ONE DAY, a dove asked a hawk, “What’s
there in the sky?”
The hawk replied, “There is nothing in
the sky except freedom.”
The dove was visibly curious.
“That’s an illusion”, the dove said.
The eagle, without batting an eyelid, said,
“I believe in illusion to prove them wrong.”
When I got introduced to entrepreneurship,
I was 18 years old and in the first year
of college. The subject was Fundamentals of
Entrepreneurship. Everyone said that it is a theoretical
subject, and many questioned its existence in our
syllabus. The professor was boring, academically very
strong, but practically a novice.
Today, I am in my thirties, and I understand the
value of entrepreneurship like a science student understands
the value of physics. In the last ten years, I
have observed entrepreneurship from close quarters.
I’m surprised by how entrepreneurship is more of an
art than a science. The strategy that worked for me
might not work for you. It’s also not just strategy; it
could be the same strategy, but the execution excellence
makes the difference too.
Today, I will tell you three key indicators to test your
ability to be an entrepreneur. I observed that there are
three Ps that are foundational traits of every entrepreneur.
It becomes easy to remember if you like green
peas. The first two are oriented internally, and
the third one is anchored externally.
1. PATIENCE
In an imaginary land, there was a
king who had three queens. One
day, a queen comes to the king
and says that she wants to leave
the kingdom. The king tried to
convince her to stay back, but
she left. The king is okay with
it. On the second day, the second
queen arrives, and she, too,
wants to leave the kingdom. The
king persuades her to stay back,
but she refuses. This time, too, the
king takes it by the chin. Now, it’s the
third day, and what happened was what the
King had been afraid of. The last queen too
wants to leave the kingdom. This time, the
king falls at her feet and requests that she
not leave the kingdom. The third queen
agrees. After years, one day, both the first
and second queens return to the kingdom.
Story ends.
Like you, I was curious at this point
when my mentor, in his eighties, narrated
this story to me. I was restless to know who
these three queens are. He leans forward
from his well-cushioned red and black
chair, “the first queen’s name is Prosperity, the second
is Power, and the third is Patience.
Always have that third queen in your entrepreneurial
life.
2. PERSEVERANCE
There is only one shortcut in life: neither hard work
nor smart work, but perseverance. When I reflected
on this, it clicked for me like a well-chewed piece of
gum clicks to our shoes. Perseverance is a consistent
effort to desire and do what you want. It is not mere
handwork, nor is it the overused smart work. It is a
well-calibrated, tempo-driven, orchestrated effort towards
your vision and goal. Imbibe this trait, and you
will realise that you are slowly becoming invincible
from within.
3. PEOPLE
This is about our external orientation. If you ask
any learned man what the generic goal of all
entrepreneurs is, they would most probably
say “to ease people’s lives.” Yes, it
is for the people you work with. Your
endeavour, devoured by people,
will have no meaning. Your efforts
should be centered around people
whose lives you want to make
pleasurable. If you aim to be an
entrepreneur, understand the
people around you, and build people
around you who would march
along with you in your journey to
bring solutions for problems that people,
including you, are facing.