Smart Strategy Precise Execution

[Applause]

i wish i can do something to improve the

skill level of the people here in

indonesia

that was a casual remark i made in 2013

when i came back to indonesia for good

back then i have no business here no

idea of what i was going to do

and i wasn’t even sure of what my future

was going to look like

now fast forward to 2020 this year i’m

honored

to have my startup chosen to be one of

the platforms involved

in assisting our government’s nationwide

project to provide skill training

programs for

5.6 million people here in indonesia

from a casual remark i made few years

ago now

turned into a reality today many people

asked

how did i do it how did i build this

skill training platform from

scratch with no investors money and now

known

nationwide survey has shown

that 90 of the startups fail and only 50

of the startups actually make it to

their fifth year

so do most data fail because of bad idea

or poor execution which is important

good idea or good execution

well as i’m not an expert in analyzing

businesses

i can only share my humble experience of

how i built my startup from scratch

until our seventh year of operation this

year

just to share a little bit about my

background although i was born in

indonesia

i grew up in singapore for 20 over years

and i grew up in an environment where

learning has become a major part of our

lifestyle

especially with a lot of campaigns and

support initiated by the singapore’s

government

it is quite common for us to see people

attending classes and courses

outside their formal education in fact

my life my financial life was literally

changed because of a course i attended

during my lowest point in my life it was

a three-day digital marketing course

that led me to my financial breakthrough

in my real estate career so when i came

back to indonesia in 2013

i felt a huge difference in terms of the

culture and the lives of the people here

and learning was definitely not their

main priority here

so when i interviewed some of the

graduates here

i noticed that most of them were in the

lack

of basic working skills or the things

that i learned in school

were outdated i thought i was the only

one who felt this way

until i researched further so apparently

i found out that in a world bank survey

of employers in 2008

two-thirds complained that finding

employees for professional

and management positions was difficult

the report also said that in some

sectors the education system here

do not provide enough graduates and

those who are graduating

do not have the right skill

so that’s when i made my remark how i

wish

i can do something to improve the skill

level of the people here in indonesia

i remember what nelson mandela said

education

is the most powerful weapon which you

can use to change the world

so i began to have this dream of

spreading

learning lifestyle in indonesia and i

wish that more people can have this

opportunity

to attend classes and courses outside

their formal education

just like how i did and it changed my

life

so the question for me was where

and how should i begin i have a younger

sister who happened to work as a private

tutor

for elementary school students in 2013.

one day she asked if there’s any website

in indonesia that could help private

tutors like her

to promote their teaching services so

that they can get more students

so i helped her look up in the internet

one day and i found none

that was of good quality and most of the

websites they were like forums and they

did not focus on education

so it got me questions like why wasn’t

there anyone who tried to create

websites for education in indonesia

and suddenly it just hit me

jordan since you want to do something

about indonesia’s education

why not you do it that’s right i thought

why not i do it why not i create the

website myself since i know how to do it

and at the same time i can help my

sister too

so that was the moment i discovered my

why

and that why defined my mission in life

and that mission become my company today

so the reason why i’m telling you all

this is because i want you to know

that knowing your why is the first step

to your good

execution of course i didn’t create the

website right away

creating a website for me was easy but

to create a solid business out of the

website

and try to make it nationwide that’s the

real challenge

in fact i waited for three months before

i

managed to convince myself to work on

the plan

because during those three months there

were this battles happening in my head

and questions that were so unsettling so

i had to take my time to respond to

these

questions which eventually they led me

to do my quality research and strategic

planning

and surprisingly as a result they gave

me this conviction and the confidence to

execute the plan

which brought me to where i am today

so just let me share with you my six

questions that appear in my head

that were actually helpful in giving me

this clarity

in terms of the planning process so

number one

what’s in it for me number two

what’s the benefit for other people

number three

what if it fails number four how to make

it work

number five what’s in my hand now number

six

what’s next note that the order of these

questions is important as it is arranged

in such a way that if my answer for

particular questions was not convincing

enough

i will not go to the next question and

if i got stuck in a question for too

long

most likely i will just drop the whole

idea and move on to the next one so

let me address the first question what’s

in it for me

a question that revolves around me and

myself

yes although we are living in a time

when everybody wants to be seen as

selfless

it is important to know that every time

when we commit into something

there is always an opportunity cost like

our time

our effort and our money failing to

address this

question can lead us jumping mindlessly

into projects

that have no benefit for us and as a

result

we might get burned out and give up

eventually

so why not think of the benefit first is

it the money

the fulfillment of purpose or even

relationship

so what attracted me back then

to create this education website was

this big vision i had for indonesia

apart from the money i hope to earn of

course if the project is launched

successfully

nationwide i imagine that i’ll be

working on a job that is so meaningful

and fulfilling

so that was in my head and i thought it

was really worth the try

now let’s go to the second question

what’s the benefit for other people

although the question now makes us seem

selfless this time

this is one important question that can

actually help you

identify the real problems you are

solving and whose problems

are you trying to solve and because of

this

you are then able to set the right

objective

which is crucial because setting the

wrong objective

can cause the whole plan to fail and you

don’t want that to happen

so how did i set my objective back then

i saw a real problem that private tutors

could not get enough students for

themselves

and the same problems too for the

students because they could not get the

right tutors

so my plan then was to create a number

one learning platform in indonesia

where both educators and students can

connect and gain benefit from

so that becomes my objective

now here we are in the third question

what if it fails

yes it sounds pessimistic but we

shouldn’t avoid this question because it

can encourage

us to make our risk calculation and it

can also make us

visualize our worst case scenario what

will i lose

how much will i lose and how will i

react if i lose

everything personally if i had found

that the risk was too much for me

i would have cancelled the plan back

then but in my case

my calculation has shown that it was

possible for me to start the business

with my limited fund

so even if it failed i would just

probably lose my time

and my part of my savings which i

thought i could afford to lose

for the learning experience so that’s

how i convinced myself

now let’s talk about my fourth question

how to make it work

this is where your idea turns into a

plan

this is where the bulk of all the

technical work such as in-depth research

strategic planning and creation of

action plan will take place

this is why it took me almost two months

just to answer this question alone

especially that i was new in the

business i had to make extra effort to

research the market analyze the business

model and understand the competitive

landscape and the technology

and only after i had gathered enough

information and insight i would then be

able to create a

solid strategic steps to achieve my

objective

so that’s why this question is really

crucial

because how well you answer this

question will determine the fate of your

execution later on next question

what’s in my hand now this question will

make you

analyze your resources you have the

money

the time the people the knowledge to

execute the plan if not

how are you going to gather these

resources or maybe is this the right

time

to execute a plan or can you create a

minimum viable product first

using your limited resources just to

test the market

like how i did for my education website

after analyzing my resources i realized

that i could not afford

to build expensive website using fancy

technology

so what i did i created the first

version of the website

using a simple web design template which

i bought online

that cost less than a hundred dollars so

i did not have to hire any programmers

or designers to kick start my business

first so that’s how

i manage my resources and so we have

come to the last question

which i thought is the most effective

question what’s next

this will help you conclude everything

that you answered earlier

and get you to do the next practical

steps now that you have done your

research your planning and analyze your

situation

what are you going to do next as soon as

i was convinced to work on this project

i remember the first thing that i did

was to come up with a

brand name for my website and once i

finalized the brand name

i quickly designed the logo i signed up

for the domain name and the hosting plan

and i bought the web design template and

installed it to the server

and suddenly i have a website and all of

that

was done within a week so as you can see

once you have a clear strategy the

execution will be quite straightforward

but of course you still need to

regularly reflect

review evaluate and re-strategize

again and again because the result of

your execution does not always turn out

the way you want them to

the reason why people fail in their

execution is because they do not have

this clarity

in their planning process and as a

result

they create strategies which are not so

precise or solid enough to be executed

that’s why it’s important for us that we

approach those questions

mindfully until we’re convinced with our

own decision

in fact the same six questions still

applied today even after i have grown my

team to 30 over people

but instead of asking the question to

myself i ask the questions to my team

number one what’s in it for us number

two

if we do this what’s the benefit for

other people

number three what if it fails what

impact do we have

number four how can we make this work

number five what’s in our hands now and

number six

what’s next for us so using the same

thought process

over and over again we managed to come

up with strategies that help us win

small battles

after small battles after small battles

and now that i look back it just amazes

me to witness how

by responding to those questions

mindfully

can turn my dream into a company that is

serving our nation today

so if there’s one lesson i want you to

learn today

it is this quote taken from my favorite

chinese philosopher

suzu every battle is won before it is

fought

and if you know your enemy and you know

yourself you do not fear

the result of a hundred battle thank you

you