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December is a fun month, isn’t it? A couple of good festivals, a nip in the air, leave for your younger brethren, last minute hacking around for the cheapest new year’s party and, of course, that yearly tradition of fixing resolutions for the next year (which go right out the window the next time you have a public holiday).

Basically, it is a distracting month. And my month became way more distracting when I made a trip to cowboy country a.k.a. Texas middle of the month—not to go around slinging cows or anything. More sedately, it was a trip to meet some entrepreneurial heroes. Dell Inc. had organized a very slick forum–cum-media event to launch its Take Your Own Path campaign that is aimed at entrepreneurs the company is enabling around the world with its technology.

It was a good event. What made me slightly prouder than the others to be there is that the campaign was first launched in India a couple of years back. Since then, Dell has taken it to almost all of its large international operations. A sign of entrepreneurial times in our nation, I wonder.

I was lucky enough here to meet entrepreneurs from across the world, including from Brazil, China, Japan, India and Australia. And they came from across business sectors. Most of them had built mid-sized companies by the time this recognition came their way. What amazed me, however, was that there were an equal number of people who almost faltered into starting up as well as those who went into it with single-minded determination and preparation.

We had a lawyer from the U.S. who chucked his job and set up a cupcake chain. We also had a gentleman from Germany who has built a million-dollar special effects company, starting up from his parents’ basement with one computer. And then there was our man from India, who strives to take a family business to the next level. All of them had one thing in common—their businesses started out very small. They grew by as much luck as sheer hard work, perseverance and skills. I wonder if I would cut it like they did.

One of the key insights I got from the entrepreneurs I met on this trip was the fact that planning can mean zilch without determination. As the lawyer-turned-cupcake maker said, it is very easy to get distracted off your path in those heady initial days. And that’s where we come back to this distracting month. I have been a little lazy in pushing the venture to the next level. Yes, I have talked to Kaw, as you might have last read. Yes, I have kind of determined the direction we must take, given our business ability and limitations. Yes, I have thought and fixed on maybe three business ideas. And no, I have not done much else.

It must happen to all entrepreneurs at some point. After the whole initial rush of adrenalin that probably accompanies you at the cusp of every big endeavor you are about to take, there must be a period of hush. This might not be because you are slacking off, but mostly just because you are getting distracted. You suddenly have other things to do. You put things to paper and this is the first time you see some roadblocks on your path. You will overcome them, you think, but right about now is a good time for some coffee.

This is nothing but a lack of determination. And I’m facing it right now. The ideation bit is a meandering bit. I am talking to people and I am talking to more people. But I am not fixing my head on anything. Am I scared to take the plunge? Possibly. Scared enough to back off? Nope. As I have written, this lack of determination can be attributed to distractions and a general lack of enthusiasm. And there are ways to fix it.

Talking to other entrepreneurs has helped somewhat. I have been asking them about their initial days. Across the board, what comes across is that almost all of them face some sort of drop in determination, albeit to varying degrees. Some get out of it by eliminating all other distractions. They quit jobs, take a break to visit their hometown, or even tell the girlfriend to leave them alone for a bit. Some get out of it by diving deeper into the subject part of the business they are likely to enter. They meet people who have been in the same sector and talk to them about issues and concerns they might have. Then there is a whole breed of people who just kind of wait it out before another surge of adrenalin makes them go into overdrive on the starting up bit. These might be the kind of entrepreneurs who investors need to be wary of.

I believe that I fall into the second group here. However, eliminating distractions is going to be a chore. First up, I can’t quit my job. Second, I have far too many responsibilities as an individual to get around telling people to lay off me, or going off on a break of sorts from everything. What I can do, however, is delve deeper into the subject side of my business ideas. And that’s what I have begun doing. I’m talking to more people, and then some more.

What we—that is, Kaw and I—have realized by now is that the business would have an online aspect to it, as it is simply the most manageable method of operation. It is also cost-effective enough for us to work on without major wallet damage. However, what is not clear is whether going online would be an enabler for our business idea or the core aspect of the business itself.

If it is going to be an online business, it will require some technical expertise that’s beyond our limited skills, and Kaw and I are aware of that. For example, if we were to set up an e-commerce business, it can’t be done without a good amount of investment in IT. And investment-shinvestment, we don’t have much.

It is funny, though, what distractions can do to you. While we were procrastinating on how we could get around this whole quagmire of technology, I completely overlooked the solution that had been sitting right beside me all along.

One of my earliest friends from childhood—let’s call him Sam—works in Silicon Valley now after putting in his stretch at Bengaluru for the last few years. He works for this big search engine company that started out of a garage and is now taking over our lives. For as long as I can remember, he was into computers and technology. While we played hockey, he helped the computer teacher out in the lab with the juniors. He enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed sports. If I had to spite him, I did not hit or abuse him; I just broke his floppy disks. He denies it now, but I swear I have seen him sob a bit when I did that.

Now it never occurred to me to ever ask Sam whether he was keen to go out on his own, much like his super bosses did a decade or so ago. Then one day, as we talked about why I did not visit him even though I came to the States, it hit me to ask him.

Sam was on. In fact, he had been thinking about this for sometime himself. He was ready to be a partner, both technically as well as by throwing in some initial capital. He had some ideas of his own, but he was keen to hear more about what I had to say and offer. Funnily enough, he also said that he had been waiting for someone from his office to say this to him for the last seven years that he has worked in tech. But no one ever did.

And that’s what you need to do, I guess, every time you feel you have hit some sort of ceiling or door or barrier. You knock. You ask around. You call people. But whatever you do, you do not turn your back on that door. Stay there. Stay focused. Things will happen.

©Entrepreneur January 2011

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Ankush Chibber