This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on November 11, 2019 - November 17, 2019

Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. — Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of America (1858-1919)

You see, I was the proverbial salaryman (most baby boomers were) who was told to study hard, get into a good university and get a great job upon graduation. So, I started work at 21, fought my way up the career ladder and planned to retire at 55. But on my 53rd birthday, I decided to start my own business.

I worked for many organisations in the early years but there was something missing in the life that I led. I enjoyed the corporate responsibilities given to me — they helped mould my beliefs and self-confidence. But I wanted to chart my own destiny, to run my own show. It was momentous when I clocked out for the last time in 2010. I knew my life would change soon as I got out of the office’s parking lot.

I was not prepared for the challenges and it has not been a bed of roses. I have had days when I got out of bed after a night of not sleeping, the ghost of insomnia haunting me. I would spend the night staring at the ceiling, tossing from side to side, with the demon of anxiety tormenting me. “How will I pay my bills, my employees? How will I find time to be a good husband, a father, a strong provider?”

Questions like these swirled in my mind, often leaving me paralysed. The beginning of my life as an entrepreneur left me stressed, overworked, overloaded. I had left the security of a well-paying job to be my own boss. And it was not turning out the way I had envisioned.

On the outside, I was a picture of success. The travel agency I founded was growing very fast and my trading company had a good list of clientele. But along with the wins, there were new weights and responsibilities. I had a payroll to maintain, suppliers to pay and bank loans to service. There were times then when walking into the office felt like serving a prison sentence — and I wasn’t sure there was the possibility of parole! My passion for day-to-day operations began to wane as I realised that I had not fulfilled my dream to be my own boss. I had just created a “job” to replace my old one.

My well-meaning friends began to ask me if I had been crazy to leave a high-paying job at a big corporation with a strong benefits package and large EPF contribution to start a life where my livelihood depended on my ability to sustain a new company. At first, it was hard work — building from scratch always is — but I persevered and slowly made a success of my businesses. Now, whenever someone asks this question, I always reply, “Because we were made for this”. I mean, really?

My friends mostly work for organisations, both large and small. There is nothing wrong with that. In that situation, we sacrifice personal freedom and self-employment on the altar of new virtues like balance, security and stability. Because today, anything unbalanced, insecure or unstable feels dangerous.

We forget too easily that employment is a relatively new concept in human history. Ever since our hunter-gatherer forefathers began hunting and gathering, they were self-employed. There was no security from the ever-lurking saber-toothed tiger when they went hunting and there was no stability that the fruits were there on the trees for them to gather. They did it anyway and the experience of success was exhilarating. So, when I tell people that “We were made for this”, I am referring not just to me but to this forgotten way of life.

If there is a lesson that I have learnt from my decision to be self-employed, it is this: You should do what you are passionate about. I know this statement is cliched and trite (and sometimes annoying) but through experience, I recognise it to be true.

My experience has taught me that one’s life profession should be derived from one’s deepest passion. This is why the first step in becoming an entrepreneur is to define passion and then locate yours.

Over the years, common literature has romanticised the word “passion”. Writers describe passion as “the height of desire” but they are only half right. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines passion as “a strong feeling of enthusiasm for something or about doing something”. We typically use it to describe only things that we experience positively. We think of passions as those things that excite us or put a twinkle in our eyes or a bounce in our step.

I too had an incomplete understanding of the word until I researched its meaning and history. It is derived from the Latin word “passio”, which means “suffering”. The word was first popularised in English in the 12th century when writers wrote about Christ’s suffering and death on the cross. This is why I think Mel Gibson’s 2004’s epic film was titled The Passion of Christ.

This does not mean that our passions should make us miserable or lead us to an early grave. But they do challenge the candy-coated definition that many of us have come to accept. Our passions involve the things we love but they are also much more than that. To me, passions are those things that we love so much that we are willing to suffer for them. It is an experience to be coupled with words like “pain”, “preparation”, “readiness”, “submission” and “loyalty”.

It is also important to remember that passion is not suffering for suffering’s sake. It is suffering for the sake of something we love. If passion is just what makes you happy, you will quit doing it when things get tough or too risky, when you feel abandoned or are mocked. If you don’t care about something enough to endure pain, it is probably not worth pursuing.

I discovered my real passion was travelling and decided to work to make holidays an experience to be savoured, not simply opportunities for selfies and wefies. I wanted to turn tourists into travellers and in so doing, realise my passion. If I could profit from it, so much the better. As a seasoned traveller, I knew the pain points to avoid: overbooking, too much time on the road, not enough time to enjoy the culture and beauty of a destination, tiring schedules and inconveniences at the airports.

My business then is to make my fellow travellers enjoy the experience so that they will want to do it all over again at a different destination. I would gladly suffer the pain in order to provide exemplary service. The wages of self-employment are not dollars and cents but freedom and purpose.

What is it that you love so much that you are willing to do it even if it hurts you? Find it because that is the foundation of your life’s work. That is the heartbeat of your calling. That is the soil from which your start-up grows. That is what all wannabe entrepreneurs need to search for. It will provide them with the strength they need when their spirit is low and things are not going their way. It is one thing to suffer for the sake of suffering but an entirely different thing to suffer for the sake of a vision. The former makes you a victim but the latter makes you a victor.

On a final note, to all the graduating classes of 2019 (November is convocation month at the local universities), may I share this opinion with you as you step out of the halls of academia into the world of work?

“When you work for someone else, you assume you are secure. But you aren’t. You could be fired tomorrow because of someone else’s bad decision. When you work for someone else, you assume you are in control of your life. But you really aren’t. You are at the mercy of someone you think you know but probably don’t. When you work for someone else, you assume you are pursuing success. But you aren’t. There is no greater failure than missing out on what you were made to do. Good luck and God bless.”

Zakie Shariff is managing partner of Kuber Venture Bhd, a specialist investment company. He is also a director of Universiti Malaysia Pahang.

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