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Submitted by: Irfan Raza

Well Folks !! Whether we accept or not at one stage of our life mostly during our mid twenties and thirties ( and definitely after every appraisal discussion ) we are bitten by the entrepreneurial insect ( entrepreneur-wala keeda ). We wanna take things on our own hands and take control of our life.

Folks ! at one stage of life, just a couple of years back I was in a similar rage. Inspired by the likes of mashable.coms Pete Cash more, Amit Agarwal of labnol.org and still high on successfully editing and contributing article to my Department magazine in College, I decided to start a blog of myself. Nonetheless it didnt last long.

But, why?

Did I lose interest?

Was I not good enough?

Wasnt I a good writer?

Whatever friends I pen down here from experience a checklist for other wanna be entrepreneurs.

1. Is this the write time to start the business?

If we see history of businesses then all industries did their niche business and were successful for a limited period, say, for example, Microsoft renowned world-over for Windows, the popular Desktop Operating System. But recent years it has seen dwindling sales of its Desktop application, as peoples love for mobile operating system grows. In my case I started a blog when the wave of blogging had already subsided. I had to compete with trillions of websites with millions of popular ones. So, I had to be exceptionally not only good but different to carve out a niche out of my blogging business. A similar case could be argued in India today for someone who plans to start an ecommerce website. Not only one has to compete with the sharks in the highly competent e-comm sphere but has to be different in service and pricing to stay relevant. A budding entrepreneur must ponder these before he takes a dip into the river of entrepreneurship.

2. How long can i sustain it?

Well the ideal answer for this question is Forever. If you do not plan to hold onto a business forever you would never find the required energy and enthusiasm to do it. Moreover to sustain a business one must be absolutely clear why one is doing this business and ask himself how long am I ready to wait to see the returns on my invested time and capital. In the case of my blog , though I started for my love of writing, but soon the idea of my blog to become a cash cow got the better of me. I quickly wanted to make money out of Google Adsense and other ad links, resulting in impatience, subsequent frustration and a consequent closure of my blog.

3. How well do I know the business?

A thorough understanding is a must for a budding entrepreneur to do well in his chosen field. It is advisable to start a business as a team with like-minded people onboard. Just see how mashable.com which Pete Cash more started single-handedly has now grown to a team of 40 members. This is necessary as it brings people with different expertise and experience together. In the case of my blog I started it on my own and I had no knowledge of how google ranks pages, SEO/SEM and how to effectively use social media to popularize my blog.

Conclusion

In his numerous interviews the legendary investor Warren Buffett has said that he likes to invest in companies whose business he understands and which are going to be there for say 100-200 years (like Santa Fe Railroad company, Coca Cola and once he invests in a company he does as if the stock is going to stop trading for the next 10-20 years. We must take a cue from his principles and try to invest our best into a business that we know in and out and throwaway the feeling of give-up .

About the Author: Srikanth Ganesh is a software professional, adventure loving and still an entrepreneur by heart. He lives in Bengaluru, India and reachable at @laymanspeaksWebsite:

WWW.irinnovative.com

Phone: 011-41610410 Email ID: projects@irinnovative.com

Source:

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