How to make 2021 your best year
How Covid-19 unknowingly created value and why focusing on value creation makes more sense than a New Year’s resolution.
All of us started 2020 not with a New Year’s resolution but with a scare of Covid-19. A couple of months into the year, we fully understood that coronavirus was real. From thereon, it occupied our lives, took away lives, displaced lives, and livelihoods. Just like you, I spent most of the year rueing about the cause and effect of this pandemic and praying for a significantly better 2021.
But as the year went by, I started seeing videos on WhatsApp and other social media apps of empty roads from all over the world on which birds and animals ventured freely. I saw videos of some of the busiest streets in my home city of Mumbai, where skies looked resplendent with shades of gray, blue, and red. I also saw a shift in Employers’ and businesses’ moods — focusing more on their employees’ mental health and well-being.
Technologies like Zoom, Teams, Skype reached a peak in demand and consequently sent these companies’ stocks soaring higher than ever. Best of all — immediate family members got an incredible amount of time together, and they did things together with whatever they had at their disposal.
Although our plans to travel the world, hit the gyms, study abroad, start new businesses vanished, for the first time, I silently began to like aspects of this pandemic. Unknowingly, Covid-19 created value. It made people embrace what was available, what matters the most, and focus on others. And for the first time, in my mind, I began to hypothesize if value creation makes more sense than the New Year resolution.
I think people make New Year resolutions mainly to minimize personal regrets or failures. If I lose weight, I would feel better and look more attractive. If I make more money, I could buy that car to impress the neighbors. Simply put, New Year resolutions are selfish.
Selfish things don’t sustain. That’s why six weeks into the new year, 62 percent give up on their resolutions. By the time the first quarter ends, 86 percent forget all about them.
On the other hand, value creation creates value not only for you but also for all those stakeholders that matter to you. But what exactly is value creation, how do you make it, and what are stakeholders.
Value creation is creating something out of nothing.
A candle burns itself to illuminate the area around it. A burning candle puts out darkness, relieves people, and assures kids. The candle is not becoming more; it’s becoming less. But you can see the value it’s creating for the people and place around it.
One day, earlier this year, when my 7-year-old asked me to play with him, instead of directing him back to his toys, I asked him to bring me a sheet of paper. From that sheet of paper, I created a paper airplane. His curiosity and happiness took a new flight. I suppose I created value in his life in those moments.
I think I am making my point here. Still, I’d like to share a more comprehensive model of creating value for you and your stakeholders. Let’s turn to the world of business and take a chapter from it.
As of Jan 2020, Bill Gates owns a mere 4.3% of Microsoft. Initially, both Bill Gates and Paul Allen shared equal ownership of the company. When Bill realized that he was working more hours and having a more significant impact on the company than Paul, he increased personal equity, leaving Paul with much lesser equity. Later in 1983, when Paul was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and couldn’t work with the same vigor as before, Bill reduced his equity furthermore.
Still, how did he end up with only 4.3% equity? Bill realized he needed to create value around his software. And to create value, he had to develop a business model. In this business model, he figured out how he would create and deliver value (money) to its different stakeholders, i.e., him/company, investors, customers, employees, vendors, other partners etc.
With every round of investor money, employee equity, partner and vendor equities, customer acquisition, he had to let go of his gigantic equity. In a way, he was functioning like a candle. In the end, he created enormous value for one and all and became the wealthiest person in the world.
If you survey the wealthiest entrepreneurs, a vast majority of them don’t hold more than 20% of their company’s equity. Warren Buffet owns somewhere around 18% of Berkshire Hathaway, still everyone knows how valuable he is to the world.
That brings us to the last segment of my opening thoughts for 2021. Knowing what we now know, could we abandon the idea of making new year resolutions and, instead taking a cue from Covid-19 and the business world, create a business model for our personal lives and drive value through it for its stakeholders? The answer is, Yes.
Here are three simple steps you can take to create and deliver value through your business model. I am taking the liberty to share how I did it for myself.
I). Design a business model for your personal life and identify your stakeholders
A business model does not always have to revolve around economics. Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, and even Google and Hotmail were founded on a business model of gathering users quickly. Monetization came much later.
Over time, for some of these companies, the initial business model changed — Google added advertisements to monetize and hired an experienced leader, Eric Schmidt, to boost investor confidence.
My business model for 2020 was about creating impact and influence. And my stakeholders were me, my Employer/Clients, my family, and my community, in that order.
II). Start by creating value for yourself
Just like every other year, 2021 will bring in 365 new days. Allocate a significant amount of days for your business model’s stakeholders, keeping a little for you. Let’s say you own 15% of the year for yourself.
That 15% is roughly 54 days. In a year, there are 52 weekends, which means 104 days. So 54 days is approximately one day of the weekend for you.
If 2020 was a typical year, and if I had asked you how did you spend one day of your weekend for the whole year, I am sure you’ll be searching for an answer. You did something, but you don’t recall. That’s because it wasn’t significant.
But now, with a 15% equity in the whole year or one day of the weekend, you have a choice to do something consistently just for you. Imagine what you can do with 54 days just for you — you could watch movies, read books, write your book, donate your time to community activities, learn about investing, write software, take up Yoga, or learn a new course. It can be anything as long as it just involves you.
I wrote a couple hundred words one day of the weekend for the whole year. As a result, the manuscript of my first book is ready. Now I am looking forward to editing it with 15% of the time from 2021. You see, I clearly remember what I did each weekend and what I’ll be doing in 2021.
What’s remarkable about this concept is that the lesser you keep for yourself, the sharper is the focus. Neither did I complain about lack of time, nor did I try to increase my equity. At times I had to give up on that one day of the weekend, but I got back on the horse again the next weekend.
III). Be intentional about who your stakeholders are and how you will create value for them
My stakeholders comprised my employer, family, and my community, in that order. And because I focused on my stakeholders, I didn’t have space or time for Meetups, hiking groups, making new friends, or mingling with like-minded people at religious associations.
Here’s how I created value for each of my stakeholders.
a.) Value for my Employer: Right off the bat, I stopped complaining about Monday or the long hours. Instead, I began to see my work as a privilege and a unique chance to create value for my clients. With this changed mindset, I went all-in to solve my client’s priority problems. I delivered outstanding results for my client. In turn, my clients praised my employer and me and gave us repeat business.
Next, I worked very hard to put my client on as many panel discussions and industry conferences. Net result, the client showered heaps of praise on my employer. And since I had already diluted my stake from the whole year, I had no trouble working for my client even when I was on paid time off/vacation.
b.) Value for family — I noticed that my daughter was taking a keen interest in creating Gacha videos. A Gacha video is like an anime. I began to wonder if there was a way to create value for her.
First, I suggested her to churn out Gacha videos just for fun. Then we began posting those on social media handles. When likes and comments started pouring in for her work, I got her on a freelancing website to sell her original Gacha videos. She posted her work there, and within the first day of registering, she secured a contract to make a 6-minute Gacha video. The buyer was willing to pay her $100.
As this was unfolding, I explained to her how these platforms
worked and how all parties make money. Today, aside from making beautiful Gacha videos, she is also educated on the freelance economy’s business model. I am sure there are many thirteen-year-olds tinkering with things and hobbies, but how many know the end to end aspect of creating and delivering value like my daughter does.
c.) Value for the Community — Earlier this year, I became a board member of a non-profit to promote Cricket in the City where I live. As part of those initiatives, I led and assisted a couple of important initiatives for the organization. In doing that, I created value for other board members, the community’s youth, and the City.
Neither my daughter’s activities nor my involvement in a non-profit was my New Year Resolution. Yet, I ended up doing a lot more on all fronts. Most importantly, I validated my hypothesis that value creation makes a lot more sense than a New Year’s resolution.
