This is an idiom that means if you don't make an effort in doing something, you can't achieve your goals.
Friday, August 10, 2012
Tighten someone's belt
Tighten someone's belt - Apretarse el cinturón.
Not having enough money to spend.
I've lost my job because of the crisis, now I have to tighten my belt. - He perdido mi trabajo por la crisis, ahora tengo que apretarme el cinturón.
Hacer bolas / pelotas
Hacer pelotas, hacer bolas , enredarse = not comprehend something clearly, get confused.
Example:
Estaba escribiendo en el blog pero me hice pelotas. - I was writing on the blog but I got confused.
Juan se hizo bolas con el problema de matemáticas y no lo pudo terminar. - John didn't comprehend well the math's problem and he couldn't finish it.
Chinese business culture
Today I watched a video from a spanish tv channel about the chinese people living in Spain. The reporter interviewed them to ask how did they open their business. It was very interesting and I came up with the next conclusion.
Chinese are hardworkers.
They arrived in Spain with little money. They have a saying "work hard and save money".
They don't even spend money on basic things such as clothes, they always tighten their belts. In a small flat more than 10 people can live to split their expenses. Sometimes they live in subhuman conditions, but it's only when they are starting from the scratch.
It's like a tradition that chinese people start working for chinese companies, that pay them little money, and once they save a lot of money to make their living they open their own business. No pain no gain.
To open a business they don't get loans from the bank but from their family and friends because they don't like to pay interest rates.
They don't wait to open a business, if they need 10,000 dollars to open a business and they have 10,100 dollars they open it.
They choose cheap and well located places to lease.
If the business is not profitable in the first two months they change the type of business, they don't like to be attached to a business that doesn't make a profit.
They have more than 2 businesses of the same type or a different type of business.
For them having competitors is a good thing because that means that their stores are successful and among all of them attract clients.
They don't let clients to go out without satisfying their needs. I mean if a client doesn't find a product they need, they are offered another similar product. They don't like to lose clients.
The chinese community helps each other. When they have a business they bring their relatives and friends to work with them.
And finally they are making hay when the sun shines. They are buying bars and are running them, they say the prices haven't risen because they want to keep the clients. And they also are buying houses and apartments because the spanish economy is in the toilet now , and then when the crisis ends their properties will be worth a lot of money.
Vocabulary
profitable - rentable.
starting from the scratch - starting from zero. - Empezar desde cero. Empezar de la nada.
make someone's living - to earn money for living. - Ganarse la vida.
make a profit - to earn money in a business after paying the costs and taxes. - Tener una ganancia.
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