#105 Opportunities and Risks (02/06/2024)

Welcome to this week's journal! It's that time of the week again to share what happened this week. The past few weeks have been quite busy. Sometimes this busyness isn't because, as many people assume, business must be good, but rather because I've been thinking about making some long-term plans for the future, perhaps six months or a year from now. Having been in business for a while, I've learned that you can't rely on last-minute cramming for anything. Even if you've succeeded once, you can't rely on last-minute efforts to achieve your goals forever. In the long run, you need to prepare in advance and perfect your plans to reach your objectives. Success certainly has an element of luck, but it still requires solid hard work behind the scenes. Therefore, I've learned to prepare and plan for the future because I haven't done well enough in this area in the past. Although others may not know it, I know it myself, and I hope to improve in the future.

This week I want to do something special and talk about what I'm facing... So what is it?

I've been working hard lately to create opportunities for Re Pillow Co. Yes! I know, you reading this post might think we're doing pretty well, that our products are popular, and that customers often recommend us to their friends, so there shouldn't be any difficulties, and we shouldn't need to create opportunities for ourselves. But the truth is, we do face difficulties, undeniably. While you may recognize the brand, many, many people don't actually know who we are.

We haven't yet broken into the mainstream. Our brand recognition is even outside the top 10. If you've followed Re Pillow Co. for a while, you might know that I genuinely want to do this well. I'm not someone who wants to build a big company and make a lot of money, but I sincerely believe that in this industry, someone can do something well. I don't expect everyone to choose Re Pillow Co. products—that's unrealistic—but I want you to know that there are people in Hong Kong doing this kind of work, striving for bedding, giving you more options. Maybe I'll eventually close down (as everyone knows, many shops in Hong Kong have closed in recent years), but at least I tried.

Therefore, I've recently been negotiating some business collaborations, actually hoping to gain a more mainstream foothold through Re Pillow Co., but it's so scary, I'm terrified of making the wrong decision and losing everything. I remember being just as terrified when I first opened a pop-up store in Taikoo Shing. Of course, looking back now, opening a store was the right decision, but at the time I was very scared. Or when I resigned from a top-tier law firm after graduation, I was terrified. Similarly, now when I have to make a decision that's really out of my comfort zone, I'm still afraid, even when it involves the same amount of money. I'm more afraid now than before because I didn't know how to be afraid before. Looking back now, I realize that I used to think I knew everything, but I didn't know a lot of things. I'm much more careful when making decisions now than before, but of course, maybe a year from now, I'll still feel that I'm not good enough, not capable enough.

Fear is anxiety, it's an emotion, and it doesn't help. When faced with opportunities and risks, you need to rationally calculate the probabilities of success and failure before making a decision, and consider whether you can bear the consequences in the worst-case scenario. The actual nature of the opportunities and the extent of the risks are too complex to discuss here, as these are truly secrets, but yes, that's what I've been thinking about this past week.