Made Not Born

“Pyar dosti hai, agar wo meri sabse achi dost nahi ban sakti to main usse kabhi pyar kar hi nahi sakta” Shahrukh Khan in movie Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.

The dialogue says a lot about the formation of love beginning with a good friendship. Then why do we have so much reluctance to firm up a business relationship with friends, citing, “Let there not be any business between friends; it spoils the relationship.” My mother also constantly reminded me that “put money factor in any relationship, and it will become the sole cause of spoilers.”

Alongside my entrepreneurial journey, I have formed businesses with friends and experienced both good and bad tastes in them. But it has never happened that we have entered into any quarrel or litigation. When things didn’t work out, we reconciled the account and decided to part ways mutually. The friendship still exists.

I know many people who are successful in their life journey better with their friends than doing it alone. So many chartered accountancy firm partners have succeeded in doing business together. When asked about their relationship, my CA friend said, “Ishwar, we have always worked as a family. We never checked the bank withdrawals; we have brought life essentials together, we have gone for holidays together, and we handle everyday family/work responsibilities based on our strengths.”

It’s hard to handle personal, family and work priorities alone unless you find a pill that eliminates our need to sleep, relax, and rejoice in life.  

In my view, the first step is to consider partnership only with friends who share matching values regarding money, social impact, lifestyle, and commitment.

Second, it is crucial to establish clarity on the rules, roles, and responsibilities from the beginning.

Third, you must be willing to ignore the tiny things that will come in the way of painting the picture you’ve decided to paint.

Fourth, having a good partner gives you an ally to easily discuss and decide on the frustrations, challenges, and obstacles that come your way. 

Whenever you feel that you’re entering a challenging terrain with your friendship, watch the friendship of Jay and Veeru in Sholay and listen to the song “Yeh Dosti Hum Nahi Todenge. Todenge Dam Magar Tera Sath Na Chhodenge.”

In my view, you can teach the principles of entrepreneurship but not the passion for execution. You cannot teach what it takes to be successful. You cannot teach someone to have an execution plan and the ability to carry it out when no one is there to hold their hand or guide them day-to-day. You cannot teach how to create values and build a business or how to improve and transform it.

However, you can teach how to prepare a business plan and present ideas with the right pitch deck. You can teach how to discover and implement the value curve in products or services. You can teach how to identify and execute a product’s unfair advantage. You can teach how to explain a product and uniquely position it with the right perspective. You can teach how to develop an idea into a product that people love and find valuable. You can teach how to research, innovate, and bring together people to build a product, ensuring that you ship the right product, service, or opportunity.

If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original

I love telling this story.

A six-year-old little girl was in her drawing lesson. The girl was so deeply engrossed in her drawing that she didn’t pay any attention to anything around. Watching her so much attentive, the teacher felt fascinated and approached her, and she said, what are you drawing?

The girl said, “I’m drawing a picture of God.”

The teacher quizzed further with her sense of affirmation, “But, nobody knows what God looks like”, and the girl said, “They will in a minute.”

Take a chance like kids. Kids don’t know about the success or the failure. They are not frightened of being wrong…

If you aim to grow, it’s only possible when you’re willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable… when you are prepared to try something new.

From the time you have become an adult, you have lost your kiddish capacity. Regain it back if you aim to stop being frightened of being wrong.

Question: “I have this brilliant idea which is 10X better than that of a similar product available in the market, but I am not first. What do you suggest?”

Answer:  “Being first is not an advantage and it’s not that it can’t be overridden.

In my view, it’s a great opportunity for you to evaluate the state of early movers, find out the missing link and then create your product which is truly 10X better.

You should find a mentor and people who have been there, who have travelled the path, who have learning worth sharing and who have suggestions that might help you develop a better strategy.

Mentors and advisors don’t run your business — but they’re there to give you that guidance so you can avoid those critical challenges and mistakes that could take you out of the race.

You can certainly go fast and go farther than those who went first and still become a winner.”

.”Action alone is your sole right, not the fruit of action.” Saya Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita

“Loss, Profit, Life, Death, Appreciation, or Blemish these are under the governance of God.” Tulsi Ramayan

“Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.” Steve Jobs

There has been immense advocacy for creation through actions and there are substantial examples of people changing the world through their acts – first car, airplane, rail, electricity, etc.

We resonate with the quotes like these, we all want to create something, or we all want to contribute in the creation of something in a meaningful way.

You’d be thinking about the risks, about the chances of being failed, about wasting life’s precious moments in the process.

But, not taking up the chance and waiting endlessly also creates a disappointment for not being able to accomplish something meaningful in life.

For a creation to happen, you require to have a passion, perseverance and give things time. I resonate with the process of conception – 9 months of period inside the womb, awaiting for the creation to happen elegantly — without any hustle, hassle or feeling of rushing out. In order to pursue the creation, come out of your comfort zone to pursue it and embrace the fact that it will take time and consistent effort to make it happen. Do create…