“Facebook rejected Brian Acton; he founded WhatsApp!
A local newspaper rejected Walt Disney; and he made history!
J.K. Rowling's pitch for 'Harry Potter' was rejected 12 times!
All India Radio rejected Amitabh Bachchan; and he is famous for his baritone voice”.
There are so many stories like this but this space is not enough for listing them all. Most if not all such people had risen from very small households to reach where they are today. Also, it must be considered that such stories are not only limited to the Western World. India too has its fair share if not a higher number of such superstars - Dhirubhai Ambani, Shahrukh Khan, Sachin Tendulkar, Satya Nadella, and much more! All those who rule the world today were initially told that they could not succeed. Their work was criticized by seniors and several flaws were noticed in their work. So, what was common in all of them? They were the bosses of their own lives.
Advice sure was taken and they received guidance from more experienced people. But these winners finally chose their own paths. One could argue that luck played a vital role in their lives. If so, how do you define luck? Do you rub a magic lamp and a genie grants your wishes? Or were you suddenly able to knock into Jeff Bezos at a conference and he gave you all his money??
Man proposes and God creates. The “luck” factor comes only when whatever your ball correctly hits the wicket and the batsman misses it. But won’t that be just a bad game by the batsman? You need to try at first. So, coming back to the core topic of this article – being your own boss; consider this example.
“Doctors tell you to take care of your health, not eat fast-food, do yoga, not spend much time in front of television/computer etc.” But how many doctors are healthy? Won’t they also be affected by Covid-19? Doctors are also humans; regardless of which country they belong to.
How come a person working for 18 hours daily in an IT company has the same health as a doctor who has to run in between multiple surgeries? Ok, let us move away from doctors. What about school teachers? They share knowledge of only what is in the books or what they had been taught. So, does that a mean a teacher knows everything about the subject? Who judges him or her?”
Now let us leave philosophy and get to business. You have an idea and you are confident that it will succeed. But you don’t have the money and a huge number of seed investors do not trust your idea. They tell you to do ‘more research and come up with a solid plan – which will bring them profits!’ Such comments will be many but they shouldn’t determine how you think.
If 10 people didn’t find your idea interesting; ‘diplomatically’ tell them to mind their own business. There will be 90 more people who are interested in your concept.
In conclusion, don’t let the current problem of Covid-19 dampen your spirits. Yes, the economy is spiralling down and all businesses are facing losses. But take it to your advantage. You would have lesser competition now and investors may be more interested for a fresh idea! This could be related to business, arts or even for a social cause. Here are certain suggestions:
- Prepare a document or presentation of your idea
- List its advantages
- List its uniqueness
- List its cost effectiveness
- Why do you think it will have an advantage?
Once these are gathered, you have to let the word out – not that you are looking for investors, but that you have a brilliant concept in hand. Share it with your friends’ circle at first. Everyone should be talking about you and your idea. But be careful that not all details are revealed. This will attract a lot of attention to you and investors will actually compete among themselves to give you a chance.
The secret ingredient here is networking. This has been made simple with help of the internet. Everyone big; including the Honourable Prime Minister of India can be reached through social media platforms such as Twitter and LinkedIn. Even though you are just a dot among lakhs of other people who seek investors, your name must be evident everywhere on social media. Make your name a keyword on search engines such as Google. The flow of life has to be changed. You shouldn’t go looking for people to support you; they should come to you! Once again, remember the luck of your life does not happen good or bad – you make it!
So why are you waiting? Be your own boss!
About the Author
Yasir has written several short-stories, poems, articles, and also novels besides having a sharp business mind. He has been in and out of several professions including Writing, Salesmanship, Marketing, Help Desk Support, and Teaching.