Especially for SME – 16: Time.

01 December 2021

Mr. Lowe: Not only that, Time is the only vindictive resource I have known!

SME 3: What do you mean by vindictive resource? How can a resource be vindictive?

Mr. Lowe: Time is the only one that punishes you for not doing something that you should have done in the past but failed to do. Time also rewards you for doing the right thing at that time. Don’t we have children not studying properly during 10 and 12th standards and, in their twenties, blaming the parents for not cautioning them at the right time, even though parents would have fought with them tooth and nail for spending more time on studies, then!

Incidentally how is your SME doing currently?

SME 1: Well, it is doing well.

Mr. Lowe: What did you do say 3 years ago?

SME 1: I thought of what my SME would be doing 2 or 3 years hence, I located the need for another product and took steps to introduce that in my SME and that is doing very well today. I am wondering now had I not done that then, I would be in soup today!

Mr. Lowe: So now what are you doing?

SME 1: Now that I am doing very well, one thought occurs to me that I should not do anything to rock the boat!

Mr. Lowe: That is the trap: When we are doing well, we get complacent, and our mind puts us to sleep in comfort. We buy some expensive car, buy an unwanted machinery or hire additional people to show we are that many people strong, etc. We fritter away every one of our other resources.

SME 1: Yes true, I just went for a BMW because that is status symbol.

SME 2: Same thing I am doing: I went in for a Benz, what is wrong with that?

Mr. Lowe: Nothing is wrong with that: The mistake, sorry, the blunder you are doing is not to think about 3 years hence about your company, right now when you can afford to think about the future and provide money for whatever has to be done before you start splurging. Then your splurging is well earned and justified. Else your SME would go down because one key customer pulled out of you or the main product you are dealing in is being phased out by a better technological product.

SME 3: Right now, I am in that position; and I don’t have resources to pull myself out. The tension I am having is tremendous and I have high BP and back ache.

Mr. Lowe: The kind of tension Time can create, no other resource can and that in turn creates all psychosomatic diseases, like the ones you mentioned. It does this thru creating a crunch in the resource of Money and we start looking for causes all over except the way we spent our time when we were doing well. In fact, the real root-cause is the way we spent our time a couple of years ago.

SME 3: I must admit I am guilty of that, I never thought of couple of years ahead at all: I never thought what would happen to my unit if a product gets outdated or if a key customer, who is giving me some 30% of my turnover pulls out. Actually now I am blaming the central Govt, the state Govt., the banks and the financial institutions etc. who apply pressure on me now, without understanding my predicament. I have now realized that the farther you keep such agencies the better it is for me, for them and for my unit.

Mr. Lowe: This is the result of the vindictive nature of Time. But better late than never! Pl. think about how to get out of the situation now at least, fastest and in the best way.

SME 3: When I was doing well, apart from buying luxurious items that depreciate fast, I had also bought a small apartment from my friend who was in need of financial help. Now I can dispose that off and clear the pending bank EMI’s and even beyond.

Mr. Lowe: I always recommend many SME’s to carry appreciating assets equal to their equity that can be disposed of at time of difficulty. And so what are you going to do? ……….contd.