TRES 07 (June 27, 2024): Direction determines the drive

"The greatest thing in the world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving." — Oliver Wendell Holmes.

"Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have 24-hour days." — Zig Ziglar.

Drive, determination, dedication etc. - all the qualities that are required to succeed in life and stand out as a champion are determined by the sense of direction. If we do not know where we are going, none of the intrinsic qualities help us and they do not even come together as a cohesive force. 

Direction doesn't mean complete clarity on the destination, but at least a high level understanding of path to travel. This is one of the things the famous ikigai concept stresses too... what is that one thing that you wake up for? 

The problem with not having the direction is very simple to understand - we don't have clarity on where our time and energy should go, what tasks will help us move forward in the desired direction and what doesn't, what adds and what distracts us from our goals, what's useful and what's not useful, and above all how do we even know whether we are making progress or not. Somehow the physical and mental and energies also do not function at their optimal levels when the direction is missing. Life ends up becoming pointless, boring and uninteresting. 

Does this mean that direction in life is fixed? No. Change of direction as the priorities of life change is perfectly fine, but at any given point of time, it's important to have a sense of direction. Before anything else, it's important to work on the direction first. 

Does that mean we don't do anything until the direction part is fixed? No. While we are continuing with what we are doing, the constant search for it should be on.

Cheers :)

TRES 06 (May 09, 2024): DOGLAPAN - Ashneer Grover's story

Once I decided not to be in job and do something on my own, lot of things have changed and one of the most prominent things is my reading list. I brought the book 'Rework' from the bookshelf to my work table. I ordered books like 'Doglapan' 'Paltform Revolution' etc. And, I have a few more books like 'The $100 Startup', 'The Pumpkin Plan' etc., lying there in the bookshelf for a long time, waiting for my time.  

The experience I am going through is something like this... anything that does not align with the goal seems to be uninteresting. When I heard about political leaders, movie stars and high achievers in the business world say that they regretted not giving enough attention to their families and health and all, I thought, "What nonsense? How can people lose themselves so much in the flow?" Now, I appreciate whatever they said.  

Coming to the book and the man behind it, I saw an interview of Ahsneer Grover and was impressed by his no non-nonsense approach to life and I ordered his book. The title of his book 'Doglapan', which means hypocrisy, and the tagline 'The hard truth about life and start-ups' were even more impressive.

Small book written in a very lucid language and to the point. I am no one to judge the truth behind whatever is written in the book, but Ashneer did not hesitate even a bit to pull the punches on the people who brought his career down at 'BharatPe', his first startup as a founder and a unicorn and a sensation in the fintech world. His journey of getting into IIT Delhi, followed by IIM Ahmedabad, and then as an investment banker, and at Grofers before he started BharatPe, interspersed with anecdotes from his personal life... overall, an interesting read. I liked his summary of learnings from his life at the end of the book.  

The book is a wonderful read for anyone who is interested in knowing how startups and funding work. The prevalent opinion in the market that the funding ecosystem is rigged in favor of the IIT and IIM grads seems to be true thought that's not what Ashneer said. To be fair, nothing wrong in leveraging the network and the brand value of their alma mater. And, naturally it becomes challenging for outsiders to crack the system.   

Two important learnings from Ashneer's story are -

1. His is not a typical rags to riches story. He did not fall to the rock bottom before to he rose to stardom again. No. He started his career as an investment banker, did well in his career for about 9 years and then jumped into the entrepreneurial venture, from a reasonably strong base both in terms of personal finances and network. 
2. He picked up something to build as an entrepreneur that closely matched his skillset. 

I would recommend this book as a must read for anyone who has anything to do with the startup world. 

Cheers :)  

TRES 05 (Mar 07, 2024): Being purposeful makes life easy

We are guided by some purpose all the time. We get ready in the morning with a purpose - to get to work on time. We send kids to school with a purpose - to teach them life skills. Every aspect of life is driven by a purpose, small or big, and whether we realize or not.

I am not talking about those purposes which are part of day-to-day life. This is about a bigger purpose. What's big and what's small? To me, a purpose that's much bigger than the individual himself/herself is big. 

And who gets to decide the purpose? None other than than the individual himself or herself.

When I observe myself in the past few weeks, few things have already changed. My social media preferences have changed - I am not drawn toward political stuff like before, my recent phone calls list has changed - more relevant to the business initiative, money spending has changed - not so driven by shopping as a hobby and buying things for self (used to do it when I was on job as if that money was for free), my reading preferences has changed - started reading books like 'Rework', 'Doglapan', 'Platform revolution', my writing topics have changed - this blog for example, otherwise I would be writing some comments on politics and it wouldn't have been easy to resist especially because of the upcoming elections. The changes are a natural evolution rather than pushed by a plan from behind. Couple of things close to my heart still find place in my routine though - I am taking out some time to complete the manuscripts of the novels I have initiated long back.

Now, this makes me think... was I not purposeful enough earlier? Well, there were sparks in life where the purpose seemed to be bigger than the current self and mood but definitely there was no purpose that consistently pushed me for a long time. There were purposes in thoughts, but not in action. 

So, why does life become easy when the purpose is clear? Life doesn't actually become easy, it becomes even more difficult and stressful because now the purpose is big and it calls for better time management, productivity, learning and reaching out to people for help etc.

The only thing that becomes easy (and it is important) is making the choices that guide your routine... now, your day doesn't drift much, your time and efforts are aligned toward something. 

Ultimately, all gyan comes down to nothing if it's not translated into action and achieving the targeted goals. Let's see... will keep you posted on that...   

Cheers :) 

TRES 04 (Mar 02, 2024): The transformations in me (so far)

The moment I decided not to continue in the job and try something on my own was liberating as if somebody guaranteed success, name, fame, money and all. Reality dawned on me soon... it did not take much time. 

That very night I could not sleep well... bag of mixed feelings didn't let me sleep well. People who know me know that I generally do not lose my sleep that easily. On one hand, I was happy that I am getting into something that robbed my sleep on day one itself and on the other hand I hope this wouldn't continue to be my experience every night. 

Basically, I am not looking at personal name and fame when I chose this route. I would like them only if they help in making my efforts more successful, otherwise what's the point. I do not believe identities define as person in the long run. 

So, what's the business all about, name of the company etc.? Will announce shortly. 

But, in the above list, money definitely matters, it's a powerful tool. More on this in another blog - https://thereluctantentrepreneurseries.blogspot.com/2024/03/tres-03-mar-01-2024-money-matters.html. 

In fact, I see money as a critical parameter to measure the success of any person or business. Why would someone spend money either on you (salary) or your products and services (business)? It is nothing but the value one places, it's a direct measure of your worth or the worth of your products and services. Isn't it? 

The highest motivation to me was to bring together all the diverse knowledge and skills I have acquired overtime to build something that's much bigger than me and lasts longer than me as a person and makes a positive difference to the society. To bring money into the matrix again, if something cannot be run profitably, the very sustainability of the initiative comes into question and the expanding it's scope and hence it's impact will be adversely affected. 

In the couple of days following the decision, I was down with fever, body aches and throat infection. It could be mere coincidence. For now, let me not attribute to the entrepreneurship journey that just got started. The thought that I am already tensed would make me even more tensed. I want stress to be a positive and a precautionary emotion rather than a negative and desperate emotion. 

The physical symptoms aside, there is definitely a bit of tension and a big 'what if' looming large in my thoughts. Then I thought of this - "If not now when and if not me who?" Even these words did not help. I realized all these motivational quotes help in pushing us to take the first step and ditch us badly as soon as that first step is taken, the point at which this one comes into picture from nowhere - "Motivational quotes do not work unless you do."

Interestingly, everyday started becoming important. When I was in job, I didn't assess myself so thoroughly, I didn't sit back and think what I did today. I did once in a while but not on a daily basis. Suddenly, a day wasted started seeming lot heavier. Unlike in job, the blockers on the path started staring into my eyes directly. I know... now, the buck stops with me.

I started losing the difference between week days and weekends. The 'Happy Friday' messages in the Whatsapp groups started making no sense to me. I still feel the Monday blues though, I guess it is ingrained within me since childhood and is almost part of DNA now. I feel it even when I am on vacations.

At times, the idea with which I have taken such a drastic step at this age and with so many responsibilities around me started looking trivial. The euphoria before I took the jump started vanishing. My mind started finding serious flaws in the very idea that pushed me from behind. Seriously? 

But, the decision is made. Let me push forward and deal with myself and external factors on the way, let me do whatever is required, and see where it would lead me to... will keep you posted. 

Please don't be surprised if more blogs come up in future with same or similar title... the journey just got started and yet to experience more transformations. Fingers crossed.  

Cheers :)

TRES 03 (Mar 01, 2024): Money matters

The most difficult thing for me in life is to talk about money. Let alone talk, even to think about money. Somehow stress hormones get activated when money topic comes up. 

So, what to do? Stop thinking about money and business? Why business alone? If stopping thinking about money is the solution, I should leave everything and go to Himlayas and meditate for the rest of my life and die there peacefully. Because, everything in the real world has to do something or the other with money. 

It is an individual's choice whether to make a positive impact with money or otherwise, whether to be within the legal jurisdiction to earn money or otherwise, and what point we declare financial freedom and pivot to other facets of life etc. But, the inevitability of money cannot be ignored. Unless a human decides consciously to be highly limited in his or her needs in life, money is an important matter. 

And, money is not bad as it is portrayed to be. In the process of earning money and spending money people contribute their part to the development of the society. 

For example, recently I watched Prannoy Roy's talk show with renowned financial expert Ruchir Sharma in which he pointed to the NRI deposits and remittances - each contributed to about 3% of India's GDP whereas the FDI accounted to just 1% in 2023. In spite all the brain drain debate, there is a benefit that is accruing to the country from the money earned by the NRIs.        

The biggest disservice parents and teachers and society in general in India do to kids as they grow up is not to talk about money and effective management of it. Even more bigger disservice is to give a negative connotation to money and earning money as if it is some kind of a crime while spending more than half of the their lives in earning it. What a hypocrisy? There is a widespread belief that Gujaratis, Punjabis and Marwadis are good at businesses, and the reason is simple - they don't hesitate to broach the topic openly in family discussions and even with kids.  

I am not saying life should all be about money, but if enough importance is not given to it at the right time then life eventually becomes all about money, forcefully. Paradoxically, giving money the importance it deserves frees the man from the money itself and gives him enough freedom to explore life and pursue other interests in life.   

Given a choice I would not like to handle money, think of finances, and not even have bank account. But, do I really have that choice? Eventually, I will free myself from money (I will bring up this topic in some other blog at some other time in future). But, before that I would like to attack this money part of life - will keep you posted on this.

Let us not hesitate to talk about important and necessary things in life irrespective of whether we like them or not. Money is one of them. The closest second thing I could think of is health, about which we'll about some other time. 

Cheers :)

TRES 02 (Feb 17, 2024): Why so much reluctance?

This is a common experience for me and I am sure for many of you too... when I finally do something I waited so long to even initiate, I end up thinking why the f I waited for so long? Relatable?

As I write this, I too have done some soul searching for my own reluctance problem... not just for this initiative, but in so many aspects of my life. Let me list them out for you. Not all the reasons are mine, but I tried to make a generic list. 

- Lack of confidence as Todd Duncan said. And, lack of confidence comes from several reasons like fear of failure, lack of knowledge, lack of skills, lack of fallback options etc.  

- Perfectionist attitude. When we start something we forget the fact that we are beginners and start with the image of end in the mind. Having a vision is different, which makes us break it into a plan and respect the process but just dreaming about the end only makes the start scary because it is nowhere close to what we wish to accomplish. As Jerry Moran said, "Perfection has to do with the end product, but excellence has to do with the process." Unfortunately, we tend to get confused between both and end up not even getting started. 

- Not enough drive. Basically, everything in life boils down to how badly we want something and how motivated we are to get into action. Every action thereof is just a manifestation of this drive. 

- Maybe it's DNA. I guess some people are naturally reluctant, they take their own sweet time to react to things and get into action while others jump into action as soon as the thought sparks in their minds. 

- Comfort zone. Extraordinary success comes from either deep distress in which someone has nothing to lose and success is the only way out, or extreme passion that doesn't let someone sleep. Comfort zone is a killer of massive action and a catalyst for reluctance.  

- Lack of clarity on the goals. Unless we don't know where we are going, nothing and no one can help us in the journey. As Seneca says, "If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable."  

So, what's the solution? Let's be honest on what we want and why and how badly, and once these are sorted out, everything related to the how part falls in place automatically and magically. The moment the what and why parts are clear, they will not allow us to be reluctant anymore.  

Reluctant to take advice from a naturally reluctant person like me? I know. 

More than advising someone, this is me speaking to myself and even I would want to try and follow what I said above to beat my reluctance and get started with things fast. 

And, when we get started, let's remember that being good enough is good enough to get started rather being great, and aim at greatness in the long-run. Let's also remember that all great achievers are not fail proof, but the difference is that they do not stop at failure, they keep going.

Let's get started and get going!

Cheers:)

TRES 01 (Feb 15, 2024): The start of this blog and the story behind it

It's been a dream to be an entrepreneur since I completed my management degree in 2004 and it took 20 years... not to become one yet, but to just get started. I hope now you appreciate the word 'reluctant' in the title of the blog :)

Even to get started with this blog (TRES - The Reluctant Entrepreneur Series), which could have been setup in a few minutes, I took a couple of months. It's not because of procrastination, but just reluctance. The alternate word could be hesitation. But why? I too don't know. Let us all together explore on this journey. 

Through this blog I wanted to write and let the audience know as I go through my experience of being an entrepreneur. So, even I don't know what's going to come up... stay tuned :)

Going along I would like to expand this into an umbrella series under which the stories and experiences of other entrepreneurs would be covered, and also connect to relevant organizations. Basically, the vision is to evolve this into an exploratory platform for entrepreneurship.  

I will keep it simple and honest and keep up the exploratory spirit throughout. Basically, this blog will not be loaded with management jargon or mindless motivational quotes, it will be a record of the journey, experiences, successes and learnings. In the process of keeping it real and relevant, I will not even be mindful of the number words or expressions either. I will go with the flow. All I care is whether it is real or not and whether it is meaningful or not.

I will reveal the names of the people and numbers and other confidential matters at appropriate time. The goal is to share with the readers, budding entrepreneurs out there, and the stakeholders of our business/es, our valuable customers and the public in general, our journey and the the journey of our friends and the stories behind it. The hope is to make this interesting and useful for all of us.   

Cheers :)

P.S. So, what's the business all about and what will be the products? Will reveal once we are good to go... stay tuned :)