A Heartfelt Letter To Employees From An Entrepreneur

Dear Employee,

I am an entrepreneur, your so-called “Boss”. The one who has always been on your radar for all bad/good things happening around you. Probably the most favourite punching bag. But do I need to be cursed/abused for being what I Am? Hell NO.

My journey has been pretty similar to yours. Struggling for an opportunity, financial crunches, pivoting, working on ideas, which I wanted to turn into reality without any ‘Alma Mater’. At that point all I had was a ‘Vision’. A vision, which ensures that we all learn, grow and become successful ‘together’.

Striving hard amidst this entire competition thing, I started looking for the right people who believed in my vision. Luckily, I found you clearing all hurdles in form, from our selection criteria and I took a sigh of relief that I have got another shoulder.

I was very clear that what kind of colleague I’d love to be with but later when your first leave application got cancelled you termed me as “BOSSY”, without thinking about what made me ‘reject’ it. It might be a matter of one leave for you but to me it’s like missing a helping shoulder which I have found after lot of struggle. No I am not saying that your reason is not worth enough or I will never sanction your requests but before being judgmental, think about the possible reasons please.

“He is the boss. He can take a leave the day he wants”. Oh okay, so you think that I roam around aimlessly the entire day when I don’t come to office? You aren’t looking at the other side of the coin dear. I drive around the whole day to attend meetings with clients just to ensure that we earn enough money so that I could pay you at the end of the month. Your worries are only about your salary, but for me it’s about “SALARIES”.

Time passed and you started disliking the office interiors and atmosphere. Could be a possible reason for you to move out and join a multinational. But mind it, your every small issue is a reason of worry and stress for me. Behind the curtains, I every day get down to financial calculations to ensure that I provide you, the best environment to work in. But do you think “Google” built its swanky office in one day? Give it a thought.

With all small additions and efforts you have spent a year with me, and now it’s your turn to fire the grill. Time for an increment buddy! I am equally geared up for this and would love to see you grow in terms of salary. Though I need to be judgmental here and look into your performance as well. I believe that no increment can be enough and on the same side I also need to look into my accounts before I click the ‘transfer funds’ icon.

I need to be practical here. Imagine your helping aid at home asking for an increment. For them, you are the ‘BOSS’. I go through the same dilemma. Flipping between my accounts and your expectations!

I know, you might not find the increment satisfactory and you’ll start gossiping. Trust me, I am not offended by that at all. It’s human psyche and I get it truly. But I am sure that you also understand you might be spoiling the environment that we both builtt together some time back. It is like burning our own house down just because you had a rift in the family.

‘Right to equality’ exists but not in terms of salary, dear. Everyone can’t get equal salary or increments. It isn’t that tough to understand. Is it?

Ok. So I am getting funded and your brain might start running faster than the Internet’s bandwidth. I agree that receiving funds isn’t about me or my idea or you. It is about all three of us together. But understand the logic that no one puts their money on horses to spend it lavishly. It is about ‘utilising’ it in the best way possible and converting it into ‘growth’. So it isn’t about hiking our salaries or getting a new office ‘buddy’. With great funds come great responsibilities and I assume we both will share it together like the olden days.

Why am I writing all this? Well, at times I feel like sharing these thoughts of mine with you but suddenly I have to face an imaginative creature of yours called ‘The Boss’. No, I don’t want to be a boss. Seriously no. You may call me by any name you want, but don’t treat me like a ‘dictator’. The only difference what I feel between ‘You’ & ‘I’ is ‘RISK’.

No, I am not saying you haven’t taken the risk by deciding to work with me. But trust me, mine is bigger than yours. Because it’s not just mine, it’s mine + yours + others working with us. Of course, I will get rewarded for that too, but it would always be dedicated to ‘US’. Not me or you.

So you must be thinking what point I wanted to make here? The answer is simple: ‘Understand’ your colleague, boss, that jerk, whatever you call me. There is a lot on my plate which I simply can’t waste and the only thing I need to do is to ‘manage’ it in the best way possible?

The only thing I’d love to ask you?

“ARE YOU WITH ME?”

Yours
Boss

Note: We at Inc42 take our ethics very seriously. More information about it can be found here.