The asset management firm in Yeouido had twelve employees.
The office was on the twelfth floor of a building. It was higher up than the securities firm in Euljiro, but smaller in size. CEO Lee Jae-won was a man over fifty. His hair was half gray, he wore no tie, and he hadn't looked at Seo-ah's résumé during her interview.
"I heard Jung Min-hyuk sent you."
"Yes."
"It's the first time Min-hyuk's ever sent someone. He isn't the kind of person who likes people."
Seo-ah said nothing.
"Ms. Han Seo-ah, this is a small company. We don't have the kind of system a major asset management firm has. Here, one person has to do research, manage portfolios, and meet with clients. Can you handle that?"
"I haven't done it before. But I'll learn."
"How long do you think it'll take you to learn?"
"Three months."
Lee Jae-won laughed.
"Three months. Good. I'll give you three months."
Seo-ah did it within three months.
She already knew how to do research. Portfolio management was new to her. Portfolio construction, risk management, rebalancing. Every night, Seo-ah read textbooks, analyzed Lee Jae-won's past portfolio-management records, and ran simulations.
Client meetings were the hardest. Seo-ah didn't talk much. Clients liked people who talked a lot—people who confidently discussed the market outlook, promised returns, and put them at ease.
Seo-ah didn't do that.
At her first client meeting, Seo-ah said,
"I can't promise you returns. Instead, I'll show you how to control losses."
The client tilted his head.
"Control losses?"
"The market can't be predicted. But losses can be designed. I'll set a maximum loss limit and create a structure that pursues returns within it."
The client was skeptical. But Seo-ah's eyes were serious. Seo-ah wasn't someone who promised returns. She was someone who prevented losses. That was her way.
People destroyed by money understand the dangers of money. Seo-ah looked at losses before returns. That was the instinct of someone who had come from the bottom.
A year passed.
The fund Seo-ah managed ranked among the top ten percent in the industry by returns. It wasn't flashy. But its losses were small during down markets. When the market fell, Seo-ah's fund held firm. Her clients noticed.
"Assistant Manager Han, everything else is dropping. How are things okay here?"
"Because we managed risk first."
Seo-ah's clients increased. It spread by word of mouth. Not flashy returns, but management that didn't lose. People who had experienced the bottom sought Seo-ah out. Anyone who had lost once knew how frightening it was to lose again. Seo-ah knew it too.
Lee Jae-won called Seo-ah in.
"Ms. Han Seo-ah, have you ever thought about going independent?"
Seo-ah looked at Lee Jae-won.
"Going independent?"
"I'm saying you should create a fund of your own. You can keep working here if you want, but you're not someone who belongs under another person's roof."
Seo-ah was silent for a moment.
"I don't have the capital."
"I can put in the seed capital. You'll have to raise the rest yourself."
"Why are you helping me?"
Lee Jae-won looked out the window. The buildings of Yeouido shimmered in the afternoon sunlight.
"I started at the bottom too. No one helped me. So I decided to help someone else. But there's one condition."
"What is it?"
"When you succeed, help the next person."
Seo-ah nodded.
Seo-ah founded her own investment firm. She was twenty-five.
The office was on the eighth floor of a small building in Yeouido. Seo-ah was the only employee. She started with the 500 million won in seed capital Lee Jae-won provided and the 30 million won she had saved herself.
She had to choose a company name. Seo-ah didn't take long to decide.
'Zero Capital.'
It meant starting from zero. It was Seo-ah's life itself.
In the first month, she had three clients. They had followed Seo-ah since her days in Euljiro. Her assets under management hadn't reached 2 billion won. In the industry, it was a speck of dust.
Seo-ah started with a speck of dust. She was used to specks of dust.
She went to work at five every morning. She checked the overseas markets, reviewed the portfolio, wrote research reports, and called her clients. Triangle kimbap from a convenience store for lunch. Cup noodles for dinner. Seo-ah's daily living expenses were still 3,000 won.
When she got home at night, her younger sibling was working on a college assignment. Her sibling went to college with the money Seo-ah earned. Her sibling went to places Seo-ah hadn't been able to go. Seo-ah was glad. At least her sibling didn't have to live like she had.
Her grandmother asked,
"Seo-ah, when do you ever rest?"
"Grandma, I'm okay."
Okay. The language of this house. Seo-ah smiled. Her grandmother smiled too. Both of them knew neither of them was okay.
[Coaching Insight]
Within someone else's system, you have to follow someone else's rules. Your achievements are recorded under someone else's name, and your efforts become someone else's reward.
The Unbreakable System is a structure that operates according to your own rules.
Seo-ah left the organization and founded a company under her own name. She had no capital. She had no clients. But she had a system. A structure that controlled losses first and pursued returns within those limits.
What is your Unbreakable System? Build a structure that turns labor into an asset. Something that keeps working even when you aren't. That's a system. Without one, you'll have to sell your labor forever. With one, labor becomes an asset.