2018 Is Already Yesterday
This blog post was translated by Mistral
In 2018, summarizing the year in one sentence, we completed around 50 software projects for our team and customers, including small programs, websites, and apps. Project sizes ranged from 10,000 to 300,000 RMB and durations from a month to four months, starting from the first line of code each time. Some projects became instant sensations, others had millions of PVs, and some had millions in revenue. Mostly, it was due to our customers’ greatness and strong operational abilities. There were also those who worked quietly behind the scenes. We worked hard on every project, and both designers and engineers gave their all. Although the pay wasn’t much, we did a lot with our customers. Thank you to all our trusting customers!
We are grateful for all the friends who introduced us to customers! We had contact with over 200 potential projects and closed nearly 50 of them. Our friends introduced us, created groups, communicated requirements, negotiated, made phone calls or had further face-to-face interviews, and issued quotations. Normally, our company only had two people handling this. My colleague and I. We did our best to communicate with each customer honestly. However, due to energy limitations, we were unable to actively push forward some projects. We apologize to those whose projects did not cooperate and those who were forgotten. For friends who introduced projects that succeeded, we appreciate it and have sent red envelopes as a token of thanks! For friends who gave us assistance, we will always remember it! Thank you all!
We are grateful to all the friends who introduced us to our network! There are many friends who helped us in various ways, such as providing guidance when we encountered technical issues in our projects, recommending reliable designers and engineers to us, providing business direction guidance, and answering our doubts. So, whenever you need my help, I will do my best to help you. Thank you to each and every one of you! This year, I probably bothered hundreds of friends, thank you to most of you for providing help! I know that the best relationships are mutually beneficial! We should remember to be grateful and independent, but also need to seek help from friends when necessary, you are not alone in the fight! 1. Thank you to all our colleagues and teammates! We managed to do so many things this year because of our full-time team and our reliable part-time team! Although our scale is still small and our income is still low, we can’t afford a large full-time team to handle things, and we haven’t found a very promising entrepreneurial direction yet. But it’s okay, we’re on our way! Our part-time team members are usually young people full of energy who are willing to work 16 hours a day. I’ve tried two jobs, and I’ve almost worked for a month straight with only 4 hours of sleep each day. That taught me a practical attitude. Our part-time team members, you’ve worked hard this year! I can imagine that after working until 7 pm, you still have a pile of work to do, and the customer demands are also numerous. You rarely have time off. Full-time team members, you’ve also worked hard, often handling multiple projects at the same time, and doing both the front and back end development yourself. This year, we’ve taken on quite a few projects with low quotes, often lower than those of our competitors. However, it doesn’t matter, we’re just starting out! We’re accumulating experience!
Thank you to all our supporters! This year, I’ve been mainly busy with work and have rarely posted on social media or communicated with friends outside of work. I know that many of you have been following our company and caring for me. Thank you! I understand that a person can only communicate with a limited number of friends. Many friends have suggested working together on projects, but due to geographical factors and the specific situation of the projects, as well as gradually forming a reliable team, I haven’t been able to join in. Many friends, although we haven’t been able to communicate this year, I have been quietly following your lives. I hope that in the new year, we can all be safe and happy!
This year, I have focused more on working with the team to get things done. I’ve posted fewer status updates, but I’ve had many more private chats. Every workday, I counted, and there were over 50 chat dialogues, whether it was for the company’s work groups, projects, or communication with customers, team members, or friends for work-related matters. I call myself a CEO, but I’m just a customer service representative. I’m usually busy from day to night, arranging and coordinating to ensure that each project runs smoothly and that every customer is properly handled. This year, I’ve had a lot of economic transactions with customers and team members, including their fees and project rewards. I managed to handle every penny, whether it was a few thousand or a few million, and ensure that the deserved compensation was received and the promised rewards were given. I felt that I treated everyone fairly, both customers and team members. Dealing with so many people requires me to be worthy of their trust.
18 was a difficult year for us, and we made nearly 300 million in revenue (with little profit). Although the macro is important, we must realize that we are insignificant and have little impact. For example, 17 was a better year than 18, but we lacked entrepreneurial and management experience, and the company lost 50,000. Although 2013 was good, I was just starting college and writing my first app, and the entrepreneurial wind and I were not closely related. The important thing is that my abilities are in the right place. Opportunities are given to those who are prepared. Trends are also for those who are prepared. So keep running!
We need more patience. We want financial freedom, we want to build a great company, but the road is long and arduous. Today’s industry leaders have all put in more than 10 years of effort. Facing fierce competition in various industries, we must be patient and persistently build our core competitive strength, persistently build our power and fortress in one industry. For example, we often underestimate the workload and schedule when doing projects, and find that there are still things left undone and imperfect, so the schedule is delayed. Therefore, on the way to our bigger goals, there will inevitably be more difficulties, more unexpected challenges, and a longer, more winding road, with many, many things to do and many, many problems to solve. So, to reach our destination on time, we must start tightening our belts and improving ourselves from today! The greatest generosity towards the future is to give everything to the present! 1. We should keep a low profile. In particular, we should be high-profile in our actions, but low-profile in our interactions with people. The only reason for us to be high-profile is to better promote our company, not because we are arrogant. We should clearly recognize that we have nothing and are very insignificant. It is easy to get lost if we cannot clearly position ourselves, constantly daydreaming and wandering, unwilling to get our hands dirty. Being overly high-profile and setting flags will make us anxious for success and lacking patience. Any excellent fruit is not achieved overnight. We have made our company profitable and have reached a certain scale, which has taught us a practical mindset and the power of low-profile advancement.
We should keep focused. No matter how good we speak or how much we speak, it’s better to take action. Daydreaming and having many ideas, it’s better to get moving. We should evaluate our strengths and weaknesses, and in the current fiercely competitive market, our top priority is to effectively utilize our strengths and make significant contributions. We should focus on what we can do and pay more attention to what we are good at. The world is big, opportunities are plentiful, and distractions are plentiful. We should focus on our own affairs and pay more attention to our friends around us.
We should keep our passion. Remember when we first started a project and when we first joined the team to write code. We were so happy, working with excellent colleagues. We willingly worked late into the night. Remember when we first signed a project contract and when we first delivered a successful project. Remember when we started our business and began developing our first product. Remember when we had a product idea to implement while in college. We were eager and excited. With a few years of work, we have gradually lost some of that, replaced by a sense of responsibility and the pressure of life. We have become afraid of failure and the pressure is enormous. My development and design teammates, do you feel the same way? Let everyone focus on doing what they are good at. Here, I am willing to talk about projects and arrange cooperation for so many projects. It’s a joy to communicate and work together with so many people. Yes, we should lower our expectations for ourselves, have an empty cup attitude, and work hard every day. Life requires long-term effort. We should be more patient and more passionate every day.
Therefore, keep a patient, low-profile, focused, and passionate attitude, let’s go for it, 2019!
Wishing every friend a happy new year! 2019, peace, health, and happiness!