Choose 10 times better to work towards, after all, choice is greater than effort

What industry we choose, what company we choose, and what team we choose can affect and even determine our future.

In my consulting work, I have helped many entrepreneurs and start-ups to make choices.

As I have studied the business world, I have also thought about why many people make this choice and not that choice.

In my life journey, I have also made many critical choices.

After all these years, I have some reflections and some lessons learned from my own experiences.

The matter of choice is so important. To share my thoughts, to share them with you.

-1-

A consultation

The other day, at a private meeting, I was having dinner with some entrepreneurs and one of them asked me a question.

He was doing very well and was earning tens of millions of dollars a year. However, it was still obvious to me that he was struggling.

He said to me.

Our company has two areas of business. business A can do $40 million a year and business B can do $30 million a year. But I feel overwhelmed. I don't know where to put my energy mainly. If I can only choose one, what should I choose?

The choice, again, is a matter of choice.

Choose the business that makes more money. Or the business that takes less energy?

Neither.

I told him that behind this is a methodology about choice: the 10-fold principle.

Ask yourself two questions.

If you make business A 10 times bigger, is it difficult? How hard would it be? Can it be done?

If you make business B 10 times bigger, is it hard? How hard would it be? Can it be done?

Which business has more market volume, a higher ceiling, and better prospects, and growth of 10 times better, which one should you go for?

It's that simple? It's that simple.

The 10-fold principle is a way to test the business and to reflect on yourself. Put in the same amount of effort and there must be one thing that could have been better.

Entrepreneurs are people who love to toss and turn. People who love to toss and turn, love to bounce. Those who bounce a lot will bounce higher and higher. But the higher you bounce, the easier it will be to hit the ceiling.

With two businesses, both in the tens of millions of dollars, the point is, which business will allow you to bounce for a few more years, both still have potential.

Analyze the industry and sector you are in, the track determines how big you can be. Then look at your team, the organization determines how far you can run.

Then, ALL IN on the next strategic opportunity point.

He nodded thoughtfully.

But what about the other business when I've gone all in on one?

When you have done your analysis and judgment, you will know that the two businesses are not positioned in the same way.

One is a maturing business and one is still a growing business.

Focus on the business in the growth period and then use the revenue and profits from the maturity period to support the expansion and growth in the growth period.

Choose the right business, and you'll get twice the result. Choose wrong, and you'll get half the result.

-2 - An interview

An interview

I once wrote a book about Xiaomi's entrepreneurial methodology and interviewed many Xiaomi executives and employees.

I had a deep impression that Xiaomi places great emphasis on the evolution of trends and the layout of big trends.

When the general environment is unchanged, entrepreneurs only need to care about what to do. But when the general environment changes, it is particularly important to see the trend before deciding what to do.

So, what to do?

Ding Jianying has a widely circulated view in investment circles.

Application-based companies are worth billions, platform-based companies are worth tens of billions, and ecological companies are worth hundreds of billions.

In terms of quantity, the number of the three types of companies is exactly in a pyramid structure, with the largest number of application-based companies, a relatively small number of platform-based companies, and not many ecological companies worldwide.

If it were you, what would you choose to do?

Which is 10 times better, or even 100 times better, to go in?

Xiaomi chooses ecology. Choose to go from product to platform and from platform to ecology.

Then, how to do it?

I'll give a specific example, the Xiaomi ecosystem.

Liu De has introduced, Xiaomi as the layout of the ecological system of specific operational ideas:

1, the field of this product is a big market, and this market has to be big enough to have opportunities.

2, the field of this product has pain points, there is a shortage, and expensive is also a pain point.

3, the product in this area can be backed up so that it may iterate in order to prompt iteration.

4, this product fits Xiaomi's user base, Xiaomi's main user base is probably 20-30 years old, tech guys, and the people around them that they can influence, such as girlfriends, friends, parents, relatives, etc.

5, the team is strong enough that they are using a bull's eye to do a small thing to kill a chicken. You see it as an ordinary smart product, but behind it, our investment team is strong enough to be an elite team.

6, the last point, the team should have common values with Xiaomi, not seek to make quick money, want to improve the quality of life of a generation of young people, want to do cost-effective products, pursues it of single product explosion, in the future is not in a hurry to make money

Then, Xiaomi also has a shareholding.

Xiaomi also owns shares to give everyone enough incentive to cooperate. There is an incentive to get the product right and an incentive to support Xiaomi's devices. And Xiaomi has the incentive to mobilize resources to help them and integrate deeply.

Xiaomi is also a shareholder. Lose together. Earn together.

However, for the companies it invests in, Xiaomi only has a two-year protection period. We guarantee that we will invest in only one company in the same type and the same field, but after two years, we will consider investing in other companies. This is also a kind of pressure.

Everyone has seen how well Xiaomi's ecosystem has developed today.

At the time, Xiaomi thought very clearly about what it chose to do, and how it chose to do it.

-3-

A job hop

I know, one might ask, this is true for entrepreneurs in the business world, what about us as individuals? What about personal career development?

Again, the same is true.

Which is the choice that will give you 10 times better results.

Let me share with you a story of my own. The story of "jumping ship with a reduced salary".

In 1998, I graduated from university and joined a company. I worked for almost two years and had what seemed like a relatively high position at the time, with a good salary.

But in 1999, when Microsoft was recruiting in China, I thought, "I've got a chance to join Microsoft".

I put in a CV. Then, from 9.30 am until 4.30 pm, I went through seven rounds of interviews in a conference room, each interviewer testing me for an hour before I got the offer from Microsoft.

However, when HR discussed the salary structure at Microsoft, I was shocked.

Because the salary was much lower. It was a little more than half of what my last job was. Hmm.

If it's you, to jump, or not to jump?

If you've been exposed to career training before, your trainer might have taught you that

In this life, you can never take a pay cut, because taking a pay cut and jumping ship indicates that something might be wrong with your career path.

However, I finally decided to join Microsoft. I later realized that this was one of the most important choices of my life. But at the time, all I knew was that I would grow tremendously by joining Microsoft. 10 times as much, 100 times as much.

After joining Microsoft, I worked hard and diligently, and my salary kept going up.

But even so, it took three years of continuous salary increases before it was almost at the same level as before I joined.

So what? The difference in salary between the two jobs may seem like a lot of money today, but it's nothing in the face of the tremendous growth and future opportunities.

I often say something like this, and I do it myself.

Don't worry too much about what you're going to earn before you're 35.

Everyone is a goose that lays golden eggs, and fattening that goose up is called growth.

After 35, you will eventually realise how foolish it was to jump indignantly from one company to another, even to the point of tearing your face off, for a salary of $7,000 and $7,500 before.

The value gained from being in a truly worthwhile company, with a boss worth following, and with a group of like-minded people, is far more than that $500, and far more than the difference between $10,000 and $15,000.

Think of growth as the biggest income you can make when you're young. It may sound like a cliché, but it is the greatest patience and wisdom.

It's all about growth, but the point is, where are you going to grow?

Where you have to grow like a sponge and practice like a warrior.

Final Words

We often say the phrase: on the wind, pigs can fly.

But many people think they are all-knowing gods.

Therefore, they neither choose nor work hard.

We are neither "pigs" nor "gods", but just ordinary and real "people".

We have to judge, we have to make decisions, and we have to choose. We also have to take responsibility for our choices and accept the successes, or costs, that come with them.

Choices are important, and so is effort.

But making a good choice may change many things, if not everything.

Good luck: make the right choice. And then, work your ass off.