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A MESSAGE TO ENTREPRENEURS: WOULD BE AND CURRENT


Dear Person,

                This write-up is to everyone who is currently ‘doing their own thing’ or has plans to someday become their own bosses. I have met with, consulted for and managed a pretty diverse portfolio of businesses and business people and surprisingly enough, they were always bout the same thing: people. I have discovered that in business, there are certain constants which we know as the four P’s: Product, Price, Promotion and Place; the fifth unmentioned constant is People. There are good people, bad people, selfish people, stupid people, stubborn people, jealous people, ignorant people and for the sake of this write, as many other variations you can think of. When I meet with budding, struggling & successful entrepreneurs, I always seem to hear the same things or at least within the same spheres:

-           -   I have this vision that will change the world
-          - No one helped me get anything I have, I did it all by myself
-          - It took guts to achieve what I have achieved
-           -   My boss is selfish and takes al the credit for my work, I have to launch my own business
-          - I would rather be in business for myself, rake in more money and keep all the profits
  
              No matter, where I go, the speeches are always the same, from hoarding contacts to keeping secrets, everyone wants to be the next big thing while forgetting the most important rule of being an entrepreneur or business person. I speak as someone who has experienced multiple sides of the working field as an independent business owner, a business owner in partnership and as a full time employee in multiple capacities. This is what I know to be true:

1.      There is no difference between a business owner and an employee beyond the difference that exists between people; skills, personalities and other variations of the human factor.
2.     A successful business owner can either be ruthless or kind, the business process demands principle, not personality.
3.   A successful employee can either be ruthless or kind, the employee process demands principle, not personality.
4.    Emotions can be used as a tool for success in both employer and employee capacities when understood properly.
5.     The ideology that a person would do better as an employer than an employee is false: everyone has to make a choice based on all the factors affecting their lives. Once the choice is made; he or she is expected to give their best: employer or employee alike.
6.    There are bad offices to work in as there are good ones, there are bad business owners as there are good ones too. A person who starts a business has just become someone else’s employer (office), good or bad is up to the owner and his/her team.
7.     People are the reasons why things are bad; at the office of the owners or at the functions of the employees. People can therefore choose to make differences in any capacity they find themselves in; business owner or employee alike.

                So, if you are out there, thinking of making a change to becoming an entrepreneur or currently run and own your own business, know this, the whole essence of life is service; one human to another and if you do not intend to serve, or be better than your current employer, business partners or staff who act and treat people badly, then how are you any different? The world works better when people work it (GIGO) and we would be at a much better state if every single person stopped comparing sides or selves but rather look inward, see where they fit in and serve. After all, no man can learn to serve with dignity and appreciate another if he does not yet know and appreciate himself. Some are born, others are made but ALL should serve. Your adventure as an entrepreneur should make a difference in people’s lives, great or small, not just grant you freedom or reward you with an entrepreneur’s cheque.

GOODLUCK

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