“Life is full of challenges. The toughest is to get out of bed early on a rainy day”.

Being in Kerala, monsoon becomes an integral part of your life (as does hartal, bus strikes and Masala Dosa). Ranging from drivers splashing pedestrians to wading through the pot-holed roads, nothing defines a better season to overcome the challenges put forward.

Being an entrepreneur (the word I finally learnt to spell correctly) and the bug of blogging having bit me, I thought – “Is there anything that we entrepreneurs can relate to the challenges put forward by the monsoon season?”

I started on my journey forward to find answers to this question….

An hour of staring at the rain and 8 parippuvadas later, I finally came up with the following monsoon season problems, which I found to be pretty similar to the problems faced by us entrepreneurs-

1. Waking up early on a rainy day – When you are in a comfortable situation, all cozy under the “blanket”, it becomes very difficult to come out of it. On one side there is the urge to continue on the easy path (sleep) and on the other hand you have the harder path (waking up and chasing your dreams). And then there is always the “5 minute more” excuse. Procrastination.

   Same is the story with entrepreneurs. For us sleeping on is no option. Moving out of our comfort zone for the things that have to be done is all what we do. Procrastination is something we know that can kill us. We fly, we run, we crawl. But we just don’t stop trying to move ahead.Somehow, we feel better chasing dreams while waiting outside a client’s office than under a blanket. 

2. Cold Water Shower – Getting down under the shower is nothing short of torturous punishment in the monsoon. Yes, having hot water is an option. But then again, spending 5-10 minutes to boil the water, another 5 minutes to wait it cool down to usable temperature, would just waste about 20 minutes. And not to mention the amount of electricity used up by the water heater! Multiply that with two times a day to about 90 days and its bankruptcy magnitude of loss I tell you! And so everyone musters up the courage and goes with the quick 5 min cold shower.

   And that’s what we do too! Moving out of the comfort zone (again), to save time and money, we know to set out priorities right. We get accustomed to being in the most uncomfortable situations in the most die-hard moments. We understand the fact that after bathing in the cold weather with cold water for a reasonable amount of time, we finally conceive it as comfortable as a hot bubble bath.

3. Reaching office on time – It’s almost as if the gods are against us making it to office on time. Roads doubling as waterways, unable to differentiate between the roads and canals, drivers trying their best to splash us down with water and kilometers and kilometers of mud. But still, no matter what the challenges, everyone makes it to office on time.For us E people (feels awkward using “entrepreneur” again and again. Makes it look too hyped up), all days are the same. Every single day we have to wade through logged roads, pave our way through mud paths, save ourselves from being splashed over by others and still make sure we reach the “office” on time. Summer, winter, spring, whatever the season. Makes no difference. One goal and innumerable hurdles. Just another day at work I say….
4. Longer power cuts – I guess if you live in India you might be a regular victim of this. One drop of rain, one single stroke of breeze and electricity goes off. But that doesn’t hinder the lives of all these people. Does it? They stand prepared with emergency lights and inverters. They never let darkness cause a break in their routine (unless its day long power cuts).Not all of us might be able to afford inverters during our startup years. But we make it a point to always be ready for the worst. I have found many fellow entrepreneurs to be awesome time managers. If there’s no power for long bursts of time, many utilize that time to hold group discussions, call up old friends, pay bills (especially electricity bill) or just take the time off to relax and have a much needed break.

   Even at our office, during the past month or so, we used to have power cuts for long periods of time. And actually that was sort of the best thing that happened to us. We used that time to hold GD’s and have brainstorming sessions. Now, luckily it’s a daily routine.

   The GD’s. Not the power cut 😛

5. Three/Four people under a single umbrella – Now that’s not something only entrepreneurs do, I know. But this aspect just couldn’t be left out. A startup almost always is a result of a team-work. Yes, there might be one/two main guys who have the vision of taking it forward. Of what values the company should behold. What its cultures should be. But all of it is just the sum total of every molecule of hard work and passion put in by the team. Together, they strive to make the common dream a reality. Together, they steer the startup towards glory. Together, they share the same umbrella in the heavy rain….

 

It’s as much fun enjoying the monsoon rain as it is building a startup. Gives an awesome feel of freedom. And pure joy. Both, which has to be felt to be understood.

So, how’s the monsoon rain at your end? 😉

Image Courtesy - simplifiedfm.com