Resources More Important Than Money

by Rod Low

A lot of people I know want to start a business of their own, they want to be their own boss, and they hate their job, colleagues and superior. They hate to be told what to do or how to do it. Sometimes, they wish they were the ones running the company. When they told me their problems, my first question is this "why aren't you in business for yourself?" And most often than not, the answers is this, "No money how to start business?"

Most people believe that money or 'capital' is the most important resources they need before they can start a business. The other is great business idea. I will admit that both great idea and capital are important ingredients for starting any business but they are not the most important. In my personal research and observations, there are actually a list of resources within our reach that is more important than both ideas and capital. See if you have them or how you could acquire them.

Once gone, it will never come back

"Don't count every hour in the day, make every hour in the day count."

If $1440 were deposited into your bank account every single day, would you be delighted? But here is the catch, you need to redraw it and use it because once its gone, its gone. It does not compound nor can you increase how much it is deposited.

The resource here is Time.

Time management is the key to leading a meaningful life or starting a business. Have you heard of this quote "I have no time"? Well, we all are given 24 hours a day or 1440 minutes , but how we use it or manage it will determine how far we go in both life and business. If you are working, observe the top performer in your company, see how they use their time efficiently. Then change your focus to the poor performers, see what they do during and after their working hours.

Start by investing your time into meaningful activities. Do research, take up business courses and read up more on how to maximize your time. Manage your time like you manage your business and you will find you have more time than you thought.

How hungry are you?

How hungry are you. Are you hungry enough to go out there and talk to people, get funding, tell people your business ideas? Most gurus' advice that you should start a part-time business. Well, if you just want to gaining experiences or to feel what starting a business is like, its good and fine. But if you are serious about making it big in the business arena, you need to have that sense of urgency, that sense of hunger in your belly.

All successful businesses are built with that sense of urgency. That will to win. They put themselves into such a situation where they can't lose.

A famous story to illustrate this point is from the Romans. A roman general is sent to another country to suppress the enemies there. However, they have a problem, they brought lesser soldiers (about 3:1) than they should and they are nowhere near their motherland. The soldiers moral were low and their appetite for victory is far from large.
So, the general thought of a brilliant idea. He ordered all the ships to be sunk, cut off all safety routes home, and finally, he told his soldiers one simple truth. "The only way to go home now is win the war".
Try and try again
Determination is the will to try and try and try and try and try until you get it right. No business is smooth sailing, but most business can succeed if the determination to succeed is high enough .
Thomas Edison, the famous inventor who invented the light bulb failed 1000 times before he succeeds. When one reporter asked him, how does he feel after failing 1000 times, his reply became the hallmark of true determination? "I did not fail 1000 times, I just found out that 999 times why it did not work out". Wow.

Do what you fear most

Courage is the ability to take calculated risk. For any entrepreneurs to be successful, courage is one of the traits they need to have. Have you wonder why there are people who can advance further in life while others just sit there with envy in their eyes? Because those successful ones are courageous enough to make some risky decisions.

They learnt that in order to improve their current situation, they need to make decisions. Will they make mistakes? Of course, but they are willing to learnt from their mistakes, live with the mistakes and move on, but they are not willing to just sit there and analysis and wait for the perfect opportunities.

Sam Walton (founder of Wal-Mart) talked about learning from mistakes when he said " I have to pick myself up and do it all over again, this time even better".

Eleanor Roosevelt said it ever so well when she said, "You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror, I can take the next thing that come along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do."

Ambition or Ambitious

I have discovered that everyone has ambition but not all are 'genuinely ambitious'. What's the difference? Well, if you ask everyone you meet if they would want to make one million dollars, drive big nice jaguars, live in a big nice house, no one will say no. That is ambition. But if you ask them why aren't they working towards it, you will have a big stare.

Ambitious people know what they want and works towards it. They will paint the most beautiful pictures of their lifestyle, amount of money made in their mind and work towards it.
One speaker once said, "if you are able to see clearly what you want in your mind, will you sweat it out to get it? I would." That is ambitious.

Do you believe in yourself?

What is faith? In my own definition, faith is 'how much you believe in yourself'. You need to first believe in yourself before others could believe in you. You need to convince yourself you can start, run and manage a successful business in years to come. I did a simple survey once and I found that most people have poor self-esteem.

They do not believe they could achieve better results, thus, they are satisfied with whatever is given to them.

If you are able to be working with successful entrepreneurs for a week or a month, you will find that most of them are not only confident in themselves but also in those who work for them.

Ingenuity + Perspiration = Success

The most amazing things we see around us come from ingenuity. Comes from imagination and hard work. Comes from an idea that is intangible to an object that is tangible.
Most successful business in the world starts with ingenuity. Bill Gates doesn't start Microsoft because there are many people doing it; he started it because there are not many people doing it.

With his ingenuity and hard work, he brought the idea of 'having Windows in every home' a reality.

Hearts and Soul

I admire those who can pour in their heart and soul into the enterprise. Its this unseen magic that will attract many great people towards them. I was told, for anyone to start a business, you need to have money. I believe that money will come if you are ready to pour in your heart and soul into the business first.

You can't convince others to invest in you if you don't invest the time, effort and money in your own business.

Excellence Personality

Everyone has a personality. The only thing is, how is your personality going to affect your business?

This entire list is more valuable than money. I've given you the secret. Capital. The kind of capital that is more valuable than money and that can secure your future and fortune. Remember that you lack not the resources.