I have been looking for some new quotes for a while. Last week, I compiled a new collection after raiding various sites on the internet. I was especially taken by the collections of quotes from TV and film.

I used one last week attributed to Lily Tomlin- “The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.” I used it because it amused me, but over the last week it set me thinking.

Are people who choose to go into business born businesspeople or made? It’s an intriguing idea. It makes you think about why you wanted to be in business in the first place. In my case, it was quite straightforward. I don’t like someone else being in control of my destiny. If I am going to sink, it will be my own doing! I also don’t like being told what to do, although grudgingly I must admit that I would have been better off if I had been more open to taking advice when I was younger. But, we are who we are. Luckily, I have had Helen to keep me right for most of my working life.

So, where does that inclination to get into business come from? In my case, I came out of the education sausage factory with a decent degree but not much idea where I was going or what I wanted to do. A seed was then planted. I was staying on my future father-in-law’s farm and he suggested I buy a few cattle. Loved it. Bought a few more! At the same time, I was working in a ship chandler’s and pretty much left to my own devices to run it on a day-to-day basis. I did not realise it at the time, but my course had been set. The seed was growing and eventually would break out.

I spent the next 7 years training, qualifying as an accountant and gaining valuable tax experience, but the seed planted a few years earlier was ready to show, and I decided to set up on my own. As it happened, I met someone thinking of doing the same, and so we spent the next 15 years building up that practice before Helen and I launched out on our own, and the rest, as they say, is history.

I do not come from a business background in any shape or form. My family were all, without exception, employees, many of them civil servants or teachers. So, when that seed was planted, what made the environment so fertile for it to grow? If my future father-in-law had not suggested buying those cattle and shown me how to look after them, would I now be in business?

The answer to these questions is simply that I do not know, but it makes me think that most people, given the right environment and encouragement, can do well in business. But that initial help and encouragement must include identifying whether a particular business venture is viable and teaching you that running a business is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. If it is going to work, it is never 9 to 5, 5 days a week and paid holidays.

Now, I am not saying that you have to be at your desk, at the shop, etc., all of the time, but business is never far from your mind, anytime or anywhere.

So, was I born a rat or did life make me into a rat? You decide!

But I suppose there are certain qualities that you find in anyone in business. They are certainly risk takers, although some will only be comfortable with a little risk, while others are happy to put their heads on the block day after day. They are definitely resilient, taking the blows and setbacks that life dishes up. Remember this quote from Rocky?

“But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.”

Everyone has the bruises but hopefully you can avoid the broken bones,

So, something in your DNA means you could get into business. Something in your environment or experience plants the seed. You cross over to the Dark Side and take control of your own destiny. But that is not the end of it. The experience changes you forever. No going back. You are a different person, and the longer you are in business, the tougher the road, the more it changes you, hopefully for the better.

Controlling your destiny means that rather than seeing yourself as a victim of your circumstances, you’re taking on the responsibility for yourself. Both in your personal life and at work, it’s up to you to take care of you. No one else knows who you are or what you’re capable of. For me, Helen has a pretty good idea.

So, I’m a rat and always will be!

Alan E Long

The Long Partnership

07770 738770