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Here is a light hearted look at what a journey as an entrepreneur brings to you ! 1. Sleeplessness " Dreams are not what you have when you sleep, dreams are those that don't let you sleep. " - Dr. Abdul Kalam You would lay awake the night before meeting your first customer, day before product launch or because of one of the many excitements this journey brings. It is like when you are in love or you have spoken to your crush. And if you start getting a good nights sleep continuously - you should be worried - it is a lull before a storm! 2. Fatigue You work really hard day in and day out, days at a stretch. And you would hit the wall. You cannot browse, go out, read a book or listen to music. Your brain will just refuse to co-operate. Solution is to just veg out - switch on the idiot box, make yourself comfortable and watch something that will not tax your brain. It will last an evening or a day max - see it through and you will be energised for another long run. 3. Ideas ...

Who is lifting the world on their shoulders? Politicians? Philosophers? Writers? Philanthrophists? None of the above. The right answer is - entrepreneurs / business folks - they are the ones lifting the world. They create new markets, promote new ideas, blaze new paths by fighting the system, fighting stereotypes, taking risks against all odds. In this post I will introduce you to "Atlas Shrugged" - a magnum opus by Ayn Rand.  This book glorifies the entrepreneurial spirit. The key players : Looters These are the scum of the society - apparently holding top positions. The top brass in the Government, the industry lobbying heads - they do not produce anything but they loot - from the business and from the public. They know only to take and not give anything. They outnumber and control the producers. Producers The producers are the entrepreneurs, the inventors, the innovators. They are the ones fighting the system to introduce new ideas and keep the world ticking and moving for...

In the book Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell ( my review ) says "stickiness" of an idea is an important criteria for the idea to tip. "Made to stick" by Chip Heath & Dan Heath, is an offshoot of the stickiness chapter of Tipping Point where the authors  analyze how and why ideas stick. They have even formed a mnemonic for it - SUCCES. Each one by itself will not guarantee your idea to stick - but if rightly applied together, the probability of your idea sticking is higher. Simple : For an idea to stick, it has to be simple.For that you need to tear apart the unnecessary layers and go to the core of it. Nike - Just do it. FedEx - The World on Time Audi - Vorsprung durch Technik ( ok this is an exception, and being Audi they can make anything stick :) )   Jokes apart it explains very well what Audi does - when tranlated it means - Advancement through technology. Unexpected : The idea should rattle the listeners up. It should break pre conceived notions. Anything u...

Have you seen the movie - 300? It is the story of 300 Spartans who defy all logic and fight against wave after wave of attacks by a much bigger Persian army. Technically it is a well made movie and is a good entertainer - but as an entrepreneur you can draw lot of inspiration from this movie. The Spartans were severely outnumbered - but they believed in their abilities, their training, the trust they had with one another - sounds familiar? :) As an entreprenur you will have to fight lot of battles - thought not as gory as Spartans. Fight against a well established player : Like the Spartans, when Apple started they had to fight IBM. When Pepsi started it had to fight Coke. You can find so many stories where a small company challenged the giant in the industry. If you are one of those entrepreneurs fighting a bigger player - keep going. If you believe in your abilties, in your team - even if it is small - you can win the battle eventually. Fight against established norms : Spartans did ...

"The Tipping Point" is another interesting book from Malcolm Gladwell. "Tipping points" are the levels at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable. He analyses how social epidemics start and classifies 3 kinds of people you will need - who will help your product/portal/message reach the tipping point. Connectors : Connectors are passive information passers. "Hi I heard about this cool website..." - is what they will say - and they will say this to quite a few. Mavens : Mavens are more factual. "Do you know you can get this and this done in this website..." - is what they will say. They analyze threadbare the features/shortcomings and will help the listener make a fair judgement of the product. Salesmen : Salesmen are more persuasive.  "You should be using this website because it will save you time and effort...." is what they will say.  They not only do the job of mavens - by giving you facts but they also will list out the adv...

"The FountainHead" by Ayn Rand is an eye opener in many ways. Howard Roark is an architecture school student who has a different philosophy on how buildings should be built. He wanted to build structures that will be aesthetically pleasing, economically meaningful, in tune with the environment and the building should make a statement. Whereas the industry was aping what the Gothic and romantic architectures of the past had built - with meaningless arches, facades and wasted space. He is thrown out of his college because he refuses to design the traditional architecture and struggles for work - but he never once compromises on his ideals . He waits and his time comes and the world accepts his style of architecture. It is one man against a well established industry who tries hard to keep him down. But the harder you push a ball into water - the faster it rises out and with more force - Howard Roark wins in the end. As an entrepreneur - you might have battles yourself - as you...

The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho This book written by the Brazilian author, Paulo Coelho - is a very very bad book - in a good way  - because it has the potential to change your life upside down !! You can finish it on a weekend  - 160 pages is all it is. It traces the journey of Santiago, the shepherd boy who goes in hunt of a treasure. This book will have a huge impact on your life. While reading and after reading it will leave you disturbed, questioning yourself, and if you had suppressed a dream - a dream of starting your own business, or learning something like guitar which you keep postponing, or going on a crazy bike ride to another city - anything - these dreams will come alive and will dance before you. The book teaches  you to follow your heart. It is as simple as that. In fact all of Paulo Coelho's books have this recurring theme - do not suppress your dream, you have one life and you have to allow it to go where it is destined to go. Do not restrict yourself saying this is ...