Just as he had thought, only a little more than a week later, Li Ming met again with Rong Xiang. Not only had he gone through the document she had sent him and taken notes, but he had also mostly finished his research into job opportunities in the charity sector. Now, it was time to finalize the plans for the course with Rong Xiang, pick her up on the offer to show him around her place of work, and finally go job-hunting again.

The place where the two of them were meeting up this time was actually the apartment Rong Xiang and Zhu Yi shared. The latter was still out at work while Rong Xiang had finished her day an hour ago. As for Li Ming, it was his free day so he had come over as soon as Rong Xiang was available.

They were sitting at the table in the kitchen, her laptop in front of them while a few documents were strewn across the counter behind them. Li Ming was also holding his phone where he had taken most of his notes.

By now, they had finalized all the content they wanted to include in the events that were supposed to give general information on self-defense. Rong Xiang was simply typing up the last few ideas.

Li Ming watched her quietly and couldn’t help but ponder. “What do you think about how these events will work out? I mean, not from how we’ll do. I’m sure we can do that. But will people be interested in this?”

Rong Xiang glanced at him and smiled. “The trick is making them become interested. Ah Yi and I had the same worry when it came to the original courses. After all, there are so many gyms that people can sign up at, lots of personal trainers with years of experience, and there is a sizable chunk of people who are into fitness but would never sign up for anything. How do you get yourself into a position where you are anybody’s pick?”

She looked at him and raised her brows. “And that is only fitness. Self-defense … it was always more my baby than just general fitness but we were sure we wouldn’t be able to both live off just doing that anytime soon. That is why we finally came up with the plan to combine both.”

Li Ming gave a hum. “It worked out well. Brother Zhu seems like he has hardly any time outside of work.”

Rong Xiang laughed. “Yes, that happened somehow. It’s also because he suddenly had to take over my workload as well but it went better than expected. Anyway, I still did a lot of behind-the-scenes work for him. I still do.

“All those emails regarding the sign-ups? The chats with the potential customers who want more information? The changes on the website? That’s all me. It can’t compare to what Ah Yi does but it’s also a lot. So it’s not like we had some kind of overnight success based on nothing. A lot of work that nobody sees went into this.”

Li Ming hurriedly nodded. “I didn’t think it just happened either. Brother Zhu did tell me a bit about how long you prepared for this. In fact, it’s one of the first things he told me when we met.”

Rong Xiang laughed. “I can imagine.” She typed the last line and then turned her wheelchair to face Li Ming. “Either way, you don’t have to worry about this. I managed to make things work for Ah Yi’s courses and I’ll make this work as well. It’s my own livelihood as well, isn’t it? Not to mention my one chance to still do what I wanted.”

“I know.” Li Ming frowned slightly and nodded. “You …” He hesitated on whether he should speak up or not but finally couldn’t help himself. “There is no chance for you to get better?”

Rong Xiang shook her head. “Nope. It’ll stay like this. Which is also why I’ll give my all when it comes to this.” She patted the documents on the counter and smiled. “Anyway, I’ve used the last few days to think about this more in terms of marketing. We know from Ah Yi’s courses and also the analysis the two of us did back then who is interested in self-defense courses.

“We need to reach these people and especially those among them who are still undecided. Plus, there are a lot of people who might have never thought about taking a self-defense course but might turn into potential participants if you give them more information about it.”

Li Ming nodded. Thinking of the courses he had been a part of, he also had a rough guess. “It seems most of our participants are younger and physically weaker. Many of them are women too.”

Rong Xiang gave a hum. “Yes, those are definitely a large part. Then there are also parents who want their children to be safer. Plus, people who might get into conflict at their job. Those are not always looking for self-defense courses but would try to de-escalate in other ways first but they might profit as well.

“I want to target these groups specifically but separately from each other. For young children and parents, we can contact schools. For young women, we can get in touch with universities but also corporations. The latter are good to find people who have job-related interest in a course.”

“So we are not trying to reach individual people directly but large groups of them through organizations?”

Rong Xiang nodded. “Exactly! Of course, that is first and foremost for the one- or two-day events. For the actual courses, we’ll have to see. It would naturally be nice to use the same channels and I think that can work to a degree. Individuals might be more likely to sign up for an actual self-defense course but that’s where we would point them in the direction of you and Ah Yi.

“We’ll know for sure when the time comes though and I think we should keep all options open until then. I also intend to do some quick surveys with the participants to gauge interest so, over time, we can adjust.”

Li Ming smiled. “Seems like I don’t need to worry.”

Rong Xiang shook her head. “Not about that, no. Now, let’s talk about the other issue: You being a part of this will rely on your job. So how’s it going on that side?”