Chapter 428: Old Trade

Dai Li felt like an exploitative capitalist. Faced with employees asking for a raise, he he rejected their request resolutely, with no room for compromise. He wouldn’t pay even an extra cent.

Blake, who was sitting in the driver seat only shrugged his shoulders. He had a 5% share in the training center, so he could also be considered as a small owner. Naturally, he also had the mindset of a capitalist, and was determined not to give the employees their raise.

While he was driving, Blake slowly said, “I never thought you would reject them so decisively. This reminds me of the time several decades ago when labor unions flourished. Back then, unions would often request wage increases, and if business owners didn’t agree, the labor unions would organize strikes. After that, the business owners and unions negotiated to give the workers a raise and to increase employee benefits. Once the workers’ demands were satisfied, they would go back to work. However, not long after, the workers who had tasted the honey would ask for another raise and more benefits. If the business owners rejected them, they would go on strike again, and then they would get into another negotiation… Such was the cycle. In the end, the business owners couldn’t take it anymore. They shut down their factories and moved them overseas, to places where they didn’t have to worry about labor unions. The business owners continued to make money whereas the American workers lost their jobs.”

“I have heard about it a little. I remember a few years ago, General Motors declared bankruptcy because the United Automobile Workers union demanded too much. In the end, General Motors couldn’t compete anymore. They were the largest manufacturer to declare bankruptcy in American history,” Dai Li said.

“In actuality, most of the automobile workers did not have to worry about their livelihood; they were all skilled workers. Even if the three big giants, General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler became bankrupt, these automobile workers could go to Japanese manufacturers like Toyota, Honda, and Nissan. The automobile manufacturing plants opened by the Japanese in America don’t care about unions such as the United Automobile Workers, so if they went to work at a Japanese plant, their benefits would be much lower.”

Blake noticed that the traffic light far away had already turned red, so he slowed the car down before continuing, “Most skilled professionals are the same; they won’t really become jobless. If they have the skills, they will always be able to earn a living. The only difference is whether or not their quality of life will go down. Just like those coaches that left our center, and those that are about to leave, they are all actually just hoping for a better life.”

“I understand what you mean. Job hopping for money is not something to be ashamed of, and if your salary goes up every time you jump ship, it actually shows the value you possess. It shows that your abilities are getting stronger and stronger.” Dai Li spread his hands and said, “But if someone is earning a salary that is disproportionate to their abilities, that may not be a good thing.”

“Yeah. Those coaches think that they should have a better salary, so they jumped ship,” Blake answered casually.

Dai Li shook his head, “You misunderstand. What I mean to say is, the salary that I am giving them right now reflects their current abilities. With their current abilities, they are not suitable for a higher salary, so they shouldn’t have requested a raise. At least not now. Those training centers that gave them a high salary made a deal that will lose them money.”

Blake was shocked by Dai Li’s words. “I thought you were just trying to make yourself feel better because you couldn’t get those coaches to stay! You’re actually saying that the ones that got poached away were all newbies?”

“Of course. Do you think their coaching abilities are high?” Dai Li asked.

“In comparison to you, they are indeed pretty weak; actually, it’s not even comparable. But compared to the average coach, they are not bad! At least to me, their salary is matched by their work performance; I would even go so far as to say that they are a good value. Which is why Ironman Training Center is willing to spend so much money on poaching them,” Blake said.

“It would be the same with anyone else hired to fill their positions. If you place the new employees you hire with me and let me train them properly, they will also become outstanding coaches,” Dai Li said very confidently.

Blake gave Dai Li a look. He didn’t know where Dai Li’s confidence was coming from.

Blake had considered becoming a boxing coach, so he knew that developing a good coach didn’t happen overnight. This caused him to be somewhat uncertain about the salary increase issue. As the saying goes, it is easy to raise an army, but hard to find a general. There were tons of average coaches, but good coaches were rare. They could only be discovered, not sought out.

On Dai Li’s face, there was a vague sneer, and there was even a slight hint of sarcasm in the sneer.

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Those naive people. Do they really think that their coaching abilities have improved that much? If they had the ability, they would’ve done well a long time ago, and they wouldn’t have had to come to my training center. Dai Li shook his head in silence. His mind had already entered the system. He was looking at the vacant positions in the team pyramid.

The coaches that chose to jump ship were all employed by Dai Li during the early stages. At that time, Dai Li’s training center had only been open for a while. They wanted resources, but they had none, they wanted fame, but they had none. They had no way of hiring top-tier fitness coaches, which was why they could only hire coaches with average abilities. Chris Payton’s resume was the best amongst them.

As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. The coaches that had no skills would naturally garner lower pay. In addition to hiring some part-time workers, Dai Li’s human resources cost wasn’t very high.

As far as the effects of the coaching, Dai Li wasn’t worried at all. The training programs were all designed personally by Dai Li, and then the other coaches were responsible for the daily training. The motion detector allowed Dai Li to know clearly the weaknesses of every single person. From that, specific training programs could be developed. The other coaches simply had to follow the training program.

Ever since he obtained the team pyramid, Dai Li had fewer reasons to worry about the training effects. The team pyramid allowed the coaches under Dai Li to benefit from additional training effects, turning them from a group of weaklings into elite coaches. If they weren’t connected to the team pyramid, their level would be the same as average coaches.

Like Jones, who was poached away by the Ironman Training Center. His real standard only allowed him to work in gyms, coaching ordinary people. Once Dai Li brought him into the team pyramid and gave him the position of a top-level coach, he would receive the bonus of a top-level coach. When Dai Li was still a top-level coach, he had the ability to coach the national team. A gym coach and a national team coach; the difference was as big as heaven and earth.

It was also because of the effects from the team pyramid that Jones would feel his coaching ability had improved. This gave him the incorrect perception that he was a young, promising, and talented coach.

Without the team pyramid, the coaches that jumped ship would be restored to their original level. If they had really been very talented coaches, they wouldn’t have gone to Dai Li’s center to work. They would’ve achieved something a long time ago.

Blake, who was driving the car, did not pay attention to Dai Li’s confidence. He continued to drive and said as he drove, “Recruiting new people can’t be rushed, but we have recently accepted some clients for physical training. We have to prep them for lifeguard recruitment tests. That sort of training is usually short-term and profitable, but word of mouth will spread quickly. If we don’t do well in a certain year, it will be difficult to get that kind of business again.”

“Yeah, summer is almost here again. The beaches will be very full,” Dai Li looked at the sky outside.

Blake continued to say, “Last year, we opened a small-scale physical fitness course for lifeguards. The results were decent. Many were able to pass the physical fitness part of the lifeguard exam. At that time, Jones was the one who was responsible for the training. Jones was the first one to be poached by the Ironman Training Center, and at the same time, he brought over some of our clientele. This affects us quite negatively.”

Amongst jobs that were popular with American youths, being a beach lifeguard was usually among the top ten. Imagine staying out at the beach every day, facing the ocean, enjoying the sun and the breeze. There were also many sexy bikini babes and young muscular guys with eight packs. There would be nothing to do but just ride a motorcycle around the beach. The days would pass as if it were a holiday. Earning a decent paycheck while on holiday; how could young people not be tempted by that sort of life? In an effort to attract young viewers, some American film companies purposely went and filmed movies about lifeguards.

Thus, a large number of young people to would be attracted to sign up for the recruitment of beach lifeguards. Only the best of the best could work in that popular occupation. The acceptance rate for beach lifeguards in America was comparable to the acceptance rate of civil servants in China. Just by looking at the popularity of training programs for civil servants in China, one could imagine the popularity of training programs for beach lifeguards in America.

As a beach lifeguard, besides knowing the techniques for saving lives, one also needed to be good in the water and have good physical fitness. Many physical fitness training centers opened courses to help clients develop those skills, allowing them to smoothly pass the beach lifeguard exam.

Dai Li started his career with training courses, so of course, he knew that these kinds of short-term courses were profitable. In the past, Dai Li started a two months summer course that was able to earn him a year’s worth of salary. So, the beach lifeguard training course was a profitable venture to any fitness training center.

However, these sorts of short-term courses depended a lot on word-of-mouth. It wasn’t only true in China, but in other countries as well. If none of the students from a group who trained in a particular year passed the test, then the center’s reputation would be ruined. As a result, no one would sign up the following year. In contrast, if the passing rate was high, then when the course opened the following year, students would come rushing in.

For the students who took part in the training course, the important thing wasn’t the price, but the quality of the training. It was like in the retake class for the National Higher Education Entrance Examination in China; if the class could produce a Number One Scholar of the College Entrance Examination every year, even if the price was high, there would be no need to worry about student recruitment. On the contrary, many would even try to secure a place in the class through connections.

When Dai Li thought about the characteristics of training courses, he massaged his temples before saying, “Conducting training courses is my old trade, I’ll personally handle this year’s beach lifeguard training course. I want to have a passing rate of a hundred percent!”