Adrie's Blog

The Alchemist of Entrepreneurship

Many years ago, I was given the book by Paulo Coelho "The Alchemist" by a good friend and client. Even now, it's one of my favourite books. It was given to me at a point in my life where I was facing all sorts of major difficulties. The story of Santiago, on his quest for a treasure, can be directly connected to the daily lives of all of us - facing uncertainties particularly in times like these with the financial crisis, terror and global warming screaming at us every day. Sometimes it is good to stop and stand still and review all that we have and what we are really searching for, build in a moment to benchmark and review what is worth your valuable time and energy and what is not.

As Entrepreneurs, we need a benchmark like that too - do you really have to go to yet another network event? I was thinking about that last night, when I realised just how many people I have gotten to know over the past 5 years alone and then thought about the relatively low number I am still in contact with. So many of these looked to be very promising and valuable from a human and business aspect, yet I have lost contact with them. Did I do enough to maintain that relationship and treasure and build it? We tend to invest a lot of energy in developing new contacts all the time - which is similar to the story of the Alchemist - the real contacts might just be there where you started your quest, right in front of your very eyes. My advice would be to treat the contacts you already have with a little more respect, rather then carelessly jumping over them on your way to yet another new one.

In the same trend I also believe that people do have a tendency to look further and further away for business and maybe miss the fact that you could generate business just round the corner too. It might be human nature to always look for faraway countries, new people, new opportunities - which is after all the very foundation of our western culture. Look at the English exploring the Far East, the Dutch with their colonies and so on - we have always looked abroad for expansion opportunties whilst there might have been enough to do in our own countries. In times of crisis, you see that many more larger companies withdraw from their expansion and focus on their core business or regroup in fewer countries then they were before.

It is a great characteristic to be curious, to want to develop new ideas and explore new territories - but just now and again, stop and think about who you are, where you and and what you are really looking to achieve. Happiness may just be waiting for you in front of your very eyes.




Some questions that Paulo Coelho posts to readers of the Alchemist, could be applied to all entrepreneurs - just see what you think of these...

1. What tests and setbacks does the boy experience on his journey?
2. Why is it important that he faces and overcomes these challenges?
3. How would the novel be different if his quest was easier?
4. After he has been robbed of all his money in Tanger, how does Santiago choose to regard his situation? Did this surprise you?
5. What allows him to understand his loss this way?
6. Examine the student/teacher relationship in The Alchemist. Look at all Santiago's teachers human, divine, animal and natural - and discuss what the boy learns from each of these teachers.
7. Early in the story, the alchemist tells Santiago "when you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed". At the end of the story, how did this simple lesson save Santiago's life? How did it lead him back to the treasure he was looking for?

source: web site Paulo Coelho