Climbing up, or going inward?
Originally written in Chinese. Translated with AI, reviewed by Gary. Read the Chinese original →
I've noticed something interesting lately.
Yesterday at a gathering with friends, we were sharing what we had observed recently. Honestly, I've been so busy that I didn't feel I had any big observations. But as we talked, I suddenly remembered a Chinese article I had read. It was about Anji, a small county town next to Deqing in Zhejiang, which somehow has more than 300 independent coffee shops, and many of them are doing well.
Why can one small county town support so many independent coffee shops?
That's a fascinating question.
Then I thought about the startup competitions I've been involved with recently, like Dream Factory. The projects look very different now. Many aren't the classic "I want to build a platform, raise money, IPO, go big" type. Instead there are lots of businesses in crafts, coffee, fragrance, healing, art, lifestyle and personal interests.
I see the same shift among friends. Some have started studying astrology and fortune-telling, some have started painting, some are making music, some are learning yoga, Pilates, handmade jewellery, gemstones, fragrance or mind-body-spirit courses.
On their own, each of these looks like a personal choice.
But put them together, and there is a big social change behind them.
How costly was it to follow an interest before?
Twenty or thirty years ago, if someone said they wanted to do art, religion, a hobby or crafts, the opportunity cost was very high. Society was still in an economic upswing. If you studied hard and became an accountant, a lawyer, a doctor, or joined a bank, a big company or a multinational, your life path was fairly clear.
Graduate, find a stable job, get promoted slowly, marry, buy a house, have children, change cars, retire.
The mainstream value of that era was very clear: get into the system, then climb inside it.
So if you gave up that path to do art, coffee, religion, music or crafts, the price was high. You weren't just following an interest. You were giving up a path that would very likely make you secure. You might spend twenty or thirty years and end up with nothing built up.
So many people, even if they loved something, didn't dare to do it.
Today things are different.
Many young people now find that even if they work hard to get into the system, it doesn't necessarily pay back the way it used to. Property prices keep rising, work keeps getting more competitive, promotions come slower, and the cost of living keeps climbing. Working for someone is hard. Starting a business is hard. Building a brand is hard. Building a platform is hard.
If everything is hard anyway, many people naturally ask themselves:
If life is that uncertain to begin with, why not do something I actually love?
That question is key.
Following an interest used to mean giving up the mainstream path to success. Today, it may actually be a form of self-protection.
Because many people no longer believe in a single path to success. Not everyone wants to IPO, build a Fortune 500 company, raise money, expand and open a hundred branches. Some people just want to open their own coffee shop and support themselves. Some just want to teach yoga and have steady students. Some just want to make handmade jewellery for a group of customers who love their work. Some just want to do fragrance, painting or healing, and live closer to who they are.
It isn't that they lack ambition.
Their definition of "success" has changed.
Success used to be external: how big your company is, how much you earn, how good your title is, how big your house, how expensive your car.
For many people now, success is becoming internal. Do I have freedom? Do I have time? Does what I do mean something? When I wake up each day, do I feel alive?
What these businesses sell is more than a product
That's why there are more and more independent coffee shops, niche brands, craft classes, healing spaces and art studios.
Because what they sell isn't just a product.
A coffee shop doesn't sell coffee. It sells a way of living.
Fragrance doesn't sell a smell. It sells a feeling.
Yoga and Pilates don't sell exercise. They sell a connection between your body and yourself.
Astrology doesn't only sell predictions. It sells a little sense of direction in uncertain times.
Art and crafts don't sell objects. They sell the feeling that "I can still create something that is mine".
These businesses usually aren't big, but they are close to people.
They aren't efficient businesses in the traditional sense. They are hard to standardise, hard to copy quickly, and hard to scale through low prices. But they have one thing in common: they feel human.
And consumers today increasingly want that human feeling.
Because so much around us has become algorithmic, platform-driven and standardised. Open TikTok and you see what the algorithm recommends. Buy something and it's a platform price comparison. At work it's KPIs. In business it's ROAS, GMV and conversion rate. Everything chases efficiency, speed and lower cost.
But people are not machines.
The colder the world outside, the more people look for a little warmth.
The more uncertain life becomes, the more people look for a little certainty.
The more standardised business becomes, the more people want to be close to small things that have a soul.
These small businesses, small interests and small creations aren't a sign of society going backwards. From one angle, they show society entering another stage.
When the economy was rising, everyone ran outward, chasing expansion, titles, wealth and scale.
Now that economic pressure is heavier, people are turning inward, looking for feeling, meaning, identity and peace of mind.
Two paths for future founders
This is also an interesting trend for entrepreneurship.
In future there may be two paths.
One keeps going towards large scale and high efficiency: AI, platforms, supply chains, capital markets. That path will still exist, and it will get stronger, because society needs efficiency, scale and technology.
The other is more and more small, deep and real personal businesses. They may never become listed companies, but they will become many people's way of life. One person, one small shop, one studio, one community and a group of steady customers can also be a business.
We used to think a business had to be big.
Now we may need to understand that a business can also be a way for a person to rearrange their own life.
Of course, this path isn't romantic either.
Coffee shops lose money too. Crafts run into sales problems. Healing has to earn trust. Art still needs business skills. An interest doesn't automatically become a business, and passion doesn't automatically fix cash flow.
But this is still worth watching.
Because it means more and more people don't want to be just a part inside a big system. Through a small business, they want to take back a little control over their lives.
Maybe that's why one small county town can have more than 300 independent coffee shops.
Maybe that's also why more and more people around us are turning to art, religion, astrology, crafts, yoga, fragrance and music.
On the surface, it's a hobby economy.
A little deeper, it's an emotional economy.
Deeper still, it's a whole generation looking for itself again.
People used to believe that if you kept climbing up, life would get better. Many now believe that by going inward, life may slowly become clearer.