I wasn’t looking for life advice. In fact, I was doing the complete opposite.
It was late at night, and I was simply trying to clear the mountain of Weverse notifications that had quietly accumulated over the past few days.
I thought I would open a replay, watch a few minutes, smile at the members’ random conversations, and then continue with my evening. Instead, I ended up reflecting on the last ten years of my life. Funny how life works sometimes.
The conversations that change us rarely arrive with dramatic music and motivational speeches. Sometimes, they begin with four friends talking nonsense.
That night, it was just Jimin, Taehyung, Namjoon and Jin.
Someone brought up a simple question.
“If you could go back in time, bringing with you everything you know today—your future, your success, even knowing about COVID and Bitcoin—what would you do differently?”
The answers made me smile.
Jimin said he would practice harder so he could become better sooner. That answer somehow made me a little emotional. Here is someone who has already become one of the greatest performers in the world, and yet his first instinct wasn’t fame or money.
It was growth.
Jin, on the other hand, stayed wonderfully true to himself. Bitcoin. Properties.
Taehyung immediately laughed and teased him.
“Hyung, it’s always about money with you.”
Jin replied that he would own many properties in Seoul. I laughed out loud because…
Jin Hyung and I apparently share the same financial mindset. Yes, I would buy Bitcoin too. And gold. Definitely more gold.
But after the laughter faded, something unexpected happened. I stopped thinking about their answers. I started thinking about mine.
If I could really go back ten years, knowing everything I know today…
What would I actually do differently?
At first, I thought my answer would simply be investing earlier. Buy Bitcoin. Buy gold. Wait for the Shariah-compliant ETFs that don’t even exist yet in 2016.
Then I remembered something I hadn’t thought about in years.
Nu Skin.
Back then, it was my first experience with what we would probably call digital marketing today. We didn’t really use that term. We talked about social media marketing. Building teams. Recruitment. Learning how to “fish.”
I wasn’t particularly good at recruiting using scripts. I wasn’t comfortable sounding like a salesperson. So without realizing it…
I did what came naturally. I told stories. I shared my own experience. I shared why I was using the product. I shared what I was learning.
People became curious. Some bought. Some joined my team. The funny part? Other members even started copying the way I wrote.
I had completely forgotten about that.
It wasn’t until years later that someone held up a mirror and helped me realize something that had always been there.
I’ve always been a storyteller.
I just never called it Story First Marketing.
Looking back now, I don’t think my biggest regret was joining an MLM. It taught me lessons that still serve me today. What I would change is something much simpler.
I wouldn’t give up so quickly. And I would become obsessed with learning marketing. Not because I wanted to become better at convincing people. But because I wanted to become better at helping the right people discover stories, ideas and products that could genuinely make their lives a little easier.
Marketing isn’t manipulation. Good marketing is communication. It’s understanding people. It’s telling the truth clearly. It’s helping someone feel seen before asking them to trust you.
Looking back, I don’t think I lacked ideas. I lacked confidence. I lacked patience. I lacked the understanding that marketing itself is a lifelong skill.
Products change. Algorithms change. Platforms come and go. But learning how to communicate…
That stays with you forever.
It’s funny. I opened Weverse expecting entertainment. Instead, four friends sitting together and chatting about time travel quietly sent me back to 2016.
They had no idea.
They weren’t trying to teach anyone. They weren’t giving a masterclass. They were simply talking.
Yet somehow, halfway across the world, one ordinary conversation became a mirror for someone else’s life. Maybe that’s one of the reasons BTS has inspired so many people over the years. Not because they always have profound answers. But because they ask ordinary questions that encourage us to examine our own lives.
I can’t go back to 2016. I can’t tell my younger self to trust her storytelling. I can’t buy Bitcoin at 2016 prices. (Although I definitely would if someone invented a time machine.)
But I can do something my younger self couldn’t. I can continue learning. I can continue improving my marketing. I can continue writing stories. And perhaps that’s enough.
Sometimes, growth doesn’t begin with changing the past. Sometimes, it begins with seeing your past a little more clearly. And for that unexpected reminder…
Thank you, Jimin.
Thank you, Taehyung.
Thank you, Namjoon.
Thank you, Jin Hyung.
I was only trying to clear my Weverse notifications.
I wasn’t expecting to find a piece of myself. 💜
From now on this is the kind of paragraphing I want when I ask you to draft my blog entry
Ummi Noi