'Korea's No. 1 stone bed CEO' Lee Dong-hak reveals the dramatic turnaround story of escaping 3 billion won in debt and growing into a corporation with annual sales of up to 50 billion won on Seo Jang-hoon's Neighbor Millionaire.
On the 11th at 9:55 p.m., EBS' Seo Jang-hoon's Neighbor Millionaire will feature passionate entrepreneur Lee Dong-hak, the owner of a stone bed factory who dreams of annual sales of 1 trillion won from a single stone and says, "I am still only a 'newborn businessman(?)'", who will reveal the intense sweat and times of hardship hidden behind his current dazzling success.
The corporation led by Lee Dong-hak produces and sells a variety of heated furniture such as stone beds, earthen beds and jade beds as its signature product, has exceeded 1 million units in cumulative sales over 25 years, and holds the No. 1 position in Korea. Annual sales reach as high as 50 billion won. In this broadcast, Seo Jang-hoon and Jang Ye-won visit Lee Dong-hak's stone bed headquarters in person, where he captures the scene with witty remarks such as, "People say to treat gold as if it were stone, but since I am the stone bed owner, I treat stone as if it were gold."
He did not become a millionaire from stone beds from the very beginning. After a working life full of passion and drive and several trials and errors through starting a business in his twenties, he finally began the stone bed business in 2008. But the wall of reality was higher than he expected. At the time, he did not manufacture stone beds himself but imported and sold external products, so profits were not as high as expected. While fixed costs such as advertising, employee salaries and office rent continued to pile up amid low profits, the deficit ballooned. Thus began an 'avalanche of losses' that lasted a full 14 years. Lee Dong-hak recalls, "When I came to my senses, the debt was already 3 billion won. I was really shocked." He adds, "The scariest thing was that I might not be able to pay my employees' salaries," confessing the desperate time when he was crushed by responsibility as a businessman.
The life-changing opportunity that came to him on the brink was a 'proposal to acquire a stone bed factory.' But already burdened with 3 billion won in debt, acquiring the factory was virtually impossible. At that time, Lee Dong-hak made a bold move, writing a heartfelt letter directly to the bank president, and what seemed reckless became the "The Divine Move" that changed his life. After successfully acquiring the stone bed factory, Lee Dong-hak's business began to grow at an astonishing pace. The following year, annual sales surpassed 10 billion won, and the year after that they shot up to 24 billion won, doubling each year in explosive growth. He even set a record of "10,000 units sold in a month," racing down the road to success. About this, Lee Dong-hak smiles brightly, saying, "Even thinking about it now, it's like a drama."
The sincerity contained in the handwritten letter that moved the bank president and the full story of the breathtaking stone bed factory acquisition will be revealed on the 11th at 9:55 p.m. on EBS' Seo Jang-hoon's Neighbor Millionaire.
[OSEN]