Editor’s note: This article was first published in July 2015. It cites 2015 figures: Alibaba with 34,000 young employees serving more than 500 million people, and Jack Ma as one of China’s richest men in just 15 years. Jack Ma has since stepped down from Alibaba.
Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba and a man who became one of China’s richest in just 15 years, spoke to a television channel and answered the question: “What advice would you give to people who want to get ahead in life?“
Jack Ma had already given us 7 excellent business lessons, from starting a business to how to deal with competitors. This time he chose to offer some short advice for each decade of a person’s life.
He opened with a strong line: don’t worry, because every mistake you make is a big gain for you, whether you’re young or old.
Before 20, he went on, be a good student. Get all the experience you can.
Before 30, follow someone.
Try to join a small company. Working for a big company is a good way to learn processes, but you’re a small part of a big machine. In a small company, on the other hand, you can learn passion and catch the dreams. And you learn to do many things at once.
Before 30, it’s not about which company you join, but which bosses you follow. It’s very important to know what kind of boss you’re going to follow. A good boss teaches you differently.
From 30 to 40, you have to understand clearly that you’re working for yourself, if you really want to be an entrepreneur.
As we said before, whatever you do, whether you’re a business owner or work for a company, these days we all have our own business.
From 40 to 50, you have to do, and focus on, the things you’re really good at. Don’t try to jump into a new area, because it’s probably too late. You might succeed, but the odds of failing are much higher by then. So between 40 and 50, think about how to focus on the things you do well.
When you’re between 50 and 60, work for young people, because young people will be able to do many things better than you. So trust them, invest in them and look after them.
And when you’re over 60, spend the time on yourself. Enjoy the sun, the beach…, Jack Ma joked, before wrapping up his talk:
If you’re 25, make mistakes and don’t worry. If you fall, get up; if you fall again, get up again. If you’re 25, enjoy this show of falls and comebacks.
How Jack Ma answers “What’s your biggest regret?”
When a guest asked him what he would change or not do if he could go back, Jack Ma replied, in essence:
If I could go back, I would spend more time with my family, and I probably wouldn’t do many of the things I’ve done. My wife once complained that I didn’t belong to her, I belonged to Alibaba.
Sometimes people say someone is very rich, but that person might not feel rich, while they think another person is poor, and that person might feel rich. Everyone chooses their own life.
I’ve cried a lot, and we’ve been through problems people wouldn’t imagine, because we run a company with 34,000 young people that today serves more than 500 million people. If just 1% of those people were bad guys, you’d have 5 million bad guys. So it’s hard.
But it’s too late for regrets. I’ve done it. I still have many years ahead, and they shouldn’t be wasted on remorse. I just enjoy the show. And that’s what you should do too.
Read: The worst money mistakes people make in each decade of their lives
Featured image: Universitätsarchiv St.Gallen | HSGN 028/01561 | CC-BY-SA 4.0, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
