Running a small business is always a chase.
Chasing clients, chasing revenues, chasing costs, chasing talent and chasing what not.
And during the chase, it often feels if the business is growing at a certain pace or if the business is better positioned than it was yesterday or if the opportunity costs spent is in line with the outputs(both tangible and intangible).
One basic question arises — Are you changing orbits?
And chasing, you often forget if you are on the right track as far as the path is concerned?
Or if the constant flow of revenue/kill is making you subtly complacent?
How do you confirm if this was the race you wanted to run?
How do you know if you are fulfilling the purpose of your existence?
I sought answers to the questions listed above.
I couldn’t find those answers reading articles on the internet or listening to wise men speak to me on the lappy screen.
Hence, I tried the old way. I went and met real people over cups/pints at cafes. Around 30 people who have experience running variety of businesses and are quite successful. I queried them on things which are the nuts and bolts of every business.
And there was one thing in common. Nobody had answers to all the questions. Yet they had one thing in common, they all knew what exactly worked for them. Also when queried on the problems I was/am facing they had answers in bits and parts. It is not that they didn’t know what they were talking about or their advice was irrelevant, it is only that they have not come across a problem statement like mine.
So I surmised, my business — my orbit — my equation for orbit change.
I also came across an article which I resonated with too much — I read that the most important job of a founder is not to come up with kick-ass ideas or close killer deals but make a cohort of people who are there for a long run and are talented(read hungry). Or make the people who are with you into Janissaries/live-wires. And make tough decisions — often play the Hangman.
It all comes back to if there is a recipe. If there is an orbit you can aspire for.
I think, it doesn’t exist. Neither the orbit nor the recipe.
It only exists as a hazy diagram on the chalkboard of your mind. It is a little bit of this and a little bit of that. It is so obscure that you can’t even make a slideshow or a ppt. If you have to share it with someone, you would either have him meet you at a bar or take him for a long walk.
It is like Physics. It is like latent heat. Changing state takes so much more energy, even though the temperature remains the same. Or it is like a water tank, which takes time to fill — and you wish if there was a way to fill the tank faster. I am too obscure in my analogies too. :p
I know that we always need some activation energy to change orbits. But the problem is you neither know the formula and nor do you know the orbit you are looking to go.
If staring into the abyss and walking on broken glass could be epitomized, this would be it. You are going and you don’t know if you are going right. So you say to yourself, hang on — it will make sense. Let’s be in the game a little longer.
Probably the only way it might happen is that you make a list of things you think, you might need to do. And then say ‘No’ to most of the things listed. Choose a couple/one after weighing them on parameters like risk, capital, time involved, team’s capability etc. Find a proposition. Believe in it. And go all in.
Or may be just keep going honestly, and in time — your strides will start growing in size(mm by mm). And one day you will find yourself in the next orbit.
#entrepreneurship #smallbusiness #startups #founders #bombaylocale
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.