Family Business

Its almost coming to end of 2010. It has been a roller coaster year for my career. Peak of it was the process of my departure from my previous employer.

It has been a wonderful 4 and 1/2 years for this company. Though it may have been my first job after graduation, it has taught me a lot of valuable lessons and showed me an important part of the corporate world. Through the ups and downs faced during that time, it taught me to learn from experience, share my knowledge, set goals and importantly push myself and others to achieve goals.

My next career will be an interesting and challenging one. My dad has asked me to help out with his business. Having rejected him for 4 long years I felt that it was time to see how I can contribute.

My family's business deals with with construction; and yet I graduated from the field of Electrical and Electronics. Not quite a match up in expertise I should say. My ultimate goal would be to still make something of myself in the electronics sector. But for now, I would use whatever knowledge I know to help my family's business.

Through the 4 plus years that I have worked in the MNC, I learned something that is very valuable. 'Know what you plan to do. Plan what you want to do. Look in detail of your plan. Always have a back up plan.' These few lines has stuck with me in my job, especially in the final 2 years. They propelled me to think harder, plan further, study deeper and push my limits higher. It has helped me deliver respectable work for my employer and at the same time benefits my colleagues around me. It is a philosophy that works well. However, it seems that when it comes to family businesses, things aren't so clear anymore.

To be frank, I have no clue what lies ahead of me in this business of construction. I do not know the work required or the process of getting work done. But it seems like in the depths of such unknowns lies the beauty of doing business itself. The spirit of taking risks. But I am sort of person that prefers to take calculated risks, know the steps to take, plan the future ahead and head towards it.

And somehow, family businesses aren't so clear and I can say that they do not know what they want to do (besides making money).

However, I am going to see what the world ahead awaits me. Putting my philosophy into action in my new career and see what it takes me.