After the Alibaba Group listed on the stock exchange, Jack Ma became China's richest man. As the saying goes, "ten minutes on stage require ten years of work offstage." Jack Ma's transformation from an ordinary youth to a business legend was fraught with hardships that few outsiders know about. One could argue that while Ma may be wealthier than many, few can match the suffering he endured. In this regard, the world is quite fair.
First, Jack Ma was rejected at least twice during job applications due to his appearance. Jack Ma's looks have often been jokingly compared to the alien ET, and today, his appearance has become a source of amusement for many. However, more than two decades ago, his appearance was a significant source of stress. After failing his first college entrance exam, he dreamed of becoming a hotel waiter or a police officer, but was rejected for both roles due to his physical features. To put it bluntly, he was considered unattractive. Although one cannot control how they look, this did cost him his dream of entering the hospitality industry. Later, he had to take a part-time job pedaling a tricycle to deliver magazines just to make ends meet.
Second, his early startup relied on selling socks to subsidize his translation agency. The Haibo Translation Agency, founded by Ma, was the first translation firm in Hangzhou, but it started in dire straits. Its first month revenue was only 700 yuan, while the rent was 2400 yuan. To keep the business afloat, Ma rented out half of the storefront and started a second side hustle: wholesaling flowers, flashlights, underwear, socks, and crafts from Yiwu to resell. Initially, this looked like a legitimate business, but eventually, he had to go door-to-door to sell goods, targeting clients including hospitals and barefoot doctors. His English class students also helped him distribute flyers and hang banners in front of department stores, suffering the cold stares of passersby, far from the professional image of a high-end translation company. Objectively speaking, entrepreneurship is not suited for the fragile-hearted. However, this process allowed Ma to gain an early understanding of the hardships faced by small vendors and salespeople, preparing him with valuable experience for his later creation of e-commerce platforms. Notably, at the time, Ma was also one of the teachers with the most courses at Hangzhou Dianzi University, meaning all the aforementioned efforts were done in his spare time.
Finally, he had to prove to people that the internet actually existed. The business of "China Pages" was to upload domestic organizations' information to the internet so that foreigners could find them. However, at that time, there was no internet in China; no one could see or touch it, falling into the category of "if you believe in it, it exists; if you don't, it doesn't." After receiving client materials, the team translated them into English and couriered them to their American partners to create web pages. Asking bosses to pay for something they couldn't see was hard to believe. Therefore, the Ma team not only had to prove that the client data was online but also had to prove the existence of the internet itself. Ma did not understand technology, so what he could do was talk non-stop. Every day, he went out to tell people about the wonders of the internet. Besides printing web pages, he invited bosses to make free long-distance calls to have their relatives and friends in the United States verify the information online. When Shanghai finally opened its internet connection in 1995, the "China Pages" team provided an extra service: making a long-distance call to Shanghai to access the internet. It took three and a half hours to see the photos online. Jack Ma, who was anxious as an ant on a hot pan, was overjoyed, and tears of frustration and relief streamed down his face. In many cities without internet access, Jack Ma was widely labeled a "scammer." This was the original source of the claim that "Jack Ma is a scammer."
