Struggles

By Devansh Pandey

A word which can single handedly describe the entire life of a businessman, or maybe all the people who are somehow associated to daily business activity or let’s just say that it can describe all of humanity.

But this is not the Psychology column and so let us not discuss about how every human being in some way or the other struggles in his life, lets stick to only the businessmen.

I have a huge amount of respect for all those businessmen who have struggled or are still struggling every day to inch closer to success and growth.

Every businessman present out there “inspires” me.

Why? Let’s see…

Running a business isn’t something we learn from our childhood, even though subjects like Commerce are present in our education system, they can just not teach how to deal with unexpected problems that pop up from nowhere, everyday!

Other than the problems, the businessman also has to ensure that all his clients and customers are dealt in such a way that the relationship is maintained for years, and also has to listen to some harsh words from them but, he cannot respond to him in the same tone. HE doesn’t get a chance to explain his problems to anyone else and all this is done only for the survival of the business.

You lose temper and you might end up losing your business.

source- financialexpress.com

Ratan Tata was humiliated when he approached Ford to sell his passenger car business ‘Tata Motors’ but he said nothing, and 9 years later it was the same man Ratan Tata who bought Ford Group’s JLR Company (Jaguar Land Rover- providing a range of luxury sports cars) when no one in the world was ready to buy it.

One cannot just wake up one day and say, “Let’s start a business” and expect instant profits, success and growth and, ultimately, a happy life. The business world requires so much of dedication, hardwork and patience in the nerves of the businessman, that makes the job harder.

There are so many ups and downs in a businessman’s life when he himself might not know when, what will happen.

Did Anil Ambani know that in a decade he would go from riches to rags?

One such example is how the famous actor Amitabh Bachchan started his company ‘Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited’ which completely destroyed his wealth. All his properties were mortgaged and he had to ask for help from his friends.

source-economictimes.com

This proves that you cant be a great businessman with only money.

If there is no proper planning before getting into business, one might just end making their life worse. Also many people get into business thinking that this industry creates instant profits by looking at Ambani's lifestyle.

But there is harsh past behind their present success.

Dhirubai Ambani worked at a Gas Station in Dubai and saved money to start a textile business in Gujarat which today stands as Reliance Industries.

Many of us have seen advertisements of Nirma- “Washing Powder Nirma”. The owner, Karsanbhai Patel, used to make detergents in his backyard on his own and sell it all by himself at markets at Rs 3 per kg, cycling through the neighborhood.

source- livemint.com

Other famous examples can be how

Giants like Amazon and Disney started in a Garage.

The point here is that it doesn’t matter if you get investment from Softbank in today’s world, a true businessman should have 100 different ways to run his business in the right direction. One should have arrangements made beforehand and not wait for investments, if you do then you might end up losing a great business. There are ups and downs and a businessman should stand firmly with his business at all times. Due to lack of funds in the current pandemic scenario, many businesses have shut down leading to further unemployment in our country.

Everyday there are problems like paying tax, rent, EMI’s, arranging funds, repaying loans, getting customers, selling, expansion, paying salaries, and at the end try to make some money for oneself too, after all one's his hard work.

Bangalore city is one of the biggest startup hubs of the world and yet the startup failure rate in India is 90%. And lets not forget the suicide rate which shows that around 21 businessmen commit suicide every day in India due to bankruptcy or inability to pay back debts.

Which means that only 10 startups out of 100 survive whereas the rest 90 fail within 5 years due to lack of funds, innovation, and government pressure.

Overall I would like to say that Businessmen contribute so much to our society and are still the least respected (not talking about ones on Forbes List) and the least cared about. The current government’s tax system has created a huge amount of pressure on them leading to shutdowns of so many businesses. Its time that we learn about everyday struggles of businessmen and respect them. We look at them as role models and learn from their success and failures and how they react to every new problems and situations.