It is said that Dhirubhai Ambani had a vision to start his own petrochemical refinery when he was working at a fuel station in Aden (Yemen). Stupendous success gives rise to such legends, the veracity of which is unconfirmed till some reliable source establishes its authenticity.
But generally, big successes are a result of small beginnings and progress into something bigger gradually. Visions evolve. Most of the hugely successful entrepreneurs started very small and their ambitions were very modest in the early stages of their journey. Most of them did not even dream of where they reached eventually.
A billionaire entrepreneur who has achieved huge success admitted that when he started his oil trading business, his ambition was to earn 1,00,000 dollars so that he could earn enough money in interest every month through which he could live the rest of his life enjoying meditation and music, his leisurely pursuits. His imagination did go beyond this. His business earned more than what he had imagined and he scaled up his ambitions as he moved ahead and knew better.
Jeff Bezos, who started Amazon in 1994 was not thinking how big his corporation would be. When he started, he wanted to sell books online and was not sure what else could he sell there. In the beginning, he used to carry the book packets to be dispatched to the post office himself. At that time, “I was thinking that one day we should be able to afford a forklift.” he said. Gradually, based on the results he achieved, he went on learning and expanding and dreaming bigger dreams.
Many businesses that started dealing in some products or services, eventually pivoted into something entirely different and became very successful. A lot of successful startup stories of today also bear testimony to this. Time teaches those who continue to learn.
All the rungs on the ladder of success are not visible when one takes the first step on that ladder. After climbing up a few steps, one can see some more steps further up. This process goes on if one continues the climb. In most cases, all the steps are not mapped out in the beginning. Success begets more success. It appears that the journey of business success is not of certainty, but of consistency.