Monday, June 15, 2009

Shortcuts to Getting Rich and Famous



First, let me apologize for being such a snob and not updating this blog for the last 2 weeks. Honestly, it was unintentional and I never meant to disrespect any fellow Blogger (as my post at a blog forum has been misinterpreted). I did want to blog but mercy me, there is hardly any time and besides, I have been traveling. Yeah, the same old story but when you are on your own, time flies. Or rather it evaporates especially when you have distressed clients seeking your positive Midas touch or at least that is what they wish.

Added to this, I was honored to be featured as an “Entrepreneur To Watch” at Your Story.in - India’s No. 1 Entrepreneurship Portal that highlights the free enterprise fortitude and profiles successful entrepreneurs (both young and old). As if this was not enough to raise my gung-ho spirits, my name was in the press on World Environment Day (which was also my birthday) acknowledging my activist role at Green Coalition Network. Well, the news spread and I have since been receiving messages of all kinds in my inbox from clients, family, friends and foes alike. A few were quite candid expressing their sincere greetings, a few with the obligatory congrats and a couple of them, suspiciously anonymous, loaded with outright sarcasm and witty compliments.

Whether Entrepreneur or Activist, it’s great to be acknowledged but awards and recognitions are nothing more than your 15 minutes of fame. They come and go and unless, you win a substantial Cash award (which our undeserving cricketers get in excess), they don’t make a real difference in your immediate world. After all, your credit card agent doesn’t care who you are and what you do for a living; all he wants is your money. Perhaps, awards add value in the long run.

Anyway, what surprised me were the alarming number of emails I received from fellow so-called entrepreneurs; some praising me to the point of sycophancy and a few asking me for “short cuts for getting rich and famous” as someone had expertly phrased. Maybe these folks are stupidly naïve or have a skewed way of perceiving success and most likely don’t realize how tough it is to become (and remain) an entrepreneur.

Being an Entrepreneur is indeed a lot of fun and it’s an indescribable emotion you get every day but it’s not a magic ticket to prosperity, fame or opulence. Mostly, it’s like fishing. If the spot is right, if the weather is good and if you have got the right gear, you’ll get a good catch or you’ll waste an entire day and not even catch a worm. Some of my friends who also happen to come from the same league put it differently – like speeding in a fuel guzzling, expensive turbo car and never knowing when to hit the brakes. Starting on your own is almost like this. The car will almost certainly make many heads turn and make you a star but unless you know to control it, you’ll blow a lot of money and probably sooner or later, fuck you up in a needless accident.

So Awards or Not; brothers, sisters and fellow entrepreneurs, the key to success is learning and knowing your art, fine-tuning it, refining it and then hitting the life highway. And it’s better to always wear a helmet. Play safe, work smart, die hard. These are my shortcuts.

4 comments:

  1. congrats on the Entrepreneur Award. Excellent post and I really like your wit but you should post more often.

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  2. Exciting, congratulations on your award! :) Well written post, I like the analogy of the turbo car & 'life highway'. Some sound advice here. Keep the posts coming.

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  3. Many Congratulations!

    Well, to quote Diana Rankin... "Instead of thinking about where you are, think about where you want to be. It takes twenty years of hard work to be an overnight success."

    So much for "shortcuts"... ! :)

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  4. Archana, Roshmi and Simon,

    thank you all for the congrats and the positive comments. Appreciate it.

    ReplyDelete

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