╱ 05
Choose to move from school to a company and actively seek opportunities
Age: 22 - 24 | Annual salary: 15,000 - 36,000
In 2009, China was affected by the financial crisis. The decline in the GDP of major trading partners led to a 10% decrease in China's exports of goods and services. A large number of export - oriented enterprises faced problems such as reduced orders and over - capacity, and about 20 - 36 million jobs were lost.
Wang Ximing graduated from Beijing Jingshi Science and Technology College the same year. It was a private college operating within the campus of Beijing Normal University, sharing teaching resources with Beijing Normal University students. Graduates obtained undergraduate or junior - college diplomas according to the training plan. In this year, Beijing Jingshi Science and Technology College stopped running.
With the school closing down and a poor employment environment, Wang Ximing was caught in a dilemma. Even though he majored in the popular computer science, his junior - college diploma could hardly help him find a job at that time. He was inactive for a whole year.
In the second year after graduation, Wang Ximing was "tricked" back to work in the Academic Affairs Office of Beijing Normal University. Introduced by his senior, he started working as a contract worker in a university. Although the basic welfare was good, his monthly salary was only 1,300 yuan. After renting a house near Beijing Normal University, there was little left. Wang Ximing was not picky, but he was recruited by a university teacher under the pretext of maintaining the website. After only changing a code, the teacher never mentioned making a website again. Instead, it was assumed that Wang Ximing's job content was changed to video editing, and he began to teach him shooting and editing.
Wang Ximing cherished this hard - won job opportunity very much. Although the job content was different, he quickly adjusted and started learning from scratch. Among his colleagues in the same position, he was the most active. "Almost every time we went out on a mission in the car, I was the only one on it. Other colleagues didn't want to come." Moreover, Wang Ximing began to study ways to improve work efficiency. He read all the books by Tony Buzan [1] in his spare time and broke down work goals into branches and tasks to quickly respond to work needs.
At Beijing Normal University, Wang Ximing quickly absorbed the nutrients of knowledge. He was "full" spiritually, but it was difficult to fill his stomach physically. To solve his livelihood problem, he chose to do part - time wedding shooting on weekends and took orders by himself using the school's equipment.
An opportunity appeared at a part - time wedding. Once, Wang Ximing found that there was another person at the scene carrying a camera on the shoulder, looking very professional. He tried to talk to the person several times, but the person ignored him. Wang Ximing was not annoyed. After finishing his work, he lingered nearby. After waiting for nearly an hour and a half, the woman finally had some free time. Seeing Wang Ximing still beside her, she was touched by his persistence and talked to him.
Wang Ximing was straightforward. After a few greetings, he went straight to the point and asked if the woman had any job opportunities. After careful consideration, the woman told him, "There may be such an opportunity in our company, but you need to have an interview. You can first take a look at our website." It was the period when standard - definition TV was being converted to high - definition TV, and the woman said that 4K TV might appear in the future. Wang Ximing was immediately inspired.
After joining China Media North, Wang Ximing learned that the company was a subsidiary of the listed company China Media Group, which was controlled by CCTV. Wang Ximing's daily work involved video editing of TV dramas, which required proficient operation of old - fashioned video recorders and tapes, especially familiarity with the processes from locating the position on the recorder to precisely positioning the tape. For example, when an advertisement needed to be inserted in the middle of a TV drama on CCTV 8, Wang Ximing had to precisely adjust the frames of the picture.
As the work progressed, Wang Ximing gradually got involved in more core aspects - the proofreading work of picture and sound errors, similar to proofreading in text editing, which was a key step in controlling the quality of the program. With his science - and - engineering thinking and computer - major background, he discovered the potential of computers in film and television content. In his spare time, he taught himself software such as PR, AE, and AU. Wang Ximing was most proud that he found the key parameter settings within two months and used AU to reduce the efficiency of sound adjustment from two hours to two minutes.
In two years, Wang Ximing participated in the production of a lot of high - quality content: "China 1921", "Thank Goodness You're Here"... Although he didn't meet the stars in the film and television content face - to - face, this job still brought him great happiness -
"My friends think I'm really awesome for being able to produce content for CCTV!"
[1] Tony Buzan: Tony Buzan (1942 - April 13, 2019), male, the inventor of mind maps, from London, UK, graduated from Columbia University in the United States.
Bonus review:
Wang Ximing actively sought opportunities, moving from campus to joining China Media Group, gradually accumulating video - editing experience, participating in the production of many films, TV shows, and variety shows, and becoming familiar with the video - production process and content ecosystem. At the same time, as a composite talent with a dual - skill set, he took advantage of his computer - major advantage to be the first to explore the efficiency improvement of AU/PR/AE software, contributing to the company's digital transformation.
Choose to leave a traditional film and television company and find the meaning of life in a low - period
Age: 24 - 25 | Annual salary: 10,000 - 15,000
Wang Ximing proposed to leave China Media North three times.
At that time, traditional media was at its peak, and the Internet was still in its initial development stage. In many people's eyes, choosing to leave China Media North was not a wise choice. However, there were also many problems with this seemingly glamorous job.
Overtime was the norm. "When we were making programs for the Two Sessions, the Two Sessions lasted for 7 days, and I stayed up for 7 consecutive days. The cameraman shot on the front line during the day, and the tapes didn't reach my hands until at night, so I had to stay up late to work on them."
In terms of salary, his monthly salary was more than 3,000 yuan when he joined the company. Although it was twice as much as his previous income, the increase was very small. Many years after leaving, Wang Ximing learned that the current salary of his former colleagues was only about 6 - 7,000 yuan. Not to mention, there was almost no possibility of getting a formal - staff position.
Most importantly, Wang Ximing already had a vague awareness of the decline of traditional media at that time: within the company, building relationships was more important than doing practical work. Some people got high salaries through improper means (such as randomly recording work volume), while he worked the most overtime but had the lowest income; the process of traditional media was cumbersome, and it was difficult to promote projects. More crucially, traditional media lacked innovation vitality and was difficult to keep up with the trend of the times. Under the impact of emerging media, they still resisted Internet platforms. This kind of conservatism made Wang Ximing determined to leave.
When he proposed to leave for the third time, the leader proposed to transfer Wang Ximing to another group and called in two or three colleagues to persuade him. But Wang Ximing said, "This time, I'm not just moving from the front seat to the back seat. I'm getting off the bus now." This was a sentence he saw in a book not long ago, and he murmured it in his heart several times. He thought this sentence was guiding him.
Hearing this, the leader also understood that his mind was made up and didn't try to keep him anymore.
When going through the resignation procedures, the HR looked at Wang Ximing strangely several times and asked, "Why did you resign?" She pointed to another colleague who resigned at the same time and told Wang Ximing, "It's normal for him to resign."
The colleague who resigned at the same time looked happy and said that he had actually found a new job. Wang Ximing later heard that it was a good job in the security department. In contrast, Wang Ximing actually quit his job without a new one lined up. He was so "naked" that he hadn't even thought about what to do next for the time being.
In the HR's eyes, Wang Ximing's answer was full of idealism: "Because I want to find the most suitable direction for myself."
Now, when looking back on himself at that time, Wang Ximing used the word "scared" to describe himself.
"At that time, I was clearly in a state of confusion. I don't know where the courage came from, but I just quit my job. At the moment of leaving, I only felt relieved."
Life didn't treat Wang Ximing well, and the situation began to take a turn for the worse. Wang Ximing applied for several jobs, but there was no follow - up.
Facing the pressure, Wang Ximing never thought about leaving Beijing. He simply stretched his body - he wouldn't force it and would take a break first. Wang Ximing always thought that "as long as a person has hands and feet, he won't starve to death." This was due to his father's influence.
His father was once a "ten - thousand - yuan household" in the village, very familiar with the application of No. 98 and No. 100 cement, and was a foreman for Zhoukou people working in Zhengzhou. When Wang Ximing was a child, he often saw his father settle the workers' wages at the end of the year. A group of workers would surround him, but his father always completed the settlement quickly and well. "Material wealth is not one's own wealth. Spiritual wealth is one's own wealth." His father often said this to Wang Ximing. After Wang Ximing went to college, his father only left him four words, "work - study program".
Wang Ximing didn't let his father down. He only asked his family for money once during college. "I needed a PHS to receive business." It was just the beginning of his freshman year. While other students were still getting familiar with the location of the canteen and dormitory, Wang Ximing had already started to actively explore part - time job channels. Part - time job information on the campus of Beijing Normal University was posted on the BBS website and poster columns, with the recruitment phone number below. Although his parents didn't know what kind of business there could be in the school, they still gave him financial support without hesitation.
With the PHS, Wang Ximing started to copy envelopes, work as a tutor, sell newspapers, and sell socks in his spare time. His part - time jobs supported him. But he knew in his heart that this was not what he really wanted to do. After copying hundreds of envelopes and documents for government agencies at a unit price of a few cents, he secretly made up his mind: in the future, he must stay as far away from these rules and regulations as possible.
The hardships he endured in school gave him a special tolerance for the so - called "low - period". Having no continuous work and not knowing where the next meal would come from - if "it's just going through the past experiences again", the worry in his heart seemed to be a little lighter. In the year after leaving China Media North, Wang Ximing made a living by selling socks. When he went to the wholesale market near the zoo to buy goods, he read books related to enterprises such as Toyota and Ford. He was deeply impressed by the efficiency improvement of the assembly line and employee welfare and learned some management knowledge from them.
Bonus review:
From 2012 - 2014, traditional media was in a period of painful transformation. In 2012, the growth rate of the advertising expenditure of Chinese traditional media was only 4.5%, far lower than the average growth rate of 13.5% from 2008 - 2011, and the advertising expenditure of newspapers decreased by 7.5%. In