Money does not generate business ideas. It’s business ideas that generate money.
Like many men and women of goodwill, I’ve experimented with a few people from different places and gave them money to start business. Almost always, they finish the money and come back for more. Very few people who are given start-up capital succeed. The majority of those who succeed are people who have refined their idea on the ground. People who are looking for funds for growth.
Business plans are tested on the ground, not on paper. When people test their business idea in the real world, they clarify their thoughts. They minimize assumptions. They feel the heat of fierce competition. They suffer rejection in the market-place. They learn to manage expectations when no one is buying their products. They learn to absorb shocks when employees leave with no notice.
When people put their money in the business, they eliminate jokes. They make sober decisions. They purchase what they must. They delay gratification. Few people take good care of money they have not earned. When one puts their money in business, they do everything humanly possible to make the business succeed. They learn to grow patiently from one step to the next.
Those who live in euphoria, focus on what they cannot control. Losers would rather blame the ‘unfair’ God, their corrupt government and their ‘mean’ relatives. They forget those who succeed work under the same econo-political environment. And God has no favorites (Romans 2:11). If you are lazy, you will be poor (Proverbs 6:10-11 & 24:33-34). Real poverty is a mental condition, not material status.
DR. K. N. JACOB
