It is crucial to market oneself. Some individuals possess a wealth of talent, yet remain unknown, unable to promote themselves, and thus fail to realize their potential value. Anything that cannot be marketed and remains in storage, though valuable, cannot be converted into tangible worth. If you market yourself effectively, you could be worth two thousand dollars, four thousand dollars, or even more. Therefore, we must consider how to market ourselves.

First Point: Skills are Essential for Self-Promotion

Do not assume that because you are a believer, you do not need to promote yourself, thinking that "good wine needs no bush." However, in today's world, that is no longer the case. No matter how good the wine, it is useless without promotion. If you do not promote yourself, others will. Observe carefully in the workplace, and you will notice that some people occupy certain positions not because they are significantly smarter or more capable than you, but because they are adept at self-promotion. Those who lack this skill may struggle to find employment.

This statement is not superstitious. Even if you are a Christian and God blesses you, you still need to learn how to market yourself. What skills do you possess? What value can you create for others? What unique qualities or talents do you have? Some might argue that Apple iPhones do not require promotion, but that is not true. Their marketing is exceptionally effective.

As a result, whenever Apple releases a new iPhone, it sells out quickly, sometimes even leading to shortages. This is due to effective promotion. Almost anyone who does not promote themselves will find it difficult to enter the workforce.

Self-promotion is a vital skill. Some may say, "I believe in the Lord, and I trust that God will bless me with a job." However, you still need to market yourself. Why do I say this? Because self-promotion is essentially presenting yourself to the leaders of the hiring organization, allowing them to see what kind of person you are and what qualities you possess.

Packaging oneself is one thing; having genuine substance is another. Some individuals possess genuine substance but lack external packaging, which is also not ideal.

For example, would you buy unpackaged food in a store? If it could sell for $50 with packaging, it might only sell for $10 without it, or even remain unsold. People often prefer to spend $50 on a packaged item rather than $10 on an unpackaged one.

Whether packaging and promotion are equivalent is debatable, but I believe that effective self-promotion requires both inner substance and attractive packaging—genuine quality combined with appealing presentation.

Can you imagine an iPhone wrapped in rags? It is incongruous. Notice how exquisite the packaging box is and how well the contents are arranged. Therefore, a talented individual must possess both the ability to promote themselves and genuine skills. These two are indispensable.

Second Point: Character is Key to Education

Whether a person has character or not, even with the same skills, the image they project is entirely different. When character is expressed, it is very compelling. We must change our educational philosophy. As times evolve, we constantly discuss educational philosophies. Although it is not yet widespread, this lack of ubiquity gives us foresight. We can foresee that in ten or twenty years, our current educational philosophies may no longer be novel.

The Core of Character is Confidence

What is our educational philosophy? Character development is the most crucial aspect of education. The core of character is confidence. Therefore, we build people's confidence, instilling in them a sense of optimism about the future, which they will then express through their character. This character is key to education. Once this character is developed, you will find that they still need to be trained in skills.

Experience Leads to Skills

Educational practice shapes character and skills, not just knowledge. We were once taught that "knowledge is power," but we later discovered that much knowledge is unusable and does not generate power. We often say that someone is experienced, implying that they are knowledgeable, but knowledge does not necessarily equate to experience.

An experienced person certainly possesses skills in that area, and with those skills, they undoubtedly have knowledge. Conversely, having knowledge in an area does not guarantee skills, and having skills does not necessarily mean they have experience.

What is experience? It is what one accumulates by using their skills to solve problems, or by using their skills and knowledge to solve a problem. The educational philosophy should be to shape a child's character and skills. What about experience? Experience should be gained in the marketplace, or perhaps accumulated to some extent in school.

Experience is Gained Through Real-World Practice

Real-world practice is real-world practice. School is not yet a real-world battlefield, but if students can be brought into a controlled real-world environment where they can be trained to become experienced, that would be ideal.

Therefore, the key to marketing yourself is to showcase the appeal of your character. The kind of character you project to others is crucial; character is a form of charisma.

Third Point: Character is an Internal Quality

What is character? It is not merely an external attribute but an internal quality. For example, a child with resilience will exhibit that resilience in their words and actions. Similarly, a confident person will express their confidence in their manner of speaking.

Therefore, character is a vital component. Someone without character is unlikely to succeed in self-promotion.

Thus, how to cultivate character in school or in one's personal life is extremely important. Marketing yourself is marketing your character.

When someone goes for an interview and promotes themselves, it is fascinating to observe the character they display. A person's poor exam results can indicate many things. In fact, a person with character should generally have good exam results.

Why do many people struggle with exams? Because their character lacks something, leading to a distorted state that results in poor exam performance and a less-than-ideal character. In an interview, they might say, "Although my grades are not good, that does not mean I cannot learn. I am resourceful because I have focused on developing my expertise in a particular area, which has been overlooked."

If the interviewer finds these explanations and stories acceptable, then it is fine. Some stories can even be quite far-fetched. For example, one young man encountered difficulties during an interview and said, "I fell in with some bad company in the past three years and learned to play computer games, but now I want to change completely. I am not stupid; if I study hard, I can still do well." He still got the job.

Do not assume that poor academic performance means everything is ruined. Academic performance only represents the past; what is needed now is to display a certain character to others.

For example, if someone is asked why they only have a junior high school diploma, they might say, "My family was poor, and I needed to work." Many families are not that poor today, but you can still demonstrate your abilities. For instance, despite coming from a poor background, you have been self-studying and may even be stronger than someone with a college degree because you have honed your skills in the workplace. This is also a form of character.

Therefore, in the process of promoting yourself, cultivate the habit of promoting your character. Character is very appealing. For example, being persevering, resilient, focused, or decisive, able to make accurate decisions and judgments. A person who is resourceful, flexible, and good at handling interpersonal relationships, whose character easily creates a sense of warmth, all these are part of character.

Fourth Point: The Core Competency of Self-Promotion

A famous person once said that many young people today know a lot of things, but their knowledge is shallow, about an inch deep and a mile wide, which is useless. Because the market needs core competencies, making the division of labor in society more precise and detailed.

If you can do one thing exceptionally well, you are very capable. However, many people become frustrated when they lack this core competency. Without a core competency, you are promoting an empty shell. You cannot just sell a box without a phone inside, because that is useless.

Therefore, today, we must know what our core competency is. A brother once told me that he was going to pursue a master's degree. I told him that packaging himself would be good. But the question is, if we use the time spent on a master's degree to build our core competency, which would be better? I believe that having a core competency is extremely important.

Chinese society is shifting from an era dominated by diplomas to one focused on core competencies. You must have skills. If you lack genuine abilities and rely only on bluffing, you will not last long in any job. Therefore, you must present your core competency. To build your core competency, you must understand the market. If you do not know the market's needs and build your core competency haphazardly, you are likely to be eliminated by the market.

Fifth Point: Know Yourself, Know the Market Needs

We must understand that everything is driven by the market. A society driven primarily by the market is a market economy. The difference between a market economy and a planned economy is that a market economy is driven by market demand. Without market demand, there is no business. Therefore, recognizing market demand is a crucial component.

Know yourself, recognize market needs, and you will know where to develop and what core competencies to equip yourself with. Then, promote your core competencies. Know how to clearly describe your core competencies, and that is promotion. In terms of market demand for core competencies, I believe it is essential to conduct market research, read widely, and learn as much as possible.

For example, if you read the book "Industry 4.0," you will know that many industries will gradually disappear in the coming years. If this is true, then we must be careful not to jump into the ranks of those being eliminated by the market. This is called structural unemployment.

Know yourself, recognize market needs, and constantly adjust. Therefore, I sometimes feel that people must have a long-term vision. A famous person once said, "If I want to look at the next few years, I must first look at the next 30 to 50 years. Only by seeing the market situation 30 to 50 years from now can you plan for the next three to five years."

Then, based on these three- to five-year plans, adjust your plans for the next month, two months, or even three months. Know what kind of material you are made of, what you can do, and what you cannot do. Know what level you have reached, what your strengths are, and what your weaknesses are. Then, recognize market needs, which is very important.

I once ministered to a girl who was already twenty-seven or twenty-eight but could be said to have achieved nothing. Under the guidance of a traditional church, she studied theology for half a year, but she accomplished nothing. Then, I bluntly pointed out her most painful areas. Although she knew I was right, she could not accept it.

Later, she went to a first-tier city to sell insurance. Did she really understand what the insurance industry is? Did she really know herself? Did she really understand the market's needs? She did not. She neither knew herself nor understood the market's needs.

For example, in the insurance industry, let me tell you how a veteran operates. If you do not have enough savings to support yourself for one to two years, do not sell insurance. But many people borrow money to sell insurance, which is suicidal. Today, unless I say, "Believe that you have received it, and you will receive it," may miracles happen to such children. But the problem is that faith is important, but faith does not mean we should deny ourselves.

Point 6: Learn to Speak the Language of Salesmanship

If a business is not doing well, it barely manages to stay afloat. Therefore, knowing oneself and understanding market demands are key to selling oneself. How you respond to questions asked is essentially addressing the needs of the market and what you possess that can satisfy those needs. Even if you embellish a bit, it must be credible; you cannot fabricate an unreliable story.

Learn to speak, to use the language of salesmanship. Every industry has its own way of speaking. Diplomats have diplomatic language; salespeople have their sales pitches; selling oneself has its own linguistic patterns. Cultivate the habit of speaking effectively. So today, brothers and sisters, let us begin to understand how to speak, what kind of words to use. Simply asking if someone has eaten or had a drink is not the language of self-promotion.

The language of self-promotion must be precise. It has a unique characteristic: it always revolves around the same core. What skills do you have, what problems can you solve, what value can you create, and what market needs can you meet?

I once taught people how to handle job interviews. If the interviewer asks an unrelated question, like what book you are currently reading, and you answer with "Water Margin" or "Legend of the White Snake," they are likely not interested. You must learn to speak effectively. How should you respond? You should say, "I am currently researching..." If you are applying for a job in online marketing, you should be researching online marketing. "I even wrote a short article summarizing the key aspects of online marketing." Then, you take out a printed copy of your summary from your pocket.

If you have written a short book, say twenty or thirty pages, on "How to Do Online Marketing," and printed it out, that is the language of salesmanship. Recruiters do not have time to discuss your reading of "Water Margin." You need to write your own story. You need to explain what you can do for them. So, what seems like an unrelated question is actually very relevant. Why? Because you must learn to speak pertinently.

Whether I am serving as a pastor or working as an entrepreneur, I cannot claim to be exceptionally good at self-promotion, but I believe I do a decent job. If I were to seek a pastoral position in an English-speaking country, I think it would not be too difficult.

For example, during a recent conversation with my pastor in Singapore, I promoted myself quite effectively. What did I promote? I promoted the books I have written. I mentioned that I have written over thirty books, and I presented him with one. After looking at it, I highlighted a few key elements: church building, my research findings, or a biblical insight, some revelation. A few words impressed him.

I was scheduled to leave the country the next day, but he insisted that I meet with one of his subordinates that day to provide some training. Why? Because I had successfully promoted myself. He believed I had genuine talent and ability. Whether one is truly capable is one thing, but even a capable person who cannot articulate their abilities will fail to promote themselves. Therefore, you must learn to speak, to get to the point.

If you are facing an investor, speak the language of investment. The language of investment involves your industry, whether the industry is on the rise, your business model, your profit model, and your team. This is the language to use when speaking with investors. You need to understand the language of each industry. You do not need to understand what is completely irrelevant to you, but you must understand what is relevant. You really need to align yourself, you need to learn to speak, and avoid saying irrelevant things.

For example, if an investor asks me what I am currently reading, I would say "The Game of Capital." Why? Because you are speaking with an investor. If you are speaking with a novelist, what are you doing? What book are you currently reading? "Recently, I have been reading about how to write novels." What if you have not read anything? Then read something.

But if you have not read anything, what can you talk about? "I have heard that this book is very good, but I have not had time to read it." That is also acceptable. I think everyone should cultivate this habit, to equip themselves to be useful members of society, to be good citizens.

We Must Equip Ourselves to Become Talents in This Society

I think we should do what we can do and avoid doing what we cannot do. As for systemic issues or institutional problems, those are for others to manage. Let us be good citizens, equip ourselves well, learn to speak effectively, and promote ourselves well. You might say that the social environment is not conducive, but I think the environment in China is quite good. Is there a problem with the environment in China? There are problems everywhere. Do not be misled by these things.

Look at the amount of chaos and negativity in foreign countries! Many people are pessimistic about China, but I am confident that the next twenty years will be the twenty years in which China becomes a strong and developed nation. China will become one of the leading powers in the world. You must focus on the big picture. Are there problems? Yes.

Your task is to equip yourself to become a talent in this society. This society needs many stabilizing factors. We must become stabilizing factors in this society. As Christians, we pray, but we do not cause trouble. We focus our energy and abilities on doing the right things, learning to speak, learning the language of self-promotion, and learning to equip ourselves.

Point 7: Equip Yourself Quickly in Ordinary Times, and Improve Your Knowledge, Skills, and Experience

I watched a video of an old farmer sitting on a bench in a park. He was not a mayor, a Party secretary, a county head, or a county Party secretary. He was just sitting on a bench, and the video was quite long. He was pontificating about how this should be done and how that should be done. I tell you, that kind of person is just talking nonsense, not taking the time to equip themselves properly.

England has a place called Hyde Park, where people can say whatever they want. Singapore has also created such a corner where you can say whatever you want.

I think if you have time, equip yourself quickly, and improve your knowledge, skills, and experience. What is experience? It is what you gain after using your knowledge and skills to solve problems. It is the result of solving problems.

What is a skill? It is having a certain knowledge and then creating something with it. It is being able to operate something. What is knowledge? Knowledge is something from books that you put in your head after reading it. You do not know if it is practical or not. So, equip yourself quickly. If you have the opportunity, equip yourself with experience; if not, equip yourself with skills.

But knowledge is, at best, just understanding. If you do not have experience in that area, if you do not have the skills, if you have not been in the market, if you have not done that work, you cannot do it. You can still promote yourself by talking about knowledge.

There was a young man who studied computers and engineering. Later, he wanted to find a job in marketing. I told him to read Philip Kotler's "Marketing Management." It has about twenty chapters, including one on direct sales and online marketing. He read the first two chapters and gained some knowledge of marketing.

Then he went to an interview and got the job. Why? Because he knew how to speak. How do people measure you? Some people who conduct interviews are not very good at it themselves and cannot tell the difference. It sounds reasonable, but is there anything unreasonable in a book?

So, equipping yourself quickly allows you to continuously improve your knowledge, skills, and experience. Perhaps you can seize one opportunity, or two. So today, I want our brothers and sisters to begin to learn how to learn. Once you know the market demands and your own situation, you can begin to equip yourself with knowledge, then set up some topics, research certain topics, and begin to improve your skills.

If you have the opportunity, you can gain some practical experience. Today, with computers and the internet, this era has truly changed. For example, circuit design can be done on a computer, and it looks almost the same as soldering. So today, there is too much knowledge and too many skills. There is also NetEase Cloud Classroom. Even if you have never seen something, you can watch many videos and become quite proficient. You will know how things work.

Successfully Promote Yourself and Find a Job That Suits You

Some time ago, I took everyone to my office. We were renovating, and we had to sand and paint the wood. We watched some videos, listened to the master craftsman, and did a pretty good job. That is called painting experience. In other words, it was difficult in the past, but today you can equip yourself very quickly with practical experience. For example, to write a program, all you need is a computer, right? To do a live broadcast, all you need is a computer and a camera, right? Many things today can be called the era of rapid self-equipment. If you say you have no experience, no skills, no knowledge, then what are you selling? Right?

So today, you need to start knowing what skills you have, what knowledge you have, and what experience you have. When you go out to promote yourself, you can reintegrate these things and turn yourself into something valuable. That is how a person's value is realized. Without promotion, there is no value. I think successfully promoting yourself will lead to finding a very good job. To summarize, if you want to successfully promote yourself, follow the steps I mentioned earlier. Are there any limitations in this process? Yes, there are. For example, if you are a doctor and have never performed surgery, that is quite difficult. I once saw a movie, a Korean drama, about training people to perform surgery. How did they train? They used a lot of fish bladders and had people cut them. You could not cut the surrounding tissue, but you could not break the fish bladder. If you broke the fish bladder, you failed the exam.

So, to successfully promote yourself, I think you should find something that suits you. Some things must be trained in a very limited environment, such as doctors. I would not teach people to do that. So today, there are many things that our brothers and sisters can do and many things they can choose. Making a living is almost not a problem today. In other words, if you are willing to work hard, willing to learn, willing to figure things out, and learn to promote yourself, you will be very successful. I think the road to self-promotion also requires constantly accumulating experience. If you have the opportunity, go out and promote yourself. Even if you are already working, occasionally send out a resume and go for an interview to see what the market is like. That is also good. So today, I want to share with you up to this point. Next, let us see how God blesses you.

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