Lesson1：As an Entrepreneur, You Need to Shift Your Mindset

Have you ever noticed something odd? The people who make the most money in a company or even the boss themselves weren’t always the top students in school. Of course, some economics or finance majors might have excelled in school, landed jobs at investment banks or brokerage firms, and earned millions in commissions. But if you look closely at the logic behind this, you’ll see that the investment to get there was far beyond millions—sometimes 2 or 4 million—and it takes a long time to recover that investment. In fact, 80% of people are simply drawn into the competitive cycle, lured by the prestige surrounding finance-related careers, without fully understanding what it entails.

There’s nothing wrong with following this path or being attracted to its glamour. However, the key issue is that with the global economy shifting and the financial markets becoming less stable, the certainty of this path is diminishing.

Whether you work at a leading tech company or a top-tier financial firm, at the end of the day, you’re still an employee. No matter how prestigious your job title may seem, it’s not your own status that’s elevated—it’s the company's brand and reputation that give you that sense of prestige. Once you separate yourself from this illusion, you’ll understand why so many people feel unfulfilled and anxious, even when working for prestigious companies. They are still subject to industry and policy shifts.

But entrepreneurship? The essence of entrepreneurship is identifying pain points in your own life and solving problems for a group of people.

It’s crucial to understand this distinction and make a significant mindset shift from the past: don’t fall into self-indulgence. Entrepreneurship is about solving problems for others, and that’s why we receive value and profits in return. It’s not because we, ourselves, are so outstanding, bright, or impressive that people pay us.

Entrepreneurs should always keep one principle in mind: we get rewarded because we solve others’ problems. If you grasp this mindset, everything that follows will feel natural and organic, and you’ll be well on your way to earning your first pot of gold.

An Example of Self-Indulgence

I’ll probably offend some of my former colleagues and myself by saying this, but take IELTS and TOEFL teachers, for example. We seem to have an obsession with high scores—aiming for an 8 in IELTS or a 110 in TOEFL. I used to be like this too, constantly retaking exams, striving to achieve perfect timing across all four sections. But from an entrepreneur’s perspective, this is pure self-indulgence. Have you ever asked yourself: what does your customer really need you to solve? Do they need to achieve a score of 8 or 110, or is that just your personal goal?

I can use myself as an example. I used to obsess over my writing score, which was stuck at 7, and I kept retaking the test, hoping for a 7.5 or 8. But then I wrote a post on Xiaohongshu about how to score a 9 in the IELTS listening section, and it blew up. That’s when I realized the business opportunity. What does this mean? My current ability is enough to help a group of students improve their listening scores to a 9. I don’t need to keep retaking the test to achieve that. It’s enough to solve their problem—those who want to score a 9 in listening. If a teacher hasn’t achieved a 9, I can help them, and that’s all I need to do. So, the first lesson here is that you need to abandon the idea of being a "well-rounded warrior" and focus on mastering one specific skill.

What is a Signature Skill?

You might ask, “How do I identify my signature skill?” It’s simple. During your 20 or 30 years of learning and working, there must be some specific tasks that you do better and faster than others. While others struggle, you do it effortlessly. While they take a whole day, you finish in an hour. You work efficiently and well. This doesn’t have to be something grand—it could be a small detail. That’s your signature skill. In mathematical terms, if you can perform better than 80% of your industry and be in the top 10% in a specific task, that’s your signature skill.

But again, let’s not indulge in self-praise. No one will pay for your excellence or brilliance. That’s personal. Consumers pay for the problems you solve for them. So, we must also look at who is experiencing pain points that your signature skill can solve.

For example, in IELTS training, having been in the industry for years, I’ve observed a pain point: people find listening relatively easy, and it’s not hard to improve up to a score of 8, but they struggle to break through to a 9. Many teachers don’t know how to help students overcome those final mistakes or give them methods to hear accurately. That’s a pain point—one that urgently needs solving.

How do we know what others are struggling with? Besides walking the path yourself, another effective method is to ask your customers. Or talk to people facing challenges and bottlenecks. Ask them what their sticking points are, and think about how you solved similar problems. That’s where your signature skill overlaps with solving a pain point.

How Do You Deliver Your Solution?

Once you have your signature skill, understand the pain point, and identify your target audience, how do you deliver your solution? Here’s where I draw from my master's degree and real-world business experience to offer an innovative approach: the Minimum Viable Product (MVP). (Details in tomorrow’s lesson.)

Homework for Today:

1. Reflect on whether you’re fixated on being a "well-rounded warrior." What are you obsessed with? Is this truly a requirement from your customers?

2. What is your signature skill?

3. What pain point does your signature skill solve? What are these people’s characteristics?

I recommend you write it down or record it. You can share it in the comments or keep it to yourself, but the act of visualizing and putting it into words greatly aids in thinking and helps prevent avoidance.