Jack Ma

is a Chinese business magnate, investor and philanthropist. He is the co-founder and executive chairman of the Alibaba Group in 1999, a multinational technology conglomerate. As of January 2019, he is one of China’s richest men, as well as one of the wealthiest people in the world. Ma is a strong proponent of an open and market-driven economy.

A prominent business figure, Ma is seen as a global ambassador for Chinese business and as such is frequently listed as one of the world’s most powerful people by Forbes. He also serves as a role model for startup businesses. In 2017, he was ranked second in the annual “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” list by Fortune. On 10 September 2018, he announced that he will retire from Alibaba and pursue educational work.

Jack Ma Career Advices:

-If you don’t Find a Good Job, Create it Yourself:

They always try to resolve the problems of the rest”. Don’t complain without any future expectation; always think in an optimistic way

– Look for Your Opportunity Where People Are Complaining:

It’s what he did himself. He saw the small traders complaining about not being able to sell their products abroad and he used the Internet to resolve this problem

-Keep clear what you want to do and have a good work team that believes in the project as much as you:

it’s fundamental to work with people who believe in the Project. For this reason, it’s also key that you tell them exactly what you want to do. Believe in your dreams and convince the team that it’s possible to reach them.

-For you Startup: an innovative spirit and a hard worker:

Novelty in a business model is fundamental. For Jack Ma, capacity isn’t everything. The decisions that are taken with an innovative sense are the most important.

Again, try not to be negative and think: how could I make this different? Or is there anything that can be done differently?. It’s necessary to think about this well to then start doing it.

As for the hard work, even in 1999 when the Alibaba Empire was still just a Project, Jack Ma told his team: “If we have that kind of 8am-to-5pm spirit, then we should just go and do something else”.

– Your business model has to be based on providing help to someone else. It’s only when other people are successful and happy that you will be able to consider yourself successful and happy:

The example is in sight. The small traders have always thanked Jack Ma for giving them the opportunity to sell their products abroad. Currently, the Alibaba Group’s sites (taobao, alipay, tmall y Alibaba) have more than 100 million buyers a day. These sales benefit an approximate 50 million small companies.

-Don’t think about the opportunities that are already spent:

An opportunity always exists. You only need to know how to discover it.

Regardless, for this Internet Empire the Network has a lot more potential to utilize.

– If you decide to start your own business, you need to know that you are giving up a steady income:

There are always margins of risk. It’s most likely that for a period of time you won’t gain money from your business. But it you truly believe in what you do then, you don’t have to worry.

– It’s never too late:

“Only when I was 40 years old did I start to know exactly what I wanted to do. I’ve never thought in my life I would like to be a businessman. All the other things I wanted to do I was rejected. I wanted to become a policeman and I was rejected, I wanted to be a waiter in KFC and I was rejected.”

– Unlimited opportunities:

“This world today is full challenges and opportunities, 2000 years ago full challenges and opportunities, and I’m sure 2000 years later full of challenges and opportunities. It depends on how you look at it. Young people say there is no opportunity, but I think that opportunities always lies in the challenges and in the complaints. If you can solve the challenge you will be successful”.

-Enjoy the journey:

“I think life a journey. You come to this world to enjoy life, to be happier and healthier. The day when you leave this world you wanna say I’m happy with my life, I’m healthy in my life, because if you are not healthy you will never be happy”.

– Find people smarter than you:

“At first I knew nothing about technology, I knew nothing about management. You have to find people smarter than you are.  And when I find them, my job is to make sure that smart people can work together”.

– Have a purpose at every age:

“When you are 20 to 30 years old, you should follow a good boss [and]join a good company to learn how to do things properly. When you are 30 to 40 years old, if you want to do something yourself, just do it. You still can afford to lose, to fail. When you’re 40 to 50 years old, my suggestion is you should do things you are good at. When you are 50 to 60 years old, spend time training and developing young people, the next generation. When you are over 60 years old, you better stay with your grandchildren.”