Ashwin Upadhyaya's Blog

Does the place you live in determine your success? I never gave it a thought earlier but now I feel it might be worth thinking. Here’s what I think may be missing in a smaller city like Mysore (where I live in):

1. Not many entrepreneurs here. The Internet is the only means to meet people.
2. Limited kinds of businesses here. Its mostly traditional businesses where most people are unwilling to try new things. As a result, low chances to try out new things.
3. Very very low Internet penetration. So, any online business won’t work here, at least as of now.
4. People don’t spend as much as they do in large cities.

Although I may be generalizing on some things here, the fact is that you get less opportunities to explore and less people to interact with in smaller cities. And that exactly is what an entrepreneur needs and that exactly is what I miss these days. I require some action and my city, known as a retired person’s paradise doesn’t really provide opportunity for action.

Today, I was at a public meeting for protecting 137 trees from being cut: http://www.sapgreen.com/2009/137-trees-saved-in-mysore

Some things I learnt from the proceedings:

• Loudness works only to a particular level. People who are loud also tend to lose their patience pretty  soon. Slowly, they lose attention and interest. The ones who wait with patience and the ones with real issues to talk always get a hearing in a democratic system.
• You can’t make an illogical man understand your point with reasoning. However, the same man will agree with you provided he doesn’t have enough people to back him.
• On the other hand, if a logical man has a particular point and he knows that he is right, he becomes stronger if he faces more opposition.
• Politicians typically try to please an audience. One of them who was present at the meeting today was initially of the view that trees should be cut. Later she understood that she didn’t have support  and immediately switched sides. We should know to make use of this behaviour of politicians.
• Democracy has its flaws. People with vested interests make use of goons to fake citizen representation so that their agenda succeeds. The only way to counter this is by more citizen representation. Concerned citizens always outnumber those with vested interests. If more such citizens participate in public issues, democracy succeeds.

I know, I have not been able to convey everything that I experienced there. I think it cannot be conveyed by writing. You should attend one of these public meetings to know how it feels.

If you are in the habit of sleeping in the morning till 8AM, you would definitely know the difficulty in getting up early for that early morning train. Get hold of some video game for some days and you just can’t let it go. Work at your cubicle for 12-14 hours a day and you just can’t let go off that habit. We all have inertia, the tendency to remain in the same state as we are in now.

So, what happens when change is the norm? As an entrepreneur, I face this too often. Till yesterday, I’d never have met a particular kind of customer. Today, I’ll have to overcome inertia. Till yesterday, I’d never have visited a village government office. Now, I have to visit one. Never addressed public meetings, now have to. Not just people. Technology, devices, means and situations all keep changing.

However, I have a thought on this. When change itself becomes routine, wouldn’t inertia automatically disappear? I think that is what usually happens with seasoned entrepreneurs.