A few days ago, I wrote a note titled "Top 5 Wrong Reasons to Become an Entrepreneur" on Facebook. Some of my readers have asked me to state what, in my opinion, were the RIGHT reasons to become an entrepreneur. So, here I am, once again, back to this blog after a long time.
Before I begin, I would like to take a moment to say that entrepreneurship has its own share of challenges and fun. Sometimes, life can be difficult to the extent of being miserable. Sometimes, life can be enriching, satisfying and fulfilling. In that sense, it is not much different from any other means of livelihood, for instance working in a farm, or working in an office. Why then, should you become an entrepreneur?
1. Because you can!
We live in a world of expectations. If your father was in a government job, the expectation from you would be that you would be a service holder as well. Or may be a Doctor, at best. No one will expect you to be a magician, no matter how good you are at showing magic tricks. If you come from a family business which sells apparels, no matter how much you want to do it, you will not be encouraged to become a writer. Your ties are very important, but when ties cease to become connections and start becoming chains, it starts getting a little uncomfortable. There's a brilliant scene in Satyajit Ray's "Jana Aranya". A young jobless man stumbles upon a business opportunity and comes home to discuss it with his father, who is a middle-class retired schoolmaster. His father comments: "Business? No one in our family has ever done business", but thinks about it for a moment, and follows it up by saying "But it's also true that till 2-3 generations back, no one had even done a job". That is the reality. Someone in our family had started something. And he/she had the grit to stick to it. Why not you?
2. Because you love doing it.
But then should you become anything and everything that you CAN become? Perhaps not. Do it if you simply love doing it. Do it if it gives you so much happiness that it makes you forget all the pains and hardships that come along with it. Because that, and that alone, will be your fuel during your journey. This is also one of the biggest reasons why most folks who come from an alternate source of employment, try their hand at entrepreneurship. A friend of mine loves to travel. She, and a few of her friends who love traveling as well, founded a company which takes customers on customized trips which are off the beaten track. She is earning, she is traveling, she is happy. Your income is very important, because it sustains you, and perhaps sustains others who are dependent on you. You've got aspirations as well. Now, if you can meet your aspirations by generating an income from something that you absolutely love to do, can you think of a reason why you should NOT do it? I can't.
3. Because you want to solve a problem.
When I moved into my apartment, this place was almost in the middle of nowhere. One had to go out of the complex and drive for sometime to reach shops etc. A guy I know noticed that residents had been facing issues, and decided to set up a medicine shop in the complex. 2500 flats. An average of 3 residents per flat. One essential commodity: medicine. I deliberately don't want to take any of the big examples like Facebook etc. Let's take another 'small' example. A relative of mine retired from his job but was still fit enough to continue to work. He wanted to do something, but he didn't know what to do. One day, he came to know that the area that he lived in was very good for the cultivation of medicinal plants, the extracts of which were used in fragrances. Apparently, there were a few folks who were trying to cultivate it too, but didn't have any means to market their produces. This gentleman used the power of the internet, and used a portion of his savings to set up a farm of medicinal plants, and is doing exceptionally well today. Another small example is my own venture, ArtSquare (www.artsquare.in). When I was in college, a junior of mine, who was an exceptionally talented painter, once came to me and told me how he was heartbroken because a gallery had turned him away, when he couldn't afford their steep exhibition fees. I saw a problem, and I decided to do something about it. Now, anyone can showcase his artworks on ArtSquare, at zero cost. It's always open, accessible by anyone from all over the world, and has a host of services to delight art buyers. Entrepreneurs who are problem solvers, are often driven by the problem and the solution, so much so that some of the challenges that come along the way, cannot bend their knees.
4. Because you should give yourself YOUR moment.
Earlier in this post, I spoke about two important points - expectations and responsibilities. You are responsible for some people, and these people matter to you. They have certain expectations from you. And these are very important. These practically define your life, they define your choices. But I can assure you - NONE of these individuals want you to be unhappy. Be it your wife, your child, your parents. They want you to be happy, to do something that you like to do. In your life, try to give some time to yourself! To do things that you love to do, for however short a period that may be. If you are truly happy, your output level will be so high, that you'll pull off things that you had otherwise imagined were beyond your reach. Some time in your life, you may want to turn back and say - I did that! Make no mistake, this does not mean that if you're going to an office and working hard, you cannot say that. If you've done a wonderful project and received recognition for it, THAT is your moment. But, if you haven't, perhaps you're at the wrong place, doing the wrong thing, my friend. Perhaps, you're better off doing something else. Perhaps your moment, is yet to come!
5. Because you don't want to regret it.
I know many people who simply hate what they are doing right now. They will crib, bitch, complain, criticize and absolutely massacre their current occupation, their role and the people associated with it. But they will not ask themselves a simple question - "Ok, I don't like this, so what DO I like?" Years from now, when you sit in a chair, old and frail, waiting to meet your maker, what thoughts would be going through your mind? Would they be - "I absolutely loathed my job. I had a tough time. I scraped through it, like a man who crawls through a tunnel of shit, and even managed to do well for myself, and retired with a handsome amount in my bank. But now, that money is of no use to me. I DIDN'T enjoy then, and I CAN'T enjoy now. Lord, what a fool I have been!"? Or, do you think they would be - "I took a bold step. It was something that I always wanted to do. I had my tough days, I had my good days. But boy, wasn't it fun? I have lived my life to the fullest. I have lived life on MY terms and made MY decisions, and the people I love supported me to the fullest possible extent. I have made them happy, and I myself have been a happy person throughout my life. And now, dear Lord, I'm ready when you are." :-)
