I. Businessman. (Part 16)

The best part of running a business is having the freedom to decide your destiny. The worst part of running a business is making that decision.

Deciding what business to pick up is an integral part of leading an organization. What you decide today will define your company’s performance tomorrow.

Do you chase the big stuff? Do you chase the small stuff?

The choice is yours. The repercussions are yours too.

Learning No: 18
Big is not always beautiful.

While growing a business, it is easy to get waylaid and starry eyed, every time someone comes to you with a proposition that promises giant returns.

If you’re foolish enough, you would drop all other business to chase this.

Fact: Most such jobs DO NOT come through. What it does achieve, however, is that you lose out on what you had in hand. So after months of chasing a multi million deal, you’re left with nothing!

The smart businessman is able to weed out a good proposition from the crap.

I firmly believe that a cheque of a few thousands, in hand, has more value than a million bucks of promised revenue, which may or may not materialize.

Be happy with smaller profits but guaranteed profits, rather than get sucked into a get rich quick scheme, which will take up your time, effort, energy and leave you with nothing.

I know many entrepreneurs who are constantly chasing that one deal which will catapult them into the billionaire club.

They have been doing this for years. They have still not been successful, and I doubt if they ever will. Some of them have gone back to taking up jobs, as their business has floundered and gone bust.

In the meantime, what they have lost out on, is many years of productivity, when they could have focused on smaller revenues to keep their businesses afloat.

Remember, that running a business is not a lottery.

Those who make it usually aren’t lucky… they make it because they have been successful in identifying an opportunity, resolving to make it happen and working hard, really hard, building their businesses brick by brick.

You need to ask yourself, are you a gambler or a mason.

TO BE CONTINUED…
(This is part 16 of a series of blogs on my learnings as an entrepreneur )

(This is part 15 of a series of blogs on my learnings as an entrepreneur )

Read Part 17 here

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