In December 2022 , I wrote my first entry on "Entrepreneurship" (Weekly Journal #029, Link here ) . In August 2023 , I filmed a short video for Weekly Journal #065 , titled "On Entrepreneurship ( 2 ) " ( Link here ). More than half a year has passed since then, and I have gained more experience on this path. I feel that my mindset has also aged a lot. In order to record my experiences and hopefully help some aspiring individuals, I want to write about entrepreneurship again. This time, it is for "On Entrepreneurship ( 3 )".
Below, I will explain in several points:
It's best to start a business while you're still in school.
If you are still a student, whether in high school or university, and you aspire to take a different path, I urge you to do it now. Don't say your studies are too heavy; you should be able to handle and balance them. This is part of learning, and learning to balance different things and allocate time is a crucial life skill. Start learning early. While you haven't graduated and entered the workforce, your cost of failure is still relatively low — at worst, you fail, then continue your studies, graduate, and find a job. As long as you can manage your studies, it won't be a big problem. I know a friend in his late twenties or early thirties who works in ibank. His job paid over a million a year, a dream job for many, yet he resolutely resigned to start his own business. If he failed, his sacrifice would be in the millions. You understand what I'm trying to say. As you progress through life, the burdens on your shoulders grow heavier. With age, the cost of leaving your current job increases, not only in terms of income but also because your parents and family members are aging. You become the support of more people, with more responsibilities, and you can no longer be as carefree as a student. So if there's something you want to do, seize the time now and do it as soon as possible.
The cruelty of society lies in its focus on results, not the process.
Society is realistic and cruel. Aside from your family and those who care about you, society only cares about the results, not the process. Imagine an Olympic hurdles race; everyone only cares about who wins, but they won't know if the runner-up's father was suddenly hospitalized the previous week, causing frequent hospital visits and reducing their pre-race training time, significantly impacting their mood. Most people won't understand these processes; everyone only cares about the result. Starting a business is the same. No one cares about your difficulties, and in fact, you can't expect others to understand or care about your difficulties, because the purpose of starting a business is to help others solve their life's problems. You can only silently endure the hardships and pain of the process, because apart from your closest relatives who might care and worry about you overworking yourself and ruining your health, society won't ask about your journey. Remember, you must achieve results.
Nvdia Jensen Huang: People that have high expectations have low resilience
I recently watched a speech by Nvidia Founder & President Jensen Huang at Stanford University , addressed to university students. Nvidia is currently the third most valuable company in the world. During the speech, someone asked him what advice he would give to graduates on how to achieve success. Jensen Huang said, " People that have high expectations have low resilience." He further explained that many people, especially those from prestigious universities like Stanford , have very high expectations for themselves, including their future jobs, salaries, social status, etc. However , high expectations are often accompanied by low resilience. Jensen Huang said that to succeed, you need to learn how to cope with pain, setbacks, and failures. I think he's absolutely right. Especially in entrepreneurship, we often have different expectations of ourselves, but excessively high expectations can lead to disappointment and reduce our resilience, making us feel like we can't do it all. Society's glorification of success sometimes indirectly leads everyone to have excessively high expectations of themselves. I'm not saying people shouldn't have expectations of themselves, but expectations still need to be realistic, otherwise life will be very difficult and it will be easier to give up.
Society teaches you to succeed, entrepreneurship teaches you to fail.
Society teaches people how to succeed everywhere, but rarely talks about failure. Entrepreneurship, however, is quite the opposite; it teaches you to constantly face failure. You'll encounter different problems, constantly hit roadblocks, face new difficulties, not knowing how to solve them, and even have many nights where you doubt yourself, wondering if repeated failures mean you're not suited for it, if you truly can't succeed. But each time you face failure, you're actually learning to be resilient, learning to get back up, until one day, these difficulties and problems are no longer difficulties for you. This is the most important lesson entrepreneurship teaches you.
Conclusion
I hope the above can help some people. I am not a successful person, but I also want to share what I have learned on my journey with those in need. I don't know if I will fail or if I will ever be able to rise again. So while I am still here, I want to contribute to society and share what I have learned, hoping that the road ahead will be easier for others.
Finally, if you forget all of the above, remember this: Don't hesitate any longer. Believe in yourself; you can do it. The worst outcome is failure, wasting time, but at least you'll know you gave it your all and tried.
#096 "If we're afraid the little guy won't work, where will we buy pillows?" (31/03/2024)
#098 Some "unshareable jobs", "almost sold out, but not quite sold out" inventory allocation games, new bed sheet future product development (14/04/2024)