If it was not Christine who had invited me to participate in the Alpha Innovation Contest 2018 together with her, I think I would never take this step in my life.
I forgot where my courage coming from, I had signed up for the competition. I only remember that when I first saw the contestants at the presentation venue, I grabbed my friend’s hand and asked again: Why am I here? What am I doing here?
There were countless times before the presentations, and there were countless reasons for giving up. Yes, me, had the lowest university degree among the whole contestants, with no business background or business experience, the two projects I signed in are only at the Idea stage, why going to the competition? Be aware that 80% of competitors are PhDs or PhDs to be, and even the CEO of an operating company with an assistant to be at the presentation.
But since you choose to participate, you can’t run away. Even if you know that you have no chance of winning, you must do your best to do what you can.
I don’t have trapped tendency, but I think that at this stage, I need these stimulations, so that I can provoke the fighting power that has been forgotten, those who have gone to the forefront, those who feel shameful and then become brave.
Shame is a must for jumping out of the comfort zone.
Both of my projects were selected to enter the first round, but due to the lack of the project strength, both failed to reach the final round of the contest.
On the day of the finals, I listened to other people’s projects, from the initial foothold to the planning direction to the PPT production and presentation style, it was an eye-opener!
The world is very big, there are so many excellent people, and I am glad that I had jumped out of that well.
My problem is not the limitation of ability (there is no “ability problem” before you become powerful, only the “attitude problem”), but the limitation caused by the experience and effort of the vison and sight. Fortunately, these can be accumulated through time that can produce qualitative changes.
Through this contest, I take it as a self-study of business major, I have learned to write a business plan, and touched the things that never encountered in the ordinary life, and my thinking mode has changed. It is no longer limited to the situation at hand but look at the problem from another angle, more macro perspective, and even ask yourself, if taking me as a commodity, what is the core competitiveness?
With these gains, after the contest, I moved to the “My Favourite Studio” project, which was only an idea, and finally set sail at the end of September.
Many people ask why the suffix is “studio” instead of “photography”. That is because my positioning of “small preference” is based on photography and focuses on creative theme shooting, but it is not just a photography institution, it will be more involved in the future. In many ways, we will carry out multi-level cooperation with different partners.
Up till today, in just two months, the “small preference” has been diversified with The Moves Magic Dance Club, Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce, Casual W House, Stone Road and even the Australian Times Newspaper.
All of these are the vision and mindsets given by the Alpha Innovation Contest.
Finally, I sent a paragraph that I liked very much:
“In fact, it is very rare for everyone to compete with physical strength and brain power. Because 50% just think about it, he didn’t do it at all, more than half of those reach the first difficulty, then give up. If you persist, you may give up when meeting the second and third difficulties. Who can persist until the end, who is the winner.”
I don’t know if it works, but I am willing to try it. What if I fail? Failure can be rewarded as well.
Every step we take is counted.
(Li Xingyan Sinya – Final Contestant)