These past couple of days, I’ve had many brothers and sisters leaving messages in my comments section, hoping I’d speak to this topic. Most of us are feeling some version of “off” right now — and I feel it too.
I thought it over, and I want to casually work through a few points, moving from the small to the big. Let’s see where the conversation goes. How much meaning you draw from it — well, that depends on your own insight.
1
Let me be honest: this era doesn’t offer young people many “breakthrough opportunities,” and that’s a fact. Over forty-plus years of rapid economic development, nearly every sector that could be developed has been developed — and each one already has its own entrenched players at the top.
This inevitably creates mounting competition and pressure in every direction. That’s an objective reality.
But if you’re saying young people have no path forward at all — I disagree.
Every era feels like the worst era when you’re living through it. Yet looking back, you realize there were countless opportunities you simply couldn’t see — either because you lacked the right information channels, or because no one was there to guide you.
I’m in business myself, and I move in circles that give me a decent view of things. My deepest, most direct observation over these years is this: the period from 2024 to 2035 will be an era decided by comprehensive ability. In other words, if you only have one or two job-specific skills, you’re essentially locking yourself into a lifetime of working for someone else.
On the other hand, if you’re willing — alongside those one or two job skills — to develop your social skill set, and then go out with clear, purposeful intent to connect the “hidden minor-wealthy” of the cities or the “hidden small-money” of smaller towns, providing them with honest, direct, and specialized services or introductions — you’ll be digging your way to your first pot of gold fairly quickly, and expanding from there.
2
Don’t underestimate what I just described. It’s really no different from the ’80s and ’90s, when simply getting a college degree was enough to ride the wave of that era’s windfall.
Every generation has its own path to rise. And every generation’s path looks different.
In my view, this era is fundamentally about learning to mine existing wealth — not chasing new frontiers. I say this because nearly 80% of the young rising stars around me made their ascent through exactly this method.
Regardless of the macro environment, the absolute number of “minor-wealthy” and “small-money” people in society remains enormous. And the common profile of this group right now is striking: they haven’t reached great fortune, but they’ve accumulated enough to spend freely. Most were born in the ’50s through ’70s, so they have solid spending habits and a genuine willingness to pay — but they deeply resent being taken advantage of by big institutions and brand marketing. And their social circles are tight-knit.
So if you can establish yourself in any one of these circles through your own professional ability, you’ll find the returns come quickly.
A concrete example: I have about seven or eight wealthy circles scattered across Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai. They know each other, but they operate independently. I regularly introduce trustworthy, character-solid professionals into these circles — interior designers, real estate brokers, jewelry and luxury buyers, immigration consultants, and more.
Some couldn’t survive the scrutiny and didn’t last. But others found their footing — and earned very, very substantial incomes.
3
So in this era, who do I see as most stuck — with the bleakest prospects?
It’s those working in highly repetitive jobs that appear specialized on the surface, but outside their company, absolutely no one would pay for what they do. Sad as it is, these are the typical salaried workers.
They work hard. They grind through endless hours. They bring home mediocre pay. But the fatal problem is: their skills exist only in service of one employer. And years of mechanical, repetitive work have left them with zero personal commercial ability.
That’s the most precarious, most dangerous position. Any small disruption at work can be catastrophic — because there’s no independent survival ability at all.
So what do you do?
Obviously, moping around and sighing all day accomplishes nothing.
Since the year before last, I’ve been repeating the same reminder to the brothers and sisters closest to me — and I’ll say it again here: no matter how stable your main job is, you absolutely must, in your spare time, develop a low-investment side business. Even if it starts as just playing around — it is essential.
“Low-investment” means investing only your time — no money, no capital. The best approach is a service-based skill: teaching others something, emotional support and guidance, lifestyle curation, professional services — the list goes on.
I’ve said before: women have a massive natural advantage in this space.
Women tend to have finer, more nuanced social and lifestyle instincts. Several young women I’ve personally supported started something as a hobby — just for fun — and gradually transformed into group-buying operation bosses covering two or three large residential communities nearby. Now they’re earning sixty to seventy thousand a month.
4
At this point, I want to say something directly to everyone reading my articles.
I am genuinely averse to the idea of you reading many of my articles and becoming what I’d call a “well-read talker” — someone full of ideas, doing nothing with them. That would completely undermine my purpose.
What I actually hope for is this: after each piece I share, you actively reflect, extract the parts you agree with, and apply them in your next real-world experience. The parts you don’t agree with? Feel free to forget them — that’s perfectly fine.
Because my only reason for writing is this: I hope it has a positive, upward influence on your life.
Here’s a simple example. Back in April and May of last year, I told everyone: in this era, especially for women, you really need to start a small, low-investment business of your own. I’ve brought this up more than once.
But the vast majority of people heard it, noted it — and then let it fade. They never actually put it into practice.
Yet in this world, there are always a few people who take a small piece of wisdom heard in passing and turn it into actual action in their own lives.
So far this year, I’ve already received heartfelt thanks from more than twenty readers. The story is almost always the same: “Master Chi, after hearing your advice last year, I started building a side business. I did group buying, or content IP, or emotional consulting, or secondhand luxury goods” — different for each person.
“Then I went through every kind of struggle. But I eventually found a path that works. And now it’s become a steady, solid source of income in my life.”
Truly — the gratitude comes in different forms, but the reasons for success are remarkably consistent.
5
I don’t want to put myself on a pedestal. Those who know me well know I’ve taken my own hits — I’ve had a genuinely hard stretch — and I have friends at every level and from every walk of life. No biases.
But there’s one thing I have to honestly point out: when most ordinary people hit a rough patch, their first instinct isn’t to face it squarely, reflect on what went wrong, and work toward a fix.
Instead, they follow a more basic instinct — they go out drinking and socializing with people at the same level as themselves, using that to ease the emotional pain.
And I’m not exempt. When I’ve been down, I’ve sought out friends at higher levels than me to share a few cups of tea and pour a little inspiration into myself.
We’re human — at some fundamental level, we’re animals. Seeking emotional comfort from our own kind is natural.
But here’s the critical difference: ordinary people, after getting their dose of inspiration, don’t convert that energy into the courage to find a breakthrough. They convert it into a numb determination to just keep grinding on.
And that…
6
…is what creates a very strange phenomenon — a world of two extremes.
On social media, you often see someone who’s clearly a hardworking, no-nonsense salaried worker asking: “Am I the only one who feels like the world is getting harder? Like making money keeps getting more difficult?”
Meanwhile, people who think a little faster and are better at finding opportunities — their lives are better than ever. More prosperous than a few years ago.
The intelligence gap between these two groups isn’t significant. Their family backgrounds aren’t dramatically different. Sometimes the “ordinary” person even starts from a higher position.
It’s just that the pressures and circumstances of the era forced some people to think, to dig, to find a way — and they did exactly that. And then they prospered.
As for you — what should you do?
Honestly, I’m not positioned to give you casual advice without seeing your destiny framework (格局). Many things I’d say wouldn’t have grounding without that.
But my position is clear: in this era, you must push yourself.
First, push yourself to face reality: working a job is essentially just covering basic expenses. And with the pace of change, rapid technological iteration, and the rise of AI, even that job may only hold up for another six or seven years.
Stop drifting along, lying flat, waiting for the tide of the era to carry you somewhere — like the horse-cart drivers made obsolete by the combustion engine.
Second, push yourself to organize all your spare time — once you’re properly rested — and start something. Whether it’s small transactions or introductions within your friend circle, or learning from those community micro-influencers running group buys and local product promotions — these side ventures that require no capital are worth experimenting with now.
And let me offer you one honest piece of advice: don’t, before you’ve even started, go looking for every reason and excuse to tell yourself it’s impossible or won’t work.
Remember this: everything in this world gets done only after doing it, hitting the wall a few hundred times, and then, still bleeding and trembling, figuring it out anyway.
There is no such thing as a ready-made good deal just waiting for you to pick up.
If there is — either your parents are extraordinarily powerful figures, or it’s a scam through and through.
For us ordinary people, it’s willpower, courage, decisiveness, and persistence — invisible qualities of infinite strength — that get things done.
Let those words turn over in your mind a few times. Think about them seriously before you sleep.
If you read all of this, felt a five-second rush of excitement, and then got pulled away by celebrity gossip, mindless videos, and entertainment — then honestly, the life you have is no injustice.
Of course, I also understand: when you’re in a low, depressing environment, it’s genuinely difficult to pull yourself out through willpower alone. Everyone around you will find ways — consciously or not — to spread negativity and drag down the atmosphere.
As the saying goes: when a person is weak, a hundred poisons enter; when a person is poor, a thousand chills draw near.
I truly understand how hard things are for you.
So from the bottom of my heart: I genuinely hope you’ll do what it takes to “draw near to prosperity, and thus gain prosperity.” Change your environment as soon as you can. Surround yourself with brothers and sisters who are genuinely positive, upward-moving, and sunny in their outlook.
Life is a journey. Except for a rare few lucky ones, we all started from zero.
I hope — and I encourage — you to find that kind of environment sooner rather than later.
It’s truly worth it.