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In last month, I got the opportunity to meet a business family. That family was owning several businesses and one of them was their hotel in a hilly pilgrimage place. It was just 3.5 years’ time, they were running it successfully. I could see the environment inside the hotel. It was a nicely managed and well-behaved staff hotel. The food was delicious. Overall it was like a Three Star Hotel. I stayed for a few days along with my friends in that hotel.
I was curious to know, how they have started this hotel. So, I decided to have interaction with the main responsible person (owner). He was glad to spare his time. He narrated the complete story. It all started more than fifteen years ago when his father had purchased one piece of land to make some shops in the future. There was very little developmental progress in that area for around ten years. Then here comes the mega movement. One highway got approved, which was passing just in front of that land. Suddenly land prices started roaring and a lot of development activities started happening nearby that highway.
That family was owning some shops in another area of that city. Based on that similar pattern they have decided to construct shops in that land. One of his neighbors has given them the idea to open a multi-story hotel in that land. This family was very reluctant to this idea and the main logic given was that they were not having any experience in this field.
This was a popular tourist area and the place was just around one kilometer away from the railway station. This railway station was opened up in July 2014. With the advice from neighbors and a sense of recent development all-around, this family has decided to take the risk of constructing this hotel. One family member was nominated to lead this hotel project.
Slowly the project came into shape and now running successfully. The points which we can take up from this real story of this business family can be below-
Investment in Real Estate
Real estate investment is one of the best investments. Don’t wait for the right time, just invest and then wait. Early investment in any city or outer area of the city is always better. Always keep an eye on your investment and avoid investment in the area, where you can’t look after that.
One more point, I would like to highlight here is that sometimes location does not make a major difference. You can beat the rate of return in a small city compared to a big city. In a small city, the rate of land will be obviously less compared to the big city, but you can purchase a large area in a small city for the same amount of money. No doubt there will be more development opportunities in big cities if you have some land there. But overall land rates are continuously increasing in small as well as big cities.
Go Out of Your Comfort Zone
This family could have limit themselves to constructing shops in that land as they were already managing shops in another area. But they had taken risk in an unknown field and now running successfully.
There is a major difference in revenue generation between running some shops vs a multi-story hotel. You need to take risk to increase your financial well-being. You are able to engage more people in your hotel business by proving direct or indirect employment.
Give Responsibility to One Person
Once you are clear on the objective, then it’s better to allocate the responsibility. If there is one leader, then things move in the right direction. And even if things are not moving in the right direction during execution, then the leader will make sure that things again come back on track. There were so many hurdles in this project execution like approval from authorities, site development, etc., all were managed under one person’s leadership.
He narrated one incident of the toppling of digging machining after heavy rain one night. It calls for the immediate arrangement of other machines and labor to make digging machine again in working condition. It was a two days affair. As there was clear responsibility, so he put his best effort to manage this issue.
Passion to Grow Continuously
One must have the passion to grow continuously. I have seen many financially well-established families, which are not willing to take any major risk. They are in their comfort zone. They are happy in their current condition.
Here I would like to say one thing, that one must have the willingness to grow continuously. In the comfort zone, deterioration starts. You might have seen some families which live in their comfort zone, after the second or third generation they struggle financially.
“I view life as one big adventure. I’m always learning, and finding new things to try and challenges to overcome.”- Richard Branson









