Work hard but don't enjoy the fruits of success

Please do not get startled by the headline. It's not a mistake. Rather it
very accurately conveys what I want to say in this piece. In the last issue, I
had written that after a great year, which was great for business, channel
partners should take it easy for a while. Instead of going after business, they
should sit back and enjoy the fruits of labor, which would be welcomed by their
respective families also.

However, it seems that by and large my esteemed friends amongst the channel
community have not taken my “sermons” kindly. In the last one week, I have
heard from six people who had very strong comments to make on that piece. First
off the block was somebody for whom I have enormous respect-Devendra Taneja
alias

DT of Delhi's PC Solutions. He demanded to know whether I was taking any
vacation and said that he would go to my house in my absence and show my wife
what I had written. But I had my bases well covered as I told him that I had
already booked my vacation to Goa for early May with my family. That had a
sobering effect on him and he then very coolly revealed that he was also off to
London (some people have all the luck) with his wife for a nice vacation in
June.

On the other hand, rest of the callers had no such plans as they intended to
“hammer it hard when the iron is hot”. There contention was, it is not
always that the going is good; so why should we “put our feet up and relax for
a while? What if somebody else sneaks in and takes advantage of the
situation?” Basically, it was their insecurity, which was coming into play
here.

Let me clarify here what I meant in my previous article. When I wrote “take
it easy”, “put your feet up and relax”, “enjoy the fruits of labor”,
“spend time with family”, and “chill out”, it no way meant that channel
partners should neglect their business. No, that's not what the intention of
the article was. The intention was to remind my friends that there is life
beyond “margins, backend incentives, channel meets, and incentive trips”.
While these things will go on and on, it's high time that personal issues are
also tackled. Like DT took time off and got his son admitted in the seventh
standard of the prestigious Doon School in Dehradun. And as a result, his son is
thrilled.

So, others should also take a leaf out of his book and take time off to take
care of activities, which have nothing to do with their day-to-day business. And
in the process, see how thrilled their respective families are. On my part, I am
sure my family is going to be very thrilled with the Goa vacation.