Richard Liu is a man who has defied all odds to become a successful entrepreneur. He is the exact definition of persistence and hard work put together.

Richard Liu’s Upbringing

Richard Liu was brought up with humble parents who worked as rice farmers in a small village called Chang’an. And while his parents went away to work, Richard would be left with his maternal grandmother, who he had to look after.

However, his parents were not always poor; they were descendants of wealthy Chinese merchants, but unfortunately, circumstances forced them into different circumstances.

Richard Liu attributes many of his outstanding traits to growing up in such a humble background that made him seek to become more. For instance, once during a holiday, he took his savings to visit a city known as Nanjing, where he got a chance to walk around and have a view of his first sky scrapper.

Entrepreneurial Journey

That experience set the ball rolling to his incredible entrepreneur journey. He then decided that he would attend university in the big cities to gain the experience and exposure of a big city.

And true to his word, when the time came, he enrolled in the university of Renmin to study sociology. And during his time in the university, he started his first business venture, a restaurant which in no time collapsed due to poor management.

However, that didn’t deter the young lad from pursuing his goals as he bounced right back with his second venture, Jingdong, founded in 1998. His newest venture dealt with the distribution of magneto-optical products.

1. Com

And to set himself apart, he made sure to provide his customers with reliable and authentic products. However, when SARS struck, the Chinese economy was severely affected, which led to many businesses’ closure.

However, Richard Liu took this challenge head and decided to move his business online, founding JD.Com. That has grown to be a great success because of its excellent practices, such as ensuring that its products are sourced directly from its suppliers before selling to shoppers.

Therefore, their customers are sure that the goods that they are purchasing are of outstanding quality.

Follow Liu Qiangdong at Twitter:http://Twitter.com/liu_qiangdong