#171 Seeking advice from experienced colleagues (14/09/2025)

Lately, I've had so many worries. Let me see how I should put it. I'm just an ordinary person, and most of the things an ordinary person deals with are within their own limited scope. I used to always handle things this way, dealing with each day's difficulties as they came. However, as the scale grows, the difficulty and scope of the work also increase. The methods I used to use are no longer sufficient. And this is a more effective approach. Let me first explain two possible approaches. The first approach: force yourself to change, to use new methods to handle things. This will be difficult for many people because it involves changing yourself. And I'm talking about truly changing yourself, not just becoming bigger, or using a different method that you're not entirely willing to use in the short term. It's about changing your entire approach to things, a complete change for you. This is very difficult, but it's the approach needed to move forward and reach another stage. Another approach is to accept your current level and try not to challenge yourself beyond your capabilities. That is, if you have three or four stores, stick to three or four stores. Open one and close another as needed, keeping management at a manageable level. This way, everything, including inventory management, risk, rent, labor, and personnel disputes, will remain at a manageable level, leading to stability. However, to some extent, this also means that if you don't move forward, you fall behind.

This week I met with a senior colleague, and I frankly shared with him the difficulties I've encountered at work. He gave me many practical and actionable methods. They were very helpful because these methods were ones I hadn't thought of myself and were truly ingenious—they showed me that I genuinely need to ask others for advice on certain things, and if I find the right person to ask, it will definitely be twice as effective. However, it's important to remember that everyone can only accompany another person for a short time; no one can accompany you to the very end. In the end, you still have to walk alone. So, while borrowing from others' experiences is very useful, it's not a panacea, and no single method can solve everything.