Small Business Growth by Jack Ma (Alibaba founder)

Purified Knowledge

Small Business Growth by Jack Ma

Who should you follow for your small business growth? Of course, the entrepreneurs who achieved success in growing their small business or who got success to build a business company like Google, Microsoft and Apple etc.

Today internet Mobile is the university that I've ever had. You can communicate with the entire world. So, I think the ideas you've got fantastic. The only thing that as an entrepreneur is that, build up a good team and set a big vision that milestones and go on never give up.

You might have a lot of problems, but you can see the problem you are facing, your competitor will face it too.

Think you have a lot of tough days but you're compared we haven't much actually. The competition is the speed of solving the problems.

It's the passion, the inspirations, the dream do you have.

Story

I remember 1995 when I came back from the states I visit the USA for one for 29 days and I discover the internet. So I came back to China and say I want to do something called the internet but there is no such word called internet before. There's no such work on the internet on the dictionary. So the government does not let me to register a company called internet since I had a no background on technology nothing back computer even to today.

I know very little about computers because I don't think you have to know anything before you do it.

The entrepreneurs, you started with a dream you start with a belief. I also have to start with a group of people.

Believe the dream

China was not even connected to the internet since 1994. So, it was very difficult to convince some people that there is something called the Internet.

People say you're telling a lie.  But, I know this thing exists and I know it takes time to convince people.

Convincing people is not by words, you have to convince by real results.

I made a lot of speech in the early days and even now, I still talking to a lot of people.

How can you create a happy Environment?

I think the very important is making sure your dream can be realized.

Making sure, your dream makes steps by step every week, every month and every year.

Making sure that your employees believe in making your customers happy.

If your customer is happy, your employees are happy, the shareholders will be happy.

Do not try to spin all the time. We saw shareholders spend enough time with your customers. Spend enough time with the employees. Do not spend a lot of time with competitors.

The best way to fight against the competitor is your customers and colleagues.

So, those early days were tough. I was the number seven guy in China connected the Internet. The speed was so slow you will never imagine.

I invited the TV friends; I got some university schoolmates they work in the TV station. So, I invited them to come to my room and say I want to tell, there is something called the Internet.

It took us three hours and a half to download the first front page of my website but at least approved that there's an internet, there's yesterday.

When I arrived in Nairobi the speed of internet

Oh was so fast

It's so fast you guys are lucky. This was so better so much better than the days when I started. I think with such a great infrastructure of the internet you have with. So many people in the world today know through the internet. More than 1.7 billion people are already online but at that time, total China less than 500 people were using the internet.

When you have a dream

You have to dream globally,

have to win locally.

also must think about the future.

If you do not think about the future, if you do not have a vision for 10 years later what will you be, you will never have great people follow you and join your company.

No matter, how big dream is it.

In 1999, I started my alibaba.com in my apartment and I know I may not succeed but I told my 18 founders that

The first thing, even if we feel deep many people, some people will win.

Internet is the future,

Ecommerce is the future.

No matter you like or not, 80% or 90% of business in the next 30 years will be online.

The best way to serve the world is the Internet. I know that if I cannot make it, somebody will make it, so I continue to make it.

The second thing I tried to prove is that,

if Jack Ma can succeed, 80% of young people can be successful.

About Resources

We don't have money, we don't have a relationship, I don't have a powerful and rich father even though, we don't have a rich father or uncle who can sponsor us.

Everything we do is the 18 founders, we believe the future, and we make progress. Even among the 18 founders, we only have three engineers. Among three engineers only one of them had a three-year experience of a university computer.

The other two, they are like an amateur computer, when they open computer they don't know how to fix it. Start from there - - today we have

twenty-five thousand engineers in our company.

We built an e-commerce company, nobody comes to sell. So, we have to list our own products on their way for two weeks, nobody comes to buy. So, we have to buy ourselves. Then the first time some people come to sell things on our site. We buy everything so I bought a whole house of rubbish.

We started nobody believed e-commerce. Today or last year, we sold 550 billion US dollars, from nothing to 550 billion dollars. I think compared to yesterday be big sales but come ten years later we are nothing. This is what I want to say the great ideas I heard in the next room inspired me and changed mind.

I told my team we are the hope of China because we are the guys without any resources, If we can make it, most people can make it. Our resource was only with the dream and belief. If we can make succeed, China will be successful.

Great entrepreneurs should not have money. If you have money of mind, one eye is the US dollars and other one is ion bee and you're talking about the English Pounds.

Your Dream and Belief are your Recourses

If you have a good dream, if you have a plan to making things, making progress, things will happen.

Supporting entrepreneurs is always my dream because I know how tough it is to be an entrepreneur.

It is difficult I never cried. I said I only make my competitors cry.

If I cry, I probably die a hundred times; just we have to encourage our team and making sure that we can survive tomorrow.

I want to say this is my belief and this is what I tell every day to myself today is difficult tomorrow is much more difficult. But, the day off tomorrow is beautiful.

I still believe today is very difficult I have more problems than anybody here can imagine.

You say oh no!!

You are big, you make billions of dollars every quarter.

But, let me say I have much more problems than you have, much more headache than you have.

When I was young, 18 years ago I thought, what if I could make my company bigger, then I can Sega on the beach. I have a lot of people work for me I thought that would.

Now the company is getting bigger, my problem is getting bigger, I'm getting much busier. But, this is our life, one day where you pick up the job as entrepreneur this is the life you picked up.

Where is the opportunity?

The opportunity always lies in a place where people complain. 

If you solve the plot complain, you got a problem you got an opportunity this is what I believe. As an entrepreneur, I think most of the projects I heard there is about the platform.

You are people building the platform; you know the essence of building the platform. A lot of people in China want to build up a platform.

Difference between build a company and a platform

The difference between build a company and a platform is, a platform is to enable others, to make other people happy. A company is to make yourself happy. This is the difference between the 20 century and to the 21st century.

If you want to be successful, making sure, your employees are successful, making sure your customers successful using your services. If you can make your custom successful, in price successful, your platform will be successful.

These are the essences and remember that empower others you are empowering yourself and you are empowering your platform.

Thank you so much

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