Stuck in your business? From trader to creator of order
Originally written in Chinese. Translated with AI, reviewed by Gary. Read the Chinese original →
Have you noticed that once a business reaches a certain stage, it gets "stuck" there?
I was chatting with a friend recently, and we got onto some really interesting topics.
A founder's growth is really an "evolution of control". The systems you can command decide how far you can go.
Change your thinking, change the system
When revenue is at the RM1M stage, your world is "traffic + products". Every day you think about how to get more people into the live room, how to make ads cheaper, how to find a hit product. You win on instinct, speed and execution.
At RM10M, you start to realise that traffic alone isn't enough. You need a brand, and you need a team. You start managing people, doing the accounts, setting up rules. You go from being a seller to being a real operator.
Further up, at RM100M, you start learning to let other people sell for you, amplifying your reach through content and distribution networks. Your thinking shifts from "how much can I sell" to "how much can the system sell". By now you're not just a boss. You're building an ecosystem.
When you break through to RM1B, the picture changes again. You're not just selling goods; you control how goods get sold. You hold control of the distribution channels: others have to go through you to reach the market. Like a "mini TikTok" or "mini Shopee", you set the rules of circulation.
At RM100B, it's a completely different dimension. You're no longer a player but the one designing the game. What you create is order, logic and systems, so that all the commercial energy flows along your tracks.
From trader to creator of order
Many people get "stuck" because they're still in a trading mindset: busy every day with traffic, costs and sales volume, without ever asking:
"What kind of system do I want to build, so that others can create value inside it too?"
Jack Ma is the classic example. At first he just helped small and medium businesses sell products and build websites. Later he built a platform where others could sell. Later still, he set the rules of the game: Alipay changed the order of payments, Taobao defined the logic of distribution, Tmall shaped the order of brands.
He went from "someone who does business" to "someone who creates business".
Doing the work, or building the system?
When your business feels stuck, ask yourself:
Am I "doing the work" right now, or "building the system"?
Once your thinking shifts, from "how do I sell" to "how do I let others sell", from "finding traffic" to "defining traffic", from "playing the game" to "designing the rules",
you're no longer just a founder. You're someone who creates order.