#180 Diligence (16/11/2025)

Recently, some colleagues from the Dustykid team came to my office for a chat. They had never been before. When it's a first-time visitor, I usually show them around and introduce them to the different seats. Usually, I'm the last one there, so I introduce my seat, which is the folding table and chair in the picture. When I pointed out that this was my seat, they were quite surprised. I said, "Yes, this really is my seat."

There was a time when I really disliked my position and situation. All my friends worked in Grade A office buildings, able to dress neatly and save on shoes, but I couldn't even wear a white shirt to work because the industrial environment inevitably picks up machine oil and dust. When I had Zoom meetings with other companies, there were always various machine noises and shouting behind me, making it difficult to even have a quiet phone call. Sometimes, when I had a really important call to make, there were other people talking behind me, and the machines were whirring, making it impossible to hear what the other person was saying—it felt really awkward and strange.

Recently, a team from another large company came to visit, and I happened to show them a picture of me working on a website. They were quite surprised that I was doing this. But that's how it is in small companies—but I admit there's a balance to strike. If you try to do everything yourself without any division of labor or teamwork, you won't go far. But in a small business, if you try to be too meticulous about everything and keep comparing this colleague to that colleague, I've seen many cases in recent years end up going bankrupt.

But these things are quite interesting. I noticed that this down-to-earth work environment might also help me at work, because that's why I can always keep working hard and keep striving.

However, the process is actually quite tough because you have to deal with a lot of unexpected and unforeseen issues on your own. Like recently, some products were produced, and it's very possible that no one would notice a problem, but I felt there was one, and I had to solve it immediately. My job involves solving many problems every day, putting out fires while also finding the right people to inject vision and planning to lead the company forward. This is crucial, and it's also my responsibility.