A business owner has to work, eat, and sleep like a dog. It is all a lot of blood, sweat, and tears.
annual vacation and sick leaves?”
“Oh, yeah sure!” He gets two square meals a day, a daily cup of weak coffee, a pack of cigarettes every month and he is also allowed to sneak off early on Christmas Eve and come in a bit late on New Year’s Day.”
“That’s preposterous and inhuman! Sneaks off on Christmas Eve! I think you, Sir; you are an animal, a monster and a slave-driver! Please call that man, here, right now! I’d like to see the poor slob!”
“Sir,” I said quietly, “you are looking at him!”
Though this story is slightly sprinkled with sugar and spice, it does come close to putting across the point that an entrepreneur, a business owner, has to work, eat and sleep like a dog. He has to put in atrociously obscene amounts of time, effort and dedication for the success of his business. It is all a lot of blood, sweat, and tears.
Entrepreneurs do not get born, they are made. In my early teens, I was surrounded by a large, close and distant, family of entrepreneurs. Most all of them either owned a store, a trading business or a small manufacturing or service business. During our family get-togethers they would talk shop, compare notes and share tips on how to start something new or improve and expand existing businesses. All of them considered owning a business was the most proper and decent way to live. “Working for others?” Well, it was “working for others” and it was looked upon with disdain and shame. There was, and is, pride, honor, and freedom to earn and grow exactly as one wished for in a self-owned enterprise.
One of the many, very Indian, catch-phrases my grandfather used to nag me with was, “Apni ghoat to mazaa aaye!” Literally translated, it meant, “The fun lies in brewing and grinding your own.” Metaphorically, it meant, “If you want to amount to something, if you want to make it big and be fulfilled then start and build something on your own.” This kind of subtle and consistent programming of our minds by our elders was our family’s culture. The young ones, in response, had no choice but to constantly think, explore, talk and dream business opportunities and ventures. This influence and programming by the elders of the family was quite intense. The long-term results of this culture building were resilience, tenacity, and the ability to save, survive, and build from scratch. These entrepreneurial habits got seeped into our neuropsychological systems for life.
A large percentage of my family members are still private business owners and continue to breed their offspring into the same atmosphere and culture. I, personally, moved in out of the corporate world and the world of the rugged, resilient and resourceful entrepreneurs. I regard both breeds with respect and reverence for their skills but here, in this book, I pay homage to the maverick, the jack of all trades—the enigmatic entrepreneur!
O