NO. 5 HONESTY AND MORALITY
Industry is a battlefield and one should know all about attack, counter-attack and tolerance. No books can teach you all this. Only the happenings in life and experience can teach you all this. Earning livelihood is an important aspect of life. Striking a balance between earnings, their usage and expenditures is also necessary. Wealth is an oasis, the hunt for which never ends. The more we have of it, the greater are our materialistic requirements. There are four principles of success in life and it is within these four that the dilemmas of our life lie and determine our rise to success. Do not hurt or cause anguish to any one, earn money through ethical and truthful means, whatever you do in life, do it as a service to God and him as a witness and never let your true self die. These are the principles which govern a good life. We can enter into a business or a production activity by entering into some partnerships or turning it into a private limited company and offering share holdings as per the amount required for investment. Under this, it is more beneficial to trade as a private limited company because the Central Government has reduced the company tax to a very large extent. Now, the new companies have to pay only 15 % on their profits. Even the liability of paying off loans is limited in a private limited company thereby permitting you peaceful days and restful nights. In case you become a partner in any firm remember that a partner of 1% shares is as important as that of 99%. Now-a-days the times are very challenging and one can never predict the magnitude of problem that a 1% share holder may cause thus it is said that partners should hold equal numbers of shares in the company. As compared to a company, a registered firm has to pay higher income tax. We should run a business in a truthful and honest manner. Once a company, by mistake, delivered second grade goods in place of first grade to a businessman. The businessman had paid the company in full for first grade goods. Since there wasn’t a remarkable difference between the first grade and the second grade goods of the company there was no complaint launched by the businessman and the company profited from the difference in payment received. The owner of the company decided that the difference in the cost of the first and the second grade goods be refunded to the businessman and the company should apologize for the error committed on its part. The concerned officers of the company were of the opinion that since the consumer is not complaining and seems satisfied with what had been supplied to him, the company should not show any reaction on its own. Long discussions over this issue failed to reach any conclusion then the owner of the company presented an example about his friend and the owner himself who, the previous Sunday, had gone to a restaurant for a meal. As soon as they had gotten off their car, a man with a limp, came up to them and said, “Sir, I have not had anything to eat since morning. I am very hungry, please, give me some food. God will bestow his blessings on you.” The company owner took out a note from his wallet and said, “Here, take this 50/ rupees note and go and eat in any hotel.” Then the two went inside the restaurant. When the two came out after finishing their dinner, they saw the same man standing near their car. The company owner asked him, “Is there anything else that you want?” The man said, “Sir, you had given me 50/- Rs. But when I reached the hotel I saw that it was a 500/ Rs. note. You had given me 500/- in place of 50/-. So please take it back and give me a 50/- Rs. note.” The owner was surprised. He said, “You keep this 500/” He said, “Sir, your good conscience had offered to give me only 50/- so I request you to please give me just that. I will be content with what I eat out of that.” The owner gave him a 50/Rupee note which he took and slowly limped away. The owner could not take his eyes off the glow of honesty that surrounded the thin body of that man. Then he asked his employees, “What do you think now?” All agreed in one voice that the owner was right and that they should return the extra money received from the businessman to him with a letter of apology. When the businessman received the bank draft along with the letter, he was full of gratitude. The company now became his first choice and he stopped purchasing goods from other competitor companies. This led to an increase in the company sales.
NO. 6 THE BACK-GROUND OF SUCCESS
The difference between business, trade and a job is that in business or trade you can earn uncountable wealth but in a job there is a limit to how much you can earn. Persons who succeed in business and trade provide job opportunities in the country thereby contributing to its economic growth. At present, owing to the government regulations, it is very challenging to run a business or trade. You can both, succeed at it or fail miserably. From your savings, invest in business or trade only the amount which even if lost due to failure does not adversely impact your life and its necessary expenses. Every year the job opportunities in government and private sector are reducing due to advancing mechanization and modernization. The only way to end the unemployment in the country is fast paced industrialization and spread of economic activities. If we move along this direction with correct mind-set and take correct steps using the appropriate medium, the youth of our country will become strong economically. Today, the government is spending crores every year for implementing self-employment schemes but there is no reliable government agency to help sell the products manufactured by the beneficiaries of these schemes. Because of this reason they fail to hold ground in competition to big companies and soon vanish from the market. There are many opportunities of employment in the country but what is needed is molding of one’s attitude and behavior as per the requirement of the jobs. Historically also, our country has had a very strong base of business and trade. The invention of zero in India gave it a very enviable position in the world. In order to run any business or trade successfully one has to be alert and take quick decisions. Placing our faith and dedication in God we should pray for success and growth in our business endeavours. If we have true faith in God then all difficulties that may arise in our business come to an end and we march towards growth and profit. Today it is not easy to earn money in any business. In order to succeed we should cater for failure beforehand and remain aware and alert about the competition that we may face. Once we learn how to fight failures, we will automatically succeed. To enter into any business or trade is a positive step and along with this, we must learn to drive away negativity. We should realize that the competitors will not let us succeed easily. We should keep our eyes open and make efforts make them ineffective and thus establish ourselves.
NO. 7 KNOWLEDGE OF MATHEMATICS
When we talk of any business, it should have a perfect balance between loan and capital irrespective of whether the loan has been taken from a bank or a private institution. We should always keep the investment separate from the running cost so that the business does not ever face capital deficit. This is the main reason why many businessmen fail. Running a business is a game of numbers and if you can expert at this then you will be able to run your business successfully. There was a time when banks and private financial institutions use to loan money on the basis of your goodwill in the market but now no one lends money in the absence of a collateral or guaranty. We can put our personal property at great risk if our business fails and we are unable to repay the bank loan. We lose our sleep and peace of mind for days and nights on end. We need to keep on struggling till we succeed in our business. We should become farsighted, win over all difficulties that come our way and shine like a bright star and only then will be able to earn a respectable position in the society. Business is a vast field and you can start alone and then as your business grows keep hiring employees. Your concern towards the well being of those under you and your behavior with them are the basis of the success of your business. When we apply for loan at any financial institution, they assure you that they will make it available to you within a few days. Once you fulfill all their formalities you realize that they have given you the loan but have kept most of your property as col-lateral with them although this is illegal for loan up to 2 crores. As per the government rules, there is no requirement of any personal guarantee for seeking loan up to 2 crores from any financial institution. This facility has been provided by the government to promote industries but is not informed to us by the financial institutions, which keep troubling us till they are forced to comply by telling them of these provisions. Before anything we should have complete information about whether there is demand in the area where we are planning to set up our business for the goods that we intend producing and also what is the financial status of the businessmen who will be our competitors. By setting up any business or trade, we make use of our intellect, gather wealth, earn fame and respect in the society and make available many job opportunities. Thus we should not always listen to our mind but very often to our heart. Many resources are also required to do any business. When we have to decide on a place to start our business from, we must first think about whether we should use our own land or use the land provided by the government in industrial areas. If we make use of our own land then even if our business fails, we can sell the land off and get back the capital invested but this is not possible with government land because it is given to us on lease and cannot be used for any other purpose. You do not require licenses and permission letters from various departments if you start business on government land but for doing so on your own land you need sanctions from many government departments. Matters of water supply, power supply, modes of transport, availability of labour etc. should be given deep consideration before establishing any business. Distance between availability of raw material and our factory and the same between factory and supply or selling point is very important because on it depend our manufacturing and selling costs. Our profit or loss is also evaluated on these two. Once we set up any new business, we should not hope for any profit for at least 2 years. A successful businessman should always keep away from money laundering practices so that he can work with sincerity, passion and peace and reach the height of success. Now the government has reduced the taxes to such an extent that there is no need to launder any money or resort to practices of black money. Mathematics holds great importance in any business or trade and one is incomplete without its knowledge. Industry and business are all about numbers and one should not venture into them without their complete knowledge. Right from the purchase of raw material to the cost incurred in producing the finished product, adding to it the recurring running cost of the enterprise and then deducing the actual selling price and adding our cost percentage to it will one be able to find out the actual and final investment. Only then will one be able to decide upon the correct selling cost. For all thins knowledge of Maths is essential. In order to learn about the basics of commercial mathematics one should go through some short term training under some good Chartered Accountant so that along with some mathematical knowledge he can also learn about Income tax, GST, Company Law etc. The Stock Register of my friend, Poonamchand’s factory was showing a lot of stock in stock. Suddenly he received a bulk order, one railway rack full, which he had to immediately supply and for which the railway rack even reached his factory. When the goods in stock were loaded on the rack it fell short and more than half the rack was still empty. Utter chaos broke through in the factory that where had the stock vanished? Upon investigation into the matter the officers put two things in front of the Chairman that the mistake could have occurred at two junctures, first, the goods were never produced and the concerned workers and officers, in order to hide their inefficiency, had shown erroneous calculations and presented a faulty report which, surprisingly, the senior officers believed without having cross checked. And, secondly, the goods were produced but corrupt workers and officials plotted and sold them without letting anybody know of their shady dealings. When the Chairman looked into the matter at his personal level, he found that the first speculation was indeed right. The goods were never produced and the concerned officials had filed a false report to hide their inefficiency. The Chairman immediately suspended the Managing Director, General Manager and the concerned supervisors and exhibited his quick decision making ability. Thus, we can understand the loss the company may have to suffer due to immoral practices of the top level officials and how we must always remain alert and on our toes and, relying on our knowledge of numbers, periodically check the records.
