Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be entrepreneurs!
As I stand on the brink of releasing my first book, Out Of The Park, I write this piece that could inspire more entrepreneurs in their ‘journey’.
As one who has played sport at a competitive level, seen the ups and downs in life as a whole, one thing has come to the fore. The beauty of nadir. It entirely depends on whether you consider this a seraphic state of mind or dire. ‘Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys’, as melodious as that country ballad might sound and I can almost listen to a few sing-along, there was a hidden message in that one. If I have to mutate, to the latitude of today, It could easily be ‘Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be entrepreneurs’.
When the bull-run kicks in, the sun seems to be shining brighter than ever before. How beautiful is that sight! You are in command, almost quarterbacking, in that you lose sight of how caliginous the journey can get. ‘Failure will come and it will stay, but it will go away’ — a line from my book that states failure is inexorable but ephemeral at the same time.
As you recline, impounding that cuppa, revisiting your onerous journey as an entrepreneur, you are more profound. This journey is so overcast, a swing bowler could quip. The charm in it though lies in enjoying the ‘journey’. I’ve always believed in the journey and not the destination. Arthur Ashe once said — Success is a journey. Not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome. Some of the greatest leaders of our times have thrived on this philosophy. Mahendra Singh Dhoni for example.
I set out on my journey 18 years ago, being brash, egoistic and juvenile. ‘Success’ knocked on my door, opportunities galore and the delinquent me brushed aside all of it like it were a piece of cake. Looking back at those times makes me quiver. I reached the zenith and fell flat on my face. Can you imagine how malicious that fall can be particularly when exalted with the acceleration due to gravity? That fall made me realize how tenacious I was and soon I brushed aside all the misery and went on to start afresh. Surprise surprise! ‘Success’ came knocking another time.
What did I do now? Being a decade older, judicious and wary, you would imagine I handled my chips well right? Not quite startling, I cold-shouldered all the good things that came my way. I was a brash gambler all my life, without a plan, who threw caution to the wind with the erroneous impression that I knew it all and could walk on broken glass without being bruised.
Three years back another failure came. But another failure, a few start-ups later and with the effort of another rebuild, I sit in front of ye enumerating my journey. A journey, that humbled me as an entrepreneur. I have had my moments in the sun. Plenty of them. But I’ve seen the bear-crawl, one that can be arduous. I can assure you, the gloomy times will come and they will stay but as I said, they will go away. Honour failure and allow them to work their magic because you need to know, the darkest hour of the night is just before dawn. But unless you are prepared to accept sinusoidal waves as a way of life, I urge all of you to tell yourselves and all the mammas, don’t let your babies grow up to be entrepreneurs.
Abhishek Shivaram
Author – Out Of The Park | Motivational speaker | Entrepreneur | MC
