Why you start a business? Are you discovering a gap in the market your business can fill? Did you oversee that a trend will dominate the market soon (such as cloud computing?) Are you trying to offer solutions to problems in your neighbourhood?
For any reasons you may have in starting a business, most are driven by money. For-profit organisations should make money – they are IN the business of making money. Even non-profit startups need to make money to support their causes.
Nothing wrong with the money making endeavour… until financial difficulties hit your business.
Entrepreneur’s quality is revealed when he is in business problems
Financial difficulties, among other business issues, are what make or break a business. Not solving the problems will surely drive your business to bankruptcy. I know what I’m talking about – I was in near-bankruptcy situation in about 4 years ago.
My 2 businesses – 2 franchise units of the same franchise brand name – were falling into the abyss, leaving me with 2 choices: Close them down or sell them cheap. I finally closed one and sold the other. My losses were huge, and I was having difficulty in making sense of my situation.
I concluded losing my businesses was due to my mismanagement; it’s also due to the recession; but I later drew a conclusion that my business failure is partly due to my unwillingness to play “off-the-book.”
I was trying to run my business right in every sense – I tried to honor my contracts with my franchisor; I tried to take care of my employees well; All in all, I was disappointed because my good intentions results in near-bankruptcy experience.
I was tempted to break the contract and source my own products and services, even to establish my own brand name; but that’s against the franchise agreement. I was trying to honour the agreement, but it seems that my franchisor doesn’t value a franchisee like me.
I had many options: Do business behind my franchisor’s back; “trick” my suppliers and customers; attempting to ruin the reputation of my competitors; even sell my soul to the Devil. Thank God, I choose the right path…
The truth revealed…
I realised that it was not my franchisor’s fault. It’s just the way business world works – welcome to the reality of entrepreneurship.
I have the choice to follow through doing the whatnot or do the right thing no matter what. I chose that I will NOT do anything for money; I decided to start over and do business my own way, and I end up building a business that although I haven’t consider as a success, yet, but I’m sure I’m going on the right track.
Many say that God and business don’t go along well; I beg to differ – I, and many others, have discovered an entrepreneurial path that allows me to do business with the right principles.
Now the choice is yours: Will you comply with how the world of entrepreneurship goes and decide to do anything for money – even selling your soul to the Devil to do so? Or, will you be a select few who run your business against the current in your effort pursuing the right way of making money?
I pray that you choose the right path, as what you decide now will affect the entire course of your personal and entrepreneurial journey – sooner or later, you will eventually reap what you sow.
Ivan Widjaya
On the right track, thanks to God