The lone warrior

I truly believe that entrepreneurs are the backbone of a country's economy. They contribute to the well being of the society and nation as a whole, even though it means sacrificing everything they own in the process. They have the guts to face adversities, fight challenges and still know how to stand tall and keep pushing through it all. The past 1.5 years has created one of the toughest situations for the countries and businesses worldwide. The doubts, confusions, anxieties and general paranoia related to the situation are justified, but what is not is the fact that all this has led to the crumbling of thousands of businesses that were created with that single minded focus and dream of "making it happen".

Considering the fact that I once owned a business, even though small but big on dreams and possibilities - seeing many of such setups come to a grinding halt makes me cringe with deep regret. It's one thing to know you have to give up because something is not working out, but it's entirely a different ball game when a fully functional, healthy business comes down on its knees in a blink of an eye; and you just can't get your head around the impossibility of the situation. It's either you don't do or you can't do - pun unintended.

Now, there are many setups who may still have some margin to take this kind of blow, but not all of them are stable enough to sustain the jerks (pun intended!). Its mostly hand to mouth for them. They earn and manage to pay the fixed, but the variables are like shocks that are mostly absorbed by the ones that build them. Businesses in their nascent stage don't have the bandwidth to run the extra mile, mainly because they didn't predict a situation like this, but mostly because they don't have the resources to do so. Not all businesses are adept in handling and weathering a crisis.

But in the midst of all this madness, there is an unwavering spirit that doesn't know how to give up, the mind that doesn't know a problem without a solution. That's what an entrepreneur is made of - a lone warrior, a rising star. For them, it's not about that one battle they played and lost, but about the next battle that they envisage after losing the first one. It's about standing back up after that hard fall, brushing off the dust and moving on to that new idea that has already started blossoming in their resolute minds. It is about fighting that fear of failure and future, not once but time and again. It's about the fearlessness of seeing the rock bottom one more time, and knowing there is something up there, worth giving another last shot. And if we look closer, we figure what success stories are truly made of - every single one of them. Success is never about chance, its about that one extra time someone out there said "Let me try this just one more time" without giving up that catapulted them to victory. That undying, unwavering spirit is what deserves a thousand salutes, everyday! And a toast forever!