Walking the talk

I have been working in a big corporation all of my life, except for a short stint as an accounting lecturer and my observation has normally been about corporate executives. I know enough about many of them to intuitively know whom I can rely on to get things done or whom I can get to hear a lot of excuses. The types you find when you read Dilbert cartoons, believe me, we are all represented there!

My earliest contact with an entrepreneur was our neighbour in my village whom have obtained some grant from some governmental agencies. Sometimes I would be sent off to buy the hot kuih bahulu from his factory and I once saw his small office with the impressive rotating chair. In those days ( 70s) having a rotating chair was BIG! When asked about him, he was always flying off on business trips (obviously selling his bahulu to out of the state customers, I surmised). But after merely 7 months into the business, the taste of the bahulu somehow deteriorated. Why, oh Why? I asked after coming back on a short holiday from a boarding school. Ahhh…Abg Mat Zain had to change the recipe because the patent owner, whom was his co- proprietor (aka : wife) had already been replaced by a new partner ( aka: new wife). The first partnership fell through and so did the business. I swear I saw that rotating chair still surviving in that small room well into the 90s!

The next batch of entrepreneurs I met was a group of American businessmen who were in the same Honors Colloquium as I was when I was in college. It was a special class for outstanding students, (ehem, including ,yours truly) to learn about entrepreneurship. The first day of the class I introduced myself as a 19 year old student from Malaysia to 9 other so called students who were so OLD ( that’s what teenagers think of people the age of thirty and above)! There were actually graduate students holding the likes of a double degree in Physics and Engineering and Mathematics and some other annoyingly tough sounding degrees and each of them had set up and operated their own company! They were talking about venture capitalists, incubators, interest rates and boy, did I feel intimidated and outclassed! Suffice to say, I did not learn much from that class except that we did some graphology test ( study of handwriting) and got to find out that I have the most rare condition of being able to use both left and right brain equally well!

And now, my vendors in the development program actually belong to these groups:
1. Those that I can help for various reasons.
2. Those whom I cannot help because I do not know their modus operandi.
3. Those whom I could have helped but would not let me.
4. Those whom can do well on their own.
5. Those whom humour me by reading my blogs!

So I am writing this blog as part of my journey in being an entrepreneur myself, having my own SWOT, strategies, organization chart and lets see whether I can walk my own talk. Now I have met a new entrepreneur. ME. Lets share our experiences…..

“I have been rich, I have been poor. Being rich is better.”
- Quote from “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”