(Minghui.org) I am a young Falun Dafa practitioner. As a child, after the persecution began in 1999, lost the cultivation environment but always remembered that Dafa is good. I resumed cultivation when I was in 10th grade.
I gave up my well-paying job in 2016 to open my own business. I wasn't sure which business to do but decided to buy a Western fast-food restaurant in a college staff housing area that had closed. The plan was to mainly provide takeout food.
Initially, sales were less than 100 yuan per day, not enough to make ends meet. In China, restaurants are listed according to monthly sales and customer scores on the takeout ordering websites. Because my store was new in a remote location and didn’t have good sales, it was listed close to the bottom of the two most popular websites.
Some people suggested that I “create” sales and scores by asking friends to buy from me, post a good score on the websites, and then get their money back from me. I firmly rejected this suggestion because it went against the principle of “Truthfulness.”
There is an unspoken rule in this industry that restaurants send “WeChat red envelopes” to the webmasters of the takeout websites to influence a restaurant's ranking and to speed up various applications. But as a practitioner, I invited them to taste our food and didn't send any money. I knew I should follow the way of nature. If I sent money to people they would obtain something that didn't belong to them and I would lose virtue.
Gradually, more and more customers came to my restaurant because of our good food and service. But I still wasn't making a profit. One day, a food ordering website employee contacted me and said they intended to include my restaurant in a promotion plan, which would be very helpful to our ranking. I knew this was arranged by Master Li (the founder) because I behaved correctly. As expected, sales rose sharply, and the restaurant quickly started making a profit.
We made a lot of fried food so I reminded the chef to change the cooking oil every seven to eight days. The customers could tell we used fresh oil, and many of them saw us discarding the old oil.
One time, two people carrying a big plastic pail came to my restaurant and asked to buy our waste oil. Fearing they would reuse it at another restaurant or sell it to other restaurants and thus harm customers, I asked what they intended to use it for. They said that it would be used in a factory. Thinking that this would increase my income by thousands of yuan per year, I agreed to sell the old oil.
They left the pail saying they would come back in a few days. But when the chef poured the waste oil into it, he saw that the bottom was damaged. I immediately realized there must be a loophole in my behavior and threw the pail away. I planned to reimburse them for the cost of the pail. Surprisingly, no one ever came back for the pail.
Another food ordering website also contacted me about including me in their promotion plan. Hence, my sales went up further. We became so busy that our delivery time slowed to a crawl. I hired more people but we still couldn't keep up. I got a lot of calls from customers asking why they hadn't received their food.
At first, I made excuses, but after answering yet another call, I decided not to fudge anymore and to just tell the truth. I told the customer it was because we were very busy, and explained where his food had gone. Unexpectedly, the customer happily said he would continue waiting. This incident helped me realize the power of being truthful. When we behave righteously things go smoothly.
As the business grew, we purchased more and more goods. The delivery men dropped the items and left, and I paid the vendor later. One time, they inadvertently delivered two extra bags and forgot to charge me. My chef told me to just keep them and not tell the vendor. I insisted on telling the vendor and paying for the extra goods. The vendor was moved by my honesty.
Later, when the delivery men left extra bags unintentionally, the chef told others not to tell me. But when I found out what was happening I told the chef that I was a Falun Dafa practitioner and should not be dishonest. Nowadays running a business is not easy, and we shouldn't take advantage of others. The chef said, “Falun Dafa practitioners are truly good people, you are different from others.”
By the end of the third semester, my restaurant was ranked No.1 on both websites. I knew my success came from acting in line with Master's requirements.
Master said:
“Everyone knows that among our Dafa disciples, there are business people and even ones who are involved in big business. They are cultivators, and they are good people in their working places. They don’t lie or deceive people, yet their businesses do very well.” (Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference in Australia)
The revenue continued to increase, and maintaining manpower became more difficult. I kept recruiting workers, but many were not qualified, so staffing was not stable. I began to lose my temper when I was very busy, and time spent on Fa study dropped. Moreover, I participated in fewer truth clarification projects. I began to wonder what was the purpose of being so busy.
After a lot of consideration, I decided to sell the restaurant. Maybe because Master saw that I wanted to be more diligent in cultivation, somebody bought it for a good price the day after the ad was posted.
I went back to doing my original job. Although I hadn't done it for two years, I quickly recovered my skills.
Now I cultivate more diligently and spend more time in cultivation and truth-clarification.
A million thanks to Master Li for His merciful salvation, which enables me to walk righteously on the path of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
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Category: Improving Oneself
