When the future is unclear — You Move or You Stop?
When you plunge into the entrepreneurship journey, you also understand that it is not easy. You might need to explore newer or unknown paths. In other words, get ready to embrace uncertainty and unpredictability as second nature to this startup journey.
There are many times when you must solely rely on your gut feeling, as there are no proper or complete facts to help you make decisions. It is like the path ahead is cloudy. You must walk towards the path and clear the clouds with your hands to see the way clearly.
But another option is to keep sitting at the pathways and wait for the clouds to clear by themselves. Which ones should we choose? Or which one should an entrepreneur choose?
Recently, I came across a situation in which a person took a different approach, which led me to ask the above questions.
I got a sales lead through an acquaintance. I met her at a conference. She worked with a big organization and found my product to be a good fit for her organization. She arranged a meeting with her senior person.
I asked one of my friends if she wanted to collaborate with me on this project. I thought this project would be a good fit for her skill set, too. She agreed to this collaboration, and we went to the meeting. Unfortunately, the meeting could not happen as the senior person got stuck in other meetings.
She invited us to visit their company premises. Their head office was approximately a six-hour drive from our location. The senior person mentioned that her organization would take care of our travel and lodging arrangements.
At first, I felt hesitant as it meant spending 2–3 days in an unknown place. But on second thought, it seems exciting, too. The acquaintance I met at the conference shared many stories about their beautiful campus location.
I thought that if the business opportunity did not turn out as accepted, I would still be able to see a new place. I am also a travel enthusiast, so this opportunity is a fit for both my professional and personal interests.
“Exploring the unknown requires tolerating uncertainty.” — Brian Greene
My friend, who had agreed to the collaboration earlier, had a different opinion. She wanted to get some commitment on the monetary aspects first, and she wanted me to talk to them about the commercials. She felt that travelling so far is a considerable effort, and we should ask for a commitment upfront.
I realized both of us had different perspectives.
I felt that opportunities needed to be explored. You never know what will come out of that. It can be good or bad.
But my friend thought opportunities would come her way at their own pace. She just needed to be patient and wait for the best things to happen. In other words, she was not interested in exploring things on her own.
Few lucky ones would get the best things in life with the least effort.
But, for the rest of us, the luckiest ones, we could learn and gain so much by just being open to exploring our lives — if we could stop tying every future step with some output or results — If we just move with open eyes, open heart and open arms to embrace new experiences.
Life is too small to wait for something to happen. Move ahead and make things happen.
I have just booked the train tickets to this unknown and beautiful place.
Happy Explorations!
