Chapter 17

In the course of a single afternoon, after William performed his miraculous century-defining trick several times, turning ninety-seven cents into a full dollar, three young men smoothly joined the construction of Great Empire.

They were about to begin this highly promising line of work. Of course, the reason William had chosen them was not because they were silver-tongued, but because their family backgrounds were solid enough.

In other words, they had enough money of their own, enough ready cash they could actually put on the table. They would use their own money to help William make money, make even more money, and then thank William for leading them toward prosperity.

From one angle, the work William was currently doing had almost no resistance to risk at all. The risk here referred to the possibility of imitation.

In any business not protected by technical monopoly, low-skill trades always faced the risk of being copied. That was the ceiling low-skill, low-cost businesses could never truly break through, because anyone could do them.

Turn whole bills into change, then take that change to people who needed it and turn it back into even more whole bills. On the surface, it looked like something anyone could do, so long as they had enough loose change in hand.

And that was true. But there was still a small problem buried inside it, and that problem was the real core of the business, trust.

Some people were always complaining that society was unfair. They sold the same service, so why were some so busy customers had to line up, while others, right next door, had no one at all?

The reason was simple, trust.

Without trust, people were like two isolated islands with no connection between them, no traffic, no exchange. But with trust, it was the same as having a bridge. So long as that bridge was not destroyed, the connection between the two islands would remain close.

William could not stop others from getting into this business as well, but he had his own advantage.

He brought Richard and the other two young men, each harboring his own thoughts while still brimming with confidence, back to the office, which was in fact a warehouse William had rented temporarily. He had hired two carpenters to build a simple office inside it and divide the warehouse into two sections.