Hi, I’m Jagpreet! How’d you like to do a little business with me?

Now, don’t get nervous, I’ll explain to

you why you need a business to run.

Ever thought of minding your own business when traditional employment isn’t quite working?

Are you running into roadblocks on the traditional employment routes!? I would like to suggest taking
some time to consider starting your very own business.

Every now and then, I spend time reminiscing, thinking back about the years most people have spent
doing the things that they have been doing. And one part of it was their work. You know, some people
have spent many years working in the corporate arena, ran a business for a while for themselves,
worked in volunteer positions for a good number of years. Then I ask myself, “What have they done with
their skills? What have they done with what they have learned, what they were formally educated with?
Do they think that all of that is not much used?”

I am trying to draw a line here between those thoughts and what the daily struggles most adults go
through: that is employment. It’s being able to find work that is meaningful, satisfying, and pays a fair
wage. I mean, there is nothing wrong with traditional employment. In fact, traditional employment
offers a good number of benefits. However, are we limiting ourselves? Are we confining ourselves to just
one field of what I would call “the broader topic of income generation?” We talk about empowerment
and being able to earn an income and being able to work. But it’s just one of those few – if you will –
pillars of what helps us feel a sense of empowerment. We go out there and do what we KNOW we can
do given the opportunity.

So my question is, are you ready to mind your own business? It’s too easy for us to just sit back and say,
“Oh, it’s too difficult.” Yes, there will always be difficulties before us. There are still the challenges of
budgeting, planning, gathering all of the resources, and on top of that, coping with the fact that some of
the things that we used to do are not quite available right now. But I’d like to invite you to think a little
bit broader and to give yourself a bit of hope.

You may have spent a whole chunk of years working in different organizations, skilling yourself up and
amassing all that experience. And if you do not think that you are able to use that either in employment
or in starting your own business, maybe that could be the reason why we feel a little bit less
empowered. Maybe that is why we sometimes feel that there is too much on our shoulders. We could
lighten it up by giving ourselves a little bit of a goal. Have a fair goal, give yourself a bit of a fair goal.
Where can you find yourself in business? Where can you deploy your skills and your experience? Well
for one, I could tell you, you can train. If you have been training and you are wealth-educated in a
particular field of work, try putting it down on a piece of paper, or try putting it down on the computer,
and give yourself time to organize your thoughts. By then, you might be able to have something that
resembles a training program. You could be in mining resources, you could be communications or any
one of those fields. And sometimes, we don’t really realize how much we know, how much of good
value it could be for another person, until we sit down and organize our thoughts and put it down on
your screen. Then talk to yourself about it. Give yourself time to think about what it all means for
somebody out there. People in business who did this reflection, they could now be in computer
programming, they’re in marketing, they’re in the legal profession – all across! Some might have even
ventured out into the food and beverage business. I think there is one common thing that runs through
all these people’s lives: THEY HAVE GIVEN THEMSELVES A CHANCE.
The next question is, who is going to give you a chance if not yourself? I think that is why I am making
this clear decision to be a businessman: I am giving myself a chance. We all have seen all those reality
programs where a bunch of people come up with their own ideas and they present them to a panel of
would-be investors. My question is, is there a group of people out there, whether it’s an individual or it’s
an organization or a company, who is looking for new ideas coming from the left field, perhaps? Coming
in from an oblique angle? Something that they would have not quite expected. And believe it or not,
young people like me have really great ideas because we are living in a space which is fairly niche. Yes,
people my age could come from different parts of the economic spectrum across the country, but that
would only mean that each of us a unique experience, or at least a collection of unique experiences. And
within those unique experiences might lie very brilliant business ideas. We need things called enablers in
business, and there are different categories of enablers.

Of course, the very big question that you might ask is, “Who’s going to be providing the finance?” I may
have not enough to be able to take my business and bring it off the ground, but here’s where a business
out there, an existing business, who’s looking for new ideas might actually come into play perfectly; or it
could be person who has the ability to invest in a new business. Maybe these could be the people, the
individuals, the organizations that you might want to approach and pitch your idea. You could do it
maybe in front of a panel or maybe in a one-to-one business meeting with them. Or here are some other
ideas that you might want to think about: (1) Go to your city council. Some of the city councils have
schemes that help promote the establishment of small businesses. (2) There are also universities and
colleges with programs which – for want of a better word – sometimes function as “spring boards” or
even like a “greenhouse” where you can grow something and watch it grow with the right temperature,
the right nourishment, until it’s strong enough, it’s got good enough roots and you might actually attract
a large number of investors who will be taken by your idea.

So we got to give ourselves a chance. Maybe it’s something that’s within us. We have got to have that
“get up and go” attitude. And then we have got to gather all parts of the “machinery” that will help it
work.

So all I’m saying is, if someone out there finds himself struggling with traditional employment, and if you
have the bone to start a business, if you’d like to mind your own business, START THINKING, START
TALKING, START RESEARCHING, and START INVESTIGATING.

Also, try to fit together with a lot of other people. I know that there are at least three people whom I
have talked to who began with traditional employment but are now running their own businesses. They
may not be large, but nevertheless, they’re fulfilling. And the worst thing that you would want to avoid
is to sit back and say to yourself when you’re older, ”Gee, I wonder whether that would have worked? If
I only gave myself a chance…” And you know what, you will never know if you never try.

So… would you like to do some business with me?