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.

Asim Raina Editor

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.