🤔Reflections of the Week💡

This week, I've been pondering over a few things. I've identified some competitors, and it seems my only advantage might be selling at lower prices than them. But it got me thinking, if someone else can undercut me, does that mean I lose my appeal to consumers? 

What other value can I offer? 💰Sure, I understand consumers supporting small businesses, but I feel like that's not sustainable in the long run. Ultimately, I need to provide some value to consumers, which has left me deep in thought and a bit lost. 💭

I've looked at a lot of small business cases. Either they excel on social media💻, boasting huge followings, offering value through video content. Or they dive deep into product reviews, providing professional and detailed product introductions and user experiences, allowing consumers to understand the product from a user perspective before purchasing. And then there are those flooding every channel with overwhelming amounts of ads and capital investment used for discounts, making consumers adopt new spending patterns with irresistible low prices. 🛍️

So, I'm wondering, what's my personal differentiation? Should I focus more on creating handmade products, allowing me to stand out slightly in such fierce market competition? I'm currently experimenting with this, adding some decorations to stationery items I love. This way, not only can I produce some video content, but the products are also more unique. However, the biggest issue with this approach is the time it consumes, which I'm already short on. ⏳

Last week, I attended a local entrepreneurial meetup, where many entrepreneurs kept talking about missions, visions, values, and so on. It almost felt like those who don't have these are looked down upon, deemed selfish. But for someone like me, trying out this small business venture, the goal is simply to make money and do something I enjoy. It seems like I'm not aiming to change the world or others' lives in a grand way. But evidently, such statements hardly satisfy others, and the line between self-love and selfishness seems blurry. At that moment, among the crowd of people who shared similar views, I truly felt different and even momentarily questioned if I lacked nobility. 

One more thing I'd like to mention is the excessive amount of work. Ever since I started this store in January, it feels like the line between work and rest has completely disappeared. I haven't met up with friends or gone out in what feels like forever. Weekends are no longer for rest, and there's no concept of finishing work in the evenings. I haven't even slept in lately.😅 I guess all entrepreneurs are like this, right? Tired? Definitely! Happy? Hard to evaluate. But at least it's fulfilling. At least, from my time in school, I've deeply understood that I'm not someone who can achieve work-life balance or handle multiple tasks simultaneously. I'm someone who can only focus on one thing for a period of time and needs more time than others to master it. 🌟

What's frustrating is that I haven't even had time for a selfie lately. I really wish I could capture this time in this space more. 📸

Anyway, here's a photo of me after attending that meetup. I need to find something that makes me happy to look at.