Student Question: Master Chi, I’ve been thinking about starting a side business on Xiaohongshu or Douyin. But I feel like I’m missing a cohesive overall strategy. Could you walk me through exactly how to approach this?
Master Chi’s Response:
Running any kind of project involves far more than people realize. Let me break down the key questions you need to think through before launching on Douyin or Xiaohongshu.
First: The Business Side (Product)
- Who is my content for?
- What kind of content am I going to produce?
- How do I maintain a steady stream of material to keep posting?
- What’s my content differentiation — what makes me stand out?
- What are my monetization paths?
Second: Traffic Generation
- What kind of content attracts users?
- Do you grow organically through content alone?
- Do you use hooks?
- Do you leverage your existing channels and audience?
- Do you run paid ads?
- Do you collaborate with other KOLs?
Third: Delivery (Operations)
- Once users arrive, how do you deliver value?
- How do you exceed expectations?
- How do you manage the relationship? What delivery strategy works?
- How do you activate user engagement?
- Do you need offline events?
- At what frequency?
- What do we actually get out of this?
Fourth: Team Setup and Incentives
- Who do we need to hire?
- How do we measure performance?
- How do we motivate people?
- How do we develop and connect their capabilities?
- How do we make them see a future for themselves within the company?
Fifth: Efficiency
- How do you build a high-performance work system?
- How do you use structure and process so employees drive themselves?
- How do you produce the output of three people with the effort of one?
- How do you build a content library? A user database?
Sixth: Other Questions
- How long can we sustain losses before it becomes a real problem?
- When do we actually need to start turning a profit?
- How do you split your time between the new venture and your existing business?
- How do you integrate the two so they strengthen each other?
- Where does all of this lead in the long run?
Every single question above needs a thought-out answer — and a concrete plan for how to execute it.
Take a look at what I’ve listed. Each point opens up into an enormous amount of detail. A single line like “how do you differentiate your content?” — that one question alone contains multitudes.
It involves scripting, character interviews, and more. Just story structure alone is enough to make your head spin. And for interviews — can you actually get access to impressive people? Traveling to different locations costs money. Are you prepared for that? What questions do you ask? Which topics are sensitive? What are people unwilling to share? What format works for the interview? Every single one of those details has to be nailed down, one by one.
And then there’s filming. Just the act of recording can exhaust you — your facial expressions, your speaking pace, your script, your scene setup.
You think you can just film a quick clip in your apartment complex? Wrong.
Out there you’ll deal with constant noise — kids screaming, construction nearby. Endless interruptions, endless problems, constant adjustments.
So you see — each step carries an enormous amount of work.
And almost all of it has to happen simultaneously. You can’t master one thing and then move on to the next.
While you’re building the account, you absolutely need to be refining the product. And while you’re refining the product, you’re already facing delivery questions. It’s all connected — it’s not a relay race where you finish one leg and then start the next.
A true business owner works on multiple tracks at once.
Execution. Execution. Execution is the single most important quality a person can have.
Without systems, without solid foundational logic, without relentless execution — none of this will ever get off the ground.