Category: Motivation

This is how business works


It is the month of June, on the shores of the Black Sea , it is raining, and the little town looks totally deserted. It is tough times, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit.

Suddenly, a rich tourist comes to town. He enters the only hotel, lays a 100 Euro note on the reception counter, and goes to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one.

The hotel proprietor takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the butcher.

The Butcher takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the pig grower.

The pig grower takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the supplier of his feed and fuel.

The supplier of feed and fuel takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the town’s prostitute that in these hard times, gave her services on credit.

The hooker runs to the hotel, and pays off her debt with the 100 Euro note to the hotel proprietor to pay for the rooms that she rented when she brought her clients there.

The hotel proprietor then lays the 100 Euro note back on the counter so that the rich tourist will not suspect anything.

At that moment, the rich tourist comes down after inspecting the rooms, and takes his 100 Euro note, after saying that he d id not like any of the rooms, and leaves town.

No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now without debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the business is today…..

Way to raise Kids!!!


Today I was having breakfast with my friend Kannan and I’m must say this was an enlightening breakfast. Kannan was sharing his childhood experience and the way his parents raised him in an Indian lower middle class style. Kannan shared a particular experience where in his mother taught him the value for money. So the story goes like this;

Kannan was a 9 year kid and he insisted his mom to buy him a scented rubber which costs 50 paisa where has his mom been willing to buy him a rubber which coats 10 paisa. Little Kannan got irated with his mom and he was curious to buy the rubber he desired. When he showed his piece of mind to his mom; his mom insisted him to earn that 50 paisa to buy his desired rubber. Our little Kannan who was highly egoistic decided to take up a job to earn for the rubber. He went and requested for petty job of breaking the bricks from the supervisor who was construction his house.

The supervisor after consulting with his mom offered to give him a job to break the bricks. Happy Kannan requested for a hammer to break the bricks from the supervisor. Supervisor said Kannan must posses the kits for the work and asked him to come with a hammer. When Kannan asked him mom for a hammer she said she doesn’t have one. Little Kannan started hunting for hammer from neighbors by 8.30 AM in the sourced a hammer from a hammer by 10.30 AM and he started the work by 10.30.

He worked till 12.30 in the noon and he went for lunch and after lunch he wanted to have a nap for 10 min. He requested his mom to wake him after 10 min and his mom denied the request telling if he is sincere in his job he must be on his own. Being a kid and working in hot sun made him tired and he slept till 4.30 PM. When his woke up he got angry again with his mom for not waking him up and by the time the day has come to an end.

Little Kannan went to the supervisor and asked a wage for the amount of work he did. The supervisor said Kannan that he doesn’t deserve anything for the half-baked work he did and he offered him 50 paisa for the work he did knowing he worked for that 50 paisa. Kannan got angrier on supervisor as he thought he deserved more for the work he did. But Kannan got the money to fulfill his desire and he instantly got the rubber.

When he returned back home his mom asked him to list the things he did from the morning to earn that 50 paisa.

Kannan says that was the day he understood the value of money and his way of seeing things changed. I might have learned this experience of Kannan at a later stage. But as a parent I came to know how I can raise my kids.

I must thank Kannan for sharing his experience and allowing me to post it in my blog.

NEVER CRY FOR ANY RELATION


Once, there was guy, who was in love with a girl. She wasn’t the most beautiful and rocking but for him, she was everything.

He used to dream about her, about spending the rest of life with her. His friends told him, “why do you dream so much about her, when you don’t even know if she loves you or not?
First tell her your feelings, and get to know if she likes you or not”.
He felt that was the right way. The girl knew that this guy loves her.

One day when he proposed, she rejected him.

His friends thought he would take wrong decision and ruin his life.
To their surprise, he was not depressed.
When they asked him how was it that he is not sad, he replied,

“‘Why should I feel bad? I lost one who never loved me & she lost the one who really loved and cared for her.”

NEVER CRY FOR ANY RELATION IN LIFE BECAUSE

FOR THE ONE WHOM YOU CRY  

DOES NOT DESERVE YOUR TEARS AND THE ONE WHO DESERVES

WILL NEVER LET YOU CRY………………..!!!!!

Sweet Thought Of The Day


One man cried when He had no shoes, but he stopped crying when He saw a man without legs.

Life is full of Blessings, Always try to understand it.”

Stages of Entrepreneurship by Rajesh Setty


Just came across this blog The Dance of Entrepreneurship by Rajesh Setty which explains three stages of Entrepreneurship.

 

  • The Beginning
  • The Journey
  • The New Beginning

 

With this wonderful pictorial representation.

 

ent-phases 

 

Kindly go thru this link http://www.activegarage.com/the-dance-of-entrepreneurship to go thru this wonderful post

Gave a Presentation to TASMAC Students


Today was an interesting day in my life. Myself and Bala were invited by TASMAC (Training and Advanced Studies in Management And Communication) a B-School in Bangalore as Entrepreneurs of the Month and to give presentation for the inauguration of their new batch to give them insights on entrepreneurship.

 

We were sent proper guidelines about the landmark and their follow-up was very professional. Once when we reached there we were invited for lunch ad immediately we went to a conference room where there was this bunch of enthusiastic Budding Managers & Entrepreneurs. The class had folks from diverse background where in there people all parts of the country like from Kerala, Jharkhand, Bengal, Bihar and also saw two folks from Maldives and we shared some insights about the island nation.

 

I was delighted and I envied these smart folks as I didn’t have this much amount of guts or exposure when I was a student. They asked all sorts of questions where in I must say they got the best out of us. The topic we were questioned are on entrepreneurship and global meltdown. Some of the questions I can recollect are;

 

  • Challenges in entrepreneurship.
  • Is work experience required to be an entrepreneur?
  • Is it right to start a business in these down-turn economy.
  • Does place play a vital role in starting a company.
  • How far values and ethics play a role in business.
  • What are the ways to raise capital?
  • How to overcome bureaucratic challenges?
  • How long this recession last.

 

Also they were eager to know more from Bala about support functions and about his experience in being Head of Finance with Cricinfo.com. We shared lots of personal cases and real-time cases which we came across in our life.

 

Overall they say they enjoyed the session by we enjoyed a lot than others. Sharing knowledge always gives a fulfillment and satisfaction. I personally feel this a great moment in my life time.

Power of the Start


Got this email from Mr.Padmanaban, founder Chennai Entrepreneurship Club and wanted to share it with you all.

 

Loved the piece I just read on Chester Carlson.

 

  • He graduated in The Great Depression.
  • Applied for a job with 82 companies.
  • Finally got a basic job as a patent researcher and had to reproduce copies by hand.
  • He thought there had to be a better way.
  • Even better, he acted on his big idea.

 

Through hard work and innovation he eventually came up with a process called ‘electrography’. Carlson tried to sell it to 20 companies and there were Lots of “No’s”.

 

Few people can see genius until the big idea gets traction. Then it seems so very obvious (think iPod. Think Twitter. Think Google.).

 

Finally he met Joe Wilson, the president of Haloid, a company that produced photo paper. Wilson bought the dream. The company was renamed. And Xerox was born.

 

Hope you all have the sprit like Chester Carlson.

 

Original Source: http://www.robinsharma.com/life_coach_ic_blog_548.htm

To succeed you must be on Right Place & Time


I wanted to take this topic because this in one topic which I debate with my friend K.Balaji. We have been astonished by the overwhelming success of India Premier League (IPL) and there has been lots of applause for itz architect Lalit Modi. Ofcourse he has done a great job by bringing all players at one place and added glamour by adding cheer girls and bollyhood.

 

But we have all forgotten the real person who was behind such an idea it was Indian Cricket League (ICL) and team. They deserve a lot to corner BCCI and the end result was a great product called IPL.

 

But what lesson we must learn from ICL is one must be in Right place and Right time to succeed. This reminds of my father who keeps feeling bad that he didn’t deserve growth in his company and he often feels bad that his juniors have gone above him.

 

But the sad thing is my father had a accounting degree and he was working with an Engineering company where people with Engineering background got more growth than him. My father didn’t realize this or didn’t understand this. He would have had great career growth if he has joined a Bank or any other company whose business model was related to accounts.

 

My father’s ignorance took a toll on me and my sister. He came to a conclusion that accounting specialization is of no value and only people with engineering specialization have value.

 

My father’s case can my compared with ICL where both of them lost because of being in a wrong place.

 

For wrong timing we can show cases of good movies in India which fails miserable because they might have got released when there is a Cricket World Cup or would have got released when theatres are on strike.

 

Likewise I see many people complaining about job satisfaction, fatigue etc. For all those people I’d ask them to see if they are in the right place or time.

On a last note let us not forget the contribution of ICL to Indian Cricket. They have pushed the competitor to get the best out of them. Still they are fighting and even of they loose they can feel proud for giving a brave and bold fight. For sure they have a place in my heart.

Bad times big opportunity for startups!!


I started my entrepreneurship ride during the year 2000 in the month of September. It was the starting days of so called dotcom bubble. The buzz, happenings and the glamour have all come to a halt. It was one of the worst times to even think of starting a company and that too offering Web based services. We were criticized left right and center for becoming an entrepreneur. My parents asked me to take up higher studies and my friends asked me to take up a job till things revert back.

 

In spite of all those obstacles I started my company with the help of my mentor and well wisher Mr.Shunmugavel Yogan, founder TheITDepot.com. Initial struggles were enormous… When ever I failed there was more criticism than getting moral support… We had no mentors and also the startup ecosystem was not mature… Everything was starting to take shape unlike today;

 

  • Opensource and frameworks were starting to emerge and were not usable. So, we had to develop everything from the scratch.
  • There were not many market places like elance or scriptlance. We had to depend on forums and on top listing on search engines (SEO).
  • Startup ecosystem like proto.in, barcamps, open coffee clubs etc were not there.
  • Also the concept of bootstrapping was new. There was an illusion that to start a business one needs huge capital.

 

In spite of all those odds we were able to strike it big and I personally feel we can see persons best only when his character is put on a test. Why I keep repeating these kind of post is because I see many enthusiastic people who want to become entrepreneurs keep telling me reasons like it is recession, market is inflated, family commitments, emotional commitments etc.

 

Unless we have control on us we can’t strike the gold. So instead of getting inspired by successful people try to know their path to success which can teach you lots of lessons.

How I bootstrapped my first venture!!!


This is how I bootstrapped my first venture which was started during the starting days of Dotcom bubble.

 

  • Shared office space from a Gingelly oil company where they gave us 100 sq ft space, 5 systems, internet connection and a telephone line for $200 a month.
  • Provided out of our business model services which helped us sustain till we got a groove into our core business. Services we offered were;
    • Linux installation
    • System Assembling & Trouble shooting
    • Java Training
    • Offering real time projects for college students
    • Sub sourcing resumes to manpower companies

Since we were out of college we had big network of friends who were college pass outs or students which helped in spreading our services and we got decent response to recover our monthly expense.

  • Since it was recession there was acute shortage of jobs. We offered jobs for deposit and we got tremendous response for this. We made $2000 from two people which were our six months liquidity with which we stopped all non core activities and concentrated on core business.
  • Apart from those two paid resource. We hired talented people who joined us for no pay. This changed our fortunes.

Having generated 6 months cash flow and a team of talented people we were able to win projects with the HELP of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and market places like scriptlance.com and elance.com.