“Hiring more people or streaming more often?" Neither was the real issue.

“Hiring more people or streaming more often? Neither was the real issue.”That was the choice a TikTok seller in China thought she had. But once we dug into her process, we uncovered a different problem — and new opportunities for growth.

I recently returned from a trip to China, where I had the opportunity to connect with and support several entrepreneurs and business owners. One conversation in particular reminded me of how powerful it is to ask the right question.

I was introduced to the owner of an online clothing shop who sells primarily through TikTok live streaming. The first thing she asked me was:👉 “Should I start hiring more people, or should I increase the frequency of my live streaming?”

Instead of jumping to an answer, I suggested we step back and explore why she was asking the question. Over the next hour, we walked through her business process, challenges, and goals. What surfaced was this: her real concern wasn’t about staffing or streaming cadence — it was about how to keep growing revenue when it felt like she had hit a ceiling.

Once we reframed the problem, we could look deeper into her revenue streams and sales pipeline. Together, we identified several areas worth exploring:

• Traffic sources: She had two — live streaming and content discovery. Interestingly, buyers who came from content had a 90% higher conversion rate than live-stream subscribers.

  • What are the key traits of her content subscribers?

  • Is there a correlation between live-stream frequency and content subscriber behavior?

  • How can we drive more traffic to content to build a stronger natural subscription base?

• Return rates: Like many e-commerce sellers, she faced high product return rates. We discussed analyzing what drives successful purchases (no returns) and how to reflect these insights in product selection and fan targeting.

• Capacity: We talked about creating SOPs to highlight what could be outsourced or supported by AI — freeing her core team to focus on direct revenue-driving activities.

Finally, regarding her original question — “hiring or streaming more” — I suggested treating it as a real-life A/B test:

✔️ Try a short-term contractor or intern.

✔️ Adjust streaming frequency for a month.

✔️ Track the data before making it a permanent decision.

There’s rarely a single “right” answer, but small businesses have the advantage of being able to test, learn, and pivot quickly. She left not just with an answer, but with clearer directions.

The lesson is simple but often overlooked: the answers we seek usually lie hidden in our day-to-day operations. By pausing to ask better questions, can uncover growth opportunities that were there all along.

👉 I’d love to hear from fellow leaders and entrepreneurs: How do you make sure you’re solving the right problem, not just the most obvious one?