[YS Lounge] Why I picked entrepreneurship over an MBA or a job

You close the door of your office because the sun has set and you want to slide into more comfortable clothes instead of the Jeans and Tee you are wearing. You make yourself some tea, trying to give it a different flavour because you need that pampering. You instagram it and share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. Sadness has taken over you. You shuffle the songs on the playlist to kick your mood and find something soothing.Is this the perfect time to write an article on why I started a company instead of enrolling for MBA or doing a job in some MNC? I am not even sure if anyone would want to hear from a struggling entrepreneur like me to write on this topic.

Did I opt for 21fools instead of a pretty decent job in Deloitte for the numbers I want to achieve? Did I leave a Rs 40 crore project to gain more money? Was it supposed to be so lonely? Was I told that I will have to keep patience for years? Was I told that it won’t be so romantic as it was portrayed by just celebrating hundreds of success stories and glamorizing it like Films? Was I told that the promise won’t be kept and one fine day, I will see myself working all alone for a dream, without money and any help? Was I told that I will have to clean the office on my own because a prospective employee is visiting me or was I told to justify the costs to every client questioning me why he should pay for the designs when he is paying for the paper and printing?

Where is the success and how is it supposed to be better than doing MBA or a Job?

I was successful the very day I left my job and started working on my own. I was successful the very day I decided to not give up because the money earned or the fund raised is not the parameter for success but the courage to not give up and do what you love is what defines success. Will things change? Will it become better? May be or maybe not. Will I give up? No.

How is a start-up better from doing an MBA or a job?

You better find the answer for yourself. Do what you love and not what people want you to. If you understand the words ‘Career’ and ‘Job’ , research a little bit more about them. Who invented them and why? Was it for your good or the vested interest of some rich industrialist? Who invented the term MBA and why? Was it because they wanted you to live a complete life or because they wanted a few people to do a specific job?

Being an entrepreneur is not the answer. The answer is in finding the right thing, the thing you want to spend your entire life doing. The answer is in finding the vision for your life. I found mine when I realized that happy people and a world full of love is what I wanted to see all my life. You find yours. Question yourself daily and look for the answers everywhere, every time.

Entrepreneurship is not another rat race to earn money but it’s the way you change the world in your way and impact people’s life. If it’s about something else then maybe I am not an entrepreneur.

P.S "Hesitating to act because the whole vision might not be achieved, or because others do not yet share it, is an attitude that only hinders progress."

- Gandhi

About the author:

Divyanshu Asopa, Founder, 21fools