CRI听力: Tomato Tree- A shoe selling website, a group of young people's dreams

Starting your own business is a dream for many young people. A few passionate college graduates have established a website to sell shoes called "Tomato Tree". Their goal is to provide the best site in the business. It's too early to judge whether they will be successful, but what they are doing is already starting to attract many people.Li Dong has more.

Reporter:
The workplace for "Tomato Tree" is an ordinary apartment. Four men sit in front of their laptops, working. 'Big Dog' is the programmer of "Tomato Tree". He plays the guitar pretty well too. This cozy room is more like a dormitory than an office.(www.hxen.net)

Huang Xiuyuan is the founder and also the designer of "Tomato Tree". Like Big Dog, he also just graduated. Actually, before deciding to plant "Tomato", Huangxiuyuan was already employed by a renowned internet video website. But, he still decided to quit that job.

"My dad was really angry about my decision. I told him after I quit. We hope to establish a great company. That's why I decided to quit even when financial crisis was still threatening. 'Tomato Tree' is a process through which we can realize our dream. I accumulated some experience when I was in school. I think realizing my dream is really important."

Currently there are four full-time and three part-time staff here. Besides Huang Xiuyuan and Big Dog, the rest of the people are in charge of accounting, customer service and logistics. Huang Xiuyuan says he is confident about the future of "Tomato Tree" though they've been operating for only three months.

"In just three months, our ranking advanced from one millionth to 24 thousandth. This is impressive compare to similar websites. We receive five to seven orders per day, on average. In the beginning, we had a hard time, because we need to handle each and everything by ourselves. But later, we received much help from many old and new friends."

Sukida used to purchase shoes from "Tomato Tree". She likes their style.

"Browsing their website, I can see how they are growing. They put a motto on their homepage — 'Youth should have dreams'. I especially like the promotion video clip they made for their site. And the boss updates his blog quite often. So I can know about the progress they make. This is why I like them."

Big Dog thinks people who want to start their own business should have some basic qualities.

"He, or she, should love what they do. Otherwise he won't have the passion to try some innovative ideas. And he should be self-disciplined and able to cooperate with others. Team spirit is important. Such a person should know how to share and communicate."

Huang Xiuyuan says the money they use to operate the website is provided by his father. With dedicated spirit they are gradually making profit. When asked about whether they can fulfill their dream, Huang Xiuyuan answered calmly

"Our goal is to be the biggest quality shoe website in China. But making big profits is still a long-term goal. I should say we can achieve that in about seven years. Now more and more investors want to cooperate with us. So we will focus on doing the best we can. But for us, 'Tomato Tree' is more than a shoe selling website. We want to make it a credited brand name too."
For China Drive, I am Li Dong.

Li Dong, CRI News.