Meet cici zhao | Female Entrepreneur & Snowboarder

We had the good fortune of connecting with cici zhao and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi cici, what principle do you value most?
Being kind, hard-working, and creative are the three important values that matter to me.

1. Being Kind (Honesty)
I have seen tons of businessmen who run E-commerce by advertising unfaithful facts of products that lead to sales revenues. Even though they do make money in a very short time, it would undermine customers’ interests and surely won’t keep business long and healthy.

You might ask, it’s the platforms’ fault for allowing them to run ads up there. the truth is, most platforms do have their systems, especially security systems to prevent it from happening. It’s just quite hard to stop all from happening even if they have tons of computers working on it.

So what really can prevent it? What generates business consistency and great loyalty? It’s simply being kind and thinking of your customers all the time, standing in their shoes. Don’t let the short-term interest damage your customers and long-lasting business. We should always have the capability of enjoying deferred gratification.

I’ve always admired Amazon’s core principle, which is caring for your customer more than anything else. This has become my first and most important principle of running the business as well.

2. Hard-working
Ever since I started this business, I have worked almost 24/7, Dedication is a vital element for a businessman to run their companies smoothly and quickly, especially for startups. Considering that you assign a task to one of your teammates and tell him to finish in 3 days while he actually completes it in a week. How should the company manage and process the entire work? The remaining job might be affected. I know it might sound crazy, but if we need a month to complete the task while our competitors can finish it in a week, we might just lose the market. (it’s cruel but real)

Here’s a saying I like that highlights the dedication and importance of prompt action. You should always take action when you know 60-70% of the fact and work hard to prove it. If you take action until you have understood 90% of the fact, you will be late already.

3. Being creative
Creativity ranks third among these important values. It allows the staff to express their opinion and contribute to the company.

If the first two are the fundamental core values of running a business, I would consider creativity is a value that helps you stand out of the market.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Before starting my business, I went through two career changes in my life. Initially, I was an accountant, followed by being a consultant in an educational institution, and finally the advertising industry. I couldn’t imagine I would love this industry so much until I was 25, the age I went into the advertising industry. I first did advertising consultations on Facebook and Google. When I entered this industry, I thought I was older than my peers, so I worked hard to learn and improve, and OT a lot. I like the creativity in advertising, and I like to participate in every advertising planning and analyze and review the data of each advertising campaign. I still remember how excited I was when I first learned about CPM, CPC, and the combinations of online and offline commercial campaigns. Of course, for an accountant who had worked for 4-5 years, entering a new field also means reshuffling the cards, starting from scratch again. Fortunately, my sensitivity to numbers somehow provides me with a shortcut.  Later, I was deeply fascinated by skiing, I enjoy the speeding and progress I made from the slope. I gradually want to do something for the ski industry. I am Chinese, so I want to do something for the Asian ski culture, let the world see our rise, and hopefully, we could bring some fresh blood to this field. So I have been in contact with many brands since the beginning of 21, letting them know my original intention, which marks the start of Snowears. I am very grateful to every brand cooperator for their trust in us, and we are also very grateful to every customer who chooses us, which also means that you are willing to give a newly born brand a chance to grow.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
There are tons of areas to visit in NYC. First of all, I want to take her to eat brunch in NYC and enjoy the leisure time, taking pictures, chatting, and relaxing. After the brunch, I will take her to Central Park to walk around, just enjoy the fresh air and sit on the bench, talking about the past funny stories. Then head to the nearby metropolis and see the artwork there. My best friend loves shopping, so next, we would definitely go shopping on Fifth Avenue.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
All right, this might sound weird. I would give this credit to my ex. Interesting is that I never thought I can be a founder/CEO of a company. When we were together, I engaged in part of my business as a part-time job while all he wants are security and stability. He does not believe I would work anything out. So when we broke up, he said, you should stop thinking of any business ideas and get yourself together, just focus on the current job.

The second day, I quit my job. Then I started my career, the one that I have been thinking of.

So thanks to him, I could have never been so close to my dream.

Website: snowears.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/snowears_shop/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Snowears_online-shop-101000932369191

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkGbG4MjsMh45tNCewGRpbA

Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.jp/Snowears2021/_shop/