Hi friends,

I am back again…! How are you all? We have entered the third semester very quietly and quite surprisingly, the result of second semester is out! And that too, so suddenly! Of course, there has been mixed reactions about the results. Not commenting on results any more, the college has reopened. But…we don’t feel fresh, do we? It’s so boring these days. No fun. No excitement. We probably need a break. At least, I need it desperately. But, can anybody help it? It’s fine, yaar. It happens. Now, let’s talk something serious today.

We know why we have joined MBA, right? I know what all bullshit things we have cited in our GD-PI sessions of GCET. Basically, we want money. Loads of it…! We are not all billionaires. We have not seen lakhs and crores of rupees floating around us. We want money! Fine! How do we get that is what matters the most. The easiest way to earn this money that we have found in life and that falls in our comfort zone is…join a good MBA course in some reputed institute! One may think why I am talking about all these at this moment. The reason is that the placement season will start soon! You know, across the world, there are only three seasons! But for us, the MBA grads, there is one more season called the placement season. And there will be loads of companies coming in and offering all sort of fancy packages. It will be like a Swayamwar for us. We decide which company we want to choose and not the other way around.

My point starts hereon. Till now, we have taken a conventional stand on these normal proceedings. Can we have a closer look at it, now? The issue is not as simple as it seems. This is a very complicated phase of our life wherein we decide which way we want to mould our careers and subsequently our lives. I have two questions to pose in front of you: - (1) Do we only need money, or also need some feeling of achievement/growth? (2) Should we opt for job or become an entrepreneur? If we decide to become an entrepreneur, what is the right time?

As far as the first point is concerned, I totally agree that in the initial phase of our career, we do need money. But what about the later part of life? Or, at least after some three-four years…! For the time being, let’s think we have started earning money. Enough of money! What next? We again need something interesting in life. A human mind always needs to grow from its existing position. If it doesn’t grow, it feels suffocated. It needs to come out of status quo. We always need to move on in life. So, after some time, there comes a stage when a person wants some sense of growth/achievement. We want to grow in life. We want to move further. We want to climb up the hierarchy. So, money doesn’t always motivate.

The first point was o.k. Moving on to the second point, there can be some of the wildest debates of all. There are advocates of both, employment and entrepreneurship. I leave the first question to you whether you want to take up employment or you want to be an entrepreneur. You have to decide what you want to do. Both have their own pros and cons.

But, if you want to become an entrepreneur, you will have hundreds and thousands of problems in your way. You won’t have a product. You won’t have any office. You won’t have customers. You won’t have investors. You won’t have employees. You won’t have systems and processes in place. You won’t have equipments. You will have to create a brand of your own. You will have to create your credentials in the market. The only thing you will have is…COURAGE! This is not to scare anybody. This is what is called ‘thinking on rational grounds’. Because of many such reasons, many of us don’t want to take a tough call in life. Fine! Even I am not sure what I want to do after completing my degree.

Now, think for a while, you are planning to start up your own venture. Then, the question of choosing the right time arises. One way is that you take some experience in the industry and then start you own business. I know that many of us have thought of doing this. Even our professors tell this to us. The other way is that you start it right from the beginning just after passing out from your institute. Both things have its own pros and cons. If you, first of all, want to take some experience, you will of course have benefits. You will know the nitty-gritty of the business. You will have a better idea of market. You will know who your probable customers will be. You will know how to put the systems and processes in place. You will know from where to get the business. All these things can work positively and prove fruitful. But when you decide that you want to do business now, the time may have gone! Just imagine that you are now married. You have your school-going kids. That is a huge responsibility, isn’t it? Till now, you were getting a fixed amount every month. You have your plans in place. You have settled your investments plans, home loan installments, car loan installments, insurance premiums, school fees of your children, etc. in accordance with your regular Pay-Cheques. Now if you have to start your own venture, you will have to devote your full time to it. You will stop getting your regular payments. You will have your entire schedule of things messed up. Remember, you have a huge responsibility of your family. This is the time, you can’t afford to lose, damn it! You lose and you are out. You don’t have a second chance to prove yourself. You have family pressure and thousands of other sabotages. You are not allowed to lose! Otherwise, you will have to start again from the scratch. You will suffer. Your family will suffer. One has to give a serious thought to it.

Now, what if you have to start you business from the beginning? The problems will be the same as mentioned above. But the major benefit will be that you will have time to rectify your mistakes. You will have time to own up your mistakes and start again. Because then you won’t have much of responsibility. More importantly, you will learn from the process. And this learning is the most crucial of all. Because, once you’ve leant the lesson, you won’t commit the same mistake again. In the first case, even if you have learnt your lessons, you won’t have time to put your learning in to practice.

Choice is yours. I chose this subject this time because I have heard many people saying that they will start their venture after getting some experience. I am of the opinion that if one has to start his own business, the right time is to start it right from the beginning. If you have the courage and the right mindset To Do It, everything else will follow. Be it investment, customer, employees or anything else for that matter. As far as experience is concerned, it will come with learning, failure, success and the passage of time. As mentioned above, the placement season will start soon…! Give it a thought as soon as possible, guys…!!!

Before signing off, let me tell you that this is what I believe. If you have some other opinion to share, do tell me by posting your comments and letting the world know about it.

Keep sending in your raves and rags. See you in my next post. Till then, live and lead a successful life…

Asta-la-vista, friends!