Student Question:
Hello, Master. This year the pandemic restrictions have lifted. I thought transitioning from my previous career into entrepreneurship would be a real opportunity. But I severely underestimated how idealistic I was. My first venture ended in failure — a fresh-cut fruit shop.
I thought the investment costs would be modest and just dove in headfirst — only to discover how little I understood about the market. Time and again, I found myself falling into traps.
Student Question
Master, I’ve been a full-time stay-at-home mother for six years. Our household income suddenly dried up. My husband was abruptly laid off by his company in July. We’re living off savings now. He’s still job hunting but hasn’t gotten a single interview — this year feels impossible for finding work. We have two children, and my husband is under enormous pressure. I haven’t worked in a long time, so finding employment isn’t easy for me either. When it comes to making money through a side income — could you offer some guidance?
Student Question
Hello Master, I’ve been unemployed for nine months. I’ve tried three side businesses and failed at all of them.
Street vending. Around the Lantern Festival, a close friend and I went to sell lanterns and balloons at a stall. The lanterns arrived too late — we missed the festival entirely. The balloons fell apart because I couldn’t figure out how to inflate them properly, so we gave up. Total inventory costs: 1,000+ yuan. Revenue: 500+ yuan. Net loss: over 500 yuan.
Student Question:
Hello Master Chi. I’ve been running a cattery for two years and it’s been cash-flow negative the entire time. My family keeps urging me to quit. Monthly operating costs — food, supplies, utilities, housing — run over 10,000 RMB. Selling two cats in a month is considered a good month; sometimes I go the entire month without a single sale. Yet the monthly expenses never stop. Lately I’ve been keeping the cattery alive with my day-job income, but even that doesn’t cover the gap. A few days ago I paid rent and bought cat food — 3,000 RMB in food alone, and it only lasts a month. More expenses keep rolling in after that. I’d like to ask Master Chi: what is the true essence of entrepreneurship? How does one build a genuine competitive advantage?
Student Question
Hello, Master. I see many people with profitable projects, but when I try to do them myself, I feel completely lost and don’t know where to start. What is the core of making money?
Master Chi’s Response
The underlying logic of making money is actually the same across the board.
I wonder — have you ever taken the time to summarize and reflect on it yourself?
Those who haven’t will spend a lot of time studying other people’s success stories, but they never develop anything of their own. The reason is simple: they don’t know how to organize, summarize, and distill their own experience and methodology.
Student Question
Hello, Master. I have a question about career transitions and role changes — and about conducting industry analysis. How can one quickly learn new knowledge or skills?
Master Chi’s Response
To understand things broadly and learn quickly, you need to get the following right.
1. Preparation
The prerequisite is that you must build a framework for this new field — in other words, its structure.
Once you have a knowledge structure for the new field, your learning becomes both fast and smooth, because you know exactly where each thing you’re studying fits within that structure.
Student Question
I’m a 33-year-old divorced man working at a property management company in Suzhou. The work is idle and I lack motivation — it feels completely unsuitable for me. I’m an energetic, quick-thinking person with strong execution skills who enjoys outdoor activities and extreme challenges. I just want to find an industry that suits me better, but I don’t know where to start.
Master Chi’s Response
First, there are three directions to address this problem.
(Published 2023-06-25)
Yesterday’s first post was deleted. The second went through — and now it’s stuck in review again. Yesterday’s read was correct: Kadyrov was the real latent threat; Wagner never had the actual foundation for a genuine rebellion. Both Russia and Ukraine face the problem of warlordism, but Ukraine’s situation is far more severe. Russia still has the capacity to rein in its regional powers. Ukraine has completely lost control over its internal factions — and each of those factions has its own outside patron.
Student Question
Master, how does one find the work they truly want to pursue for the long term? I always feel drawn to many industries — like I could get into them, but also like I can’t quite make it work. Even my side hustles have become a scramble for everything at once, wanting to try a little of this, a little of that.
Master Chi’s Response
1. In a large market with real potential, stop chasing trends.
Yes, make no mistake.
I have already seen it — an unprecedented downpour is about to fall from the heavens.
In the language of a weather forecast: we are about to receive an exceptionally large total rainfall, prolonged and sustained.
This rain will be extremely favorable for cultivating land, growing crops, and restoring the natural environment.
And yet, despite all this, the same human absurdities will play out right before your eyes as always.