Is Talent Sufficient For You To Succeed?

Dreams of Entrepreneurship is very easy to see, but very hard to make true. Often people make the mistake of looking at the big picture only. They only look at the profits of a running business and overlook at the processes needed to make that. They only look at the skill set that they have but overlook many things that are needed to make it succeed. A good salesman might say that yes, this is easy and let me start it. But often he may find it difficult to produce quality goods. A good production man may say that this is very easy to produce and overlook the financial part in total. A team is very necessary to make the whole unit successful. 

A case in point may be taken from cricket or any other sport. I am taking example of cricket because of the huge popularity of the game in India and ease of understanding the example. I distinctly remember two cricketers playing for the same team in their school days and involved in a record partnership. They both were no doubt talented. But one of them became God of Cricket while other got lost in wilderness. Yes, I am talking about Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli. Both were good friends. In initial days of international cricket, Kambli showed promise - He had two test double centuries. But he did not last long in international circuit. Well, I was not part of the support unit, but it is considered that main reason was lack of discipline, lack of application. 

While Sachin not only learnt from his past mistake, but he was devoted to the game. He considered Game to be bigger than any individual and so followed the discipline. He worked hard to improve his game and as stayed humble till the end of his career. It was not for nothing that he is considered the gentleman of the game, even while being very aggressive with the bat. Recent case might be of less intensity, but Rohit Sharma from the same Mumbai team has enough talent that is not easy, but may be due to injuries or other things he is not able to do justice to his name. Of course, he is good & still in the game, but with his potential he could have gone farther. Ditto with Virat Kohli. If you look at him or MS Dhoni, then it is not just the cricketing ability that make them good. Their mental toughness, their concentration, their will power combined with the physical training that they do have taken them to another level altogether. Virat is famous for his tight training schedule and fitness passion. These are the things that take them to another level and make them super successful. 

Our business is similar. We need to take care of everything. Right from operating team to sourcing to production to quality to selling to finance. Everything has to fall in right place to make the bigger picture click.

How writing emails can help you in increasing business?

We need to market our company so people know about it. People should know that you exist then only they can give you enquiry. To know about you, you need to reach them. The way to reach them is through writing emails or calling them. If you have a small database of your targets, you can call them. But many a times you do not know whether the product will be needed àt that place.

It is relatively easy to use email marketing. You write a nice message. You go to a good database of your targets industry. Take email id from database and email it. This is a really powerful medium to propagate your name & products to your target audience.

Need To Keep Books Of Accounts For Small Businesses

Businesses are at different levels. Some are big while others are very big. Similarly, at small levels there are many which are actually micro or very small businesses. They are mainly run as proprietary or self employment type businesses. They are mainly dependent on one person or family. They may keep a few helpers but it is mainly one man show. The incomes are low or so to say not very high. These people tend to not report income or not keep books, assuming that it is not necessary. It may not be necessary when you are small or when you want to be small. 

But if you think about progress or going further, then it will come down to expanding your business. When you go to expand your business, normally you require funds. When you go to look for funds - they will ask your history. AND HERE COMES THE NEED TO KEEP BOOKS OF ACCOUNTS. If you have kept your books of accounts, you might be able to show turnover. If you show turnover & profits, you may be able to show that you need funds to grow your business. And then you may get loan. But if you don't have any books, then it might be difficult to get a loan. 

It is always a good idea, be it a small clinic or lawyer's office or a consultant or  a beauty parlor or fashion store. Keep your books and maintain records. They will not only help you in keeping tracks of your business, but also for external party.

Change - The Hated One. How To Manage Change?

When you say Change, the first thing that will come in mind is resistance. Everybody, almost everybody, resists change. And that is inertia for you. As per Newton's law everything has inertia i.e. it likes to maintain status quo. If it is moving, it likes to move (until friction stops it). If it is stationary, it will take a lot of force to move it. As you can see, even non-living things hate change. We are human. If there is no motivation, you will probably maintain the status quo. And when we are driving the change, either in our staff, or may be even at our home, there is resistance. Ab tak aisa hi chalta aa raha hai! Things have been like this. Why change?

I have heard a lot of stories about Rajiv Bajaj. The time when his father run the business, factory was quite different from the way it is run today. Earlier, they used to make whole scooters / bikes. Nowadays, they are just assembling it. The numbers have soared.The people involved in assembly line also had a mindset. When Rajiv Sir (I would like to call him Sir! I highly admire him.) came, he wanted to change the way the company worked. He wanted to put in systems in place. He fought with too much resistance. But people tell how Bajaj company has changed from what it was earlier. It has modernized tremendously. Many a systems have been put in place. 

How to then employ change? The Secret to employing change is to focus all our energies on building the new, not on fighting the old. You need to share your vision and what benefit the change will give & you will get the co-operation.

You Are On The Right Track. So What?

Stumped by the title. In reality, we consider ourselves lucky that we are on the right track. After all, so many businesses fail even to stand up. But you have not just stood up, but you have also taken the right path towards your target. But this does not mean that you should just sit up there being complacent. History is rich in examples where many have lost track even after being at the right place. Reason, probably complacency. 

The truth is even if you are on the right track, but you are not moving then you may be run over. Even in our Hare & Tortoise story, Hare was all poised to win. He was much farther, until complacency took him over and he decided to take nap. He was not only on the right track but much ahead yet he lost only because he did not move in the last stages. You should keep moving until your target comes.

Remember that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. But we do not know what light it is - day light or that of coming vehicle.

Aggresive Growth - A Delicate Balance Of Debt

There have been similar stories of brands - retail brands & chains who are very successful when they start. We have Vishal Megamart, which was started by Mr. Aggarwal from scratch. As he was successful in creating one Megamart, he started to expand by opening various shops. After a while, the big expenses of these new stores was bigger than the contribution they gave. Soon Debt began to mount and he had to sell it to TPG. Then there was also Gini & Jony which is a children's clothing brand. It too was successful, until it created a number of stores and expenses & debt mounted. They too had to restructure their loans.

And even bigger example is the Retail Chain - Subiksha. Mr. Subramanian started with one store in Chennai in 1997 and was expanded to 420 stores by 2006. It was one of the major retail chains in 2008. His philosophy was simple. He did not want the stores to be expensive. So, all the supermarkets were somewhat cramped & there was no AC. He gave reason that this will reduce the expenses which can be passed on to consumers by giving the material at discount. Guess what ? It was closed in 2009 due to severe cash crunch.

This is a tale of many a companies. Companies try to expand without being too sure of the revenues. Often the downfall is coincided with the economic downturn which reduces the revenues and hence increases the debt burden. If you run continuously without practice, you do get tired and exhausted. Instead, run & take break then again run. Similarly, you need to stabilize your business at each stage, so that it does not explode and come in the debt trap.

Resolution Day - How To Keep Up Them

A very very Happy New Year 2017 to you. It is time again when we welcome New Year and start anew. We forget the past and take the New Year as a time when we can start things over. Yes, it is resolution time. Resolutions which we have made numerous times. In fact, there are some resolutions which we tend to keep alive for last 4-5 years of the Resolution day, but ultimately scrap it after it has not been achieved. 

Yes. We tend to start each time and yet fail to cover the distance. It will be hardly a couple of days, week or fortnight when we would  just forget the resolutions and start our current routine. The importance of the Resolution Day is such that Gym people know about it and give a discount for one year membership. They probably know that hardly 2-5 % would continue till half year.

But this time we will make our resolutions stick around. Habit is something which we do subconsciously. And habits can be created in some 21 days. If you continue doing something for 21 DAYS, then you would continue forever (mostly). And if you want to create habit, you will need some trigger, task and reward. For example, if you want to start walking or jogging in the morning, then you need a trigger - Alarm. The task is to start walking or jogging for a particular time or distance. When you complete the task daily, reward yourself. You can consider a reward of good tea at a nearby stall or some juice. Or you can even consider seeing pretty faces on your way as your reward ;). Once you get the reward, the task will become your habit. And once it has become a habit, you will not require reward or trigger. 

Next, you would like to review the resolution daily or at least on Sunday or your holiday. If you review it, you will start it again. And this way, you may restart the stopped task. You do not need to hit a century in 5 overs. You can gradually build your innings as your life is like a Test Match.