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were outdated i thought i was the only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