- Do not forget Abraham Maslow: Get quickly to a financial position where you at least have a house and it doesn't matter if mortgaged, for the Bank will not come running to sell and evict you even if you default few EMIs- An advise given to me by Shabbir Emami, an IIM A grad and a successful entrepreneur. He runs a company called Nexstep.
- Money is real Honey: Have enough savings in Bank to meet all your monthly expenses for at least one year, 18 months is better. This should be cash parked in bank besides your investments. This should take care of all your relatives asking for money every month ( I mean all your EMIs).
- Sell it to your Spouse: Have a spouse, who is either working or a made of steel- well mine was working till I started. But the moot point is sell this idea to your spouse and sell it 100% and after this sale your spouse should have 100% buying in your idea.
- You are Boss of your Boss: When every thing that you are made to do while working in a job, you get a feeling that you can do it better than your boss and when you hate every boss of yours not for his role but for his capability and you think you can do better, I mean all the bosses in your life. I don't mean arrogance or defiance by above but a silent confidence in you, not defying the boss but analysing in alone and you are convinced you can do better, probably entrepreneurial genes are there in you.
- Redefine the Risk: The term Risk is the extrapolation of a future situation when you fear, the external circumstances will change so fast that your mind will not be able to cope with it and so you do not want to risk a risk. While the fact is that we do a fundamental mistake of extrapolating risk and do only on two parameters- Known parameters and Unknown parameters, while the reality shapes up based on four parameters- Known parameters, Unknown parameters, Known-unknown and Unknown-unknown parameters. Most often than not it is only the Unknown-unknown parameters that defines your success or failure. Ask a successful guy if he budgeted for luck while planning for his venture you will not get an affirmative response, ask him the secret of his success, most often than not he would say, I got lucky- the Unknown-unknown parameter playing the man of the match innings in the success. However, this man of the match never plays unless you start the match.
- Have a perspective with a function of possibility: Mythologically and historically, two great souls saw an apple- Adam of Adam and Eve fame and Sir Issac Newton. Their perspectives were different, The former ate it and kept the civilization devoid of the discovery of Gravity for ages and the latter discovered it and transformed the civilization for ever. This is my perspective. Have one with a function of possibility. No offences meant to anybody please.
- Responsible belief: Believe that you have a responsibility to do something for a larger cause beyond the basic physiological needs of Roti Kapda aur Makaan (Food,Cloth & house).
- Stand on the shoulder's of a Giant to see beyond the giant-Sir Issac Newton: Be next to a successful guy and you don't need to reinvent many things. I am lucky to be just few Kms. away from a successful entrepreneur- Mohan.
- Own yourself accountable and no excuses please: If you look back in your own life, you would see anything that our parents, friends, teachers, bosses, even spouse said and we pursued, we may not have succeeded but anything that you with your heart, mind and soul decided to do, you never failed, though degree of success would have varied. So you are the responsible soul or A## hole for whatever it eventually comes out.
- Too much Analysis leads to paralysis: Do not plan too many excel sheets ( I did that for my first venture in Singapore ), But wait for MS Excel to chase you and when this chasing happens be sure your venture is taking shape. The most successful people in this world were not lucky but they exposed themselves to chances of maximum serendipity. Always in life when you look back, you would find some of your failures more glorious then some of your achievements.
Take the plunge when you think you are ready, In the nine years of my chase to start, while everything i looked around was ready except for me, with wife working, great savings in bank, no kids but when things around seemed not so good with two kids-the second one just few months old, wife not working, the global economy in deep recession, i got the message from within that I was ready and I started on an April fool's day in Yr.2009. There is a thin line divide between being Bold and being Stupid but the challenge is this thin line is visible only retrospectively. You are the Boss of your Boss and you have the responsibility in what it comes out so you decide when you are ready.
Cheers!
