Jack Ma's experience with rejection; how it made him a billionaire.

Every generation needs a revolution - an entrepreneurial revolution

Rejection brings out the best in us.   It is a lesson

*THE “REJECTED ROOM PRINCIPLE”

How Jack Ma Turned a Humiliating Moment Into a Billion-Dollar Mindset**

Before Jack Ma became one of the richest entrepreneurs in the world,

he experienced something that would have crushed most people.

He applied for job after job.

Rejected.

He tried to join the police force.

Rejected.

He applied to KFC when it opened in his city.

Twenty-three people interviewed.

Twenty-four applied.

Twenty-three were accepted.

Jack Ma was the only one rejected.

But the moment that shaped him most happened inside a tiny classroom.

Jack Ma applied to Harvard ten times.

All ten times they rejected him.

By the tenth letter, the admissions office didn’t even send a long explanation.

They simply wrote:

“You are not suitable.”

Most people would have quit.

Jack Ma did the opposite.

He printed every rejection letter, pinned them on his wall, and said:

“These are reminders to build a world where people like me do not get left behind.”

That mindset became the foundation of Alibaba.

Years later, when investors laughed at his idea for an online Chinese marketplace, he remembered the classroom that pushed him out…

and decided to build a digital room big enough for everyone.

Alibaba became one of the largest companies on earth.

Taobao became the biggest e-commerce platform in Asia.

Millions of entrepreneurs got their start on his platforms because one man refused to let rejection define him.

THE BUSINESS LESSON

Most people fear rejection.

Great entrepreneurs use it as direction.

Jack Ma realized something simple:

Rejection is information.

Rejection is positioning.

Rejection is redirection.

The world saying “no” does not mean you are wrong.

It means you are building something the world does not understand yet.

This is why Jack Ma teaches his teams:

• Your value is not defined by acceptance

• Your vision is not validated by approval

• Your future cannot be decided by someone who does not see it

Alibaba did not grow because everyone believed in Jack Ma.

It grew because he believed despite everyone else.

THE NERDY TAKEAWAY

The “Rejected Room Principle” teaches this:

Rejection is not a closed door.

It is a sign pointing you toward the room you were born to build.

Jack Ma did not get invited into Harvard’s room.

So he built a digital marketplace where millions could thrive.

Sometimes the rooms that reject you are the ones you were never meant to sit in.

You were meant to build your own.

The reinterpretation of parable of talents

Every generation needs a revolution - an entrepreneurial revolution

One of our tasks on earth is to invest, to make the world grow   One of the greatest sin is being indolent.   We should work harder.

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HE “FIVE TALENTS PRINCIPLE”:

How a 2,000-Year-Old Lesson Reveals the #1 Rule of Growth in Business

In Matthew 25, Jesus told a story that might be the most important business lesson ever recorded.

A master was leaving on a long journey.

Before he left, he entrusted three of his servants with resources.

One received five talents of silver.

Another received two talents.

The last received one talent.

A talent was not a coin.

It was a lifetime’s worth of wages…a massive investment.

The master expected them to do something with it.

The servant with five talents went immediately to work.

He invested.

He traded.

He multiplied.

He turned five into ten.

The servant with two did the same.

He doubled what he had.

But the servant with one talent?

He dug a hole and buried it in the ground.

No action.

No risk.

No effort.

No return.

The unseen longer bolt problem

Every generation needs a revolution - an entrepreneurial revolution

Its more of the longer bolt not the missing bolt.  The longer bolt not seen by many was causing problems in the axle assembly.  Until Henry Ford found it.

You have to have sharp eyes and perceptive mind to see problems in business

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**THE “MISSING BOLT PRINCIPLE”:

How Henry Ford Saved Millions by Fixing the One Thing No One Saw**

In the early 1900s, Henry Ford’s factories were pumping out cars faster than any business in history.

Production was smooth.

Demand was endless.

The Model T was unstoppable.

But Ford noticed something strange:

A pile of defective rear axles kept stacking up in one corner of the plant.

Not hundreds.

Thousands.

Each defective unit cost Ford money… in repairs, delays, and scrap metal.

Engineers inspected the part dozens of times.

Machines were recalibrated.

Workers were retrained.

But the failures kept happening.

Finally, Ford walked down to the line himself.

He watched the entire process …slowly, carefully, silently.

After nearly an hour, he pointed to a tiny spot most people overlooked:

A single bolt.

It wasn’t loose.

It wasn’t broken.

It wasn’t missing.

It was just… too long.

Workers had to torque it slightly harder to fit.

Not enough to notice.

Just enough to strain the axle over thousands of repetitions.

Ford ordered a simple fix:

“Shorten the bolt.”

Within days, defects dropped dramatically.

Within weeks, the problem disappeared.

Within months, Ford saved the modern equivalent of tens of millions of dollars.

All from one bolt no one else thought to question.

THE MARKETING LESSON

In business, your biggest losses rarely come from massive mistakes.

They come from tiny inefficiencies you stopped noticing.

Ford understood something revolutionary:

Small flaws become big expenses when multiplied.

That’s why great companies obsess over:

• onboarding friction

The post it principle - inventions rarely come from a plan to invent but from accidents or aberration that solve a problem and later become a billion $ industry

Every generation needs a revolution - an entrepreneurial revolution

Post it which sells in over 100 countries did not come out as a planned innovation. It came out of aberration.    Failure is just a byway for another innovation

Post it was failed formulation for a glue.  It stuck but not hard enough causing temporary removable sticking.  and became useful for posting of notes and music notes in a musical instrument

Sometimes great invention come from a solution to a problem:   "What pisses you off?"

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The “Post-It Principle”: How a Failed Glue Accidentally Stuck a Company Together

In 1968, a chemist at 3M named Spencer Silver was trying to invent a super-strong adhesive.

Instead, he made the opposite… a weak, pressure-sensitive glue that barely stuck to anything.

It was useless.

Or so everyone thought.

For years, he tried convincing other departments to use it. Nobody cared.

“Who wants a glue that doesn’t stick?” they laughed.

Then one day, another 3M employee named Art Fry faced a totally different problem.

He sang in his church choir and kept losing his bookmarks in the hymnal… they kept slipping out.

He remembered Spencer’s “failed glue” and had an idea:

What if he used it to create reusable sticky notes that could stay in place without tearing the paper?

The first prototypes were small yellow squares… simple, cheap, and oddly satisfying to peel and place.

3M called them Post-it Notes.

They became one of the most successful office products in history… used in more than 100 countries, generating billions in sales.

The Marketing Lesson:

That’s why:The biggest breakthroughs rarely come from invention.

They come from reinterpretation.

Spencer didn’t create something new… he saw something wrong in a new way.

That’s the power of repurposing mistakes.

• Netflix didn’t invent movies… they reimagined distribution.

• Uber didn’t invent taxis… they reimagined access.

• Airbnb didn’t invent travel …they reimagined trust.

Innovation isn’t about starting over.

It’s about seeing overlooked value in what already exists.

The Nerdy Takeaway:

Failure isn’t the end of the story…it’s the raw material for your next breakthrough.

The “Post-It Principle” proves that sometimes your worst idea just needs the right problem to make it brilliant.

So the next time something doesn’t work…

Don’t throw it away.

People buy when they see something better in themselves - not the product alone

Every generation needs a revolution - an entrepreneurial revolution

If your product or your sales talk make people see a better version of themselves, they will buy your product.    Its about being you.  Its inherent in every person to see a better version of themselves, and take pride.   Your sales talk, your product must work that way.   Not benefits, price or promo alone

Will this post make you feel like you are a better entrepreneur/businessman?   Lamang ka sa iba?

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The Mirror Room Effect: Why We Buy What Reflects Us

In the 1950s, a department store in Chicago ran an accidental experiment.

They installed a new set of fitting rooms…but one of them had a huge problem.

The mirror was slightly warped.

It wasn’t a funhouse mirror…it didn’t distort you into a cartoon.

It was just barely tilted enough to make shoppers look a little taller, a little slimmer, and a little more confident.

The results?

Sales in that section went up 18%.

Same clothes. Same prices.

Just… a different reflection.

The Hidden Psychology:

Humans don’t buy products.

We buy versions of ourselves.

That tiny mirror shift created what psychologists call the Reflected Self Effect …when people see a more idealized version of who they could be, they behave in ways that match it.

That’s why gym mirrors have perfect lighting.

Why luxury stores smell like success.

And why social media filters sell billions in beauty products.

It’s not vanity.

It’s vision.

Here’s the marketing lesson:

If your brand helps people see themselves as better, they’ll buy their way into that vision.

Fitness brands sell confidence, not muscle.

Business coaches sell freedom, not funnels.

Speakers sell identity, not information.

The mirror is metaphorical …your ads, stories, and design all reflect your audience back to themselves.

Show them who they could be… and they’ll move toward it.

The Nerdy Truth:

Marketing isn’t manipulation …it’s amplification.

You’re not creating desire.

You’re revealing it.

The store didn’t trick anyone.

It just helped people see themselves winning.

So next time you craft a post, funnel, or offer …don’t ask,

“How can I sell this?”

Ask,

“What version of them am I reflecting?”

Because in the end…

People don’t buy products.

They buy permission to believe in a better reflection.

Nerdy Takeaway:

When you change the mirror, you change the market.

The empty stage (vs having mystery) post by Paul Getter

Every generation needs a revolution - an entrepreneurial revolution

You can have more sales by doing any of the following:   plant visits, behind the scenes shot, explaining process of making your product.    Being mysterious is not necessarily better.  Being visible is the reverse of being mysterious.     

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The “Empty Stage Principle”: How One Forgotten Rehearsal Changed the Way Broadway Sells Out

In the 1950s, a young theater producer named Hal Prince was struggling to fill seats.

He had everything:

A beautiful stage.

A talented cast.

A show with rave reviews.

But night after night, the theater was half-empty.

One afternoon, before rehearsal, Hal walked in early.

The stage was dark.

The seats were empty.

And in the silence, he noticed something strange …it felt dead.

Even he didn’t want to be there.

So instead of waiting for the audience to come, he started rehearsing with the doors open.

He invited the janitors. The ticket clerks. People walking by on the street.

Soon, the faint sound of music drifted into the neighborhood.

Curious pedestrians stopped to watch.

Then came the local reporters.

Then crowds.

By opening the doors… literally… the theater became alive again.

Within weeks, tickets sold out.

That’s how Hal Prince went from an unknown producer… to one of Broadway’s most legendary names.

The Marketing Lesson:

People don’t buy into what’s hidden.

They buy into what’s happening.

Hal didn’t change the show.

He changed the energy around it.

That’s why:

• Apple reveals products before they launch.

• Influencers show “behind the curtain” moments.

• Great brands don’t just announce…they invite participation.

When people can see momentum, they want to join it.

The Nerdy Takeaway:

The spotlight doesn’t create attention …activity does.

If your business, event, or content feels quiet, ask yourself:

“Am I waiting for the audience… or showing them the show?”

The “Empty Stage Principle” reminds us:

Visibility isn’t vanity …it’s vitality.

Because a quiet stage never sells out.

Knowing too much can make you very risk averse - Paul Getter

Every generation needs a revolution - an entrepreneurial revolution

Like when you are playing against a well known player.   You are defeated even before you start playing knowing the adversary to be better than you.   So knowing too much about a project or a deal can make you risk averse.   And become too timid.  In this case, the young apprentice not knowing the value of the stone easily broke the gem into two pieces.   

Be bold be forward looking.    Dont be too perfect.  Dont wait for the 100% info before deciding

Paul Getter on the expensivie gem

A businessman once bought a massive diamond in South Africa, about the size of an egg yolk.

But to his disappointment, the stone had a crack inside.

He took it to a skilled jeweler, hoping for advice.

The jeweler examined it carefully and said:

“This diamond can be split into two perfect gems, each worth more than the original stone.

But one wrong strike and it will shatter into worthless fragments.

I won’t take that risk.”

The businessman traveled the world, showing the diamond to jewelers in many countries.

Each one gave the same answer: too risky.

Finally, someone told him about an old master jeweler in Amsterdam known for his golden hands.

He flew there the same day.

The old jeweler studied the diamond through his monocle and warned him again of the risk.

The businessman interrupted:

“I’ve heard that story before. I’m ready. Just do it.”

The jeweler nodded, agreed on the price, then turned to a young apprentice working quietly nearby.

The boy took the diamond, placed it on his palm, and struck it once, clean and precise.

The stone split beautifully into two flawless gems.

Without even looking up, he handed them back to the master.

Astonished, the businessman asked:

“How long has he been working for you?”