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 There
was a deluge of mail after the (I am told) notorious F--- You Money
column. A lot of you told me your own stories of fymity.
The most touching was one gent who wrote describing
his not-so-successful travails at entrepreneurship-and how, many
years later, he is still far behind his IIM colleagues who graduated
with him. You, sir, wondered if you had taken the right decision
to strike out on your own. After all, your peers were earning substantially
more at supposedly key jobs around the world. You had the courage
to re-look at your own life and ask that question.
Now I am no counsellor. There is no guarantee
that entrepreneurship will succeed and result in a pot of gold at
the end of that rainbow-just as there is none that your job will
amount to much, especially in these times when no job is 'safe,
including the ones in the public sector.
But the theme that came through a lot of your
mail was ''what am I going to get for all of the risk of splitting
off on my own?'' Almost universally, a lot of the mail seemed to
come from people who had done their MBAs, and were 'benchmarking'
themselves against others in their batch as an indicator of where
they should be.
I think one basic disconnect is the MBA itself.
In most places around the world, it is an education desired by people
who want to take risks and run businesses. Among us Indians though,
it seems to be the opposite-it's a tool to de-risk, and become better-paid
employees-i.e., to become more of a slave than a master of business
administration.
Back to the pot of gold that everyone seems
to want. I used to define success that way too-by the amount I earned,
and wanted to earn. Those goals grew-from six figures in rupees
to six figures in dollars to...to well, whatever Fortune said people
were earning.
I soon discovered two constraints. One, that
it was stupid working for 11.5 months to get two weeks off. Two,
that beyond a point, most of my income got eaten up in taxes-and
that I really didn't care for a Ferrari or a Lear Jet, and was happy
at one 'post-tax steady state' point. I really wanted more time
for the things I cared about: my family, friends, travel, reading,
and music. The more I met high-earning types, the more it seemed
to me that there was more peace in my life than in theirs.
So I structured subsequent raises around more
time off, rather than more money. As a self-employed guy, I am pushing
that further: Can I now work four months a year, take eight months
off, and make the same 'steady state' amount? Actually, I think
I can.
This also gives me the luxury of picking and
choosing what I'd like to do-so even those few months of working
are at something I like-as opposed to something that pays me a lot
to do crappy maintenance work, like many of my friends in FMCG companies
confess they do.
I have a very different view of the pot of
gold I am supposed to find at the end of that rainbow: I really
don't think it exists.
To me, the rainbow itself happens to be the
pot of gold. The journey itself, with a nod to Jerry Garcia, is
the destination.
I'd rather be short-sighted, look at my today,
make sure it's the best I can have, and not make sacrifices for
some mythical tomorrow that is supposed to be better. I have no
idea what tomorrow will be like-and I don't think anybody else does
either.
I am also reasonably sure that if a pot of
gold accidentally happens somewhere along the way, it really isn't
going to change that rainbow very much.
To the gentleman who wasn't sure if he should
regret starting up as he was earning less: perhaps you could look
at the life and times you've had as an entrepreneur. It's not likely
that any of your benchmarked colleagues has been through that.
It may even be that they envy you, as you are
following your dream. While they may just be running in some meaningless
race for salaries with other benchmarkees.
Mahesh Murthy, an angel investor, heads
Passionfund. He earlier ran Channel V and, before that, helped launch
Yahoo! and Amazon at a Valley-based interactive marketing firm.
Reach him at Mahesh@passionfund.com.
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