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Words. Wisdom. Winners.

Rone se kuch nahi hota

Koshish karne se hota hai

Nothing happens if you cry
It only happens if you try

This is what I keep telling vidur all the time
This is the only thing I want to tell him all his life

Lower costs or higher income?

A daily wage worker’s two sons have made it to IIT.  He doesn’t have 1lakh to spare for their admission.

An unemployed guy’s mother is dying. And he doesn’t have enough for her medicines.

A middle class topper from a small town can’t speak in English.

A beggar stares at the window pane, as the kid in the car licks the ice cream off the cone.

What will they trade their life for?
Lower costs and subsidies
Or higher income?

Socialism isn’t about equality. It whole premise is inequality. It’s a misplaced sense of self righteousness. 

As an entrepreneur you will always have two ways of building an organization.

Lower the costs
Make it easy for the have nots
Incentivize people based on where they come from
Put in elaborate performance development plans for the weak ones
Only train when you are losing

Or

Raise the income
Even the haves will find it hard
Incentivize people based on what they do
Put in elaborate performance enhancement plans for everyone
Train when you are at the peak

The salary of your top performer should be higher than you
And publicly known
More so to the worst performer

Call in sick

There are 2 occasions when people call in sick
When they really are
And when they are not, but wish they were

Look around you
All the successful people
The ones whom you want to be
As rich, as famous, as inspirational, as enigmatic

And then ask them – how many times did you call in sick?

Tendulkar took care of himself all these years
So does Nadal
And SRK
And all the successful people around you
They don’t call in sick
Definitely not when they are not
They don’t ever have to

Never work for something where you have to run away from it every now and then.

You will be fine

13 years ago, in the fall of 2002, I captured a shot through my nikon. It was that of wooden fences. About a km from spartan village, where I was staying as a graduate student of MSU.
I was far away from home, lonely, staying with a housemate that hardly spoke.
I didn’t have any money and the stipend was meant to be saved as much as I could. Even if it meant being stingy.
I wasn’t enjoying my studies. I was acing the exams but not enjoying.
And I didn’t know what would happen of me. All I knew was I had to go back to India. To what,  I wasn’t sure

Ruchi and I went to the exact same spot this weekend.
The fence is still there
Nothing seemed to have changed

I wish I could tell my self from 13 years back
You will be fine!

Just because 

Whenever I go to the U.S. I am always amazed by the number of “thank you”, “what’s up”, “you find everything ok” and “sorry” that hit me on an hourly basis. 

They don’t mean it half of the time. Just as “depends” and “maybe” doesn’t mean anything from Indians. 

Classic case of not owning the outcome!
Just because you do something a lot doesn’t mean you are good at it. 

Just because you said something doesn’t mean someone heard it. 

Just because someone heard it doesn’t mean they felt it. 

Just because someone didn’t respond doesn’t mean they didn’t hear anything. 

I’ll come back to you on this later

This single statement has killed more companies than

“I dont know the exact answer, but here is a 50% guess”

ever will!

 

Tomorrow can never be won, if what you have to do isnt decided today.

What fails you as an entrepreneur? 

Irrespective of the stage you are at, if more than 90% of your colleagues come to work excited/happy at what lies ahead of them in the day, every single day, then you have succeeded in building the right institution. 

Else you have simply started a company

And have failed 

You have failed

You have failed
Some startups are so poor, they only have funding. 

Not to 

the easiest thing in the world is not to

Not to do it

Not to go the extra mile

Not to call that person

Not to work beyond hours 

Not to show concern 

Not to work out 

Not to save 

Not to help

Not to own it

It’s the path of least resistance. The path of minimal effort. 

Here is a little thought experiment 

Each time you chose not to, someone else choses to do it. And moves ahead in life. 

Each time you give up, someone is still at it. Saying I won’t give up. 

It’s the same person all the time. So by the time you count all your “not to” that person is way ahead in life. 

It’s the person you could have become. But to chose not to! 

How much does your money earn for you?

A bank interest rate?
A fixed deposit rate?
A stock market rate?
An extremely risky investment rate?

It shocks me how casual people are towards their money. Considering the percentage of people unhappy with their jobs, it’s amazing how many disrespect perhaps the only thing they are working for.

Be brutal with your money. Make it work for you.

My driver earns 12k a month. 8 months back he got up and bought himself a second hand auto.
In cash
For 100k
He paid an advance of 40k. And then came to me for a loan for the rest.
I was blown away! In awe of his audacity. And gladly gave him the money. But not before I asked – what if I hadn’t. You didn’t even ask me before buying.
I knew you would. And if you didn’t, I would have lost just 5k.

Awesome!
That auto earns him 8k a month now in rental.

Start planning your taxes
Take risks with your money
Be prepared to lose all
Make money your slave

Now go on and buy YOUR auto!

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