Having a Plan B

One of the most common dilemmas one faces in life is how to deal with obstacles when they come our way.

One view is to keep knocking at the same door repeatedly until the door opens. This theory is based on the fruit of perseverance.

 

Another theory says that if one door is jammed, try an alternative one. Why waste time on something that refuses to come to you easily? This choice is how one evaluates his career options.

When one does not taste success in an IIT entrance exam, what should be done?

Should he keep trying or should he have a back-up plan in place- Plan B if plan A does not work.

I think it’s about assessing one’s talents. If one is really passionate about a particular field and has the requisite talents, then he must persevere in that field. However, if after spending a few months/ years, a person realizes that he is not cut-out for a particular field, it would be wise to cut your losses and look for an alternative field.

Many successful people tried their hands at many things which did not work out for them, before finding the right fit.

Would love to hear your opinions. Write into aipichai@gmail.com

Why I am not willing to splurge.

I met a friend who happens to know a legendary investor having net worth of over a billion USD. With that kind of money, one would imagine that this guy would own a Rolce Royce and wear luxury watches, etc. However I was not surprised to learn that Mr. Money Bags prefers much lower brands – brands that one used to aspire for when one was in college with no money. Middle class guys would dream “Yaar, one day I will buy a new honda….”

So is he a miser? I don’t think so. It all depends on what gives you CHAI. He said that being driven around in a Rolce Royce is just not him. Once my client told me he would not feel like himself if he was in a Mercedes; his aspiration was maximum a skoda. So what is wrong in that?

It is because one who has worked hard for his buck feels the pain of spending it. This might be true to some extent. I know some rich Dads who have not provided any training to their kids and given them everything on a platter.

These kids blow away the wealth quickly- easy come, easy go. However at the same time, I know people who have lived in very dire conditions. As soon they start earning, they start living life king size.

So who is correct? Well I am not going to draw any valuable judgement. I’m just observing how people have different perspectives about money. Some people just cannot spend or rather splurge on big brands. As I said, wealth is not just science; there is a lot of psychology involved in wealth management.

How I leveraged my Ai!

When I started my career,  I made an agreement with money- Till the age of 40, I will work for you; after 40, you will work for me. Even today I work; the difference is that today, unless an assignment excites me and I feel that I can make an “impact”, I don’t accept the assignment. I charge for my work; but I don’t work for money. There is a big difference.

Being from a business family, “naukri” (employment) was just not in my system. I wanted to be my own boss. For me ‘naukri, sounded like ‘no curry’! When I started, I was self-employed. I was spending a major portion (my prime time) coaching CA students for their exams. That gave me a lot of satisfaction and improved my understanding of the subject immensely. However, I soon realized that this was an extreme form of Ai. The only reason I should continue doing this was if I wanted to start my own coaching class (I dream of this even today). However, I realized that the entire coaching class “business” was star driven. Certain professors have the magnetism of pulling in the students. So either you become the star (Ai model) or depend on other stars, who can be lured away by others and bring your business crashing down. Most importantly, in those days, the top professors in the stream did not have an inspiring story. They were slaves working from 6 am to 10 pm. The top 3 stars in the coaching industry had gone through a divorce. I love my wife (even today!) and did not want this life. So within 2 years, I stopped coaching.

I was engaged in a retainership assignment with a large CA firm. One day I bumped into my first mentor, who believed that if we could do it for others, we could do it for ourselves too. He had the belief that we will attract good clients because we do good work. I always credit him for having such high self-belief.

We started our practise by employing over 30 people. So now we would be earning on our own time as well as on the time spent by others. Great idea! However, the only problem was that 99% of the capital was borrowed capital that we had to service by way of interest and repayment of principle. Secondly, we also had to find work for feeding this team of 30. In the initial days, we were actually borrowing to even fund our withdrawals for home expenses! We soon realized that we needed some ground speed before we can take off. So we shed some excess load by downsizing the team and then we were able to take off.

We also realized that most of the clients were coming for our advice. We were becoming the “stars” in our practice. We wanted some activity that did not depend purely on the “star” power. We needed some service activity that was process driven, rather than star driven. Fortunately, we found an opportunity in selling and servicing financial accounting software which was a sunrise sector. We were adventurous and took a path that was off-beat. The risks paid off. I realized the power off Human Resource development that was the foundation of making others work for me – using other people’s time.

Do you have such stories of leveraging your Ai? Write them to me at aipichai@gmail.com

Who moved my cheese?

Traditional business are losing money, they are not as profitable as they used to be. I’m from a family of traders in automobile spare parts. This used to be a very profitable business. In our community marriages happened based on the goodwill of the business of the family. However, gradually these traditional businesses have been on a steeply sliding slope. The situation is the same in textile business or in electronic trading business. The traditional business model is no longer working as it used to work in the past.

What happened? I remember reading a book “Who moved my cheese?” by Spencer Johnson about 12 years ago. The book tells the story of a rat who would go to a fixed place where he would get cheese every day. Gradually the cheese started dwindling and they would complain “Who moved my cheese?” instead of going elsewhere to find the cheese.

Business has become too dynamic; the pace of change has increased multi-fold. What used to work earlier, no longer applies.

Tomorrow if the Income tax rules become friendly and audit of private companies is made optional, many of my fraternity will complain, “Who Moved my Cheese!”