Entrepreneurship
looks glamorous for those who are not in it, but aspire for it. But
the realities are far more excruciating than one can imagine. The
`security` of a job is incredibly comforting, but the `excitement of
uncertainty` is what defines entrepreneurship.
July
1, 2009, was the first day of my life when I got up hoping I will
never have to work for anyone again. A great friend from Delhi called
that morning to wish me the best and said I had opened up a world of
unlimited possibilities by my decision to walk out of a well-paying
career. His words have stayed with me and continue to inspire
me.
The last eight years have been eventful to say the least. I stepped into business with a strong employee-oriented competency with very little understanding of how to sell yourself in the marketplace. Years of practice had made me, like so many others, adept at selling myself at interviews. But soon enough I realised selling yourself at the marketplace was a different ball game altogether.
Business looks great when you are `settled` in it and people are craving for your products. But even the most established entrepreneur will tell you that as a businessman you never feel settled. There is always the uncertainty of the marketplace that stares at your face from time to time. In these eight years, the greatest shift I had to bring within myself was to `become` an entrepreneur and shed the employee mindset.
I was always a reluctant employee. Though committed to the core, I never liked people telling me what I should do. I always wanted to be my own Boss. The only reason I survived in a career for about fifteen years was because from time to time I was blessed with great Bosses and mentors. They ensured I had the space to operate. Space is something I have always craved for. From time to time of course I also encountered seniors who gave the entrepreneurial instinct within me a stronger nudge with their not-so-good behaviours. Yet, I learnt a lot from them too and am grateful for that.
Many people ask me how it feels to be an entrepreneur and some even admire me for my `success`. Eight years on, they feel I have survived the onslaught and stuck it out. Some even want `advise` on how they too can leave their jobs and become `free`. I have always shied away from advising people on entrepreneurship for I truly believe I am still finding myself in the journey. I believe my path is unique. I want to create something which will have my stamp on it. I am fairly stubborn about my desire to create rather than merely tag myself along with an established model or certification to ensure money making is easy. Yes, money is very important – I have never understood its importance as much as I have in the last eight years – but I want to create an organisation of my dreams rather than merely make it a profit-centric model.
The last eight years have been eventful to say the least. I stepped into business with a strong employee-oriented competency with very little understanding of how to sell yourself in the marketplace. Years of practice had made me, like so many others, adept at selling myself at interviews. But soon enough I realised selling yourself at the marketplace was a different ball game altogether.
Business looks great when you are `settled` in it and people are craving for your products. But even the most established entrepreneur will tell you that as a businessman you never feel settled. There is always the uncertainty of the marketplace that stares at your face from time to time. In these eight years, the greatest shift I had to bring within myself was to `become` an entrepreneur and shed the employee mindset.
I was always a reluctant employee. Though committed to the core, I never liked people telling me what I should do. I always wanted to be my own Boss. The only reason I survived in a career for about fifteen years was because from time to time I was blessed with great Bosses and mentors. They ensured I had the space to operate. Space is something I have always craved for. From time to time of course I also encountered seniors who gave the entrepreneurial instinct within me a stronger nudge with their not-so-good behaviours. Yet, I learnt a lot from them too and am grateful for that.
Many people ask me how it feels to be an entrepreneur and some even admire me for my `success`. Eight years on, they feel I have survived the onslaught and stuck it out. Some even want `advise` on how they too can leave their jobs and become `free`. I have always shied away from advising people on entrepreneurship for I truly believe I am still finding myself in the journey. I believe my path is unique. I want to create something which will have my stamp on it. I am fairly stubborn about my desire to create rather than merely tag myself along with an established model or certification to ensure money making is easy. Yes, money is very important – I have never understood its importance as much as I have in the last eight years – but I want to create an organisation of my dreams rather than merely make it a profit-centric model.
The
only advise I have for people who want to quit their career and be
on their own is never leave your job for the wrong reasons. Never
leave because you cannot put up with your Boss, company or work
pressure. Such people soon go back to a job because they never
wanted to be an entrepreneur, they just wanted to quit their job.
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For me, entrepreneurship has been my life's most amazing and adventurous journey. It has been a roller-coaster ride. The freedom from a closed and structured environment has allowed me to express my youthfulness like never before. Today, I write, sing, speak, train and strategise with gay abandon. For me, the adage I learnt in school `success is a journey, not a destination` has come alive in the last eight years. The excitement of having the space to do what you want is incredibly exciting.
Besides creating an entrepreneurship-aligned mindset, the most important area of development for me has been skills. Entrepreneurship requires varied skills, the most important being selling and people management. Given my upbringing, I was never going to be a natural entrepreneur. But I realised I had four critical qualities required to be an entrepreneur:
1. Sense of purpose
2. Risk-taking ability
3. Love for freedom
4. Persistence
I love what Steve Jobs said: “I'm convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance. Unless you have a lot of passion about this, you're not going to survive. You're going to give it up. So you've got to have an idea, or a problem or a wrong that you want to right that you're passionate about; otherwise, you're not going to have the perseverance to stick it through.”
Entrepreneurship looks glamorous for those who are not in it, but aspire for it. But the realities are far more excruciating than one can imagine. The `security` of a job is incredibly comforting, but the `excitement of uncertainty` is what defines entrepreneurship. Employment and entreprenuership are two different paradigms. Both are great if you are excited about the space you are in.
I
admire a lot of wonderful employees who are focused on what they
want and are clear business is not their space. I also find
entrepreneurs struggling to cope, but do not have the temperament
to be in a job. They lack the discipline to be an entrepreneur and
the temperament to be an employee. They are neither here nor
there.
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If success is measured in terms of money, you can be a rich employee and also a poor entrepreneur. Just being an entrepreneur doesn't make anyone rich. It is a process and at times an excruciatingly long one. You make far more mistakes as an entrepreneur than as an employee. Ability to deal with failures and one's own limitations is an extremely critical quality to be a successful entrepreneur.
My ex-Boss once told me that entrepreneurship is a ten-year game. I have completed eight. The journey and learnings continue with just one guarantee – the excitement of discovering the precious gems in this world is everlasting.
