Are you an entrepreneur or a dreamer?
We are todays engineering students, studying in one of the nation’s best institutions. We may have different branches and may have different career opinions. But let us take one moment to ask ourselves,” do I really want to be an engineer?” Most would say that an obvious answer is hell yeah. But the answer is not that obvious in most cases. Some of us will find it hard to agree with the bitter truth that they did not come here to be an engineer o their own free will or that they don’t have any aim of what they would after they have become one. Some may say they came here because they didn’t have any other so-called choice, while other may or may not agree with it. But none would agree that they came here because of one reason — a reason that is common in most of the cases of student suicides — family pressure.
They work their ass off to get into a prestigious institution and come out as an engineer, just because some elders in their family want to see their wards as engineers with degrees from some reputed institution. They all lack the one thing that defines engineers out of the rest, passion. They don’t have any respect or liking for the work they are doing and tend to get really pissed off when they can’t make the ends meet. That’s when they finally begin to question their guts and most come to entrepreneurship as final.
Most would say its their heart’s say, but they are so frustrated inside that they find it hard to differentiate between their heart’s say and their mind’s talk. Now you must be wondering why, in the seven hells, is this moron lecturing me on human philosophy? Now I say, to understand why a man does something, you have to understand the man first.
Often this mind’s talk results in the darkest of man’s nightmares. They fail to understand that their job life was far more secure than the life of an entrepreneur. They fail to understand that markets can be far crueler than some lousy boss. They don’t weigh the odds or wait for the right opportunity. Being full of energy, they are easy enough to lose their track and finally end up in a miserable condition. Once they have had an idea, they get all set to kiss their 9-to-5 jobs goodbye, and use everything they have at their disposal to chase after their dreams like a wild horse. History bears the testament to that. They say what often starts with a click, ends with a click.
A recent IBM and Oxford study states that in its first five years, about 80% start-ups in India are found to blow up for a web of reasons. We have nearly 19,000 tech start-ups in our country, out of which only a meagre 800 were able to be established in 2017, compared to the 6000 that were established in the year before. The potential entrepreneurs get so excited about a new idea that they don’t pay any heed to the words of an experienced person and keep on doing the things their way. They fail to assemble a team of individuals inclined to his cause, and even if they did, some quit in the middle, sick of being around a prick so long. Sometimes their confidence in their plan is so strong, they can ensure many experienced investors to invest in them. They don’t dream about solving a problem faced by a mass. They don’t dream about helping others finding their way out of their problems. Most of them only dream about money, and money only.
Steve Jobs once said, “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful, that’s what matters to me.” One should always follow their true passion for that is what that carries a man to his greatest. Also one should be able to tell the difference between the mind’s talk and their passion. It’s quite easy though. Just remember that mind keeps on telling things when one is full of emotions. And when the dust settles and one begins to calm down, one sees the true colours of his passion. Mind’s talks keep on changing faster than the weather, but passion is as constant as the burning sun or the shining stars. Mind’s talk can sometimes destroy even the most solid start-ups, but wonders happen when one is really passionate about solving a problem. That’s the key to lucrative entrepreneurship.
By: Barnali Priyadarshini & Manish Kumar Sarangi
