With an annual salary of 2 million, a "working emperor" appears in the cross-border circle

Many industries have executives known as "emperors". Although they are salaried workers, they hold high positions and their salaries are much higher than the average salaried class , reaching the level of "emperors" among workers. The most well-known are Lenovo's Yang Yuanqing and Microsoft's Tang Jun. Recently, the highly-watched TikTok CEO Zhou Shouzi is also among them. It is reported that his annual salary is as high as 100 million US dollars.

The latest data shows that there are more than 120,000 cross-border e-commerce entities in China . With the rapid development of the industry, a group of high-value executives have also emerged. Although they are working, their income has exceeded that of many startup bosses. They are called "working emperors" in the cross-border circle. Should they continue to move up to the top of the company, or work alone to seek greater development? There are different opinions in the industry.

Amazon department head earns more than $2 million a year

In the cross-border e-commerce industry, most practitioners work in basic positions, such as operations, development, and art design. Reaching the supervisor level is already a standout, with a monthly salary of tens of thousands of yuan. If you move up further, what will your personal development and salary be like?

Seller @Amazon五爷 mentioned an "Amazon working emperor" around him: he entered the industry in 2019, has been working in operations for more than 5 years, and is currently the head of Amazon business in a company, with an annual salary plus dividends of 2 to 3 million.

This salary exceeds that of most workers in the industry, and is even more substantial than that of some company bosses.

Almost all workers face the choice of "continue to work or go it alone". As for whether to go it alone in the future, the person in charge (alias "Jack") said that he would not think too much about it now, because the boss treats him very well and he is very satisfied with the current situation; in terms of career development, in addition to the boss, he is also the person in charge of the company and a small partner of the company. If he continues to move forward, his annual income and salary may increase. Going it alone requires taking risks, which is not what he wants.

Wuye gave a thumbs up to his choice: "You have done well on your own, so there is no need to take risks. Not everyone has to start their own business. In the current environment, from 0 to 1, you won't see results for three or two years, and you may not see big results."

Many sellers hold the same view. From the current economic environment, Jack's boss fully authorized his work and his salary was unambiguous, which was already a very good situation. His actual net income even exceeded that of a partner entrepreneur of a company with a GMV of 100 million. It was more attractive than starting a business. After all, whether it was working or starting a business in partnership, it was just a form, and making money was the kingly way.

"His choice is quite right. First, his current salary is quite high, and second, the job is not bad. If he starts a business, he may succeed, but he may not! Sometimes stability is also a kind of success."

With an annual salary of over 2 million, it takes even more courage to choose to work alone at this time. After all, the latter involves all the risks and requires a large amount of operating funds. The risks are self-evident. The seller pointed out that the most important thing is that now is not the era where you can work alone easily: "Money, team, connections, and luck are all indispensable. Most executives who start their own businesses fail. It is not as simple as it seems."

Jack's success relies on two things: his own ability and following the right people. Many sellers expressed their feelings about his experience, saying that they met the right boss, which is very rare. "It's mainly because the boss is generous. Many people who go out to work on their own only help the boss make money, and they can only get a tiny bit of it."

"Boss" is the key to Jack's willingness to continue working, but it is also the reason why many workers are forced to work alone. Therefore , some sellers who have come from workers have different views on his current choice.

A 2 million annual salary is already a very high level in the industry, the key is whether it can be sustained. An operation said that the company's Amazon operations manager previously had an annual salary of about 2 million, and there were rumors within the company that the boss wanted to replace him but couldn't.

This is also the reason why colleagues remind Jack that once the company restructures his position, his situation will change. "It depends on the boss. Once the boss changes his mind, he can cut off the source of funds at any time . You still need to have this sense of crisis. "

If you meet a good boss, not many people want to work alone. Not only are there risks, but even if you work twice as hard, you may not earn as much as working for someone else. One seller said that because he couldn't find a boss who knew how to cherish him, he ended up working on his own, and fortunately the result was good.

There are many similar situations. Some operations managers have launched a popular product, but due to internal competition within the company, the product does not make money. In addition, the company frequently changes the commission system to raise the standards, which inevitably makes them discouraged. Disorderly internal competition is the fuse for many operations managers to decide to work alone. "In the past, my boss would ask about the products I developed before giving them to my colleagues. Later, he directly said that anyone who wants to use the company's products can use them. In any case, the company is occupying the position, and he also said that we have no overall view. I have already started working alone."

In the view of sellers who have achieved good results by working alone, working for others is still not as good as starting a business. "Each has its own advantages, but I don't regret it because I have more free time and the income is much higher."

Making Amazon hot

Recently, more and more people want to switch to cross-border e-commerce, and Amazon is still a popular option.

One seller lamented that in just one month in May, he received six or seven inquiries about whether it was easy to do business on Amazon and what categories to choose. Most of these inquiries came from his previous colleagues in the real estate industry.

There is a big gap between the real estate industry and cross-border e-commerce. The e-commerce experience and foreign language proficiency required by the latter are almost impossible to meet, making it difficult to succeed in the cross-border. A person who changed his career in the real estate industry said that he wanted to switch to Amazon and had been doing homework to understand the operation work, but the progress was slow and no company was willing to hire him.

In addition, a group of people who once desperately fled Amazon also want to return to the industry. A former Japanese website operator who changed his career to become an illustrator is now finding it increasingly difficult to find a job. He wants to return to the Amazon industry and is learning about the cross-border e-commerce market in Shenzhen.

For those who have left, it is not easy to return. One operator said that after a period of absence, he applied for a new job and found that the salary was severely suppressed and it was not easy to pass the interview. "The interview was rejected in various ways, saying that the platform had changed a lot last year. It was relatively easy to find a job at the beginning of the year, but it became very difficult in late April and May. If you leave for too long, you will be rejected in various ways."

Another operations staff member is in the same situation. He took a year off due to illness and has been looking for a suitable job for two months. Good companies don't like him, and most of the jobs they can accept are those with only one day off a day and have to do miscellaneous work. His situation is awkward.

As the seller said, across many industries, cross-border e-commerce is still the top stream. But in the global context, the industry is also undergoing a reshuffle, and practitioners need to be more professional and segmented, and no longer have the bonus of being a porter and making money without doing anything.