Business Insight丨Author / Liu Run Finished / You Zhi
This issue of audio is supported by the voice change technology provided by Sogou AI.
This article first appeared in May 2020. I often have classmates tell me that I don’t know how to find my career direction.
I want to change careers, but I don't know what to do, and my future is at a loss.
Regarding this issue, there is actually a decision model:
1. What ability is most needed in the future?
2. What ability do you do best?
3. What ability does others do not?
Draw a three-column grid and write down the answers to all three questions.
Then, look for intersections.
— 1 —
What ability is most needed in the future? We often say that everyone is their own CEO. You yourself, in fact, is an unlimited liability company, making value exchange with this society. The essence of business is transaction. Whether we are working or starting a business, we are essentially exchanging our value with this society. It's just that the forms of exchange vary. Then, since it is an exchange, it must conform to the law of exchange. What is the law of exchange? One of the core logics in economics is that the relationship between supply and demand determines prices. Today, whether you are working or starting a business, what you want is to use your abilities in exchange for higher prices. How can there be a higher price? From the perspective of supply and demand, when supply is less than demand, goods can be sold at higher prices. Business society needs entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs need talents. When will the demand for talents from entrepreneurs increase so much that the supply is less than the demand? That must be when a new demand suddenly appears in business society. At this time, a group of entrepreneurs are needed to use social resources to meet this new demand. Entrepreneurs' demand for talents will also greatly increase. They will be willing to pay a higher premium for talent. So what is the so-called "new demand"? The so-called "new demand" is actually the "value space" we talked about before. What is value space? Let me give you an example. If in the past, the production cost of a commodity was 100 yuan. Including various transaction costs such as logistics, rent, labor, inventory, etc., the total cost is 400 yuan. In the end, this product sold for 500 yuan in the mall. If there is a person today who can sell this product through live broadcast, he will save a lot of transaction costs such as rent, labor, and inventory. In the end, he reduced the total cost to 200 yuan. At this time, how much should he set the price of this product? Others sell it for 500 yuan, and his cost is 200 yuan, so in theory, he only needs to set the price between 200 and 500, and he can make money. Consumers will buy for less than 500 yuan, and he will make money for more than 200 yuan. The total cost of others is 400 yuan, and his total cost is 200 yuan. The 200 yuan cost space he created through more advanced tools like "live broadcast" is called value space. Once there was room for value, he found, oh my god, this is too profitable! What will he do? He will find more people to help him do the live broadcast. At the same time, his competitors will also start live broadcasts. At this time, because of the lack of competition, people who understand live broadcast, marketing, eloquence, and sales will become in short supply. everyone Will spend high prices to grab these people who know how to broadcast. Therefore, where there is valuable space, entrepreneurs are more willing to pay a high premium for talents. So what is the place of valuable space? Where new technologies or new business models appear. New technology can improve production efficiency and reduce production costs. The new business model can improve transaction efficiency and reduce transaction costs. They can all bring value space. After understanding the value space, we return to the problem at the beginning. What ability is most needed in the future? Then take a look, where in the future, there will be new value space? In order to support these value spaces, what capabilities are needed? Write down these abilities. This is the first item.
— 2 —
Second, what ability do you do best?
When you are only good at one thing, then I advise you not to change careers.
What should I do next?
When you are good at 20 things, the probability of matching the first item is much higher.
Take me as an example.
Many years ago, I thought that the Internet was transforming every industry, and many companies needed to carry out Internet transformation.
This is a general trend and it will definitely create value space.
So what capabilities are needed for this megatrend?
Companies don't know how to transform, so they need training and consulting.
And what am I good at?
1. I can write.
I wrote two novels in junior high school and a collection of poems in high school. I started blogging in 2003 and persisted for more than ten years.
2. I can speak.
The university participated in the debate competition and was the best debater of Nanjing University. In 2002, he wrote a three-day "project management" course, obtained PMI certification, and gave lectures to a large number of Microsoft employees and national software parks.
3. I can quickly see the nature of the problem.
I taught myself the textbook of "Formal Logic" in junior high school. Undergraduate received extremely cruel logic training in the Department of Mathematics of Nanjing University. I did technology in Microsoft a few years ago and was driven to death by customers.
4. I understand the business model of the Internet and traditional enterprises.
I studied for an MBA at Fudan University. Over the years, I have conducted in-depth research on the business model of the Internet and traditional enterprises.
The abilities that I am good at match those required for the transformation of the Internet.
So, I started to do training and consulting for Internet transformation.
Therefore, if you are good at it, it is exactly what you need to support the value space in the future.
Congratulations, you are lucky.
And if you are good at it, it is not what you need in the future.
For example, you are good at counting banknotes.
But now the bank counters no longer need to count banknotes manually.
Or, you don’t even have one thing you are good at.
Then I'm sorry, you are the one eliminated by this era.
What to do then?
Now, immediately, immediately, learn and develop some abilities that may be needed in the future.
If you really don’t know what you need in the future, you don’t know where to start.
Then develop some general, low-level skills, such as writing skills, speech skills, and thinking skills.
Let yourself become an expert in a certain area, and then consider whether you need to change careers.
Write down what you do best, this is the second item.
— 3 —
The third item, what ability does others do not?
The essence of this problem is the scarcity of your abilities.
If the ability you are good at will match the ability you need in the future.
This can only get you on the shortlist.
But there is no guarantee that you will get high prices.
Whether you can get a high price depends on the attributes of your industry and your ranking in this industry.
What do you mean?
Some industries are winner-takes-all industries.
Such as competitive sports.
In such an industry, you must achieve a score of 99.9 and rank at the top in order to be successful.
Some industries are relatively concentrated industries.
Such as WeChat public account.
There are more than 20 million WeChat public accounts, but only one or two hundred of them may actually make money.
In such an industry, you have to achieve 99 points and rank in the top 200 before you can survive.
And some industries are relatively fragmented industries.
Such as dining.
In such an industry, you may get a score of 90.
So, first of all, you have to look at industry attributes.
This determines how many places you need to be in the top.
Then, look at your ranking.
This determines whether you can get high prices.
How do you look at your ranking?
Try to score yourself objectively to estimate your ranking.
This thing you are good at, if you were asked to rate yourself (0-100), how many points would you rate?
We always feel that if we achieve 60 points, we are even passing.
But it is not.
Most people can achieve 60 points.
To survive, in any industry, you must achieve at least 90 points.
90 points is the passing line.
And the truly outstanding people in this world have at least 98 points.
Final words
How can I find my career direction and get a higher income?
Consider three questions:
1. What ability is most needed in the future?
2. What ability do you do best?
3. What ability does others do not?
The first two questions determine whether you can switch careers.
The third question determines how successful you will be after changing careers.
Draw a three-column grid and write down the answers to all three questions.
Then, look for intersections.
If there is an intersection, congratulations, you are lucky.
And if not, then you have to be vigilant.
You may be becoming the one eliminated by the times.
What to do then?
Now, immediately, immediately, learn and develop some abilities that may be needed in the future.
First let yourself become an expert in a certain area, achieve at least 98 points, and then consider how to change careers.
Remember, you yourself are an unlimited liability company.
If you have only one ability, you are equivalent to hiring a person.
If you work hard enough and have 20 abilities, then you have hired 20 people.
Therefore, we must do everything to the extreme.
Take every "tempering experience" and every criticism as wealth.
Maybe the things you are doing, the skills you are learning, you don’t know if it’s useful.
However, the future is long.
I don't know when it will come in handy.
Identify trends and focus on creating value instead of "creating wealth."