On the highest realm of operation work - emotional operation

I have mentioned this point many times in my previous articles, so let me explain it here. During every operations training, I always mention some attitudes, perspectives, and many spiritual topics related to operations work, including the qualities below the iceberg that I mentioned in my previous article. In fact, they are all about this concept. I believe these are the starting points for doing all work well.

To be honest, I haven’t done well enough, but I won’t avoid it. I just feel that I have worked really hard for many years and have done something tangible. I know that many people may not necessarily appreciate it, but I have found some ways in it. I am not a person who just does things silently. There is no systematic and standardized tutorial available for reference in China regarding operations. I just hope that some of the principles and methods that I have summarized and realized can provide some inspiration to those who read my articles.

I don't think I need to explain this in detail, everyone understands it. But the hardest thing is whether you can persist.

Have you ever switched jobs to an industry you didn't like at all just to earn a few hundred, a few thousand or even tens of thousands more in monthly salary? I once told the people I managed that your value in a company is definitely not measured by a few hundred or a few thousand dollars more, but should be calculated in multiples. This is what you should strive for.

Have you ever asked yourself "Do you like this job?" If not, then change to a job that you really like. Don't force yourself. Before the age of 30 is the golden period for accumulating experience. After 30, how many people can still humbly ask for advice and go deep into the front line? So you don't have much time left. As the years go by, the ambitions we once had have gradually been worn away.

If you have been working for a few years and still can't find your real interest, it can only be described as pathetic. But one thing must be said, interests can be slowly discovered and even changed. Take my personal experience as an example. Many, many years ago, I always wanted to work as a sports editor at Tencent. The reason was very simple and naive. I liked NBA and I thought I could get a five-digit QQ number by working at Tencent. Later, I worked in the community. Although I have been using forums for many years, from NetEase Alumni Directory to Chinaren, I was not a fan of Mop. After I joined Mop, it changed me. The netizens and my work influenced me.

Why do we work hard? It is nothing more than making your future resume have a little more brilliant highlights each time.

Why do we need to learn to endure? Because we want to change this word into "忍".

Why do we need to learn and accumulate experience? Because I haven't done well enough, there is always a limitless sea of ​​learning, there are always mountains beyond mountains and people beyond people.

When you choose a company or a job, have you ever asked yourself "what do I really want"? If it clears, keep doing it.

Every time I meet someone who has been working for 2-3 years in an interview, I always say: Working for 2-3 years is a period of psychological fluctuation. You may think that you have accumulated a lot, and many people even think that they can start a business. In fact, this is not the case. In fact, you are far from enough. At this time, you should go to a company and settle down for 3-4 years. Even if this company is bad, you need to familiarize yourself with the next industry in a systematic way and let yourself experience a process of growing together with the company.

You have to be grateful to those who have helped you, brought you change, inspired/stimulated you, and been hard on you.

My mentor, who brought me into the Internet, is named Zhao. He graduated with double degrees from Northeast Normal University and Hebei Academy of Fine Arts at the age of 17. He was 32 years old when he taught me. He had been a teacher for 9 years and had been working in the Internet industry for 6 years. From him, I learned the necessary conditions for doing a good job: no regrets, hard work, and dedication.

There is too much negative energy on the Internet now. Many people vent on Weibo about how bad their company is, which is actually a bad thing. Complaints and negative emotions are contagious and can ruin your good mood. If you don’t like it, don’t force yourself. You should be grateful to your company for at least one thing: giving you a salary so that you don't starve.

You must be grateful to your users. If you understand this, you will know that the basic starting point of user operations is actually out of respect for users. In this way, you will learn to think from their perspective.

Never think that you have done anything perfectly, just do your best to satisfy yourself.

If you work a little harder than others every day, over time, the gap between you and them will not just be one or two times, because this is the same as the accumulation of wealth, the rich will always get richer. Once others have opened up the Ren and Tong meridians, how can you catch up with them?

Never think that your knowledge is enough. If you really think you are doing well, and if you have the conditions to learn more, then take the opportunity to learn more and create opportunities for yourself. For example, if you are an editor, you can definitely learn operations and some product-related knowledge. The breakthrough point lies in the overlapping part. For example, by mastering the basic logic and functions of the community, combined with your basic foundation and understanding of the community, it is entirely possible for you to transition to a product staff member. If you know this, you won’t feel like you have free time at work.

I used to be an editor many years ago and also experienced the process of rigid thinking. Doing repetitive things every day, my thinking became fixed, and it took me three months to change.

When you do the same thing every day, you need to be wary. Maybe your brain has gone dull! This is terrible.

The way to make your thinking less rigid is very simple: force yourself to do something different every day and expand your thinking. The stage in which I grew fastest was when I was in charge of Tietie in 2009. In fact, I was constantly trying new methods to break through myself, researching wireless, doing SEO work, working on Weibo and other third-party platforms, and these did not fall within the scope of my KPI at all. So in the end, I went through all the aspects of the operation.

At the very least, you can try to think a little further than others in every task you do in your daily life, even if it is just posting a message. The accumulated results over time will be terrifying.

Practicing basic skills well is the prerequisite, practice makes perfect. Furthermore, in terms of thinking, you should also try to think this way. Making work simple does not mean taking shortcuts, but learning to save time. There is no shortcut in work, thinking determines actions.

What can you do with the saved time? Used to learn more knowledge and do more meaningful things.

Operational work is often very detailed and complicated, involving too many things, taking time, and not easily showing results in the short term. This is why many companies ignore operations. Therefore, people with poor patience cannot achieve excellence, and companies that have no patience for operations cannot do well in this aspect.

An effective way to simplify work is to learn to summarize and make basic operational work process-oriented (but not all operational work can be process-oriented). For example, the subdivided tasks of user operation, activity operation, content operation, etc. can all form a process.

This is the most important principle in operations. All work follows this principle.

For example, in section operation, it is necessary to focus on operating the most core sections. User operation requires maintaining the users at the top of the pyramid. When allocating work time, you need to use 80% of your time to do the 20% most meaningful things. When operating hot spots, you should focus your main energy on the most popular and outstanding content. When making a work report, you need to first summarize the most important work you have done (leaders are very busy and generally will not read all emails).

The key point is whether you can use the 80/20 rule to the extreme. This is what makes the biggest difference. If you think deeply, you will find that every link of the operation can be further subdivided, so you still have to think about the 80/20 principle. The ultimate goal is to use the most effective method to the extreme.

The most basic part of operations work is user operations, and the most difficult part is also user operations. Many people have always known and mentioned that users are supreme and king, but when it comes to practice, it is not the case. Why? To put it bluntly, they simply don’t understand users.

Someone who has never even chatted with users is not qualified to talk about operations. For many product-based companies, their core needs come from research, which is completely wrong. The real demand comes from core users, and the results of the survey can only be used as a reference.

I won’t go into details about this, as I mentioned it in my previous article. The things before the iceberg are the hardest to accumulate. It may take you several years or even a lifetime to accumulate them, but you cannot stop accumulating them.

This is actually quite difficult, but you can try to think about the problem in this way at critical moments. For example, when dealing with some user issues, if you change your perspective, things will become clearer.

Why do users come to you when there are so many tools available now? Choosing to come to your place to play at least means that they are not disappointed in you. So, what reason do you have not to cherish them?

Operations are actually like managing a company. You are the CEO. If you want to do your best, you need to be responsible and emotional enough.

The management of all user teams or the operation of user tools requires hierarchical management, just like managing a department, there must be at least a leader! It has to be at least two levels.

Work like user mining can be compared to falling in love. The best person will never come by waiting (the best user cannot be waited for), and you need to be adequately prepared (basic operation skills). You need to understand more about girls' psychology (user psychology), and get to know more users who are compatible with you (target users, expansion channels), because not all of them will pay attention to you (there are many users who ignore you). Once you find the one that suits you best, you must take care of him/her with all your heart (emotional operation, cultivating enough loyalty).

In fact, when it comes down to it, if you truly possess the "traits" that I mentioned above, you have basically reached the highest stage in Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory: the need for self-actualization. You know, only 5% of people can reach this level. At this time, the company does not need to ask you to work overtime, and your leader does not need to urge you every day. You will force yourself to grow, learn, and practice down-to-earth, because to put it bluntly, you are working for yourself!