Start a BUSINESS - Thinking / Afraid?Don't be..

It is not easy…

Most people keep speaking of ideas and aspirations, but only very few ever step out to venture them. Fear of losing obviously grips all.

“You had a good job. You should not have risked it”. The most common remark. Or “make money first, settle down and then make the move”.

Well, a life time is lost in making money to survive let alone venturing an idea.

Who does not want to be rich and famous? But if you read the stories of all who made it big, all had to take those vulnerable decisions. What is the probability of winning or losing? Well there are no facts and figures. We only get to read about all who succeeded, thru Inspirational forwards

On hind sight we get to feel that these days it is better to hold on to the current job as we keep hearing a lot about companies closing down, non-payment of salaries etc. But these circumstances were always there every year in my 27 years of experience. Never had even one year where the company or the customer has said – “It is the best time ever, we make good profits”.

It has always been about cost reductions and poor profits.

One of the common understandings is that we need big money to start a business. This is not fully untrue. But just money alone cannot take us far. There are probabilities of losing by investing millions into a business without knowing about the business. 

However, on the other hand if a person is highly well versed and has studied the business idea in detail and can make a fool proof plan, then in all probability the money will come through banks and investors.

I had a colleague few years ago who badly wanted to start a business of his own. He was tired of working and wanted to have his freedom to do what he loves to do. 

He was always excited to own his own coffee shop, but he too feared failure. During his vacation time he studied all the pros and cons of the business, found a location etc. to start. But still he was not confident.

There was something he did that amazed me and today he is a successful Entrepreneur, a proud owner of 3 coffee shops.

In- order to get rid of the fear of losing, he quit his job and joined as a waiter in a small coffee shop. Before he took this decision and quit his job, he calculated all the risks and discussed with his contacts to ensure that he will have a job in case things don’t work out.

He worked in that coffee shop for over 6 months. In the process he became an Entrepreneur.

There is a story I heard of a businessman who lost everything. One day as he was sitting by the bench in a railway station, crest fallen, an old man came up to him and enquired. Upon hearing his story, the old man wrote a cheque for 10 million dollars, signed it as Warren Buffet and gave him. The businessman felt so happy and assured the old man that he will repay every pie in one year.

The next one year witnessed struggles after struggles to re-erect the business, but he did it all with a strange confidence. He spoke to his investors, employees, banks etc. with great confidence and rolled out effective ideas and plans. One lead to another and he was back again in business, but he never used the 10 million dollars cheque.

One year passed and he went looking for this old man in his office. He met warren buffet and was astonished to see a different man. He thought maybe he is in the wrong place. Upon further enquiries he came to know that the old man he met at the station was a mad fellow who escaped from a mental hospital on that spring afternoon calling himself warren buffet.

If there are fall back options, confidence automatically grows within. So it becomes inevitable to make 1 to 2 fall back options – Plan A and Plan B

Plan A must consist of

·      Learn all you can about the business – Pros and cons

·      Associate yourself with an established business, the type that you wish to start for yourself.

Plan B must consist of consolidating all the contacts that will fetch you a job whenever required

Plan C – Keep the money ready to invest.

When is the right time?

Well there is no better time than “now”

People put more efforts on their jobs than they put on themselves to become a better skilled person – Jim Rohn

 To be paid just enough to keep from quitting and working just enough to keep from getting fired is a kind of comfort zone with its own pressures and stress. The desire to live what is within dies eventually.

These days there are plenty of details easily available for one to research and explore all the opportunities and venture in a calculated risk.

Failures cannot be avoided and can make the person lose all confidence. So it is also very important to read books on people who challenged themselves and went through a lot of failures and hardships before making it work one day.

Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm – Winston Churchill.

Someone said once said – “if you want to make it big in life, destroy your resume and chase your dreams from your heart”

Business or a job depends on what each one is going through in life currently. A person holding a decent pay and has no work stress or pressure will never think of venturing on his own. But those are going through heavy workload, lots of work related stress, and immense pressure just want to break free.

If it is there within you to do whatever it takes, nothing can stop you.