The Entrepreneur In Me

The idea of starting my own business never lasted more than a second in my mind. I always thought that only money-minded people go for business. Such a juvenile thinking! Although, there's a reason for this kind of mentality. I used to think, in business, you have to work 24x7, you are always stressed about profit and loss, there's no steady financial flow, and overall, only very greedy people take this kind of stress just for more money.

On the other hand, content people like me, work only to live a comfortable life, and to give good resources to our kids, which is why we take up a job, and never think about going for a business. As long as we make enough money to live comfortably, we are happy. Why go for business and get stressed for more money ? Even though all of these is true about business, it doesn't necessarily mean that all businessmen are greedy.

Even though I was always pessimistic about business ventures, I always wanted to learn my ancestral family business- Weaving. We have a hundred year old hand-loom machine in our ancestral house, and I always wanted to learn how to weave cloth on it. And if and when my Grandma distributes the family wealth, I want that hand-loom as heirloom !

I often think about how I can revive this small business in the weavers community. I feel moral responsibility to do this. Even though I never actually did anything about this, lately the urge to go for this venture is increasing in my heart. Although, I don't know a thing about weaving and hand-loom business, I am determined to start from scratch. Weavers left this business because there's no money in this business. However, it doesn't matter to me. I still want to explore this territory and see what's in there.

Sometimes, when you avoid listening to your inner voice for very long, your mind finds a way to expose you to an external stimuli, then you can't escape and you have to follow your heart.

These days, a lot of young Indians are ready to take risk and use unconventional methods to make a living. I simply admire the courage of these young people in India. Statistics say that 95% of the startups fail, and my Gujarati blood shows me the "caution" sign every time I think about starting my own business. Even though Gujaratis are considered business-minded people, we are not so much of risk takers. We always and only take calculated risk.

I always have a milestone chart in my mind. According to it, I finished all social and career related milestones before I turned 30. The idea was to put my life on auto-pilot mode before I turned 30, so that I can divert my mind in to new uncharted territories, without worrying about the basics of life. Although, you never know, when life will regress and take you back to square one, at least, you got to have a plan and try your best.

The day I die, I will look back at my life, and will ask myself, did I live my life to the fullest? And because I want to answer yes to this question, I have been trying to find the meaning of the term "to the fullest" and live it. I know, before I die, one of the things I want to check off my list is, to venture into entrepreneurship. Success or failure doesn't matter that much, it's just the feeling of accomplishment that comes during and after trying.