Raghupathy also resolved that when he was running his own business, he would treat his employees with dignity.
After Raghupathy had completed his education, he realized that starting a business was not easy. He decided to take up a job, work for a few years, save some money and start a business in a small way, using his savings as the capital.
With his limited education, Raghupathy was able to get only a job with an average salary.
A few months after Raghupathy's taking up the job, his father passed away. He left behind a modest sum of money, comprising his savings and retirement benefit.
Raghupathy decided to use the sum left by his father as the seed capital for his business and deposited the money in a bank.
Since Raghupathy's family consisted only of him and his mother Kamakshi, his household expenses were limited. He was prudent in his spending and saved as much money as he could.
Raghupathy had apprised his mother of his mission of starting a business. She encouraged him saying, "You will definitely achieve your goal."
Kamakshi was looking for a suitable match for Raghupathy. An industrialist came forward to give his only daughter in marriage to Raghupathy.
Kamakshi told Raghupathy, "Marry this girl. You can look after your father in law's business. Your mission will get accomplished."
But Raghupthy didn't accept his mother's suggestion.
"Mom! If I marry this girl and look after her father's business, I will be like a manager in his firm. My mission is to start a business on my own. I can take another person as a partner. But, looking after someone's business is not having my own business" said Raghupathy.
Raghupathy married Janaki, who belonged to a middle class family. Janaki was employed as a stenographer in a firm.
"You need to work only for a few more years. Once I start my own business, you won't have to go for a job" Raghupathy told Janaki, soon after their marriage.
Kumar, Raghupathy's colleague in his firm, told Raghupathy about a business proposal.
Since the business proposal appeared to be profitable and required only a low capital investment, Raghupathy decided to venture into it. He quit his job and started the business, investing a major part of the amount saved by him.
Kumar, who had given the idea for the business, said that he had no money to invest. Raghupathy asked him to join him as a working partner and offered him a share of twenty percent in the profit.
After starting the business, Raghupathy told Janaki, "Just six more months. After that, you can quit your job."
Even one year after starting the business, Raghupathy couldn't see any profit. It appeared that if the accounts got finalized, they would show a net loss.
"Any business will take two or three years to become profitable. We can see profit in one year" said Kumar.
Raghupathy remembered that while explaining the business idea to Raghupathy, Kumar had told him that that business would start yielding profit from the third month!
Two months later, Kumar told Raghupathy that he would be going to his native place and be back in one week.
But he didn't return even after a month.
Raghupathy became suspicious. He asked a Chartered Accountant to audit the accounts of the business. The audit showed that the business had earned a substantial amount of profit but that large sums of money had been misappropriated from the business by Kumar, through fraudulent means.
Raghupathy cursed himself for entrusting Kumar with the financial aspects of the business, without even employing an accountant to keep track of the financial transactions.
"What are you going to do now?" asked Janaki.
"What can I do? Obsessed with the idea of starting a business, I had been waiting for the right opportunity for many years. I came across various business opportunities like Desktop Publishing, Growing Mushrooms at home, Multilevel marketing, Making refills for ball-point pens at home etc. I evaluated all such opportunities and concluded that they won't suit me. Though my inability to choose a business opportunity that would suit me was frustrating, I waited patiently, hoping that when the right time came, I would be able to identify a good opportunity. When Kumar told me about this business, I was excited, thinking that the right time had come. I invested my savings and started the business with high hopes. But Kumar had betrayed me and run away with my money. I don't know what to do now. I cannot continue to run the business.."
"Why?" asked Janaki, interrupting him.
"How can I? I have bought the goods on credit. Kumar told me that he had been making payments to the suppliers. But I find that there are bills outstanding. The suppliers will continue to supply the goods, only if I pay the amounts due to them. Only then, I can continue to run the business. But, I have no cash with me."
"What if you don't have money with you? I will give my jewelry. You can pledge them or mortgage them and make at least partial payments to the suppliers and request them to continue supplying the goods to you. If you make payments to them, they will have confidence in you and continue to supply the goods. Remove Kumar from the partnership following a legal process and inform every one about this. Since the business is profitable, you will earn profit. by continuing the business. In about two or three years, you will be able to clear all liabilities" said Janaki.
Raghupathy looked at Janaki with admiration and amazement. "All these years, I was waiting for the right time to come. But when the right time came, I did not notice its arrival!"
"When did the right time come?"
"The day you came into my life through our marriage" said Raghupathy, feeling invigorated.
Section 2
Knowing One's Strength
jnAlam karudhubavar.
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