What we have observed is that many have failed to realise the subtle difference between true entrepreneurs doing things for the right reasons, and those doing it as an alternate career choice. Failure to understand this can result in disappointments and quick failures if you are becoming an ‘entrepreneur’ for the wrong reasons.

We’ve seen huge surge in the number of people wanting to become entrepreneurs. This could be due to the promotional efforts by agencies, especially by governments that get people excited and they want to to give entrepreneurship a shot because it appears to be the ‘in thing’. You will notice that many people will jump into the pool; some for the right reasons, but many for the wrong reasons. There is a lot of attention given to entrepreneurs, especially with sensational stories of people building successful companies and of huge exits. But what many people fail to write about is the trials and tribulations it took to get to that stage. The ups and downs that the entrepreneurs had to face in order to build their company.

One one hand it is a good thing to encourage entrepreneurship, especially at a young age. Small businesses are the core of many economies, and by encouraging entrepreneurship, you are inculcating a different mindset in the youth of the country. By encouraging people to try you are allowing for experimentation, you are allowing people to think out of the box, you are teaching people to take risks. So by having governments and agencies promoting and supporting entrepreneurship makes it a boon.

The part that needs a bit of tweaking is the mindset of the individual, especially for people who are looking towards entrepreneurship as an alternative career choice. Many fail to realise that you don’t just create companies from thin air. It takes a lot of hard work and a lot of determination to see your project through. You must be able to plough through the highs and lows of all the obstacles without losing focus on your goals, and you must be prepared for failure. There is a chance your project may never achieve fruition.

To be able to run the marathon, you must really have the passion and the right reasons for doing what you are doing. It is then only, that you will be able to last the full run and achieve success. To achieve this,  there is a need to have a clear understanding from the start that the picture will not always be rosy. Learn to accept the challenges and be grateful for all the small wins, because every small win will keep propelling you forward.

Doing something for the right reasons will give you the motivation to jump out of bed every morning and to get to work.

“A company is born out of a bright idea, especially a very unique idea, which is then transformed into a business model and finally implemented as a business. This is the only way to create longer lasting companies.

The journey as I mentioned is never an easy one, and once you have found the right idea and the right business model – and if and only if you have the passion – will you be able to create the business and be called an entrepreneur. There is no shorter way, as you will realise from any literature you may read about entrepreneurship. You will discover this is the case with every entrepreneur you speak with.

They will not forget to tell you about this thing called passion.” – Mr Inderjit Singh: The Art and Science of Entrepreneurship

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Today we share Mr Patrick’s thoughts on being of value. To bring ourselves to greater heights, we must bring value to others. If you want to achieve something in life, you should bring something of value to the table. Be in a position to help people solve their problems, then you are of value. 

“The strangest things happen to me. Let me share one of them with you.

In my personal file, I have two interesting letters. One of them is a letter of offer for a job. The other letter is a letter of rejection for the same job.

Long before receiving the letters, I had decided to pursue my career in the Infocomm Technology (ICT) industry. However, I did not have the right qualification and neither did I have the appropriate experience and competence. I applied for every available job and was rejected for every one of them. I did not even get a chance to go for a job interview.

When I found out that one of the top ICT companies was planning to hire a new salesperson through a headhunting firm, I wrote to them. Deep in my heart, I knew I would be rejected because I was not the most suitable candidate.

Meanwhile, I called the Director of the ICT Company. I convinced him on the phone that it would be worth his time to meet me. It would make a difference to the future of his company. I ‘sold’ myself as if my life depended on it. Till today, it remains a mystery if he was convinced by my well-prepared script or by my passion.

In any case, he finally granted me an appointment.

When that fateful day came, I was all prepared for the job interview. It was not unclear in my mind what the objective of the meeting was – I must get the job. I knew how I intended to achieve it – at all costs. I was going for broke. There would be absolutely no turning back for me.

I researched about the company and came prepared with an action plan. At the core of the plan was me – the corporate Rambo who would go out to the field with a ‘Take no prisoner’ mentality. I would charge through the most terrifying terrains and blaze a trail of glory.

For every question that was raised, I had a well-rehearsed response. There was an assurance for every concern. At one point when I thought I had lost the battle, I looked at the German Director squarely in the eyes. I told him, “To prove to you, I will deliver results, I will put my wallet where my mouth is.

“You don’t have to pay me a basic salary.

“I will work for you on a success basis only. Just pay me on a profit-sharing basis or a sales commission.”

There was no question in my mind I would offer so much value that the Director would be more than happy to pay me handsomely. I would become a prized asset to the company.

Still, getting the job was not an easy task and in fact, it was an uphill climb. I met the Director again and again to prove my worth.

The Director finally agreed to employ me as a junior salesperson – and I suspected he did it mainly because of sympathy rather than conviction.

And so it happened that on the same week, I received an employment contract from the company, I also received a letter from the headhunting firm informing me that the job had been filled. I was quite sure the headhunter did not realize the job was filled by me.

That was the beginning of a long and arduous journey to live up to my proposal. I had to deliver results because results are the only true measurement of life. To cut a long story short, I was promoted shortly to become the commercial sales manager. Subsequently, I became a member of the management committee.

I later became one of the youngest to hold a regional sales and marketing position and subsequently, I took on the regional CEO position for a multinational company. At that point, my boss used to say I was one of the highest paid in the industry.

Through this part of my journey, I learned that most people are sprinters – but life is a marathon. If you are focused on moving in the right direction and you keep pressing on wisely, you can win any major race.

To open the door to success, you need to unlock it with an important key – I call it the Values Key.

You need to value-add to whatever you set out to do and to the people around you so as to achieve sustainable results.

When you offer nothing, chances are you will achieve nothing.

If you expect to achieve something by offering nothing of value, you are gambling with life. You will go down the slippery road of failures.

There are essentially two key aspects of value-addition:

First, value-improvement, which refers to, the increase in output, less input divided by units of labour. This is a typical definition and has to do with improving efficiency and productivity of your performance. Value creation is about enhancing quality of output so as to achieve the best possible results. It is not just about achieving incremental but also quantum leaps of improvement. Value improvement is about taking action in the best possible way. However, value creation is about producing the best possible results.

Therefore, value-addition is about taking the right action in the best possible way. It is about achieving the right output as well as the best results for all the stakeholders. For example, my responsibility as an entrepreneur, is not just about helping employees enjoy higher wages. It is also about helping them enjoy job satisfaction and fulfillment in the best possible way. The question that begs to be answered is not when you can start to become a person of values but how. The earlier you begin, the stronger you position yourself for success.

The starting point is to believe that you are of value. You need to love yourself and be comfortable under your own skin. Your emotional stability will help you win more friends. On the other hand, if you are emotionally unstable, it will repel them from you. The more you have faith in yourself and work on improving yourself, the better you can value-add to others.

In addition, you must know how to value others and believe that you can value-add to them and work towards doing so. You must also make them know that you value them. The more you value-add to others, the more you will value-add to yourself. By the same token, the more you value-add to yourself, the more you will be able to value-add to others.

In the exciting journey of life, position yourself to be a problem solver and a solution provider. As a result, you will always be a respected and desired member of any organisation, community and society. As you value-add to others, you will do well to remember that different people value different things in different ways. Therefore you need to define and deliver the values that will best meet their needs on an ongoing basis. Throughout your life, build a strong personal brand for being known as a person who believes in value adding to others. Continue to build a track record of helping others to succeed in life.

For example, if you are a business owner, do not just focus on making money. Instead, provide so many values to others that they cannot but feel obligated to pay you. They are more than happy to continue to do business with you. If you are an employee, help your employer to develop the best working environment and to achieve the best possible results. By doing so, you will earn favour from them and the other colleagues.

You will become the preferred choice for promotion. Your employer will also be more inclined to pay you a better salary increment and bonus.

Obviously, as you value-add to others, do not focus on getting any reward and recognition. Do not live to expect values from others. Instead, constantly seek to be of value to them.

For example, do not seek to have the best of friends. Instead, seek to be the best of friends to others. Do not expect to have the best spouse. Instead, be the best spouse to your soul mate. Whatever value-add you provide, do it out of love and for the love of people and the environment.

This is one of the ways to reignite the power of love and bring humanity back to where it rightfully belongs – a community of love.

When people perceive that you have good intentions and there are values in building relationships with you, they will draw nearer to you. Opportunities will also gravitate towards you. When you continue to improve your value-addition, you will achieve better outcomes. It may not happen immediately but it will eventually happen and at the most appropriate time. As you increase your value-addition, you will also improve your results. That’s why you need to continue to multiply your values throughout your journey in life.

Today, you must offer more values than what you did yesterday. Tomorrow, you must offer more values than what you did today.

To improve yourself, you must commit yourself to lifelong learning. When you bring out the best from yourself, you can also bring out the best from others. However, just as you cannot be all things to all people, you cannot learn everything and pretend you can be an expert in every subject matter. You need to focus on learning what is important to your life right now. At the same time, you need to also learn what is important to the future success of your life.

To do so, you need to spend time with yourself and reflect about life. You need to take time away from your daily routines and free your mind from the noises within you and without. Only through a focused effort can you then put together an effective plan to multiply your values in life. You need to decide what you want to achieve in your life and how you can develop yourself to help turn it into a reality. You need to put together a detailed blueprint of action and discipline yourself to execute it.

Throughout your life, you need to constantly ask yourself, To live a great life:

• What must I start doing?
• What must I stop doing?
• What must I do more of?
• What must I do less of?

In the process of learning, growing and achieving better results, you need to enjoy the process and celebrate every achievement. If you are not excited about improving yourself and having fun, you will not put in your heart and soul to make it work. Aim to exceed other people’s expectations of you. Deliver more values and run many more extra miles for them.

More than anything else, stretch yourself so that you can perform better than what you believe you can achieve. Multiply your values exponentially by improving your synergy with others. Learn how to connect with the right talents and collaborate with them so as to co-create better solutions.

Achieve ever more and better results with ever less resources by creating and developing leverages. They include leveraging on systems, people, technologies, innovations, and other resources. Develop a network of resources that you can offer to others so as to help them improve their values and achieve better results.

Strive to be a hub and a router of values. Help to receive, package, and transmit values from individual to individual, group to group, and organisation to organisation. Soon, you will become a magnet of success and a hub to distribute it to others.

Let us spread the ‘Values Key’ message so that more and more people will become people of values.

If we live for others and not just for ourselves and serve their best interests and not just ours, and we continue to fight for a greater good, the world will be a much better home.”

Go4It!

Patrick Liew

To read More from Mr Patrick Liew you can head on to his blog at

http://liewinspiration.wordpress.com

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EntreCity - City of Entrepreneurial Learning and Sharing - City of Entrepreneurial Learning and Sharing

It is always best to keep a business plan clean from too much information. It should not be bogged down with too many details. Instead all non-essential details should be included in the appendices.

As we discussed earlier on, the business plan should be as concise as possible and the plans as focused as possible. The reason for this that the business plan should act as a hook and give the reader a broader view of what is to come. The tendency of giving too many lower level details of an operations strategy and plan, too detailed a description of the technology, or too much of a minute-level breakdown of how the financial plan was developed should be avoided.

While it is useful to give as much information as necessary, we should not get the reader bogged down with too many details(especially in the initial stages), rather we should give then a good feel of the company and its plans. We do not want the reader to loose interest too fast; rather we want to give them the option of exploring further. A good gauge would be to, interest them from the beginning and lead them to wanting to read more.

On the other side of the spectrum you will see that many of your readers (especially VCs and more sophisticated investors) may want to consult their experts on certain things like technology, market assessment, operational plans and assumptions made. These investors may rely heavily in their expert’s opinion. So having included the attachments at the end would allow for them to consult their expert more easily, by letting them focus on that particular core information.

If details are provided in the business plan attachments, the experts can make a faster judgement without having to spend too much time interviewing and discussing things with the management team.

Although details are good, the entrepreneur should resist from adding too much information, especially information that will not help much in the reader’s understanding of the business. Rather than just including everything (and the kitchen sink) in your plan, it would be better to strategise the placement of certain details, to allow for a better reading experience.

Unnecessary details could in fact have a negative impact and give the impression that the entrepreneur does not know how to write a good business plan. The best guide for a good business plan would be to do everything in moderation.

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Today we share a story from The Art and Science of Entrepreneurship by Mr Inderjit. An experience that he had in his past venture that made it clear about passion

“When I joined forces with a group of fresh graduates to start a dot com venture in 1999, I thought I had partnered a group of very enthusiastic young people who believed in what they wanted to do and had the passion to establish what we thought would be a great company. My first impression was that they were very creative in the way they established contact with me to communicate their desire to work with me on a start-up. At that time, I was quite prominently promoting entrepreneurship, which gave me a lot of visibility, so some people sought to make me their partner. Thus, I partnered them and we started a company with some initial ideas we thought would be great winners in the dot com world.

As we began the process, the hard work started, and because it was a tough environment, results were not easily achieved. Each time, when I energised the team to work on some interesting initiatives, I would see initial excitement, but each time, I saw that excitement waning quickly as the hard work did not produce immediate results. This went on a few times, and I started to wonder about the level of passion these people really had for what we were trying to do. Finally, one day, I had a heart-to-heart discussion with them about why they had lost interest and momentum in what we should have been doing quickly. After much discussion, it slipped out of one of them that “we do not feel the pinch because it is not our money.” I was surprised, but I should not have been, because I was paying these guys a good salary at the same time as a good equity position, so they did not feel the pinch. Well, I told them I would immediately solve the pinch problem by cutting their salary by 50 percent until we saw some results.

But the real problem was not just this lack of pinch. It was really about passion. Were these guys in it because they really believed in the idea and really wanted to become entrepreneurs, or was it because it was a fashionable thing to do those days, because of the level of prominence given to young “successful” entrepreneurs. (I will talk about this a little more under the chapter called, “Lessons Learnt During the Dot Com Days”.)

What I quickly realised was that what was missing, in addition to the pinch factor, was this trait of passion. They were in it not because of the passion, but because of the other fanciful reasons. The reality is that if the motivating reasons are other than the passion and the belief in what they are doing, the job becomes very tough as the nitty-gritty of being an entrepreneur results in so much work and requires so much effort and sacrifice that without the passion for it, life can become very tough. As soon as I realised I did not have a passionate team, I decided to either wind down the company or sell it to someone who was more passionate about it. The good news is that I managed to exit from the company in February 2000, just before the dot com crash of April 2000.”

We sometimes pursue things for the wrong reasons. We may be influenced in different ways and perhaps we follow because everyone else is doing it. In next weeks lecture we will talk more about not becoming an Entrepreneur for the wrong reasons.

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Today we share a profound article by our Mentor Mr Patrick Liew. His past experience fueled his drive for success and took him to greater heights. Instead of letting his bad experiences get to him. He refocused his energy to better himself and to propel forward.

While reading this, you may want to ask yourself, what is motivating me to become a better person. Remember it does not matter who you are today; what matters is who you want to be tomorrow.

“ Please come back with me through time to 1974.

The scene: A grand ballroom in a 5-star hotel.

Crystal chandeliers were casting magical lights all over the room.

Beautiful music was dancing through the waves of the air.

The guests were dressed to the nines. VIPs who sat in the first few rows looked almost like royalty.

Waiters and waitresses were moving around the room, serving delicious cuisines to excite different taste buds. There was an electrifying excitement in the air.

The Emcee took to the stage and made an announcement that drew everybody’s attention.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Mister and Miss Beauty Contest!”

It was a beautiful scene to everybody present, except one. It was a nightmare that lived in the mind of that person for a long time.

That person was me.

I was one of the finalists in the beauty contest and that experience remains fresh in my mind until today.

I know you’ll be scrambling to look at my photograph. You will probably be wondering, “How can this face ever get into a beauty contest?”

In 1974, I was forced to enter the contest. It was part of an ‘Orientation’ by the older students, otherwise known as ‘Senior Ladies and Gentlemen.’

As a ‘freshie,’ I had to do what the seniors ‘advised’ me to do, or else I was supposed to suffer hell in the days ahead.

I was literally dragged into the beauty contest.

They needed a ‘William Hung,’ or a freak to provide additional fun and laughter and I was the perfect choice.

However, the judges made a mistake. They must have allocated points for other qualities, beside good looks.

In the Beauty column, I believe I still owed the organizers a substantial amount of points. In the other columns, I managed to salvage myself.

It was more like I dug myself into a deeper hole.

To cut a long story short, I got into the finals. That was when my troubles started.

The organizers told me I needed to put on a nice jacket during the finals. I had never owned a jacket until then, and probably never thought I would have one.

I came from a poor family. My parents had to struggle to keep me alive and put me through school.

There was hardly anything left in the kitty for anything else.

After searching for a solution and failing to find one, I approached my father.

“Papa, I really need a jacket for an important occasion. Can you get me one or I’ll be in big trouble?”

That evening, my father gave me such a dressing down, it left me cursing poverty deep in my bones.

“You’re lucky to have food on the table,” he roared.

“If there’s anything left, most of the money will go into your education and it is barely enough to cover your school fees and pocket money. Can’t you see how tired I am in trying to keep all seven of you alive?”

The last week before the finals was one of the worst periods in my life.

You should have seen me approaching almost everybody to beg for or borrow a jacket.

At the eleventh hour, I remembered that the head prefect in my secondary school had been given a jacket. Thankfully, I managed to contact him and borrow it.

My head prefect was a tall and lanky person. So, when I put on the jacket, I looked like a chimpanzee.

To make matters worse, the jacket was tailored as a student jacket and was made out of a bright turquoise material. It was the strangest looking jacket for a formal occasion.

I must be the first person in the world to wear a turquoise student jacket in a beauty contest.

Please come back with me to the beauty contest.

The Emcee was announcing to the audience, “The next contestant, Mr. Paatttrrriiicck Liew!”

I took to the catwalk amidst applause, whistles and catcalls.

I was told that the stronger the response, the more marks would be awarded to me. The worst the response, the lower the marks.

I walked nervously to the centre of the stage.

I was embarrassed and struggling to keep my balance.

Suddenly, from the back of the room, a lady screamed,

“Eee! That is my former head prefect’s jacket!”

That moment will forever be etched in my mind. I can still visualize the spotlights and all the lights in the room focusing just on me.

The music became softer and softer until there was complete silence.

Everybody seemed to move in slow motion until they froze and stared at me.

It was the most humiliating moment of my life.

After coming down from the stage, I ran all the way home with tears streaming down my cheeks.

“Why do I have to be poor?” I yelled into the darkness of the night.

“Why can’t I have a better jacket? Why can’t I live a better life? Why? Why? Why?”

I swore I would never be poor and I would be somebody in life.

At that young age, I thought if I were more successful, I could have more personal glory and material comforts in life.

This is a belief shared by many. They measure success by the amount of money in the bank accounts.

They believe that position, profit, pleasure, power and prestige are the key traits of success. Yet, these traits have never help anybody achieve sustainable happiness.

I learned the truth from one of the best teachers – Life.

Life plays interesting learning games with us. The outcomes of such games depend very much on our attitude towards improvements, results and growth.

The lessons that I thought I should learn from every experience oftentimes ended up to be different from the lessons that I subsequently learned. These lessons would eventually change my life.

As I journey through life, I found a more compelling purpose to be successful.

I believe if I am more successful, I can give my loved ones a better life.

I can help the weak, the needy, and the disadvantaged to live a meaningful and fulfilling life.

I can make more and better contributions to the community. I can be a blessing to the world and make it a better home.

I can also do so much more for planet earth. In case you have not realised, our planet is currently sick and dying.

We need to join hands together and turn the tide of negativity and destruction.

So, why do you want to become more successful in life?

If you don’t know the ‘Why,’ you will never find out the ‘How.’ It is your purpose that will drive your performance and determine your pursuit.

If you do not have a compelling purpose to wake you up every morning and excel in life, may I strongly suggest you do not sleep tonight until you can find it.

The fuel to success is motivation and all motivation begins with and revolves around self motivation.

If you are not self-motivated to succeed, nothing in the world can move you a single inch. You will not set goals, let alone press on to achieve them.

Living a life of positive self-motivation  is a cultivated mindset, a fostered discipline and a developed habit.

Self motivation cannot be pursued and acquired in and of itself.

It is a process that begins with a personal choice. You need to decide to put on a new mind – to do something you have never done before.

It is also a by-product of fulfilling a cause that is much bigger than you. A cause that will electrify you to jump out of bed every morning to live out your purpose and calling in life.

When that happens, obstacles and obstructions will become mere potholes and puddles. They are just detours that you have to go through on the journey of life.

Your choice is a mental shift but that will not take you far. You need to transform it into a commitment which involves your whole being.

However, commitment is not a one-time affair. You need to re-commit to your dream and goals on a regular basis.

As you saturate your heart and mind with dream and goals, you will become increasingly self-motivated.

Along the way, continue to develop compelling reasons, conditions and changes to drive yourself to achieve success.

Focus on your dream and goals and discipline yourself to turn them into a reality.

Put in the necessary sacrifices to move out of your comfort zone.

Plod on through challenging terrains until you can pave a way through fruitful territories.

Unlearn, learn and re-learn how to program your self motivation so that it will become a vital part of your attitude.

Live it out well and long enough so as to turn it into a habit.

Your habitual life can be further reinforced through regular rehearsals and repetitions.

Every time you take a positive action, you create a link between your chosen behavior and the end-results.

You form a neural pathway in your mind which will make the action easier to carry out in future.

The more passionate you are about fulfilling and enjoying the goal-setting process, the stronger will be your resolve to make self-motivation a part of your behaviour.

As you continue to fan the fire of self-motivation, it will become a habit.

Once the habit is formed, you cannot afford to be complacent.

Continue to improve yourself so that your habit will become an unconscious competence, a real and lasting part of your being and lifestyle.

You will then become perpetually motivated to achieve the dream and goals in your life.

Go4It!”

Patrick Liew

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EntreCity - City of Entrepreneurial Learning and Sharing - City of Entrepreneurial Learning and Sharing

So what does the exit strategy entail? The form of exit may differ from company to company. So, it will be crucial to pinpoint what form of exit will be apt for the type of company being established. Many entrepreneurs perceive public listing as the only way to allow investors to realize their returns. Even though this form is usually preferred, having dividends or profit sharing are other means of returns that can be considered.

Investors aside, the question of making an exit is of great concern to the entrepreneur, management team, employees and other stakeholders. This section should clearly spell out the forms of returns and exits for each stakeholder. In this way, each stakeholder can be motivated to do their part.

An exit strategy that is detailed and well thought out guides stakeholders to evaluate what form of returns can be given to stakeholders at different stages in a company’s life cycle. It also will provide a gauge as to when an exit can be planned in the execution phase.

Ultimately, an exit plan is incomplete without milestones and conditions. Examples of milestones include a certain level of profitability, revenue and acceptance in the market. Conditions can be the level of cash left, future cash needs and the consensus of the key stakeholders before an exit strategy can be executed.  Therefore, think about your exit strategy carefully so that you are prepared at every turn.

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  Ask any entrepreneur about his journey and you will realize that it is never any easy one. The life of an entrepreneur may be fraught with challenges and uncertainties, which are expected of start-ups that are trying to establish themselves and grow. This may be exacerbated if the entrepreneur lacks the passion to sustain his efforts in starting up. So the key to survival in a pressure cooker environment is passion.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. This clearly applies to entrepreneurship. It is during these stressful times that entrepreneurs can be differentiated. There are those who persevere and their never say die attitude empowers them to make it while there are the quitters who succumb to stress and fail. Passion is the determinant of successful and failure. While those with passion may fail, their passion is the key to their comeback.

The pressure cooker environment is almost a certainty for entrepreneurs. Passion is what gives an entrepreneur the impetus to endure the constantly high levels of anxiety, stress and pain. Without the right level of passion, an entrepreneur may last a certain distance but not for the whole mile.

Therefore, for those looking to embark on the entrepreneurial journey, it is crucial that you understand the purpose underpinning the path you have taken. If you are in it for the glamour, money or career then you may not be able to attain the success you are desperately chasing after. This is much more than a career choice. Entrepreneurs dedicate their lives to promulgate a cause or purpose they ardently believe in. Their passion is what drives them to enjoy and appreciate difficult situations. Despite all odds stacked against them, they emerge as winners because of their level of passion.

So passion or pressure? That’s up to you to decide.

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I am sure everyone is familiar with the saying: “every cloud has a silver lining.” But when faced with an adversity, we often forget that there is an opportunity embedded in every adversity.  What distinguishes entrepreneurs from the rest is their ability to transform an adversity into an opportunity to enhance their businesses.

When I discuss entrepreneurship, I focus on having the right mindset for entrepreneurs to succeed. At EntreCity,  we therefore place a high premium on developing and having the right mindset because it will empower you to remain positive even when you stumble upon seemingly insurmountable problems.  Often the solution lies right in front of us but our mind is too clouded with apprehension to realize this. Instead of calling it quits when faced with adversity, try to appreciate the opportunity presented to you to reflect and improve yourself. An adversity may in fact provide a new lease of life to businesses.

That was certainly the case for Banyan Tree. The lack of a beach front which was considered essential for resorts led to one of the unique feature attractions of Banyan Tree which is the hotel spa. Entrepreneur Ho Kwon Ping, the founder of Banyan Tree, believes that adversity provides the impetus to generate new and unique ideas.  I feel that if entrepreneurs can emulate this positive thinking then they can be rest assured that their ventures will be sustainable and successful.

It is natural to for entrepreneurs to be disheartened when the desired outcomes are not achieved. Nonetheless, wallowing in self pity and harping on your failure will get you nowhere. You need to rise above the challenges and remain resolute in your belief that your business will be successful and add value to society. Let your adversity empower you to do better and prove critics wrong rather than cripple you. The day you remain unfazed by adversity is the day you will be successful in transforming your entrepreneurial aspirations into reality.

Inderjit Singh

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