Reading the stock market gave me more than what I thought it will give me. At the beginning, yes, there was confusion, and then after some time (six months… and going), illumination. I had a “feel” of the market, and somehow, my “gut” was developed. I would know if stocks are on the rise, or if it is on freefall, which is the time to buy. The green and the red arrows in the newspaper actually meant something, but only as supplements to the general, wonderful, engaging world of numbers. And when I recently had a report on my stockholdings and saw a 5% growth rate per month, I knew why a lot of other people play this game, and why they become greedy.

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Oddly, the answer is no.

I have to breathe and close my eyes, take my time before this means something to me. I have always been made to believe, I have always thought, that education is very, very important.

As a matter of fact, a lot of poor parents put this on top of their agenda. They can be overheard telling their children: “Your education is the only inheritance that we can give to you.” The unspoken plea: please graduate and take us out of this pitiable, desolate, godforsaken place. So they sell their only cow, the grains, their time, sometimes their souls, just so their children can go to school.

But there is Bill Gates.

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Business owners and investors (the more evolved business owner) have it the greatest. Apart from money (lots), they have in their hands buttons for control – control over their time, how much money to give to the government, what to pursue, who to pursue, all the trappings that money can buy (or attract). But behind every businessman-turned-millionaire story is the back story: inhuman work hours, doing the work of 5 or more people… Name it they have done it – beg, steal, borrow, the accounting, the contracts, the creatives, the marketing, the evaluating, the letter writing, the thinking, dealing with people, negotiating, planning, selling, cajoling… I should know. I am in the thick of this back story (well, what I hope will be a back story). And can I just add? – it does not end there: from time to time come those little heart palpitations and unbidden thoughts: “Why are you doing this? Are you crazy?” To be capped by the ringing of a defeatist battlecry: “Give it up. Give it up.” And then I would think: wouldn’t it be great to just go back to the simple life, a time when work need not be taken to the home, to nights when there need not be any presence of mind (mind has maxed out its quota during the day), when there are no million and one books and letters and documents to read and study, nights when playing with a daughter, reading, watching television, not thinking – is possible?

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But some important lessons were learned. One, do not go into business that you do not understand (selling). Two, do not leave the selling to other people and think you can just sit there, oceans away, and make lots and lots of money. Sometimes it works, most of the time it does not. Three, do your due diligence. Find out about the business, does it sell, can you get the goods for less (I did not really haggle that time), how long before you make the first installment, can you get a discount for bulk, are there existing flyers to help you promote the business, how many months before you get the ROI (return on investment), what is the possibility that it would fail and is it surmountable. Four, have a marketing plan – launch, joining trade fairs, email marketing, providing incentives or discounts, testimonials, product review – that would span months, or years.

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