Always be selling is the mantra for the entreprenurs. Enterprenurs must have or acquire skills to sell very early on because entreprenurship is all about selling.

In the beginning, you have sell yourself to leave your cushy life to pursue your dream. Then comes the need to sell your parents/spouse on the idea. Then you have to sell potential investors to buy into your dream, not to mention bringing the co-founders and key employees to help you launch your venture. Then you have to start selling half baked products/services to customers.

Selling never stops as the need to raise more investments, need to hire more people, need to make more revenue never stops. Entreprenurs become a good story teller. They need to exude confidence when things are going nowhere fast. They need to sell future as if it is a sure thing.

It is hard to imaginea successful entreprenur who is not a good salesman.

David Jackson (name changed to protect the guilty) was the reason I became an entreprenur in 1982.

David worked me for a couple of years at Singer Link in Sunnyvale in late 70s. He, like me, was also an immigrant; albeit from UK. He was a decent engineer but by no means he was comparable to an IITian like me.

He left his job at Singer-Link around 1980. Around that time, I was beginning to feel in a rut. Having been at Link for almost 10, I was getting no satisfaction any more. I was making good money, as a matter of fact, very good money and had good happy life at home. My daughter was four and my sone was 1. At 35, I was at the top of my game and but felt that I had gone as far as I was likely to go. Indians were not in management and were not seen as managemnet material. We were typecast at techies. My boss used to tell me that he would hate to lose me as an engineer.

One fine morning, reading the local news paper I saw the news that David Jackson had started a computer company. It was a Z80 based, CPM machine for businesses. This is around the time Steve Jobs had started Apple computer. I was totally destabilized as an individual. Why can’t I be an entrepreneur like David? I for sure felt superior to David in every way; but here he had become an entreprenur but I was stuck as lifer, albeit a well-paid lifer, a defense contractor.

I just couldn’t sleep any more. I was miserable with my life. My wife started to worry about me. What has happened to you, she asked? I told her that I wanted to leave my job and try my hand at entreprenurship. She reminded me that I made good money, was respected at the job; we had two little children and two cars that needed to be paid for. Then she asked me if she was the one making me unhappy?

No, I said emphatically. It is that David Jackson who has made me miserable. He is an entreprenur and I am stuck at this miserable job. She said, I should do whatever I need to do to be happy but children must not suffer!

I left my job at Singer and took a big pay cut to get a job at Zilog, a commercial company. Having worked for a defence contractor, I felt I needed to find out if I was any good in the commercial world. I left Zilog a year later to start Excelan in April of 1982. I have never looked back.

My advice to people is not to stagnate in your comfort zone but to find your David Jackson!