How I Made 750K in 100 Days With a Writing Cashback Challenge
To sum it up:
Tapping into human laziness and the need for accountability, the idea is to build a community-driven peer supervision model that drives paid participation. (After all, everyone wants to believe they can stick with something—and that persistence alone will lead to success.)
This is essentially the same business model as selling gym memberships, except instead of fitness, it’s about habit tracking, implemented via a knowledge-sharing platform (WeChat groups work just as well).
The numbers: an estimated 1 million RMB in profit over three years, a 40% profit margin, and a WeChat Official Account following of 250,000.
That means 40% of people fail to keep their check-ins, and another 40% simply can’t stick with it. Still, with such a healthy gross margin—especially running this online without the cost of physical space, with only your own time and labor as expenses—it’s a solid model.
What’s more, word of mouth is good. If you can’t keep up, that’s on you, and the refund policy is clear upfront: if you don’t persist, you get your money back in full.
A similar internet product—or even a WeChat Mini Program paired with community and Official Account check-in reminders—could evolve into a tool-based paid service. Anything worth consistently doing could be packaged this way. Given how many people are online, there’s surely room for opportunity.
Downsides of using a knowledge-sharing platform: if there’s a problem with published content, it might not display properly, leading to calculation errors and eventual disputes. Also, individual income tax sits at around 20%, whereas a sole proprietorship might only pay 6%.
Further reading: Special feature: How to start a company as an individual? What should individuals watch out for?