I have always tried to bring creativity to my work and my father has been a huge inspiration in this regard. He runs a logistics company in Southern China. When China first opened its door to foreign markets, businesses were not standardized which led to all sorts of inefficiencies. For instance, while delivering TVs to a tower bloc with my father’s company, it became clear that the building’s corridors were too small for the large cargo to pass. He immediately rented three construction ladder trucks to transport the cargos through the windows. Examples like this earned him the nickname, “the magic man in logistics”. His company grew with his reputation, from a team of 30 to a company of 500 staff. My father’s commitment to his work and ability to solve problems creatively have profoundly inspired me.
Alongside my professional work, I have been a practicing magician since the age of eight. The first major experience in this field was a magic show, which lasted 90 minutes and generated over $22,000 sales revenue. All tickets sales were donated to a local philanthropic organization. After confirming my first 500 ticket sales, I sent out a survey to get input from my audience about how to design the show better. I analyzed data from the survey feedback and discovered that the most attractive feature of events like these, besides the magic itself, is the feeling of camaraderie created between those attending. I decided that the show would be more family and group-oriented to attract a larger audience. In order to boost ticket sales, I mailed attendees a personalized wristband to use as their ticket. Indeed, I put a small magic prop in the box, which requires two people to play interactively. The moment attendees received the wrist band, they started sharing their excitement and the magic trick on social media and in their social circles. My personalized giftbox helped to generate affinity between attendees and the idea doubled the ticket sales: 2000 people attended in the end. From the post-event survey data, it became clear that half of the final audience were the friends or family of the initial early-bird ticket buyers.
During the show, I invited an audience member to the stage and asked her to select a word at random from a list. I then asked all people in the crowd to raise their wristbands. Under the laser light – and to great excitement – everyone could see the word “relate” (the word the girl had chosen) on their wristbands. This promotion experience showed me how insights generated by data analytics can be used to improve event sales.
Alongside with magic, combining analytical skill with a fresh, international perspective, I hope to help businesses thrive. The business analyst career path – which I aim to follow – requires diverse and adaptable skill sets. I seek to develop these skills and to make positive contributions in this field. Combining analytical skills with a fresh, international perspective, I hope to help businesses thrive as I have managed with my magic tricks.
That drove me to become a business student at Duke University, where I discovered how effective analytics can reveal effective and innovative ways of increasing business capacity and building a client base. In the data-driven era, many of the best marketing strategies involve employing creative – and previously unimaginable – strategies for targeting customers.
Yi Shu 