Father Sez

Image Credit: Flickr.com 

Most of us might have heard the story of the Arab, the Camel and the tent. This can   perhaps be best described as the Arabic story form version of the saying “Give him an inch and he asks for a foot.” 

The more relevant story to me currently is the one with the same players minus the tent. 

The Quran is the primary source of guidance for Muslims. The secondary source is narrations of what the Prophet pbuh said or did during his lifetime.  

One of these narrations goes like this: 

“A person came riding his camel to the mosque. Upon reaching the mosque, he dismounted, left the camel and walked right into the mosque. The Prophet pbuh saw him and asked, “Why are you not tying up the camel?” To which the man replied, “I am leaving him in the care of the All Mighty.” And the Prophet pbuh told him, “Tie the camel to the post, and then leave him in the care of the All Mighty.” 

This hadith (as we refer to the narrations) has left a very strong impression on me.  I have no doubt that ultimately all that happens and all that do not happen are exactly as how the All Mighty wanted them to be.  Hence despite all that we plan, test, and do, the final outcome is not in our hands. So, theoretically we can just sit and gaze at the sky, ceiling or wall or whatever, do nothing and the outcome will be just as ordained.  

My thinking on this has, (ever since I read about this hadith)  been strongly influenced by the hadith of the Arab and his camel. We are required to do all that we can and then and only then should we leave it in the hands of the All Mighty.  

This is the hadith, I reflected back upon as I driving home today. My last day at work has been agreed as the 31^st of July 08, the day after tomorrow. 

I have planned for this eventuality. I have lined up what I should do to ensure that my family is provided for. I even have a back up plan (i.e. to go back to the life of a working stiff - not a good one, but still a back up).   

And I believe that I have done all the above with all sincerity and given them the best that I have in my arsenal of knowledge and experience. 

Now as I wait for the moment to take the big leap into the unknown, I do so with the conviction that it is now in the hands of the All Mighty.     

Image Credit: Google  

Madison dropped a nice bombshell last week. She declared that she was quitting (or taking a leave of absence) and focussing on her priorities. I have been sort of expecting something like this ever since she wrote some about some of the “pulls and pushes in her life” way back in January and February 08. 

Her life is going to change in more ways than one. She’ll have to find a new rhythm as opposed to the “go to work, come back from work” kind of thing. 

This is what I have been going through the past few weeks. Finding a new rhythm at least mentally. Unlike Madison, or Ms. SVB over at the Digerati Life or Trent at the Simple Dollar, my exit from the 9-5 working life has been a little involuntary. It was also not quite the same as the Snarky Chica’s walking away from corporate life.  

My case is a mutual parting of ways.  

A wise friend told me a long time ago, that a salaried guy would have to be sacked before he can do something worthwhile on his own. Well, I am finally getting the chance now.

For the longest time, I have wanted to be on my own. Independent. Not subservient to any of the more often than not, silly corporate rules and regulations. In March 08, I wrote a guest article in Free Money Finance (my first ever guest post) on how I intended to quit the rat race. Looks like it’s time to put the plan into action.   

I have now crossed the door. The actual day to carry my things out of the office has not been fixed yet and I am quite frankly eagerly waiting for that day. 

My wife, my in-house motivator and a practical optimist says that this would probably be the best thing that has happened to the Fathersez family.  As I look for my new rhythm of my life, there will be effects on the children. Though the family knows of this, details have not been discussed with the kids. 

This coming Saturday, I’ll have to talk to the youngest two girls. Then the boy. I am scared, as all salaried bozos would be if they were to lose the security blanket of the monthly pay check.

I must thank Ms. SVB, Trent, Snarky Chica and now Madison who have clearly shown that life will go on. 

As Winston Churchill said, “Most of our fears will never come to pass.” 

I’ll keep you posted.

Perhaps a simple definition of business can be as the art of providing the buyer what he wants at a price that is acceptable to both parties.  Between the buyer and the seller come the dazzling array of weapons both parties use to get a “better deal” for themselves. Advertising, marketing, logistics, studying of product reviews, blah, blah…blah 

And when the going gets tough, some people from both ends resort to not so moral tactics. These are a couple of my recent experiences. 

a)  My attempt to sell my Timeshare 

I wrote about my Timeshare and my intention to get rid of it a little while ago. First I advertised on a free buy-sell internet portal and though there were some people who viewed, there was no interest. Then I advertised in a local paper’s classifieds. Two responses are memorable. One called up and told me that the price should be one sixth of what I had listed, as this was the price she had been offered earlier. I told her that that would be a good deal and she should take it.  

The second was a lady with 5 children. She had recently signed up for a holiday package and she had been “advised” to buy a Timeshare. So she called me and I told her (honestly and truthfully) about the reasons why I was selling the Timeshare. Clearly convincing her not to buy! 

b)  To pay down loans or invest 

I also wrote about this a little while ago. My daughter and my wife went to the bank to deposit her windfall into her savings account. (Next week, I’ll be going with my daughter to do what we planned with the money.) My daughter got a call from a bank staff, “advising” her not to pay down her loan at all. Rather she should use the whole amount to invest! 

I feel that this advice was tinged with quite a bit of “this approach will be better for the Bank.” Luckily for me, my daughter had made her decision after reading Mighty Bargain Hunter’s article. His graphic descriptions of piggy banks, made a powerful impression in my daughter’s mind. Something the bank officer could not even begin to match.

The point is that I try to ensure that all my earnings are “halal” or “kosher”. It should be earned from halal sources and I should have no fear in disclosing my sources of income. And I also want to leave behind people who would say good things about me. 

I am sure that had I tried harder, I may have convinced the nice lady to buy my Timeshare. She would then regret it and I am sure will spend a little time at cursing me.  

So if you are a seller, have the well being of your customer in mind. This principle may be lost somewhat in this age of mass production. However this principle thrived in the old days, when neighbourhood shops provided what we wanted and the shopkeepers had a genuine interest in what was good for us. 

I shall live by this principle when my goat farm is launched!

We must all know someone who is always chasing some opportunity or other….someone who is able to visualize opportunities from something he or she hears, sees, reads about or has sensed.

A friend of mine, who had a full time job, did not think twice about driving a couple of hundred kilometres if he heard that there was a car available for sale at a price he believed he could make a profit from. Yet others will continously try to connect people with needs to people who could satisy the need.

These are people who have the entrepreneurial streak in them. People willing to go the extra mile just to check out the opportunity and just chalking it up to experience if that something did not work out.

Some do it professionally. I know of one young man with web design skills who balances a full time job with multiple freelance web design projects. Of course, he is BUSY!!!

Some others are unprofessional. They try their hands at projects that they have no knowledge of and more often than not end up damaging their credibility. This includes guys who hear from third parties and hawk this information without having verified anything.

How do we rate ourselves at spotting opportunities and seizing them?

My friend, Kalai, once described a mutual friend as follows.

“You give this guy RM5,000 a month and ask him to mine for gold for you at this mine, and you can rest easy, knowing that he will be bringing in the moolahs for you. You tell him that there is gold in the mine and ask him to mine, with no monthly salary but a share of the profits and he’ll say “no”.”

This mutual friend is a “salary” mentality guy. There is a strong need for security and a confirmed source of regular income. This overrides everything else.

Real entrepreneurs thrive on uncertainty, says Rita Gunter McGrath, a professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business and co-author of book, “The Entrepreneurial Mindset.” Subtitled “Strategies for Creating Opportunity in an Age of Uncertainty,”. The co-author is Ian MacMillan, who teaches at the Wharton School.

McGrath and MacMillan list 5 common characteristics of Entrepreneuers.

1. They passionately seek new opportunities.

2. They pursue opportunities with enormous discipline.

3. They pursue only the very best opportunities.

4. They focus on execution — specifically, adaptive execution.

5. They engage the energies of everyone in their domain.

(Extracted from review by Ms. Barbara Fox.)

Trent at the Simple Dollar and Ms. SVB over at Digerati Life have both announced their decisions to quit their full time jobs to pursue their dreams.

I congratulate them for their courage and also for the astute planning they have done to prepare themselves for this move.

I also fantasize about leaving my job and pursuing my dreams. I have yet to find the courage to make this move. My mind set is only slightly less salaried minded than the mutual friend that I described earlier.

I have turned down a couple of profit sharing offers earlier in my life, where the salary offered was much lower than what I was getting then.

Presently I have two business opportunities that I am incubating. Both of them look good and I have a reasonable sense of control over the projects. The next few months are going to be very important for me as I work together with my partners on growing the projects.

As I work on preparing my mind to cut the safety harness of monthly remuneration (my grateful thanks to people like Trent and Ms. SVB, who have often written on this), I also want to keep reminding myself of the habits/characteristics of entrepreneurs.

I have let opportunities go before. This time, the opportunities have been taken on. They are being worked upon and improved. And this time, I intend to make the best out of them!