Thread Content
What I admire most about the Chinese people is their ability to imitate others. As soon as someone sees that a certain business model generates profits, others immediately follow suit. The milk-related business model that was introduced before the end of the year became widespread just two months later; after that, it lost its appeal. In any industry, whenever one person is involved in a business, it’s a profitable period; when two people are involved, it’s a golden period; when three people are involved, it enters a downward trend; and when four or five people are involved, it becomes a tragedy. Going to join in the fun at this point means running into financial trouble. When someone was talking to me, they said, “Wu Peng, you’re very smart; anything in your hands can be turned into money.” My answer is: “I’m not smarter than anyone else; I’m actually quite slow to think. Many of the business ideas I have weren’t my own inventions – they were copied from others. I rely on various sources for information, and I don’t readily question others. When I come across some information, my first thought is about how to turn it into a business opportunity, rather than questioning whether it’s true or not, or determining whether that business idea is worth pursuing.” Too smart people like to analyze things; they come up with a bunch of reasons to argue against a task before even starting it. While this can help identify many problems, after considering so much, do you still feel confident enough to carry out the task? If not, you just change to another task and keep arguing against it, only to realize in the end that you haven’t done any actual work at all – you’ve just been repeating the same things over and over again. The best quality I have is my ability to take action – once I see a task, I go ahead and do it; only by doing it can I know what will actually happen. Thinking too much is pointless. Besides, what the Chinese lack is nothing but people. Something that you consider impractical, someone else might think is good. For each product on a work page, do you really expect everyone to like it? Working with product pages also involves considering probabilities – if you have 100 customers and 10 of them make a purchase, and your costs can be covered with just 5 sales, then those 10 sales represent a profit. Do you really expect all 100 customers to make a purchase? That’s something that can only happen in dreams. So it’s not that I’m smart; it’s just that I keep doing things instead of keeping thinking, and that’s how I can make money.” I’ve been quite busy lately, which has slowed down the updates. Although I’ve hired people to handle some tasks, there are still some things I need to take care of myself. The weather is too hot, and I don’t even want to go outside. The day before yesterday I went to Huizhou, where I saw people selling balloons; it was a scene that’s hard for me to imagine. It’s strange to think that balloons can sell so well. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I really wouldn’t have been able to believe it. Creativity isn’t only used to change people’s lives; it also helps to increase one’s income. If you were to sell balloons, most people would simply hold them up and wait for customers to approach. Those with some knowledge of marketing might choose a strategic location and try to promote their goods more actively. But it’s clear that these methods no longer yield much profit these days. I think you all understand that without me having to explain it. How did that balloon seller do it? He attached a one-cent bill to each balloon, and underneath the bill he put a small card on which you could write down your dream. It’s called \"letting your dreams take flight\" – but what’s the use of a single penny? When people do anything, which task can be carried out without some form of reward? This money is meant as a gift to the deities, as a way to help you fulfill your wishes. Although it sounds funny and absurd, the person who sells balloons can earn at least one or two thousand per day. Starting a business means not following the conventional path; if you do everything by the rules, how much can you achieve? Don’t assume that others can’t do what you can’t do; only by trying can you know whether something is right or wrong. Recently, while chatting casually with members in the startup-related group, I mentioned that items costing a few hundred yuan could be sold for 6,800 yuan each. Some people couldn’t hold back and stepped in, saying I was exaggerating and that what I said didn’t align with market principles; they said all sorts of things, but in short, their message was simply \"I don’t believe it.\" I didn’t argue much at the time; a few days later I gave a lecture dedicated to this case, explaining exactly how it was handled in practice. After you speak, no one will argue with you anymore. When you don’t understand something or it goes beyond the scope of your way of thinking, your first reaction is to wonder how it operates; in that case, you’re not far from success. But if your first reaction is one of distrust, then at this stage you’re only suitable for working as an employee, because that’s the normal approach. It’s absolutely impossible for someone to promise you 5,000 as payment this month and then actually give you 50,000. Doing business involves dealing with possibilities and impossibilities – if you think something is impossible, then the possibility of making money from it also becomes impossible. In this world, many creative ideas are laughed at by people when they first appear. When WeChat was first launched, many people thought it was uninteresting – what’s so special about a mobile messaging app? ； A few years ago, we still thought that mobile phones were merely tools for making calls; now, even the most ordinary mobile games generate revenues of over 100 million per month... So never laugh at those who have imaginative ideas – while we’re still laughing, others have already taken action.