When Passion Becomes Corporatized

My wife keeps asking this question to me, time and again. I always saw you enjoying what you do, and also most of the things you have done so far, you have done by choice, then why is it that you get tensed, worried, and stressed out with the same work that you enjoy doing?

Paradoxical? I don’t know. But somewhere what she says is true. There is an element of contradiction between doing something which you love doing and doing it big, commercially. Isn’t it? A lot of people will not like the word commercially along with ‘love doing,’ I understand that. But what I meant was, if the platform is business, and the passion transforms itself into a corporate, then, this ‘commercial’ issue comes in, isn’t it?

Yes, I am passionate about driving the youth of today through technology and new-gen alternative education, which is work oriented. This passion made me define, what I called Software Finishing School in 1996. Then, I did research and realized that most forms of education need it today. So, we created Knowledge Finishing School System, a technology-based tool to help guide the above.

But it became a big subject. It grew. Businesses grew. Money management came in. To push research and quality, you needed more money. The source of money was only passion, which was perhaps not able to generate that kind of money needed to corporatize and seize the opportunity. So, I started pushing the apple cart, as my source of money was only ONE.

Now, can you see, how, my wife’s question turns relevant? There are other ways and means to resolve it, which I will not use. So, the financial system available in the initial days of growth is Banks, Investors and the like, and of course the business you do. With these 3 avenues, you need to do everything — growth, research, investments, hiring the best talent. So are the worries, the pressure etc.

Today, when I look back at those days of contradiction, I feel it was worth it. It was tough to sail through, but once you do, you are really and totally in control.

It’s my time now, to dedicate my balance of life fully to my passion.

Cheers!