Post by oldman on Oct 19, 2013 9:11:09 GMT 7
Knowing your passion does not automatically mean that you will be good in what you do. Every business owner that I have come across is passionate about their business. Yet, only 10% of new businesses survive after 2 years. Passion alone is not enough to ensure success as every new business is started by entrepreneurs and each one of them will be very passionate about their business.
When I started my company Shareinvestor, there were many times when I thought of giving it up and going back to the corporate world. When the dotcom crashed, our finances became very tight and many people were leaving the company. We were burning money as there was no need then to even create proper revenues. The company was in a sinking boat because we had expenses to pay and no means of even generating real revenues (non-bartered advertisement revenues), let alone profits.
Many internet entrepreneurs were in the same sinking boat. Many gave up. But a few like us persevered against all odds. Yes, there must have been more than a touch of craziness in those of us who continued patching the holes in the boat and at the same time creating the sails that will push the boat forward.
I think one really needs to have that never-say-die attitude when one wants to create a business. There will be many times in the entrepreneurial journey when the road ahead will be full of broken glass. It is human nature to give up and find an easier path ahead. One must resist that temptation and fight on. This is what I mean by having what it takes when all the chips are down.
Yes, one is then living each day hoping that lady luck will come one day. Till it comes, one has to continue struggling with the business. Granted that some may not be that lucky and they still have to eventually close their business. But some of us did survive and thrive and this shows the power of the human spirit to overcome all adversities.
I think if you struggle hard and then, in the end you still have to give up, you would still have gained tremendously from that experience. To me, you may still have what it takes even if you failed the first time. This is especially true if you struggled hard to make the business work, against all odds... as you may have simply entered the wrong industry at the wrong time.
Passion alone is usually not enough to build a business. You also need grit determination and a certain level of craziness that borders towards insanity. That craziness can be infectious and every member in the team works hard works to achieve that common goal.
Life is full of ups and downs. It is easy to know what to do when lady luck smiles on us. But, life is never a garden of roses ....there will be tough times as well. It is really how we cope with these tough times that determines whether we will be successful in life or not.
So, although some of us are born lucky, to succeed in life, we must also be able to handle the hard times that come with the good times. I believe that this is really what differentiates a successful person from others. A successful person is able to face up with the rough times, overcome these and make himself an even stronger person. Sure, a bit of luck here and there helps but all of us will have our lucky streaks every now and then. Hence, though luck is important, it is really how we face up to the challenges of life that will determine whether we will be successful in life.
When you are young and fail your first exam, you will feel that your whole world has crashed. I know because I was there. After a stage of denial and finally acceptance, it is then really up to us to pick ourselves up and then overcome this hurdle. Those of us who are able to pick ourselves up, will learn the most important lesson in our lives... which is that life will always throw up challenges and we must stand firm and tackle each of these challenges head-on. We must not shrink from our responsibilities and must not hide under the cover of denial.
All of us will face many challenges in our lives. It is how we face up to these challenges that will make us stronger. Hence, when you are faced with challenges, always remember that life is about overcoming challenges and each challenge we overcome will make us stronger. Hence, we should take each challenge seriously and overcome each and every one of these. Only then can we ignite the fire in all of us that will bring up the best in all of us.
Passion may start the fire in your belly but you still need steadfast determination and the ability to work even harder when all the chips are down. Remember that 100% of new businesses start with passion and only 5% succeed after 2 years, probably because those who succeed have that x-factor of perseverance and a total belief in themselves and of course, some element of luck or a blessing from above.
On the subject of blessings, in my first year as a medical doctor in Northern Ireland, I had to wake up at very odd times in the early mornings to give intravenous injections to patients. As this is a routine done by all first year doctors, we were very used to doing this at all odd hours of the day.
I recall once that I was very frustrated with an intravenous catheter in one of the patients. No matter how hard I try to flush the catheter, it simply did not want to work properly and I was unable to inject the drug in. Somehow after 15 minutes trying, I decided to check the medication and was shocked to find out that it was the wrong drug and worse still, if I would have injected that drug, the patient would have suffered severe complications. I then changed to the correct medication and somehow, it injected smoothly. I spent the rest of the early morning shaking from the experience as I sensed then that someone was taking care of me.
When I was in my fourth year as a doctor, I did routine operations. Once, I was about to make an incision on the skin, the operating theatre lights just shut itself down. We were all very annoyed as there was supposed to be a backup electrical system which ensured that the lightings should never go out. After 10 minutes, the operating lights came back up again and when I was about to start the incision, somehow I stopped and asked for the patient's notes. The nurses were shocked as they have never had that request before at such a stage of an operation.
When I looked at the patient's notes, it was my turn to be shocked - I was going to operate on the wrong side of the abdomen. The hernia was on the right and I was about to make an incision on the left side. There was absolute silence for a few minutes when everyone then realised what could have happened. It took us another few minutes to recover and the operation then went smoothly. I was told later, that the operating lights had never gone out in the history of the hospital and I felt a cold chill run down my spine for the second time in my life.
When I left medicine and went into business, there were many other occasions that could have been disastrous. When I started ShareInvestor, we had no revenues and there was a stage when we only had enough cash to last a few more months. Then, somehow at the 11th hour, we managed to find investors and as they say, the rest is history. Yes, there were also many other hiccups along the way and I know that without the blessing from above, any one of these could have crippled the company especially in its early formative years.
To be successful in life, apart from the skills and determination, one also needs business luck and a blessing from above. But, we cannot just wait for this luck to arrive. We need to work extra hard until this luck arrives. Whether luck arrives on time or not, really depends on whether we have the blessing from above.
When I started my company Shareinvestor, there were many times when I thought of giving it up and going back to the corporate world. When the dotcom crashed, our finances became very tight and many people were leaving the company. We were burning money as there was no need then to even create proper revenues. The company was in a sinking boat because we had expenses to pay and no means of even generating real revenues (non-bartered advertisement revenues), let alone profits.
Many internet entrepreneurs were in the same sinking boat. Many gave up. But a few like us persevered against all odds. Yes, there must have been more than a touch of craziness in those of us who continued patching the holes in the boat and at the same time creating the sails that will push the boat forward.
I think one really needs to have that never-say-die attitude when one wants to create a business. There will be many times in the entrepreneurial journey when the road ahead will be full of broken glass. It is human nature to give up and find an easier path ahead. One must resist that temptation and fight on. This is what I mean by having what it takes when all the chips are down.
Yes, one is then living each day hoping that lady luck will come one day. Till it comes, one has to continue struggling with the business. Granted that some may not be that lucky and they still have to eventually close their business. But some of us did survive and thrive and this shows the power of the human spirit to overcome all adversities.
I think if you struggle hard and then, in the end you still have to give up, you would still have gained tremendously from that experience. To me, you may still have what it takes even if you failed the first time. This is especially true if you struggled hard to make the business work, against all odds... as you may have simply entered the wrong industry at the wrong time.
Passion alone is usually not enough to build a business. You also need grit determination and a certain level of craziness that borders towards insanity. That craziness can be infectious and every member in the team works hard works to achieve that common goal.
Life is full of ups and downs. It is easy to know what to do when lady luck smiles on us. But, life is never a garden of roses ....there will be tough times as well. It is really how we cope with these tough times that determines whether we will be successful in life or not.
So, although some of us are born lucky, to succeed in life, we must also be able to handle the hard times that come with the good times. I believe that this is really what differentiates a successful person from others. A successful person is able to face up with the rough times, overcome these and make himself an even stronger person. Sure, a bit of luck here and there helps but all of us will have our lucky streaks every now and then. Hence, though luck is important, it is really how we face up to the challenges of life that will determine whether we will be successful in life.
When you are young and fail your first exam, you will feel that your whole world has crashed. I know because I was there. After a stage of denial and finally acceptance, it is then really up to us to pick ourselves up and then overcome this hurdle. Those of us who are able to pick ourselves up, will learn the most important lesson in our lives... which is that life will always throw up challenges and we must stand firm and tackle each of these challenges head-on. We must not shrink from our responsibilities and must not hide under the cover of denial.
All of us will face many challenges in our lives. It is how we face up to these challenges that will make us stronger. Hence, when you are faced with challenges, always remember that life is about overcoming challenges and each challenge we overcome will make us stronger. Hence, we should take each challenge seriously and overcome each and every one of these. Only then can we ignite the fire in all of us that will bring up the best in all of us.
Passion may start the fire in your belly but you still need steadfast determination and the ability to work even harder when all the chips are down. Remember that 100% of new businesses start with passion and only 5% succeed after 2 years, probably because those who succeed have that x-factor of perseverance and a total belief in themselves and of course, some element of luck or a blessing from above.
On the subject of blessings, in my first year as a medical doctor in Northern Ireland, I had to wake up at very odd times in the early mornings to give intravenous injections to patients. As this is a routine done by all first year doctors, we were very used to doing this at all odd hours of the day.
I recall once that I was very frustrated with an intravenous catheter in one of the patients. No matter how hard I try to flush the catheter, it simply did not want to work properly and I was unable to inject the drug in. Somehow after 15 minutes trying, I decided to check the medication and was shocked to find out that it was the wrong drug and worse still, if I would have injected that drug, the patient would have suffered severe complications. I then changed to the correct medication and somehow, it injected smoothly. I spent the rest of the early morning shaking from the experience as I sensed then that someone was taking care of me.
When I was in my fourth year as a doctor, I did routine operations. Once, I was about to make an incision on the skin, the operating theatre lights just shut itself down. We were all very annoyed as there was supposed to be a backup electrical system which ensured that the lightings should never go out. After 10 minutes, the operating lights came back up again and when I was about to start the incision, somehow I stopped and asked for the patient's notes. The nurses were shocked as they have never had that request before at such a stage of an operation.
When I looked at the patient's notes, it was my turn to be shocked - I was going to operate on the wrong side of the abdomen. The hernia was on the right and I was about to make an incision on the left side. There was absolute silence for a few minutes when everyone then realised what could have happened. It took us another few minutes to recover and the operation then went smoothly. I was told later, that the operating lights had never gone out in the history of the hospital and I felt a cold chill run down my spine for the second time in my life.
When I left medicine and went into business, there were many other occasions that could have been disastrous. When I started ShareInvestor, we had no revenues and there was a stage when we only had enough cash to last a few more months. Then, somehow at the 11th hour, we managed to find investors and as they say, the rest is history. Yes, there were also many other hiccups along the way and I know that without the blessing from above, any one of these could have crippled the company especially in its early formative years.
To be successful in life, apart from the skills and determination, one also needs business luck and a blessing from above. But, we cannot just wait for this luck to arrive. We need to work extra hard until this luck arrives. Whether luck arrives on time or not, really depends on whether we have the blessing from above.