Staying Strong In The Face Of Adversity

Did you know that sometimes it only takes a few little words to brush off years of hard work? Sometimes it takes even less than that, maybe just that somebody in a high enough position with the right connections plays their cards right.

If you don’t believe this could happen, then look at a modern democratic state like Britain. Or just ask Reuben Singh – the famous entrepreneur behind such companies as Miss Attitude, allDayPA and Isher Capital – because, as you’ll see from the Reuben Singh article, it happened to him!

As with all highly successful people, Reuben isn’t dwelling in the past and lamenting the treatment he received, and in fact had already moved on to better things long before the matter was finished. Essentially what happened is that one of the larger banks decided to flex its muscles and show him he was an upstart who didn’t quite know his place.

This can be a frequent problem for young entrepreneurs, especially those more successful in business, as there may be resistance and resentment from more experienced professionals who feel they have achieved success by luck or without real merit. If the person you are dealing with is not a fellow entrepreneur but merely an employee, you can’t count on that resistance being particularly intense.

The important thing that has to be acknowledged is that Reuben made mistakes when all this was unfolding. There is no shame in that, because anyone can make mistakes. As a matter of fact, you can choose any successful entrepreneur you like and you won’t find a single one that hasn’t made some mistakes along the way. It’s part of what being an entrepreneur is all about. You try things, and if they work, great! If the things you try don’t work, you learn your lessons and use them to improve yourself. Then you try again in the next round.

That is mentioned in the interview with Reuben Singh, where he talks about the worst business advice that he’s been given. In this case, it was that he had been instructed to stand his ground and fight, when really that was the most difficult path to take. Sun Tzu wrote that ‘The greatest victory is that which requires no battle’. This was the real advice that Reuben needed to take, but the other advice was more readily to hand and more stridently impressed upon him.

At the height of the worst days of all this drama that was unfolding around him, the pressure was unimaginable and relentless. Certain sections of the press were absolutely savage in their demolition of his character, and a court judge went even further, making the most scandalous comments about him. Once the avalanche started, there was no way of stopping it. This is what happens when you take on an opponent who is much bigger, stronger, and wealthier than you are.

What saved Reuben was not his skill in fighting, but his ability to endure every blow that was landed without being knocked off his feet. He lost the fight but won the war, and this was possible because through it all he maintained a healthy attitude. Now Reuben Singh has been fully vindicated of any wrongdoing. His business has grown more than 10 times larger since then, proving that even when fate seems to be against you, if you can keep your head up and stay on course, you will eventually get to where you want to be.