Hi
I always thought the word entrepreneurship has been over glorified.
One of my uncles is an entrepreneur. And that too from the 80’s till date. So entrepreneurs are not new. He has opened 6 companies till now and failed in 3 , faced zero fund situation twice in his current venture but still has managed to give his family a better life style than where he started from . So being a successful entrepreneur is also not new. Hardship and toil also look old. So all in all entrepreneurship doesn’t have anything new.
I always asked to myself ISME NAYA KYA HAI and why the hype in everyone around.
So I in the last few months I went on a Hatim Tai like journey to discover my moment of truth. And what I found was Entrepreneur 2.0. It had minor fine-tuning from its previous version and all these tuning was tied together by a common thread.
1. The Entrepreneur 2.0 lives a life which is beyond balance sheets – A few days back I met a 90’s entrepreneur who though was successful ended his every line with “Munafa kya hai”. Or how do I make business out it. When I told him about the Rodinhoods, he would ask “Profit kya hai”. I just wanted to shout out “YAAR MUNAFA NAHI HAI” and the rodinhood is happy like that.
I realized I was talking to a version 1.0 entrepreneur. This was my first Hatim Tai moment. Entrepreneur 2.0 are happy helping random crazy people without thinking of financial gains.
2. Without any ego or jealousy and they don’t adorn masks– In ahmedabad we have this concept called E-chai which is run by a superbly charismatic person Jatin. They promote entrepreneurship in whatever way possible. The popularity he gets from e-chai is his driving factor and he readily accepts the fact. I find a lot of people jealous of Jatin and they undermine his efforts only and only to shadow their lack of efforts. “Kya kar raha hai woh. He is wasting time..etc etc..”
This was my Hatim Tai moment 2- Entrepernuer 2.0 are not jealous of each other. They support each other in whatever way possible. This is possibly because the word ego is missing.
3. Embrace competition– Recently I asked a friend- “what if a bigger company with lots of funds copies your model”. He said –“What better than that. I will reinvent myself, will get to explore new dimensions and thus will be much happier. “
What I found was an entrepreneur 2.0 and my Hatim Tai moment 3.
4. Are more focused on the journey than the result – The older version of the entrepreneur had only two colours known to them. White or black. Or rich or poor. Or successful or unsuccessful.
The journey absolutely didn’t matter. But Entrepreneur 2.0 is more focused on the journey than the end. He regards failure as high as success. He enjoys achieving but never disregards thinking and doing. This was my Hatim tai moment-4.
5. Learning is the key driver– By the time I reached my 4th Hatim Tai moment I realised they all had a common thread- learning. Learning is the fuel that drives Entrepreneur 2.0 unlike its previous version which was driven only success and money. This has been my 5th and final Hatim Tai moment.
I realized Entrepreneur 2.0 wants to learn about every business he is surrounded by and wants to rediscover every object and people that are around him.
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I don’t read Alok’s blah blah on the Buddha and karma. I did read the first few, but stopped reading it. It was boring. I did not understand it. I still don’t. May be because I cannot still define Karma.
My journey is helping me define my version of the karma. I hope I reach there soon.
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My thoughts are a generalization and I don’t say that the Businessman (the previous version of the entrepreneur) did not have the above values. All I am saying is that entrepreneur of the current generation loves the above values as much as he loves success and money.
