Outlast the rest: 5 entrepreneurship lessons to take away from Netflix’s Single’s Inferno

As we binged watched Netflix reality tv hit Single’s Inferno and “set fire” to the decisions made by the various contestants on the show, some can’t help but notice that more than one-third of the contestants are entrepreneurs. 

We also note that some of these entrepreneurs seem to stand out or exude an “aura” that’s different from the rest.

Is it confidence, or is there something else about them?

For those who haven’t watched Single’s Inferno, it’s a relatively new dating series that made it onto Netflix’s Top 10 TV Shows chart. The show requires them to compete and attract the attention of their preferred match, while living on an island with basic necessities.

Contestants that get a match for each competition will be able to spend a night in Paradise – which is an ultra-luxurious hotel – to understand their dates better. At the end of the game, the couples that choose each other will be the winners.

Romance aside, this show is basically a social experiment to see how different characters can survive on an island and how they use their charms and wit to win.

Looking at the behaviour and attitudes of the contestants, we derived five lessons the entrepreneurs can teach us about achieving our goals or “win” in life.

But first, a short introduction on the (main) entrepreneurs on Single’s Inferno (spoiler alert):

Kang So Yeon – She runs Hit Fit boxing gym and athleisure firm GoodRound, and is in her mid-thirties.

Moon Se Hoon – He is a restaurant owner of Only Go, in Gangnam, Seoul, and is in his late-twenties.

Oh Jin Taek – He is the owner of a menswear brand Ascottage, and is 30-years-old.

Choi Si Hun – He is running his Seoul-based fashion brand, Hoten, and is 30-years-old.

Never give up

We all know that one guy that followed Se Hoon’s behaviour – of not accepting rejection even though his dream girl rejected him many times. Netizens cringed at the behaviour, with many calling him out for being so persistent.

Some viewers shared that they even had flashbacks about their own cringey selves doing the same thing and turning their crush off in the past. Se Hoon had to go through a period of tormented feelings for most of the episodes when he got rejected again, and again.

But at the end, the moral of the story seems to show us that people can be convinced of trying out something if one is sincere enough, but not stalker crazy.

When Se Hoon won a contest and could choose a girl to go to Paradise with, most people thought he would change tactics and go for the “low hanging fruits” – two new girls who appeared in the competition and were interested in him.

However, his “never say die” mindset made him go for the riskiest choice. He selected the very person that had been rejecting him multiple times, despite the battle wounds – Shin Ji Yeon.

Even though everyone said he would fail, his persistence won him the battle. In the end, he emerged as a winner as he got the girl. The time spent at Paradise with Ji Yeon helped her open up to him and accept him as a suitor.

Work hard first, rewards later

During the competitions on the island, most of the entrepreneurs were observed to give their all. Not wanting to lose, they ousted their competitors so that they could win a chance to stay in Paradise.

For example, in one competition, Se Hoon outsmarted other strong competitors to win in a tussling match. This placed him first and allowed him to choose who he wanted to go to Paradise with.

The hard work helped him score a chance and show her his qualities – him being a restaurant owner and a nice guy rolled into one.

The time spent together at Paradise helped him “get the girl”. In a tearful scene, Ji Yeon apologised for her constant rejection and even ended up accepting him on the last day of the contest.

Stay focused on your goals

Jin Taek and his manly demeanor and an immaculate dress sense made him attractive to more than one girl on the island upon his arrival. Even though he wanted to stay focused on his flame So Yeon for the whole time, he got really distracted when he won a contest and got posted to Paradise with contestant Ji Yeon.

When he was at Paradise with Ji Yeon, he did not show his commitment to So Yeon (the viewers could see for themselves) as he gave ambiguous answers on his interest in So Yeon when asked and also mildly flirted with Ji Yeon.

This left him almost off track when he returned to Inferno island as So Yeon ended up being confused with his mixed messages and contemplated dropping him for other contestants. Fortunately for him, he managed to come around quickly after So Yeon sat him down and had a hard talk asking him why he was showing attention to other girls.

Jin Taek managed to keep his focus and won the “dating survival” game in the end, leaving the island with So Yeon.

Take the initiative

So Yeon didn’t make a firm decision on who she wanted to stick with at the start and was assessing interested parties and gauging their interest without committing.

This caused a misunderstanding between her and Jin Taek, who thought that she cares about everyone and did not make him feel special.

When So Yeon took the initiative and made bold moves to show Jin Taek her interest, like pecking him on the cheek once at Paradise and sharing a bed. These bold moves – despite the conservative culture in Korea – helped her convince the guy that she was interested and dispelled the confusion and mixed signals he thought he was getting.

If she had continued to be unclear about what she wanted, and didn’t take action to secure her match, she would have likely lost Jin Taek and would could have ended up alone.

Don’t expect things to be handed to you

One example to not follow is to mope around like Si Hun when rejected. When he was refused by his crush Song Ji-a, he didn’t take the time to improve himself or to consider if he should try spending time with other people to increase his chances of finding a new match.

He hid in his tent and took naps for the rest of the show while other contestants went out of their way trying to find a suitable partner. Si Hun also did not put in much effort during the various challenges and was often last in the games.

This lack of effort and interest in participating in group sessions and talking to people just made him look plain lazy. He seemed to show was that he was feeling sorry for himself, and in his private interviews he just kept talking about how “sian” he was about the situation, but no real effort was made to turn the situation around.

In the final episode of the show when he went to choose Ji-a, it felt like he was just expecting to get a yes from her even though he didn’t really do much to win her over. For the entire show he just looked like a sulky child who didn’t want to work hard to solve his problems.

The “winner” mindset

According to entrepreneur.com, some traits that create a recipe for success in an entrepreneur include having the ability to maintain a positive attitude, having resilience and tenacity, being persuasive, and being self-motivated.

It’s obvious that most of the entrepreneurs in Single’s Inferno think differently and employ their drive and ambitious work strategies on romance too.

As the saying goes, half the battle is won in the mind, and taking a leaf from these entrepreneurs’ books teaches us to have a winning mindset to achieve our goals and dreams, be it in love or work.

Another thing’s for sure, is that it’s certainly handy to have such people around if we are stuck on an island. They take on the tough roles of cooking, leadership, and planning without hesitation, and their “winner” mindset helps to solve team problems.

Falling in love, well, will be the cherry on the cake.

Featured Image Credit: Netflix, koreajoongangdaily, cheatsheet, realitytitbit