start something new-Part 1 -The Mind

1st of july 2010, today is the first day of my new company (well i havent stated it as yet but atleast i know what i am going to do once i get some start up logistics out of the way...

I exited the 3rd company (sold it 2 years ago to a larger firm) that i started (the first two i had to shut down for lack of finances) yesterday and it was a day of mixed emotions .How can one explain the feeling when one leaves the company that one has started!! all i can say that it must be similar to what one feels when ones children become financially independent and leave home ie bitter sweet.

anyway this is not about the past , this is about the future as my next venture will exclusively focus on getting people to start companies ie it is a seed fund which will make the first investment in a start up company.

Today is a great day as the feeling of starting something new is overwhelming The joy of knowing that finally all the thought of the last one year will slowly see the light of the day is overpowering. I believe i am really blessed to be able to follow my heart(and sometimes my head also !) and when i meet people who are undecided about striking out on their own all i tell them is that DONT think too much about it , once you have some plan in mind and have sorted out some personal finances START.

the problem is that in order to start something new you need to be slightly crazy as logic and all the advisors around you will tell you that it CANT be done.Conventional wisdom always dictates that there is safety in following the herd and therefore if you expect a "sane" person to advice you to start your business then you are wrong. Sane people will always tell you to do what they have done (remember we never see things as they are , we see things as we are) and will quote examples of from their experiences of how people who deviated from the set path only got into trouble. Remember that if sane people would have had their way Marco Polo and other great entrepreneurs of the past ( i personally regard the maritime explorers as the craziest entrepreneurs that i have ever read about) would have been sitting in their houses and who knows we might still be thinking that the earth is flat (i do know that these days some people say that the earth actually is flat !)

Apart from the weird people whom you need when you start something new you also need to have "yay-sayers" . hey doesnt that mean "yes men" and didnt what we learn at business school tell us that we must not become yes men .

Well ladies and gentlemen welcome to the world of entrepreneurship , in this world we ONLY need optimists as the "other" world (which an entrepreneur deals with day in and day out) has either cynics OR the envious.So if you want to start speak with people who can give you balanced advice yes BUT people whose outlook to life is positive and if possible hang on to a couple of people atleast who will say that "yes it can be done" you will need these people at very frequent intervals.

So after the weird folks and the "yay-sayers" are in place you need to become deaf so that you DONT hear all the advice that tells you that you cant do it and that you must give up and armed with these three you are ready to start.

So how come i am not talking about having a business plan/financial support which is what one normally reads about as being essential to start? The reason for that is that once your mind is prepared and your em0tions are settled you are ready for business and to me that is far more important that all the other conventional tools that one reads about in order to start a business.

Remember to start something new you have got to be emotionally ready which is more important than being financially ready...

So what are the next steps ..... well i will come back with more on that in a few days.....