Joseph's "Just My Thoughts"

A surplus value is generated between the stages of consumption and production. The linking of production to consumption is referred to as "sales," in other words, doing business. The values added result in an increase in assets. Consequently, the refund of value-added tax (VAT) does not signify the return of lost profits, but rather the loss of business revenues. This is an unfavorable outcome. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

I previously presented the stone currency "Fei" used on the island of Yap in Micronesia, the western Pacific island nation. The "Fei" currency was a round circle, sometimes over 3 meters in diameter and weighing 3.5 tons. The island of Yap had no roads. People went in and out barefoot. Several people carried this money by placing wooden sticks in the center hole of the circle. The island used to belong to Germany when Germany bought the Caroline Islands from Spain. The German government ordered the village chief to repair the path. But the village chief refused the order. A fine had to be imposed, and the heavy stone money could not be confiscated. After much agonizing, the German government marked the stone money with a cross in black paint. In other words, they confiscated the property. Surprisingly, the village head repaired the path and the German government removed the cross. The seizure was lifted. Economic value is personalized through ownership. The key to o...

A big supermarket can do business in the suburbs because of wheels. If someone asked me what is one of the greatest inventions in human history that civilization has ever developed, I would say "wheels." The automobile is also a wheel. Shopping carts are also wheels. Without wheels, how many people would go far and carry heavy loads? Mass distribution is possible because of wheels. To do bulk sales, you have to have a lot of inventory. That means you need a lot of storage space. It also means you need cheap real estate. The trivial circle, the wheel, is the key to solving all these constraints in one shot. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Anything consigned to the open market is likely to be distorted. Stocks, commodities, real estate, ideas, and even intentions lose their original intent, purpose, and value when released into the market. Since every market participant has different intentions and perspectives, it is natural that everything in the open market is distorted. Therefore, the idea that if you do your best, you will succeed is a superstition. If your efforts are gnawing at your soul, don't try your best anymore. Instead, it's far better to love yourself, to cherish yourself, and to comfort yourself. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

People say those who keep their promises lose more benefits than those who don't. Half is right and half is wrong. If you break a promise, you'll gain benefits immediately but lose credit. Assets eat credit and grow. And credit itself is an essential component of assets. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

What constitutes good content? The deliverable content to the public can be classified into two main categories. “Content that only I want to know” and “Content that I want others to know”. The former is usually a secret core value and the latter might be a lesson that needs to be learned and desires others to know. Criticism that cuts to the heart of the matter and that everyone agrees with will spread more quickly to the community. On the other side content that only I want to know won't spread easily to avoid competitors although the content is simultaneously precious to me. Even good content doesn't get shared widely and quickly. Instead of concentrating our endeavors on well-done production, we have to analyze the character of the content and consider the delivery method that fits the content. - Joseph's “just my thoughts”

There is a country of 607 islands in the West Pacific, Micronesia. One of the islands, “Yap Islands,” used limestone as a currency. The monetary unit is “fei”. Big stones, oh no, big money, 3.6 meters in diameter and weighed 3.5 tons. The bigger and heavier is a more expensive price, because of the harder the carving. The peculiar thing was that when the people moved the stone for trading, they directly moved it with a canoe, and no one marked the money after the transaction. In the meantime, a rich man had to deal with someone and he met the storm while carrying the stone money in a canoe. Securing his survival, he had to throw his money out of the canoe into the water. When he met the counterparty with an empty hand, no sooner did they confirm the force majeure case than the counterparty confirmed that the villagers additionally recognized the value of the sunk money in the water and approved the transaction. Then, the existence of the sunk stone money was recorded on a wooden board,...

"Asset" means the root of wealth. These “assets” live on credit. Each kind of faith is different. When someone trusts me, someone will trust my gentle character, my sincerity in keeping my promise, or my will to do what I do. In commercial transactions, however, other trading parties trust my “assets” rather than my personality. Even if you do not have a good personality, if you have a lot of assets, transactions with him are active. Wealth is faithful to principles and does not discriminate based on personality. But this does not mean that personality is unnecessary. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

The key concept in creating wealth is the accumulation of assets. "Asset" means all the resources, that can be used for production activities. If assets don't increase, it's not a business. To create value, you have to produce something. The labor, materials, and facilities for production all come from assets. Insufficient assets are borrowed from others, it is called debt. The value added belongs back to the asset. Assets are a source of wealth and a measure of wealth. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

In wealth, the first is value exchange and the second is added value. "Value exchange" occurs when "need (demand)" comes first. Making and exchanging bread with wheat is a value exchange. The price of bread is higher than the price of wheat grain. The price difference is value added. For value-added to occur, "benefit" must be provided. To provide this "benefit", you have to incur costs and expenses. This is called investment. In other words, the value added is the result of the investment, the surplus is subtracting the costs and expenses from the supply price. You can calculate the value added to make a profit if you first know your investment condition and its amount. "Wealth" only occurs when "value-added" is accumulated. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Social media is a world of algorithms, not a window being shown by content creators. Attention is an asset and a lot of exposure to content is power in this social media. However, regardless of the creators' passion, the opportunity to expose is determined by the algorithm. It proves no one has found the secret to the algorithm's favorable selection, which is why so much YouTube content reveals the secrets. If the correct secret has been revealed, people will stop creating competitive content for it. Secrets increase efficiency, but generalizing the secrets is unavoidable. Without generalization, the market is getting smaller. There will be a threshold below which the profit under the confidentiality of the secret is valid. However, exceeding that threshold creates an inverse relationship between secrecy and profit. Until before that threshold is exceeded, the victims of scammers must be victimized unfortunately, hence don't be fooled by those who brag about their secrets w...

Wealth is accumulating the added value created through value exchange into assets. Here are three key concepts. 1. Value Exchange 2. Value Added 3. Assets. To be wealthy is to increase assets. For an asset to grow, it must exchange value with others and, as a result, add value comes from. First of all, value exchange. Even geniuses starve unless they exchange value. Value exchange is not an idea, it is an action. You can never create wealth if your thoughts are good but don't act. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

We often find that the more intelligent people are critical of the world. However, a wise person does not use their superior abilities to blame others but to help others. When used foolishly, superior abilities can harm the world; when used wisely, they can help the world. Superior intelligence should not be judged by the extent or depth of its knowledge, but by the fruit it produces. Most of the world's abilities are judged by the value of their use rather than their effectiveness of utilization. A tree should be evaluated by its fruit, not its roots or trunk. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

"Metacognition" refers to thinking about a thought. It is the ability to rethink one's thoughts. So if you are good at metacognition, you can objectify your thoughts. In the "Dunning-Kruger Effect," we can confirm the importance of metacognition. The two scientists proved that the more incompetent people were, the less they perceived their incompetence. Conversely, competent people recognized what they didn't know and were confident about the state of what they did know. All improvement begins with identifying what I don't know. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

With social media, we assume that we see and hear what we want to see and hear. But the truth is, we see and listen to what the system shows and listens to us. Uncontrolled systems distort inefficiencies and the purpose for which they were created. So the algorithm is loaded into the system. We do not enjoy freedom. It is only considered "free" in the context of control. - Joseph’s "just my thoughts”

A smart guy? Oh, I'm not. A brilliant guy knows himself/herself well. Knowing what to want and what not to want, what to like and what not to like, what to know and what not to know, what you have to do and what you should not do, is knowing myself. But I don't know much about myself. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

In business, capital means business funds. A successful entrepreneur often says, "I started my business without any capital". It's partly true, but it's a lie. The entrepreneur just said that capital means only cash. However, all kinds of businesses need to be fundamentally business funds in any even not cash. The entrepreneur didn't count the founder's labor cost. No inputs, no outcomes. The uncounted labor costs are called "alternative costs" or "opportunity costs". This comes from comparative advantage. If the entrepreneur doesn't accept the uncounted labor cost as a debt, the entrepreneur is equivalent to losing the profit due to opportunity costs. Please always remember this. There is no free lunch in this world. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Nature has dominated over human beings, and we belong to the cosmos. As the meaning of this fact is so broad, we often forget this relationship between nature and human beings. The movement of the earth around the sun has created a HORIZONTAL CIVILIZATION BELT on this planet. This phenomenon gave us geographical advantages in a certain zone and made the economic difference of vertical continental by agricultural weather. Geographically where I belong gives us crucial effectiveness. Look carefully at your environment such as natural location, and weather in your life planning. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Not running out of time, but it's hesitation to make your priority what's most important with a stressful mind by yourself. However, even if you have made a decision your priority when you feel a lack of time, you're taking a burden beyond your capacity or yet to equip the proper system to carry it out. Neither is desirable. Not all of them are, but most of the time, you tend to be poor if you're busy for no reason. You may be busy for a while, but you should be alert to stay busy because it's easy to lose your health, to lose your money, and eventually to lose your people. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Offline retailers are going to be ruined. People assume the cause might be Internet commerce. But if you analyze the data, it doesn't make sense. In the U.S., online sales have grown more than 30-fold over the past two decades, but Internet shopping accounts for only 11% of total consumer sales. According to U.S. government statistics, Americans spend most of their income on SERVICES, NOT GOODS. This means they purchase a car rental service instead of possessing a car, a cloud service instead of having computer software and hard drives, and a fresh food delivery service every morning instead of buying the ingredients for food. It also means that people avoid buying manufactured or harvested goods, but want to buy the servitization goods in the categories of manufacturing and agriculture. This phenomenon is called " Servitization of Manufacturing". - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

If you've kept your word in every situation, borrowing from your neighbors may be more possible when you borrow money from others. That is, your financial trouble doesn't mean that you don't have any money, but it means that you don't have any credit from anyone. Currency has some value according to all people are constantly giving trust in exchangeable value, and money itself doesn't have any value at all. All values come from giving trust to something. Gaining credibility only, even pebbles on the street can be money. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

When we face the most innumerable values, we do not feel to be grateful. The most valuable things in the world are almost things we do not thank or easily ignore, like the air, light, etc. When the gratitude is routinized, the lack occurs instead. When the recent gratitude is forgotten, we blame and curse dissatisfaction. So if you want to protect the breaking relationship with someone, while you try your best but don't cause the gratitude of someone for you never become routine. If appreciation for you is routinized, the relationship you want to protect will be destroyed. Unconditionally good relationships can end for this reason. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Umbilicaria esculenta is a kind of mushroom. To pick this mushroom up, a picker must climb a high mountain and approach a dangerous cliff because this mushroom is growing up between rocks. Therefore, umbilicaria esculenta is more expensive than other kinds. One day, the TV show "Korean's Dinner Table" on KBS 1TV showed an episode about the mushroom picker and his old mother. "Don't sell this mushroom at a high price." said the mother, because this would be sold at a higher price, many pickers would die from over-picking even dangerous situations. We should deeply consider what is the mission of our businesses. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Even though a country's total population is decreasing, the economic situation could be improved by increasing the total economic activity of the remaining population after the decrease. Of course, there is a statistical population threshold below which this effect occurs. Nevertheless, this effect would not work in the case of a force majeure, such as a natural disaster or the outbreak of war, however, this assumption would be valid because a rapid population decline is a highly exceptional event that would not normally occur. Therefore, an increase in the economic activity of this population should be required during an economic recession. Applying this perspective, for building a solid relationship with your followers on Instagram, the number of followers is less important than the activity between them and you. This is called the "Engagement Rate (ER)". - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

One of the easiest businesses in the world is the sale of fear. Fear is closely tied to how we survive, but safety is an emotion that comes after survival. Therefore, avoiding fear is prioritized over staying safe. Hence, many entrepreneurs are easily tempted to fear-market "OOO FREE". In other words, "OOO FREE" means "maybe someone else has it" instead of "I don't have it," and the conclusion is that this conduct sows fear in the public. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

DuPont, a global chemical company, has one core value: Safety. The company is well known for adhering to its core values which stem from its historical background. DuPont began as a gunpowder manufacturer during the American Civil War. In 1884, DuPont's CEO, Lammot du Pont, was killed in an explosion. This accident stimulated the catalyst for DuPont's realization that safety should be a core value of the company. Here's a true story as an example. Two DuPont employees were on an overseas business trip and needed to take a taxi to a meeting, but the taxi only had seat belts on the passenger side. They would be late for the meeting, but DuPont policy dictated that only one person be put in the cab while the other took a different cab. Core values represent a company's identity and mission, and complying with them is a crucial challenge for any organization. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

We remember Apple founder Steve Jobs as a strong leader with a stubborn streak and charisma, but he also consistently upheld the company's core values as its leader. While developing the iPhone 4, Jobs wanted to incorporate solar charging. Still, Apple's engineers disagreed, arguing that the technology at the time, would make the iPhone thicker than previous models and compromise the company's core value of simplicity. When confronted, Jobs gave up to stand his ground and listened to the engineers. The most important thing about leadership is not charismatic authority, but defining the company's core values and complying with them, even a highest-level officer. It's not a matter of power, but of defining core values and ensuring that everyone in the company has common interests in their meaning and that this understanding is shared internally. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Here a product is being made by only three countries, South Korea, China, and Japan. It's not a semiconductor but a nail clipper. You might think that a nail clipper is not a big deal, but it's not as simple as that. Nail clippers are a combination of all sorts of advanced technologies. In the 1980s, South Korea could produce submarines and battleships, but they did not  possess  the technology to produce nail clippers. When the upper and lower teeth are in mesh, the chink must be 0.1 to 0.2 millimeters. When perfect engagement, the nail is not cut properly on the contrary, the outrange of this tolerance, is cut out coarsely. Today, thanks to technological advances, South Korea has been able to narrow this chink to between 0.05 and 0.08 millimeters. South Korea, to achieve this goal, produces a special steel called "15CM" through POSCO which is specially made for this nail clipper. Many different advanced technologies are combined in this tiny nail clipper. Don't ...

It's a simple calculation. No matter how unstable the economy, residential real estate prices are unlikely to increase tenfold in a decade. But it's quite possible for the stock of Apple, Amazon, or Google to increase tenfold in that time. That's because they're organizations that continue to create value-added. It's very easy to make better investment judgments and decisions, but our instinct to seek stability can lead us astray. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Most people substitute the issue of choice with the issue of ability. They recognize they cannot do it because scaring to make the wrong choice or lack the knowledge. Banks pay me 1 to 2 percent interest annually on deposits but charge me 4 to 5 percent on loans. It's a game where I'm losing money in every way. Then, I want to avoid putting my money in the bank. It would be better to use it to purchase that bank's stocks as a substitute but meticulous care is required. To make a choice, you have to conquer your fears. How is this a difference of ability? - Joseph’s “just my thoughts"

Success always has two faces. One is achievement and the other is complacency. There's a term in business administration called the " Competence Trap". It refers to the belief that if people cling to and repeat past successes, they will continue to be successful in the future. Xerox, which invented the world's first personal computer; Chrysler, which missed the SUV market because of the success of the minivan; and Kodak, which invented the world's first digital camera but failed to aggressively market it for fear of losing its main business, film. Humility is not an etiquette, but a shared destiny essential to success. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”