A couple of days back, I had two great observations. One was when I happened to attend an event celebrating the National Entrepreneurs Day on 16th January this year, witnessing the amazing journeys of entrepreneurs working against odds of all kinds in Covid times, and still creating great things for the society and public at large. The relentless pursuits of their chosen causes were more than inspiration for me, personally.
The second one was when my eyes got fixated on a news headline: “Entrepreneurs shouldn’t have a plan B.” On the first read, I felt a bit awkward and the walls of my mind started hitting me with this word called ‘why’ repeatedly questioning this very thought. It was a statement made by none other than Mr NR Narayanamurthy, and I kept thinking about it the whole day trying to analyse, understand, examine, identify, and assess the real thoughts behind this statement.
It was a pleasant discovery for me that this was an idea that something deep inside me had already subscribed to. He was so very right. Why should entrepreneurs have a plan B if they are already convinced with an idea that they stumbled upon and have started working upon it? Entrepreneurs and their lives are often interesting stories that are full of challenges and opportunities, risks and rewards, moments of joy and sorrow, paths of ups and downs, numbers of profits and losses, instants of start, pause and start again, phases of exaltations and plummets, etc.
Patience is something that according to me could be the greatest virtue you must carry throughout your entrepreneurial journey. First and foremost, even before you take the plunge, you need to register in your mind, that it will take time. You need to hang on to what you started, come what may. Understand that if you have started it, you will complete it, doesn’t matter how much you will have to toil and burn the midnight oil. All that matters is a positive, optimistic, hopeful, clear, determined, and patient mindset that sets your roadmap and makes you running milestone after milestone.
It matters how much passionate you are about the cause you have chosen, what it really means to you in the deep inside you, and how closely you attach yourself with it and continue to do so all the time. The passion, the zeal, the enthusiasm, and the love you show to what you started reflects all over and binds you strongly with your chosen cause. You’ve got to live this chosen cause, every moment in your entrepreneurial journey apart from keeping aligning everyone who shares your dream, your vision, and believes in what you have set upon as passionately as you believe in.
Next, the most important issues are adaptation and innovation as you’d come across novel situations more often, which may not have ready-made time-tested solutions. It’s your opportunity to assess, review, analyze, gauge, and figure out whether to adapt or innovate and continue to deliver that promise made to yourself, your customers, your employees, and relevant stakeholders.
Entrepreneurs are creators and the most interesting part of their lives is that they also end up undergoing a lot of development and growth in the process. Learning, unlearning, and re-learning is constant in the lives of entrepreneurs.
Chasing their dreams, leading their vision, pursuing their goals, moving ahead on the determined path with perseverance, patience, adaptation, learning, growth, development, and sustaining the belief in their chosen path, makes entrepreneurs a unique lot among mankind.
True, that entrepreneurs need not have a plan B!
The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.
Praveen has been closely associated with many national and international events related to cinema for children, art and culture. He has a well-rounded experience that cuts across all key sectors of PR & Corporate Communications.
He started his career with URJA Communications, an advertising agency specialising in technology brands, where he was instrumental in developing the PR division. Post this, he had a stint with Horizons Porter Novelli, a global public relations consultancy. Thereafter, he was heading the IT & Telecom division at Clea PR, a leading Indian public relations and communications company followed by a fairly long stint with Omnicom Group agencies viz. TBWA\India and Brodeur India.
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