CEO livestreams to sell products to support employees, unexpectedly earns 1 billion/month

(Dan Tri) - Under pressure to reduce business activities and lay off employees due to the economic recession, Mr. Vo Thanh Luan (born in 1987, in Da Lat) decided to learn livestreaming on his own and proactively sell products via social networks.

"Director goes into sales", "After studying abroad, he also becomes a livestreamer (live-streaming content online)", those are some of the comments that Mr. Vo Thanh Luan (Director of the project House of Youth) received when he decided to sell bottles of essential oils, soaps, decorations... via social networks. Ignoring all the negative opinions, doubts, and ridicule, with perseverance for 9 months, he created unexpected revenue. The sweetest fruit is that this success not only helped him avoid firing his employees but also provided additional financial support to them.

Working seriously and persistently, Mr. Luan has generated huge revenue through each livestream sales (Photo: NVCC).

Choose responsibility, self-respect or let go? In 2016, after returning to Vietnam after studying abroad in the Philippines, Mr. Luan decided to go to the mountainous city of Da Lat and founded the project House of Youth. This is a community project, aiming to help deaf and mute people gain career experience, access society and learn to live more independently. Thanks to his experience working for foreign corporations, in a short time, Mr. Luan was able to build a tea shop and a large raw material area to produce essential oils, soaps, and decorations from plants in Da Lat. The work progressed positively, in 2021, Mr. Luan expanded his business, adding stores in Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and dozens of retail agents across the country. While progressing, the Covid-19 pandemic suddenly struck, quickly causing the young owner to fall into difficulty and financial exhaustion. "All three provinces where I opened my store were the epicenters of the Covid-19 pandemic. I used all my assets to try to maintain operations and support my employees. However, after the pandemic, the economic recession immediately followed. I really felt suffocated by the pressure," said Mr. Luan.

After returning home from studying abroad, Mr. Luan decided to return to the mountain town of Da Lat and open a community project for the hearing impaired (Photo: NVCC).

In 2023, the number of tourists coming to Da Lat was unprecedentedly low. Mr. Luan's business was on the brink of bankruptcy. For many nights, he hesitated before cutting staff, even having to reduce business operations. "For the past 7 years, my deaf colleagues working at the stores have always been the motivation for me to try. Those stores are my whole youth. Not willing to let my "brainchild" be wiped out, drowned in failure, I thought I had to do everything, accepting that I would have to sell each bottle of essential oil to survive," said Mr. Luan.

It is the disabled who motivate the young owner to overcome and save his business during the difficult economic period (Photo: NVCC).

From zero to revenue of 1 billion VND/month From someone who only focused on the product manufacturing stage, Mr. Luan began to explore and learn about selling via livestream. In addition, thanks to his experience as a communications director for a British company, he realized that the explosion of social networks was the way to help revive businesses in the most difficult period. Mr. Luan quickly prepared equipment for the first livestream session, calling on deaf friends to help. However, in return for expectations, his opening session did not have a single order. "At that time, I received a lot of criticism, that the director went to sell products, and after studying abroad, he ended up becoming a livestreamer... My mood sometimes dropped a lot. But I knew that only when I overcame my arrogance could I keep my deaf colleagues," said Mr. Luan.

Mr. Luan learned livestreaming and selling products via social networks by himself (Photo: NVCC).

With his goal and determination, Mr. Luan persisted in livestreaming 3-5 hours every day. Whenever he encountered difficulties, he slowly resolved them, asking friends who had gone before him to share more experiences. Receiving positive feedback and returning customers, Mr. Luan began to take more care of each product. Accordingly, in each essential oil package, he placed a gift with a strong Da Lat flavor to show gratitude. From having no orders in each livestream, in September 2023, Mr. Luan officially reached the milestone of 30,000 orders, with a revenue of more than 1 billion VND/month. And the joy is that the stores did not lay off employees but also created more regular packaging jobs for deaf colleagues.

Huge revenue is "flexed" (showed off) by the director on social networks (Photo: NVCC).

Sharing his experience with young people pursuing a startup, Mr. Luan said that he has nothing but perseverance. In particular, the difficulties, challenges and responsibilities with disabled employees have made him determined to follow the path he has chosen, improving himself every day. "Luckily, I now understand the algorithm of social networks. Viewers always need our true selves, so express it honestly and you will succeed. I have never considered myself a good person, but I am persistent and steadfast. If there were no days without orders, I would never have reached the revenue of 1 billion VND last September," Mr. Luan added with a smile.

In order to retain each employee, Mr. Luan never shies away from any difficult work (Photo: NVCC)

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