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Entrepreneurship ka side effects

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Here is a light hearted look at what a journey as an entrepreneur brings to you !

1. Sleeplessness

“Dreams are not what you have when you sleep, dreams are those that don’t let you sleep.” – Dr. Abdul Kalam

You would lay awake the night before meeting your first customer, day before product launch or because of one of the many excitements this journey brings. It is like when you are in love or you have spoken to your crush. And if you start getting a good nights sleep continuously – you should be worried – it is a lull before a storm!

2. Fatigue

You work really hard day in and day out, days at a stretch. And you would hit the wall. You cannot browse, go out, read a book or listen to music. Your brain will just refuse to co-operate. Solution is to just veg out – switch on the idiot box, make yourself comfortable and watch something that will not tax your brain. It will last an evening or a day max – see it through and you will be energised for another long run.

3. Ideas

Suddenly you notice that ideas flood your brain. Wherever you look around you get an idea. You read a news article, a blog post – and it gives you an idea or it opens a new path or teaches something new – so you can incorporate in your product, or the way you sell. It is great to get such ideas, but it is even more important to grab them and make them yours. Always keep a small notebook with you – and keep noting them down.

4. Respect

You will start appreciating other businesses who started from scratch – Apple, Microsoft, Tata, Infosys… list is endless.  You will start respecting their founders even more. You respect your teams and your own strength and shortcomings. When you meet another hard-working entrepreneur you identify with him.

5. Belief in Kismat / Luck

People might say entrepreneurs create their own luck. There is nothing called chance – it is all because of the dedication and hard work. However, each entrepreneur knows inwardly that there is something called luck. It visits them at the right time – whenever a bad news / failed deal happens – they know that luck is sure to visit them soon. And it does without fail to lift the spirits and keep them going.

The above is a list from my personal experience in running my startup – ApartmentAdda. What do you think are entrepreneurship’s side effects?

Articles, ayn rand, books, inspiration

Who is lifting the world on their shoulders?

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Who is lifting the world on their shoulders?

Politicians?
Philosophers?
Writers?
Philanthrophists?

None of the above. The right answer is – entrepreneurs / business folks – they are the ones lifting the world. They create new markets, promote new ideas, blaze new paths by fighting the system, fighting stereotypes, taking risks against all odds.

In this post I will introduce you to “Atlas Shrugged” – a magnum opus by Ayn Rand.  This book glorifies the entrepreneurial spirit.

The key players :

Looters

These are the scum of the society – apparently holding top positions. The top brass in the Government, the industry lobbying heads – they do not produce anything but they loot – from the business and from the public. They know only to take and not give anything. They outnumber and control the producers.

Producers

The producers are the entrepreneurs, the inventors, the innovators. They are the ones fighting the system to introduce new ideas and keep the world ticking and moving forward.

Henry Rearden
He is a business man who invents a new kind of alloy that is cheaper and stronger than steel. The Government wants it because their research institute cannot produce anything close to this. He refuses and he is threatened with sanctions, taxes, a govt official watchdog is sent to curb his production ( because the steel industry is fast becoming reduntant ). Yet he fights the system to produce his alloy.

Francisco d’Anconia
A rich man who inherits a copper smelting business owned by his family. However he destroys all his fortune – but before that he lures the looters to buy all his stock and bonds – there by making them lose big.

Dagny Taggart
She runs a rail road. Her brother belongs to the looters group and is the President of the rail road. She fights him and fights the lobby industry to keep the trains running.

John Galt
He is the key person or the hero of this book. He invents a new type of electric device which can generate electricity from air ( its fiction remember ! ) – but he refuses to share it with the world run by looters. Along with this invention he takes the other producers ( Henry Rearden, Dangy Taggart and there are more – a musician, a writer, an oil digger, a banker etc. ) from the world and moves to a world he builds himself – among the mountains unknown to the world. And he brings the world to a halt.

This book is a fat one. 1000 pages with page after page of philosophy being dished out from different angles – on almost all the professions. Then there is a section where John Galt addresses the public on radio – it is a master piece. It runs for some 40 pages if I remember correctly and has thoughts on all aspects – love, honesty, dignity..you name it.

I had written about this book in my personal blog earlier. If you are interested you  can read this post – Who is John Galt?.

If you are a bibliophile and an entrepreneur or planning to jump in – do read this book – it will give you brilliant new insights.

Some memorable quotes from the book:


“I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.” – This is the oath everyone who joins John Galt should take.

Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one’s values.

Pride is the recognition of the fact that you are your own highest value and, like all of man’s values, it has to be earned.

Rationality is the recognition of the fact that nothing can alter the truth and nothing can take precedence over that act of perceiving it.

The Argument from Intimidation is a confession of intellectual impotence.

and finally the quote that sums it all up beautifully :

Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to become the means by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of other men. Blood, whips and guns–or dollars. Take your choice–there is no other.

Articles, books, tips

Make your idea stick

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In the book Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell ( my review ) says “stickiness” of an idea is an important criteria for the idea to tip.

“Made to stick” by Chip Heath & Dan Heath, is an offshoot of the stickiness chapter of Tipping Point where the authors  analyze how and why ideas stick. They have even formed a mnemonic for it – SUCCES. Each one by itself will not guarantee your idea to stick – but if rightly applied together, the probability of your idea sticking is higher.

Simple : For an idea to stick, it has to be simple.For that you need to tear apart the unnecessary layers and go to the core of it.

Nike – Just do it.
FedEx – The World on Time
Audi – Vorsprung durch Technik ( ok this is an exception, and being Audi they can make anything stick 🙂 )   Jokes apart it explains very well what Audi does – when tranlated it means – Advancement through technology.

Unexpected : The idea should rattle the listeners up. It should break pre conceived notions. Anything unusual is sticky.

When Apple launched Macbook Air, Steve Jobs pulled the Macbook Air out of an envelope in his keynote address.  He did not dish out the numbers about the weight or the thickness of the laptop. Just that image – the unexpectedness of a laptop coming out of an envelope was enough to establish the product in everyone’s mind – the thinnest laptop in the world.

Concrete : If your idea is abstract or vague or is like a puzzle, the probability of it sticking is hard. It should be direct and should not have any ambiguities about it.

Ratan Tata made a statement a couple of years back – “We will produce a car under Rs. 1 Lakh”. It was a concrete statement with no ambiguities. It motivated his team to build this car and they launched a car – with 4 doors which is quite safe, efficient and adequately powerful. All this for under Rs 1 lakh – an incredible feat.

Credible : The idea to stick needs to have the  backing of credible people. Quoting customer testimonials is the best example in this regard. If you notice most of the products will proudly present the awards, experts comments and opinions in their website and product brochure.

Emotional : We associate emotions to every incident,thought,object. If an idea generates emotion in your listener, then the probability of the idea being remembered and spread is higher. Try recollecting your favorite TV commercials – the successful ones will invariably appeal to one emotion or the other.

Stories : No one remembers facts, but we all remember stories. We all remember the moral values found in the stories of Panchatantra, Ramayan and Mahabarath. Imagine if we were just sermoned on just the moral values – will we remember any?

The book is filled with lots of anecdotes and case studies.  You will never get bored reading  this and it will give you many ideas to make your idea stick 🙂

Some quotations from the book :

“In Hollywood, people use core ideas called ‘high-concept pitches.’ You’ve probably heard some of them. Speed was ‘Die Hard on a bus.'”

“Becoming an expert in something means that we become more and more fascinated by nuance and complexity. That’s when the Curse of Knowledge kicks in, and we start to forget what it’s like not to know what we know.”

“Stories are like flight simulators for the brain.”

“The most basic way to get someone’s attention is this: Break a pattern.“

Articles

Get inspired by the Spartans : “300” Movie Review

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Have you seen the movie – 300? It is the story of 300 Spartans who defy all logic and fight against wave after wave of attacks by a much bigger Persian army. Technically it is a well made movie and is a good entertainer – but as an entrepreneur you can draw lot of inspiration from this movie.

The Spartans were severely outnumbered – but they believed in their abilities, their training, the trust they had with one another – sounds familiar? 🙂

As an entreprenur you will have to fight lot of battles – thought not as gory as Spartans.

Fight against a well established player :

Like the Spartans, when Apple started they had to fight IBM. When Pepsi started it had to fight Coke. You can find so many stories where a small company challenged the giant in the industry. If you are one of those entrepreneurs fighting a bigger player – keep going. If you believe in your abilties, in your team – even if it is small – you can win the battle eventually.

Fight against established norms :

Spartans did not believe that they had to match the enemy one to one in number. If they had stuck to the established military principle – they would have lost the battle even before it began. But they defied the established norm and held the Persian army at bay.

When twitter started, there was criticism. Why will anyone want to limit their thoughts to 140 characters when there are blogs? – and look what is happening today.

In NewZealand, Tendulkar was sent to open the innings, and instead of protecting the wicket and seeing through the initial overs,  he took advantage of the open boundaries and accelerated the score. Purists criticised him for rash play – but he changed Cricket forever.

Bend the rules to your advantage :

Spartans bent the rule by making Persians enter a smaller area to fight – so inspite of the Persian army having a larger force  they were forced to send only a few at a time to fight with the Spartans – which the Spartans decimated.

This is what all management books say – find out what is your core competency, your strength  – and try to  focus on that –  try and dictate how the battle has to be fought.

Take a couple of hours off – and you and your team watch this movie together – it will be quite an inspiration.

Some interesting quotes from the movie :

“Immortals… we put their name to the test. “

“We did what we were trained to do, what we were bred to do, what we were born to do! “

“Spartans! Ready your breakfast and eat hearty… For tonight, we dine in hell! “

“The world will know that free men stood against a tyrant, that few stood against many, and before this battle was over, even a God-king can bleed.”

Articles

Find the tipping point of your venture

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“The Tipping Point” is another interesting book from Malcolm Gladwell. “Tipping points” are the levels at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable. He analyses how social epidemics start and classifies 3 kinds of people you will need – who will help your product/portal/message reach the tipping point.

Connectors : Connectors are passive information passers. “Hi I heard about this cool website…” – is what they will say – and they will say this to quite a few.

Mavens : Mavens are more factual. “Do you know you can get this and this done in this website…” – is what they will say. They analyze threadbare the features/shortcomings and will help the listener make a fair judgement of the product.

Salesmen : Salesmen are more persuasive.  “You should be using this website because it will save you time and effort….” is what they will say.  They not only do the job of mavens – by giving you facts but they also will list out the advantages in such a manner that will make the listener run and get it.

You have to spot the connectors, mavens and salesmen among your customers. The tried and tested advertising is word of mouth – it is very hard to get this kind of advertising, but this is the only way you can “tip” your business.

So – rethink your strategy. How do you get people to talk about your product – is it through doing more SEO, is it through meaningful articles on a blog, is it by talking more to your customers?  Wish I knew the right answer 🙂 – but it does raise interesting questions – and in the answers lie the strategy to help your venture reach its tipping point.

Some interesting quotes from the book :

“The three rules of the Tipping Point — The Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, the Power of Context — offer a way of making sense of epidemics. They provide us with direction for how to go about reaching a Tipping Point.”

” Acquaintances, in short, represent a source of social power, and the more acquaintances you have the more powerful you are.”

“Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do.”

Articles, ayn rand, books, inspiration

Blaze a new path like Howard Roark

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“The FountainHead” by Ayn Rand is an eye opener in many ways. Howard Roark is an architecture school student who has a different philosophy on how buildings should be built. He wanted to build structures that will be aesthetically pleasing, economically meaningful, in tune with the environment and the building should make a statement. Whereas the industry was aping what the Gothic and romantic architectures of the past had built – with meaningless arches, facades and wasted space.

He is thrown out of his college because he refuses to design the traditional architecture and struggles for work – but he never once compromises on his ideals. He waits and his time comes and the world accepts his style of architecture. It is one man against a well established industry who tries hard to keep him down. But the harder you push a ball into water – the faster it rises out and with more force – Howard Roark wins in the end.

As an entrepreneur – you might have battles yourself – as you are trying to blaze a new path, a new product, a new concept. You might be told many a times that your idea will not work. Listen to them to retune your product or offering – but do not get discouraged. If you have faith in your idea just stick to your guns – you will win in the end. There are so many success stories out there where perseverance and believing in oneself helped create an industry.

This book is a hard read – 600 or so pages – and it takes a full 100 pages before the pace picks up. And the first half of the book is quite discouraging because Howard Roark goes to the very bottom – but the second half gets very interesting and you can relish his victories. Somewhere in the middle while Howard Roark is fighting a battle, he gives courage to a drama writer  – to take the hard path. The advice he gives very much will apply to an entrepreneur.

Some interesting quotes from the book :

“Wheeling his bicycle by his side, the boy took the narrow path down the slope ofthe hill to the valley and the houses below. Roark looked after him. He had never seen that boy before and he would never see him again. He did not know that he had given someone the courage to face a lifetime“

” I don’t build in order to have clients. I have clients in order to build!”

“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me”

Howard Roark you are my hero 🙂

Articles, books, inspiration

Follow your heart like Santiago

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The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho

This book written by the Brazilian author, Paulo Coelho – is a very very bad book – in a good way  – because it has the potential to change your life upside down !! You can finish it on a weekend  – 160 pages is all it is. It traces the journey of Santiago, the shepherd boy who goes in hunt of a treasure.

This book will have a huge impact on your life. While reading and after reading it will leave you disturbed, questioning yourself, and if you had suppressed a dream – a dream of starting your own business, or learning something like guitar which you keep postponing, or going on a crazy bike ride to another city – anything – these dreams will come alive and will dance before you.

The book teaches  you to follow your heart. It is as simple as that. In fact all of Paulo Coelho’s books have this recurring theme – do not suppress your dream, you have one life and you have to allow it to go where it is destined to go. Do not restrict yourself saying this is all you were born to do – a 9 to 6 job, slogging at work day in and day out. Take risks, and let your heart decide what is to be done – and 9 out of 10 situations your heart will pick the right path.

Go ahead hunt for the treasure by listening to your heart – your heart already knows where the treasure is.

Some memorable quotations from the book:

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

“There is only one way to learn. It’s through action.”

“Listen to your heart. It knows all things, because it came from the Soul of the World and it will one day return there.”

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”

If you are interested you can read what I wrote about this book a year back on my personal blog – when I was still working 9 to 6 –  http://kvrlogs.blogspot.com/2008/07/alchemist.html