TL;DR: Be wary of ventures masquerading as entrepreneurship ("偽．創業"). Many schemes, like MLM or pure flipping, focus solely on sales or recruitment, bypassing the hard work of building real value. Genuine entrepreneurship involves solving fundamental challenges across Supply (產品/服務), Customers (收入/市場), and People (人才/團隊). To build a lasting enterprise ("事業"), you must go further and define a unique niche ("專精") where you offer exceptional value ("鶴立雞群"). Avoid diluting your focus; mastering your niche builds trust and sustainable success.
The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well, perhaps more so than ever. But with this enthusiasm comes a proliferation of opportunities, some genuine, some... less so. It's crucial to distinguish between building a real, sustainable business and getting caught up in what I call "fake entrepreneurship" ("偽．創業").
Let me share a couple of illustrative examples I've encountered:
- Case 1: The MLM Pitch: An old friend I hadn't seen in years meets me for coffee. Before the drinks even arrive, he launches into a spiel: "I'm passionate about success and finding like-minded partners! Our company has a proven system for wealth creation. You just leverage your network and time... Many successful executives, even CEO XYZ from that big company, have joined us..." (I mentally tuned out after the first minute, sensing a classic MLM recruitment pitch).
- Case 2: The 'Art' Flipper: Someone running a standard Marketing Agency suddenly proclaims they're now in the "art business." It turns out they're simply buying and reselling trendy Art Toys ("炒賣 Art Toys").
Now, setting aside the legal or ethical debates around models like direct selling or MLM, let's look at the business substance. Often, these activities boil down to just one function of a business: Sales ("賣嘢"). While sales are vital, focusing only on selling (or recruiting others to sell) without creating underlying value doesn't equate to building ("開創") a business or an enterprise.
The Litmus Test for Real Entrepreneurship
So, what constitutes real business building? Here’s a simple framework I use. A genuine business must create value and, to be sustainable, must continuously solve challenges across three fundamental pillars:
- Supply Source (貨源): Where do your products, services, expertise, or infrastructure come from? How do you ensure quality and availability? (This includes product development, service design, physical locations, equipment, etc.)
- Customer Source (客源): How do you find, attract, and retain customers? How do you generate revenue and manage cash flow? (This involves marketing, sales, customer service, revenue models, etc.)
- People Source (人源): How do you attract, develop, and retain the talent needed to operate and grow? (This covers recruitment, team building, skill development, company culture, etc.)
If a supposed "entrepreneurial opportunity" doesn't require you to actively grapple with and solve problems across these three core areas, there's a high chance it falls into the category of "fake entrepreneurship" ("偽．創業").
Beyond Survival: Defining Your Niche (專精) for Lasting Success
Simply addressing Supply, Customers, and People is necessary for survival. But transforming a basic business into a thriving, long-term enterprise ("事業") requires more. You need to create a unique advantage – something that makes you stand out from the crowd ("鶴立雞群" - like a crane among chickens).
This means defining your niche ("專精"). What unique value do you offer?
- Are you providing something others can't?
- Is your pricing significantly better for comparable quality?
- Do you offer a superior Cost-Performance (CP) value?
Let me use Mercury Technology Solution as an example. There are countless IT service providers focusing on the supply chain. Why should clients choose us? Because beyond standard IT services, we integrate specialized consulting and complex customs solutions expertise. We deliver a "complete, implementable solution" ("公司完全落到地嘅方案"). That integration is our "Niche Function."
The Difference Between a 'Deal' (生意) and an 'Enterprise' (事業)
This focus on niche and long-term value highlights the key difference between simply doing deals ("生意") and building an enterprise ("事業"):
- An Enterprise pursues long-term operational sustainability.
- An Enterprise invests heavily in team building and development.
- An Enterprise is driven by a broader vision – striving to be a "meaningful existence," creating lasting value beyond immediate profit.
Connecting back to my previous post about skills (Part 7), knowing your niche is crucial for communication. If someone asks what I do and I just say "IT," it often leads to "Dead Air." The term is too broad. But when I explain our specific niche in integrated supply chain solutions, it immediately clarifies our unique value proposition and helps build a distinct image.
The Danger of Diluting Your Focus
Should you take on any work a client offers, even if it's outside your core expertise, just to maximize revenue from that client? My view is no. If your niche is network marketing, forcing yourself to take on an IT project you're unfamiliar with is risky. Mistakes are likely, and those mistakes can instantly destroy the trust you carefully built within your area of strength. Focus allows mastery; dilution invites mediocrity and erodes credibility.
The beauty of today's connected world, as the saying goes, is that: "The beauty of the Internet is there's a niche market for everything, and if you can focus on it, you can build a sustainable and viable business for it."
如何分辨「偽．創業」
Case 1: 老友N年未見約我，咖啡都未到，就開始講：「我渴望成功，多年來一直尋找志同道合的拍擋，所以想跟你分享。我們公司有一套成功致富的系統，你只要花一些人脈與時間就可以創業，好多大公司的知名人士、高層主管，跟你一樣都做得幾好但還是選擇加入我們，例如XX公司CEO XYZ，都跟我們一起在共創業呢！而且……（下删1000字）」，言未畢，我已雙眼反白。
Case 2: 有位做Marketing Agency，突然同大家講做藝術，原來係炒賣 Art Toys……
究其本質，不理直銷、傳銷(MLM)或吸金詐騙的合法性或道德性。其本質就是企業的其中「單一功能」－叫做「銷售（賣嘢）」，這稱不上「開創」一門生意或一個事業。所謂「開創」，我可以提供一個最簡單的檢驗標準：
一門生意，必須提供「價值」才可以持續經營，生意必須解決：
- 貨源 （產品、服務、門店、設備等）
- 客源 （收入、週轉等）
- 人源 （人材、團隊等）
如果創業不需要去解決以上問題的，就可以稱之為「偽。創業」。
其之八： Define your niche（專精）
一門生意要成功變成事業，以上三個問題不能只是解決，還要令生意創造「鶴立雞群」的獨特優勢，意思是：要做獨門或獨特的生意，例如提供別人提供不了的特殊價值、或價錢特別平、或更高的CP值等等。
舉一個例字：做供應鍊的IT 服務商很多，為什麼客戶要和我合作而不找其他？除了IT 服務，我們也提供諮詢及海關方案整合，也就是說我們提供的是「公司完全落到地嘅方案」。也是我們的「Niche Function」。
「生意/ Deal」與「事業/ Business」的最大差異在於：
- ．事業追求的是「可長久經營生存與營運。」
- ．事業會關注團隊的建設
- ．事業追求的是更宏觀的理想：想把企業經營成一個「有意義的存在」
在其之七的專長為例，當別人問你的相關專長時，如果我只是回答「做IT」時，就容易Dead Air，因為對方難以快速分辨你與其他IT公司的差異，IT好像是一個很專業的詞彙，但其實它裡面有涵蓋了很多項目，所以當你清楚自己的專精的時候，你就會比較知道，自己應該如何快速建立自己的獨特形象。
經營生意時，我應該越多接一點客戶的其他生意越好嗎？這個觀念說來是不對的，如果你專長在做網路行銷，你為了不要有缺口，硬要去接客戶的IT方案。當你都不熟，就會相對容易出錯，出錯的時候，前面與客戶所建立的信任感就不見了。
The beauty of the Internet is there's a niche market for everything, and if you can focus on it, you can build a sustainable and viable business for it. Focus on building real value, solve fundamental problems, define your niche, and create an enterprise that truly matters. That's the path to sustainable success. Build wisely.
