1. Competitors are not enemies!

Jack is sure that the struggle on the market is reminiscent of a game of chess: if you lose, you can play another game. You don’t have to fight and «fight», because hatred for other companies ruines business, he says.

2. Don’t be afraid of your competitors

If the competitor is a big company, you can learn a lot from it or wait for its error. Don’t think you can’t beat anyone. The same applies to smaller competitors: they should not be underestimated.

3. Dig deeper

Jack once said that if his partners support a 90 percent decision at the meeting, they would give it up.

“The real possibilities lie deeper. If everybody agrees with the decision, it’s on the surface. And other companies may think the same,” says Ma.

4. Money and politics – is explosive mixture

Jack is sure that when choosing politics, a person should forget about big earnings. And vice versa: when choosing a business, one should not think about power. Money is a match and politics is dynamite.

5. Don’t look up to your employees

The technical skills of staff should always be higher than those of a manager. If that’s not the case, you hired the wrong people. The task of the head of the company is different: he must see the future for several years to come and have a firm character. Show the staff that you can handle what they can’t.

6. Make a mistake

When you start your business, you consciously give up sick leave, vacations and stable earnings. But that shouldn’t scare you. My advice to all young people is to make a mistake, but make a game out of it. When you fall and rise, learn how to enjoy it as well.

7. Don’t work too hard

The work should bring you pleasure, not become routine. Try to be effective during certain periods of work, rather than dissipate concentration to the whole day. If you don’t do anything other than work, it’ll kill you.

8. Adequately assess yourself

Ma believes that snobbery and overestimated ego are the two worst qualities for an entrepreneur. If you take too fast a pace and cannot maintain it, you will inevitably lose.

9. Concentrate on the smallest

When Jack Ma was building his company, he always looked forward to the next few years and thought through a global strategy. Nevertheless, he focused on small local victories. This key helped Jack to become successful, and Ma is sure that many other entrepreneurs will find him suitable.

10. The client, first of all

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and the main competitor of Alibaba, says that we need to forget about competitors and focus on the wishes of our customers. Jack Ma thinks the same thing.

“Clients always come first. The second is the staff. And only the third shareholder,” says the entrepreneur.