Chapter 3 Chapter 2 Dugu Nine Swords, the Entrepreneurship Sutra

"Dugu Nine Swords" is an invincible martial arts stunt in the world. This sword technique was created by Dugu Qiubai. It is divided into 9 parts, namely the general formula, broken knife style, broken sword style, broken spear style, broken whip style, Rope-breaking pose, palm-breaking pose, arrow-breaking pose, and breath-breaking pose. Each of the 9 parts has its own merits, and each move is progressive and unpredictable. The higher the level of kung fu, the more difficult it is for ordinary people to understand, and the more lonely they will be.Jack Ma is such a loner.He always firmly believes that he is right, and even if he encounters temporary setbacks, he will use "the left hand to warm the right hand" to comfort himself.He emphasized that the development speed of an enterprise is faster than that of a rabbit, but it must be more patient than a tortoise. To run an enterprise, you must do something and not do something.

On the road of entrepreneurship, although Ma Yun is lonely, with his unique entrepreneurial theory and wisdom, he is invincible. The essence of Dugu Qiubai's swordsmanship lies in his first move, the "general formula". The "general formula" is Dugu Nine Swords' "General Outline of Mentality", and it is the basis of the following eight moves of swordsmanship. Only by comprehending the essentials and mastering the mysteries, and learning the following eight moves, will you be able to get twice the result with half the effort and be handy.So for this first trick, you need to recite it day and night, and be familiar with it.

Ma Yun also has his own set of methods for doing business and doing things, and the purpose of it was later called "Yes Theory".Someone once asked Jack Ma should make money first or train first?Ma Yun answered Yes, he wanted both money and training; asked him whether he wanted obedient employees or capable employees?He answered Yes, he must be obedient and capable; asked him, are you playing fake or real?He answered Yes, we played both virtual and real; asked him who is more important, the system or the people?He answered Yes, all important, we will do it simultaneously!It was his Yes theory that trained his swift decision-making methods and laid the foundation for him to become a powerful rich man.

Creating value is as important as making money, because if you think you have created value and no one is willing to pay for it, then what you create is not value, but rubbish.Competent employees and obedient employees must be integrated, that is to say, they must be both obedient and capable. Competent and obedient are not contradictory.Competent people are disobedient, and obedient people cannot do it. These two kinds of people do not exist at all. Being disobedient itself means that you cannot do it.These are all extensions of Jack Ma's Yes theory. The connotation of Yes theory is more than that, it also includes persistence to belief and persistence to oneself, that is, to firmly believe that one is right.

Everything requires persistence. In the Internet industry, persistence is the most difficult thing.For all Internet entrepreneurs, surviving is the first priority, and then we can talk about development. In the process of Alibaba's entrepreneurship, the company was once in jeopardy, and almost everyone questioned his model.Some people in the industry even said that if Alibaba can succeed, it will undoubtedly drive a 10,000-ton giant ship to the Himalayas.Ma Yun still said Yes to himself.Sure enough, the 10,000-ton giant ship successfully drove up the Himalayas. When the Internet encountered a severe winter, Alibaba reached the most critical moment, the funds were almost exhausted, and some surrounding websites closed down one after another, Jack Ma did not give up.Faced with the rolling cold, Jack Ma still firmly said Yes to himself.

Of course, Ma Yun also had times of hesitation and indecision. In 2000, Goldman Sachs and Softbank invested 25 million US dollars in place, and Ma Yun was determined to make a big effort to enclose land around the world.At that time, Alibaba rapidly expanded its business in Silicon Valley, South Korea, London, and Hong Kong, China. Alibaba, which was only established for one year, has become a multinational company with employees from 13 countries.Those world-class elites under him began to instill their own theories and methods in him.Colleagues in the United States said that technology is the most important; executives in Hong Kong, China said that the development of the capital market is the most important; but ordinary employees in Hong Kong suggested that the company should be remodeled, focusing on the road of e-commerce.Faced with these noisy voices, Jack Ma began to be undecided.But the hesitation was only temporary. On September 11, 2000, as soon as the "West Lake Lunjian" ended, Ma Yun immediately returned to the company, held a high-level meeting, and announced: "We are going to take action."

Ma Yun's so-called action is the famous "B2C plan" in Alibaba's history.Also, at the end of 2000, Ma Yun made a decision that surprised everyone-global layoffs.Subsequently, a series of high-level "exodus" incidents in Chinese Internet companies proved that Jack Ma's judgment was correct. Although self-confidence is an extremely simple word, it is not easy to actually achieve it.It takes courage to stand up to all opinions in the face of a major decision, and it is even more commendable to always stand up to all opinions in doing anything, and this is often the basis of success.Everyone has a mind, and each mouth has a voice. Sometimes the world lacks thinkers, and sometimes there are too many thinkers and bad things happen.Ma Yun's approach is to always say Yes to himself.

Ma Yun later recalled that when he first started working on the Internet, he had no confidence in whether he could succeed.He just thinks that to do one thing, whether you fail or succeed, you have to try and make a breakthrough. If you don’t do it, you can turn around; but if you don’t do it, you will always follow the old path, and you will never have new development. Looking back at the beginning, Jack Ma decided to enter the Internet industry as soon as he returned from Seattle in 1995, but it was not easy to make this decision.At that time, few of his friends understood him.On the night before he decided to resign from Hangzhou Institute of Electronic Technology, Jack Ma asked 24 people for consultation. 23 people firmly said no, and only one person slightly agreed, but only said that he could try.Ma Yun analyzed everyone's advice and his own judgment, and finally decided to act.For his actions, many people described them as impulsive and stupid, only he believed that he was right.

Therefore, in April 1995, Ma Yun and his friends created "Haibo Network".At that time, the establishment of Haibo Network required a total of 100,000 yuan, but Jack Ma's savings were only 6,000 to 7,000 yuan, and the rest had to be borrowed from relatives and friends.To raise funds, he even sold all the furniture in his home.The company's employees are only him, his wife and a college classmate.Nevertheless, "Haibo Network" is still one of the earliest Internet companies in China.Many years later, Jack Ma was thus hailed as the "Father of China's Internet".

In the process of starting a business, Jack Ma has always emphasized that he must always say Yes to himself, because he knows that in many cases, being persuaded by others is often the beginning of making mistakes.Ma Yun has always believed that he is right, and persistence is victory. This sentence is especially applicable to Ma Yun. "Broken Sword Style" in "Dugu Nine Swords" is the kung fu used to decipher single-sword, double-sword, lancet, ghost-head sword, machete, horse-cutting sword and other sword techniques.It pays attention to using light to control heavy, and using fast to control slow.When the Internet was just emerging, there were actually quite a few people who were exposed to the Internet, but there were very few people who could see the infinite business opportunities hidden behind the Internet. Jack Ma was one of them who saw the most far-reaching and most successful.He quickly opened up China's e-commerce market with the help of China Yellow Pages, developed new business models, avoided direct fierce competition with traditional industry giants, and opened up a new blue ocean with fast speed and slow speed.

Ma Yun has been making decisions all his life - overturning his own decision - making another decision - subverting again.He has many outlandish ideas, and when he has an idea, he immediately puts it into practice. In April 1995, Jack Ma started the establishment of China Yellow Pages.At that time, no one knew what the Internet was, and no one believed him.Ma Yun can only go out every day to promote the Internet Yellow Pages, and persuade others to pay willingly to put the company's information on the Internet.During that time, Jack Ma lived a life that almost everyone regarded as a liar. At that time, China Yellow Pages was the first commercial website in China.This Chinese Yellow Pages model comes entirely from Ma Yun's own inspiration and his understanding of Internet business applications.Before that, there was no such model in the world, and no one thought of using this model to make money.It is such an immature model and product that actually allowed Ma Yun to make money.Seizing the first opportunity is undoubtedly an important secret to success. The Alibaba model is another innovation of Ma Yun, and it is the most important innovation in his life.Alibaba's B2B has two distinctive features: one is to serve small and medium-sized enterprises; the other is not to do the whole process of e-commerce, but only to flow information.These are areas that existing e-commerce sites have not paid attention to. Ma Yun has always believed that the model that others cannot see clearly may be the best.Others can't see clearly, so not many people dare to make a move. If you enter decisively at this time, you can easily expand yourself.Of course, risks are inevitable. When Ma Yun first registered the website domain name "alibaba.com", he found that someone had already registered two years in advance.Talking with the other party for several months has not made any progress, so Jack Ma decisively transferred a considerable amount of money at the time—US$10,000—into the other party’s account.You must know that the two parties had not reached an agreement at that time, and Ma Yun’s venture capital was only 500,000 yuan in total. What's more worth mentioning is that after spending a lot of money to buy the domain name "alibaba.com", he registered all related domain names such as "alimama.com" and "alibaby.com" in one breath.When others stare at him in bewilderment, only he himself knows that it is the best choice to catch big fish with a long line. In July 2003, less than a month after the establishment of Taobao.com, Jack Ma said: "If the payment problem is solved, what chance do we have? We will never wait until the opportunity is ripe to do something." Only three months after this was said, in October 2003, Alipay, a payment tool specially customized for Taobao, was born. In fact, long before the emergence of Taobao, the fatal problem of online shopping - how to realize safe online payment, had already appeared, but no one thought to solve this problem.Ma Yun dared to "test the water" and quickly launched Alipay.It is worth noting that Alipay was only used as a payment tool for Taobao when it was first put into use.Ma Yun's consideration of his profit model has always been vague, "but it is interesting because of the vagueness."Ma Yun entered the payment field two years earlier than the latecomers. Later, when Alipay discussed cooperation matters with "dinosaur-level" partners including the four major state-owned banks, the top ten joint-stock banks, and the best domestic logistics companies, Alipay's competitive advantage was clearly reflected. Therefore, once a person sees the right direction and finds the right way out, he must take action without hesitation.After all, opportunities are rare, one step at a time, one step at a time.Ma Yun is a person who is good at grasping opportunities. He started from the Chinese Yellow Pages and started a new journey in life. "Broken Sword Style" is a coup to break the swordsmanship of all sects and sects in the world.Although this stance has only one style, it incorporates the essence of swordsmanship from all sects and sects in the world. Although it is said to be "no move", it is based on the stances of swordsmanship in the world, so it is far superior to the opponent. What kind of person is the strongest?It is a person who does not give up in the face of death and persists in living. Young Ma Yun, like many boys of the same age, is the typical image of poor students in people's eyes: rebellious, stubborn, loves to fight, flaunts his strength, and refuses to change after repeated admonitions.Ma Yun grew up reading Jin Yong's martial arts novels. Influenced by the novels, he also wanted to become a "chivalrous man" to fight against injustice and act bravely.So he often fights for others, and sometimes he is injured and sent to the hospital, but he is strong and never cries.Perhaps it is these childhood experiences that forged his strong character. Ma Yun took the college entrance examination three times and only succeeded in the last one, but he has always been indomitable and forged ahead.These experiences can make us understand his famous saying more deeply: I don't know how to define success, but I know what failure is, and that is giving up. During the period when he first started his business, Jack Ma's strength was still very weak compared with his opponents.Even his own entrepreneurial partners often retreat, and he needs to continue to persuade and communicate to help them dispel their psychological concerns and continue to follow him.In this case, Jack Ma's own extraordinary self-confidence and determination have played a role.If we look back and summarize the entire development process of Alibaba, Ma Yun has undoubtedly provided us with many successful experiences, one of which is very important: Only those who survive are strong. At the turn of the century, the Internet industry entered a period of cold winter. On September 10, 2000, Alibaba announced that it had entered a state of high crisis.Immediately afterwards, at the end of 2000, Ma Yun announced a global layoff.In an instant, people inside Alibaba were panicked, but Jack Ma still firmly believed that Alibaba's future is bright and limitless.Sometimes people need to inspire themselves with the predictable future, but sometimes they have to rely on some fanatical things to motivate themselves. Jack Ma has a distant vision for Alibaba and regards it as a great dream that cannot predict the future.Don't say he is crazy, you know, every successful person has a paranoid spirit. In any case, it was indeed a difficult decision for Jack Ma to persevere.At that time, most people were not optimistic about Alibaba's future because they didn't have any mature products to sell, which can be seen from the sales force of only 10 people. In 2001, Ma Yun made an oath: In 2002, he will achieve a profit of 1 yuan.In the end, he did not break his promise. At the end of December 2002, Alibaba realized a profit of 1 yuan. Since then, he has started an increasingly "outrageous" idealistic plan, and Jack Ma's ambitions since then have even tasted like a "Great Leap Forward".At the year-end meeting in 2002, Jack Ma proposed that in 2003, Alibaba must achieve a profit of 100 million yuan for the whole year.The leap from 1 yuan to 100 million yuan is simply a dream. Those who opposed Ma Yun during the discussion even stood up and clapped the table.However, Ma Yun's determination has been made and cannot be changed. But unexpectedly, as Jack Ma expected, in 2003 Alibaba successfully completed a profit of 100 million yuan.Still at the year-end meeting, another crazy goal was thrown out: to achieve a daily profit of 1 million in 2004, and to pay taxes of 1 million per day in 2005.A daily profit of 1 million yuan, this new goal once again caused an uproar in the management of Alibaba, with heated debates and opposition. Some people say that an entrepreneur who can't dream will never achieve an excellent enterprise.But we can see from Ma Yun that entrepreneurs who can only dream are not successful entrepreneurs. Only entrepreneurs who can dream and survive in a difficult environment can have the last laugh. Ma Yun suggested that future entrepreneurs must be mentally prepared to endure hardship for 20 years.At that time, a man named Tan Mansheng failed to participate in the selection of "Win in China" Xinjiang competition area due to repeated entrepreneurial failures. He felt that his life was bleak, so he thought of suicide, left a suicide note on the Internet, and never heard from it again.Ma Yun felt very sorry when he heard the news, and then he said to Tan Mansheng and all the entrepreneurs earnestly: We must think about the way to go in the future and what setbacks there will be on the way.This is not a special consolation for anyone, but what he summed up from his own life path. From China Yellow Pages to Alibaba, from Taobao to Alipay, Jack Ma has persisted in this way. The difficulties and setbacks he has experienced are almost all Entrepreneurs face it. Regarding how to persevere in starting a business, Ma Yun gave two answers: first, believe that what you are doing is right; second, believe that what you are doing is very difficult. Few people can do it. Half the battle won.Persistence is actually to cross the critical point. Once crossed, the dawn will naturally appear in front of you. Compared with 2001, 2008 is a more severe year for my country's SMEs.The global financial crisis triggered by the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States caused the stock market to fall sharply and the global economy was in trouble.A large number of small and medium-sized enterprises in my country have also been deeply affected, especially in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions. Many enterprises have greatly reduced their exports, but their production costs have continued to rise. Faced with this severe situation, Ma Yun said that Alibaba is ready.The more difficult the time is, the more Jack Ma chooses to live strong, not only to live, but also to look for opportunities in adversity.He further encouraged members of Alibaba to be fully mentally prepared. Winter is not terrible. What is terrible is that when winter comes, they are not prepared or have insufficient expectations for the cold. Ma Yun emphasized: First, you must believe that you can live, and second, you must believe that you have a strong will to survive.He said that from 1999 to 2001, Alibaba could not pay wages and had no income, but he insisted on surviving.Everyone fell down, and Ali Baba had to persevere on his knees, because persistence to the end is victory, and he must let himself be the last to fall.For small and medium-sized enterprises, the economic crisis is not only a challenge but also an opportunity, because the most affected by the economic environment are generally large enterprises.But the consumption power in the world has not decreased, people still need to eat, wear and use.From this point of view, once we get over it, we will usher in a new spring. Ma Yun is undoubtedly the leader on the road to entrepreneurship.He said to live strong, in fact, this is the best encouragement, such a person is a strong person in life. Dugu Nine Swords' "Broken Spear Style" is the method to break long weapons such as long spears, euphorbias, snake spears, eyebrow-leveling sticks, maces, white wax sticks, Zen sticks, and convenient shovels.To deal with long weapons, you can't use conventional methods, but look for their shortcomings, be careful, and chase them fiercely.Similarly, one should not be half-hearted in being a person and doing things. It is impossible for a person to be proficient in all industries and understand all the principles in a lifetime.As long as you do one thing well in your life, it will be great.When Ma Yun first started his business, he was faced with the strengths of others, but revealed his own weaknesses.Therefore, he must find a breakthrough point and go on with one heart and one mind. Concentration is Jack Ma's way of starting a business.In a big way, Jack Ma focuses on the Internet; in a small way, he focuses on e-commerce, especially e-commerce that serves small and medium-sized enterprises.Through 12 years of hard work, he has established the world's largest e-commerce website. At the end of 1998, when Ma Yun founded Alibaba, almost all the people in the team were inclined to portal websites.But Ma Yun single-mindedly identified e-commerce, and finally created a Chinese-style B2B website with "four different images".Since then, he has been firmly taking the e-commerce route and has never wavered. At that time, it was the craziest period of China's Internet, and companies such as Sina, Sohu, and 8848 were flourishing.The Internet is known as a "money-burning" industry, and as one of them, Jack Ma and his followers are also considered a group of lunatics.But at this time, Jack Ma has experienced several entrepreneurial trials, and he no longer cares about other people's opinions.He knew in his heart that Alibaba was not just a fantasy, but a sail of hope to realize his business dream. Jack Ma has kept a video of the past. If you look back now, people will definitely be filled with emotion.The video was shot in 1999, when Alibaba was first established, at Lakeside Garden in Hangzhou.A total of 18 people including Jack Ma's wife, colleagues, students, and friends surrounded him, and he made a speech in the middle. Ma Yun, with long hair, danced and danced with passion.He told his entrepreneurial partners that everyone can go out to find a job now and get a salary of 3,000 to 5,000 yuan a month, but after 3 years they will still have to look for a job for such an income.And everyone started a business together, although they only get a salary of 500 yuan a month, but once the company is successful, they will never have to worry about the economy.From that moment on, they will do a great thing, and their B2B will bring a revolution to the Internet service model. In 2000, Alibaba encountered a cold winter of the Internet. At that time, Alibaba’s life was hanging by a thread, with no follow-up investment and no profit model.Voices of questioning and insults flooded towards Jack Ma.But Ma Yun seems to have practiced the "golden bell jar" and "iron cloth shirt". No matter the wind from southeast to northwest, I will stand still.He "stubbornly" sticks to B2B and e-commerce. Persistence will eventually pay off. In 2003, Sun Zhengyi, a shareholder of Alibaba, called a meeting of the operators of all the companies he invested in, and gave everyone 5 minutes to state the status quo of their companies.After listening to Ma Yun's statement, Sun Zhengyi made this evaluation: Ma Yun is the only one who said something to me 3 years ago and still says something to me now. What Sun Zhengyi refers to by Ma Yun three years ago is the goal established when Alibaba was founded in 1999.At that time, Ma Yun judged that China's accession to the WTO was a matter of time, which would mean that many Chinese companies would have the opportunity to develop business abroad.Therefore, the first concept of Alibaba was to help Chinese companies export through the Internet, and at the same time help foreign companies enter China.After careful consideration, Ma Yun believes that it is the small and medium-sized enterprises and the private economy that promote the rapid development of China's economy.Therefore, these private SMEs are what Alibaba should help.This is Ma Yun's earliest idea, and it is also his philosophy that he sticks to. After several years of ups and downs of the Internet trend, this concept has not only not wavered, but has become more determined.Afterwards, the development of Alibaba proved that the choice of e-commerce and the positioning of small and medium-sized enterprises became the only thing Ma Yun "concentrated" did.Perhaps this is also the key to Alibaba's success today and its firmness. In August 2005, Alibaba completed the acquisition of Yahoo China.This shocking acquisition has sparked widespread controversy.At that time, Baidu was successfully listed on NASDAQ not long ago.For a while, there were different opinions on the Internet. Many people believed that Alibaba acquired Yahoo China because they saw the rise in Baidu's stock and wanted to take a share of the search opportunity. To this, Jack Ma responded: In the final analysis, a search engine is just a tool.Since it is a tool, it must serve Alibaba's e-commerce.The acquisition of search engines is just to make e-commerce more perfect. Connecting with Ma Yun's point of "concentrate on doing one thing" that he has always emphasized before, you will find that he is not just trying to refute the theory of "following Baidu", but to determine what he and Alibaba are doing. The company's development goals, and this goal is obviously not something that can be achieved within a year or two. The cold winter of the Internet did not defeat Ma Yun's persistence, and the fiery search engine did not confuse Ma Yun's persistence.To persist for a period of time requires perseverance; but to persist for a long time, in addition to perseverance, you also need to have confidence in your own judgment. Ma Yun has always insisted on "concentrating on one thing" and insisting that everything serves the goal.He wants to tell everyone: Doing business is actually very simple.What you want to do, what you want to change, and after you think it through, stick to it forever. "Breaking whip style" is a move used to break short weapons such as acupuncture prongs, steel whips, kidnappers, Emei thorns, daggers, axes, iron plates, and octagonal mallets.When fighting hand-to-hand, you must concentrate and have no distracting thoughts, just like cutting through the mess with a sharp knife, so as to win quickly.This is what Ma Yun used to solve customer problems. Faced with various customers, he did not adopt complex personalized services, but simplified the complexity. He always believed that customers are lazy, as long as they think of lazy people, they can be lazy. method, business will be very easy. In today's society, the phrase "customer is king" has long been a mantra, and many companies also regard the principle of "the customer is always right" as the highest creed, and the same is true for Alibaba.Ma Yun once said that Alibaba also has "three representatives": "Our three representatives, first, must represent the interests of customers; second, must represent the interests of employees; and third, represent the interests of the largest shareholders." For any software, website, the most important thing people value is ease of use.As for how to operate, that is something that companies should worry about. People don't want to know the background knowledge.It is based on this observation that Ma Yun summed up the eternal law of "customers are lazy".It is also in consideration of this factor that Ma Yun's business websites and even software are very "fool-like". Ma Yun has always characterized Alibaba as a business service company whose business is to help users reach cooperation online.So Ma Yun summed up e-commerce transactions in a simple sentence: it is a tool, not a bomb. Using this tool, it can help customers promote their products to the whole country and the world, and can help customers collect other people’s information on the website. , Can help customers strengthen internal management and adjustment. Ma Yun has a seemingly strange theory that customers are wrong in many cases.Because customers often don't know what they really need.Most of the time, the intuitive expression of customers' requirements is: more and cheaper.And everyone's needs are different. There are a thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand people, but not everyone can describe the Hamlet in their hearts.Similarly, many clients don't uncover some of their unconscious thoughts when they're surveyed.If you simply think that "the customer is always right", you will lose customers, and you don't know why.Therefore, trying to rely on research to read the hearts of customers simply does not work.Only from this point of view can we think what customers think and meet the various needs of customers. Yahoo is a multinational company with a very deep corporate culture, and its employees are often proud of it.However, Alibaba, which acquired Yahoo China at that time, was a company that had not yet been listed, and some Yahoo employees inevitably had some resistance.So Jack Ma used an artistic and humorous way to tell Yahoo China employees to abandon their original concepts in their future work, adapt to the new atmosphere of Alibaba, and change their methods according to the needs of customers.On the surface, the theory of "lazy people" seems absurd, but after careful consideration, it is still very reasonable.It's just that "lazy" needs to be "lazy out of style, lazy out of realm", and "lazy" in hands cannot be "lazy" in heart. Ma Yun acquired Yahoo China to facilitate the operation of the entire e-commerce for customers and completed the construction of information flow; cooperated with China Post to complete the construction of logistics; cooperated with banks and launched Alipay to solve the problem of capital flow security issues.All of this revolves around his premise - "customers are lazy".One of Jack Ma's goals is to make e-commerce as convenient as running water, "just a twist". Alibaba not only stipulates "customer first", but also believes that "customers are lazy".Therefore, everything takes the initiative to consider customers.This is Alibaba's corporate culture. Jack Ma requires all employees to agree with this culture and guide their work with a customer-oriented approach.Only by realizing that customers are "lazy people" can we serve customers better and hold customers' hearts. The sixth move of Dugu Nine Swords is the "cable-breaking pose", which is a unique skill used to break soft weapons with a certain degree of relaxation, such as long cables, short whips, three-section sticks, iron chains, fishing nets, and flying hammer meteors.To deal with soft weapons, one must be careful not to be paralyzed;Usually in the business field, many people will focus on soft strategies such as media public relations to increase brand awareness and corporate influence, and even take disasters as an important magic weapon for public relations.Jack Ma disagrees with this. He believes that disasters must not be regarded as public relations, and should be handled with caution immediately to eliminate disasters and reduce their impact. Facing a brand-new industry, almost all Internet companies are growing up while making mistakes.Ma Yun's attitude towards mistakes is: face mistakes directly - correct them quickly - and don't make the same mistakes.Alibaba has basically made no major mistakes in its development process, but it has also made minor mistakes: blind expansion, premature internationalization, superstitious foreign executives, etc.However, these mistakes made Ma Yun more and more mature. Alibaba has encountered several serious crises during its growth, such as the Internet winter crisis, the "SARS" crisis, and the "money and treasure" crisis.Jack Ma solved the previous two crises by withdrawing the site and laying off employees and using SOHO to fight against SARS.The solution to the last crisis was the abolition of "recruiting wealth and treasure". On May 10, 2006, Taobao launched "Zhaocaijinbao".This product is a value-added service provided by Taobao for sellers who are willing to pay to promote their products in order to obtain more transaction opportunities.Its nature is similar to the bidding ranking service of most search engines.Sun Tongyu, general manager of Taobao, interpreted "Zhaocaijinbao" in this way: "The most critical ranking factor for 'Zhaocaijinbao' is the transaction volume, followed by the seller's bid." But in essence, "recruiting wealth and treasure" is still a fee-based service.This conflicts with Taobao's previous two promises of no fees for 3 years, which has caused dissatisfaction among many Taobao users. Soon after the launch of "Zhaocaijinbao", many sellers began to sign online, calling on Taobao users to collectively strike on June 1, 2006.It can be seen from this turmoil that this business has not won people's recognition, which triggered a crisis of "recruiting wealth and making treasures", which became a test of Jack Ma's ability to deal with the crisis. Ma Yun's initial response to this crisis was to publish a signed article on the Internet, apologizing to all sellers for the problems of "recruiting wealth and making treasure".At the same time, he also made some adjustments to the price of "Zhaocaijinbao". On May 29, 2006, Ma Yun continued to post a post under the signature of "Feng Qingyang" on the Taobao forum, explaining the ins and outs of "recruiting wealth and making treasures" in detail again, and talked about the real starting point of this move . He first clarified that the launch of "Zhaocaijinbao" is not for Taobao to make money. Taobao's free promise is serious and serious, and it is a major event unanimously agreed by all shareholders and directors.Taobao will never and does not need to break its promise, and no shareholder will ask Alibaba to make money on Taobao at this time.Jack Ma also confidently assured that Alibaba has sufficient funds, and its cash reserves can free Taobao for at least another 20 years.At present, Taobao is not thinking about how to make money, but how to make it the best trading platform in the world. Secondly, Alibaba also promised to all members involved in the construction and development of Taobao that in the future, we must find a fair and reasonable charging model, a model that allows Taobao to develop, members to get rich, and buyers to be happy. .Ma Yun hopes to realize an ideal business model that allows those who are willing to pay to pay, and those who are not willing to pay will always be free.Of course, this model has not yet appeared in reality, what he has to do is "dare to be the first in the world". Finally, Ma Yun said that the launch of "Zhaocaijinbao" was originally intended to help some online store owners start their businesses more smoothly.Many shop owners want to make a small investment in their online stores to make their small stores more efficient and have more visits. "Zhaocaijinbao" is a small investment game, not much different from other functions launched by Taobao. Ma Yun didn't expect the incident to be so big, so he not only clarified the rumors, but also admitted his mistakes.He told the majority of users that Taobao does not do well enough in many areas, the product itself is not perfect, and the communication is not good enough.He said that Taobao is working day and night to improve these products, and he hopes that the majority of users will forgive and give young people a chance. Regrettably, Jack Ma's rhetoric did not receive a positive response and recognition.At this time, Jack Ma has realized that if the crisis cannot be properly handled, it will have a disastrous impact on the development of Taobao.Therefore, he made a decisive decision: launch a vote on the Internet, and the survival of "recruiting wealth and treasure" will be determined by the results of the voting.The result was announced on June 12, 2006. After 10 days of voting by netizens, 38% of users supported it and 61% opposed it. Therefore, "Zhaocaijinbao" was cancelled.This practice of deciding whether to retain a new function of a C2C website through voting by netizens is undoubtedly a great pioneering work in the history of e-commerce development, and it reflects respect for users.Ma Yun has proved to people with practical actions that Taobao is everyone's Taobao. In this crisis, Ma Yun explained to the customer with a candid attitude, and immediately took corresponding actions to cancel the "recruitment of wealth and wealth".Ma Yun told the media: "We will withdraw when customers object, which represents all our value orientation that puts the interests of customers first. It is not a big deal for us to take a step back." The "broken palm style" of Dugu Nine Swords is used to decipher palm kung fu, such as long fist and short strike, grasping acupuncture points, eagle claw and tiger claw, iron sand palm and so on.Facing the person holding the Dugu Nine Swords, the opponent actually fights the sharp sword with bare hands, which has extremely high attainments in martial arts.The palm techniques in the world are extremely complicated, and the "broken palm style" needs to face up to the difficulties and turn them into easy ones.Ma Yun has a deep understanding of this, and he has a set of humorous and slightly poignant "hand breaking techniques".In the most difficult time, his method is very simple, which is to use his "left hand to warm his right hand" to comfort himself. Entrepreneurs often show their glamorous side to outsiders, but few people know the price they pay behind it.In the words of Ma Yun, the brilliant side that everyone sees accounts for only 20% of everything that entrepreneurs have experienced, and the difficult side that they don’t see accounts for 80%.He even said that he has been frustrated all the way for many years and has no glorious past to talk about.When a year passes, others will only see how fast Alibaba has developed in this year, but they don't know that they have paid more in this year than others in 10 years.Every day, every step, every decision is tough. Ma Yun regards the mistakes he has made and the detours he has taken as the most precious wealth. It is these that make him and his team more confident in facing tomorrow's challenges.没有失败经验的人不会预期到这么多痛苦，所以就会轻易地被打倒，但有了面对痛苦的心理准备，就不会害怕失败。只要面对现实，敢于承认错误，总能找到解决问题的办法。 虽然马云长得瘦小，但他却是一个商业硬汉。“创业的时候，我的同事可能流过泪，我的家人可能流过泪，但我没有，因为流泪没有用。创业者没有退路，最大的失败就是放弃。”企业家的成功是很多因素共同作用的结果，除客观环境外，更重要的是企业家自身的素质，如眼光、境界、智慧、能力，尤其是意志、韧劲和永不放弃的精神。 在遇到困难的时候，每个人都有自己的解决方法。马云给出了他的经典建议：用左手温暖你的右手。说白了，就是自我保护。把开心快乐当做一种投资，你开心就要和别人分享，然后有一天别人会回报你。所以，在你开心的时候，把开心带给别人；在不开心的时候，别人才会把开心带给你。这是一种快乐守恒定律。 创业从来都与坎坷相伴，马云建议每个创业者都要具备“用左手温暖右手”的心态，要学会自己保护自己，尽自己最大的力量去面对创业过程中的种种艰辛。几乎每个成功创业者的背后，都有一段浸满辛酸与泪水的故事。面对各种无法控制的变化，一个聪明的创业者必须懂得用乐观和主动的心态去拥抱。 在艰难时刻，马云说过这样一句话：“今天很残酷，明天更残酷，后天很美好。但绝大多数人都死在明天晚上，只有真正的英雄才能见到后天的太阳。” 有人问马云成功的原因是什么，马云觉得是“永不放弃”。这个答案非常普通，可事实上，许多辉煌的起点都是普通的，把普通坚持久了就不再普通了。 现在这个时代，有很多人讲求所谓的背景，在某些背景之下，有的人从小进重点小学、重点中学，然后上名牌大学，找称职工作。那没有背景的怎么办呢？马云的回答是，“没有背景可以去创造背景”。 外界曾经有一个传言，说马云早年去应聘服务生的时候，因为身高的问题被人拒绝了。后来有人拿此事让他证实，马云笑称这事是假的，并接着说即使真的如此也没什么好沮丧的，因为沮丧没有任何用处。失去一些东西的同时总会得到一些东西。也正是这么多年的挫折和教训，使马云对失败看得很轻，对成功也看得很轻。有梦想、有智慧、有勇气、走正道，永远不要放弃，就一定会有机会成功的。 对所有创业者来说，要永远告诉自己一句话：从创业的第一天起，你每天要面对的是困难和失败，而不是成功。我最困难的时候没有到，但早晚会到。困难是不能躲避的，也不能让别人去扛，要永远自己去面对。 马云用自己的左手温暖右手，是一种坚强，一种信仰，一种在困境中奋发的良好心态，一种创业成功或者失败宠辱不惊的必备条件。 独狐九剑的第八招“破箭式”是用来破解包括箭、飞镖在内的诸多暗器的，它要求先学听风辨器之术。俗话说：“开弓没有回头箭。”这是箭的弱点，一旦射出，便收不回来。“破箭式”要求出剑速度要快，收放自如，进退有度，这样才能将敌人的暗箭一一化解。马云也有这样的剑术，他认为比兔子快比乌龟有耐心，自然能够处变不惊、临危不惧。 马云在一次回答网友提问时，曾经说过下面几段话： “我一如既往坚定地相信互联网，但不相信它在很短的时间里会像人家说得那么好。我们需要时间，好东西需要我们用更多的时间和耐心去等。我说过，在互联网时代，你必须跑得像兔子一样快，又像乌龟一样有耐心。善始未必善终。 “我们和亚马逊、雅虎、新浪、搜狐、8848一样是早起的鸟。但我们不一定所有的事都做对了。如果早起的鸟没有吃到虫，它就会变成被吃掉的虫了。我们必须小心。 “互联网像所有的新生事物一样，有成长的烦恼。互联网像个孩子（不管他将来会多强壮），得到了太多的关注和好吃的，他有点被IT业内人士、投资人、媒体……惯坏了。” 马云打过一个比方，他把互联网的发展趋势比喻成3000米长跑，将影响人类未来30年的生活。他要求自己必须跑得像兔子一样快，又要像乌龟一样有耐心。不去计较最初100米的输赢，而是要在跑了四五百米后逐渐和对手拉开距离。 1999年初，马云以50万元起家，创建阿里巴巴时，中国互联网先锋瀛海威已创办3年了。瀛海威采用美国AOL的收费入网模式。马云正好相反，采用的是免费策略，即对买家和卖家都是免费的，先将大家请进来，以此建立阿里巴巴的用户基础。 1999年，马云作出南归的决定，这也是出于长期的打算。他带着几个创业伙伴撤回了杭州。回到杭州以后，阿里巴巴决定6个月内不主动对外宣传，一心一意把网站做好。那一年，当互联网到处都是一片张灯结彩的景象时，阿里巴巴却在暗度陈仓。 当时互联网搞得风风火火，可是他们却没有明确的赚钱方式来回报投资者。当时很多人心中对此都有相当大的疑问。 马云的回答是：赚钱有一二三四，看得清的模式不一定是最好的模式，看不出的赚钱模式说不定才好。到现在为止，全世界的投资者都看不清楚微软怎么赚钱，但它是赚钱最多的企业。马云以此来说明，对互联网来讲，只有放长线才能钓到大鱼。而这条鱼的面目，现在是看不清楚的。人们要做的，就是在等待鱼出现的时候，把内功修炼好。 马云也有沉不住气的时候，例如1999年和2000年，阿里巴巴急于开拓全球电子商务市场，迅速进入全球化。于是新的问题出现了，这样高速发展，兔子的速度代替了乌龟的耐性。当然这也是当时所有互联网公司共同犯的毛病。从1998年开始，国际、国内资本在中国互联网业掀起了投资热潮，但好景不长，仅仅两年多时间，互联网业就急速地跌入低谷。2000年，互联网行业进入寒冬。 此时马云如梦初醒，于是扭转方向，重新做回善于忍耐的“乌龟”。他要求自己和阿里巴巴，即使跪着也要活，只要活着就能赢。随后的阿里巴巴重新回到根本——B2B的主业，也重新回到中国。在环境最不好的时候，马云把阿里巴巴的门关起来，专心把产品做好，等春天到来之时发芽生长。果然，3年以后，马云终于全面爆发。 中国互联网经济处于最低潮时，阿里巴巴却脱颖而出。《IT时代周刊》是这样描述的：过去两年，北京的互联网企业就像电梯一样从天堂一层层地下落到地狱，几乎没有一个互联网英雄能够脱离集体疯狂，也没有一个能够逃离疯狂后的灾难。而依托杭州的阿里巴巴如今已无可争议地成为中国最好的B2B电子商务企业。 可以看出，马云一直都是清醒的。他既能够用自己的理想主义带领企业兔子般突飞猛进，又能适时回到地面，以乌龟的耐心带领公司踏实稳定地发展。他的速度和耐心成就了阿里巴巴的今天。 在后来创办淘宝的时候，马云采用的还是“龟兔赛跑”策略把中国C2C市场的老大eBay打跑的。因为淘宝一推出就使出“免费”的法宝，用阿里巴巴积累的资金去运营淘宝。最开始完全无偿投入，对手都嘲笑他太疯狂。到了最后，C2C的市场被淘宝占据半壁以上的江山时，人们才发现这只志在长远的“乌龟”又一次赢了。 别人风光无限、风驰电掣的时候，阿里巴巴却能经受住别人说它“像乌龟一样爬行”；而当别的网络公司都停滞不前的时候，阿里巴巴却能大步向前。做企业如同做人，能屈才能伸。马云笑称“其实我从来都是这种速度”。他相当精通“控制哲学”。 “破气式”是独孤九剑的最高境界，用以对付具有上乘内功的敌人。将自己修炼的内功化为剑意，再将“以无招胜有招”的剑理深入运用，达到人剑合一，那就是最高境界，天下无敌。经营企业的最高境界，就是永远把自己当成创业者来看待，一辈子都不放弃。马云就是这样的人，他的创业修炼，已经达到了人剑合一的境界。 当前，我国很多企业中流传着“二次创业”的口号。二次创业，就是指企业在取得高速增长之后，为了谋求进一步的发展而进行的内部变革过程。其实质是企业发展到一定阶段所进行的一次战略转型，是企业发展过程中的一次革命性的转变。 马云却不太同意这个说法，他有自己的看法，他说同一批领导没有办法进行二次创业。因为他认为一个人从第一天创业起就一直在创业，“生命不息，创业不止”，因此也就无所谓第一次第二次之分。 苹果电脑公司创始人史蒂夫·乔布斯就是马云“创业理论”的亲身实践者。乔布斯20岁时就开始创业，用10年时间将“苹果电脑”从一家只有两个创业者的车库公司扩展成一家员工超过4000人、市价20亿美元的国际大公司。但令人意想不到的是，在他30岁时，他却被自己创办的公司炒了鱿鱼。随后几个月，他成为公众的负面示范，乔布斯不知所措，甚至想过要离开硅谷。 最终，乔布斯选择了重新开始。在接下来的5年里，他开了两家公司，分别是NeXT公司和Pixar公司。Pixar取得了非常不错的成绩，制作出了《玩具总动员》这部世界上第一次完全由电脑制作的动画电影。之后，这家公司阴差阳错地又被苹果电脑公司买下了，乔布斯于是又回到了当初的根据地，而NeXT发展的技术居然成为苹果公司后来复兴的核心。 The process was difficult, but Jobs kept his entrepreneurial spirit and let Apple accept himself again.Failure can change a person's destiny, starting all over again is the beginning of the next success.成功也并非是最终结果，创业者们需要时常告诫自己：要永葆“零度”状态，创业者一辈子都在创业。 既然选择了创业，就必须一直坚持下去。暂时的失败并不能代表永远的失利，一时的成功并不能代表永远的成功，只有树立远大的理想，并在理想的道路上坚持下去，才能获得最大的成功。 2002年是网络泡沫破灭最为彻底的一年，马云为阿里巴巴定的目标是：活着。他希望员工和公司一起坚持下去，等待来年的春暖花开。到2002年底，阿里巴巴不仅奇迹般地活了下来，并且还实现了赢利。很多人比他们聪明，很多人比他们努力，很多人比他们有财富，但是为什么单单他们成功了呢？最关键的原因就是他们坚持下来了。 截至2006年12月31日，阿里巴巴拥有超过3500名的专职雇员，成为全球首家拥有超过800万网商的电子商务网站，遍布220个国家和地区，每天向全球各地的企业及商家提供810万条商业供求信息，被商人们评为“最受欢迎的B2B网站”。这些辉煌业绩的取得，其最初的种子就是在寒冬时期的那份坚持，是那股“生命不息，创业不止”的精神在鼓励着他们，并伴随他们创造了后来的诸多纪录。 马云有个不简单的梦想：当他到60岁时，还能和现在这帮做“阿里巴巴”的伙伴们站在桥边，听到广播里说，阿里巴巴今年再度分红，股票继续往前冲，成为全球……在他看来，长久的成功才算成功。 这番话毫无疑问是马云发自内心的告白。他告诉我们，创业是一辈子的创业，成功是一种坚持的成功。虽说在外界看来今天的阿里巴巴已经非常成功了，但是马云仍然不忘告诫公司员工，要对外界的赞誉置若罔闻，继续坚持创业。因为放弃就等于失败，只有坚持才能成功。 In Ma Yun’s heart, the road to entrepreneurship has no end, and will always accompany the entrepreneur’s life. He has been trying to tell entrepreneurs one thing: from the first day of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs have to face difficulties and failures every day , instead of success.My most difficult time has not yet come, but one day it will definitely come.只有永葆“零度”状态，才不会自满，不会故步自封，成就才会更大。