Success in business

Success in business

I believe if we are to succeed in life we must be endowed with
a good measure of "good luck". Many rich and successful
Indonesian business people, who are affluent even according to
international standards, do not possess the two basic
requirements for business, namely substantial working capital and
thorough knowledge of their line of business.

Most of today's successful business people started from
"scratch" and as to their professional knowledge and business
acumen, a Dutch saying states, Al doende leert men or we learn
while we practice. However, good luck alone is not enough.

I think that successful business people are endowed with an
uncanny ability to find and employ other professional people. It
is said that an efficient employee is a company's invaluable
asset. The owners can make their capable managers feel at home or
make them feel as if they are a member of a large family. I
remember a colleague who said to me, "I want to quit, because I
feel as if I am exploited by this company."

Successful business people always find or select the right
people who will work for them for a lifetime. They are loyal,
diligent and honest people. They do not forget their difficult
past, so they can appreciate the work of their hardworking
subordinates.

A businessman told me, "When I was a school boy, I lived in a
remote village and cycled 10 kilometers to school on a ramshackle
bike. In the dry season, it was OK, but in the rainy season, when
the dirt road became a hopeless muddy mess, the bike rode on me.
I had to carry the bike on my shoulders."

Successful business people also have the mysterious ability,
farsightedness and intuition to do get involved in businesses
that will give them the most substantial profit later on. I know
a businessman who bought a large tract of land nobody wanted for
a song, a few hundred rupiah per square meter. Recently, a toll
road has been constructed in the neighborhood and consequently
the previous unwanted land became coveted real estate. The price
of land went up drastically and the businessman in question
suddenly became a few billion rupiah richer.

A. DJUANA

Jakarta