“I am not crazy to go by myselfand search for clients”

(Precious business lessons…)

On 22.01.2010, Mr Doru D. stated his opinion about this post: http://http://www.iliaspapageorgiadis.ro/english/top-5-behaviors-of-2009-%E2%80%9Ci-prefer-to-starve-than-to-work-your-way%E2%80%9D-2/

“Unfortunately for this country you are very right. Instead of everyone to do whatever he is good at (in the domain he has prepared himself for) we are taking care of completely different things. If we see a business around that seems profitable we log in, which works for a while and after we go broke. Real-estate was a big soap bubble for many, many even got rich over the night and wanted to be considered “business men”. Fortunately this financial crisis will clean the country of all the “smecheri” in this country or at least that is what I hope for.

I also want to tell you a short story similar with yours. In November 2007 a friend of mine comes to me and tells me that he wants to buy an asphalt machine because in the business there are “a lot of money”. His business was oriented to selling .*. systems. I asked him if he knows about the business he wanted to join and if he sees a future in it.

I also asked him if he is good at it. His answer blew me off for the moment – ” I don’t have to be good at it, can’t you see how much asphalt is being put, I am renting it to a company where my brother is the director and we will make money together”.1 year and a half has passed, mid 2009 he comes again to me and he says: ” you know, the asphalt business fell, tell me what else should I do because I owe a lot of money for the asphalt machine and the .*. business fell also”. I asked him about his brother and he told me that that company “died” too and he was left without contracts also.

I asked him if he had tried to make offers to other companies or to try himself to re-invest in the asphalt company and to go bid etc. His answer blew me off for good:” What do you think I am crazy, how can I go ask to one and another. I have bought the machine for a 2-persons business, with my brother, he was renting from me and that’s all, but I won’t go by myself to search for clients.”

And this is what our country is about. I hope that this kind of business men will completely disappear, take their money and move to Monte Carlo, and like this we will manage to have in Romania the right man in the right spot, and this is not a slogan.

(The full name of the gentleman and the full details of the .*. business he describes is at my disposal, but I do not want to cause problems to him).

Doru, thank you for your honest email. Well, I have a surprise for you. Guess what? Greeks are almost the same too! There are tens of professions which were brutally… raped, just because someone started using his expertise and another 1.000 followed, searching for easy money. It is absolutely normal to have the same in Romania too, as mentality and business ethics need a lot of time to be established in a new society.

During my 6 years in Romania, I have been asked this question hundreds of times: “What business should I do?” My first answer is always the same: “What do you like doing?” and the reply usually comes: “It does not matter what I like doing, I want to make money, I will do whatever”. “But there are plenty of things, we should find what you REALLY like, so as to identify the right options for you and work on them”. “No, anything will do”. In the last 10 times I was asked, 9 of them simply refused to follow the basics. They just wanted money, ideally fast. The approach of thinking, programming, planning etc sounded very bad to their ears.

The only one who listened to me changed her status in just few months. But this is not a “100 meters run”. It is a “marathon”, it is a career… Unfortunately, the only one who can implement the correct business mentality is the state, by upgrading the Educational system at today’s standards. Eitherwise, it will be very difficult for people to start thinking long term, while the vast majority around them foresees only “today, maximum tomorrow”.

Last but not least: Regarding the truth that many people here find it “humiliating” to approach clients etc. Let them remain like this. Until they will wake up, things will work definitely for the benefit of the serious ones…

PS. You should reply to this guy like this: “If I know what can create lots of money fast, without too much work, why should I tell you and I should not keep it for myself?”