There are two times in a man’s life when he should not speculate: when he can’t afford it and when he can.
– Mark Twain
Looks like Mark Twain’s fellow Americans routinely ignore his advice. And that sets them apart. Just a decade ago they invested in dot.com companies hoping that it is the next big thing to get rich quick.
And their speculation in the housing market in the recent past (that real estate prices will forever go up), is known all too well. Now all of us (including the Americans) speculate as to when the world economy will start looking up again or whether we have seen the bottom of it or not.
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But as is always their wont, we notice that no matter how deep they dig themselves in to a hole, Americans don’t just sit around and brood over their misfortune. Instead they find a way to claw their way up.
They actively search for alternatives and pursue the best option as their counsel or wisdom dictates. They would do it even if it means assuming further risks to their careers or financial standing or gaining expertise in a hitherto unknown but promising field.
A case in point is an article titled ‘The New Internet Start-Up Boom: Get Rich Slow‘ that appeared in the Time magazine last week.
It caught my attention for two phrases in the title:
- The New Internet Start-Up Boom
- Get Rich Slow
‘Getting rich slow’ is something new to them and given their bad experience with the Internet Start-Ups they should think twice going that way. More importantly, investing in any business in these difficult times will be perceived as risky by the rest of us, the ‘normal’ guys. But they are not normal.
So I said to my friend, “We must give credit to the Americans for one thing. They always find a way to salvage a situation if not finding a way to come out on top”
Before I could finish, he cut me short, “When you say Americans, do you mean Whites, Blacks, Hispanic, Asian Americans, or Native Indians?”
Then he continued, “I don’t think it is right to generalize and say all Americans are resourceful and entrepreneurial. Those are traits that we find in individuals and they can be anywhere.”
Maybe he has a point. But I still think U.S.A as a whole is more entrepreneurial (by that I mean being creative, solving problems, taking risks) than say a country like France.
Now coming back to the question posed in the title of this post, it appears that any time is a good time to start a business provided we are not guided just by our passion or intuition alone but realize that a would be entrepreneur needs adequate coaching.
It’s good to remind ourselves that we are bound to fail whenever we undertake something new. Something we haven’t done before in our life.
Imagine a toddler attempting to stand for the first time or trying to walk for that matter. If we had observed we would have noticed the number of times it attempts to stand and fall on its back.
“Ouch! That must be hurting”, we say to ourselves. And we don’t discourage the toddler as to not attempt such ‘foolish’ things in its life. We know with a little help, it not only stands on its own feet and soon runs ahead of us.
If are an American you know this intuitively and the rest of us stand inspired by you.
God bless America.
