Even from the beginning of Atomy, our founding principles were quite different. These founding principles are principles that I had in mind when I first started Atomy. The first principle is being.
Because the company has to survive. A company must never go bankrupt. I went bankrupt once before. And I realized that a business must never fail because it becomes difficult for the employees, for the businesses that supply products, and for my business partners as well. However, it became very hard on me.
So I wanted to make a company that would never fail. As such, being became the first founding principle. Now, when I observe why a company fails, the biggest obstacle is the expenses. If there are no expenses like labor costs or rental fees, a company can still manage even if its sales drop.
However, if there is a drop in sales, and a company still has to pay for labor costs as well as rent, those fixed costs and expenses can cause a business to fail. Therefore, I needed to lower these expenses. In a distribution company, the biggest expense are the labor costs. I thought about how much I needed to lower such costs. Atomi has something called an absolute goal, right?
Our absolute goal is to make such costs non-existent, which means ultimately there should be no one working. This is an unmanned company, which is what we're aiming to become. An unmanned company would be an enterprise that could operate on its own without any employees, which is referred to as OA or office automation.
or FA, factory automation, for factories. By using a computerized system, we wanted the office to run automatically. The company had to become a paperless office. When the company first started out, one had to fill out an application via fax to become a member. However, we don't do it that way anymore.
Instead, you go to our website to type in your name. your bank account number, phone number, delivery address, and the name of the person who is sponsoring you. After that, you click the OK button and you become a member, and then start ordering through the website. Before, our staff would take orders, either by phone or by fax, and write down all the information.
We don't do that any longer either. Once you buy a product, the sales statement is made and then saved to our server all at the same time. Simultaneously, the data is sent to the delivery center computer, and with the shipping address that you wrote into the computer, the delivery center printer will automatically... begin printing the order receipt. Essentially, you're printing your order directly at the delivery center.
For example, such is the same for the accounting department. All the money that will be sent out is prepared in advance so that everything is stabilized. If the money needs to be transferred, but sales suddenly drop, the company is in danger, right?
Let's say there is a natural disaster. Go! which would happen if no money needed to be transferred.
Wouldn't the company be in a deficit? No, it wouldn't. The company would only fail if it didn't have any money.
However, we prepared enough capital in cash in advance. The first founding principle of Atomy is to create a company that doesn't fail. I only failed once in my life.
I never want to experience bankruptcy ever again. Our second principle is speed. The first one is about our survivability. It is the act of being.
Now speed... is about the growth of the business. Basically, it focuses on how we will develop the business. The concept of time is always included in speed, time.
For example, how many miles you travel in one hour is your speed. Since this includes the concept of time, it is necessary for us to understand what time really is. What then is time?
Time? Is it money? Does money fill your pockets after some time passes?
What about your bank account? Can you explain the concept of time? Time is defined as beginning in the past, passing through the present, and flowing into the future. This is the sequence of time.
You go from the past to the present and into the future. Does this help with your understanding? Can you tell me... When the present is. The present.
Let's say that today is the present. So, let's break the day down. If the time right now is noon, then any time before 12 p.m. is the past, right?
Since it's noon, everything after 12 p.m. must be the future. Then, how do you explain this time right here? We can look at it in terms of hours. If you divide up that hour, it becomes equal parts of the past and the future.
Thus, is there a real point in time that we can call the present? Even when you split up one second, you will only have a past and a future. Essentially, there is no literal present.
By saying that the present doesn't exist, it is concluding that time doesn't exist. There is no present. As such, there is no concept of time.
However, we all have an understanding of time. The question then is, what is it that we consider time? To us, a different concept of time exists.
Where we recognize the events of the past, this notion of time is known as history, and that is how we define this idea. This is what I mean when I say history. As we think of the history of the Chosun dynasty, we think of the kings that founded that dynasty. For example, the incident of Taegeong founding Chosun. Taegeong founded the kingdom, but Taegeong carried out the dynasty.
Thus, history is a series of changing events, and the records of such events. It is also the concept of time that we can recognize. Moreover, there is no history if there are no events.
This period is called prehistory, which means that is before history. Let's say that we found a relic from the prehistoric period. Then history would extend to that point. Furthermore, if there are no signs of such events, it would be considered prehistory since time at that point doesn't exist.
Thus, our concept of time is defined by the recognition of events. We are told to use our time efficiently, right? If you want the business to do well, you need to use your time efficiently.
When we talk about using time efficiently, this actually means using these events effectively. Being efficient is mainly initiating cause for an event to occur. Basically, you are being proactive in causing certain events to occur. If the events that occur are desirable to you, then you can turn your life into a prosperous one. What happens if you don't take the lead in such events?
If you allow the environment or other people to take control, your life will just pass you by, going in all sorts of directions. This means... you are not able to control the events or the time in your own life. Generally, the reason that most people live such miserable lives is due to the fact that they aren't taking control and initiating the cause of events favorable to them.
Instead, they waver according to their surroundings. What are these other events? Well, let's say that you're born into a poor family. Though you might study hard, other students always do better and you are always last in the rankings.
Afterwards, you get married and your spouse isn't really that great. In this example, your life is already determined by your surroundings. And such obstacles become a problem in your life.
Basically, you continue to stay poor by not doing anything. How can you escape from poverty then? You need to take charge and change your life by causing the events that you want to happen in your life.
If you do, you will be able to live the life that you want. You need to take control of your life. Yet, if you just sit there idle, you will just go with the flow as according to the events around you.
So what should you do? You should take action to cause favorable events. By taking charge of your life, you can design, hold on to, and head towards your future. However, many people don't do this.
I said that time is just another word for events. And the type of events that you want to create are those that are desirable for you. With such events that are desirable for you, you can design and plan out these kinds of events, as well as take charge in making them happen. You need to take charge of your life and your time so that you can become the master of your time.
It is important for you to be a leader of time rather than just going with the flow of time. This is seen as taking the initiative, as you take hold of leadership over your life. Now, there are various properties of time. Time can actually be compressed.
If you want to do a certain task, you need to compress time. I will try to simplify what I mean by this. Let's say you have three months.
And you have a list of 250 people. You want to inform all of them during those three months what kind of events are being created during that time. You are contacting these 250 people, right?
With this event that you are generating, you can talk to all of them in three months. You can also contact 10 people a day and do it in one month. That is a possibility. If you reach 25 people a day, you can even do it in 10 days.
By compressing this original event, what are you doing? You're compressing time. You need to compress time if you want explosiveness.
Air and oil can be compressed. Have you heard of hydraulics? They use oil pressure to move heavy equipment. Then what happens if you don't use compressed time? Well, you'll be living like a sagging clothesline.
And nothing's ever going to work out for you. As such, if you're doing something like the Atomy business, you can drag it out like we did here and contact 250 people in three months. However, this method won't be the most efficient. Instead, you need to compress it as much as you can and be determined to contact 25 people a day. Can you reach everyone in 10 days?
Of course you can. You need to do these tasks as if you are working, which means you must compress time and the events as much as you can to become efficient. Do you understand the concept of how you should be working? Some people won't compress it. They'll just let it drag on.
And then they'll say it doesn't work. All these people are doing is checking to see if it works. They think, I know it won't work, but let's see.
And then they tell about their experience to those who don't like the products. Then they think, see, the person isn't doing the business. These people report back to their sponsors.
Look, I tried it, it didn't work. See, I told you this wasn't going to work. Atomy doesn't need everyone to do this business in order to succeed.
Atomy will succeed even if only one-tenth or one-fifth of all the people do it. If you are tenacious, you need to go out believing that this business will succeed, even if only one out of a hundred people do it. When I first started this business, I didn't have anything to show for it. I didn't have any proof or evidence back then. Nowadays, many people know and hear about Atomy all the time.
If they haven't, they have access to our website, which makes recruiting that much easier. If you look at how this company was built, it had an ugly start and was created from almost nothing. Armed with only a fighting spirit and conviction, I firmly believed that this was going to work. How can something of great quality and low price not work? Just like water flowing from the top to bottom, this company will undoubtedly become a global company.
How can you say a person driving around in a run-down $2,800 minivan telling people about giving away luxury cars is sound of mind? People who were sane just left saying, sure, whatever you say. In any case, you need to utilize time by compressing it.
Another characteristic of time is that duplication is possible. Duplication. Since time can be duplicated, it allows Atomy to have great speed.
Duplicating time means that we are copying events. Let's say you are recruiting one person or you are selling a product. Now, if you are going to be a leader, you need to do this mercilessly. Thus, you need to create a model based on the pain and efforts that you faced in the grueling process of recruiting someone.
Once you do, and you see your partners faltering or sounding weak, or when they lack confidence, you can say, I was able to do this even when the going got tough, so all you need to do is follow what I did. I did. If you want to duplicate something, a good original source is necessary. As such, you can't be thinking to yourself, it would be a problem if my partners were like me.
Instead, you need to make it so that you think, my partners need to be like me in order to succeed. I ran around from dawn till dusk telling anyone I met with confidence and conviction and did everything with pride in myself. My partners will copy everything that I did.
So even if you faced hardships, you will be able to say, I won't back down. Hence, when you meet a person, it has to be a do or die situation until someone gives in. That mentality becomes duplicated in your partner, so they won't let anyone they meet just pass on by, due to the original source having the same level of tenacity. If you are going to create hundreds or even millions of copies, what kind of person do you think you need to be? You have to be a steadfast person, a person who won't give in to any kind of difficulty.
I also became a role model to others. With the 17 members, I told them, Atomi will be the best global company. We will sweep the world markets.
The first 17 members were crazy. You must. Have that kind of mentality and believe that your willpower will be duplicated in hundreds of thousands of people.
If you think, how much will I make by working this much? Or when is this supposed to start working? Or it's so hard to become an auto salesmaster and you just complain.
Then your partners will say, it's so hard to become an auto salesmaster. I can't do it either. Everyone will think and sound the way you do, so you need to do a good job of being the original.
Some of your seniors had risked everything they had in order to be a good original. For duplication, you need to become a good source. You can't slouch around and just be irresolute because all your partners are just going to do that too.
How can you hope for the best if you just complain all the time about how hard everything is? Nothing in this world is easy. You can make $30,000 a month without any investment. How can someone who doesn't have any certificates, was bad at studying and just got old, think about making $30,000 a month without any effort? It takes 10 years for a doctor just to get a medical license.
Even when supermarket owners work from dusk till dawn, many of them still don't even break even. However, you can't go bankrupt with this as there is no investment to lose. So why can't you just have a do-or-die attitude?
It's not just about your life, but also the lives of your family. Why can't you put everything on the line? Wouldn't that be the reasonable thing to do? That is what you should be doing. You can't just be staggering around saying, Oh, this is too hard.
You must transform yourself into a great master copy that can be duplicated into your partners. People say a good general will make good men. Likewise, you have to become a general with the following thoughts. I won't back down no matter what. I will wipe out the enemies if they start to attack.
You have to have a blazing courage and a fighting spirit so that your soldiers will think. Wow, if my general is like that, then I should follow him as well. Shouldn't you take the lead and just shout, charge? Huh?
Otherwise, you have to live a miserable life as a loser. Do you like the life that you're living right now? You're pressed for money, embarrassed everywhere you go. Can't see your friends or even attend a wedding properly because you don't know how much you need, so you decide not to go.
How can you say that you're living when you're like this? Instead, become a good master copy and make duplicates of yourself. Make a goal such as the following.
I will raise up 10 partners like me. That doesn't mean you should be betting either. Rather, you need to be finding consumers. When I emphasize this, many people go beyond themselves by just buying thousands of dollars of products when they shouldn't.
You have to hop along like a crow. By selling one or two products here and diligently building a consumer base, your attitude should be, I will put everything on the line. And you do your best to make that work.
You have to become the best copy so that your partners can copy and duplicate everything you do. This is a life and death situation for you. The possibility of living like a noble or like a miserable, depressed, weak and ordinary person who doesn't even have a retirement plan and sighing all the time, who will depend on whether or not you are bold and courageous enough to have the fighting spirit that will overcome this situation.
You must become a warrior. How can you be so weak when you have loved ones? You're like this because you lack love.
You must be a good master copy. I won't sit still if you aren't. Since all of you promised that you will be a good master copy, I will end the lecture on this note.
Thank you for listening.