The Sushi Paradox

Last night I started writing about how some folk grabbed life between the legs, stomped on it, threw some spices at it, bit it, spat it out and started again – all before not going gently into that good night.

And they don’t care if they look like complete idiots while they’re doing it. Yet these are the people that inspire us so much. People like Richard Branson.

And then two things happened simultaneously.

A crane collapsed in London, and some poor fellow went from washing his car to the pearly gates in one brief second. Just before I screwed up an insulin injection and almost stood behind him in the queue.

Life is too short to waste messing about doing something you don’t like doing, or being too scared to try out something you’ve wanted to do since you were 7 years old but are too scared to try.

Life is also a fascinating paradox – and the only limiting factor is your own mind. Sit inside a Japanese restaurant one day and listen to a sushi afficionado trying to persuade his colleague/ beloved/ mother to try out one of the dishes. Usually without success. The excuses: “It’s raw!”; “I don’t eat raw food!”

(Sushi is usually prepared under the most stringent conditions, by specially trained chefs of oriental derivation, who endure years of arduous tuition, and wash their hands every 53 seconds.)

Yet these same people will happily eat raw dead cow or dead water buffalo prepared under somewhat less hygienic conditions, by persons of unknown origin or skill, and shipped unwrapped while being handled by numerous persons of dubious personal hygiene prior to being hung in an open environment right next to the till in a corner cafe where each client can fondle it prior to purchase (or otherwise). We call that biltong.

These are the same parents who berate their children for not tasting the broccoli or the goats cheese: “How can you know you don’t like it if you won’t even taste it!?” (Hint: Sushi tastes a heck of a lot better than either of these.)

We humans are a mass of contradictions, and the most frustrating aspect of that is how much our contradictions control us. We often live under these restraints for the whole of our lives. It’s time to break out methinks.

The quickest way to to find a commercially viable opportunity (to start your own business, other words) is to put yourself in places where such opportunities exist. This is not difficult – books, magazines, travel, Internet forums, TV, newspapers, people in restaurants or bars (before their heads slip into their collars and they start mumbling): each of these will highlight peoples’ problems. And that’s what a business does – solves peoples problems in return for payment.

But you will never know what problems exist unless you listen – which is tad difficult after a long day at the office slaving away at something you don’t enjoy until you’re so tired that all you want to do is sip another drink before sliding off the couch. Stop slaving for others, I say, and start working for yourself.

A few years ago I was asked to talk to a group of PhDs about setting up their own businesses. After 10 minutes one of the group of 20 stopped me and suggested I was wasting my time. “Tell us how to find a job!” And these are the most educated minds in our country!

It is almost impossible to get rich legally, working for someone else. It’s very easy to do so working for yourself. But, it’s like that first bite of sushi. YOU have to take it. Nobody else can do it for you.

Here is my challenge to you: If you’ve never eaten sushi before – take your significant other out to a sushi dinner, and I can guarantee you will both get lucky on the night.

And then, if you’ve never done your own business thing before, take that first bite, and I can guarantee you’ll get lucky within the next 12 months.