Xindanwei | 新单位 A new way of working | 一种新的工作方式

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Xindanwei April Featured People: Rah Xu

Article / Cozi GE

This month at Xindanwei, our monthly featured co-worker for the new section “People” goes to young Chinese entrepreneur Rah Xu. Rah quit his decent full-time job from a 4A advertising company and launched his own event management company named Côte-à-Côte about one year ago, and has since then started his long-term relationship with Xindanwei. “I like Xindanwei, and that is mostly because of the people here. The physical environment is appealing already, while what actually keeps me here are the people, which we call co-workers in a Xindanwei style term.”

The route Rah has picked up – getting away from the big company and starting up on his own – is not a rare case among young Chinese. They got bored from the repeating daily jobs, and came up with an ambition that they could work the job out more efficiently if they work independently. Rah is the kind of the guy that steps forward without hesitation when an idea comes to his mind. Côte-à-Côte was thus founded.

It was not an easy way to go, however. Rah was not really fully prepared for his quick start. He was motivated with passion but without a solid conception. During a long time, Rah felt lost in finding a way out – he basically accepted all the commissions he could get without a second option of what he really wanted to work on, which was not exactly what he expected. At times, he got some inspiration and sources from the platform of Xindanwei, “but they don’t always work for my problems,” Rah said.

However, Rah is not the kind of ambitious careerist who is desperate in achieving the never stopping business success. The starting of the undertaking is merely another way of making the living, which is rather a required need than a personal pursuit. Rah has his interest in other aspects of life. He believes in that one’s interest should be kept away from what he makes for a living. He tries hard to maintain the purity of his true fond. And the solution he finally figured out is rather sensitive – If he has to compromise in order to make a living with what he loves, he would rather not to do that. He would rather separate the two businesses with two different attitudes and from two different points of view.

Rah wrote a novel during his college years, which was published by Shanghai Literature And Art Publishing House. “No repercussions, it was like nothing actually happened,” Rah confessed his concern on the status quo of the literary and art field in China, “There is a rare chance that a literature writer, especially a young writer, would be able to make a decent living solely by writing. And this is not just about the physical living, but about the spiritual feed as well.” He could almost foresee himself somewhat being trapped in a dilemma if he ever put himself into the professional author career. He would rather not to try. “What I’ve picked is the easier way for me.” Rah said.

Currently, besides Côte-à-Côte, Rah is conceiving and preparing a new project about sharing and broadcasting creative info through blog, which will call up a team of contributor collective for the regular updatings. “It’s still under conception,” Rah said, “My starting point is to create a read-worthy, high quality and intensively updated info blog focusing on creative technology and design. It is not for profit, at least not designed for it. I don’t know where it would go and how far would it be, I would certainly like to eventually connect it with my current business Côte-à-Côte, but until now I don’t see the connection yet.” So this is Rah, a Gemini who separates his dream and reality in two routes, two routes côte-à-côte, yet nonetheless uncrossed. Xindanwei takes it as its responsibility to do something for Rah and more Rah-like young people in the country on their way merging the dream and reality together.

Rah’s new project will be launched through Xindanwei platform in near future.
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新单位人物（四月）：徐斯韡 Rah

采写 / Cozi GE

四月份，新单位的新“人物”栏目邀请了新单位的忠实用户──年轻的创业者徐斯韡（Rah）。徐斯韡一年前从广告公司辞职，自己创立了名叫 Côte-à-Côte 的活动管理公司，他和新单位的关系正是从那时候开始的。“我喜欢新单位，最主要的是这里的人，相比空间的环境，人的环境更吸引我留在这里。”

徐斯韡选择自立门户的出发点可能和很多的中国年轻人情况相似──他对日常零件化的重复工作感到厌烦，觉得自己单干一样可以做好并且可以做得更有效率。他是这种想到就做不会考虑太多的人，于是 Côte-à-Côte 就这样成立了。

最初的路并不好走。由于缺少完整的理念，很长一段时间里，徐斯韡都找不到一个坚实的突破口。为了维持公司的运作，只能来者不拒地承接任何能够接到手的活动。后来徐斯韡通过新单位这个平台逐渐得到了一些帮助和资源，“虽然并不是所有的这些资源都能直接有效解决我的问题”，徐斯韡说。

但徐斯韡并不是一个野心勃勃的创业者。在他那里，创业只是为了谋生，谋生对他而言是一种被动承担的压力，于是他的创业项目充其量仅仅是个应付生存的手段。他在生活中另有兴趣，而他认为，兴趣和谋生行当应该井水不犯河水。为了保持自己真正喜欢的东西的纯粹性，他避免自己的兴趣和利益发生哪怕一丝关系。徐斯韡的解决之道非常感性：如果把爱好当作事业就必须妥协，那不如就彻底分开来，用两种态度两个出发点来分别经营爱好和营生。

徐斯韡大学时期曾经写过一本小说，由上海文艺出版社出版了。“没啥反响。什么也没有。”徐斯韡坦言，中国的作家，尤其是年轻的作者，很难仅仅通过职业写作来维持体面的生活。“这不仅是说物质上，也是说精神上的。”徐斯韡想象自己可能受制于一种两难的境地，如果他走上专业作家这条路，最后他选择自己为自己的兴趣负责。“这样起码还轻松一点。”

目前，徐斯韡除了 Côte-à-Côte 的运营之外，还打算开展一个资讯型的博客计划。“还在酝酿中，我的想法是做一个有阅读价值的、保证内容质量和更新率的资讯博客，主要关注创新技术和设计，会有固定的多个作者业余共同供稿。目前的出发点完全是自愿无偿的，暂时没想过盈利，甚至没想好它和我现在的活动公司能以什么样的方式联系起来…”这就是双子座的徐斯韡，他的理想和现实是两条côte-à-côte的道路，靠得很近，但仍然有距离。我们希望新单位这个平台可以在徐斯韡和像他一样的年轻人汇合两条道路的过程中发挥一点作用。

徐斯韡的新计划近期将会在新单位平台做引爆。
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