The Risk of working

About 10 years ago, I was in the auditorium of the National University of Singapore, listening to a lecture by an American visiting professor. He encouraged us to start a business and shared his story:

"Anyone of any age can start a business!"

"I was in my 40s when I started my business. I was an engineer at the time, and I was made redundant when the economy was bad. I made a product with a friend, back in the early '80s. We do transfer cards for computers and faxes, and you know, when we go to our customers to sell them, what do they ask?"

"The customer asks, what is a fax? It turns out that in those days, faxes were not so popular."

"After six years of waiting and accumulating experience, the company finally did it! Our company was sold to a company that was then acquired by Intel. I cashed out $60 million!"

"My wife and I bought a private yacht to travel around the world, and then last winter, my wife said, let's find a place where the year is like summer, and continue to go around the world next year! So we stopped the ship in the Mediterranean and came to Singapore and here we are!"

"Starting a business is the only way to financial freedom! Some people say that entrepreneurship is risky, I think, a lifetime of work is risky, you will be dismissed at any time! And if it fails, you can always go back and get another job!"

"My point is, any age, anyone. Anyone can start a business!"

This is a typical Silicon Valley entrepreneur story! It was a story that inspired me. Although the situation in the United States is very different from that in China, the entrepreneurial spirit is similar.

The risks of working in China are far higher than in Europe or America. In fact, in European and American societies, entrepreneurship is not necessarily a good life choice. As we know, in Europe and America, the best majors in universities are lawyers and doctors. The best professions in society are also lawyers and doctors. The income gap between other social classes is not large. Because society is mature and stable, there is not much room for entrepreneurs. Start-up costs are also high. That's why start-ups in Silicon Valley are focused on technological innovation. And in China, because of the large population. Society is developing rapidly and there are opportunities everywhere. And social security is insufficient, and most people's return on work is very low. As long as you can delve into an industry, you will eventually succeed.

Let me share with you the story of a Strawberry girl. One day, our unit ordered several boxes of strawberries. Strawberries are big, fresh, and delicious. It was delivered to a beautiful girl in her mid-20s. We came to call her Strawberry Girl. She moved it up and down herself.

Later, we got familiar with it and ordered more strawberries. Strawberry Girl invited us to visit the strawberry base in Qingpu, a suburb of Shanghai and shared her entrepreneurial story.

The original strawberry girl's family is a farmer in Shanghai Qingpu, but she is a top student in every sense, a Shanghai Second Medical University graduate. After graduation, he worked as a white-collar worker in Lujiazui Financial District. But since college, she has been thinking about starting a business.

She chose to grow strawberries because everyone has to eat them, and the industry can't go wrong. But it was really difficult at the beginning because she didn't know anything, her parents were against it, and the people around her didn't support it. They always thought it was self-degradation for college students to grow strawberries.

When she first started her business, she worked with a Taiwanese, who was in charge of marketing, and she and her parents were in charge of planting. Eventually, there was a disagreement, the farm lost money, and the family bought it. For the next three years, they will run it all by themselves. From choosing seeds to mastering planting rules, to tasting, to choosing fertilizers. After three years, we have endured countless hardships and difficulties from numerous competitors and finally achieved a high-end Shanghai strawberry brand with an annual turnover of more than ten million yuan.

On our side, there are more and more similar young entrepreneurs. From the famous "local Pig No.1" opened by a doctor of Peking University to the strawberry girl, we talked about today. You don't have to be high-tech to start a business, and you don't need venture capital to start a business. Entrepreneurship needs a strong will, and a keen sense of smell, in place of execution and scientific management.