Sean Chin MQ is an entrepreneur, a hedge fund manager and founder of Olritz Financial Group which manages nearly $150M in AUM. Sean Chin MQ who worked in different mainstream sectors worldwide and has consulted large enterprises for various business executions.
In this interview we talk to Sean Chin MQ about importance of change and adaptability, competitiveness and business edge, the role of psychology that plays in entrepreneur’s life and future business trends.
The year 2023 has brought unseen changes to the markets and the fact is that not everybody can and is able to adjust to these changes. Today, things are moving fast requiring substantial knowledge, a flexible mindset, quick reaction, the ability to collaborate, the courage to stand out, the energy to push your business forward, and just relentlessly trying to move higher and higher is truly what is required today in our modern world.
The speed of changing internet trends, technology advancements, advancing global networking, information processing, and access has become the front of everything, and the most important part of it is to be in the middle catching opportunities and connecting dots together.
The volatility in the global markets’ economic environment has brought more opportunities than ever before. Entrepreneurship has risen to all-time highs. The question is if you are able to compete in the current environment. Can you compete against other determined entrepreneurs who want the same as you? Do you have to want it more than others? What do you have to do, think, feel, and imagine to actually accomplish solid results in your business activities?
Today we have prepared a special interview with Sean Chin MQ who is an entrepreneur,business visionary, and opportunity hunter in the global market.
Sean, your experiences tell us about your ability to adjust to any market change. How do you manage to sustain a healthy business during volatility markets?
Sean Chin MQ: Yes, I do manage to adjust to the constantly changing market environment and the reason for that is because I believe diversification in business activities is very important. It is hard to maintain a specific business if the industry is suffering at the given time. I always try to get myself involved in different businesses, it is very possible that one industry may outperform another in demand in different years. To keep your holding safe, I would recommend running several businesses at the same time with proper risk management of course, but keeping them very much apart separately.
For example, if you are in the business consulting service industry and corporate spending is decreasing due to market conditions that is not a good situation for you. Now imagine if you also had other businesses such as healthcare or agriculture. So when the market is bad for one industry, your other business thrives. Because, if you only had 1 business, you would end up losing the game entirely.
That is a very interesting strategy, however, since you are well-diversified in different business activities how do you keep the energy and time to manage everything?
Sean Chin MQ: Of course, by thinking of it generally it does sound very difficult, but at the end of the day the success of business is made by people and their decisions. Of course, you cannot manage things alone, you need a team, and that is where growth happens. Being able to pick the right people to work with is super important. It is the main ingredient of any business venture. If you have the right people in your team, you can manage even a hundred companies, but finding the right people can be a challenge. This challenge you can only overcome by putting in enough time in the search.
See, what I realized over the years, is that when people start a new business, they focus so much on themselves and they end up micromanaging themselves to the very detail. But rather than trying to do everything by yourself, instead spend some time to recruit the early believers.
In the technology business, early users called adopters are the most important ones because they do the marketing work which leads and new user acquisition. In the strategy consulting business, early recruits are the ones who will bring you new clients. There is a limit to how much a single person can handle. I have tested that limit and 24 hours is definitely not enough.
Instead, what you could focus on is creating a strategy so good that your holding could run three different companies under its umbrella at the same time.
Diversification is good and strategic but is it for everyone? Can everyone handle it? What if somebody can’t or doesn’t have the knowledge to run different industry businesses at the same time?
Sean Chin MQ: Of course, new starters usually start with 1 business and that is okay but now we are talking about competitiveness and the edge, flexibility, and management. If the business is advanced, the CEO should lead the business in a proper way, and consider the risks and opportunities. To be a strong leader and respected CEO you have to take certain actions, at times it might seem aggressive but as a CEO you have to look long-term only. Absolutely, new business starters should definitely be good at least in 1 thing that they do and then expand to new areas based on their experience and knowledge growth. But always keep in mind to where you are heading, that very far standing little dot in the future, is where you are heading and you need to keep pushing to get it.
I believe that psychology has an impact on our final outcome and results and managing your thoughts and mindset is absolutely critical in order to move forward fast even if you struggle at times, you still have to keep moving forward regardless of the obstacle.
Do you think that complete determination to succeed will lead one to absolute success? Sometimes people face obstacles bigger than themselves. How do you overcome that?
Sean Chin MQ: It is true. Very often people face difficulties that are much bigger than themselves but the reason why these people have these difficulties and end up in these difficult situations is because of their own actions and decision-making. It is impossible to control future outcomes but we can influence them by taking our next action today. In reality, we can’t be completely sure if the action we take is correct or not, but every one of us has an inner voice to guide us and that inner voice usually helps us avoid difficult situations. But unfortunately, many people are afraid to listen to the inner voice and that is because their overall balance is not strong enough to stand up for themselves. As humans, we have issues, and some of the issues are impossible to get rid of, but we have to keep doing better tomorrow than we do today.
Simply believing you can have a better tomorrow and taking even a small action to change your today is a very strong step forward.
So what is the next big thing? What is the next step in this very interesting economic environment?
Sean Chin MQ: I think there are already multiple big things coming. But I’d say that we should see what is happening right now and what has happened before and based on available information and data we can pretty much understand where the changes are going to take place.
For example, internet trends on social media have been very rapidly changing in just the last 2 years. I would say that social media network has become very powerful and I believe there is something even bigger coming. Then, E-sports is an industry that is booming worldwide and there is no stop to it. Artificial intelligence is being adopted quickly worldwide as well. I think we are still early with AI but it’s definitely moving forward. Also, right now we see a lot of space technology coming out, perhaps in the next 5 years space business will evolve and more startups will emerge in the industry.
But we have to be cautious and not fall for the imagination. Yes, the world seems to be very interesting and exciting and we can get lost in the future, but we have to understand that we live today, and today things are still working differently. We need to not just think about the future but also focus on today and tomorrow. Some CEOs spend too much time creating 10 10-year plan and seeing their successful company in the far future then later realize that the next quarter the firm will have negative returns. If I had to put the current market situation in two words, I’d say it is very noisy.
What opportunity-seeking entrepreneurs should pay attention to today and tomorrow?
Sean Chin MQ: Right now the businesses are constantly changing and many are unstable.
Ideas come and ideas go. Being replaced is an almost unavoidable fact. I’d say that keeping up with the latest developments in your sector is very important. See who are the newcomers and try to spot the losers. See if there is potential to get into the market in between by offering something else that is missing.
Additionally, pay attention to trends. A trend wave can last an average of 3-9 months and during this time there are a lot of possibilities for business. You can supply products during the trend or you can provide services to the ones who are competing in the trend. There are many ways to make business work, you just have to pay really close attention to details. I think right now, today especially, if you are looking for niche market entry paying attention to extreme detail is the key because you will find someone making a mistake and that time will be the best time for you to enter and compete. Remember, speed and efficiency don’t go well together. Because competition is fierce, someone always ends up making mistakes and others tend to take advantage of that and replace old players. Only those who play accurately and prevent mistakes stay the longest in the market.
Sponsored Content
